Melissa's Field Notes

Melissa Cotignola
Field Notes: 9/27/09 beginning @ 9:28 AM: Lower Ninth Ward

Upon arrival in the Lower Ninth Ward I notice immediately that the area seemed sleepy. Within a period of ten minutes I observe only two individuals – both of which are African American females in their twenties or thirties. One is walking down a quiet street in a tight-fitting t-shirt. The other is similarly dressed and getting into the drivers’ seat of a large SUV. The real action is taking place at the New Street Baptist Church where the parking lot is full of well-dressed African American men and women. The men are wearing sharp looking suits and ties. One of them is carrying a garment bag with a suit in it. The attire strikes me as very formal, even for Sunday services. Sites like this were common, which makes me believe religion plays a very strong and important role in this community. Tent churches are also a common sight. I notice several open-air churches that hold their services under large tends. The reason for this being, I guess, many churches were destroyed in Katrina. These churches symbolize the rebirth of the religious community and the importance of continuing worship in hard times. My belief that religion plays a central role in this community is confirmed once again as I notice the Villa St. Maurice – a former religiously-affiliated retirement home. The home is now boarded up with windows blown in, but religious statues still stand eerily in the gardens. Across the street, St. Margaret’s Daughters’ Home also appears to be abandoned.
Religious centers are just a small fraction of the many abandoned buildings in the area. The area is primarily residential, and there are vast areas of tall grass close to the levy where houses once stood and have yet to be rebuilt. The new, modern looking post-Katrina houses strike me immediately, for they are completely out of place. All of the houses that surround them fit a common description; the windows are either shattered or non existent, the doors are poorly boarded up with rotting wood and the property is very obviously neglected. Near these neglected houses is a cluster of occupied trailers. An African American man stands outside of a trailer. He is wearing blue jeans, a striped, button down shirt and athletic shoes. He throws the red Solo cup he is sipping from into a large, exposed pile of trash located just outside of his trailer. Upon considering this, as well as observing the many abandoned houses and other exposed trash heaps, I wonder if there is a lack of respect for the appearance of the community. Perhaps this lack of respect is rooted in the fact that little has been done in this area to restore it to its pre-Katrina state.
It takes us nearly an hour before we discover a functioning school. I notice many former schools that are now boarded up, including Martin Luther King Middle School. There are trailers in the back of the property, but I cannot tell if the school is functioning currently out of these trailers. Far away from any of the schools I spotted is a paved area with trees in the middle marked “Play Spot”. This area is comprised of a few benches, six swings, and a jungle gym. There are no children playing in this area. Because this play area is not very inviting looking, I suspect that the kids in the community hardly use it. This relates back to the common trend that low-income children are forced to engage in more imaginative and self-constructed free time activities because of the lack of the facilities. Any children I notice who are of “playground age” are instead congregated on street corners or in front of abandoned houses. One group of young children are all dressed in similar attire: long oversized white t-shirts, and long, wide black or blue jeans.