Outer Journey
I have to say that my favorite experiences today were at the Presbytere and learning about the tragedies of Hurricane Katrina and seeing the Mardis Gras museum. I enjoyed the colorful and bright costumes used by the different float and parade krewes. I could not believe the number of preserved gowns, artifacts, pictures, and even a full sided float that I got to see. I had never seen anything like it. The costumes are so vibrant and bigger than I could have imagined. They are shinny and themed to go with the float they will be riding on. I think that my favorite costume was a huge wheel of fortune gown and I also loved this seahorse costume. They both were extravagant, shiny, full of beads, and feathers. The costumes are very flashy and usually have large head pieces and masks too top it off. The float that I got to see was also so colorful full of giant flowers and butterflies and it had large trees on it. Everything I saw in the Mardi Gras part of the museum was so beautiful to me.
Besides the beautiful gowns, floats, and history of Mardi Gras museum I was also moved by the stories and history of the Hurricane Katrina exhibit. There was a part of the museum that you walked through with footage of the Hurricane playing on large screens and a large fan blowing as you heard the noise of the wind whipping through the air. It was a surreal and made very emotional to see all the different exhibits. There were many pictures of the flooding and the aftermath. Some that stuck out to me the most were the ones of people staying at the superdome when they had no where else to go. They had three stadium chairs from the superdome that people had to sit and sleep in. Premade MRE meals and cans of water were pasted out to eat and help people survive. They had all of these items on display as well as many of the doors and walls that people had written on showing how many people were in the home or had been rescued. There was part of the exhibit that had walls where a man named Tommie Elton Mabry had kept a journal and documentary of the events taking place. It had the dates and what was happening that day listed out. He would move from different apartments after the storm to seek shelter and left his documents on their walls.
Inner Journey
The city spoke to me most today though the many museums that we went to. I have learned that the people in New Orleans are not only resilient, but they have such a strong sense of community. At the Presbytere as I watched all of the videos on Hurricane Katrina and witnessed the people that survived work together to get things done. They chose to save one another, and many times did this before getting help for themselves. It just made me realize how strong this community is and the love they share. For example, there was a video playing and it showed how a women stayed in her flooded home even when she had a chance to leave because she had water and would cook for her neighbors that were stranded with her. There was another video clip that I watched where a young boy was going around with others in a few boats to save people stranded in the ninth ward. He found a young girl about to give birth and put her in his canoe. She ended up having the baby with this young boys help. He said that he had never even been around anyone one who was pregnant before let alone deliver a baby. That to me take so much courage. There was another story of a women who stayed behind and gave her spot up on a rescue mission by the coast guard because her neighbors needed help more. That is the most selfless act someone could do. There were many stories like this, and it made me see that everyone was watching out for each other. They had too because of all the lack of help in the system and from the lack of resources.it is so disheartening and makes me angry that the lack of help was so prevalent. I learned so much about the cities history today and the many hardships they have been through. I think that people here are extremely nice and everyone I have met even down to the street performers all look out for one another. I think that this is due to what their pasts are and the traumatic events they have suffered and survived. New Orleans culture is one of a kind and you really do see how they treat one another as family.
