School Field Trip to the D-Day Museum

Our SVDP-ALC school had its first field trip on Wednesday, 25 Nov. to the National World War ll Museum (commonly called the D-Day Museum) in New Orleans.

Sr. Lory, Sr. Kathleen, several students, and I went to the museum and saw the incredible historic sites there in our three hour visit.

Of course the museum is so large that even three hours is grossly inadequate to see everything. It could take days if not weeks to actually see everything the museum has to offer. We saw an overview of the war in the Pacific (the USA vs. Japan) and of the D-Day planning (the battle of Normandy between the USA and its Allies vs Nazi Germany). We also saw the section on the war on the home front in New Orleans and information about the Higgins boats and Higgins industries.

Some of our students are planning to write essays about what they saw, and we will post some of them on this blog later.

-- Adrian

Now And Then: Tom Piazza and My Katrina Story

A part of my personal Hurricane Katrina story is in these two photographs. One was taken in the winter 2005 - 2006, a few months after Katrina when I was in exile in Chatham, Virginia, 900 miles from home, living with my sister and brother-in-law and their two cats. (In that photo, Tom is wearing the cowboy boots; and I'm sitting on the sofa wearing khaki pants.) I met Tom Piazza at the local bookstore (there was only one in town) when he was discussing his book Why New Orleans Matters. It was a very moving experience to hear Tom argue the case for the almost totally destroyed city of New Orleans. (And believe me, there were people vile enough to take the opposite side and argue against saving New Orleans.) Why New Orleans Matters became one of my favorite books about New Orleans, and I had seen many books on NOLA having been born here and having endured hurricanes and tropical storms here from Hurricane Betsy in 1965 to Katrina itself... and later Hurricane Gustav.

But I could not imagine then in Chatham the circumstances under which I would meet Tom again. Three years later I am a teacher with Literacy*AmeriCorps and teaching literacy skills to my students at St. Vincent de Paul -- ALC with his latest book, also about Katrina, called City of Refuge.

One thing led to another, and today Tom visited our school and my small group class. (I'm wearing my grey AmeriCorps shirt in that photo. From the left are yours truly, Sr. Lory, Allen, Tom, Dwana, and Jennie.) It was an incredible event.

Strange coincidences have happened since "the storm" for me; but as Tom pointed out before, New Orleans people seem to find each other even when far from home.

My special thanks to my sister Marci and Chris, my brother-in-law, for enabling me to be in Chatham to actually meet Tom and to see this incredible day when he visited our school. (Chris also salvaged the old photo from Chatham and edited it so it could appear here.) And thanks to my other friends in Chatham, Virginia including Marty, Henry and Tricia, and Mary Hicks.

It has been quite a ride.

-- Adrian

More Photos of Tom Piazza's Visit to SVDP-ALC Today

Here are some more photos from Tom Piazza's visit to our school today. It was a wonderful experience for our school and our students. I think Tom had a great time too. He clearly is dedicated to rebuilding New Orleans, and working to improve literacy skills is a MAJOR step in rebuilding our city post-Katrina.

Thanks again, Tom. And we are looking forward to your next visit.

-- Adrian

(P.S. I was taking most of the photos, so you don't see much of me here. But I had a great time leading the small group class today which Tom became a part of. The students and Tom read passages from City of Refuge, and we used our Teacher Tutor Guide, published by the Literacy*Alliance of Greater New Orleans. Tom really fit right in with our group. It was a great time!!

(See the post below for more on the story.)

Tom Piazza Visits St. Vincent de Paul Learning Center

Here is some exciting news! Tom Piazza, the author of City of Refuge and Why New Orleans Matters, visited our school today! He came, took the tour of the school, and joined in with our small group class for a couple of hours. It was a great experience for our students, teachers, and all involved.

This was Tom's first visit to our school, but it won't be his last. He said he hopes to come back again, and we all at SVDP-ALC are looking forward to that.

Tom and the students read passages from City of Refuge and discussed what they learned and read. We used the Teacher/Tutor Guide published by the Literacy Alliance of Greater New Orleans as the basis for our little program today. Sr. Lory and Sr. Kathleeen joined in the discussion, and it was my distinct honor to moderate this event.

