Down in the Delta

Something that some folks may not know about me: after high school (so long ago, in 1986), I didn’t want to just move on to Clemson University. At that time, it just seemed that all of the people I knew from my high school in Anderson, SC (15 miles south of Clemson) were going there, so I was afraid it would just be high school writ large. No, I wanted broader horizons. I received a nice package of grants and loans from Tulane University in New Orleans, and that is where I went for my first year and a half of college. I have a lot of fond memories from there:
– The horrid freshman dorm. Fourth floor, Sharp Hall.
– Marginal improvement the next year, second floor, Butler Hall
– Sunday morning brunch in Bruff Commons (not good food, but pleasant at the time)
– Broadcasting the Global Folk Show on Sunday mornings on WTUL-FM
– Video production with TUVAC, producing a weekly issues discussion show for public access TV
– The massive toy-gun shootout that ranged the length and breadth of McAlister Auditorium
– Seeing Andreas Vollenweider, Bruce Hornsby, Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Hunter S. Thompson (the latter completely drunk out of his mind) at McAlister Auditorium
– Plum Street Snowball stand. That wasn’t a sno-cone, that was heaven.
– Audubon Park Zoo, right across St. Charles from Tulane
– Mardi Gras. Good gods, Mardi Gras.
– All the great music at the clubs: Beausoleil, File’ Cajun Band, The Godfathers…
– Fridays afternoons on the Quad. The Song Dogs, Harry Connick, Jr., Winter Hours, The Radiators…
– Working as a dispatcher/student marshal for Tulane Police. I saw every inch of that campus, and then some, and met some great people.
– Cafe du Monde, Dixie Beer, barbecued crawfish (suck the head and pinch the tail, y’all!), muffalettas, and po’boys

And now? Most, if not all of that is under water. Officially, Tulane University has said they won’t start classes until September 21, but I saw one blog that had a tip from a Tulane employee speculating that it may be next year before they can start classes again.

They’ll rebuild. There is no doubt in my mind. It won’t be the same, but that’s OK. Everything changes, and I’m sure very little was still the same from the last time I set foot in the city seventeen years ago. But I do believe they will come back, in time.

That’s in the future. For the present, there are millions of people that need help. They need your help. Stop what you’re doing and think: what if you had to leave, right now? What would you take? What would you leave behind? Where would you go? What if what you thought you could come back to was gone, obliterated?

Think about that. Then click on one of these links. Even if it’s just a few dollars, every little bit will help. The American Red Cross donation page (site is very slow). Americares donation page (small but very effective charity). Humane Society of the United States donation page (mounting a rescue effort for pets and caregivers). Or select some other charity that you prefer, but seriously: do something.

3 thoughts on “Down in the Delta”

  1. moryssa

    We had a sign on the 5th floor of Monroe (I was on the 4th floor). The sign said “Welcome to sea level.” We thought it was amusing at the time, but now all I can think of is the fact that if they can’t stop the flooding until the lake water equalizes with the river, then Monroe and Butler will probably the only buildings even *visible* over the water, since nothing else went higher than 3-4 floors.
    I keep looking at the photos and seeing places that I know… places I recognize, even through the devastation. One of the earliest photos that was posted shows a policeman standing somewhere in the French Quarter, peering around a wall down the empty street. I know *exactly* where he’s standing, because it’s where home base/triage was when we were working Mardi Gras Coalition ever year. I’ve prowled those streets at all hours of the morning. I lived there for 6 years.
    It’s just absolutely heartbreaking to see the pictures of a place I love so much, not to mention the waiting… there are still 2 friends that we’re waiting to hear from, because we don’t know if they and their families evacuated or not. 🙁

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