The Newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world
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Sept 17, 2005?
? Happy Birthday goes out to my son Steven, he is 29 years old today.
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Now on to the good stuff..........
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Today's Queue Stories ~**~**~**~
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An Account of Evacuating Before Hurricane Katrina
D. A. Arthur
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Desperate times call for desperate measures. I don??™t remember exactly who said it, but it certainly applied in this case. It isn??™t everyday a Category 5 monster hurricane threatens my home and birthplace -- New Orleans, Louisiana. Truthfully, I live in an area outside New Orleans, but that??™s a mere technicality ??“ especially with a storm as large and powerful as Hurricane Katrina was. It??™s no secret that large and powerful hurricanes affect more real estate, and no matter where people are located, they
are bound to feel some effects. People who don??™t live in hurricane-prone areas don??™t realize that preparing for these storms are an enormous challenge. These storms disrupt lives, even those that are slaves to routine. A household often has precious little time to prepare to leave in the event of a major evacuation. But the blessing -- if you could call it that -- with hurricanes is because of the wonders of modern technology, at least there is time to prepare for them, if only a little bit. For some other natural disasters, there isn't even that luxury. But how truly can one prepare for the apocalypse? For a dangerous hurricane to change your entire life? To wipe out all you have, all you've worked for, in the blink of an eye? To wipe out your whole neighborhood, flood your city,
kill your family? You can't. From my very uncomfortable position with a disabled mother to look out for, I had two days to convince my entire doubting-Thomas family that this hurricane was a real and apparent threat to life, limb, and property. Begging and groveling failed. I ended up doing more begging and more groveling. I knew this was a difficult task but somebody had to do it.
???Ma, we??™ve got to go,??? I screamed at my mother, who was sitting on her couch. ???We can??™t stay here. We??™ve got to get out of here.??? ???Danielle, baby, be patient,??? she replied in a worried, somber tone, almost sounding like she was crying. My mother is wheelchair bound from diabetes and high blood pressure. ???You know my physical condition. I can??™t move like I want. Besides, the interstate??™s crowded.??? ???Do you know why the interstate's crowded???? I asked. ???It's crowded because they??™re trying to get the heck out of here. And we should too.??? My mother sighed. ???Sweetheart, you know we don??™t have a car, and we don??™t have a way to get to a shelter or anything,??? my mother said, trying to convince me not to worry about evacuating. After she pouted, she decided she would leave in the morning. But I wasn??™t done yet. I dialed my sister in Houston to tell her the bad news: Katrina could possibly hit on Monday, and we would need a place to go. Again she admonished me to be patient, accused me of overly panicking,
and said I needed to calm down. I walked to the den where my uncle had camped out. He had been living with us since last February. ???Look, you got to get out of here! You can??™t stay here! This is dangerous!??? He laughed at me. ???That storm ain??™t coming here.??? He seemed so confident that it wasn??™t coming that he was willing to stay in our house to prove it. ???You can??™t be serious!??? I shouted. ???You could die!??? He continued to laugh. My uncle is the most stubborn man I have ever known. His experience is different from the rest of the family, but the intransigence is much the same. He was a military man, a Vietnam vet who married a German woman, and spent the durations of both Betsy and Camille ??“ the 1965 and 1969 monster hurricanes that hit Louisiana and Mississippi ??“ overseas. This left him with very little true hurricane experience. ???If this storm hits as strong as they say it will," I countered, "all of this could be under water and blown in the wind.??? He proceeded to accuse me of
being a worrywart. I decided to try again the next morning. I was tired, and it was hopeless.
