Only hours after calling my mother to wish her a Happy Birthday, I venture into New Orleans for my second time in two weeks. Unbeknown to me, this would open a shocking window glancing into post-Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans.

It’s Friday, May 26, 2006, roughly nine months after the turmoil that displaced half of one of America’s largest population centers. I was in a hurry to careen through the city in favor of the white sands and emerald waters of Destin Florida. Inside a crowded Toyota Corolla were four silly, anxious, and happy souls. Suddenly the goofiness was replaced with a faint “wow” coming from my own mouth as well as that of my fiancé, my best friend, and his son. Mile after mile of eastern New Orleans was completely abandoned and left to rot in the Louisiana sun. The statistician who resides inside of myself feels confident in stating that at least 25% of this city is uninhabitable.

We were completely in awe at the view that spread out towards Lake Pontchartrain. Eastern New Orleans has become a desolate place void of life and electricity. Entire streets were left without functioning traffic signals or any sense of direction. The landscape is a ruined image of hollowed out businesses, and abandoned, rusted cars, filled with mud and weeds. Massive heaps of useless, former possessions pile up sporadically throughout the city. What amazed us all were the sheer number of misplaced boats that Hurricane Katrina deposited in the most unusual places, far from the sea or the lake that ultimately crippled this city.

We gazed at the passing devastation as we made our way further east. We pondered on what it must have been like to have experience Hurricane Katrina first hand. And as our innocent, little road trip slowly returned some normalcy; we paraded into the state of Mississippi.

Mississippi seemed to be more on the healthy side of Hurricane Katrina’s wrath. We noted the wrangled and twisted forests that hide many of the otherwise sorrowful views. Mississippi was slowly returning the smiles that New Orleans had just taken from us. As we set sail in the Corolla for the coastal township of Gulfport, we noticed life. We commented on how lucky the people of Gulfport had been. We traversed people shopping and families cooking outdoors. We noticed a pace that seemed very fruitful compared to the ruin and decay we had just dwelled upon in “The Big Easy”. Our optimism had been relocated for the better.

I clearly recall making ridiculous comments on how our media had blown the Mississippi damage way out of proportion. We all poked fun at the recent news coverage and laughed our way through the suburban areas of Gulfport. Suddenly, as if our parents had just crashed our party, the hard truth was exposed and silence once again fell upon our repetitive laughter.

The coastal city of Gulfport Mississippi had been completely destroyed. The curvaceous bend of prosperity that once flirted with the Gulf of Mexico is gone. All that remains are concrete foundations and memories. The coastal stretch of palm trees, Victorian mansions, hotels and casinos that ran from Gulfport to Biloxi has been erased by Hurricane Katrina’s storm serge. Seeing this devastation in person has only served to rattle our nerves, more so, than what we saw in New Orleans. Coastal Gulfport was not spared anything. It was simply removed from the shoreline and literally crossed off the map. Words can’t begin to describe the feeling that came across this startled group. With four mouths left wide open and eight eyes the size of Texas, we peered into the nothingness that spread out before us.

As we continued to drive along the Gulf Coast in search of Biloxi, we could see a towering, familiar friend off in the distance. Biloxi’s famous Beaux Rivage Hotel and Casino was still standing. It was left in a mediocre condition and un-open for business. However, signs point to an upcoming reopening and a search for future employees has already begun.

Far beneath the mangled debris, a future must emerge for the Gulf Coast region. It’s a future that has already begun with the printing of new job application forms for the Beaux Rivage Hotel & Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Darren W. Brown