A Busy Couple of Days...

Ok, I finally have some time to sit down and tell yall about the wonderful experiences I have been having. I have met some great people and seen some remarkable things.
The owners of this home have never returned...


On a lighter note...


I am working on two fun stories about New Orleans and its music scene. The first of which is on the new Musicians Village in the Ninth Ward started by Harry Connick Jr. and Habitat for Humanity. I went down there with Liz on Wednesday and met some really neat musicians. The first was Fredy Omar, a Latin singer from Honduras, who received a US flag for his new home from none other than the prez. himself, George W.

Fredy and I at his new home he is still moving into.

The second musician I met, was J.D. Hill, and boy does he have a story! He has played with everyone and for everyone. He recently played for George W. in his own home in the Musicians Village! I was lucky enough to sit down with him while he played a little diddy for me on his harmonica...words really can't describe the feelings I felt me through his music. It was a real New Orleans joy!

J.D Hill and I, after his great harmonica performance

Now, if yall are wanting the full story on these two performers and the Musicians Village, tune into the Daily Update this week!


The second piece I am working on is about the Jazz culture here in New Orleans and how it has changed after Katrina. I was really lucky to interview Troy Andrews or "Trombone Shorty" as he is known here in the Big Easy. I sat down with him in his studio and discussed everything from touring with Lenny Kravitz to his work after Katrina in New Orleans. He invited me to attend a big show he had going on last night with the very, and I mean very popular New Orleans jazz band, Rebirth.
Rebirth has become the patron saints for bringing back jazz to this city and it was a remarkable show! I have never enjoyed brass instruments that much in my life. And talking with Troy, I have really come to understand that jazz here in New Orleans is not just a craft, it is a lifestyle.

To get more on the rest of this story and see the great performance, tune in to the Daily Update.

Well, I guess that wraps up the fun stuff I have been doing, but here are some pics I have taken of the city and some great behind the scenes stuff.

The London Street Canal...notice the city skyline in the distance.

An abandoned home in the Ninth Ward.

Check out the water line on this home.


A rusted door from 9 ft of water...and an attempt to take an artistic photo.

Behind the scenes at the Musicians Village...Liz does a great job of getting the shots!

Ok, well I am off to go cheer on the Mustangs at the Superdome...

Go Ponies!

Friday at a glance

We just got back from finishing up some shooting for one of the "bringing back the music" pieces we have been working on and I have decided that I am not cut out for this late night New Orleans life!

Last night I worked on my story about following the SMU money and seeing how the Red Cross handled the funds. I was privileged enough to join a hurricane survivor on a tour of what was once her home. She lived there for almost fifty years. What I found will surprise SMU's students.

Today was a whirlwind of events including another visit to the 9th ward.

This home is one of literally thousands that are in the same condition. Most of their residents will never return.

This is all I have for now... I'm way tired! Everyone yell for the mustangs tomorrow! I know I can't wait to watch the game in the Superdome!

Watch Myra's Story on the SMU Website

For those of you who don't live in SMU-TV Channel 7's viewing area and want to watch the piece that aired this morning on the Daily Update, here's a link for you to watch it:

http://www.smu.edu/newsinfo/videos/new-orleans/

So, i know you've all been wondering...what's Myra been up to??? :) Well, ive finally got some time here, so I'll share. Garrett and i just got back from shooting his package about the reconstruction of the Superdome. Being in the dome was UNREAL. its gigantic. did you know that the astrodome would fit INSIDE the superdome? yeah, its that big. its roof is 9.8 acres. and $185 million was put into it to make the repairs. it was pretty humbling to be standing out on the football field. But its all ready to go for the big SMU v. Tulane game saturday! Im pumped!!
Right now we're waiting to switch gear with the Ashleigh/Gabe crew. This morning Garrett and I got great stuff from the architects who took on the dome project...as well the dome spokesman. We've got some time, so we're heading out to the 9th ward to see what we can see. Its misleading to be right here in the French Quarter. It looks like everything's back to normal. Im willing to be that the 9th ward will tell us otherwise.
To back track just a bit...wednesday i interviewed 2 Tulane football players about where they've come in the past 13 months and what they're looking to forward to about being back in the Dome again. The stuff they said was unbelievable. I honestly couldnt use it all...they told amazing and heartfelt stories about what they saw when they visited the city just a few weeks after Katrina. Pretty compelling stuff. Im thinking about compiling it all into a sit down interview just so people can hear their story.
Before leaving dallas i sat down with a few smu players to talk to them about this upcoming game and what they think about being the second event to be back in the dome. Yesterday, i took all of my interviews, broll, etc, and edited it together into package form. Garrett helped me shoot a standup in front of the dome. it looks pretty cool, if i do say so myself! Then we took it to WWL here in NOLA to be fed back to WFAA in dallas via satellite. Yes, it felt like real on-location coverage. My piece was aired on the Daily Update today. (SMU TV, channel 7) I couldnt have done it without the help of Ashleigh, Nick, Gabe and Garrett!
Well, we're heading out to the 9th ward. We'll let you know what we see out there.
Until next time...
<3 Myra

Adventures of Mercy and Liz

Liz and I at the end our adventurous Thursday in the Big Easy!!

