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P.H.: Have you been pleased with the federal response to Hurricane Katrina? How about from local government?

Huffstutler: Hindsight is always twenty twenty, but the closer you look, the more obvious it is how unprepared we were. New Orleans has a long history of dealing with hurricanes. We have a tendency to say it’s not going to be that bad because many times that has been the case. We have come to realize that a great deal of the damage was the result not of the storm, but of the failure of the levee system. Some feel that the government caused the disaster. I’m not sure it’s that clear, but a lot of people say that.

Our local government has been as much of a failure—just think of the buses and other opportunities we had to get people out of town. It’s very sad. T-shirts abound with pictures of the three stooges—the Mayor, the Governor, and the President.

P.H.: What has been the most frustrating thing about Ka trina’s aftermath?

Huffstutler: The pace of things. There’s a mantra I use five times a day—nothing is fast, nothing is simple; everything is slow, everything is complicated. Pre-Katrina I got my paper at my door at six in the morning. Now I have to drive a mile to the paper stand and hope it was stocked that morning. You can’t just go to your neighborhood pharmacy; you have to travel a long way and wait in a long line to get prescriptions. It takes a lot of energy to live with it day after day.

P.H.: What about the most hopeful thing?

Huffstutler: The kindness of strangers. I try to practice my faith by being kind to others. Sometimes I’m more successful than other times, but every day I’m struck by an act of kindness someone performs.

P.H.: What is the best way for students to help?

Huffstutler: There are a lot of practical and physical things. There’s a lot of clean-up still required. There’s also a great need for social service volunteers, especially for those who can work with children. Our schools are opening back up, but I think New Orleans is a very tough environment for young people right now. Although a lot of the worst of the trauma is behind, there’s a lot that lingers.

This interview was conducted by P.H.’s Editor-in-Chief, Christopher Glazek. He is a junior History major at Yale University.