University of Virginia, New Orleans Journals

Friday, January 13, 2006

Anna Maria Badyoczek, School of Engineering and Applied

Science

I initially took this class not only because of my background in

structural engineering and architecture, but also because I

considered taking the spring semester off in order to work and

help rebuild New Orleans. After this week, I can now say that I

have a vague notion of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina

secondhand - not having witnessed the storm, I began to see

the aftermath in a way other than the news had presented it.

Initially, as I saw the damage to the homes, I immediately

began to think in engineering terms - on how to rebuild them

structurally in order to prevent this from happening again. I

thought back to all my lectures and compiled them in my head,

forming a rough draft of a structurally resilient home. My

second immediate thought went to my studies in architecture,

and I thought about how to incorporate design in trying to

preserve the essence the city had possessed pre-storm. I

thought back to famous architects and revolutionary ways of

thinking in design, and I decided that New Orleans was unique;

the special circumstances with respect to location, weather,

and most importantly culture, would demand revolutionary new

designs in order to prevent future disasters. These demands

provoked the question of acceptance by the public, and it

revealed to me the complexity of this process of rebuilding - not

everyone is going to agree on how or where to rebuild.

Today our group traveled to the lower Ninth Ward and resumed

in gutting houses. Having done it for a couple of days already,

the group became cohesive and worked quickly and efficiently.

As I worked, it was clear to me that the efficiency of our group

was greatly due to the lack of emotion in the work -- most

days, I looked at the houses we were gutting and saw no

reason to even leave the skeleton behind -- it seemed

worthless, and I thought it would be better to bulldoze the whole

house. The second house we worked on had not been flagged

previously, but had been chosen on the spot - we came across

three men gutting their family member's home, and decided to

help out. Working with someone who was emotionally tied to

the place, although the men seemed to have left their emotions

outside their work, was different than before. It seemed more

real when I was joking around and working with one of these

men in shoveling a bathroom, and the reality of it all struck me

even harder with the gratefulness we received.

Being exhausted after gutting the houses all morning, I kept

thinking that this was not my everyday life. After all, tomorrow

morning I will be heading home by train, and my small

contribution seemed like not enough when I compared it to the

life the residents of New Orleans now lead. They do not have a

home to go back to where they can sleep in a real bed, take

long, warm showers, and lay around watching TV. I can't help

being happy to go home, but as I was driving through the

devastated neighborhoods for the last time, where the number

of deaths in each home is spray-painted on the front of each

house, I also feel as though I could have helped more, and that

I wish I could stay longer. Hopefully the contribution of this

group can supercede the grunt work we did for only a couple of

days -- I would hope that other schools can see this class as a

new type of learning and incorporate it in their programs;

together, a bigger contribution can be made. All I know is that

at this moment I feel as though New Orleans has changed me

more than I have changed it, and I leave feeling slightly guilty

because of this.

Original URL:

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