my experience

earlier conversations on this forum inspired me to write down my experience and to write a letter to the editor in the local paper.

*if you or someone you know are a displaced due to the hurricane, please check out the housing information on craigslist.org...i saw over a dozen opportunities for housing, jobs and support here in key west...the island is small so you can ride a bicycle or walk, a very accepting and healing environment, and you, your families, and your pets will be embraced.

kind regards,
kimberly




'Truth and consequences'

Dear Editor,
There is a profound feeling of sadness that I have been experiencing these last days. I think there must be something ‘going around’. We discussed this over breakfast around the bar at Pepe’s over the 'holiday' weekend. It is strange thought to have ... that there is a chance the same wind that tore every avocado from the tree in my backyard might have made its way across the Gulf to eventually take the life of someone in New Orleans.

It has been for almost twenty years now that I have been making photographs. I am amazed by the way a person’s story can be translated onto film, paper and now of course, digitally. I find there is magic in this.

The past days, I have been studying image after image of the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina. Disturbing flashes of bodies floating, tearstained and heartbroken faces, official press conferences and glimpses of military and police with their guns readied. This weekend, conversations and news casts surrounded me ... some blaring varying degrees of blame, anger, prophesies, Conspiracy theories, horse-lovin’ FEMA directors, waiting-in-the-wings Halliburton contractors, the HAARP Project and ... the list goes on.

So, through all of this, I sat there alternating between glances up to the television and long stares into my cup of coffee feeling that knot of helplessness tightening deeper in my gut. ‘But, what is the truth?’ I asked to no one in particular.

It was not long after I asked the question, that I saw it. Subtle, yes, but it was there. As I sat surrounded by locals and tourists alike, the ‘pearl’ was handed to me. A segment from the weather channel displayed images of a busload of refugees arriving in Texas. In the background, I noticed an unassuming woman hugging someone tightly as they got off of the bus. Then she hugged another. And then another. I saw this woman, stout in stature and not too tall, look directly into the eyes and then embrace that person as they stepped from the bus. They were acknowledged regardless of age, gender, color or status. On that day, some without shoes, homes, or a plan ... they were seen and they were embraced. Could it be so simple, this truth?

When we avert our gaze, withhold our embrace, stifle our reverence ... we hide from what could very well be a mirror reflecting for us an image of some part of ourselves that is difficult to accept; a refugee, black, white, addict, gay, straight, homeless, republican, democrat, hippy, or soccer mom. And, at some point in our lives, we may even find that we have lost everything ... but the truth is, we simply need a reminder that we are not lost.

And ... well, perhaps no one around me noticed my profound discovery during their feast of french toast and mimosas. But for me, that morning, through these images, I was told only a moments worth of a story that subtly, quietly and simply answered my question.

Kimberly Narenkivicius
Photographer and publisher, ‘The Secret of Salt’
Key West Tweet