Sarah M. Broom on Her New Memoir “The Yellow House”

> NOW WE TURN TO HURRICANES AND THE DESTRUCTION THEY WREAK.

DORIAN HAS CAUSED DOZENS OF DEATHS IN PARTS OF THE BAHAMAS, BUT OUR NEXT GUEST REMINDS US THAT THE CLOUD REMAINS LONG AFTER THE STORM HAS PASSED.

BACK IN AUGUST 2005, HURRICANE KATRINA WRECKED THE HOME OF NEW ORLEANS WRITER SARA BROOM AND TORE UP HER CITY.

HER DEBUT MEMOIR, 'THE YELLOW HOUSE,' IS AN INTIMATE LOOK AT A FAMILY THAT SCATTERED ACROSS AMERICA BUT FELT THE GRAVITATIONAL PULL OF HOME AS SHE SAT DOWN WITH OUR WALTER ISAACSON TO TELL HIM ABOUT HEALING AND WHAT REMAINS AFTER ALL SEEMS TO HAVE GONE.

SARA, WELCOME TO THE SHOW.

THIS IS SUCH A JOY FOR ME, SOMEBODY FROM NEW ORLEANS, MY HOMETOWN.

YOU GREW UP IN WHAT WE CALL THE EAST, WHICH WAS A 1960s DEVELOPMENT, AND FOR OUR VIEWERS WHO DON'T QUITE NOW THE DISTINCTION, TALK ABOUT NEW ORLEANS EAST AND WHAT'S CALLED THE LOWER NINTH WARD.

SURE.

NEW ORLEANS EAST IS PART OF THE NINTH WARD.

TI THE LOWER NINTH IS IN THE NINTH WARD.

BOTH AREAS ARE ESSENTIALLY BIFURCATED FROM THE CITY BY A NAVIGATION CHANNEL CALLED THE INDUSTRIAL CANAL WHICH CONNECTS THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN.

SO NEW ORLEANS EAST IS A HUGE AREA OF THE CITY THAT IS COMPOSED OF MANY DIFFERENT NEIGHBORHOODS.

THE LOWER NINE IS CLOSER TO THE MISSISSIPPI, SORT OF RIGHT AGAINST IN A WAY THE CANAL AND IS ONE SPECIFIC NEIGHBORHOOD.

SO THE EAST I ALWAYS THINK OF AS A MUCH LARGER SECTION OF THE CITY.

AND THE BOOK, 'THE YELLOW HOUSE,' IS VERY MUCH A PART OF TRYING TO OWN THE CITY AFTER THE HURRICANE.

AND YOU FEELING LIKE, OKAY, IT'S MY CITY TOO.

SURE.

AND FOR ME, THIS IS A VERY OLD FEELING, THE FEELING OF WHAT DID IT MEAN TO BELONG TO A PLACE, WHAT DOES IT MEAN, FOR INSTANCE, TO BE A NEW ORLEANSEN?

AND I'M CONTENDING WITH THIS QUESTION LONG BEFORE KATRINA.

I WAS THINKING ABOUT THIS THE DAY AFTER I LEFT THE YELLOW HOUSE FOR COLLEGE.

I WAS THINKING, WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT I GREW UP IN THIS HOUSE WHERE THE GROUND OUTSIDE WAS ALWAYS SOFT?

I WAS OBSESSING OVER THAT.

THEN I THINK WHAT ENDED UP HAPPENING WAS AFTER KATRINA CAME AND THEN IN 2006 WHEN THE HOUSE WAS DEMOLISHED, SUDDENLY AS A WRITER I WAS CONTENDING WITH LOSS.

AND, YOU KNOW, I SAY IN THE WORK THAT I FEEL, ABSENCE MORE STRONGLY THAN PRESENCE.

AND I THINK THE FACT OF THAT LED ME TO TRY TO INTERROGATE WHAT IT MEANT, WHAT IT ALL MEANT, RIGHT, AND THAT WAS AN ENORMOUS VOYAGE THAT I COULDN'T HAVE PREDICTED.

WHAT DID IT MEAN FOR YOUR FAMILY IN 1961, FOR YOUR MOM TO SAY WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A YELLOW HOUSE?

