Presbytere Museum

Outer Journey-
Today is our very last full day in the beautiful city of New Orleans. We are going to the Cabildo and the Presbytere museums that are located next to the Cathedral. The Presbytere was my favorite. As soon as I walked into the Presbytere museum I saw glass bottles hanging all over the celling. A light was shining on the bottles turning them different colors from blue to purple to pink. They glistened above me and I notice they all had a rolled piece of paper inside the bottles with a cork in the top of the bottle. They looked like a message in a bottle that you would see washed up on a shore. The paper inside each bottle stood for each person that lost their life to hurricane Katrina. As you walk into each room of the museum on the first floor, they show different aspects of hurricane Katrina. The first room showed a history of hurricanes that have hit, as well as new report clips that talked about evacuating the city before the hurricane hits. As you continue to walk through you arrive to a room that shows many different clips of people’s personal stories. One corner of the room showed videos of local heroes during and after Katrina. As you look around the room you may notice a spot light shining in the slightly dim room. The light would move to a different video around the room and the videos would play the stories of the Katrina survivors. In the next room, you will see models and videos about the levees. It shows you why the believe they didn't hold up, and that the type of soil plays a role in this. You then go into the next area where there is a white garage door spray painted with red wording all over that says things like “2 cats” and “Dead dog”.  This garage door is what a survivor used to signal for help, as well as let them know how many people they had or how many animals, dead and alive. On the other side of the wall is a framed outfit that looked like it belonged to a little boy. The top and bottoms were covered in filth. Next to the outfit was a teddy bear in a glass case tattered and covered in dirt. It looked to be a hundred years old because of its condition. But this bear was recovered from after the Hurricane.The very last room on the bottom floor had a show they played. The "show" was a series of videos put together that would play in many different size wooden window frames placed all together. The video showed clips of those who had lost something in the hurricane. Whether it was a personal item or their house, they all lost something from this tragedy. Upstairs was where the Mardi Gras exhibit was located. Once you walk up the stairs and into the first room you are greeted by many colors and extravagant outfits that are made up of feathers and jewels. All outfits were different in the sense that no two outfits looked the same. Though they were the same in the sense that they all had many colors, and of course sequins and jewels covering them. This exhibit gave you a little taste of Mardi Gras. It made you feel as if you were in a Mardi Gras parade. Below I posted just a couple of the many outfits that were in the exhibit.

Inner Journey-

Seeing all the glass bottles hanging from the celling as I walked into the Presbytere really hit me hard. Knowing that each of those bottles stood for a life that was lost really made me emotional. In the museum, they showed videos of the survives and their stories. Some of these stories told were just horrific. I say this because the situations they were put in, the lack of help they got was just unacceptable in my opinion. There was one video that had me almost in tears. A woman that had stayed in New Orleans during the hurricane. She explained that afterwards she lost her home, had a lack of food and fresh water just like so many others. But what really got me is when she said her as well as many others went months before anyone arrived to help. She had lost all hope of someone coming to the rescue. I can’t even begin to imagine being in a place where there is no food, no water, no place to sleep at night, and no one to come to the rescue. She then went on to say that they had got word of there being a bus on the bridge to take people out of the city and as her and hundreds of others walked to the bridge they started getting shot at and told to get back. These people lost everything and we as a country had failed them. In my opinion there had to of been more that could have been done! Then when some help did arrive they only got them to a save place from flooding, but these people were still in short supply of all food and essential items. Another thing that had a big impact on me was the garage door that was exhibited in the Presbytere. It had messages written on it such as “Dead dog, owner will bury” and “2 cats” People would write messages on things such as garage doors or roof tops to get attention of rescuers to show them how many people or animals they had that needed to be rescued. Seeing an item like this just really made me reflect on my life and all that I have overcome. Reflecting about my own personal situations made me realize that nothing I have ever had to go through is as bad as what these people had to go through. People lost their life’s, homes, loved ones, and some were stranded for months, and some lost hope. After seeing all of this I couldn’t help but feel a strong desire to want to help people in disasters like this. As a future nurse, I will be able to help people not only by donating my time to help rebuild and provide food and water, but also medical needs as well. Knowing this, I feel even more dedicated to my major in nursing, and I can’t wait to go out and make a difference in people’s life’s. Also if you ever get the chance to come to New Orleans, the Prebytere is a must to go to!

Glass bottles hanging from the ceiling in the Presbytere