The Stories Behind the Pages
by Reona Visser
Medium: I am most comfortable working with the vibrant colors and textures of collage. The background of each page was painted on cotton, which was in turn used to cover a piece of paper. There was nothing fancy about the paper used to create the images. If you were to turn the pieces over you'll see anything from cereal boxes, Mac and Cheese to soda boxes and newspaper. There was no way to get a hold of good quality card stock. I had to make do with what was available - it was really stretching the creative mind.
The cover: This was before the storm. The picture that came to mind while working on this page, was that of our "old school grounds" at Christ Episcopal School in Bay Saint Louis. Our school was founded in 1950. In the early seventies the name changed from Christ Episcopal to Coast Episcopal School. I remember the Grandparents' day I attended there in 2001. Children playing on the lusciously green lawn, amongst the oaks and the extremely calm and very placid waters of the Gulf. This site housed the elementary and pre-schools. Children would often go for PE on the beach. In 2002 the elementary school moved to Espy Avenue in Long Beach to be on the same premises as the Middle School. A year later, in 2003, the pre-school followed. Needless to say that Katrina erased all physical evidence of our "old" school building and the church. With the cover I had to pay tribute to a school where I never had the honor to teach, but a school that is still very vivid in the minds and hearts of many of our students as well as the communities it served. Stacey Griffith digitally added the cloud on the page as a hint of what was to come.
Page 3: The birds knew. They had to. It was the first thing I wrote down on the storyboard and it stuck. Having grown up in a small coastal town in South Africa, I was always surrounded by gulls. There were no birds out after Katrina. The first ones back were the hummingbirds-desperately in search of nectar to refuel for their long voyage that lay ahead. It was heartbreaking.
Page 4: Squirrels! You either hate them or you love them. With all the oaks on the coast, there used to be an abundance of squirrels. The fact that there were few trees left standing after the storm and the eerie stillness in the days following the storm was of great concern to the children. We contemplated their fate and talked about the animal behavior they observed with their pets at home, prior to the storm. The conclusion was that they must've known that something huge was coming. I absolutely love the leaves on this page. We used a plastic bag to print the green onto the newspaper. I particularly like that you can still see the newspaper print behind the paint.
Page 5: We knew. One child did the family in the book. The Friday before the storm people in Wal Mart on 90 in Pass Christian, were doing the usual shopping. Few even knew about the storm. I knew, and bought my usual emergency supplies - a dozen bottles of water, two magazines, chocolates, chips and dip and more chocolates. In line I peered in the carts around me. I saw no batteries, water or canned food. When I returned to the same store on Saturday, it seemed busier than usual, but outside it was a beautiful day. Across from the parking lot families were lazing under colorful beach umbrellas, while children splashed around in the ankle deep warm waters of the Gulf. But - we did know.
Page 6: Making the map of the southern states was a lot like a school project. The girls sat with a Social Studies textbook and a map. It wasn't easy to come up with an image of the storm. After several attempts I decided to mix oats with white glue. Paints were added after and the concoction was left to dry on plastic. The result was a quite gross looking storm - yet nothing that couldn't be fixed digitally!
Page 7: Recalling how hard people worked to board up, brings tears to my eyes. This family TRIED to make their house safe. A third grader originally drew the family car parked underneath the house. I fell in love with the design the first time that I saw it. To "build" a house like this one is very time consuming. Each piece had to be cut individually and then it was all glued together. The effect is a wonderfully 3D image that is visually fantastic. Note that like so many children with beautiful trees in their yards, this family also had a tree house.
Page 8: The concern on mom's face is beautifully illustrated. Look at the things she might possibly take with her - her wedding pictures, photo albums, insurance papers, passports, and her children's artwork.
Page 9: This page got everybody talking. The question was, "What did YOU take with you?" The answers are usually limited to just enough clothes for one or two days - an overnight bag. The funky lamp in the room is similar to one that I had in my classroom at the time.
Page 10: Look at all the pets in the car. We see four different animals in the car that would be considered archenemies. Here we see them all sharing the same concern, to get out of harm's way. Would one evacuate with fish? Yes, the children did that. One of the children that worked on this book, spend weeks in a hotel with her fish, her turtle and her cat. The fish and turtle were later set free in a pond.
Page 11: The dog's name is Gypsy. She belongs to an illustrator who left her dog with her grandparents in Bay Saint Louis. Even thought the child lost her house, her grandparents and Gypsy were okay. For our picture we placed the dog in an attic, because that's where so many people had to stay. Children in our school have the most horrific stories of standing on something in an attic with water up to their necks. We also have very dear friends who lost their mother/grandmother because she would not leave. This family has not been able to return to our school and the area.
Page 12: There's that funky car again. I love it! The gas pump and the blue truck had to be added in afterwards. They were on a page that was discarded because we did not have enough room in the book. A kindergarten boy made the road signs. The stark white buildings were refreshing against the dark background. The black road is a shingle that was one of many in my backyard. This picture portrays the bumper to bumper traffic we were all stuck in.
Page 13: Again a shingle was used for this background.
Page 14: Nothing was ever going to be the same. This image could have been one of several places on the Gulf Coast. The smoothies sign brings back the vivid memory of "Da Beach House" in Bay Saint Louis that had the best smoothies in a brilliant blue room with the smell of ground coffee creeping up your nostrils.
Page 15: In hotel rooms, and with relatives people huddled in front of TV's - watching the weather channel. The winds were picking up. Note the dogs in the room. Most hotels allowed people to bring their pets to the room.
Page 16: We didn't know how to make the telephone lines, until my daughter jumped up to get her jewelry kit. The wire in it was perfect. I like the way it flows loosely across the page. All telephone lines on the coast were down. It was like some giant had just stomped all over them.
