Chris Rose of the Times-Picayune sums up beautifully what I was unable to say the other day. Please click through to read the whole article.
My wife questions the wisdom of my frequent forays into the massive expanse of blown-apart lives and property that local street maps used to call Gentilly, Lakeview, the East and the Lower 9th. She fears that it contributes to my unhappiness and general instability and I suspect she is right.
Perhaps I should just stay on the stretch of safe, dry land Uptown where we live and try to move on, focus on pleasant things, quit making myself miserable, quit reliving all those terrible things we saw on TV that first week.
That’s advice I wish I could follow, but I can’t. I am compelled for reasons that are not entirely clear to me. And so I drive.
I put my pictures up on a server here at work for people to look at, and one guy commented that judging from the food pictures, it looks like at least progress is being made, some things are getting back to normal.
And that is exactly the impression I don’t want to give.
There is an island of civilization called Uptown. There is a corridor of normalcy centered on Magazine Street, over to St. Charles. There is business being done in the CBD. There are bars on Bourbon Street.
So if you look at my pictures of po-boys and gay bars and coffee shops, you think, “well, rebuilding seems to be ramping up. That’s good news, right?”
And you would be missing the point entirely.
I want all of you, if you have the means, to take a three-day vacation to New Orleans some time in the next couple of months. If you go, I’ll try to drive over and meet you there and I’ll take you on a tour. I want you to see this. I want you to understand.
Jesus. It’s fuckin’ carnage. I can’t imagine. Does the whole lower 9th smell like death? It fucking looks like it…
God, Ray, I wish I could get down there with you. I’m ready to blow off work RIGHT NOW…
Today’s (11/16) Times-Picayune says the debris in the city is equivalent to approximately 34 years (!) worth of “normal” trash output and clearing it all out will take, literally, years. We are already yesterday’s news and like you I think outsiders are getting the wrong impression that we are well on the way to recovery when in reality the city that was New Orleans, as we knew it, will never return, and whatever form the new city takes will be years in the making.
we were a few weeks from moving back to metry from reno when katrina hit. just before halloween we drove a truck load of stuff to the house we bought in march and that took in a few inches of water. my heart was ripped looking at my wonderful city all broken and moldy. we felt better after spending a week trying to get the place ready for our return next spring. we’ll be up and running as best as we can, as soon as we can. thanks for all the great photos and great writing!
Yes, great writing Ray. So powerful. It breaks my heart. I’ll be going down to New Orleans next spring at the latest. I hope to get down there this year too. It’s all so sad.
NPR’s been running a series on the enormous stresses on the first-responders in the city, due to, among other things, a suicide rate that’s something like ten times normal. It’s gotten to where they need a lot of extra care themselves. I have never in my life found myself trying so hard to send good vibes and strength over the radio waves.
Amazing writing. Thank you for reminding people how horrible things still are. I hope to be there in Feb… I’ll write about it, too.
Hello,
Was just watching the thing on National Geographic Channel, and the tears were comming to my eyes the same way they were in person. (I went down for JazzFest, for 10 days). One day, a Sunday, we spent about five hours touring thru the 9th Ward & St. Bernard’s Parish (aka, FEMA Area 9). My S/O works for FEMA, and she took me for a post-Katrina tour of her area. Unbelievable! Keep on informing the public about the fate of the heart of America’s musical culture.
–T
Here’s the song I wrote while touring thru the left bank…
Blue Roof Blues
In the Parish of Orleans,
One fine August day,
Big wind come along
Blew my ol’ roof away!
I got da blew-way roof blues.
They say go see daMayor,
Gon’ git’cha a new one.
Merci, oh m’ghawd,
All he had was a blue one!
I got da blue roof blues…
My pretty new roof,
Kept da rain f’om commin’ in.
But wouldn’cha know it,
Could not take da wind!
My blue roof done blew away!
So I call up da gov’na,
He say ‘ply for a new one.
But it take six mo’ mon’
Fore my papers go thru on…
My new blue roof!
Now I’m out on da fron’ po’ch,
Jus’ a tryin ta stay high.
It’s da on’y place in da house
That ever stay dry…
I got da new blue roof blew away blues.
My g/f, Sheila, was teaching me to interpret the markings we saw spray-painted on the buildings that were still standing. 1 Dead In Attic is bad enough, but seeing a number of houses with 6s & 8s painted on ‘em, was unfathomable. So much devastation! Will NOLA ever be the same?
–T
Hey,
Me and my church youth choir went down to New Orleans and worked on gutting houses. We did 8 houses in 3 and a half days. When we first arrived, driving down the deserted roads and seeing the rubble, the cars were silent. You can’t even imagine how hard that was to see, since we live in the luxery that we do. Thanks for this book. I saw it in the Riverwalk mall and was going to buy it but didn’t have enough money. i know my choir director bought it buht, I am going to buy it soon. Thank you.
Kayla, thank you and your church group for coming down and helping out. It’s good to know that people haven’t forgotten.
Hey 22 of us came back to Bedford NH after working in Slidell for a week very passionate about spreading the word about all the help needed. This was a great book – my book club will be reading it. Take care NOLA