WELL, IT WAS A BIG DEAL.

I MEAN, MY MOTHER BOUGHT THE HOUSE WHEN SHE WAS 19 YEARS OLD.

AND IT WAS HER PIECE OF LAND.

IT WAS HER SPOT IN THE WORLD.

SHE MADE IT INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL.

SHE SEWED ALL OF THE CURTAINS FOR THIS HOUSE.

YOU KNOW, IT WAS A PLACE I THINK SHE INSTANTLY FELT AT THE TIME -- FELT TETHERED TO AND THAT PART FASCINATES ME BECAUSE THE HOUSE IS THE MOST PERFECT MET METAPHOR, I THINK, FOR WHO WE ALL ARE IN THE WORLD OR WHAT IT MEANS TO HAVE A KIND OF INFERIORITY AND TO HAVE A PHYSICAL PLACE THAT WE'RE CONNECTED TO.

SO FOR MY MOM IT MEANT ALL OF THOSE THINGS.

AND THEN OF COURSE SHE RAISED HER 12 CHILDREN IN THAT HOUSE.

AND SO WE WERE IN A WAY, YOU KNOW, THE LITTLE HOUSES WALKING AROUND WHEN THE HOUSE WASN'T THERE AND IT WAS MY MOTHER WHO HAD THE INSIGHT ABOUT THE WAYS IN WHICH PEOPLE BECOME HOUSES AND BECOME PLACES.

AND SO YOU TRACE BACK 100 YEARS, I THINK, YOUR FAMILY, ROSE, LOUISIANA, TO THE YELLOW HOUSE IN NEW ORLEANS EAST, AND IT SORT OF CULMINATES FOR YOU WITH THIS SENSE OF PLACE YOU GET FROM THE HOUSE.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE WHEN ALL OF A SUDDEN THE HURRICANE HITS?

SO, IT'S INTERESTING BECAUSE I HAD BEEN HAVING VERY CONFLICTED FEELINGS ABOUT THE HOUSE IN THE YEARS LEADING UP TO KATRINA IN 2005.

SO I THINK THE MOMENT WHEN THE HOUSE WAS BATTERED, WHICH WAS REALLY WHAT IT WAS, WAS SHOCKING FOR ME.

THAT DOESN'T QUITE SAY IT TO CALL IT SHOCKING, BUT THE MOMENT I ALWAYS THINK ABOUT WAS GOING THERE WITH MY SIBLINGS.

YOU KNOW, WE WERE THERE QUITE EARLY BACK IN NEW ORLEANS AFTER THE STORM.

MY GRANDMOTHER HAD, IN FACT, DIED A MONTH TO THE DAY OF THE STORM.

THE DAY AFTER HER FUNERAL, WE DROVE TO NEW ORLEANS EAST AND WENT TO SEE THE HOUSE.

MY MOTHER REFUSED TO GET OUT OF THE CAR.

BUT ALL OF US CHILDREN SORT OF RAN TO IT AND NOTED THAT, YOU KNOW, BY FORCE OF WATER, THERE WAS ANOTHER ENTRANCE MADE BY NATURE, ESSENTIALLY, IN THE SIDE OF THE HOUSE.

AND SO WE ALL STOOD, YOU KNOW, FROM THE OUTSIDE PEERING IN THROUGH THIS CRACK AND SEEING THE DETRITUS OF LIVES LIVED.

MY BROTHER'S DRY CLEANING AND ALL THE LAMP SHADES AND THE DRESSERS FROM MY CHILDHOOD AND THAT MOMENT THE FEELING THAT SOMETHING HAD BEEN BROKEN AND WOULD NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN IS SOMETHING THAT HAUNTS ME STILL.

TELL ME ABOUT CARL.

TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM IN THE HURRICANE AND HOW HE COMES TO BE IN THE BOOK.

CARL IS ONE OF MY OLDER BROTHERS AND PROBABLY FOR ME JUST WHEN I THINK OF NEW ORLEANS, I THINK OF CARL.

HE'S THAT PERSON FOR ME.

AND SO HE STAYED IN NEW ORLEANS DURING KATRINA.

