At the time, it was sort of one thing after another, and I was rarely scared, and super friendly to everyone as a half-conscious survival strategy that worked very well. I found a mixedrace mini insta-village/triblet and made myself useful as auntie (watched kids, collected water). 1/2

After, I went home my husband (I had had a year long gig as visiting prof at Tulane in NOLA), and it took me a few months to recover. What truly appalled me was how people--always fellow white people of course--talked about how poor folks who'd lost everthing could just pick up easily & go on. 2/2