The system in NOLA is one that must be looked at realistically and analyzed with an understanding of the living conditions of its citizens. The monsters in NOLA aren’t the people or police but the culture and mentality of these individuals. Some of the police are corrupt individuals who follow the truths of the all mighty dollar rather than serving to preserve justice and peace. The city council members are monsters who will do anything and everything to build themselves up while leaving the communities that they “represent” to wither away to relics of their former selves. Even the churches, which are supposed to build up communities, segregate the locals and force them to choose ways in which to diverge from the whole. This is the real picture of NOLA. The children, in the 9th ward, are allowed to run the streets without any supervision or guidance from the “adults” in the neighborhood. These factors in addition to the storm are what has crippled NOLA and caused it to be a city filled with all the negatives that we try to strive to avoid. Although the situation is bleak there might be a glimmer of hope in the future.

There are people in NOLA that do care and want to see a society in which people respect and CARE about one another. These small signs of change have had an amazing impact on me and my journey on this trip. I was concerned about how this day would go especially since I have titles picked out before the day even starts. I was thinking “Monster” what am I going to learn today or right about that will pertain to the song title. My inspiration came in the form of a gay African American male that taught in Harlem and has since relocated to NOLA to start the our school blair grocery. He really gave a tangible entity to the conditions under which the poor live in the 9th ward. The idea that we, even as volunteers, could be monsters was something that was addressed and was shocking. As much as we want to do “good” do we actually take time to understand what that good is. Although, building a house made us all free great about our accomplishment and knowing that someone would have a home for the holidays is amazing we never considered the after affect. We are building houses and not a community. The houses that we construct might not even go to the people who truly deserve them. Since the storm housing in NOLA has quadrupled leaving the poor, mostly black, with no where to return to due to financial constraints. This in addition to the lack of good hospitals like Charity and medical personal NOLA is in a downward spiral. The Monster is the system in which we live and give power. The poor get poorer and the rich accumulate more wealth. The middle ground is starting to get larger and larger while the middle class gets smaller and smaller. Times must change and we as a society need to respect the culture of caring which is over over looked.