Timed Writing

For this project, my topic was Hurricane Katrina and its responses. I chose this topic because I felt that I, along with many other people, did not know a sufficient amount about the efforts made to help New Orleans when hurricane Katrina hit. Americans largely overlooked the lack of response efforts made by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Bush’s administration, and I felt it necessary to inform people of all ages of this information.

I wrote my letters to FEMA, The National Guard, and to HBO (regarding Spike Lee’s When the levees broke). I included specific facts that I had come across while researching FEMA’s response efforts, as well as my opinion on the subject. I told them they should rethink the way they do things before they make a decision that could ultimately affect the entire nations well being. When I wrote to the National Guard, I supported them and their ability to arrive at a disaster in a timely fashion. I told them I appreciated the way they handled hurricane Katrina and what they contributed to New Orleans. Lastly, I wrote to HBO in support of their production of Spike Lee’s When the Levees Broke. This documentary was the most affective material I used in researching hurricane Katrina. Spike Lee addressed the fact that FEMA knew about New Orleans’s weak levees but did not want to spend the extra money on conferences, which would help determine ways they could fix them. The information in this production was powerful and provocative which made it even more appealing. I thanked HBO for producing and airing When the Levees Broke, and told them how much it affected me. I sent all of these letters through the US Postal Service because I felt that it would be more formal, and they would take me more seriously seeing that I am a college student.

The posting of my letters and of my research paper on my blog will hopefully attract Americans to learn more about Katrina and the crucial information that has been overlooked. With this hope, I will also be creating a fable about hurricane Katrina to send the same message to younger children. Hurricane Katrina and its effect on New Orleans will go down in history as one of the worst in America. Children will inevitably learn about Katrina and I believe that this research paper as well as the blog will help them in understanding the essential information that they probably will not learn in the classroom. I have thought about different ways of portraying hurricane Katrina to much younger children (elementary school ages) and came up with a board game that would help them understand New Orleans’s demographic position in Louisiana, as well as the levee concept and the importance of not breaking them (in the board game). I think this will be a fun, effective way to convey what happened during hurricane Katrina, for younger children. Overall, I hope to inform others about this situation that is still being resolved and fixed today. Katrina had a large effect on many Americans the day it hit and I hope to inform others in the nation why this catastrophe occurred.