Why New Orleans Matters #1

I perused this book a bit while the rest of our book club locates the book, and I was horrified at what I read in the Introduction.  Granted, I wasn't all that involved in any relief efforts after the hurricane struck, but I expected to be informed a bit more about what exactly was going on in New Orleans and the surrounding areas.  I knew of the evacuation to the Astrodome in Houston, but I had never heard of the horrifying events that occurred at evacuation site nearer to the city itself.  I feel as though the country at large was woefully uninformed of the catastrophes within the catastrophe. Corpses rotting on the sidewalks?  Young girls being raped?  Doctors operating without electricity or sanitary conditions?  I had no idea any of this happened.  I feel horribly ignorant and small-minded to admit it, but it's true.  Perhaps I was too young to understand, or too busy with navigating my own way through the floodwaters of my first year of high school to really comprehend the magnitude of the horror that was Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.  Natural disaster made an entire city go completely insane.

Granted, that is not really what this book is meant to be about; it is an examination of the loss and reconstruction of a culture, and the iconic characteristics of a city that were washed away in the blink of an eye.  But the Introduction was useful in setting the scene for what monstrous force could actually make a people forget who they are and spiral down into the lowest incarnation of humanity.  I look forward to reading more of Piazza's discussion of this phenomenon and its remedies.  It looks to be promising, having read thus far.

More questions....

What is your favorite thing to do outside of work?
Who has had the most influence on you at BSU? In your life?
How do you unwind after work?
What's your biggest achievement?

Five Questions

Out of my three candidates, the one I have chosen is Randy the Janitor at the RCC.  He is a really nice guy, but no one ever hears him say anything more than "Hello" and "How are you?"  But I'm sure he has pleanty more to say about the school, its students, and the everyday goings-on in the RCC.

A list of possible questions I may ask, specific to him:
1. How did you come by this job?
2. What's the most outrageous thing that you have ever witness or have had happen to you in the RCC?
3. What's your opinion of the BSU student body overall?
4. What is one goal that you would like to accomplish this year, in terms of your job, and in terms of life in general?
5. What is your favorite time of year/place in the RCC?

Profiles

My top three people I would like to do profiles on are:

Suzanne Ramczyk: Theatre professor at BSU, terrifying, fascinating, despicable, intriguing.  Though she pontificates considerably, mainly about herself, not much is known about her personal life or what kind of a person she really is.  It would be very interesting and beneficial to get to know her on a more human level.

Randy: Maintainer in the Rondileau Campus Center.  Always says hello, aquainted with a majority of the theatre students, though not much is known about him.  Janitors always have the most interesting things to say, about the buildings they maintain, the life that passes through them, or life in general.

Taras Leshischin: Voice teacher at BSU.  Taras is extremely dedicated to his students, and when he doesn't get the recognition he deserves, he soldiers on anyway, for the sake of his students.  It would be interesting to interview a person whose entire life revolves around their art; singing is the means whereby Taras pays the rent, puts food on the table, makes connections, and gets from place to place, so to speak.  He has also led a fascinating life, which would make for a good profile.