Humanize the Earth!

This American Life: After the Flood

Last week’s This American Life radio program is amazing. Take an hour or whatever time you have and go listen. Skip the first couple of minutes if you don’t want Ira Glass’s editorial about federal responsibility. The rest is stories directly from people involved:

Surprising stories from survivors of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. A woman who was at the convention center talks about some things she says were widely misreported and misunderstood. Two people explain how armed police from Gretna actually prevented them from leaving New Orleans at the height of the crisis. A teenager talks about what it actually feels like to go without water for two days. And more.

One of the teenagers interviewed in “After the Flood,” Ashley Nelson, is the author of an amazing book called The Combination, about her neighborhood in New Orleans. All the copies that were available are now underwater. But The Neighborhood Stories Project, which collaborated with Ashley and several other New Orleans teenagers on books about their neighborhoods, plans to print another run as soon as possible.

Episode 296 from 9 Sept 05