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Fundora: When did you first realize that Hurricane Andrew might hit Miami? Camner: When I heard it on the news. When did I first realize? Fundora: Yes. Camner: Just from the news. Fundora: But when? Camner: I would say about 3 or 4 days before. Fundora: What preparations did you make? Camner: Not enough. I got a little bit of water. I had no idea it would be as traumatic as it was. A little water, a little food and enough to last about 10 minutes. Not enough, so I ended up in pretty big trouble. Fundora: What do you mean by ending up in pretty big trouble? Camner: Well I got to the point that I had to scavenge for something to eat. For about a week it was a pretty desperate situation. But it wasn't as bad as many people had. I'm not complaining. Fundora: Okay. What did you think it might be like before the storm? Before the storm actually hit? Camner: What did I think the storm would be like? Fundora: Yes. Camner: About a millionth of what it was. I just remembered from my childhood, my hurricanes from childhood living in Miami, that it was a picnic compared to this, so I just had no idea. I had no idea. I think like a lot of people, I was just devastated. Fundora: Where were you during the hurricane? Camner: I left my apartment because I thought my apartment would be in trouble because the building was built in 1928; I went to my mother's house in Kendall to be with her and my sister and my nephew and it turned out that my apartment was fine and the house that I went to for safety, was destroyed. So it wasn't the smartest choice on my part. Fundora: What happened to you during the hurricane while you were at your mother's house? Camner: In detail what happened? I mean as it was hitting? Fundora: Yes, while you were there. Camner: I was in the living room on the couch. We were concerned because there was a planter on the ledge outside the second floor. We were afraid that the planter would go through the window it was in front of. We heard a little scraping as the wind progressed and then the window blew out. The planter was fine. The planter didn't even move an inch during the storm. It just blew out by the power of the wind. Then every window blew out and the sliding glass door blew out and the hurricane was inside the house. We went to the very back window and I held the door closed with everything that I had and it was pretty bad and it was raining inside the house. It ripped the roof off, the rain came in and the wind went inside totally destroying the inside of the house.But there was one interesting thing. On the coffee table in front of the sliding glass door that had blown out was a little wooden house about six inches tall, a little model of a house, and it didn't move a centimeter through the whole storm. The inside of the house was destroyed but that tiny little house did not move at all. That was interesting. Fundora: What were your concerns or thoughts during the hurricane? Camner: I was worried about my family. At one point I had been writing my autobiography or started it and at one point I realized that it was right in front of the house being destroyed. So I had to run out at one point and risk my life to get that autobiography, to get my notes. That was pretty traumatic. Fundora: What did you do right after the hurricane? Camner: Went outside, first looked around the interior of the house, because everything was just destroyed. Then all the neighbors went outside and she lived (his mother) in a cul-de-sac and it was like hell. Everything was just, trees were ripped apart and all the roofs were off. We thought we were the only ones who had their windows out, but everyone did. Fundora: What was the first thing you thought about? Camner: The other members of my family who weren't there, if everyone was okay. I think that was my first concern. Fundora: What was the first thing you actually did? Camner: We started immediately, because we had four inches of water inside the house. So we started immediately mopping up. Then I got in the car with my sister and her husband and we went to check on some people in Country Walk because we had friends living there, so we went over there. It was undescribable. It was just gone, the whole place. Fundora: What was your first week like? Camner: That day I had gone back to my apartment. I helped clean up a little and then I went back to my apartment to see how it was. I was without transportation because my car had died the night of the hurricane. So I had no food or transportation. The landlord had locked the hurricane shutters and did not come back to unlock them. So there was no air in the apartment. There was nothing. Total darkness. No air, no food, it was pretty bad, pretty bad. Again, I was a lot better off than a lot of people. Fundora: Did you receive help after the hurricane? Camner: Did I receive help? Specifically or at my mother's house? Fundora: No, it could be your mother's house or yourself. Camner: Yes, well they received a lot of help because they were in pretty bad shape. So the neighbors helped each other. Like everyone was saying, it takes a disaster for people to get together, and that's a problem, but that's the way life is. They received a lot of help. I received some help. Somebody brought me some ice. It was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. Fundora: So did you help others? Camner: Like I said, I didn't have transportation so I helped a few people around the apartment. Mainly the people living in the apartment because there were a lot of older people living there and I did what I could. Finally we found a little grocery store that was opened and so I would go and get them food and things like that. Fundora: What kind of effect has Hurricane Andrew had on your daily life? Camner: At this point? Fundora: Or in weeks after the hurricane. Camner: It made me I think a lot more sensitive to how, I don't know if insignificant is the right word, it's probably not, but how fragile we all were. I think that is the word I am looking for. Fundora: And that has affected your daily life? Camner: Yes it did, because it has made me more sensitive to other people and to life itself. It just made me realize that this is all temporary and to cling to each other as much as we can. Fundora: Has the hurricane significantly changed your plans for the future? Camner: I wouldn't say it changed anything, but again it did make me realize that we can literally be blown away at any