The “leaving your home and all worldly possessions” kind of evacuation, not the “dump so big you have to take a nap afterwards” kind. I’ll save THAT discussion for a different post.
My ex-roommate Jesk and I were discussing the notion of evacuation the other day and how, if you’ve made a home somewhere, it would be difficult to take the whole idea of just leaving it seriously. Of course, it would also depend on who was advising you to evacuate in the first place. If former Toronto mayor and complete yahoo Mel Lastman told us all to evacuate, we’d remember that he called the army in to deal with a snow storm and that during the SARS crisis, he referred to the World Health Organization as “WHO? Who is this WHO everyone is talking about?” on CNN. If Mel Lastman told us to evacuate, we’d probably just tell him to “shut it". Having heard New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin on the radio recently, however, I’m pretty sure I would’ve gotten my ass out of town on HIS say so. But then again, maybe not.
Apparently, the people on the Gulf Coast are advised to evacuate due to inclement weather at least once a year and after a while, even if you do have the means to evacuate and somewhere safe to go, you’d probably start to think “Dude - really? How bad can it be?” One New Orleans resident compared it to the “Boy Who Cried Wolf", but it reminds me of the “Jerks Who Used to Pull the Fire Alarm” at my high school. That bell went off at least once a week and never, not ONCE in three years, did anyone make a move to leave the building. Except for that one time when the fire bell started clanging, stopped abruptly, then came back on again, accompanied by the vice principal’s voice over the intercom, saying “HEED THE ALARM". Still thinking it was a drill, our math teacher told us, in his 50’s instructional film voice, to “walk briskly, but don’t run". So we walked briskly outside into -25C weather without our coats on and huddled together as the fire trucks came to put out the fire in our school. They wouldn’t let us back into the school, so we all piled into Chkw’s tiny little car, took our bus pass money and went to Pharoah’s Pizza. And then the next day, when we all had to evacuate due to a chemical spill caused by the fire, we did the same thing all over again. Good times.
Anyway - one of the online personal questions I discussed in a previous post is “Name five things you can’t live without.” So let’s say you have to leave your home with, like, a backpack and after you’ve filled it with necessities like ID, extra underwear, eyeglasses, survival knitting supplies, etc. you have room for five objects of personal signifiance. What would you take with you? A cherished stuffed animal? Granny’s hatpin collection? Sex toys, in case you end up in Texas, where they’re hard to come (heh heh) by?
I think my five things would have to be:
*My laptop, which contains all my early correspondence with Katr, not to mention 14 years of work
*My grandmother’s engagement ring, ‘cause I feel like that’s important
*The journal my parents gave me that covers the year where I finally figured everything out
*The cool spiral necklace Katr got me for Christmas
*A tie: My Eco-Challenge Borneo tapes (because those fuckers will probably never release it on DVD) OR an econo-size jar of Nutella. For when things look bleak, nothing comforts like chocolate hazelnut spread. Or watching someone try to pull a leech out of his urethra. Do you see why it’s a tie?
Comments:
Never did I expect to hear the words leech and urethra in the same sentence. I will never be the same. Nor will I swim in anything that isn’t well stocked with chlorine.
Comment by Tony — Thursday, September 8, 2005 @ 4:54 pm
Man, I hear ya. The guy it happened too sounded pretty calm, but I think that’s only because he probably hadn’t slept for several days. GOD, I love the Eco-Challenge!
Comment by Rose — Thursday, September 8, 2005 @ 5:10 pm
Yeah, you know, I’d take that Nutella. Mmm. Nutella.
Oh, the memories of those fine days in HACHS history…remember how the fire alarm started, was turned off, the usual announcement to teachers to “check the hallways” (presumably for the rapscallion who set it off in the first place) came on, and some kid had to run from the lab that was on fire into the office and say “hey, no, there IS a FIRE!” before they turned it back on? and the pizza, with its choking-hazard mounds of mozza…remember how the second day, when they told us once again that they weren’t kidding and we really needed to evacuate, how we all went to our lockers first to get our coats and some slurpee money? Never let it be said that we were unable to learn from our mistakes. Danke schon for the memories.
I have a lot to say about New Orleans but I’ve been saying most of it to my lovely parents, who begin or end most conversations with “we’re so glad you don’t live there anymore.” (Me too.) (All my friends who DO still live there evacuated. No word on whether they still have jobs, homes or stuff.) As to why people didn’t leave…well, the poverty rate is 3 times the national average and the percentage of disabled people is considerably higher than the national average, and there are many people who live there without cars who aren’t dirt poor, so figure about 1/3 of the people probably didn’t have the vehicles, or the gas money to leave, and there was no public transportation out of town. Which is dumb. And then, if you’d made it through the hurricane, and then the flooding, and, like, a week later some out-of-town National Guardsman came a-knockin’ saying “um, it’s not safe, time to go” you’d probably be like, “ok, but no, because the hurricane? happened a WHILE ago, man. and the floods? are RECEDING now. Since I made it this far, I think I’ll stick it out.” Unless you were me, in which case you’d look at the big gun and say “ok, sure, whatever.” But I’d be taking that Nutella with me.
Comment by Chezza — Thursday, September 8, 2005 @ 6:43 pm
How crazy is it that there was no public transport out of town? It’s like “Get out - you know, if you can make your own arrangements.” Like your parents, Chezza, I too am glad you don’t live there anymore. But I’m glad that you USED to, ‘cause otherwise I never would have seen it.
Comment by Rose — Thursday, September 8, 2005 @ 7:02 pm
Hi! I like your blog. What would I take? Hmm…interesting question. I’d probably take, family photos (my parents have passed away), this little wood box I’ve had since childhood that contains items I’ve gotten in every place I’ve ever lived-ex. acorn from tree in Germany, grandmothers engagement ring, autographed Brett Farve jersey, my computer (so I can blog-lol). Anyway thanks for the great comment on my site, it’s nice to know someones reading!
Comment by Leo — Saturday, September 10, 2005 @ 9:46 pm