Hurricane Katrina

Although a key part of literature, irony can be hard to justify. What is its role in the text? Why is it such an important element? What about irony creates such inexplicable disparities and juxtapositions? Admittedly, I do not have the verbiage to explain just why irony is such a…

The world outside of the Black community is obsessed with reporting on Black trauma and siting statistics about Black death and trauma that systemic whiteness created in the first place. Do they do it to break our spirit? Do they do it to feel superior? I don’t know. All I…

My mother recently shared a story with me for the first time. I guess one that was either buried in her memory or simply too painful to revisit. It was about my grandfather, who has been dead for over a decade now. After hurricane Katrina, thousands of people’s lives were…

Over 25 years ago, a friend and I were discussing Hurricanes and New Orleans. This friend had been born in New Orleans and so had a special…

By: Isabela Claret Torres, MSc, Ph.D. Florida Hurricanes Hurricanes in Florida are formed in Africa. We are all connected! We live in globalized world. And I don’t mean about economy, internet or politics, I am talking about the environment. What someone does in the Amazon in Brazil can be felt thousands of…

By Reese May Walmart’s disaster response program was born on the same day as SBP’s: August 29th, 2005, when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. Both our organizations saw firsthand the toll that disasters take on vulnerable, low-income populations across America. We also saw wide variation in the effectiveness of state…

Disaster capitalism in New Orleans Two very different perspectives of Hurricane Katrina appear in the book I’ve just finished, The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein, and a book I read a while ago, A Paradise Built in Hell, by Rebecca Solnit. While Rebecca focuses on the generosity and altruism of…