moment. So, it made me more aware of doing things immediately instead of procrastinating. Fundora: How is your autobiography related to the hurricane? Camner: It really begins.... You mean as far as before this? It really goes back to Hurricane Betsy. Because that is the first memory I have, the first real traumatic memory I have, so ironically that is how I started it, even before I knew the Hurricane was coming. I couldn't think of an ending, I mean I am not dead yet, so I couldn't really think of an ending on how I wanted to end the autobiography and I decided to end it with Hurricane Andrew. So, coming in with a hurricane and going out with a hurricane. Fundora: Does the fact that your autobiography begins with Hurricane Betsy indicate that this hurricane had a profound effect on you? Camner: Definitely, because it was a very traumatic thing. As I said before, it just really shows me how fragile we really are, and that is something people take for granted. Fundora: Were you affected or your family personally by Hurricane Betsy, with regards to damage? Camner: No, I can't say that we were personally affected that I really remember. But like I said, it was the first really traumatic thing I remember in that point in my life. Fundora: When did you realize that you could have a new ending to your autobiography with the occurrence of another Hurricane? Camner: Well like I said, I was searching for an ending and I had no idea on what I was going to do, and I what I thought of doing is, the autobiography were stories of one life and I wanted to center it around the fact that a life can be destroyed in a minute, so I had all these stories going on surrounded by that fact, that life is temporary and these are just things that happen to this one temporary life and how easily it can be snuffed out. Fundora: I gather you realized pretty soon after the Hurricane that this would be a good ending for you? Camner: Absolutely, during the Hurricane it came to me. Fundora: What are the similarities and the differences between your life circumstances and reactions to both hurricanes? Camner: During Hurricane Betsy the difference is that I was a child and my parents took care of that situation. In this case, of course, I am an adult and I had to survive on my own and you have those kinds of responsibilities. That's life. That's what you have to do, you have to take care of yourself. So it was much more realistic I would say. Much more realistic. Because as a child you are in fantasy land and everything is a party and now you realize as an adult that it is not such fun and you have to confront reality and in this case that was not a very pleasant thing to do. Fundora: Did the Hurricane effect your creative tasks? Were you inconvenienced in any way? Camner: Oh yes. I was definitely inconvenienced because before it hit, I was in the throes of writing the autobiography, at least the notes for it, and the hurricane for some reason, and to this day, and it has been how long, its been months, its been a long time, it put the breaks on. I was really psyched about the autobiography, I was working on it at full speed and now I haven't been able to get started again. It just, for some reason, it really affected me psychologically and I have to start it again. It definitely did hinder it. Fundora: Did you come to any new realizations about your life? Camner: Any new realizations? The only thing that I can think of there, is mortality. I realized that maybe a few times in my life, mortality, when John Lennon was shot was one, and that really affected me, and this too. Because you just realize that when something happens, you realize that it can be over in a flash. People died during Hurricane Andrew, and because people were unprepared, people were just not prepared for what this thing did. They didn't realize what kind of monster it was going to be. I said at one point, sitting in the living room of my mom's house and turned to my family and said, "It's like knowing you're going to get your ass kicked and not being able to do anything about it, and just waiting for it to happen." And that's exactly what happened, except that we didn't know how big the bullet would be, and he was big. Fundora: Is there anything else you would like to tell me that I haven't asked you? Camner: One interesting thing really happened as a result of Hurricane Andrew. That was that for a long time I had been planning to go to Jacksonville where my maternal grandparents are buried to visit their grave. I was very attached to them and I had never paid to much attention to my paternal grandparents, because they died before I was born and I never really knew them, so it didn't affect me as much. Well, as soon as the Hurricane hit my landlord was gauging the rent prices and he raised the rent to an astronomical price, so I was forced to move and ironically the only place I could find, and I looked for a long time, was a place right down the street from the cemetery where my paternal grandparents were buried. I searched and searched and I finally found their graves. I had not been able to find their graves for a long time. I didn't put much effort into it before, but now I wanted to because I knew they were in this particularly cemetery and it occurred to me that although I had planned on visiting my grandparents graves in Jacksonville, I ended up at my paternal grandparents and also found the graves of other members of my family that I have not heard of and found out some very interesting stories.One (relative) was a murderer. Originally the spelling of my name was Kaminer, but this great uncle of mine had murdered a man in New York and changed his name to Camner to hide out from the police. I don't think they ever found him. But, I have learned all these, this is just an example, but I have learned all these interesting stories about my relatives, and I am going to end up putting these into the autobiography just as a background on my family. So it all kind of worked for me as far as the book goes, because I learned more about my background. So the irony of the whole thing, is that as a direct result of Hurricane Andrew, or actually as an indirect result of Hurricane Andrew, I learned more about my past and learned more about myself, and because I was forced to move and learn about my family history which will all go into the book. So Hurricane Andrew did definitely have a very strong effect in that way.
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