John Stocks: Katrina-- hummingbirds, butterflies, gut-wrenching decisions

Report from John Stocks:

SLIDELL-Thursday morning

I said my goodbyes to Adam, Becky and the children last night after we celebrated the electricity. Up early before the sun. Slipped out quietly so as not to wake anyone. Drove the truck and trailer to Adam's house to load the drying equipment.

The neighborhood is quiet as the sun comes up. We left the blower fans and dehumidifier on all night to continue drying out the house.

A high speed buzzing noise orbits around my head. I duck to avoid being stung. In mid-flight a small object suspends itself in front of my face. A minature hummingbird scans my face, its beak darting back and forth and in a flash it is off with its partner circling the house.

I pull the equipment (12 fans, one industrial dehumidifier, tool boxes, tarps, etc). Load and secure it in the trailer for the long trip home. As I sit in the cab getting situated to leave, a monarch butterfly lands on the truck side mirror.

Nature's advance team is returning to scout the area. Hummigbirds and butterflies are good omens. I feel better about my departure.

As I leave Slidell, my thoughts drift to my mother, an environmental activist who got her start fighting to preserve the Louisana wetlands from overdevelopment. As a child I remember tagging along with her to meetings of the New Orleans Ecology Center and the Delta Chapter of the Sierra Club. She fought passionately to preserve the Atchafalaya Basin's ecological significance and cultural heritage.

These were seminal experiences for a young New Orleanian growing up in the tumult over civil rights, the Vietnam War and the emerging environmental movement. Now the city is awash in an environmental catastrophe for which the preservation of the Louisiana wetlands will play an important part in its recovery.

Hurrican Katrina has shown us, if we are open to its lessons, that the struggles over human poverty, adequate housing, a quality education, meaningful employment, the role of government in domestic affairs and the preservation of the environment are all interconnected struggles. These struggles are interrelated and starkly displayed in the aftermath of the storm.

Clare Hilliker has passed from this earth but I felt her presence with me today.

JACKSON-Gut wrenching decisions

Five hours drive time to Jackson. Hundreds of FEMA trucks headed south towing 'fifth wheel' campers for temporary housing.

Arrive to warm greetings from the Ewell's. Lois, Elouise and I go to lunch to discuss a game plan for moving out of the Comfort Inn. They inform me that the families are going to have to split up. Lois must seek employment in Louisiana in order to finish her year and 5 months before retirement.

Stacy and Jerald's employer is relocating to Dallas and wants them to arrive on Monday. The three girls will live with their father in Tennessee until Stacy gets oriented to her new job and finds suitable housing.

Elouise will go with Lois, Courtney and Vachaun to 'the country' (Donaldsonville, Louisiana area) where Lucinda grew up and is buried.

From the Comfort Inn in Jackson where they expected to be for two or three days to ride out the hurricane to splitting up the families between Tennessee, Texas and Louisiana. These decisions are gut wrenching. A deep sadness persists as they face the reality of their circumstances. Tough decisions driven by these women's innate human instinct to provide for the well being for their children's future. I so admire the strength they exhibit under the stresses of their unforeseen situation.

These families never ever thought they would leave New Orleans. It has been home all their lives. The thought of not returning is almost unbearable. There is trepidation and apprehension in their voices as they lay out the plan.

I assure them that we will assist in making the transitions to their new communities less daunting.

I can't help but think that once again in New Orleans' history, families are being forced to split up. I feel very helpless tonight....

John Stocks

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