Bonding with fellow New Orleans residents at City Hall after Katrina
Sharon Bart Normand by Tatiana Clay, 2006; 4700.1964
TEMPESTS: Storms in the Archives
Sharon Normand: Well, I came back the Monday after the storm [Hurricane Katrina]. One week after the storm I came back, which is very early by most people's return date. My husband, you know, he's a physician, like I said, at EJ [East Jefferson General Hospital]. So he had to come back because he knew the people who were there had been there a whole week under horrible conditions and had other things that they had to do. So we came back and we stayed at EJ for a few days in a little . . . on a gurney. There were no children or elderly in the city when we came back, it was very strange. Go to [New Orleans] City Hall, the staff there is reduced to like a minimum when they need it more than ever. They're working like with a skeleton crew with like this primitive system of musical chairs you know. If one person goes in, everybody stands up and moves one chair over. I don't know, I'm not expecting any high tech system but it's like super primitive. But every time we go, I take my mom, and we actually always have a good time because we're with like forty, you know, or so people in the same boat. And people have their pictures with them because it's required for almost everything. And everybody is showing each other their pictures of how nice their . . . Or they're showing the ugly pictures and telling each other how nice their house used to be. It's very therapeutic and it's very interesting because . . . Because of you having to move chairs and it's like you get a new mix of people every twenty minutes. It's been hilarious, you know, by the time you leave, you're going to wish people well and it's been kind of fun but not the bureaucracy itself, but the people that are, like, going through it too. It's been very bonding. It's hard to explain. But to see my mom talking, with the people like that, it's just precious. [laughs] She's encouraging them. It's you know, I don't know. It's just very cute.