Youth Narratives

Liam

Liam thinks about his experience of going through Hurricane Ida and how that brings him closer to understanding something about his parent’s experience of Hurricane Katrina.

Aleister

Aleister talks about his experience of learning the stories of his family and members of his community. from Hurricane Katrina. He explores how that shaped the value system that he has grown up in, and how it connects him to the city.

Jahmai

Jahmai considers the destruction and trauma caused by Hurricane Katrina and tries to imagine putting herself through it. Her piece emphasizes her love of the New Orleans she knows, which has risen out of that destruction.

Byron

Byron reflects on his artistic practice and how he seeks to use that in service of home and community, connecting him back to his grandfather who rebuilt his house after Katrina.

McKenzie

Kenzie’s story is about empathy. She brings you into what she has learned about Hurricane Katrina’s impact and what it has felt like for her to learn about what happened to her city.

Kendyll

Kendyll uses her craft as an actress to create a monologue as if she was her mother in 2006, coming back to New Orleans from grad school to help rebuild.

Nasir

Nasir describes trying to imagine what it would have been like to go through Hurricane Katrina for his family, the images that stick in his mind from that time, and notices the hope in how the city has been rebuilt.

Afton

Afton reflects on memory - how you might be shaped by a memory even if you didn’t live through it. She shares the story of her relative that she learned in the process of exploring the legacy of Hurricane Katrina for herself.

Shanae

Shanae notices the old Six Flags in New Orleans East, imagining what she might have been able to experience there and also realizes how it represents a city that did not come back after the storm. She finds that hearing the stories of her parents and community members gives her strength

Marlon

Marlon connects to his parent’s experience going through Hurricane Katrina, putting himself in his parents’ shoes during that time. He thinks about the tough parts of what they went through and also what good might have come out of Katrina.

Dylan

Dylan speaks to how New Orleanians overcame the hardship of the storm. He talks about what he has heard from his parents about their experience, and how he finds hope in what he sees today.

Kim

Kim brings us to her neighborhood of Versailles in New Orleans East, describing the vibrancy of the Vietnamese community that lives there. She shares the experience of her grandmother going through Hurricane Katrina, and what she has learned from her grandmother about the perseverance and strength of their culture.

Mai

Mai describes some of the pain that Katrina brought into her family’s life and she considers the “what-if’s” if Katrina never happened. She gives thanks for what she has inherited from her family that has enabled her to weather the storms of her life.

Joi

Joi asks, “what happens when holding on means letting go of who you were?”. She shares her family’s story, as well as her reflections on hearing other’s stories and on the meaning of home in a time of displacement and rebuilding.

Amari

Amari focuses on how people helped each other during the storm and how New Orleans is family. She describes the experience of her great-grandmother through Hurricane Katrina and what her great-grandma’s house and Amari’s community means to her today.

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