the guide FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2013
AFTER THE STORM One year later, the effects of Hurricane Sandy can still be felt. While the District of Columbia saw little damage, students from affected areas continue to face the emotional consequences of the natural disaster. by Hanaa Khadraoui
A
t this time last year, students stocked up on Grab ‘n’ Go and retreated to their dorms for a two-day break from classes. While D.C. dealt with little more than strong wind and rain, Hurricane Sandy ravaged the hometowns of many Georgetown students. The severity of the Category 1 storm’s damage to New York and New Jersey was not immediately clear, even to Georgetown students whose families were in the thick of it. “We had a party in our apartment,” Ben Weiss (COL ’15) said of his Sandy preparations. “And then the next day, my hometown is the picture on the news.” Weiss, who is from Long Beach, N.Y., was one of many for whom the disconnect between the Georgetown reaction to Sandy, which hit D.C. on Oct. 29, 2012, and the experiences of family at home was stark.
“I felt so horrible that I was treating it like a joke until I found out that our garage was destroyed, and our cars were destroyed, and my best friend’s house was flooded up to the second floor,” said Weiss, who could not contact his parents for four days after the storm hit. “Everything was just broken.” The lack of communication hovered in the background of everyday life long after classes resumed on the Hilltop. “For the next month, it was just keeping my phone on as loud as possible and running out of class when necessary to talk to my parents,” Weiss said. “I felt just distracted for months. … It was both a blessing and a curse to not be there.” For some, being away from home was like living in a separate world. “I felt guilty being at Georgetown … being in this little oasis,” Jessie Sarkis (SFS ’16), also from Long Beach, said. Sarkis’ mother could not return to her
home until December, at which point only the second floor of her house was habitable. Sarkis returned to her hometown the Friday after the storm hit to stay with her mother, who lived alone, in the aftermath of Sandy. The Long Beach boardwalk, an iconic feature for almost a century, was completely demolished, and Sarkis faced the reality that the town she last saw when she left for her freshman year two months earlier was no longer the same. “It was like I was home, but I wasn’t home,” she said. “This whole pace had just been changed dramatically.” ------------------------------------In the weeks after the storm, life resumed as normal on campus. But for those whose families were still without power or homes, continuing as usual was not easy.
When preparing for her first round of college finals in December, Sarkis went to her dean’s walk-in hours and cried. She remembers thinking, “I don’t know how I’m supposed to pretend to care. I don’t care if I get an A anymore. Two months ago I would have cared, but now …” “It was really hard to pay attention to what was going on here when I wasn’t entirely sure how intact my home was going to be,” Weiss said. On campus, those worst hit by Sandy often found the devastation difficult to talk about. For freshmen like Sarkis, relying on friends they had known for less than two months was even tougher. Organized opportunities for reflection, like ESCAPE, provided relief for some, like Stephen Cacace (MSB ’16), who said he was able to work through See SANDY, B2
THIS WEEK LIFESTYLE
FOOD&DRINK
ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT
A New Take on Shakespeare
Getting Cheesy
Formulaic Tracks Falter
THEHOYA.COM/ THE-GUIDE
Falling Out of Style
@thehoyaguide
Nomadic Theater masterfully puts on ‘Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead.’ B3
Georgetown Alum Makes Noise
Beanstalk Library, a D.C.-based band, returns to Gypsy Sally’s this weekend. B3
La Fromagerie in Alexandria is home to a wide selection of gourmet American artisan cheese and cured meats. B4
Katy Perry’s new album lacks creativity and confidence. B5 Fall Out Boy’s PAX AM Days was a disappointment and far from memorable. B5