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