Learn about New Orleans

Links, resources, maps, and bibliography

ELCA Youth Gathering Facebook group

Helpful Links for the Gathering & New Orleans

• Special video introduction to New Orleans and the Gathering
• Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod, ELCA
• Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod Hurricane Disaster Relief: Future With Hope
• Geaux Lutheran Gathering Web sitefor ELCA churches in southern Louisiana
• City of New Orleans official Web site
• New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau
• Public transportation
• New Orleans International Airport
• City parks

Maps

• Google map of Gathering hotels
• Interactive map of New Orleans
• French Quarter walking map 
• Floor plans of Morial Convention Center
• Floor plans of the Louisiana Superdome
• Interactive map of Katrina flooding of New Orleans
• Walking distances from hotels to the Superdome,Convention Center,and the French Quarter 

New Orleans history

• Louisiana and New Orleans history
• PBS timeline of New Orleans history
• PBS American Experience special: New Orleans

Hurricane recovery

• ELCA Disaster Response
• Bishop Hanson's statement on the hurricanes (9/12/08)
• PBS FRONTLINE: The Old Man and the Storm. FRONTLINE follows one New Orleans family as it struggles to rebuild after Katrina. View videos and learn more at www.pbs.org/frontline/katrina.
• Lutheran Disaster Response “Become a Volunteer”
• Greater New Orleans Community Data Center(information on post-Katrina New Orleans)
• Café Reconcile(programs for at-risk youth in New Orleans)
• National Geographic: Inside Hurricane Katrina(DVD) 2005
• “Right to Return: New Home Movies from the Lower 9th Ward” (stories and interviews on the Tavis Smiley show, PBS)
• New Orleans podcasts on the recovery effort
• Katrina, The Long Road Back(MSNBC current archive of articles, blogs, news links, etc.)
• Common Ground Collective disaster relief

Louisiana and New Orleans life and culture

• Katrina’s Children: River of Word's Poetry & Art from Gulf Coast Youth
• Brief history of jazz in New Orleans
• New Orleans Multicultural Tourism Network
• Museums
• Audubon Nature Institute
• New Orleans French Quarter
• Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation &Tourism

Good Reading

• Mission Trips That Matter: Embodied Faith for the Sake of the World, by Don C. Richter. Upper Room Books, 2008.
• Katrina: The Ruin and Recovery of New Orleans (photos and commentary), by the staff of The Times-Picayune newspaper of New Orleans
• Welcome Forward: A Field Guide for Global Travelers, ELCA Global Mission, 2005.
• Just Neighbors (interactive curriculum on poverty)
• Contemplative Youth Ministry: Practicing the Presence of Jesus, by Mark Yaconelli. Zondervan/Youth Specialties,  2006.
• Taking Root (a new ELCA World Hunger curriculum for children in grades 3-6, youth in grades 7-9, and high school youth)
• Clothed in Nothingness: Consolation for Suffering by Leonard M. Hummel. Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2003.
• Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future, by Margaret J. Wheatley. Berrett-Koehler, 2002.
• 1 Dead in Attic: After Katrina, Chris Rose. Simon & Schuster, 2007.
• Beyond Guilt: Christian Response to Suffering, by Rev. George S. Johnson. 1989.
• The God of Intimacy and Action: Reconnecting Ancient Spiritual Practices, Evangelism, and Justice, by Tony Campolo. Jossey-Bass, 2008.
• Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City, by Jed Horne. Random House, 2008.
• “What Katrina Teaches about the Meaning of Racism,” article for the Social Science Research Council (SSRC)