Page 17: The house on the railroad track was not the only one. Down in Pass Christian and Bay Saint Louis. I saw at least two on the tracks. Houses were left in the middle of roads. Casino's were moved. One house on Sears Avenue in Waveland was almost in the middle of a road. The owners found a notice with a number on it that read, "Katrina moved you and I can move you back!" The home was built in 1958. On January 1, 2006, six months after the storm, it was moved back to its original place.
Page 18: The house on the poles was molded around my daughter's best friend's. Fortunately they weren't in the house. They nearly lost their grandfather who was riding the storm with them at the Stennis Airport. He uses oxygen and they lost power as the water rose. They were trapped there for three days in excruciating heat. This family, like so many others have not been back. The wave looks huge, like a tidal wave. We know that it wasn't like that, but the children saw the surge as such.
Page 19: We can see that even raised homes were not exempted from the devastation. The water kept rising.
Page 20: This picture needs no words. This is New Orleans, but it could have been Gulf Port, Long Beach, Biloxi, Ocean Springs, D'Iberville, Pascagoula, Moss Point etc.
Page 21: Harsh words, but true. Children saw their fathers cry. The Super Dome is etched against a glowing dawn. While making this book, we had no TV in the house. Our satellite got damaged and there was no way to watch the news. I did have the Internet because of a generator. The helicopters feature on more than one page. I recall sitting in a pitch-black night with the constant drumming of Chinook helicopters moving determinedly over our town. Back and forth, back and forth, never stopping.
Page 22: Its clear to see that the children that worked on this page are younger. I love the variety and the way they see things. It was important to show that people weren't just left behind. Search and rescue teams were working hard.
Page 23: Here we see the family car being loaded with supplies. The very detailed MRE boxes, ice and water bottles were done by an eighth grader. The trashcan was cut out of a pie dish. I know that everybody who were living the aftermath of Katrina, were just so appreciative of the help that we were receiving from our armed forces.
Page 24: People came from everywhere. Our school was turned into a relief center and at the back they were starting to post signs to show where people came from to help. That was the inspiration for this page. Early February I left my classroom to go take a picture of the same signs. It was mind blowing. The numbers had tripled. I even found Durban, South Africa on it!
Page 25: Even though this distribution center could have been anywhere, at any school, church, or business, we used our school as a model. Note the free medical aid being offered. These included tetanus shots and later flue shots for everybody, clothing, food and even furniture. Everybody wanted to know how they could help.
Page 26: It was not easy to find where your home used to be. Familiar beacons were gone. There were no street signs. We see that the boy's bicycle is in the tree. That happened to of the illustrators. Off course there were also chairs, tables, and clothing high up in the tallest of oak trees. This treehouse was on Nicholson Avenue in Waveland. Even though all the houses in that neighborhood are gone, the tree house stayed in tact. Note the mailbox. Some people said that even though their houses were washed away, they still had the mailboxes left.
Page 27: We were without water for a long long time. One does not realize how dependent we are on water, until you don't have it. After they started working on the water, burst pipes would spray water into a street. The water was toxic and cold, but people were so dirty that they used it to bathe. Old people, babies, fat people and skinny people. Everybody tried to get to the water. Note the big black boots. These were issued to people as a safety precaution. Before the burst pipes, people used the swimming pool, but these turned toxic very quickly.
Page 28: The boat page. This page was a collage of facts. In the days following Katrina we were totally cut off from the media. There were no phones, no TV and no newspapers. On Friday, September 9 we were issued with a complementary Sun Herald at the water, ice and food pick up point in Diamondhead. This was one of two newspapers my family received in the days following the storm. A photograph on page 4 caught my attention. A message of thanks was written on a boat found washed up in a street in Bay St. Louis. It read: "sorry about your Boat it saved 5 peoples lives." There was no more known about the people. We can only imagine. The boat that ended up in the drive-through on the page really did happen. One of the illustrators, had not one, but two boats end up in a drive-through. One was found in the drive-through of Hancock Bank and one in the almost comical location - the drive-through of Burger King. Under the rubble to the left you'll see a closet with clothes. This originally was meant to be used in a girl's room as she was packing her bag for evacuation. Clothes hanging on rails under rubble can still be seen on the sides of roads - even 6 months after the storm. The boat page is thus the result of a combination of facts.
Page 29: During the making of this page, nobody had received a trailer yet, but we knew that it was coming. Now, we still have the majority of people waiting on trailers, but we are at least seeing them. Sad, lonely trailers on cleared lots. . People are coping, though some better than others.
Page 30: This is the steeple that was the only thing left of Christ Episcopal Church where our school used to be in Bay Saint Louis. The stark black trees were etched against the white ground. Sand and salt water had burned grass to a ghostly white. There was no green. On our picture we added new growth, a seagull and a flag. This is a page filled with hope and unity.
Page 31: Even though I had the dedication page in the beginning of the book, everybody felt that the dedication should be part of the story - that it would be the perfect ending. It's a dedication that comes straight from my heart.
The back page: This photograph was taken in front of the slab of one of our former family's homes in Waveland. Compared to the cover of the book, this background shows the starkness of the trees and the lack of green after the storm. Even though there were 30 students involved in the book, it added up to 25 families. Only 7 of these families did not have their homes flood. The other 18 families either lost it all or were left with a shell to clean out. Those of us that escaped the water had extensive tree damage. Eighty-five per cent of the faculty at the school lost their homes. Six months later most of our students still living with other families, in small cramped rentals, or a trailer (the lucky few).
With this book and the help of everybody who donated their time, talents and efforts, we'll be able to help those in our community that need it most - the victims of Katrina.
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