Mississippi was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I know it would be cliche to say that I've changed but I have a new outlook on things. There is so many stories and you wouldn't even believe how much still needs work. It's amazing. You go to the beach and it looks like nothing's been touched. By the beach there was a small law office that the windows had been blown out of and blinds were broken and hanging half in the building and half out. Everything had a thin coat of silt on it, but there was a bulletin board with papers still thumbtacked to it and a dry erease board that had appointments and an August 2005 calender written on it that did not look like anything had happened. We saw a video later of the day after the hurricane and that law office looked exactly the same seven months ago.
People spray paint their insurance claim numbers on their houses then leave. That's how bad it is down there.
It's incredibly sad to see what happened but the people down there are the nicest that I have ever met. The people are what really make that community stand out. Their video production class threw us a big crawfish boil (with burgers of course for the people who didn't like it), and wouldn't let us pay for anything. These are people who have close to nothing and they never stop giving. A good number of the school showed up. We learned the art of peeling crawfish, which they were more than happy to teach. Then we ended the night with the electric slide.
There was this really rich area called Waveland and all of it was million dollar homes on the beach and there is absolutely nothing left of that place. Hardly any have come back.
Any standing or partially standing homes need to be inspected. There is X's spray painted on the outside and in each little triangle part of the X is a different number. Date inspected, inspected by, and the bottom number is if any bodies were found. I have a picture of a house with a 2 on it.
Before katrina 50% of the school was on free or reduced lunches, and now 95% are. The school makes tshirts for every occasion so that the kids have clothes to wear. Only 41 of about 500 students are living in actual houses, and the rest live in FEMA trailers, and FEMA is taking the trailers back in 18 months.
I have over 400 pictures from the trip so when I get them from school I'll tell more stories. We are going to try to go back in June to premiere our documentary for the community and to stay longer this time and do some volunteer work. Bay St. Louis is how towns and cities should be. | 
