Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Ragged Hymnal


Photographed as it rested, in the rubble of the Catholic church, Pearlington, MS.

Page 196: The Lord Is My True Shepherd
"The Lord is my true Shepherd, My needs and wants he knows;
Though I should walk in darkness No evil shall I fear;
His goodness and his kindness Shall ever follow me"

My sweet aunt and uncle still struggle in Slidell. There's eleven of them forced into one house now, with all the kids and in-laws. FEMA still has no timeline for temporary housing. A mythical program exists in the dreams and hushed whispers of victims waiting in the FEMA lines. Legend has it that FEMA has secured thousands of shiny white trailers for people to live in while the world is rebuilt. Trailer cities are coming for the homeless. An Eldorado with dwellings where only two people live in a room together. My aunt and uncle are on the List. Right now, lists are Life.

But she wonders how they're going to do it? The place across the street used to rent for $700, and now it's a steal at $1750. Somebody's making a killing. All the housing's blown away. Supply and demand. Carpetbagging a new Reconstruction.

"Can I do anything for you? Anything? What do you need?" I say.
"Pray for us, baby." She says.

But I never was much of a prayer.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your pictures.

-Abby

Anonymous said...

i'm sorry it had to exist in the first place, but this is an amazing webpage. the most personal hurricane stories i've seen so far.

- NYC

Anonymous said...

You are an incredible photographer... simply incredible. This photo took my breath away. God Bless you and your family in their efforts to rebuild a stable life in your city.

Anonymous said...

Well, maybe you should become more of a "prayer".

Anonymous said...

it doesnt matter what YOU believe..i have heard too many stories of folks who have nothing but their faith and it was and is the only thing that got them thru heinous stuff hopefully you or i will never have to go thru.......praise be to whatever higher power is out there....."bless you hon thank you for being so nice---i got a hot meal today- i cant complain---god bless you" said to my friend manning the 911 hotline in monroe, louisiana!

Anonymous said...

Hi!
I was searching through Google and landed on your blog page. I will be coming to Pearlington next week for a mission/choir tour trip with my church and I have never been there before... though my church has had continual trips over there since about a month after Katrina. I think it is a God-send that I landed on your page. It really opened my eyes to what to expect. I lost my home in Ivan (I live in NW Florida) so I thought I would be pretty prepared to deal with how people are doing, but now I'm thinking twice about that. Thank you for honesty. It's the core of a good person.
My church group is putting on a community-wide Vacation Bible School when we come there on the week of June 18th-24th. If you know of any children (Pre-k. through 12th grade) that would like a fun week for the summer... or just a break from the gloominess of post-hurricane life... tell them about it. I'm not sure exactly where we are holding the VBS but if I'm not mistaken there were flyers or something sent out and about! HA! I'm rather uninformed I guess.
Thank you for letting me into a world that I was in almost 2 years ago... but ya'll have it much worse.

-FEMA HATER

P.S. My church's name is Hickory Hammock Baptist Church from Milton, FL!