海角大神

Reporters often specialize in a certain type of coverage 鈥� news, politics, justice, features. Photojournalists usually do not. We shoot it all, from portraits to news, wildlife to culture. But reporters and photographers both gain entry to situations we would never experience, and people we would never meet in different careers. It鈥檚 thrilling; it鈥檚 interesting; it鈥檚 different every day. But ... this job can be challenging when we鈥檙e faced with the difficult stuff.

Writer Patrik Jonsson lives in the southeast United States, and one of his beats is storm reporting. In a recent Monitor Weekly聽cover story, he focuses on his coverage of Hurricane Katrina, one of the most destructive storms in current memory. He tells how he and those affected wrestled with the impact. I joined him on multiple journeys to report on Katrina鈥檚 aftermath.

I remember when we first got to New Orleans 20 years ago, just a week after Katrina hit the city. Levees had failed, spilling water into neighborhoods filled with iconic homes. Floodwater flowed into our tall rubber boots as we navigated streets turned into rivers.聽

Working late into the nights, we鈥檇 arrive back at our lodging in Baton Rouge, more than an hour away, exhausted and melancholy.

In these dire situations, people come together. That鈥檚 the takeaway every time 鈥� the helpers, the pulling together of communities. We look for positives in order to not be dragged down ourselves.聽

When we heard a woman was taking a boat to her waterlogged home to rescue her cat, we went along. The mission had a successful outcome not only for her feline, but also for a tiny kitten that I rescued after I found it cowering in a downed tree. It was a small victory that buoyed our spirits.

Patrik and I have worked as a team many times. I enjoy working with him because he always finds wonderful characters to interview. No surprise, he鈥檚 quite the character himself. Usually barefoot 鈥� even in gritty New Orleans 鈥� he prefers to sleep in his old and bedraggled van on a mattress in back. He doesn鈥檛 like his smartphone and prefers to wander rather than to use GPS.聽

That鈥檚 often how the characters are found 鈥� by happenstance. Patrik鈥檚 methods are a bit unusual, but we always get what we need. In the cover story, he looks back and relates how the city has rebounded with the help of the many characters who call it home.

Oh, and that tiny kitten? I couldn鈥檛 bring him home, but I heard he grew to be a big, healthy boy, living with the cat rescuer鈥檚 brother.

This column first appeared in the July 28 issue of 海角大神 Weekly.聽Subscribe today to receive future issues of the Monitor Weekly magazine delivered to your home.