Sally Caraway
Grade: 12 Age: 18
Visual Arts

My name is Sally Caraway. I'm a senior at Mandeville High and a Visual Arts major at NOCCA/Riverfront. I paint, photograph, and work in fibers. (I'm making a quilt).

I have to say that all the work I do right now is in some way influenced by Hurricane Katrina. I use the work to cope with what happened and to express to others my experiences.

Last year, my family fled to Dallas where we stayed unexpectedly for the next month with three days of clothes to wear over and over again. Twelve people, along with five dogs, were packed into a small suburban house. My mother had stayed behind with our two big dogs and we didn't hear from her for three days. The third day, a neighbor called to tell us that she was fine and on her way.

A week after returning home to clear away the solid tree limb jungle surrounding our house, ten of my peers and I were flown to the Idyllwild Arts Academy in California. They were so generous, and I had a place to express myself, but I couldn't get over the longing to get back home. It was no NOCCA or New Orleans in Southern California.

That's what thousands of people are feeling about Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, or all the countless places the population of New Orleans ended up in after the Hurricane. It's no New Orleans. They all want to come back. The rebuilding of New Orleans is of the utmost importance to quell the aching hearts of those who lost so much; those who still see this city as their home. Even if they cannot return, it could bring them peace of mind to know that New Orleans is at least still there for them, just in case. I know I am tired of living in and around what is still left of what happened, and I am ready for the healing of this city.

Jonas Griffin
Grade: 12 Age: 17
Creative Writing

My name is Jonas Griffin, and I am a second year, Level III creative writing student at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts| Riverfront.

Having Goodnight Moon and other books read countless times to me by my mother, I had an appreciation for literature and langue instilled in me that has resulted in a love for writing and a dedication to the medium. In this art form, I am able to have a voice, absent of stammering and confusion, in which my infinite thoughts are compressed to make a poem or a story.

I am convinced that I have a vocation to pick up the path, and can only strive to find it, that Walt Whitman and Pablo Neruda paved. Meaning, I endeavor to be a poet of the people who voices the unheard and exclaims the disregarded. As I hope to develop as a writer, I will keep my ambition to be a commentator and an observer on the world we live in and not allowing its tragedies to spin by me ignored.

I live in a small town an hour away from New Orleans that was spared Katrina's worst. Because of my isolated location, I dealt with the issues of what I was allowed to feel and how much I could feel in response to the hurricane. I never wanted to be some kind of false victim when I hardly deserved such a title. But with degrees of suffering aside, I indeed was affected and was sent to the woodland suburbs of Birmingham, an even more isolated location, to complete my fall semester.

People whose lives continued uninterrupted after August 29th surrounded me in Alabama and so I made mine carry on as theirs did-living in an ignorance of what was taking place back home. The sterile homogeneity of my temporary environment made me ache for New Orleans-the city that I was just getting to know, but was then yet unable to receive me.

I hate when I hear about a single poor woman who lives in a shoddy FEMA trailer in disrepair with her daughter. I hate when I see large fragments of roofs and cars caught in trees that have been inclined in forty-five degree angles for over three hundred and sixty five days. I hate when people outside of New Orleans speak of its citizens who wish to return to their vulnerably placed homes as idiots. I hate that the issues of race and prejudice that were highlighted because of the storm still sit stagnant like pools of water where mosquitoes swarm. I hate my national government, I hate the corrosion of my Gulf Coast, and I hate the unarguable science of weather that tells me hurricanes will always happen.

Ronald Joseph
Grade: 11 Age 17
Classical Instrumental

My name is Ronald Joseph, and I am an 11th grade student at Ben Franklin High and NOCCA|Riverfront. I am a classical pianist and I have been studying for about 9 years. I am a native of New Orleans, and like many others, I was away from the city I knew for a long period of time.

My family and I evacuated to Houston, TX, then to Austin, TX, and then to St. Rose, LA. It was there that my piano teacher told me that there was a spot open for me to study at the Juilliard Pre-College in New York. I left the next week, catching a flight the day after commercial flights began to leave the city. Being in New York was quite an amazing experience. I lived with a host family, and I had made very amazing friends, some that to this day I keep in regular contact with. Being far from home also made me miss the originality and the whole flavor of New Orleans.

