Disclaimer: I'm not a podcast listener. I've listened to a handful in my day, but I've struggled with multitasking in this format. As an avid subscriber of The Atlantic and a lover of New Orleans, however, I jumped back into the medium when "Floodlines" was released.
Promoted as "the story of an unnatural disaster," this podcast deals with the effects of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans, touching on events that led up to the 2015 storm, what happened during the catastrophe, and the factors that have altered the region during the rebuild.
Vann R. Newkirk II is the host, and his rolling delivery make him a natural choice to document the city's struggles. The podcast runs the gamut, exploring endemic corruption, racism, the confused federal response, rampant rumors, and the heroes who rose from the floodwaters to carve out a role in trying to save the New Orleans they grew to love.
The final episode centers on a six-hour, no-break interview with Michael Brown, an at-times contentious exchange with the man who was the FEMA chief at the time. This emotional ending served as a fitting capper to a podcast marked by beautiful music, haunting imagery, and stunning recollections from 15 years past.
Toni Morrison once said, "All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was." That is ever so true of New Orleans, the doomed city whose path in that direction has been flooded by ignorance of a million kinds. "Floodlines" does the important work of exposing that path in a search for understanding and truth.
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