It was a great learning experience for our class, and it was a great time too! I will post more photos and write-ups about this exciting event later.

Thanks again to Tom Piazza for visiting us today, and we look forward to your next visit.

-- Adrian

RampART Festival: LACNOLA Lends a Hand

(The photos are of LACNOLA members Judith Patrick, a good friend of mine who has helped us a lot at the SVDP-ALC school, and yours truly. I look like an "old sourpuss" because the sun was in my eyes. Children from NOLA public schools created the artwork which was posted on the wall at RampART Street. It was a cold and very sunny day, as you can see.)

Our Literacy*AmeriCorps New Orleans (LACNOLA) members helped support our friends at YES (YMCA Educational Services) this Saturday, Nov. 22, at the RampART Festival. LACNOLA handed out information about volunteer opportunities and new student registration for YES. The event occurred on North Rampart Street near Armstrong Park; and there were many booths for arts and crafts, paintings by school children, music, food, street entertainers, and booths for public services information such as NOPD police, and mental health services.

YES and NOPL have been a help to SVDP-ALC in the past year, especially in supplying us with school books for new readers. To learn more about YES visit the main branch of the NOPL library in downtown New Orleans; that is where they are located on the 3rd floor.

I also had a chance to vist the booths for the NOPD police and local mental health services (some from De Paul Hospital); I hope to invite representatives from both organizations to visit SVDP-ALC for informational lectures.

You can read more about RampART in the coming issue of the AmeriWord newsletter at http://www.literacygno.org/ in the AmeriCorps Publications section.

-- Adrian

Literacy and Post-Katrina New Orleans: www.literacygno.org

http://www.literacygno.org/literacy-statistics.html

This link (above) will take you to some shocking statistics on the rate of low levels of literacy in the New Orleans area. More than 25% of the adult population in New Orleans does not have a high school diploma; and a significant portion of that cannot read or write at all on a functional level.

If ever you hear someone discuss "rebuilding" after Hurricane Katrina, my question to that person would be this: How can anyone seriously discuss rebuilding and not address the issue of literacy? A literate populace is what will attract new businesses to the region. A literate populace will bring brain-power to the region, help solve problems, and help reduce crime and poverty.

Literacy is as important, if not more important, than hammers, nails, saws, and a fresh coat of paint. In rebuilding New Orleans we need to fix the broken houses and buildings, but we need to fix the broken people too.

Like healthcare, literacy skills are vital for a thriving community.

If you are a reader of this blog, please visit our friends at http://www.literacygno.org/ This is the new combined website for the Literacy Alliance of Greater New Orleans and Literacy*AmeriCorps New Orleans. (I am presently working with both organizations, as well as with SVDP-ALC.) Like the related organization, the Lindy Boggs National Center for Community Literacy which is headquartered at Loyola University, these organizations are fully involved in the New Orleans area improving the literacy skills of our citizens and rebuilding this city through the power of words.
-- Adrian

Why Literacy Matters: An Editorial from AmeriWord

(Below is an editorial I wrote for the October 2008 issue of AmeriWord, the newsletter for Literacy*AmeriCorps New Orleans. Since it is about Hurricane Katrina and was inspired by Tom Piazza's works on Katrina, I am re-printing it here. It is relevant to both of our series on this blog on City of Refuge and "Remember Katrina."The link to the AmeriWord source is below, and more back issues of AmeriWord can be found at http://www.literacygno.org/. The photo is from NASA of Katrina as it approached New Orleans.

--Adrian)

http://www.literacygno.org/images/americorps/ameriword/october%202008.pdf

Why Literacy Matters:
Literacy in Post-Katrina New Orleans
By Adrian McGrath

About a year after Hurricane Katrina, I began reading Tom Piazza’s book called
Why New Orleans Matters.* Clearly, it was a labor of love for the drowned and
devastated city of New Orleans, and it was a labor of pain. It told the horrific tale of neglect, massive flooding, destruction, and death. And it told a tale of hope. The book confronted the doubters and the critics of the rebuilding of our city with a powerful and simple argument: New Orleans does matter and has mattered to all of America and the world for a long, long time.