IN FACT, HE WAS ACTING LIKE IT WAS A REALLY ORDINARY DAY.

I THINK MANY PEOPLE DO, WERE, AND STILL DO LOVE TO THIS DAY.

HE DROVE HOME.

HE WAS AWARE THAT A STORM WAS POSSIBLY COMING.

HE FELL ASLEEP.

HE WOKE UP AND THERE WAS WATER IN THE HOUSE.

SO THE WATER KEPT RISING AND RISING.

AND OF COURSE THIS IS AFTER KATRINA HAS ALREADY HIT, RIGHT.

WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW IS THAT THE LEVEES HAVE BEEN BREACHED AND WATER IS COMING IN.

AND CARL ESSENTIALLY ESCAPES THE HOW ELSE BY CUTTING THROUGH THE ROOF WITH AN AXE.

HE THEN STAYS ON THE ROOF FOR QUITE A LONG TIME AND BECOMES A STRANGER IN HIS OWN CITY.

AND THEN SHORTLY AFTER THE HOW ELSE WAS DAMAGED, HE WAS GOING THERE AND CHECKING ON IT AND SAYING HOW THE HOUSE WAS DOING, AS IF THE HOUSE WAS, YOU KNOW, INFIRM, AS IF IT WERE A PERSON, REALLY.

ONE OF THE THINGS THAT'S SO PAINFUL IN THE BOOK AND I FEEL SO SORRY ABOUT TOO IS THAT THE HOUSE THEN GETS DEMOLISHED.

MM-HMM.

BY THE AUTHORITIES BECAUSE THERE'S NOBODY THERE, IT'S OFF THE FOUNDATION.

MM-HMM.

AND YOU NEVER GET NOTIFNOTIF.

MM-HMM.

TELL ME THE PAIN OF THAT.

WELL, THAT IS A KIND OF EXISTENTIAL FEELING OF LOSS FOR ME.

AND KWWHAT I MEAN BY THAT IS IF SOMETHING IS THERE THE DAY BEFORE AND THEN SUDDENLY IS NOT, THE MIND HAS A REALLY HARD TIME TRYING TO PROCESS WHAT HAPPENED.

AND SO BECAUSE MY BROTHER CARL, WHO IS FOR ME THE KIND OF SENTINEL OF THE BOOK, WAS SHOWING UP EVERY DAY AND SITTING ON THIS LOT WHERE, YOU KNOW, THE HOUSE WAS AND THEN HE ACTUALLY FELL ILL AND WAS IN THE HOSPITAL DURING THE TIME WHEN THE NOTICE WAS DELIVERED AND THE HOUSE WAS ULTIMATELY DEMOLISHED.

HE SHOWED UP ONE DAY AFTER GETTING OUT OF THE HOSPITAL AND IT WAS SIMPLY GONE.

AND THEN AFTER THE HOUSE WAS GONE, HE WENT THERE EVERY SINGLE DAY AFTER WORK AND SAT WATCH.

AND AT SOME POINT HE BROUGHT A VERY GORGEOUS, ORNATE WOOD TABLE TO THE SCENE WHERE OUR HOUSE USED TO BE, AND HE SET UP CHAIRS AROUND IT AND ALL OF HIS FRIENDS WOULD COME AND THEY'D HANG OUT THERE.

I WOULD GO THERE AND WE'D HANG OUT THERE.

HE MADE IT A PLACE.

AND IN THAT WAY, CARL IS MY MOTHER THROUGH AND THROUGH BECAUSE THAT'S THE THING THAT SHE TAUGHT US, WHATEVER YOU HAVE, YOU MAKE IT BEAUTIFUL, YOU TAKE CARE OF IT, YOU SEE TO IT.

AND CARL DID THAT ALL THE WAY UNTIL, YOU KNOW, THE MOMENT WHEN THE LAND WAS NO LONGER OURS.

WHEN HURRICANE KATRINA HIT THE H-- YOU WERE UP HERE IN NEW YORK CITY, RIGHT?

YES.

VERY SUCCESSFUL, WELL-KNOWN EDITOR WITH OPRAH'S MAGAZINE BUT ALSO A JOURNALIST, A WRITER, HAD DONE MANY THINGS.

