Reflections on Katrina, 10 years later

It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years since the storm. I knew I’d write some sort of piece to mark the anniversary, but I was surprised at how stressful it was to actually undertake it. There was so much ground to cover and no clear starting point. I thank the friends who came through with suggestions after I sent them a first draft I knew wasn’t working. My editor at the Inquirer made no changes.

This is my completed column. The lay-out in the print edition is amazing. When my editor asked me for photo suggestions, I searched for and found photos of Booker T. Harris, a 91-year-old man whose body, seated in a battered lawn chair, was on the median in front of the city’s convention center. I’d interviewed his wife, seated in the chair next to him, on the day he died. The National Guard team on the ground picked up his wife, chair and all, and evacuated her. But there was no room for the dead when there was so many living people in so much need. Thus Mr. Harris remained there, sometimes covered with a blanket, sometimes not, in the blistering heat for days.

Seeing one photo — of Mr. Harris still slumped in his chair and an angry man holding a baby waving the blanket that had covered the body in the air — was a jolt. I was immediately in tears, something I hadn’t expected. I sent the photo to my editor, including a note saying I’d been surprised by how upset I’d become seeing that image. He wrote back that the page designer had had the same reaction.

They chose not to include the photo in the paper, but it’s out there and easy to find if you’re interested.

http://www.philly.com/philly/living/20150805_Young_storytellers_share_their_tales_at_benches.htmlThis articlemarking the program’s 10th anniversary features a 7-year-old who wrote her own story to tell at the benches.