The rebuilding process so far has been slow, and more times than not, the politicians have openly lied to the people of New Orleans. The same old problems like crime and poverty are getting worse now since the hurricane. The arts are truly suffering, and it seems the priorities of the government are generally not being taken care of. The jazz musicians are having a hard time getting back, while the Louisiana Philharmonic lost many of its members and its home venue, the Orpheum. On the parts of all musicians, there's been a generally strong effort to return home and revitalize the arts, but the musicians need help. In the new New Orleans, I hope that the people take time to go to concerts and the museum and support local musicians and artists. It's imperative that everyone takes a role in bringing the arts back to the city.

Avery Friend
Grade: 9 Age: 15
Creative Writing

Hey, I'm Avery Friend. I'm a 14 year old writing student at NOCCA. This is my first year there. I have two younger brothers, and I love Harry Potter, as well as the TV shows 24 and Lost. I'm insanely passionate about politics, and do a lot of anti-war activism.

Katrina affected everyone in different ways, but I think that the unanimous thing for those living in New Orleans was that it took down the city that I, for one, thought indestructible. In Austin, Texas, where my family evacuated, I was the oldest child and therefore designated the babysitter for my brothers and cousins, as my parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents stood around the TV and discussed our situation in hushed tones-they didn't want the little kids to hear.

I remember when I finally got an idea of what was happening back home, and it took my breath away. At first I was devastated, but then I got mad. How had this happened? And as the weeks went on, I waited for what I was sure was inevitable - the bipartisan unity of America, the one that I felt as a fourth grader after September 11th. It never came, and I blame that on the government. They weren't there for us the way they should have been. The people of America did so much more for us, and continue to do more for us, than George Bush's administration ever has.

Last year I expressed this fury in writing. It was hard to accept that there wasn't much I could do, since I couldn't get back to New Orleans, back home-so I wrote. I wrote letters, essays, poems, rants, stories-anything as an outlet. My family joked that they never saw me; I was always holed up in my room writing. It was worth it, though. Someday I'll be able to look back and remember why I fight for what I fight for, should I ever forget.
New Orleans is a city of art, writing, and music-it always has been, and always will be. Ever since the storm, the music has been turned down, but I can still hear it. New Orleans will come back.

Carolyn Guido
Grade: 12 Age: 17
Musical Theatre

Carolyn Guido grew up in the New Orleans area and has always felt ownership of the city. Picnics in the park, shopping in the Quarter, drinking coffee until the manager finally is forced to close are close experiences she holds close to her.

Since freshmen year, she has attended NOCCA Riverfront for Musical Theatre. She devoted her life to NOCCA and her training. Her ultimate goal has always been to be a working stage performer, but since freshman year, her interests have expanded to choreography.

Theatre helped her survive after Hurricane Katrina. Her house near the levee in Lake Terrace was destroyed and her family was relocated to Louisville, KY. The theatre community of Louisville and especially Walden Theatre opened their loving arms to her. Attending classes and being in the show As It Is In Heaven gave her the environment and the ability to escape from the gravity of the situation. For four months, she and her family lived in Louisville trying to make life as normal as possible. Finally, in December she returned to her high school in Slidell, Northshore High. Nothing broke her heart more than being separated from her life and friends at NOCCA. Because there was no carpool, she knew she had to sacrifice a year without her anchor. She and her mom are still living without her dad; he got an amazing job in Virginia, but her parents agreed to be separated so she could fully benefit from her Senior year at NOCCA. Although, it's been hard, the struggle is worth it just for a bit of normalcy.

Yakitha Egana
Grade: 12 Age: 17
Drama

My name is Yakitha Tamara Egana. I am a senior at McMain Secondary School. I have attended this school since the seventh grade and I absolutely love it!

I also attend the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts Riverfront (NOCCA). At NOCCA my discipline is Theatre Arts/Drama. I have studied at NOCCA since the summer of my eighth grade school year. I started acting in elementary school and ever since then I could never give up this wonderful craft of living truthfully under the given circumstances. Many times I have felt that the work at NOCCA was too rigorous and challenging, but I never quit because this is who I am. My art is me and I love it. NOCCA has taught me so much including: discipline, confidence, nutrition, vocal training and so much more.

