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    ncgreenlanternCrystal Hayes
    8/29/15 3:07pm

    I lived in North Carolina for over 30 years so I know what hurricanes can do I also know that you have about a week’s notice to plan for a hurricane . The mess that happened in New Orleans was caused by a mayor and governor who had no clue how to act or deal with the storm the city is under sea level it shouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what was going to happen they should of had mandatory evacuations earlier and done more to get the word out .

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      Schadenfreude_NOLAncgreenlantern
      8/29/15 4:14pm

      Yeah. How do they enforce mandatory evac orders?

      There is plenty of blame to go around. Nagin was an idiot, and Blanco a wet noodle, but your buddy Bush screwed the pooch too. You do not put a horse aficionado in charge of the emergency response agency.

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      amgarrencgreenlantern
      8/29/15 4:58pm

      Sigh. You should have stopped with, “I lived in North Carolina.” Listen up everyone who was not there, you need to just remember those who suffered and died and STFU with the rest of it. Thank you.

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    ColonialSaabCrystal Hayes
    8/29/15 3:34pm

    It is possible that there is an interesting and thought provoking essay hidden here. However, your writing only leaves the impression that you have a lot of strong feelings and you are perhaps overwhelmed by them from time to time. Maybe you should work with a decent editor to say your piece a little better.

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      Schadenfreude_NOLAColonialSaab
      8/29/15 4:16pm

      Are you a professor? Because that was the nicest “what the fuck are you saying” i have ever read.

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      ColonialSaabSchadenfreude_NOLA
      8/29/15 4:21pm

      Not a professor, but I do mentor students.

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    istariCrystal Hayes
    8/29/15 6:59pm

    A lot of people commenting are real idiots. This is very well written. I commend you for all you’ve already done and hope you continue finding the strength to continue making a meaningful difference in students’ lives.

    Good luck in the trenches.

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      m9105826istari
      8/29/15 7:03pm

      It’s objectively poorly written, sorry. But that doesn’t make the subject matter any less pertinent or interesting.

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      istarim9105826
      8/29/15 7:10pm

      Your assertion requires evidence. Show how it is “objectively poorly-written.” Because it isn’t.

      Fair warning: your hurdle will be the word “objectively.”

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    MissNormaDesmondCrystal Hayes
    8/29/15 3:54pm

    Thanks for an interesting, thought-provoking piece about what it costs someone to do this kind of work. I get frustrated and disheartened just by the conversations I sometimes have on the Internet. I can only imagine what teaching such a class would be like — but I can imagine it more accurately for having read this.

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      Donnie who loved bowlingMissNormaDesmond
      8/29/15 9:29pm

      I get frustrated and disheartened just by the conversations I sometimes have on the Internet.

      I’m a social worker who works with mainly homeless veterans or low-income veterans, and it’s kind of appalling the arguments I somehow find myself sucked into online with other people who live in San Francisco who have insane attitudes towards the homeless and poor. It’s enraging.

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      MissNormaDesmondDonnie who loved bowling
      8/29/15 10:38pm

      I feel you. I’m an MFT, and I’ve worked with undocumented immigrants a good deal. So far, I’ve had the good fortune that no one’s ever said anything asinine to my face about “illegals”. I don’t know how I’d keep my temper if they did.

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    CtrlAltDefeatCrystal Hayes
    8/29/15 10:34pm

    I find this essay heavy on the “telling” and light on the “showing.”

    It’s successful insofar as it offers an emotional narrative. But what I really wanted was lacking—what are the specific practices (the readings, the assignments, the lectures)? what does oversharing and overpreparing entail? What does success and failure look like? What would a better model be? In short: What does teaching Katrina in the classroom actually look like?

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      ErakisCrystal Hayes
      8/29/15 3:01pm

      I’m trying to figure what this article is about. There is a lot of talk about feelings, but no actual content. It seems more like a peek into the mind of someone who pathologically internalizes things and doesn’t live in a measurable world. I guess that sums up a lot of social science academia, though.

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        EndRaceTrollingErakis
        8/29/15 3:50pm

        She gets points for working in most of the current buzz terms, like “intersectionality”; a meaningless phrase.

        But she forgot to use “black bodies,” at some point.

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        JohnnyDerppErakis
        8/29/15 5:23pm

        The author prefaces her statements with too many “As a...” identifiers. We got it on the first reference, you are a Black woman. The author should have included details of some experiences that caused her inability to eat and teach.

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      amgarreCrystal Hayes
      8/29/15 3:11pm

      I think this is a perfect illustration of why many in my home state will be glad when this whole Katrina10 thing is over.

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        MissNormaDesmondCrystal Hayes
        8/30/15 2:12pm

        In the comments: lots of people who are baffled by how a post in a series devoted to personal essays could be a — wait for it, it’s a shocker — personal essay.

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          BirdDroppingsCrystal Hayes
          8/29/15 3:11pm

          At the time of Katrina I was a young seasonal park ranger with the National Park Service. The NPS formed task teams to send to Katrina to help with clean up and humanitarian efforts. I grew up sheltered and naive, so when I was sent to join other NPS teams down in NOLA, I had no idea what I was in for. Over the course of two weeks I saw a side of America that I did not know existed. I saw levels of poverty that I thought only occurred in third world nations. I saw black Americans treated like inhumane animals. I have no doubt that had Katrina landed somewhere where the population was predominately white, the US governments response and aid to help victims would have been much different.

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            Burner43BirdDroppings
            8/29/15 8:08pm

            Damn, you’re taking a lot of flak for your harmless comment. These trolls froth at the mouth when you point out an inconvenient truth. There’s no reason at all to doubt your experience.

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            BirdDroppingsBurner43
            8/29/15 8:24pm

            The thing is, my story and experiences go against their narrative.

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          Schadenfreude_NOLACrystal Hayes
          8/29/15 4:10pm

          “Every year, my students were horrified to learn about the political and social inequality in New Orleans that initially made the levees so vulnerable.”

          What are you talking about? Shoddy engineering and poor upkeep made the levees predisposed to fail.

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            m9105826Schadenfreude_NOLA
            8/29/15 7:00pm

            Q: And the things that facilitated shoddy engineering and poor upkeep were...?

            A: A lack of giving a shit from the people in charge of maintaining things about the people and places most likely to be affected if they failed.

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