While watching coverage of President Obama’s brief visit to New Orleans yesterday (the first of his presidency), I was disappointed to find little real substance in his remarks.  In fact, having paid close attention to Obama’s mentions of Katrina during his tours as a candidate, the opening to his Town Hall meeting sounded more to me like a campaign speech than a serious contribution to the recovery effort.  Quickly, the rhetoric wandered from a brief overview of the disaster to a few vague mentions of the Administration’s commitment to recovery, before devolving into broad discussion of the national agenda and a closing rallying cry.

Sure, the positivity and presence of the President is undoubtedly appreciated.  But New Orleans at this moment isn’t in need of a “listening tour.” As Obama said, he’s already spent time as a candidate listening and learning in the city.  This visit was, if anything, a squandered opportunity to announce a real concrete initiative, such as a Gulf Coast “czar,” a plan to reopen hospitals, more comprehensive disaster preparedness efforts, or even simply a more detailed description of future plans.Yes, there has been inspiring progress already.

Yes, the recovery money has helped shield New Orleans from some of the pain of unemployment and economic distress felt so acutely in the rest of the country.  However, this is far from enough.  Without a higher position on the Obama Administration’s admittedly bursting agenda, true systemic change and revitalization in the Gulf Coast may prove tragically unattainable.

With the fourth anniversary now past, I thought I would highlight a few recent works which provide some interesting angles on Hurricane Katrina:

The first, of course, is Dave Eggers’ Zeitoun, which has received a lot of press over the past few weeks.  A fictionalized account of a Syrian-American man working to help his fellow New Orleanians in the days after the hurricane, Eggers’ work is more than just an exposé on the horrors of disaster.  Rather, it highlights the Bush-era political climate and the intersections between local and federal, personal and state.  Fictionalizing national trauma is always tricky, but Eggers pulls it off with depth and substance, allowing the reader to gain new insight into the disaster four years later.

The second, Rebecca Solnit’s A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster, I admit I have yet to read.  However, I was intrigued by the review in last week’s NY Times.  While not exclusively about Hurricane Katrina, Solnit explores the “utopia”-like qualities that develop in communities touched by extreme trauma and disaster (for example, tendencies toward altruism).  She debunks certain theories about human reaction to emergencies (such as instant panic), and examines myths about government organized response.  Given its recent nature, Katrina is a major focus, along with 9/11 as well as more historical tragedies.  The revelations seem quite intriguing.

As usual, the media coverage concerning the 4th anniversary of Katrina is decidedly varied.  While some news outlets chose simply to revisit the disaster in extraordinary detail (see The New York Times Magazine’s lengthy investigation of medical ethics during Katrina), others used the occasion as a platform for political statements urging the Obama Administration to follow through on effective disaster preparations and other reform efforts.  Still more commented on the relative “success” or “failure” of the recovery efforts thus far, though results differed significantly between articles.

The diversity in media point of view, in my opinion, echoes the questions faced by educators wishing to incorporate Hurricane Katrina into their curriculum. Are the lessons learned from the disaster evident simply in the retelling of its facts? When and how can we measure the success of recovery? How do we continue to discuss Katrina in a way that’s immediately relevant? What’s changed and what needs to be amended? What has happened over the past year that affects the way we absorb, study, and perceive this tragedy?

In terms of recent developments, I wonder whether there is an important connection between the way we respond to Katrina and the way we respond to our current Great Recession and its many corresponding crises (be they financial, housing, health care etc).  While the two are clearly disasters of a different nature, both illuminate socioeconomic divides and raise questions of government responsibility.  Is there a valuable way of connecting these issues so that students consider the implications of Katrina (and relate to its extremes) while also reflecting on the nuanced and difficult problems that may directly affect their immediate futures?

A selection of links to media coverage focusing on the 4th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina:

New Orleans Times-Picayune: “Many Still in Exile Know What it Really Means to Miss New Orleans,” “There are Many Ways to Remember Katrina” “N.O. Area on Firmer Footing as Nation Falters in Past Year,” “We’re Counting on You, Mr. President,” “Katrina’s Dead Guide Planning for Future”

NY Times: “In New Orleans, Recovery is Not Enough,” “Obama Vows to Speed Hurricane Katrina Recovery Effort,” “The State of New Orleans: An Update” (Op-ed)

NY Times Magazine: “Strained by Katrina, A Hospital Faced Deadly Choices”

NY Daily News: “Four Years After Katrina, New Orleans Still Needs Us”

NPR: “New Orleans: A Day’s Work Doesn’t Mean A Day’s Pay,   “The Gulf Coast’s Recovery: Uneven and Uneasy,” “Derelict Buildings House Thousands in New Orleans”

Philadelphia Inquirer: “Vital Protection in a Storm,” “Lower Ninth Ward Struggles 4 Years Later”

Time Magazine: “Four Years Later, New Orleans’ Green Makeover”

Washington Post: “On Katrina Anniversary, Obama Pledges to End “Turf Wars” That Slow Recovery”

ABC News: “Scars of Katrina Run Deep in New Orleans”

Wall Street Journal: “Grass Roots Put New Orleans Back on Its Feet”

Huffington Post (John McQuaid): “Still Fiddling While New Orleans Drowns”

Huffington Post (Marian Wright Edelman): “Katrina’s Children–Still Struggling”

Christian Science Monitor: “Four Years After Katrina, Who Will Lead New Orleans?”