AT FIRST YOU DON'T GO HOME.

I THINK YOU RUN INTO SAMANTHA POWER, THE U.N. AMBASSADOR.

AND YOU'RE BEREFT.

MM-HMM.

SHE GIVES YOU ONE WORD ON A MAP THAT YOU MAY NOT HAVE EVEN KNOWN MUCH ABOUT.

SHE SAYS GO TO BARUNDI.

IT WAS THE STRANGEST THING.

I WAS SENT IN A KIND OF TAILSPIN IN THE DAYS AFTER THE STORM, YOU KNOW, WHERE I JUST FELT AS IF SOMEONE OR SOMETHING HAD DIED.

AND THOSE OF US WHO HAVE EVER KNOWN GRIEF KNOW THE FEELING AND THE EXPERIENCE OF THAT.

AND I JUST REMEMBER BEING AT A DINNER WITH SAMANTHA POWER WHO THEN HAD JUST WRITTEN 'A PROBLEM FROM HELL' AND GIVING HER SOME VERY COMPLICATED IDEA ABOUT HOW I WANTED TO GO ELSEWHERE AND THINK ABOUT THE GLOBAL SOUTH AND, YOU KNOW, JUST PLACEMENT.

AND SHE SAID, YOU SHOULD GO TO BARUNDI.

I SAID WHERE IS IT?

THAT SORT OF SET OFF THIS JOURNEY THAT I END UP TAKING.

YOU KNOW, SAMANTHA POWER HAD SAID, YOU KNOW, YOU DON'T NEED A RAILING, YOU YON, YOU KNOW, MEA JUST SORT OF SHOW UP.

I DON'T KNOW WHY I TOOK HER AT HER WORD BUT I DID.

BUT IT WAS INTERESTING TO BE THERE BECAUSE I WAS COMPLETELY STRIPPED OF ANY STORY I HAD OF MYSELF OR ANY STORY I HAD BEEN TELLING MYSELF.

IN BARUNDI, NO ONE KNEW ANY OF THESE THINGS I WAS TALKING ABOUT.

THE PEOPLE I WAS AROUND BARELY KNEW WHERE NEW ORLEANS WAS.

NONE OF THIS HAD ANY SIGNIFICANCE FOR THEM.

THEY COULD NOT SPEAK FOR ME.

I HAD TO SOMEHOW BE COMPOSED AND BE THE PERSON WHO I WAS WITHOUT ANY OF THE NARRATIVES I HAD OR THE STORIES I WAS TELLING ABOUT MYSELF.

AND IT WAS GREAT FOR THAT REASON.

WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT HOME AND COMMUNITY AND YOUR OWN CONNECTION TO HOME AND COMMUNITY BY BEING IN BARUNDI.

WELL, YOU KNOW, IT WAS INTERESTING, BECAUSE THE THING I LEARNED ABOUT MYSELF IS THAT I GO AROUND ESSENTIALLY TRYING TO FIND SIBLINGS.

AND BARUNDI ALSO REMINDED ME THAT IT WAS TIME TO GO BACK HOME, THAT THESE PEOPLE WERE HOME, THAT THESE PEOPLE HAD FOUND THEIR PLACE AND THEY WERE THERE WRESTLING WITH IT AND INTERROGATING IT AND BEING IN IT.

AND IT WAS TIME FOR ME ON SOME LEVEL TO GO BACK TO THE PLACE I WAS ESSENTIALLY RUNNING FROM.

AND THAT'S NEW ORLEANS, NOT NEW YORK.

NEW ORLEANS.

BUT WHEN YOU SAY HOME, YOU'RE REFERRING TO NEW ORLEANS.

AFTER SIX MONTHS, YOU SUDDENLY MOVE BACK TO NEW ORLEANS.

WHY?

SO AFTER A YEAR, ACTUALLY, IN BARUNDI, I DECIDED TO GO BACK.

I FELT THE GAPS WERE BECOMING VERY APPARENT TO ME IN TERMS OF WHAT I KNEW.

I DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT MY SIBLINGS BECAUSE IT WAS REALLY HARD TO TALK TO THEM, YOU KNOW?

