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| A Flooded School after Hurricane Katrina |
After Hurricane Katrina, my
family was temporarily relocated and I had to attend a new high school. It was
the beginning of my freshmen year, so high school in general was a new concept
to me. I went from a suburban to a rural area, and the people were quite
different than what I was familiar with. I grew up with most of the students in
my high school and had a group of close friends, whereas I didn’t know anybody
at this new school. I was approaching the situation with a negative attitude
because I did not want to be there.
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| An "Old" Desk with Cubby Hole |
There were issues here that were
not present at my old school. The desks were old with cubby holes inside of
them, a few of which had cans full of chewing tobacco spit. Everybody smoked,
which wasn’t a big deal, but the bathrooms were full of cigarette smoke. I had
to wait in line for the bathroom because students were in the stalls smoking.
The curriculum that we started with had been covered in my junior high school. I
separated myself from the situation and people as if I were an “other” in an “otherized”
place. It’s interesting how the “other” can work both ways.
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| I had a Similar Reaction. |
After a week or two, I
noticed more positive aspects of this transition. I met nice people and
realized that the faculty was in a semi-stalemate with students to prevent
smoking in the bathroom. In retrospect, I otherized this new high school and
town as being “hick” because it was not MY high school or town. When I was placed
in a position that strayed from my normal standards, otherizing was almost a
form of defense to handle the new environment.
