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“I just really hope that the Hamline community comes out and shows us some support,” said junior Alicia Adams. Adams helped organize the event and emceed.

The long list of performers also included Danza Mexica Cuauhtemoc, Toki Wright, Delicious Venom, Desdamona, Hamline’s own Christy Eriksen and alum Ka Vang, to name a few.

Junior Tony Wilson performed a monologue he wrote, called “Katrina Narrative: Josiah Smith,” based on his experiences in New Orleans. Wilson, who has been to New Orleans six times since March, had already debuted his piece at St. Thomas. The monologue is based on his experiences talking to people effected by Katrina.

Wilson helped St. Thomas plan their Katrina Remembrance Week. While working with them, he learned that their week and trips to New Orleans were completely funded by the university. Hamline students have raised over 20,000 dollars themselves for their trips.

“I would really like Hamline to grow into supporting the trips financially so that we can do more of the preparations,” said Sharon Jaffe, coordinator of Service Learning. Jaffe said that the event is a great way to raise money, but also educate those going on the Community Service Investigation, or CSI, trips to New Orleans.

Meghan Bentley, a student worker in the OSLV, said that CSI trips get people in the community to have “hands on experience that helps students learn better in a different way.”
CSI trips also teach “how to be in solidarity rather than charity,” Jaffe said. “We can [serve with] perspective of ‘oh, it’s over there’ or ‘oh it’s here too’, and bring it home.” The trips allow for students to have a clear way to fight oppression. She said that it’s important that students will take what they’ve learned, come back to Hamline and work for “healing at multiple levels.”

“It’s a good time to hear what cultural workers have to say” said Jaffe, especially because George W. Bush made a speech recently about his frustration at the slow pace of rebuilding and lack of leadership in New Orleans. She also pointed out that “people are going to be needing help in the gulf for another seven to ten years.”

Wilson also said that he wants to keep the focus on Katrina. Like St. Thomas, he said he would like to see Hamline have a remembrance week and also hear HUSC candidates support funding for the CSI trips. In the future, he would like to turn his monologue into a collection of different characters and stories, much like the “Vagina Monologues.”

For right now, students will also focus on some issues brought to the public’s attention due to Katrina. Last year, students saw mostly the devastation caused by the hurricane. This year, according to Jaffe, “people won’t hear the raw grief suffering they saw last year. I think they’ll hear more frustration.”