In the article 'Starting over' Malcolm Gladwell describes the lives of the New Orleans residents after the Hurricane Katrina. Before the storm, the population of New Orleans comprised majorly of the African Americans in a community with high crime rate, not so good schools or poor quality of education, and little opportunities to allow high social mobility. Arguing that where one lives determines the characteristics and what they turn out to be, Gladwell seems to suggest that the lives of the people who previously lived in the area prior to the storm changed to the better. This assertion is something I would describe as a blessing in disguise, and as one of the former prisoners would note, ‘Now, I hate that the storm came because a lot of people died in the storm, but, guess what, that was probably the best thing that could have happened to a lot of people, because it gave them the opportunity to reinvent themselves if their life wasn’t going right.’ (Gladwell, n.d). The relocation of the people to other cities and residences after Hurricane Katrina opened new opportunities to access better schools and quality education, and improve their social mobility.
Gladwell observes that throughout history, the poor populations could be stuck in an area but the efforts to improve the conditions always existed. American government has consistently made efforts through initiatives and experimental projects with large scale execution not effective. With the storm damaging the area, the government made effort to change the phase of New Orleans. A category 5 hurricane struck parts of Alabama and the states of Florida, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana on the August 25th 2005. On 23rd
August 2005, Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas and later as a moderate category 1 moved to the state of Florida causing flooding and deaths (Gladwell, n.d). The hurricane strengthened rapidly while approaching the Gulf of Mexico. In the morning of August 29th, the storm made its second strike as a category 3 in the Southeast Louisiana. The storm caused massive destruction in the states it struck with New Orleans suffering the most pronounced damage.
The Katrina blew surged from the gulf towards the L. Pontchartrain with water escaping into the navigation canals of New Orleans city invading the neighborhoods. The black New Orleans was disproportionately hit by Katrina. Many people had their homes flooded and camped in the superdome. Others were evacuated to areas such as Houston, Lafayette, and Baton Rouge. Years after the storm had claimed the lives of the hitherto New Orleans dwellers and destroyed properties, there were people who still had strong will to come back. However, the population had reduced considerably as those who wanted to resettle in their locality after the storm could not as the important social amenities such as public houses, public hospitals, and public schools were all destroyed (Gladwell, n.d).
Forced out of their residence in the New Orleans into new areas had various repercussions on the lives of the evictees. However, the suffering or comfort of the people driven out from New Orleans depended on the states where they resettled. Gadwall observes that majority of the women displaced were African Americans from middle to low-income groups. These women were settled in areas better than their previous New Orleans residences. Gadwall seems to suggest that the lives of these women would have remained the same and the upward social mobility of these people would not have been possible. He states that “I think that what’s happening is that a whole new world is opening up to them,” Graif said. “If these people hadn’t moved out of the metro area, they would have done the regular move—cycling from one disadvantaged area to another. The fact that they were all of a sudden thrown out of that whirlpool gives them a chance to rethink what they do. It gives them a new option—a new metro area has more neighborhoods in better shape.” (Gladwell, n.d).
After the Katrina incident, new homes were built in strict observance of the architectural design, and environmental consciousness. The policy guiding the rebuilding of New Orleans took into consideration the vulnerability of the city to attack by storms. By stating this point, the author seemed to reiterate his previous statement that it took the disaster for the government to make positive change in New Orleans.
Another change that Gladwell notices is the radical reformation of the New Orleans public schools system. Before the storm, the public education system of the New Orleans was one of the poorest in the state of Louisiana and had an F rating by the education department of the state (Gladwell, n.d). The schools also had poorly build buildings. After the Katrina incident, the government rebuilt the schools, teachers fired and the authority of the principal expanded. The radical reforms in the schools were driven by the love for Orleans and the need to recover from the atrocious strike (Gladwell, n.d).
Interviewed evictees on the reforms of the schools in the New Orleans pointed that the friendliness of the people of the New Orleans, Better transportation, family and friendship networks, better quality of life and considering New Orleans as home as the reasons for evictees preference for New Orleans to Houston (Gladwell, n.d). Other former New Orleans residents resettled in Houston and preferring Houston to New Orleans cited access to better healthcare, better housing, Houston’s low crime rate, better quality of life, better job opportunities or even better jobs in Houston as well as better schools as the reasons for preferring Houston to New Orleans (Gladwell, n.d).
‘The Babushkas of Chernobyl’
The babushkas of Chernobyl movie by Holly Morris and Anne Bogart is a story based on the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster. Chernobyl was a nuclear Disaster {1986} which happened due to the accidental explosion of a nuclear power plant in the former USSR (Pripyat, Ukraine). The radiations spread through Ukraine and many other regions killing many people around 12,000 people (Morris & Bogart, 2016). Now Pripyat is also called a ghost town as the effects of the nuclear disaster last for many years. The story revolves around women who refused to leave Chernobyl which had been declared an exclusion zone. Chernobyl had also been marked as having radiations following the explosion.
Morris and Bogart portrays the women as having strong bond with the area that they ignore the advice to leave the area. The old women in the movie strongly believe that they could heal themselves of any sickness using the herbs from their vicinity. One of the women says, “This is not to get drunk but to heal” (Morris & Bogart, 2016). Even with the concern growing on the dangers of developing thyroid cancer, these women are noted saying that they fear hunger than the radiation.
By remaining into the exclusion area, the women are portrayed to have a strong cultural bond with the area to the extent of willing to risk their lives. Morris and Bogart seems to contend that cultural ties are an important aspect in the lives of a community and threatens the mobility of a people.
Comparing the articles: 'Starting over' article by Malcolm Gladwell and the movie ‘The Babushkas of Chernobyl’ reveals a number of similarities and differences in themes. Various themes such as economic statuses and cultural bonds are shared between the article and the movie.
To begin with, both the article and the movie focuses on the women in the society and their decisiveness and connection with their neighborhoods. In the article, Gladwell portrays the women interviewed as mostly desiring to come back to New Orleans after the Katrina with only a few being comfortable with settling at Houston. On the other hand, the movie is consistent with the position of the women in the article-remaining in the radioactive area despite the feared risks of staying.
Another similarity of the article and the movie is the theme of poverty and social mobility. In the article, Gladwell demonstrates how the New Orleans’ residents would have remained in the same socioeconomic statuses even as they move from state to state. In the movie, Morris and Bogart quote the women saying they are worried about the anger that would kill them if they moved out of the radioactive zone.
Work Cited
Morris, M. & Bogart, A. "Chernobyl Disaster Documentary 2015." 15 Oct. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tduKwdF3Ag&t=1997s.
"What Social Scientists Learned from Katrina." www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/08/24/starting-over-dept-of-social-studies-malcolm-gladwell.