A Church in Lakeview...make sure you read their message written in duck tape.

The dedication plaque for the first London Street Canal...they are still working on it a year later.

A patriotic home in Lakeview a block from where the levy broke.

We found this on an abandon street next to a broken levy.

The general feeling of homeowners in the most devastated areas of New Orleans...notice the children's toys in the background.

A home in the Ninth Ward...the area of most devastation.

Friday's Tentative Rundown

Yesterday was a success. Myra's package ran in the Daily Update this morning. Watch in on Ch 7 in the Park Cities. The DU runs on the hour from 8-Noon as well as 3p and 6p. Garrett also did a phone interview with the Update folks this morning previewing the game itself.

Preliminary plans for today for Ashleigh and I: Quite a few interviews today. We'll be talking with a professor from Tulane who evacuated to Houston, then to Dallas, then up to Massachusetts to continue his research. He's back at Tulane now, but what does his program's funding look like? We'll find out.

We'll also be talking to a Loyola student whose contact info we were given yesterday from Bob. (He's the student VP at Loyola, which was also a surprise interview for us.) This student attended SMU last fall and then returned to Loyola. She was a little under the weather yesterday when we called, but hopefully she'll feel better today.

Also on the docket, the President of Tulane. We'll be talking education in the city, what the surroundings mean for that type of education, and the University's role, as the largest employer in the entire city, in recovery efforts. We're really fortunate we were able to schedule this interview and we're looking forward to it.

Lastly, we discovered yesterday that visiting and having elements from Dillard is going to be imperative. Everyone we've talked to has said they are having the hardest time recovering. Stories seem inconsistent...some say there's no phones there, some say no email. We're not sure, but we figure out the best thing to do is make a house call and see for ourselves.

One last thought from yesterday...the kind folk at Loyola reserved us a parking space. Ashleigh and I couldn't but help remember all those times we've seen reserved parking places at SMU. So we took a picture of our cone:

PKG: Fed to Dallas

We just returned from WWL-TV. Tomorrow's story for the Daily Update has been fed back to Dallas.


Myra watching herself on the satellite feed.

Crossing the Great Divide

As promised, here’s how Gabe and I got lost…and by lost I mean totally discombobulated.

Instead of heading the right direction toward Xavier, we decided to take the “scenic” route over the New Orleans Bridge. Indeed, a great drive but not in the right direction at all.

When we realized the Superdome was nowhere in sight we decided to turn around. We looked to the left and what did we see? You guessed it: bumper-to-bumper traffic. Our interview was scheduled for 10 a.m. It was 9:30. Ok. We’re journalists with a speeding addiction. We’ll make it.

Deciding to bypass the bridge, we pulled over here.



Welcome to Gretna. We successfully managed to leave the vicinity of New Orleans. How this happened when we were using a map? We don’t know.

So, we headed for a crossover road labeled as a tollway on the map. After spending another 20 minutes trying to find this so called “tollway” we pull up to the river. Ironically, we found what we were looking for. Apparently this Louisianan tollway isn’t what we consider a tollway back in Dallas. This was a ferry! This barge before us was clearly not what we expected.

Finally, we bit the bullet and asked a local…and by local we mean man standing outside Gretna City Hall…how to get back to the highway. Long story somewhat shorter, we made it back to the highway, paid a real $1 toll and made our way back in the right direction.

What we’ve learned from this:
1) Print directions.
2) Take them with you.
3) Leaving an hour in advance doesn’t always get you where you need to go with time to spare.

And, as an added bonus, our interview subject was late too. So “net-lateness” equals zero and we made it out alive with a great interview.

We love our jobs.

THE ADVENTURES OF MERCY AND LIZ...

We started today with two stories in mind. The first a piece that I have been working on about following the funds donated from SMU students. The second story is Mercy's about bringing back New Orleans' music. What we found today was so much more.



We left to grab brunch and get on the road so we stopped in a small cafe... Cafe Orleans. As we entered we were informed they were closed and didn't open for an hour. After a short conversation we were offered shrimp po boys by the owner who sat and chatted with us about his business, post-Katrina. The food was great and so was the scenery in the French Quarter. We are returning tonight to find out more about business life in the Big Easy... new story number one for the day!

