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| Students attending the Katrina Remembrance ceremony at McAlister Auditorium stop to look at the Katrina Wall (above), a collection of storm mementos and memories from the Tulane community. (Photo by Paula Burch) The Rev. Donald P. Owens Jr. (below), chaplain for the health sciences center, talks to participants before the memorial event downtown. Pictured, from left, are Owens, Farshid Yazdi, Eric Simms and Josh Wool. (Photo by Arthur Nead)
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It's one year since the Event, or the Thing, for those who cannot bear to say the words "Hurricane Katrina" again.
Somber audiences on Tulane's uptown and downtown campuses gathered at noon on Tuesday (Aug. 29) for remembrance services to reflect on the record-breaking hurricane that caused massive physical damage and soul-wrenching human anguish.
It's good to have ceremonies like these, said T.J. Bogan, a sophomore from Atlanta. They remind people how wonderful it is to be "home"--and "to keep people going."
"Not a day goes by that Katrina does not creep into our language," said Cynthia Cherrey, vice president for student affairs and emcee for the uptown campus gathering of approximately 300 students, faculty and staff in McAlister Auditorium.
The sorrows and sadness must be acknowledged, Cherrey said, but the challenges and triumphs of humanity in the wake of the storm should be celebrated, too.
"The winds and water of Katrina did not take away the spirit of New Orleans," Cherrey said.
Paul Barron, interim provost, chief information officer and law professor, reminded the uptown audience of the extent of the damage--90,000 square miles flooded, 300,000 homes destroyed or damaged, and more than 1,400 dead, with 135 still missing. The Tulane campuses had more than $160 million in damage.
Barron said, "It's important to remember. Memory is the context for what we do next."
In the catalog of loss, though, Barron hit an optimistic note. He said, "Yet we remain, to rebuild, renew and remake our city and region better than before. With enough hard work and leadership, we can recover. The best way to honor the dead and gone is to commit ourselves to rebuilding and rebirth."
Sara Dwyer, a third-year medical student and president of the Associated Student Body, recounted that Tulane undergraduates in the volunteer Tulane Emergency Medical Services remained in the city to help in the rescue effort after the storm. Dozens of medical students helped provide medical care at evacuation shelters around the state of Louisiana and in Texas. Tulane students have volunteered in a host of ways--with the Red Cross, in public schools, cleaning up debris and gutting houses.
And next weekend students will continue to reach out to help in the community in Outreach Tulane.
"The helping tradition is part of Tulane's fabric," said Dwyer.
The Katrina remembrance services lived up to another Tulane tradition--music entwined in university ceremonies. On the uptown campus, Barry Spanier, director of the Tulane Marching Band, conducted the playing of the Tulane alma mater at the start of the program and concluded with a poignant "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?" followed by a rousing "When the Saints Go Marching In."
The audience uptown also saw a video with powerful storm images and music by Coldplay, singing, "Fix You."
Downtown at the Medical School Auditorium, 300 health sciences students, faculty and staff saw photographs of Hurricane Katrina's destruction accompanied by Bruce Springsteen's "City of Ruin." They also heard the healing power of music by a medical student string quartet and choir.
It has been a year of highs and lows, said Paul Whelton, senior vice president for the health sciences and dean of the medical school. "It was a low moment to see the suffering, to see the losses, and to see the negative side of what happens in a major, overwhelming crisis situation," he said.
The highs were the heroism of the faculty, students and staff, especially the selfless devotion of those who stayed to help patients throughout the storm. "I think the highs absolutely outweigh the lows," said Whelton.
"We have a long history and a great tradition at this institution. Those of you who are here today are operating in the best traditions of the health sciences anywhere in the world, and in the best traditions of Tulane."
