b.rox

I’ve also been reflecting on our decision to stay in place for Isaac. Was it the right choice? There’s room for disagreement even in our house. Over the past week Xy has repeated “Never again!” whereas I’ve found myself saying I’m glad we stayed. So what were the pros and cons of that decision? It’s [...]

So remember how I said we were heading out — buggin’ — evacuating? That didn’t happen. We were planning to go, but the hurricane parties here were just too good to resist. Actually the real reason is that our anticipated path was looking worse and worse for a return drive. Of course we could have [...]

We got back home late last night. I thought I’d try to round up what remaining thoughts I have on our Gustavian evacucation. (Photos here.)

When we were stranded here three years ago, I was somewhat immune to the lure of Bloomington. I was focused on getting back to New Orleans and the tasks of rebuilding. This time, though, I felt the attraction of the place as soon as we rolled into town. It’s an old familiar place that I [...]

New Orleans remains within Gustav’s cone of anxiety. The prognosticators seem to think he’ll make landfall late Monday somewhat west of here, but hurricanes have a way of turning unexpectedly for good or ill. This one’s gonna be too close for comfort. When Ivan threatened back in 2004, only the foolish and the poor remained. [...]

Just scouring back through old files, I found this e-mail sent from a friend in Florida on the Saturday evening before Katrina. To read it now sends a chill down my spine, and takes me back to that night two years ago. From: leviolberton Subject: Yo Hurricane Host Date: August 27, 2005 10:21:01 PM CDT [...]

My friend Daisy told me the following Katrina story. It’s a simple tale, but kind of chilling. I wanted to record it before I forget. Daisy and her husband stayed through Katrina, and their Garden District apartment was relatively unscathed. They lost power, of course, and they heard about the looting at Wal-Mart but they [...]

A few months ago I helped some students at Indiana University who were working on a short documentary titled “From New Orleans to the Midwest.” They got in touch with me through my video mentor and teacher Ron Osgood and asked if I could shoot some footage of New Orleans. So I shot some scenes [...]

Just submitted this letter to the Herald-Times: My wife and I sought refuge in Bloomington some ten weeks ago when we evacuated New Orleans. The community here has been both gracious and generous. It’s hardly been a vacation, but the people of Bloomington have made our stay here as pleasant as possible. As we prepare [...]

Of all the places we could have taken refuge, I’m glad we landed in Bloomington. This is a wonderful place, a place I’ve always loved, a place I never wanted to leave in the first place. Bloomington’s just enough of a city to be a city, to have that thrum of urban excitement, but it’s [...]

Here’s a video clip [QuickTime, 17MB] of our evacuation from New Orleans.

What we brought with us: three cats documents relating to home and car about three changes of clothes each some food dental floss toothbrushes Xy’s contact lenses meds dope my cheap-ass Panasonic video camera a Nikon Coolpix 990, which belongs to the University The Boat of a Million Years What we didn’t bring but wish [...]

It was the silverware that really got to me. A couple days ago we moved into a house on the east side of IU’s campus. The housing was graciously donated to us, rent free for at least a month, by Timothy and Susan Mayer. They are parents of Andrew Mayer, a friend and video collaborator [...]

This story about us appeared in the local Bloomington paper yesterday. Thanks, Mike. NOLA evacuees just glad to be back in Bloomington by Mike Leonard H-T columnist September 1, 2005 Bart Everson and Christy Paxson hadn’t evacuated New Orleans in the six years they’d lived there and didn’t pay much heed to Hurricane Katrina, either, [...]

Lots of people have been contacting us over the last few days, via phone, internet, and in person. We appreciate the many offers of help and support. Many people have also been asking us questions, and I haven’t been able to respond personally to every query. But here’s an attempt to answer the most frequently [...]

We made it out of New Orleans with our three cats and not much else. We’re now safely ensconced with the in-laws in Bloomington, Indiana. We got up at 3AM on Sunday morning, packed a few things, choked down some hash browns, checked the weather reports, and hit the road by 5AM. Five hours later [...]

We’ve never evacuated for a hurricane before. But we’re evacuating for this one. Katrina looks like she’s headed straight toward New Orleans, and she’s now a Category Four. Worst case scenario: Lake Ponchartrain floods the city, and our neighborhood is under many feet of water for many weeks to come. We wouldn’t want to be [...]

We’re under a hurricane storm warning now. Xy and I took a walk around the neighborhood, watched people boarding up their windows, stopped in for a drink at the Red Door. I notice that the New Orleans doomsday scenario is getting some play on the Internet. That’s the scenario wherein the hurricane sucks Lake Pontchartrain [...]