Garreth \"Karate Explosion\" Blackwell
Social
Highschool
Pascagoula High School
College
University of Mississippi
Interests
my freaking awesome magazine (get on board as an investor now), painting, Red Sox Baseball, Cooking, Socio-political Ranting, foreign films, dogs, traveling, chinese food, changing the world, downing the Man, entreprenurial enterprises, sitting and thinking, a thing in a bag
Favorite Music
Sufjan Stevens, Bright Eyes, Coldplay, The Beatles, Howie Day, Bob Marley, N.E.R.D., The Postal Service, Bloc Party, Radiohead, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Celia Cruz, Tito Puente, John Lennon
Favorite Movies
Amelie, City of God, Hotel Rwanda, A Very Long Engagement, Motorcycle Diaries, Shaun of the Dead, Dodgeball, Austin Powers, Triplettes of Belleville
Favorite Books
Mere Christianity, Walking on Water, Ragamuffin Gospel, Blue Like Jazz, Celebration of Disciplines, Roald Dahl stuff, Catcher in the Rye
Other Websites
www.homestarrunner.com
Katrina
September 05 2005
I went home to the coast this past weekend. I felt the need to write something about it, but I can't seem to get words to sit on the screen in any way that seems truthful. This week I plan on going to work and class and then coming home and locking myself in my room.
I need some sort of sensory deprivation.
We had to wait three days before we could find out the condition of our home and whether or not our neighbors were alive. That would have been stress enough. Once we got home everything was better than expected, but it was all one big mess everywhere you looked. We were lucky and only had about 6 inches of water in our house. For the last three days my dad and I pulled out carpet, tile, sub-flooring, tack stripping, baseboards and whatever else was wet from our house. Surreal would be an understatement.
We traveled around Pascagoula as much as we could to try to see how friends were. It was strange to see everyone on the same level: the rich became poor, and the poor remained poor. My town isn't the same.It will never be the same again.
All weekend I was bombarded with sights and sounds and especially smells that made my stomach turn. I saw neighbors picking through trees to see if the clothes caught in them were theirs. I saw people digging through garbage to find food because after 5 days they were starving. I saw people sleeping in their yards with guns by their side because they had no assurance of safety. I saw people on bike wearing and carrying all they owned anymore.
I can't feel right now. But I can't feel anything but thankfulness. It's strange. I thank God for the storm, for the safety, for the community, for the bread I ate, for the man who heard his brother wasn't dead afterall, for the bed I slept in, for the smile on a random child's face.
So much is given to us, even we think so much has been taken. I learned this past weekend how wasteful we are. Not just with things but also with time. Our time is God's but we give all of it away to school or jobs or meaningless petty relationships with someone we find "neat" or "cute." My God deserves more.
He is a God of depth and we don't scratch the surface. My prayer is that my life can be a life of thankfulness and praise.
This weekend completely changed me.
I need some sort of sensory deprivation.
We had to wait three days before we could find out the condition of our home and whether or not our neighbors were alive. That would have been stress enough. Once we got home everything was better than expected, but it was all one big mess everywhere you looked. We were lucky and only had about 6 inches of water in our house. For the last three days my dad and I pulled out carpet, tile, sub-flooring, tack stripping, baseboards and whatever else was wet from our house. Surreal would be an understatement.
We traveled around Pascagoula as much as we could to try to see how friends were. It was strange to see everyone on the same level: the rich became poor, and the poor remained poor. My town isn't the same.It will never be the same again.
All weekend I was bombarded with sights and sounds and especially smells that made my stomach turn. I saw neighbors picking through trees to see if the clothes caught in them were theirs. I saw people digging through garbage to find food because after 5 days they were starving. I saw people sleeping in their yards with guns by their side because they had no assurance of safety. I saw people on bike wearing and carrying all they owned anymore.
I can't feel right now. But I can't feel anything but thankfulness. It's strange. I thank God for the storm, for the safety, for the community, for the bread I ate, for the man who heard his brother wasn't dead afterall, for the bed I slept in, for the smile on a random child's face.
So much is given to us, even we think so much has been taken. I learned this past weekend how wasteful we are. Not just with things but also with time. Our time is God's but we give all of it away to school or jobs or meaningless petty relationships with someone we find "neat" or "cute." My God deserves more.
He is a God of depth and we don't scratch the surface. My prayer is that my life can be a life of thankfulness and praise.
This weekend completely changed me.
Jonathan Seal
September 06 2005
Our God is a wonderful God. The power of this storm that took away our towns, made our past nothing but memories and stripped the very area of the country that will always be home to us bare... that's God's power. Some might be mad but I just stand in awe.
