Miles Apart

With her sister and father living far away in storm-ravaged Mississippi, an 8th grader finds comfort in meeting new classmates and in staying in touch with old ones.

Arlington, Va.

The conversation in this third-floor apartment tonight is about Hurricane Katrina, and it’s clear that 12-year-old Holly Sweeney wants no part of it.

Her mother, Schondra Sweeney, takes up the slack, explaining how the storm wiped out their hometown of Waveland, Miss. Her laptop computer shows pictures of neighbors’ flattened houses, a sand-covered main street, and a refrigerator lying, wide-open, in what remains of the Sweeneys’ sunroom.

Verging on tears, Holly clings to her mother’s arm and then...