Time to go ???The National Weather Service has issued a hurricane warning from Morgan City, Louisiana, to the Alabama-Florida state line, including metropolitan New Orleans,??? so screamed the television set in my bedroom. ???That means hurricane conditions are likely in the warning area within twenty-four hours.??? Those were the first words I heard on Sunday, August 28. Around my neighborhood, it was a pretty typical Sunday. It didn't look like a day with a hurricane warning attached to it. I could swear I had never seen a more gorgeous sunrise in the summertime. I remember the clear, cloudless sky and the breeze swaying through the trees. People had gone to church. They were sitting
on their porches in wicker chairs, talking on their cell phones. They were walking up and down the street. Nobody had any clue what would happen. I then turned on my television, and my eyes were drawn to the satellite image on the screen. Hurricane Katrina was even more perfectly donut-shaped and round. In weather speak, she was annular. I had to hold my breath. I was incredulous by how much she??™d blossomed even overnight. She was a storm in full flight, spinning around in the water. I couldn??™t believe how beautiful she was. But I couldn??™t enjoy the view. I had to run away and hide from her. Frantic, I dialed my sister in Houston again. ???We??™ve got to get out of here,??? I told her. ???What???? Monica asked drowsily. I could hear her chomping on her cereal through the receiver. "I just got up." ???Katrina??™s a Category Five hurricane, with 160 mile-an-hour winds," I announced to her. "They just issued a hurricane warning, and it's headed straight for us. This storm's much too powerful. I??™m not staying here.??? ???Girl, I??™m tired of hearing about this. You??™re panicking,??? she said. ???This won??™t be as bad as you think it will be. I??™m getting ready to go to work.??? ???Monica, listen to me, this is serious!??? I shouted in the receiver. ???It's going to be as bad as I think it's going to be. This storm??™s coming.??? After resigning herself to admit that there's a possibility that I
might be right, she then went on to give me the directions to the apartment she had moved to, in Houston. It was a straight shoot, off Interstate 10. A blind man could find it. ???Tell the rest of them,??? Monica said, ???that they need to get off their duffs and get going.??? I had difficulty sleeping the night before, and even more difficulty eating breakfast that morning. Within twenty-four hours, the table at which I sat could be submerged. The roof, which already seemed to be held on by rubber bands and Scotch tape, could be blown off. Everything I had could be gone. I looked again at the satellite image,
and I couldn??™t believe what I saw. Katrina was a buzz-saw, bullying her way through the Gulf of Mexico, her mind made up to stroll down Bourbon Street. Thoughts of what could await me when I returned consumed my mind. I had never been more afraid in my entire life. As the morning wore on, more sobering news arrived: mandatory evacuations were ordered for the entire New Orleans metropolitan area, for the first time in history. We no longer had a choice. We had to go. How would you like to have an hour to pack your whole life in a few loosely put-together suitcases? How would you like to have to decide what to take and what to leave behind? How would you like to have to go somewhere, anywhere, and not know where you're going, when you'll return, or whether you'll have a place to return to? We threw together a loose amalgam of birth certificates, Bibles, and a few changes of clothing. I added several computer disks and my laptop computer. I also packed my mother's medicines. I tried to be brave, but I was scared out of my wits. Thinking
of another option, I dialed a special-needs shelter in Baton Rouge. My mother was furious that I??™d done that. ???I??™m not going to any damned shelter!??? she yelled at the top of her lungs, her voice straining to get her point across. With a much firmer tone, she added, ???I??™m not going to be anywhere where I don??™t know anyone.??? ???I??™d rather be there,??? I told her, ???than anywhere in our area. If this thing hits as strong as they say it will, all of this could be either underwater or destroyed.??? After my mother convinced me that a special-needs shelter probably wasn't the best idea, I had to now deal with my
other sister. Melissa is even more stubborn than Monica is. What??™s more, Melissa has three children and lives in a mobile home in a rural area accessible with only one road. A mobile home can barely withstand a tropical storm, much less a hurricane as powerful as Katrina. The urgency of leaving hadn??™t quite gotten through her thick skull. She was in complete denial. I pleaded with her that she couldn't stay. I could almost hear Melissa??™s frown. ???Why not???? she asked. ???Because there??™s a very strong hurricane and it??™s headed this way.??? I could picture Melissa giving me one of those incredulous looks, as if she were standing before me, talking to me. ???You??™re crazy! There isn??™t a hurricane out there! It??™s a great day today.??? ???Missy, I??™m serious. Turn on your TV now.??? Sure
enough, I heard the television blaring hurricane warnings through the receiver. ???Don??™t be fooled by the perfect weather,??? the anchorman warned. ???This is a dangerous storm and all in its path must leave.??? Melissa muted the television and then asked me, ???Where are we going???? I thought about it for a moment. ???I think we ought to try Houston, where Monica lives.??? ???Are you crazy???? Melissa asked me. ???I can??™t drive all the way to Houston!??? ???You want to know what??™s crazy???? I asked. ???A Category Five hurricane threatening the city of New Orleans. That??™s what??™s crazy. Getting out of here actually makes sense.??? Melissa, who lives about twenty minutes away from me, promised she would be there soon. After getting off the phone with her, I knocked on my uncle??™s door. ???They??™ve ordered mandatory evacuations,??? I told him with a serious poker face. ???We??™ve got to go.??? He reluctantly agreed to bring me and my mother to my aunt??™s house. I could still tell that he was skeptical about the storm??™s path and effects. While I waited for