A contact at KTVT in Dallas suggest that we check out Lakeview, an up-scale community in the area. He said this was the only place that could afford to rebuild due to high contractor fees, expensive labor force, and building supplies. When we arrived we realized this area sat between two major New Orleans levies, both of which broke. We wanted to take a closer look...so we asked the construction workers if we could climb up on the levy...the London Street Canal to be exact, and they were very willing to let us. These construction workers have been working on this site for a year and were very excited to see fresh faces.

In this same area, we encountered two very different groups. The first people we spoke to were homeowners in Lakeview, who were rebuilding their home. Their home had been severely damaged by 15 feet of water. It was a father/son duo who were doing most of the work themselves. They gave us a tour of the home and talked us through the difficulties they have encountered after Katrina...new story number two for the day!!

The second the group we found were six male volunteers from Toronto, Canada. They drove the entire way, in a small mini van, to vacation here in New Orleans by gutting houses! They were all extraordinary people dedicated to the helping restore this city. They were so kind and helpful that we decided to give them SMU-TV t-shirts....new story number three for the day!

More to come on our trip to the Ninth Ward and the Musicians Village...

Sights on St. Charles

I spent some time down at Tulane this morning shooting B-roll for Myra's package. On the long drive down St. Charles Avenue I stopped periodically to take some photos. Have a look.

These signs are everywhere on campus, and up and down St. Charles.
Even some of the nicest houses on St. Charles are still having work done (and there are some beautiful homes here)
There is a huge election here this weekend (more on that later), and signs like these are everywhere in the city, encouraging people to turn out and vote.

Two of three crews are out shooting now. Myra and I are editing her package for tomorrow's DU. We're planning on getting out of downtown and exploring a little more shortly. Stay tuned.


-Garrett

We've only just begun

Gabe and I just caught a break between our interview with Xavier's Student Body President and Loyola's Dean of Admissions. Our university angle is developing very well, even though we ended up on the complete opposite side of the city this morning before interview #1. Oh don't worry, we'll post more on that excursion later. So much to tell!

As for now, we'll stop hogging a library computer and turn it over to the students who actually pay for it. On to interview #2.

First Impressions and Thursday's Tentative Rundown

The latter group of us didn't get into town until dark, so it was difficult to see much. What was visible, even in the dark: many a home, without power, with a FEMA trailer in the front yard, abandoned motels, and the monstrous Superdome.

We had a brief meeting before heading off to bed to go over the plan for tomorrow. Here's an overview.

Big goals/projects for Thursday:
1. Myra's PKG. We'll finish shooting b-roll elements and prepare the story to feed from WWL-TV back to WFAA in Dallas.
2. Several interviews we've already scheduled, including a student body president at a local university and a dean of admissions.
3. Explore the city. We're getting our head around the timeline of last fall. We all watched this progression graphic from the local newspaper website that helped us immensely.

And some good news for Garrett's story on the Superdome, we just received an email from a contact at the construction company that oversaw the facility's reconstruction with the phone number of a possible interview. We'll make contact with him first thing in the morning.

More updates to come.

The Road to Recovery

The SMU in NOLA blog is designed to give you an inside view of what we six journalism majors are seeing, experiencing and feeling on this trip. All of us are here in New Orleans for the first time since the storm, and for the first time as journalists.

We hope you'll use this blog to supplement the coverage on SMU-TV over the next week. You can watch SMU-TV on Charter Cable, Channel 7.

This first post is titled "The Road to Recovery" because that is precisely how we arrived in New Orleans. Driving down from Dallas we got on to I-10 at Lafayette, and rode it the rest of the way into New Orleans.

For most New Orleanians, I-10 was the only escape route during the storm. Residents could go east, and try to race safely out to the other side of the storm's past; or they could go west, on the same stretch of road we approached from. Evacuees who left the city late found I-10 jammed past its two-lane capacity. Even with both sides of the freeway going the same direction, traffic must have been unbearable. We all remember the images of cars stopped on the shoulder, dead or out of gas. There are no other routes out of the city. I-10 is mostly one
long bridge from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, and there is one 12 mile stretch with no exits.

Our trip east along I-10 was much different. The road and weather were both clear, thinking about being trapped on that road with a hurricane approaching was sobering. When we first saw the lights of the city we tried to imagine doing that drive in the immediate aftermath. How different that view must have been...

Now I-10 brings hope back into the city. We passed a military cargo truck that belonged to the national guard and countless freight trucks that use I-10 to get across the nation, many of which were probably bringing their cargo here to the Crescent City. Returning evacuees from Houston take this road all the way back home to New Orleans. Now I-10 has brought us - and we hope that we can do some good here as well.

-Garrett