New Orleans recovers slowly from the storm

Hurricane Katrina's wrath was first felt, as we memorialize today, on Aug. 29, 2005. At about 4 a.m., CNN's Miles O'Brien broadcasted live in front of the Indian Mounds here at the University. Four friends and I watched. We ended up finding a party on top of the mounds, with dancing, singing, plenty of Jack Daniel's and the sheer excitement of playing in a hurricane. A chant of "GO KA-TRI-NA" (clap clap clap-clap-clap) broke out, as we marveled at each drop of rain, each rumble of thunder and each strike of lightning that illuminated Tiger Stadium.

I was on the Baton Rouge levee when the waves crashed on the shore and the near-horizontal rain stabbed my back. But my friends and I were determined to find a cameraman in order to make it on TV. We did. We pretended to be hurricane hunters from Minnesota, as we were swept away in a force of nature, and we cheered and danced in the middle of a natural disaster. Upon our return to Kirby-Smith Hall, it was announced that the 17th Street Canal levee broke, unapologetically inundating my hometown.

My fellow New Orleanians were drowning. My city was underwater. And I was in a state of shock.

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