my uncle to prepare to bring us, I decided to knock on the doors of clueless neighbors. I felt that it was my duty to inform them of the impending threat. I walked across the street to the Joneses. The Joneses were a young lot, consisting of a mother barely out of her teens and three children. They were watching a movie on cable, while the children ran around with their toys. ???They??™ve ordered a mandatory evacuation, you got to go.??? I didn??™t explain anymore, instead, I left them to ponder my words. It was clear to me that I had struck a nerve for them, and that they had no idea what was going on. The next family at whose residence I arrived was the Whites. Rosemary White was a diabetic on dialysis with three grown sons. The youngest son??™s girlfriend answered the door. She looked at me like
I was crazy. I didn??™t mince words with her. I told her she and her family had to pack up and leave. I had to explain to her why. She had even less of a clue than the Joneses did. I was incredulous. Had any of these people been watching the television? Fifteen minutes later, Melissa showed up, along with her kids. After about half an hour of last-minute preparations and wheeling mother out of the house, we took separate cars -- my mother with my uncle and the rest of us with my sister -- and decided to meet at my aunt??™s place twenty minutes or so west of where we lived. West, of course, at that point was better than east. I had made up my mind that I wasn??™t staying there. My mother, however, wanted to stay there, with the rest of her family. I screamed, ???You can??™t stay here!" "Why not?" Knowing my aunt??™s house was located right next to one of the levees surrounding the area, I said, "Suppose the levee breaks and the whole street fills with water. What are you going to do then? You can??™t move!??? My mother cried. And so did I. After more begging and pleading, I finally convinced my mother to take the ride with the rest of us to Houston.
On the road At on Sunday, seven of us piled into a gray Ford Escort and pulled out of my aunt??™s driveway, headed for parts unknown, not knowing whether we would ever see it again or whether it would still be standing when we returned. It became a race against time. I figured that since Katrina??™s estimated time of arrival was Monday morning, with some of her outer bands coming Sunday evening, it would take us a few hours to completely clear out of her sphere of influence. We reached the interstate at Gonzales in Ascension Parish. Interstate 10 was bumper-to-bumper, full of cars and SUVs and campers and boats heading out of the New Orleans area. The traffic was so slow that I thought on several occasions we would never get to our destination. Usually when we take long car trips we like to listen to music. But on this morning, the apocalyptic weather reports filled the air. The more time passed, the more ominous they became. Katrina had reached the Holy Grail of hurricanes. She had become the fourth strongest storm on record in the AtlanticBasin. Her maximum winds had increased to 175 miles per hour, with gusts as high as 220. She was, indeed, the perfect storm. So perfect, in fact, that the scenario setting up was catastrophic. Off our coast was Armageddon ??“ the end of life as we knew it. The same feelings of dread and uncertainty were echoed in some of the many weary travelers we encountered. ???Is this what they went through in Florida???? one lady asked me in a restroom in BreauxBridge, just east of Lafayette. ???None of the storms that threatened Florida last year,??? I reminded her, ???was a Category
5 monster.??? ???That??™s what I??™m afraid of. I??™m scared I won??™t have anything left when I get back. If I get back.??? We continued to creep along I-10 west, stopping occasionally to seek hotels. None were available. At every stop we made, we were given the same refrain. ???No vacancies.??? ???I??™m sorry we don??™t have any rooms.??? ???We??™re booked until Wednesday.??? We had already been on the road for four hours and were weary of riding. The three children in the backseat were restless beyond belief. We filled up with gas, got some snacks, and got a stretch. I went in and picked up a couple of Advil to deal with the splitting headache I??™d gotten. What we didn??™t know was that our trip was just beginning. While back on the road, we passed the scenic town of Westlake, with a lake that emptied into the Gulf of Mexico. Looking down at the lake, one would never know that the monster storm known as Katrina was lurking just to its southeast. Only a few ripples gently caressed the shoreline, while the boats cuddled next to the marina and the beach. By that time we had been on the road five and a half hours. While I looked down at the marina and over at the hazy late-summer sky, I was certain that we had outrun Katrina. But what about those that couldn??™t and
wouldn??™t get out? What would we find when we returned? My soul was consumed with dread.
? D.A. Arthur
d_a_arthur@yahoo.com
The Maverick Princess
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D.A. Arthur is a freelance writer, living in Louisiana. She is the author of the novel "The Maverick Princess" which was published in 2004 and can be found at any online bookstore. Find out more about her at the following locations: http://www.daarthur.us (the official site); http://www.publishedauthors.net/daarthur (auxiliary site), and http://www.ryze.com/go/DAArthur.
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? Restoring the Peace
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? The storms that came through Central Florida last
year wrecked havoc on the homes and properties of so many.? Almost a year later, you can still see the signs of the devastating winds and rains that tore through here in Lakeland where I live.?
