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State Library of Iowa

Marta Holliday interviewed by Anna Walters about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, October 1, 2008

Marta Holliday interviewed by Anna Walters about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, October 1, 2008

Title

Marta Holliday interviewed by Anna Walters about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, October 1, 2008

Description

Interview with StoryCorps facilitator Anna Walters (25) of Denver, Colorado and Marta A. Holliday (26) of Manhasset, New York.
Anna talks to University of Iowa graduate student Marta about her experience being evacuated during the Iowa River flood of 2008.
Marta - born and raised in Hemptstead, NY. Uniondale High School, then Marymount in Manhattan. Came to Iowa City to study English. Study abroad in Scotland (00:00:42) -- Things Marta loves about Iowa City. People, hominess (00:03:00) -- Fifth year student - tragic mulatta, representation of biracial women's bodies. Talks about her hopes for a dissertation and a book (00:04:20) -- Hard winter in 2007/2008. University shut down twice. Riverfest in April had to be moved because of water (00:06:30) -- Went home for three weeks in May. Flew back on June 6 - flying over the corn fields, it looked flooded. Didn't think much about it (00:08:46) -- Went to lunch at IMU, but the Amphitheater was underground - river looked rapid. Had to climb over sandbags to go on her usual walks (00:11:45) -- June 12 - evacuated. Her dorm - Hawkeye Court - hadn't been affected in 1993 (00:13:20) -- Wrote about the things she chose for her containers - allowed three containers if you didn't have a car (00:15:25) -- Had very little time to pack. Tried to print her articles, pack schoolwork. Important things: teddy bears, notebooks, family bible (00:16:54) -- Used the hospital for toiletries, socks, food. Lived at Hillcrest (00:18:47) -- June 13 - Curfews in effect, had to run to CVS to get socks over the bridge. Power was cut off, out for six days (00:19:36) -- New friends in that situation, other evacuees. Saw images of town underwater, other-worldly feel (00:21:20) -- Calling her best friend, praying. Contacting professors, told her not to worry about exams (00:23:45) -- Writing poems for comfort (00:25:10) -- June 23 - returned to her old housing. Apartment wasn't damaged. Smell, debris on the ground. University had emptied the refrigerators (00:27:36) -- Walking around, taking pictures of damage. Celebrating a shared birthday with her mother in July. Trying to return to normalcy (00:31:33) -- Lessons: not taking things for granted, paying attention to where you live (00:35:00) -- Famous photo from 1993 flood: "HELP" written in sandbags (00:36:50)

Creator

Holliday, Marta A.

Publisher

StoryCorps (Project); University of Iowa. Libraries. Digital Research & Publishing

Date

2008-10-01
2008-10-01

Contributor

Walters, Anna

Rights

Educational use only, no other permissions given. U.S. and international copyright laws may protect this item. Commercial use or distribution of this digital object is not permitted without written permission of the copyright holder.

Relation

Iowa City Flood
Flood Oral Histories

Format

mpeg
00:37:36

Language

English

Type

Sound
Oral histories (Document genres)

Identifier

DDA000504.mp3
https://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/

Collection