As a quick follow-up to my recent post on Open Sound New Orleans, I just came across another interesting project which maps the city based on media coverage. The site is called citymurmur.org and uses RSS feeds of blogs and news sources to “feed” a geographical representation of the city, linking individual streets and regions with tags based on topic, type of source, and source scale (e.g. local, regional, national). You can also view keywords based on the content of news articles. It’s an interesting way to get a sense of both the city and its representation in the media.  As an aside, I find that the coverage of New Orleans’ recovery post-Katrina, while somewhat limited, has still allowed me to get a better sense of the overall anatomy of an American city. The focus on individual elements of the city as they are rebuilt (or should be rebuilt) puts a spotlight on issues within city government or development that are often glossed over or deemed unimportant. But perhaps this is just me and my interest in urban studies. Do others find that post-Katrina coverage has enriched their understanding of the function/dysfunction in cities in general?

Recently, a number of articles have cropped up about displaced New Orleans residents and the 2010 census.  According to sources such as the  Associated Press and The Louisiana Weekly, a debate has emerged over how displaced New Orleanians should record their residency. Mayor Ray Nagin is encouraging those who intend to return to record New Orleans as their home. However, census watchdogs have suggested that this is a dishonest representation of how many residents are actually living within the city’s borders.  They insist that an accurate census count in 2010 is important for a number of reasons:

• It provides an essential benchmark for New Orleans’ recovery.
• It determines representation (i.e. whether or not both the immediate region and the state of Louisiana lose elected officials).
• It determines federal funding. Thus, the decision for displaced residents to mark New Orleans as their home affects both the city’s incoming funding and that of their adopted homes.

(The various articles linked above discuss these points in greater detail.)In addition to the identity struggles of former New Orleans residents, I find this an interesting topic because it illustrates the radiating effect of a simple census count.  The context of disaster recovery illuminates the way that US citizens hold value as statistics within the political arena. I feel like this could be an interesting example for anyone delving deeper into issues of census-taking and the political process, in addition to those interested in the development of New Orleans.

Since Hurricane Katrina, groups such as the National Economic & Social Rights Initiative (NESRI) and May Day New Orleans have led campaigns to secure the housing rights of displaced New Orleanians, as well as others affected by the disaster. Now, the major buzzword is “forced evictions,” in which residents are instructed to vacate their homes in order to make way for other post-Katrina development initiatives. Often times, families affected by forced evictions aren’t given the proper resources to obtain new housing, leaving them with few options.�This week, the UN Advisory Group on Forced Evictions (AGFE) is conducting a fact-finding mission in the city, bringing two international experts to meet with citizens, organizations, and elected officials. In a NESRI press release about the mission, the organization states:

The forced evictions being investigated in New Orleans come as a result of a rebuilding process that favors private sector interests over the interests of residents. This emphasis on private sector development is being felt across the country with devastating effects including the current economic crisis, which has its roots in the housing sector. While post-Katrina redevelopment policies have had a disproportionately adverse impact on poor and low-income African American communities, the ongoing lack of affordable housing, and the evictions to make way for private sector development, is a significant issue for all residents of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.     

Throughout New Orleans’ history, the city has had difficulty maintaining the balance between private and public interests.  Hurricane Katrina has only amplified this challenge.  Now, with this issue of forced eviction, the city again finds itself struggling to determine how to satisfy its business needs and spur economic recovery without adversely affecting its neediest populations.  Hopefully, the presence of an international watchdog will help to move things in the right direction.

An interesting project I came across recently is the Open Sound New Orleans site, a dynamic online exhibit which aims to “make more accessible the authentic, unedited sounds and voices of New Orleans.”

Essentially, New Orleans residents are encouraged to record the sounds around them, whether they’re the voices of neighbors, musical celebrations on the streets, or more “ambient” sounds, such as the chirping of crickets. The sounds are then plotted on a map of the city, and tagged based on their contents. It’s an interesting digital taste of the environment, whether you’re looking to get a sense of some gritty, authentic, New Orleans jazz or listen to a serious interview about the recovery effort. Check it out here.

As the end of 2008-09 school year retreats into the distance, I thought it might be a good time to put together an update on the continuing reform efforts within New Orleans’ educational system.

A quick recap: the system explained
Still baffled by New Orleans schools? Here’s a short explanation of N.O.’s increasingly complicated system: Faced with a state-wide schools crisis and rock bottom test scores, the state of Louisiana created the Recovery School District (RSD) in 2003. The new state-run district began to handpick the lowest-performing schools (most of which were located in New Orleans), transferring them out of the local infrastructure and (in many cases) hiring charter school organizations to boost their performance.

After Katrina, most of New Orleans schools reopened under RSD jurisdiction (67 currently), while a small number remained within the Orleans Parish School Board system (19 at the moment). In addition, 60% of New Orleans’ schools are charter schools. RSD superintendent Paul Vallas (in picture) and state superintendent Paul Pastorek (both hired post-Katrina) have expressed confidence in the charter school concept and described plans to increase the number of charter schools operating in New Orleans. However, experts have disagreed over whether the charter school-centric, fragmented education model in has led to any concrete success.

So what happened this year?

Well, a few things. Here are some highlights:
In the fall, 7 new charter schools opened in the city, launching a massive effort to compete for new students. This was covered in an excellent article in the New York Times here.

Officials also announced a major master plan for RSD school reform, outlining ambitions to build 28 new schools over the next 5 years. This plan, however, was hotly contested amongst the public.

In November, data emerged from the first full assessment of the city’s educational system since Katrina. While some schools made large gains, 24 still received an “unacceptable” rating, including all but 2 of the school board-run institutions.

In February, RSD superintendent Paul Vallas announced that he would leave the district after the 2009-10 school year to pursue politics in Illinois. However, he has since decided that he would not run after all, citing the need to continue his efforts in the city.

Finally, in May, LEAP test scores showed three years of continuous improvement in New Orleans. While these scores are not necessarily comprehensive in the least, they do provide a small measure of hope that something in New Orleans’ jumbled experiment of a system may be succeeding.

For more coverage, check out www.nola.com or the non-profit Save Our Schools New Orleans.