var uslide_show_id = “616F579A-C2D9-49DD-9C77-4D53DB3CD0F5”; var slideshowwidth = “468”; var linktext = “After Katrina, affected students adjust to changes”;
For most students, Thanksgiving means going home and spending time with family over home-cooked food and football.
But for students affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, this year means a change in Thanksgiving celebrations.
Shyue Lu, biological chemistry sophomore, said her family will be celebrating Thanksgiving in a Federal Emergency Management Agency trailer in the front yard of her Kenner home that Hurricane Katrina flooded.
Lu described the FEMA trailer as uncomfortable and cramped. She said she is often afraid of falling through the floor.
Since the accommodations will be cramped, Lu said she will be sleeping on the floor because there is not enough room for the five people staying for the holiday.
She also is not expecting the same food as last year. Lu said shopping options are limited, and they only have one pot and one stove.
Lu said in years past, her grandparents and aunts flew into New Orleans suburbs from Florida, but this year they will not be coming, cutting the number of attendants in half.
Jon Polk, architecture senior, said his family is staying in a camper in Slidell but doubts the spirit of Thanksgiving will change.
Polk said his family will most likely have a Thanksgiving picnic, depending on the weather.
Polk said he thinks the hurricane will not affect his Thanksgiving “as long as there is food on the table.”
Marshall Chiasson, chemistry senior and Houma native, said he will get to spend Thanksgiving with more of his family than usual this year.
Chiasson said his family had planned to spend Thanksgiving at a relative’s new home in New Orleans, but after the storm, several members of his family moved in with his grandparents in Houma.
“We’ll be more aware of thanking for stuff and that part of our family doesn’t have [everything],” Chiasson said.
Antonio Cousin, agriculture business senior, said he will be spending his Thanksgiving in Indiana instead of his native New Orleans.
Cousin said celebrating the holidays with his immediate family in Indiana will be different, especially the food.
Cousin listed the food his family had prepared for holidays in years past that might be missing this year – turkey, dressing, ham, dirty rice, macaroni and cheese and several other holiday treats.
“It’s going to be pretty dull this year,” Cousin said. “Hopefully, they can rebuild New Orleans. I’m ready to go back.”
Vincent Ball, mass communication freshman from Lake Charles, said his family is going to have Thanksgiving despite damages caused by Hurricane Rita.
Ball described his family as “survivors” and said they will have a full Thanksgiving with all the food and festivities of years past.
Morrisa Brewer, psychology freshman, said previously her family of five went to New Orleans to visit family or stayed home and had a small Thanksgiving.
This year there are 17 displaced members of Brewer’s extended family living in her home in Baton Rouge, which Brewer said will keep her from staying home very long.
“I’m going to get a plate of gumbo and come back to the dorm,” Brewer said.