A message from Executive Producer Diane Hartman

Diane Hartman
Executive Producer
BEYOND KATRINA

Producing BEYOND KATRINA each month has been a true inspiration for me. When Co-Executive Producer Rick Klein and I were assigned this monthly series, we had not yet had a chance to visit the coast since the hurricane. People who had been there told us that we should make the trip before launching into the series. The thing that sticks in my mind most is the numbers of times I would ask people “What happened to McElroys?” or some other favorite restaurant or landmark along the coast and they would say “It’s gone!” For some reason, I had convinced myself that that meant that these places were severely damaged, or flooded, or simply out of business. I hadn’t prepared myself for the fact that almost every place I remembered so fondly along the Mississippi Coast was completely GONE, in the strictest sense of the word. I always drove along Highway 90 and knew exactly where I was by all the landmarks along the way. On my first visit back after the hurricane, we drove from Gulfport to Biloxi and I had no idea where I was. The distance markers on my journey were all gone. It struck me that the people who travel that stretch of road every day must be completely numb by now.

Telling the stories of Mississippians fighting their way back from such a terrible ordeal is truly an honor. We hope you’ll be inspired by their spirit as we continue to bring you new episodes of BEYOND KATRINA.