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? It was such a surprise to those of us who haven't seen a hurricane since 1960, when Hurricane Donna made an entrance into town, packing winds of over 100 mph.? I was ten years old at the time so it really wasn't a big deal to me.? I was in a foster home and the parents were such loving people.? They had three children of their own and kept about four foster kids at the time, my sister and I being two of them.? They fixed us all beds in the living room of this old house, away from the windows.? I remember a couple windows were broken out but not much else.
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? The storms of 2004 were different in the fact that four major storms hit us, one right behind the other.? Many of our elderly people were confronted with not having a home anymore, after using their life savings to move down here to retire.? Our FEMA program did a fine job of helping them relocate and repairing their homes when possible.? I am very proud of the way our citizens stood together and helped their neighbors.? Many, including myself, are still suffering from psychological issues, having gone through the stress of all this devastation, some say similar to having been through a war.
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? My yard was my biggest heartache.? The storms tore holes in my roof and it was leaking but my yard was more important.? I loved my flowers!? My patio was like a small sanctuary where I went to sit and enjoy all the greenery that God had helped me grow.? I had roses and ferns, herbs, all sorts of green, leafy hanging plants.? I marveled at the many shades of green in nature!? I had just bought a storage shed and took pictures of my lovely little corner of the world.? After the storms my patio cover was hanging on a tree and the shed was gone.? Most
of my potted plants were overturned and ruined, also my roses.?
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? I was sickened that this happened after all the work and hours God and I had put in making this little place so beautiful.? I just knew I could never do it again and when I went outside, I? couldn't even look for months.? I just picked up the mess and decided that it wasn't worth the gamble to try again.
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? Then one day I noticed my honeysuckle vine still strived and was blooming!? It was April, 2005, and the sun started shining for me again!? I decided I needed to get to work and plant plant some more flowers to enjoy.? God was taking care of the ones that were left because I wouldn't even water them.? They were growing and starting to bloom anyway!? I started to think that if I would help God by doing my part, I could have a beautiful yard again!
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? I planted some sunflowers and zinnias in the yard.? My neighbor gave me some hanging plants.? I finally got my patio cover back up so my ferns could have some shade and some of the depression left me.? I wanted my environment to be pleasant again.? I knew this had everything to do with my mood and the way I look at life in general.? I love flowers so much and by refusing to grow them again, I was turning my back on love and hurting myself.
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? Today my sunflowers smile at all the traffic that drives by my little trailer and the honeysuckle smells so sweet in the evening.? I can sit out on my patio and enjoy all the lovliness and talk to my savior.? Even though there are many cars going by, I can feel the peace that is there.? I am so grateful that God allowed me to rebuild and make something good out of a bad situation.? He restored my soul!
Right? now I intend to continue the beautiful awakening in me of my creative juices that were nurtured with such loving care in January when I first took this course.
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Sharlette863 @aol.com
About Me:
I was born in Alabama, the middle ofseven children. At about age four we movedto Central Florida and I have lived heremost of my life. I am a Viet Nam EraVeteran. I have always enjoyed writingand as I get older it seems to come morenaturally to me. I believeeveryone has many stories inside them andsome are blessed to be able to share them. ? .~**~**~
When I look into the past on how as a child one had in a time behaved foolishly I ask myself the question if it happens that I go back to that era would I behave that foolishly again??¦
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Well, no mater how foolish it sounds or looks now, then it seemed to be the wisest decisions one took.?
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On my way to the office before the Muslim public holiday; Mohamed??™s birthday, I met a lady friend of mine in the same public bus which I was in.? ?
We got talking about our childhood days which brought back the memory of ???the school eyes test??™ to me.?
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The school eyes test was organized by the state health board backed by the state government for all schools in my state which was then BendelState of Nigeria but now bears EdoState in Nigeria.
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When I was in the secondary
school I was just too playful to pay attention to upcoming issues.? ? ? ? Even when I heard I never considered the information important.? I was just too amused about things around me way back then.? How I remained brilliant is a misery to me up till date.?
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One day, the information about eyes test
was passed to us on the assembly ground.? We were told that we are to receive from the state ministry of health some opticians to check the state of our eyes after which recommendation would be made for any possible correction of our vision.?
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After the information of the health officials scheduled visit was passed lot of us we went home to get our parents informed.? On my part, I never bothered at all to get them informed at home.? I cared not about such information.? I just loved to play and be mischievous.? Any way, most parents were misinformed by us in one way or the other which led to commotion on the visit day.
