Mahdi Muhammad [MM], age 39, is a former resident of the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana, who is now living in Houston because of Hurricane Katrina, He was born in Lafayette, Louisiana. He grew up in a small town called Abbeville where he lived with his grandmother. He said; “We were in poverty but nobody ever told us we were”. There was a lot of love and laughter in the family; a two bedroom house with his grandmother, two brothers, aunt and uncles. He had desires to have more in life and he attended college. After graduating from college in 1990, Mahdi interviewed with a company in New Orleans. While in town he attended a Budweiser Festival featuring Frankie Beverly and Maze in concert. The essence of the southern feeling and hospitality spoke to his heart and he couldn’t leave New Orleans. He moved to New Orleans and lived there fifteen years until the storm. Prior the storm MM lived on Frenchmen Street in the Gentilly area for eight years. He’s married with three children. Mahdi says that they lived in a peaceful community with older people in the neighborhood. They could leave their doors unlocked in their neighborhood despite what people say about the crime in New Orleans. MM decided to leave New Orleans at twelve midnight the night before the storm because his wife was pregnant and he didn’t want to deal with the lights going out and maybe staying out for days. He never thought that the city would have unfolded the way it did during the storm it was a surprise to him. Mahdi is lead by his inner self and he feels that Hurricane Katrina wasn’t a hurricane done by nature, but that it was a warning for the future hurricane that will ultimately destroy New Orleans. Houston was prepared to accept New Orleans, because they had a plan for years to accept the people into their state. They wanted the spirit and culture of New Orleans to be apart of Houston. MM thinks that New Orleans has a culture that America has moved away from and could learn a lot about. The spirit of New Orleans has touched many people around the world. The people of New Orleans would sit on their porch and talk with each other and maintained that southern hospitality and charm. Houston has the money, but they don’t have the culture and America too. People today are so involved with technology that they have moved away from interacting with their neighbors. This is culture and interaction between the people in the neighborhood. The news media helped New Orleans in many ways, because the people of America got a glimpse at how the government has abandoned the country, not just the New Orleans people. It’s not about race in that abandonment, but the country wasn’t prepared. They had been playing poker, calling a bluff for years. Hurricane Katrina just showed what type of cards the country is playing with. Mahdi’s thinks that it is important to remember the children and how they’re handling the changes from Hurricane Katrina. His daughter Najay, who’s turning twelve years old in May, she’s adjusting just fine in the Houston area. She has joined a Hip Hop Dance School and has maintained her honor roll grades in school, but more importantly, MM says; “Najay enjoys her life”. This is a lesson that Hurricane Katrina has taught him and his family.