The Digital Journalist
© Ted Jackson/The New Orleans Times Picayune
SENSORY OVERLOAD On the ground, Katina's horror overloaded the senses: The sight of floating bodies long dead. The smell of putrid, diseased air inside the Superdome. The feel of fear as threats real and imagined filled the city. The sounds of voices crying for help when there was no help to offer. But in the air, another sense took over. From above, you could finally see the width and breadth of the disaster. Scale and distance gave birth to understanding. A view from above left me with the sense of awe. "How bad is it?" asked a friend from my hometown in Mississippi. "It's awful," I said. "It's just awful."