University of Virginia New Orleans Journals\r\n\r\nThursday, January 12, 2006\r\n\r\nBenjamin Cooper, College of Arts & Sciences\r\n\r\nA group of us began the day by traveling over to Jackson \r\n\r\nSquare, the site of a protest set to precede President Bush\'s \r\n\r\nspeech in the area. The protest was apolitical -- a gathering of \r\n\r\npeople from all over the political spectrum to advocate the \r\n\r\nconstruction of levees that could withstand the fury of a \r\n\r\nCategory 5 hurricane. We were surprised by the somewhat low \r\n\r\nturnout, though we speculated that this was due to the fact that \r\n\r\nmany residents are still unable or unwilling to return to the \r\n\r\nregion. The journey also gave us the opportunity to (briefly) see \r\n\r\nthe Mississippi River and St. Louis Cathedral, both of which \r\n\r\nwere firsts for many of us. The St. Louis Cathedral is absolutely \r\n\r\nbreathtaking, from its sprawling mosaics to its soaring spires.\r\n\r\nUnfortunately, boosting the New Orleans tourism industry was \r\n\r\nnot our cause -- we knew that our help was desperately needed \r\n\r\nelsewhere. We all piled back into our caravan of minivans and \r\n\r\nwent to join the other group at St. Augustine. St. Augustine was \r\n\r\nlocated in one of the harder-hit areas of New Orleans, as \r\n\r\nevidenced by not only the height of the watermarks (well above \r\n\r\nseven feet) but the absolute destruction of the area. Rubble of \r\n\r\nthe likes one would never expect to see in America covered \r\n\r\nyards and roads alike. Abandoned bicycles and toys littered the \r\n\r\ncurbs, painful reminders of the devastating effect this hurricane \r\n\r\nhas had on the children of the area. There is something \r\n\r\npositively chilling about the X\'s that mark every house, perhaps \r\n\r\nbecause they put in stark contrast the fact that these \r\n\r\nimpersonal remains of houses used to be homes to many \r\n\r\nfamilies.\r\n\r\nThe work was winding down by the time we arrived at St. \r\n\r\nAugustine, where the group had been cleaning mainly cooking \r\n\r\nsupplies all day. The priest who tended to St. Augustine and \r\n\r\nserved as our organizer for the clean-up work was yet another \r\n\r\nreminder of the desperate state of need the residents of New \r\n\r\nOrleans are in. He was extremely grateful for what we had \r\n\r\ndone, even though the school still had a long way to go in the \r\n\r\nrecovery process. From what I gathered from the other \r\n\r\nstudents, he had actually stayed behind with the school during \r\n\r\nKatrina, letting in over 300 people to take shelter with him \r\n\r\ndespite having a minimal amount of supplies and food. As \r\n\r\npainful as the bad times have been for the residents of New \r\n\r\nOrleans, it is refreshing to know that such overwhelming good \r\n\r\nexists.\r\n\r\nOriginal URL: \r\n\r\nhttp://www.virginia.edu/topnews/releases2006/NewOrleansJourn\r\n\r\nal11.html