Hello everyone. My name is Daisy and I’m honored that Loki asked me to lend my voice to the Katrina Media project.

As a New Orleans native pursuing my PhD in rhetoric and composition at the University of South Florida when Hurricane Katrina hit, I was incredibly frustrated when newscasters had no information about my Gentilly neighborhood.

Very quickly I realized that the only authentic storm stories were appearing online, in blogs and discussion boards. Since then I’ve developed a dissertation research project that explores why people write online, particularly in the aftermath of disaster, and what psychological benefits using new media to “document the daily” can have on both the writer and audience.

In this space I’ll be writing posts that reflect upon my witnessing Hurricane Katrina from afar and how I come to terms with the numbness and anger I still experience when I encounter people who prefer to make judgments rather than understand what New Orleans has gone through and still needs in order to recover.

Thanks for listening, and I look forward to engaging in a dialogue with you in the comments section.

Above photo courtesy of Daisy Pignetti.