After finishing Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers, I was left with so many unanswered questions. It baffles me that our government treats people the way it treated Zeitoun and there was no consequences for its actions. I had no clue that people were treated the way they were during Katrina—treated like animals for looting. Why was our government building a prison two days after the hurricane? The sheriff of Orleans parish even called the warden of Angola prison to ask for supplies and labor to build a makeshift prison before the hurricane (310). These prisons had food, water, and even toilets—many of the things the refugees waiting for rescue did not.

Was everyone as ignorant about the circumstances surrounding Katrina as I was before reading Zeitoun or were they just choosing to ignore the facts? If so, then it saddens me that no one did anything about it. Why weren’t more people angered at what went on? Maybe because I was only eighteen at the time and was in my own little world, but I don’t remember any of this being on the news. When natural disasters happen in other countries America always does what it can to help. Our government has even already sent Navy ships and relief supplies to Japan, but it 5 days for the government to get to New Orleans.

Zeitoun was one of the few people who were actually doing some good after Katrina. Instead of treating him like the hero he was, they treated him like a terrorist. Think about it, who was actually terrorizing who? Zeitoun was the passive one, while the guards and police were the ones terrorizing him. Instead of using all this money and manpower to build prisons and arrest “looters” and “terrorists,” the American government could have been helping the people trapped, starving, and dying in the streets. After the whole ordeal was over, Kathy and Zeitoun decided to sue. But the outcome was not revealed in the book—I would like to know what happened. I wonder if anyone was ever punished for his or her wrongs.

If you take away race, religion, and socio-economic status, these were just American citizens dying in our own streets without the help of their government. When we think of America, we think of a land of freedom, of opportunity; instead those affected by Hurricane Katrina lost hope and faith in their government and their country.

Blog Post 2

I've actually finished the book, so I hope I don't give too much away because I don't remember what happens in this section, and I don't have the book with me.

Zeitoun's family has proven to be quite religious up to this point, but I think this portion has shown how much they value their faith. From personal experience, I know it's hard to not know where your dad is or what he's doing. My dad is in the Army and when he was deployed to Iraq, there were times where it was too dangerous for him to tell us where he was, and he wouldn't talk to us for weeks at a time. To see Kathy rely on her faith so much is astounding, rather than to turn and wonder why this was happening to her and her family. She didn't even know if he was dead or alive, yet she kept firm in her faith. I think that many people would lose hope at that point, or turn against, wondering why them.
I think that her faith is what grounds her. Kathy could have definitely lost it more than she did. Considering the circumstances, and the fact that she had 4 children to consider also, yet she remained mostly calm, doing what she thought was best for her family.
What also amazes me is how grounded Zeitoun is. He was arrested and put in jail for what seemed like terrorist charges, yet he still took the time to pray with his friend Nasser every day. He wondered why it was happening to him, but not in a way that he was turning against his faith, but just because he was a good man, and wasn't doing anything wrong. He also wasn't able to talk to his wife, and had injuries that weren't addressed. If it were me, I would probably be mad, and wondering "Why is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this?", yet Zeitoun kept praying. He also made do with his circumstances, using dirt to clean himself off. He really didn't dwell on how bad he had it. On a little side note, I thought the love he had for Kathy and the kids, and how hard he worked to get ahold of them was really sweet.
Hurricane Katrina brought together many people in churches. Between the relief effort and churches coming together to provide for people in need, religion played a big role. But Kathy and Zeitoun got through the hurricane, and this was worse than that, yet they still held strong. I feel like that amount of faith in something is really inspiring, whether you're religious or not. The ability to believe in something so strongly, and not falter such as Kathy and Zeitoun did.

During last weeks class we reviewed a blog that brought up the question of why Zeitoun and his companion were passed up multiple times by rescue & military boats when searching for help. Some reasons were race, possibly greater things to worry about in the city, maybe they just couldn't hear them. Who knows? As I continued to read I thought the answer would come up, there had to a possible explanation, but as I continued on things just got even more confusing for me. My initial reasoning for them being passed up was because of Zeitoun's race. That possibly they would not help someone like Zeitoun because of the way he looks, resembling that of the men they are fighting overseas. This may be the reason but I'm not necessarily looking for the answer to why they got passed up. My curiosity is why Zeitoun and his three companions were detained (captured really) and accused to be terrorists all the sudden.

