Hoda by Hoda Kotb

Author:Hoda Kotb [Kotb, Hoda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781439189504
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2010-10-12T00:00:00+00:00

Surviving Katrina

• • •

Tim Uehlinger and I were working together on the Katrina coverage. (Remember Tim? He was with me during the adventure in Pakistan to find Mukhtaran Mai.) We did most of our reporting out of our rental car. It soon became a cluttered, stinky home base. We stored all our wet gear in there, we ate in there, and we were not showering. The only reason we didn’t sleep in the car was that I knew someone at East Jefferson General Hospital. Graciously, she told us we could crash on the floor of a file room. Tim and I, as well as our photographer and our sound guy, were thankful to have a safe, dry place to sleep. We used old medical curtains for blankets. NBC eventually sent trailers for all the correspondents and crews, where we could rest and work.

In the first few days of our coverage, people on I-10 were lined up thirty deep—waiting. No sleep, no food, no water, no hope. As I sat in our stinkmobile, I could see a man trying to get my attention. He was yelling my name and holding up numbers. I didn’t know what he wanted, but I knew he was desperate. Pointing at the numbers again, he mouthed, “Call my wife . . . tell her I love her!” I started dialing like a crazy woman. Punching the numbers. The call would not go through. Redialing—dead end, over and over. Redial, dammit! Tim had approached the car and saw me dialing and crying. He started crying. The whole scene was bad. He just looked at pathetic me and said, “Change your shirt. You’ve got to do a stand-up.” He added, “God, you’re sweating.” Thanks, Tim.

I found a shirt somewhere in the back seat and started to wonder where I could change. Well, you know where. Right there. As I took off my shirt, I heard what sounded like the rumble of an idling bus. I looked up and out of the car window to see a bus full of people looking into my car window! Passengers were banging on the windows of the bus and yelling, “Hodie Kodie . . . we see your titties!” I burst out laughing! That weird hysterical guffawing when you’re out of your mind from the absurd mixing with the horrible, and all you can do is throw your head back and laugh. That was me—topless Hodie Kodie. Thank God my friends were still funny and still laughing!

These were the same strong, fun people who were my angels when I was so scared on my first day at Dateline. I remember walking into 30 Rock with my new badge and there was some sort of problem. I was supposed to get buzzed in, but the guard didn’t have my name. There was confusion and I was shaking. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, I heard “Hoda? Is that yeeeewwwwww?” A tour group from Metairie, Louisiana, was gathered in the lobby. My people! I turned to that group of women and said, “I am so scared.

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