Alex I. Lewis, III
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUPClick for larger view | Figure 1 Alex Lewis III Photo by Wendell Gorden, © 2006 |
ROWELL: Do you live here in New Orleans, Mr. Lewis? What is your profession?
LEWIS: Yes, I live in New Orleans. I'm a self-employed businessman; I'm a consultant.
ROWELL: When Hurricane Katrina came, were you here in New Orleans?
LEWIS: No. I was not here. My two sons, who live here, are police officers. So what we've planned, with an impending hurricane, is to scoop up their families and get out of town. We know they'll be working, and they won't have to worry about their wives and children. They know they'll be with us.
ROWELL: That is extraordinary. I've not heard of anybody making such good preparations to avoid the annual threats of hurricanes in New Orleans. That's wonderful. And you know it makes a lot of sense.
LEWIS: In 2005, we evacuated four times. Katrina was the fourth evacuation. We have been making these preparations for a long time—for so long now that I don't remember. Once we feel pretty certain that there's a hurricane coming and is going to be a danger to the city, we grab the grandkids and their mothers, and we leave.
ROWELL: A great number of the citizens left before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. Some of them have returned, and the city is beginning to rebuild—however slowly. In other words, the city seems slowly coming back, but we don't know in what direction that "coming back to life" is taking. But there is life here.
LEWIS: There is life here. This home! And many people, like us, are coming back.
ROWELL: How would you describe the collective psychological consequences of the hurricane on the people of New Orleans?
LEWIS: Devastating. [Tearfully] Devastating. My wife and I are both fighting depression. For the last several days, it's been hard for me to get moving, to do the things I know I [End Page 1443] need to be doing, because it feels so overwhelming. God, where did that come from? As I said, I'm self-employed, a human resources consultant. Katrina came through, but we thought that, like other times when hurricanes came, in two or three days, everything would be fine. As a matter of fact, the night before we left, we were out to dinner and had not heard any of the news reports. Our waitress and the security officer who was on duty alerted us to the fact that a very dangerous hurricane was on the way.
On Saturday, which must have been August 27th, a very good friend of mine—a community leader, Clarence Barney—had passed away and Saturday was set for his funeral. So I went to the funeral, again, feeling that if we left early afternoon—we'd already planned to leave—we'd be okay. It was a big funeral. Everybody wanted to attend Clarence's funeral. Three of the city's mayors—Landrieu, Morial, and Nagin—spoke. I finally left about 12:00 or 12:30, and they were only about three quarters of the way through the program. Our sons were so nervous; they sent their families on ahead. At any rate, we left town packing for three days maximum, anticipating that it would go out like always and we'd be back in a few days. [Laughing.] I had just bought a brand-new suit; it had to be custom-made. Because of my size, I can't wear ready-made suits off the rack. It was the first expensive suit I'd ever owned. I laid it on the bed, changed clothes, packed the van, got in and took off. When I was finally able to get back to the house, the suit was still on the bed. Kiss that money goodbye! I'd also left, in the driveway, my...
