Remember Katrina: Miss Kitty, the Post-Katrina Cat

Allow me to introduce you to a personal friend of mine who sadly passed away last year. Her name is Miss Kitty (see photo at left, wearing a red cat sweater for Christmas time). Miss Kitty and I became good friends while I was "a displaced person" in Hurricane Katrina. Miss Kitty belonged to my sister Marci and her husband Chris -- although I am sure that in Miss Kitty's mind she simply graciously allowed them to take care of her and open her cans of cat food and tuna fish. For quite some time Miss Kitty was my constant friend while I was in Virginia. I would talk to her and she would meow back; it was one of the most civilized and enlightening conversations I have ever had.

Miss Kitty was born in Bucktown (a fishing village/suburb of New Orleans), and pretty much lived the life of an alley cat until being rescued by my sister. While I had the opportunity to exist in her presence, I appointed her as Queen of the first ever Mardi Gras parade in Chatham, Virginia -- the Mystik Krewe of Miss Kitty. She was, of course, Queen Miss Kitty the First. Her royal theme song was "The Miss Kitty Mombo." (It was sung to the tune of "The Mardi Gras Mombo." For example: "Down in New Orleans, Where the Blues was born; It takes a cool CAT, to blow a horn ... The Miss Kitty Mombo, Mombo, Mombo, Down in New Orleans.")

This august Carnival Krewe consisted of precisely myself and Miss Kitty. However, despite the painfully low attendance for her first parade, I do believe Her Royal Majesty was pleased, especially by the Royal Banquet afterwards which consisted of canned tuna fish. Because of this success, I also appointed her as the Irish Princess for the first (unofficial) St. Patrick's Day Parade in that small Virginia town too.

In classic New Orleans Irish Channel style, Princess Miss Kitty the First helped toss out green cabbages to the crowd -- which, as in the Mardi Gras parade earlier, consisted only of myself and the Princess. Miss Kitty did not care for cold climates and eventually returned to hot and humid New Orleans for one last time before the cat diseases of old age took her away from us.

Miss Kitty lives on as a constant memory of a true cat friend who helped me endure what can only be termed as the nightmare of Hurricane Katrina. Cats and dogs and other animal companions really are important in our lives, and they help us humans endure the struggles of life, be they great or small, or catastrophic like Hurricane Katrina. So, we owe the animals a lot. Here's to you, Miss Kitty.

-- Adrian

(Note: We will soon be posting many more Katrina Stories from our students on this blog, so stay tuned.)