The Superdome

The variety of different experiences during Hurricane Katrina is exhibited in A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge struck me as so striking because I had always assumed that New Orleans had suffered equally, but when I watched Trouble the Water I was amazed at the lack of footage from the Superdome. When Katrina was still a national crisis, and when the media was still trying to piece together what was going on in Louisiana, the Los Angeles Times ran an article on its front cover:

http://articles.latimes.com/2005/sep/01/nation/na-superdome1

This article is what my picture of Katrina is. What the movie outlined for me was that the Superdome was not the only place left to fend for itself, the entire Lower Ninth Ward was desolate. Perhaps this article only provides a single, focused look into Katrina, but like all the other articles we have read on New Orleans it adds to our overall picture of the city.

There are multiple ways to connect this article to the course: Recall the scene from the film when they drive on the freeway past the Superdome and think of what was going on inside of it at the time that shot was filmed. Secondly, this is yet another story of Katrina, the floodwaters, the disaster, the people, which all of our readings have somehow been building up to or adding to. And lastly, with a broader American Studies focus in mind, note that this article is yet another perspective from which to view the disaster that redefined New Orleans and an entire population forever.