Abstract

As our plane circled over New Orleans, I fixed my eyes on the window. I wanted a perspective on the damage below that did not come secondhand from television or the papers. Soon our group from Sarah Lawrence College—a professor, a dean, nine students, and two alumnae—would be landing. It was January 5. We had come for a nine-day stay to work with ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

I expected utter devastation—miles and miles of storm-ravaged homes and communities. Instead, I saw endless bits of blue. I thought that they were swimming pools. Later I found out that what I had seen were blue tarps put on houses to protect them from the wind.

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