Maybe I'm taking the whole passing Zeitoun's boat up to a level it was not intended, but how can Zeitoun be passed up one moment, and then be considered a terrorist the next? Was it becasue of the suspiscion of looting? Kathy mentioned in their story that Zeituon should be careful, because of the 9/11 attacks he could be subject to profiling. Could this group of military personal that took Zeitoun and the other men be part of that thinking, and maybe the other men and women who passed him earlier were not? Frankly, I'm just confused how Zeitoun could be wandering the murky waters of New Orleans without much issue but when he is in his home he becomes a threat. Maybe it is because they thought he was looting and the "evidence" ($10,000 cash etc.) that was brought against them conjured up the idea that they were terrorists, along with his nationality and appearance. But in the reading they were accused of being terrorists before their bags and belonging had been searched, well at least in the timeline of the book.

I'm just finding it hard to understand the turnaround of events that are happening. If it were based solely on looks wouldn't Zeitoun have been taken when he was right there in the open? Maybe just the site of Zeitoun in the nicer part of town, inside a home with what I'm assuming are nicer belongings is enough for them to suspect a false affiliation.

There is likely no link between the two situations (Zeitoun's boat being passed and Zeitoun being held captive), but there must be answer to why, at that time, he was imprisoned. As far as I've read (about pg. 273) the questions of why they are being imprisoned are being asked but no answers have been given. Maybe I will find out...

Difficulty Paper/ Second Blog

A lot has happened in the last hundred or so pages (105-202) of Zeitoun I read this week. What stood out to me the most out of everything that happened in this section was the strong presence of armed guards and the question of what where they really doing there? The official story is that the National Guard and other various mercenaries where they to protect American citizens from the looters, murders, rapists, etc. that infested the city after the hurricane. But why were there so many of them. Many claim that the report of murders and rapes, not only in the city but in the Superdome as well, were over exaggerated causing police and armed guards to overreact themselves.

Because of the "animalistic" state that survivors of the hurricane went into, it was decided that the National Guard would confiscate firearms from any remaining citizen. I don't know if I think this is a good idea or a horribly stupid one. Get rid of the remaining firearms and maybe murders and looting will go down, but take away firearms and people are not as well protected. Maybe the citizens in New Orleans needed to protect themselves from the government and it's National Guard that overzealously believed they could not be left to their own devices. According to some news reports (used in hyperlinks) many citizens were harmed or even killed by the police when they were just trying to get help, and in some cases the police tried to cover their mistakes but hiding the bodies of the innocent victims they murdered. The whole situation confuses me. Maybe because I grew up in California, and liberal Los Angeles at that, but I do not think all this force is necessary. Even months after Hurricane Katrina, the National Guard was still being called back into the city whenever order seemed to go awry. Thinking that the citizens felt “very safe” with these armed guards around, the government seemed to use them almost as a threatening tactic against future anarchy.

Similarly, Zeitoun witnessed the over population of armed guards when he stayed behind after Hurricane Katrina. The guards did not seem to be any help when Zeitoun encountered them. He repeatedly needed their help and he was shut down every time. First, when an over weight woman was stuck in her house and needed help getting out. Zeitoun tried to flag down several passing boats with armed guards on it but was simply ignored. Maybe they had a mission they were on, but would it have really hurt for just one of the boats to stop to help if it meant saving lives? Another event where the armed guards let him down is when Zeitoun goes to elicit help to get his elderly neighbors out of their house and evacuated from the city. Zeitoun asks the man and the man just brushes him off; first telling him he needs to go to the a different compound and then by telling Zeitoun it will be down and eventually doing nothing about it. In this instance, and probably many others like it, Zeitoun has to help himself. The citizens of New Orleans where not allowed to protect themselves but had to save themselves. This does not seem right to me.

You Know We're... Below Sea Level, Right?

I'm actually unsure of where I'm supposed to be in the book so I think I'll leave my last post to be a little more content based. Anyways, I was really interested in our discussions in class about why the city of New Orleans was built where it is. I mean, not only are you below sea level, but you are building in a high risk area for hurricanes! Some of the things I was reading led me to believe that the issue of being below sea level got worse over time, but according to this article, there were levees in place as early as the 17th century. If that is indeed the case, then they were well aware of the dangers that existed with their chosen location.

With all of that, though, the location did bring a lot of potential benefits. Its proximity to such a large body of water and major river aided the movement of goods and people alike throughout its early years. I suppose it's both good and bad, as its port made for a prominent destination for slave traders as well.

