National Writer and Journalism Teacher Brings New Voice to Beyond Katrina
Contributor recounts daily experiences and common concerns in "Post-K" Louisiana.
Baton Rouge, LA (PRWEB) April 3, 2007 -- Paul A. Greenberg, a writer, teacher and New Orleans resident, is the latest contributor to "Beyond Katrina: The Voice of Hurricane Disaster & Recovery," a blog focused on changing the future with the knowledge gleaned from the past. His stories of daily life in New Orleans after the nation's largest natural disaster paint a picture few in traditional media have been able to expose. From a day of gardening amid gunshots in the distance to eavesdropping at a local po-boy shop where long-time residents announce they're leaving the city, Greenberg's perspective is gripping and painfully real.
"I've been at Katrina's ground zero for 16 months, having returned to New Orleans seven weeks after the storm," explained Greenberg, who teaches journalism at Tulane University. "My constant presence here, plus my vocation as a writer place me in the unique position to tell the real stories of this crisis. My goal is to keep the public informed of one very important element -- Katrina is not over. Katrina is still in the present tense. You have to be here to know that on a gut level, and my goal is to offer that perspective."
Greenberg began chronicling post-Katrina New Orleans five days after the storm, even writing a Katrina-focused blog for America Online. When that forum recently ceased, he seized the opportunity to continue enlightening an informed group of readers about his post-Katrina experiences via the established community at www.hurricane-katrina.org. His philosophy is to tell compelling stories succinctly and with the right choice of words, rather than a rambling first-person account of daily life. The storm hit the Gulf Coast more than 18 months ago. While politicians, insurance companies and private enterprise squabble over how and why to move forward, locals, like Greenberg, are living in anger and in danger.
"I began my 'Beyond Katrina' blog on the eve of the disaster expecting to document the storm and move on," explained blogger Margaret Saizan, "Beyond Katrina" creator. "But with the two-year anniversary on the horizon, more and more influential readers on our radar and contributors like Paul lending unique and critical voices, Beyond Katrina is more than one bystander's account. It's a forum for ideas, experiences and hopefully solutions to this crisis."
Greenberg joins a series of other noteworthy contributors now online at www.hurricane-katrina.org, including coastal photographer and essayist Matthew White, cultural anthropologist Maida Owens, Japanese jazz musicians Yoshio and Keiko Toyama, television videographer Rick Portier and Carol McClelland, PhD., a transition expert focused on helping people get back on their feet after their lives have been turned upside down by natural disasters.
About Paul A. Greenberg
Paul A. Greenberg teaches journalism at Tulane University in New Orleans. A believer in the power of words to change the world, he also writes for a number of local, regional and national publications. Greenberg has been chronicling post-Katrina New Orleans since five days after the storm and continues to witness daily the effects of the disaster in his local New Orleans. For more information, visit www.greenbergwrites.com.
About Margaret Saizan
Margaret Saizan (www.margaretsaizan.org) is a new media publisher, personal/ organizational coach, and community activist. The Baton Rouge, La., native became a blogger during the largest natural disaster in U.S. history -- Hurricane Katrina. A graduate of Newfield Network, one of the best regarded international coach training schools, Margaret focuses on empowering leadership and facilitating action during transition, crisis, and disaster as the pathway to new vision. www.hurricane-katrina.org and Big Vision Media aspire to ignite wise action, new vision and positive change through transformational media. Her blog, "Beyond Katrina," won the 2006 Society for New Communications Research Professional Award.
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