Ironwork, with elegant vines creeping up it.. laughter in the distance... foul smells... dirty alleys... all the things we love about New Orleans are still there, beneath the rubble, if you want to clean it up. Of course, global warming will bring more hurricanes... so: the dilemma. But people will continue to live there as everywhere. Let us hope that this fabulous demon-filled city retains its old-world flavor. The weight of its history is not washed away (if anything, it's risen up to meet itself)-- walk in Armstrong Park, and you can still imagine the slave-drums in Congo Square, psychically echoing-- This is a pain-filled place, so be careful, but do go there, especially right now. For more about why you should go there now, as opposed to some-other-when, read the photoessay below.

Coffee: Cafe Envie (1241 Decatur) has wireless & decent espresso-- yummy breakfasts, too-- CC's on Royal is a coffee alternative, and there's always the super-touristed Cafe du Monde by the cathedral for cafe au lait and beignets. Plus, there's some cafes in the Marigny, if you want to go exploring.
Food: This city is filled with food, but a lot of it's expensive and mundane. Recommended: Angeli's (1141 Decatur) has pizza, sandwiches, etc.-- traditionally open late. In November, there was a great gourmet-healthy food-cart parked on this block of Decatur, too... Mona's, on Frenchmen street, has great falafel. Croissant D'Or Patisserie (617 Ursulines) is the place for morning pastries; Verti Mart (1201 Royal) is the tradition cheap-authentic deli & takeout place. For organic groceries, Whole Foods just opened up their Arabella Station store uptown (5600 Magazine Street).
Nature: Swamps aplenty... head up towards Pearl River, Mississippi... walk along Lake Ponchartrain, if it's cleaned up enough (might be awhile), visit the sprawling oak trees in City Park (check their website for the park's status).
Other Things to Do: It seems like there's a million things that need to be done here, yet it's hard to say how to begin doing them. Ask around...
Nearby: Explore the swamps in Lafourche or Plaquemines parish; see endangered cultures.

photoessay: "I survived Katrina..."

...and all I looted was this Sharpie." (scrawled on the bathroom of Aunt Tiki's on Decatur (the bar that used to be the Hideout))

Things here are both worse and better than I had imagined. "Crisis is opportunity"-- the city is moving out of crisis and into opportunity, it's turning that corner, I could tell by all the people on the train who were trying to turn over a new leaf in their lives,

walk into a new life here . . . but things are still quite subdued; it's hard to tell what will happen. I'll write more on that when I have a clearer picture. For now, just a few photos:

They are everywhere. Often accompanied by a sour smell. We spent last night in a truck picking up two; one stainless steel. Apparently FEMA will give you a new one if yours is degenerate-- the bug-eggs can get permanently embedded, or something, the grotesque unspeakable health hazard of the fridges.

They have become a forum. You see advertisments and announcements written across them. Dialogue, even.

(the bottom reads, "I'm slightly baffled by the focus of your fridge.")

To understand what's up with these fridges, we have to examine the phenomenon in the park at Elysian Fields and Royal: a Food-Not-Bombs / Rainbow effort of a community kitchen. 3 free meals if you want them, blissware provided; a tent of free clothing, miscellaneous cans of drinking water and other goods. In my opinion, the efficiency and quality of the food is very FnB (i.e. pretty well-organized and yummy) while the aesthetic and culture is very Rainbow (shimmery things, long-winded prayer circles before meals). Like any activist effort, this one has its human flaws... but also beauty.

THIS IS AMERICA TOO

grassroots cooperation and homecooked food,
preachy prayers and holding hands and all the rest of it.

 

field notes: conversation in The Abbey, november 2005

"Construction?" I guess, halfheartedly.
He shakes his head no, "I wouldn't be ashamed to tell my parents I was in construction. Construction's good money," he explains.

"Well, If you were a girl, I'd say a dancer... or a prostitute," I say. He tells me he's done some of that, but not right now. Sharp eyes set in gleaming dark skin, khaki hat, I wonder what his game is, just because I'm bored. We're drinking in the Abbey, one of the dark bars along Decatur street.

"What's in your bag?" I ask. Turns out to be a video camera. He makes "tapes." Great. He's in a bad situation, bad. He's ashamed. He stopped acting in tapes two years ago, he says, but the woman he made the tapes with wants to expose him. He's got until the New Year's Ball drops in Times Square to give her ten grand, or she's going to send tapes to all of his family and friends. He would be so ashamed for them to know the truth and see him doing all those freaky things. "She's got me cornered," he says, holding his head in his hands. He looks at me. "What would you do if you was in my shoes?" jesus Christ, I don't fucking know. Where do all these lost souls come from? I hate this town. I told him, that's a hard situation, because you don't want to lose your family, they're all you've got in this world really: a rock and a hard blace, shore is. Nod sympathetically. But if he gives her the money, he points out, then she'll know for sure she has something on him, and blackmail him for another 10 grand. well, shit. go throw the i ching or something, that's what i'd do.

*~*~*

we went up towards the lake yesterday, and over the industrial canal towards new orleans east. it was quite different / i mean, the brown dust that covers everything in the truly flooded areas, the great trees fallen, the brown water line as testament, the silt over everything, the way it makes your eyes burn / i can't evoke it, but i didn't take pictures. i just couldn't, even when there were things that were aesthetically beautiful, like twisted traffic lights with dead glass / photography wouldn't have worked, somehow. here, look at some refrigerators. we capture the humor and edit out the despair and that's how us humans manage to live on planet earth.

 

back to the the south / back to the map