[StBernard] StBernard Digest, Vol 353, Issue 2

[Westley Annis]

This is wonderful writing and I think many thousands of people can relate to
it.  It hits home.  Such depth from such a young person.  I suggest reading
this.
Sparky K

On Aug 30, 2006, at 8:53 PM, stbernard-request at da-parish.com wrote:


	    -----My gypsy life hasn't stopped. It was so strange when I
moved here

	to the dorm on campus. My mom said I was leaving home, but it
doesn't feel

	that way. I feel too battle-weary to become attached to things like
houses.

	I've slept in too many beds, come back to too many places at the end
of the

	day. I was only in the house we rebuilt for a couple of short weeks.
There

	wasn't any furniture. I kept most of my clothes on the floor because
I don't

	have anywhere else to put them. When I sat with my parents to watch

	television, we sat on the floor. It isn't the home I remember, and I
wasn't

	there long enough to make any connection with this new place. Maybe
that's

	why I adjusted to the dorm so easily. It's just space. A place to
stop at

	the end of the day, a bed to sleep in. What more could I ask for?

	     My home, the home I still love, is in my heart. It will always
be there

	inside of me wherever I go, the water of the marsh and lake, the
jokes at

	the giant family gatherings, going to school with my cousins. That
place is

	my home, not houses, not dorm rooms, not travel campers. I lived in
all, but

	home isn't where the trailer stops. Home is inside of me. It goes
with me

	everywhere I go in my memory. The St. Bernard Parish I love died
this day

	last year, but I will always remember it. It will always - always -
be with

	me, as will the culture that raised me. I won't let it fade away.

	
	

	     -----  Everyone in this world will have to endure storms of
their own.

	Flooded, we fall and break, tossed about, tumbling. We can't avoid
that, but

	we can make things better when these storms happen. It took me a
long time

	to realize that, and my journey over this past year has taken me
many

	places. I don't regret it. Terrible things happened this past year,
to me,

	to my family, to my parish, and to the Gulf Coast, but we're tough.
All of

	us. People. Human beings. We fight back.

	
	

	
	

	     -----  This day last year, people died. Bodies lined the rivers
that

	were streets. Homes were flooded, possessions lost. This is a dark
day, but

	there has been so much good in the world: the volunteers who came to
clean

	out houses, the aid of strangers who blessed so many lives, and the
people

	across the country who took in refugees.

	
	

	     -----  My name is Samantha Perez, and I am from St. Bernard
Parish,

	Louisiana, a place just southeast of New Orleans. I am now a
freshman in

	university, studying to become an English major. I have lived many
places in

	the past year because my home was destroyed by powerful Hurricane
Katrina,

	which one year ago from today changed life for everyone.

	
	

	
	

	If anywone would like to read the rest of Sam's hurricane journal,
visit

	www.readthetattoo.com <http://www.readthetattoo.com/>  and click on
the

	journal link.  I

	
	

	Janet Perez--proud mother of Samantha Perez 2006 Hannan Honor
Graduate and

	Southeastern Louisiana University Freshman!