Today, we went into Marshall, where Seamus, Sam, and I helped put up lights in the Marshall High art studio with the guidance of Mr. Herrera. We also assisted with cleaning up part of a site that Demo Group A had worked on. It was an old bar. At first, I was surprised by how destroyed the building still looked a year and a half after Hurricane Helene, so I asked Rachael about it. She explained that the bar had already been in poor condition before the storm, and because it was already run down, it became a low priority for repair after the hurricane caused even more damage.
After lunch, I had time to explore the town on my own, and everyone I spoke with was incredibly kind and welcoming. That experience, combined with Rachael’s stories about how the community created a space they called “Utopia” a place with music and food that people gathered at weekly during the recovery process really stood out to me. It made me think about how Marshall serves as a strong example of a “disaster utopia,” a concept we learned about in Dr. Montano’s class.
