School Talk

May 22, 2007, Part II

I met today with Jean Duke, Assistant Principal at Andrew Jackson Elementary. A big proponent of the Play Power Program at AJ, Ms. Duke was nice enough to sit down with me for a few minutes in her office, even though chaos reigned right outside her door, as is usually the case.

I asked Ms. Duke how things were going as the school year was winding down, and how she was looking forward to her upcoming change as I’d heard several times that she would be leaving the school. Her look indicated it was not yet official; I apologized for possibly jumping the gun and intruding. She was not rattled. What that comment did, however, was open the door to an entire conversation outside of Play Power.

“You don’t even have time to grieve,” she said.

That comment will stick with me for a long time. It’s the sort of thought that I figured to be true, and have thought about, but when I heard it from someone who has been in the middle of all this, a resident who is from here and who has lived through Katrina’s after effects, it was even more powerful.

I could see the look in her face, in her eyes, how tired and drawn she is by all of this. Not was, but is. She’s away from her husband all week, she works in a high stress, very chaotic environment. She does have to look out for herself, though. She knows what she is doing – looking for a job closer to where her family is, is the right thing to do, even though she likely will have to take a step down and go back to teaching. She’s ok with that. It will probably be healthy for her.

People were affected in so many different ways. Their lives up-rooted, their families dispersed, careers altered. It doesn’t stop.

Later that afternoon, I was fortunate enough to hear and share in an equally powerful conversation.

I had a meeting Gayle Hunter, who works for the St. Bernard Parish School District. Ms. Hunter is one of the top staff members right under Superintendent Doris Voitier (sp?). I had set up the meeting with Ms. Hunter to talk about other volunteer opportunities within the school district for the summer.

Gayle’s situation isn’t that much different from Jean’s (and of course, they know each other well).

Gayle and her husband left their home in St. Bernard’s Parish, and it still sits, rotting in water and moisture, not touched since the storm. They bought a house in Picayune, MS, and during the week, she stays down in St. Bernard’s Parish, in a trailer by herself out behind the School District Building. A mother of two grown daughters, Gayle is going to retire in December, and she’s handling her situation as well as can be expected. Her outlook is great, and her plight seems to be the last thing on her mind. Ms. Hunter and her husband didn’t have an outstanding mortgage on their home in SBP, and seem to have had minimal financial worry. One day they hope to get their $7000 check for the house in SBP from the Road Home program and just sell the property.

She’s much more pre-occupied with how others are coping, how the overall recovery is going. She’s lived and worked in SBP for 40 years, and she loves it here. If she said it once while we spoke, she said it a half dozen times, St. Bernard Parish is like a family. “If you live down the road and I don’t know you, I know you’re Aunt, your brother, your cousin”.

I sat in Ms. Hunter’s office for over an hour and half. All I was there to do was ask about Volunteer opportunities in the school district, and we spoke about that. She was a great help. But we spoke, and she spoke, about so much more. The people here, even those who are more fortunate and don’t have the same financial worries as others, like to share the feelings, their stories. It all helps, it’s therapeutic. I’m more than happy to listen.

I walked out of the Parish School District Building, it wasn’t quite 4 o’clock. I hadn’t done any physical labor. I didn’t have any tangible report or spreadsheet to check off as a completed task for the day. Nor did I have a wall full of nails or mudded sheetrock to stand proudly in front of and gaze at. I did, however, in just about five hours of time, have the memories of seeing dozens of children who don’t have that much sparkle thanks to a volunteer with a good heart and 2300 books. I also had an opportunity to listen, to learn, and to help, because here, listening and just talking to someone does that. It helps.