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At school we didn??™t believe that the health
officials will come to carrying out their assignment.? We saw it as propaganda to make good name for the then state government.
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You know, way back then in the early 1980s we had the civilian government ruling us and it was believed that each political party would do whatever pleases them to hold down the people for their own convenience.
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The rumor went around the school compound that some kind of poisonous element to damage our eye sights was to be added into the machines for carrying out the test.? This rumor was to jeopardize the then governor??™s regime.? Some parents advised their children not to go to school on that day.? ? ? We that came wore extra cloths under our school uniform in case of helter skelter.?
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The ???D??™ day came and lot of us lazily went to school that morning. The time for the visit was scheduled for and the school bell was rung for us to assemble, waiting impatiently for the Draculas; as we believed them to
be, to emerge from the school main gate.?
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Whenever we had such occasion in school, it meant closing to school academic very early which we always looked forward to as there would be time for play and mischief all day in school before going home or back to school dormitory.
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In a moment the health board??™s mobile van painted in color white and red strips came moving slowly through the school main gate down to the school field towards the assembly ground.? Behind it was a vehicle marked ???NTA Channel 7, Benin??™ which conveyed the state television station crew coming to film the whole event for publication and show off to the communities at
night as part of government projects for his tenure.
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The next issue was for the school principal to alert the assemblage that ???here comes the health board, please behave well in presence of them??™.
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Immediately, trouble just started by her saying this because the next few minutes became something else on the school compound.
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Fear griped the whole students as some started shouting my mamaooo, my mamaooo (my mother, my mother).? There was running here and there as helter skelter broke out.? Students were jumping over the school fence to the other side to escape with their dear lives.? Those who couldn??™t jump the school fence; especially the girls, ran into the school garden and through a broken part on the fence to escape into the thick bush behind the school.? It was really fun for me that morning.? I ran away myself.? We avoided the school main gate since we knew that the gatemen wouldn??™t open the gate for us.
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Some people fell on their back, some on their stomach; which ever way was unfortunate we fell to the ground and getting up to run further away.? Some hit an object but that did stop them running.? Some fell into mud. Some crashed on each other.
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Some
school teachers began to chase to catch us.? For who, for the killers we thought and that scared us the most!? It was later said in our midst that some of the teachers were involved in the plan to get us trapped for the vampires.? This was false and the whole misinformation brought down the image of my school.
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All these while, the
television station was filming the embarrassing situation.? We did not know this until late night news at about ? It was shown on TV to multitude watching.? The name of my school was made mentioned of, after which my school uniform became a laughing stuff wherever it was worn to.
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My parents in quote were embarrassed and called my school a bush school.
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But the will of children sometimes goes higher than the ordinary as we never cared about peoples??™ comments about us.? We just felt that we were too smart for the government to render sightless.
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We refused to show up in school the following day thinking that they would come for us again.? When we finally showed up in school whenever a vehicle screeches into the school field we would come running out of our classes again.? I guess the fear lingered for a while.
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I can??™t forget the school principal??™s scolding us after the embarrassment we caused her.? The teachers wouldn??™t teach us not until after reminding us of the embarrassment we caused the school.? Some would ask you a question and God help you not to fail the answer others it would be ???why wont you fail when you are so useless to yourself and your family???.?
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Today, when I remember that embarrassing event I wonder who got that misinformation into the school and how it spread so deep into the school children??™s minds.? For me, that day was fun but for the school farm/garden it was hell as all the crops were leveled down by students??™ tramping feet.? For the school fence, it got lots of friends that morning; friends who got over it for escape.? I remembered what got me scared the most about the thick bush was
the sense of a snake coming after me but I couldn??™t jump back over fence to the school compound for the believe that those government agents were waiting there to kill my sight.? I got stuck in between the school eyes test and the fear of snake in the bush.? I saw a head of a lizard underneath a leave and that got the hell out of me as I yelled like never before but no body could hear me due to the over noise everywhere.
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I somehow survived the pandemonium and I am happy that I am still alive today relating the funny event to you all.
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LOVE YOU ALL!
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THE END
BIO-DATA
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I was born on 21st April, 1970.? I live in Lagos, Nigeria the most populous city in Africa. I sing in a Church music group where I fellowship.? I love sports.? I love admiring the heavens and other wonderful works borne from Jehovah??™s hands.? I discovered the power of writing stories, encouraged by Carol.? Thanks for her existence!? I am pet lover minus snakes; I so much hate this creature called snake but others I prefer.? I like to do lots of home works like creating
my art works, gardening, making some home furniture, fitting electrical appliances etc.