Now we are in the third year after that hideous Day of Katrina, August 29th, 2005, when the levees breached at the Industrial Canal, the London Canal, and 17th Street Canal. These failures, plus the flooding in the East and in the 9th Ward, and many other tragic events, sent the city of New Orleans into Hell and to the brink of non-existence. Literacy*AmeriCorps New Orleans (LACNOLA) came into being a year after Katrina.

New Orleans had already had a serious issue with low levels of literacy before the storm; now after Katrina the educational system had collapsed. It was the task of LACNOLA to help fill the gap in the educational system and help rebuild lives through education and the power of words. By teaching learners of all ages, Literacy* AmeriCorps New Orleans has given new hope and new opportunities to many of the neediest of the citizens of the drowned city.

Literacy improves lives financially, of course, by
opening up better jobs and more business opportunities for adult learners. But literacy also improves lives in less obvious, though still very meaningful ways — intellectually, psychologically, and even spiritually. Literacy can liberate the
mind and empower the soul.

To rebuild this city we need an educated populace; we need people who can read.

The road to recovery has been, and still is, very hard. But it is made lighter —or
even made possible at all— through education. New Orleans does matter to our citizens, to our county, and to the world. But it is literacy that brings forth knowledge, and hopefully wisdom too. Literacy is the best hope for a better future for New Orleans.

Literacy matters.

(*Note: Tom Piazza's book City of Refuge has been chosen for One Book One New Orleans for 2008.

The Incomparable Sorrow of New Orleans: Student Writing by Sr. Silvia Rodriguez

(We have another Student Writing today. We are doing a series of student writings about Tom Piazza's book City of Refuge which is all about Hurricane Katrina. This essay is by a nun from Mexico who is a nurse and also a student of the English language at SVDP-ALC. She was not in New Orleans for Katrina; but she treats the sick in New Orleans today, many of whom still suffer emotionally or physically from the storm.

--Adrian)

The Incomparable Sorrow of New Orleans

By Sr. Silvia Rodriguez

Three years ago I was part of the religious community in Kansas City, KS. On Sunday August 28, 2005, in the morning I heard that our sisters in New Orleans received a mandatory evacuation due to Hurricane Katrina that was headed directly to New Orleans. But they couldn't evacuate because there were 18 sisters, and they only had two cars. So, just six evacuated and 12 decided to stay in the convent.

As Tom Piazza said in his book, City of Refuge (page 153), "around the country we were immersed in constant information on television" ; the news spoke about the worst catastrophe in the country's history.

We and our sisters trusted that they would be safe like on other occasions. Very worried, we prayed day and night for our sisters and for all the people who could not evacuate. Since Monday morning until Wednesday night we didn't hear anything about them. All day some of us stayed in front of the TV.

I remember very clearly the images at the Superdome and the Convention Center; I suffered a lot for these people too when I saw 25,000 people with the temperature around 100 degrees, with a very hot environment, uncomfortable.

They were suffering terribly, without ventilation, air conditioning, bathrooms. They really were in a desperate situation.

It wasn't easy to see this sorrow in people -- hungry, thirsty, in despair. It wasn't easy to see bodies floating face down like a piece of garbage; people, crying ...

We can't compare our suffering with the sorrow of the people from New Orleans, but we suffer for them too.

City of Refuge is the reality in a novel. Tom Piazza shared the feelings and the viewpoint of the people who suffer a catastrophe known world-wide.

Another GED Graduate for SVDP-ALC !!

More good news for St. Vincent de Paul -- ALC. Our student Lance Williams passed his GED exam and will soon get his high school equivalency diploma from the state of Louisiana. (See his photo; he is standing next to Sr. Lory who is his teacher.) Lance joined us at SVDP-ALC about a year ago. He studied hard with us, and now he will be getting his diploma very soon. He hopes to take part in the GED graduation ceremony at Loyola in May 2009. Congratulations on a job well done, Lance!
-- Adrian

Updates: New School Books, Tom Piazza at Loyola, 2nd Writing Contest

Here are a few updates.

We are using these two new books at our school now on a regular basis in our small group classes -- see photo. The first is City of Refuge, the new novel by Tom Piazza about Hurricane Katrina. The book was this year's selection by the One Book One New Orleans project (OBONO).