Despite this, the impact of humans really has been detrimental to the state of the city. A lot of blame is pointed at the levees. Before their construction, sediment from the Mississippi River would continually build new land on top of what was being washed out by the flow which maintained a steady height above sea level. The levees that are put in place to control flooding actually prevent sediment from building up, forcing it to wash out to the sea and allowing the water levels to rise to dangerous levels unless bigger or better levees are built.

Mike Tidwell points the blame at human hands as well, claiming that the flooding of the river naturally maintains the structure of the soil. The alluvial soil that is present in the waters compacts as it is pressurized causing land mass to sink.

So basically, New Orleans was built because it was super-duper convenient. And that's a great reason to build a city in a set location. The issue was not the location though, it was the attempts at controlling the nature of that habitat that led to unsafe living conditions. One of the articles I read pointed in the direction of The Control of Nature by John Mcphee which touches on an attempt to redirect the Mississippi River.



love matty!

Zeitoun Blog 2

Media Lens-
I have just spent the last hour looking through videos of Hurricane Katrina on youtube. A lot of them showed similar images of horror: water, destruction, black people stranded or walking through water up to their chest, black looters, cops with guns, army people with guns, dead bodies in the water, cars underwater and so much more. My point with this is the media portrays Hurricane Katrina in a very particular way, New Orleans is destroyed and the poor black people are left to survive on their own.

I have assumed that this is because it IS a horrible tragedy and they are making sure people understand that this is something that everyone is going to need to help with. Financially they needed support from whoever can give it. Also their was going to have to be the migration of survivors and victims to all over America that people were going to need to take in, hire, and help. Another thing I noticed was the media was only talking about the looters in a negative fashion; these people are greedy, stealing, looking out only for themselves etc. but how about these people just loss their homes and have no basic necessities to live off of?

In watching a lot of videos on Hurricane Katrina I came across some patterns. Videos that were featured on television shortly after the hurricane showed "bad" people looting, people getting saved, and the sad stories of people having no where to go. Videos that were uploaded by average people talked about the dead bodies lying about, people starving to death, being stranded and in general people being left without help. Videos that are more recent to us that are from the news as well are mostly about corrupt cops admitting what they did wrong, i.e. killing, taking advantage of the chaos, and/or abandoning morals. The differences in these media outlets and time periods make all the difference in how this event was perceived. I don't know whether or not I think this is a good thing or a bad thing but what I do think it is positive that some of the negative side-affects from armed men being in control with no rules and the victims getting unequal treatment are finally coming out.

As far as I've read in Zeituon the levees have only been mentioned briefly, but when mentioned you can feel the sudden urgency, fear and concern in the text. Before knowing that the levees had been overcome Zeitoun mentioned to his wife Kathy that the winds and rain had caused damage but the minumal street floods had drained and that the storm was likely over (p. 76, 77). Once new flood water (or river water) had reached Zeituon he knew the levees had been overtopped and things had become much more serious, and knowing that these floods certainly overtook New Orleans his area would soon be entrenched (p. 85, 86).

Anyone who knows about Hurricane Katrina knows about the vast amount of damage the city of New Orleans and the surroundings areas took. Though the high winds and rains would cause flood and damage on its own, much of the damage came from a flawed levee system. A system that would not be prepared to hold the amount of water that would infiltrate its system. In fact, the damage Hurricane Katrina caused would be significantly less had the levee system be able to hold, let alone the lives that would have been spared.

Clearly New Orleans was not prepared for such an event and after years of clean up and rebuilding, construction for a new levee system is currently underway. I actually have a friend who is working on this levee. A monstrosity of a system (and extremely expensive) it should save New Orleans from another catastrophic event such as Hurricane Katrina, though the residents of New Orleans are still skeptical and rightfully so. The people of New Orleans endured something I can't even wrap my head around, and I can understand how it would be hard to trust another levee, especially after the levee prior failed to do it's job and ruined their lives, homes, and community as a whole. This project will be one of the biggest pump/levee systems in the world, if not the biggest. One can hope that it lives up to its duty and protects those citizens from another potentially brutal storm if there should be one. As I said I understand the concern from the people of New Orleans about trusting another levee system, but you almost have to just trust it, trust that it will work if its need to. Really, there aren't many options than to reconstruct a hopefully superior levee. Let's just hope they have taken every consideration, every possibility when rebuilding a levee to protect New Orleans, unlike they had done previously.