DOWN, BUT NOT OUT Reflections of a Hurricane Katrina Survivor It is amazing how your life can change in an instant, proving the old saying here today and gone tomorrow as true. This is exactly what happened on August 29, 2005, my oldest son's birthday will now go on record as the day Hurricane Katrina changed our lives forever. The floodwaters of Katrina violently rushed into New Orleans causing me to lose my home, job, and city. My family and friends are scattered about the country. It affected every aspect of my entire life from the way I worship to the way I conduct personal business nothing was spared. No one unless experiencing it first hand will ever imagine or understand the pain, depression, stress, and sorrow Katrina left behind. If you look beyond the French Quarter and the beautiful Garden District, you will find on a street less than fifteen minutes away, my home. The home I plan to raise my family and build a lifetime of memories now awaits my decision on whether to rebuild or not. Today the cameras and focus is off New Orleans, and our faces are no longer coming across your television sets; however, we are still here feeling the effects. We the hurricane survivors are still struggling to pick up the pieces of our lives; we are facing very difficult times and having to make extremely difficult decisions while many of us are still unable to return home. DOWN, BUT NOT OUT Reflections of a Hurricane Katrina Survivor expresses the pain, anguish, and stress of my experience. My deepest personal thoughts come to life through short stories, prose, and poetry. Through my eyes you will see, and through may spirit you will feel events as they unfold in my life then and now. Thecameras may be off, but with each day, my story continues to unfold.