Tom spoke at Nunemaker Hall at Loyola University on Thursday, Nov. 13th to a very thrilled and diverse audience. Students from Dillard University and Loyola University attended as well as many locals. Tom read selected passages from his novel, answered questions, and signed books. The event was sponsored by OBONO and the Literacy Alliance of Greater New Orleans and the Lindy Boggs Center for Literacy. Our own Literacy*AmeriCorps New Orleans group, directed by Sarah Fischer, helped out as well.


The second book is the Teacher/Tutor Guide for City of Refuge. It was written by Rachel Nicolosi of the Literacy Alliance GNO, Shannan Cvitanovic of YMCA Educational Services, and me. We use the Guide to help our students develop their literacy skills while reading selected passages from Tom's book. We stress vocabulary, grammar, and --most importantly-- reading comprehension. To enhance comprehension, we include discussion questions and topic suggestions for student essay writing about the book or Katrina in general. At SVDP-ALC I hold small group classes usually twice per week, and we have been and will continue to cover material from City of Refuge and the Teacher/Tutor Guide.

I devised a method called "familiar words" for the Guide wherein students locate names of persons, places, or things in the book they are familiar with. They write down the page numbers where they find the words, then read aloud in group the sentences where the words are located, then the paragraphs. Then we discuss the meaning of the sentences. I find that the "familar words" method is quite popular with our students, and it can be used as a basis for student essay writing too.

As you know, if you follow our blog, last month we had our first ever SVDP-ALC Student Writing Contest. It was a great success and was based on the totally fantastic work of our great pen pal from South Pole Station, Antarctica, John Miller of the U.S. Antarctic Program. The students wrote about John's adventure of staying overnight in the Amundsen-Scott tent replica at South Pole. (You can read all about this in earlier entries on this blog.) We will soon begin our second writing contest which will be based on Tom Piazza's book City of Refuge. We are still in the process of planning this contest, but it will be coming soon. So, stay tuned.
--Adrian

Student Writing: Jennie Gorden on City of Refuge

(Below is an essay by student Jennie Gorden, see photo, on City of Refuge by Tom Piazza. The book is presently being studied at SVDP-ALC.
-- Adrian)





My Views on City of Refuge and the
Teacher/Tutor Guide
By Jennie Gorden
St. Vincent de Paul - Adult Learning Center

I feel that City of Refuge, written by Mr. Tom Piazza, was an excellent book. His novel talked about Hurricane Katrina and two families, black and white, who were impacted in different ways. As I was reading the book, it became very interesting because looking back at "familiar words" and streets reminded me of when I was a teenager. "Familiar words" is a literacy tool from the Literacy Alliance of Greater New Orleans Teacher/Tutor Guide to help you learn about different topics from the book [Students select names and words from the book which are familiar and write about and discuss them.] City of Refuge talks about the shocking tale of the impact that Katrina had on New Orleans and the failure of response by the government.
Our class at St. Vincent de Paul – Adult Learning Center is studying the book and about the people’s state of mind who had to go through Katrina with their families. Some of the "familiar words" and streets that I recognize are Reynes Street (page 81) which is about the morning SJ went driving around looking for Wesley down Reynes to North Tonti past Forstall and decided to drive around 40 more minutes to see if anyone had seen Wesley. He was concerned about him because the storm was headed towards New Orleans.
No one had any idea NOLA East was going to flood and miles of houses would flood.
The storm had been so devastating that it truly crippled the city. When the levee breached at the 17th Street Canal, the city began to take on water from Lake Ponchartrain (page 165) All day Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday families were walking towards the Superdome and the Convention Center in large groups to get shelter. Then the evacuation started (page 382) Many of those without homes came from Houston, Little Rock, Memphis, and Atlanta back to New Orleans.
Literacy Skills are very important to learn because they teach you things that you do not know but are willing to learn. Some subjects are reading, writing, mathematics, and understanding the ability to discuss subjects. To have the ability to understand and discuss the book by Mr. Tom Piazza you must read it. I feel that Mr. Piazza wrote his book for his readers; he gives his voice to the unspoken Americans. Mr. Tom Piazza is using fictional characters, but it is a true story.

