WITH HANNA PORTER
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You moved to New Orleans in 2003 and were planning to stay there and go to nursing school at Charity School of Nursing. Growing up in New Mexico, had you ever given much thought to living in a place with hurricanes?
No, and it was very strange to me. My fiancée [musician Milton Villarubia III)], having grown up in New Orleans, had been told his whole life, 'The big one's coming.' So they, people that live there, accept it. Hurricanes come every year, you evacuate every year. The year before it was Hurricane [Ivan], and we had evacuated for that as well, but this was something I never expected would happen to me. Ever.
What neighborhood did you live in?
I was living in uptown and my fiancée was living in Lakeview, nine blocks from where the 17th Street canal broke. So his house was very close to where it broke, but I was in uptown, 20 minutes away, and my house was completely demolished too. There was seven feet of water in my apartment.
Where did you evacuate to?
We went to Monroe, La., which is north and west Louisiana, because my stepfather lives there.
Did you take all your stuff?
No, we had no idea this was going to happen. We brought our pets-we have a dog and a cat-and we each brought about three or four days of clothes. I brought my documents, my birth certificate and passport, which I almost didn't bring. I put anything I thought had any kind of value on top of my bed, which of course did nothing. I had a pair of pink flip flops and three outfits and that was it. I lost everything: all my photos, my furniture, everything.
So you left New Orleans…?
We left, we got to my stepdad's house. And, you sit in front of the TV and watch to see what's going to happen. I think the hurricane actually hit early in the morning and when it first hit it seemed like everything was OK. There was massive flooding, but two, three feet of water. It wasn't until later that day that the levees broke and that's when the devastation happened. So at first we thought, 'It's bad, but we'll be able to go home, it's not horrendous,' and then the levees broke, and at that point 80 percent of the city was under water and at that point, it's complete and total shock. My home is destroyed and everything I own is destroyed. It was horrifying, I started to have a really hard time watching TV. I'd be hysterically crying every time I watched it.
So you decided to come to Santa Fe?
Well, we couldn't go back there immediately, at least neither of us could because our houses were completely under water. So it was, a) stay in Louisiana and rent an apartment until we could go back to New Orleans, and at this point we figured it was going to be six months, or we just pick up and go somewhere else, which is obviously what we decided to do. For me, I was on a career path, there was no way I wanted to wait around, plus it was such mass chaos, there were no answers.
Hurricane Katrina exposed the racial divide in New Orleans. Was that something you were aware of before the hurricane?
Oh yeah. Big time. When I first moved there it took me a very long time to adjust to that, obviously being from Santa Fe, it's so liberal here, it's the complete opposite. Everyone here tries to be the complete opposite of that, the racial separation is very apparent in that city, and it's difficult to deal with.
Have you guys been back?
Milton has been back. I haven't yet, which I think is a big problem. I have a really hard time, especially watching anything on TV or anything about it, I get really upset, so I never went back and saw my stuff. So I think around Christmas we're going to go back, which I think will be a really good thing for me. I really don't think I got any kind of closure.
Was it a relief to get to Santa Fe?
The thing that was really surprising to me was the amazing outpouring of love and kindness. When we got here, I had every single person I knew trying to give me money, clothes, offering whatever they possibly could to me. Milton had a really nice Subaru Outback, it was brand new, and I had this piece of junk '92 Honda, and a week before the hurricane, Milton's 'check engine' light came on… so we didn't take his car because of that. So we took my car and we barely made it, so Alex Safety Lane, they gave us $600 off of our bill, people gave us free groceries, we had a couple of restaurants completely buy our meal, Tomasita's was one of them. One of the women at the College of Santa Fe, [Registrar] Mary Angell, she pretty much gave Milton a complete scholarship for an entire semester, she got into her own closet, gave us bags of clothes. It was really nice to see, I just didn't expect that kind of response, and it was obviously wonderful and needed.
Did you guys receive any federal compensation?
Yeah, the Red Cross, we went here in town, and they gave us vouchers for food and clothes at Albertson's and Wal-Mart. FEMA, everybody received their $2,000. I got a job immediately after we got here, so technically I was making too much money to qualify for any more of their grants, but they were able to give me a loan with a very low interest rate, so that was helpful.
And you're back on your feet a year later.
Definitely. We both have jobs, I just started nursing school [at Santa Fe Community College], we just bought a house. So this year has been a lot of highs and lows for me. Obviously this is our first house, so that's a pretty big investment. We just got engaged…so there have been a lot of major life events crammed into a very small amount of time.
