Tuesday, September 20, 2005
I have been following the news in New Orleans ever since hurricane 'Katrina' first hit. It bothers me how little the rescue effort was, and how very little anyone outside of New Orleans gave a damn. Now I've been to the city on several occasions and I feel an affinity for it, so maybe I care more deeply than most but what I saw made me feel cankerous. Like watching your favorite portrait that has hung in the Louvre for 2 centuries be destroyed by some hooligans because there's no protection for "that kind of painting".
So a city that is corrupt and seedy and somewhat depressed doesn't matter as much as a city that is beautiful and vibrant and busy and special. But both those cities are New Orleans to me. New Orleans is all of that, and more. But Beauty is in the eye of the beholder? I've made my little donation but if an offer of a job to rebuild the city comes in I'm going to take it. Not because I want to make up for the brutal relief effort, but because NOLA means something to me. It's more than just a city to me, as cliched as that sounds. When I see pictures of areas I recognize I want to be there and watch as the water is pumped out. I'll bring some Canadian Lumber and some nice Alberta brick and start as soon as the water is out of the way.
Maybe I'm romanticising, but you out there who have not seen New Orleans will never be able to see the one I experienced. That NOLA is gone and a new one will eventually replace the old, but it won't be the same. I just hope the vibrant and real community springs back up once the infrastructure is fixed. And I will do my part.
So a city that is corrupt and seedy and somewhat depressed doesn't matter as much as a city that is beautiful and vibrant and busy and special. But both those cities are New Orleans to me. New Orleans is all of that, and more. But Beauty is in the eye of the beholder? I've made my little donation but if an offer of a job to rebuild the city comes in I'm going to take it. Not because I want to make up for the brutal relief effort, but because NOLA means something to me. It's more than just a city to me, as cliched as that sounds. When I see pictures of areas I recognize I want to be there and watch as the water is pumped out. I'll bring some Canadian Lumber and some nice Alberta brick and start as soon as the water is out of the way.
Maybe I'm romanticising, but you out there who have not seen New Orleans will never be able to see the one I experienced. That NOLA is gone and a new one will eventually replace the old, but it won't be the same. I just hope the vibrant and real community springs back up once the infrastructure is fixed. And I will do my part.