Our New GED Success Story -- Student Jor'dan Watson

We had great news at our school today. Our SVDP-ALC student Jor'dan Watson just passed his GED exam. So, he will soon receive his high school equivalency diploma from the State of Louisiana. We are hoping that he can also attend our second annual regional GED graduation, sponsored by the Literacy Alliance of Greater New Orleans. It will occur at Loyola University later this year. Jor'dan was a great student, a hard worker with a very positive attitude. He plans to enter the United States Navy soon. We are all VERY PROUD of him at our school. (I am especially happy that his test scores in social studies were outstanding because that is the subject that I taught him mainly.)

Well done, Jor'dan! Carry on.

-- Adrian

100 Posts to the SVDP-ALC Blog !!

Well, a milestone has been reached: I have just written the 100th post to this blog -- http://www.svdpalc.blogspot.com/ We have come a long way in our little blog since we went online in February 2008. We have told you about our school, our teachers, volunteers, and students. We recalled Hurricane Katrina and told you about our evacuations during Hurricane Gustav. We told you about the life of Miss Kitty and the Socrates of Loyola (both of whom died after Katrina). And, of course, we told you about the exciting story of our pen pal program with the U.S. Antarctic Program. Furthermore, we have lots of student writings now on our blog. And there's plenty more where all this came from...

Take note of the two photos on this post; they are Katrina-related. (Of course, everything in New Orleans is Katrina-related...) The first is of a map and a globe of the Earth; these come to the SVDP-ALC school courtesy of, and in the memory of, Isabella B. McGrath. Geography is a MAJOR subject at our school. The other photo is of me (taken by my brother-in-law Chris Smith) when I was in Katrina Exile in Chatham, Virginia. I was playing Irish music for a Christmas party at the old museum there which was built in the 1800's. It was a wonderful museum with many items from the Revolutionary War, Civil War, and from Native American history. I made a lot of good friends in Chatham.

I think somebody should bake me a cake or a pie after writing 100 posts for this blog, what do you think? I like German chocolate cake and pecan pie best. Please write in to the blog and ask someone to bake me a cake or a pie. Thank you...

-- Adrian

Student Charles Bartley and the SVDP-ALC Antarctic Writing Contest

Here is some of what student Charles Bartley wrote for our writing contest about John Miller's adventure, staying in the Amundsen tent replica at South Pole a few weeks ago.

Dear John Miller:

I don't know what it is like to stay in a tent outdoors in the cold, but is it like being in a freezer? But, John, I'd like to let you know you have shown me so much by what you are doing in Antarctica. I would like to thank you, and one day I would like to do something as meaningful. I know you lead the prayer service. on Sundays, and I would like to say prayers for you and the other USAP members at South Pole.

Take Care,

Charles Bartley

Well done, Charles. We know that John will like reading that fine letter.

(Note: The photo is of the sunset at South Pole sent to us by our pen pal Weeks Heist, USAP.)

-- Adrian

Student Aaron Hawthorne and the Antarctic Writing Contest

We will be posting some of the entries -- or excerpts thereof-- from our first ever SVDP-ALC writing contest which was about "life in a tent in Antarctica." The topic was based on the real life adventure of John Miller of the USAP and his attempt to re-enact the history of the explorers Amundsen and Scott who stayed in a tent in Antarctica. Below is some of what student Aaron Hawthorne wrote (he is pictured above getting a certificate for writing next to our SVDP volunteer teacher /tutor Dr. Kathy Dunlap, MD) :

I would feel cold because everything was frozen. He must have been worried about how to heat the tent. He would have to figure out how to find food and water to survive. He must have been lonely and have missed his family because he had no telephone or internet...

Yes, Aaron certainly captured what it must have been like for John to be in that tent overnight at the South Pole a few weeks ago and what Amundsen and Scott experienced way back in 1911-12. Thanks, Aaron, for a nice job. Well done.

(Note: The other photo is from our USAP pen pal Weeks Heist of US air transport on the ground at Antarctica.)

-- Adrian

Flags at Antarctica

Here are some nice photos sent to us from Antarctica of flags which fly at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. Our pen pal Weeks Heist sent us this photo of the Antarctica Flag for the USAP and National Science Foundation. It is navy blue with a map of Antarctica on it and words referring to the United States Antarctic Program.

The second photo was sent to us by our pen pal John Miller and is of the US flag flying atop the observation deck at the Elevated Station at South Pole.

Great photos!

--- Adrian