The Wall Street Journal

In August 2005, I pitched editors on an unusual, counter-intuitive thesis: for some New Orleanians, Hurricane Katrina might present a silver lining—an escape from poverty. The idea sat well outside my beat covering the global food industry from Chicago. But as a New Orleans native, I understood the underlying dynamics of the Katrina crisis intimately.

Editors backed the idea and sent me to Louisiana to test it in the field, where I identified and reported the story of a displaced family rebuilding their lives in Minnesota.

The first story broke through nationally: ABC’s “Good Morning America” followed the story, along with media outlets in Minnesota and across the country.

The reporting revealed a deeper narrative, leading to a second installment in the series that expanded the work into a broader examination of displacement, opportunity, and the intersections of race and social mobility in post-Katrina America.

The Journal’s editors nominated the series for a Pulitzer Prize.