After Katrina I thought that NOCCA was gone. I was sick without the artistic atmosphere and it seemed like a lifetime before it was up and running again. Being back is great! The pressure is on to get back into the groove of things, but smiles are here, too.

This summer I participated in a production in my department called Katrina's Tongue. The piece was composed of original monologues by students who were affected by Katrina. In between monologues, we told stories and showed several realistic events that took place during Katrina through movement pieces. The monologues were based on first hand experiences-they could not be fictional. Many people were moved by the performance. Emotions swept people from their feet. The reality of Katrina affected deep inside each person who told a story, whether it was their own story or a friend's story.

Vernon Byrd
Grade: 12 Age: 17
Vocal Performance

My name is Vernon Byrd. I'm a vocal student at NOCCA|Riverfront and a senior at Edna Karr. I've been singing for just about all my life. My singing is the one thing that got me through my hurricane experience. Although I wasn't stuck in the flood after the storm, being away from my family and friends really took a toll on my life. If it wasn't for singing, I probably would have completely lost my mind.

There is no way to describe the emotions felt after hearing that the only place you know to be home has been completely ruined. When I ride around the city, the places that I have grown to love are now collapsed and sealed with orange spray paint. This is all so crazy. Through it all I have become more grounded in my faith. My faith and my singing are about the only things I have to lean on.

Jasmin Simmons
Grade: 11 Age: 16
Dance

My name is Jasmin Simmons. I am a 16 year old Junior at New Orleans Center for Science and Math & NOCCA. At NOCCA, I study the wonder artform of dance. I have been dancing for 15 years of my life!

As a result of Hurricane Katrina. I lost everything I owned. All my material things were gone, but I still had dance, its what kept me going. When I thought there was nothing else to live for, I danced. I danced my heart out. Being able to continue to express myself through dance means so much to me. Especially since I have so many feelings to express.

New Orleans has to be one of the best cities in the country. There's no other place like it. We are unique in so many ways. I would never want to live anywhere else. New Orleans holds so much for me and my family. Its hard to just leave it behind.

The rebuilding efforts are moving slower than most would expect but we are getting there. Just to see trailers in front of so many homes is a good sign. My city will never be the same. It will be better! We're not the lost city, we're the city of the future. don't count New Orleans out!

Samuel Ray
Grade: 11 Age: 16
Visual Arts

My name is Samuel Grayson Ray, im 16, and a Level 3 Visual Arts student at NOCCA Riverfront.

I've lived 30 minutes outside of New Orleans for nearly 6 years. I auditioned for NOCCA after the hurricane, and without question, Katrina affected everyone's artwork; however it is not the driving force behind mine. My house was not destroyed or flooded. There are no "X"'s on my door. But like nothing I've ever experienced, Katrina re-mapped every aspect of my life. Its hard for people outside of this city to grasp whats going on. It's hard to comprehend things you've never experienced, and it goes to show, if it doesnt apply to someone's life directly, its not on their "Things-I-Must-Do" list. I don't have a rant about our president, and its not because i don't care. It's because i believe there's no such thing as a utopian democracy. Art and Music are my life. If I lose track of my dreams because of my nightmares, I'm not fit for sleep. In my mind this would be a tragic abuse of my heart's dialogue - my art.

New Orleans is my home and NOCCA is my family. You can't ask for more. I never thought desolated houses, demolished roads, and trash piles that could match the Himalayas would ever fail to engage my shock and disbelief, but it seems to have become the norm here one year later. Life is on a course I wasn't ready for; a road one year earlier i could have never fathomed. The speed bumps are numerous, and the potholes in excess, but my art is for a cause, and I travel none the less, with a home and a family behind me.

My brother, Matt, taught me what it means to believe in something; what fighting for a cause entails. His life to me and his personality are the personification of the Blues. He taught me that art unifies generations and that if your 16, it doesn't mean your hands aren't centuries older, or that your soul isn't timeless.