THERE WAS NO WHATSAPP AT THE TIME.

MY MOTHER WAS WRITING THESE VERY SORT OF SCARCE LETTERS THAT DIDN'T HAVE A LOT OF INFORMATION.

SO I FELT THE DISTANCE.

AND I COME FROM A FAMILY THAT IS VERY CLOSE AND VERY CONNECTED.

SO THAT FELT UNTENABLE FOR ME.

AND THEN ALSO I GOT A RANDOM CALL FROM A WOMAN WORKING IN CITY HALL.

WORKING FOR NAGIN.

WHO WAS EMBATTLED.

EMBATTLED AT THE TIME.

AND IT CAME ABOUT THAT I WAS SEARCHING FOR A JOB AND A FRIEND SAID I HAVE THE PERFECT PERSON.

THIS WOMAN CALLS ME FROM CITY HALL AND SAYS WE READ SOME OF YOUR WRITING ABOUT NEW ORLEANS.

WE THINK YOU WOULD BE, YOU KNOW, REALLY GOOD AND PERFECT TO SORT OF HELP US TALK ABOUT THE RECOVERY.

AND SO I TALKED TO HER ON THE PHONE AND IT WAS A COMMUNICATIONS JOB.

I DECIDED IT WOULD BE MY WAY BACK INTO NEW ORLEANS.

ONE OF THE INTERESTING THINGS ABOUT THE HURRICANE IS THAT IT BROUGHT PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF BACK, WHO LEFT NEW ORLEANS A LONG TIME AGO, INCLUDING ME.

I CAME BACK AND MOVED BACK TO NEW ORLEANS.

BUT ON THE FLIP SIDE OF THAT, WE LOST A LOT OF PEOPLE.

MM-HMM.

THAT HAVEN'T COME BACK AFTER THE STORM.

HOW HAS THAT AFFECTED NEW ORLEANS AND TO SOME EXTENT YOUR SENSE OF THE PLACE?

WELL, THAT'S AN IMPORTANT PART OF WHAT HAPPENED.

AND FOR ME AND MY OWN FAMILY, SO MANY OF MY SIBLINGS HAVE YET TO RETURN.

YOU KNOW, THEY FOUND BETTER JOBS ELSEWHERE OR THEY JUST FINANCIALLY HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO COME BACK.

I THINK THAT HAS ESSENTIALLY CHANGED IN A WAY THE NATURE OF THE CITY THE ITSELF.

AND I REMEMBER RIGHT AFTER, YOU KNOW, IN 2008, WHEN I CAME BACK TO WORK FOR THE MAYOR, LIVINGIN THE CARROLLTON AREA AND REALIZING THAT THE RENT I WAS PAYING WAS $800 HIGHER THAN THE RENT BEFORE THE STORM.

AND IT MADE ME REALLY THINK ABOUT HOW IT WAS POSSIBLE FOR PEOPLE TO RETURN.

AND SO I AM HYPERAWARE, I THINK, OF HOW THE FABRIC HAS CHANGED.

AND I KNOW THAT MANY NEW ORLEANS PEOPLE HAVE YET TO RETURN EVEN NOW.

AND HAVE YOU MOVED BACK, DO YOU THINK, FOR GOOD?

YOU KNOW, I HAVE A LITTLE YELLOW HOUSE.

I NEVER THOUGHT I WANTED A YELLOW HOUSE.

BUT I FELL IN LOVE WITH THIS YELLOW HOUSE IN THE LARAMIE NEIGHBORHOOD AND I'M THERE IN NEW ORLEANS AT LEAST ONCE A MONTH TO BE WITH MY MOM AND TO BE WITH MY SIBLINGS SO IT'S WHERE I LIVE PART OF THE TIME.

IN I'M NOT IN HARLEM, I'M GENERALLY IN MY LITTLE HOUSE.

IT'S NICE TO HAVE A YELLOW HOUSE THAT'S SORT OF IN BETWEEN THE FRENCH QUARTER AND NEW ORLEANS EAST.

I HOPE YOU MAKE IT HOME.

THANK YOU SO MUCH.

THANK YOU.

THANK YOU.