Exodus
Life in the city, each day, seems to normalize a little more. Ironically, my plan is to leave once things get back to normal, at least temporarily. While many people have taken a break up until now, and are coming back to rebuild, after weathering this mess, I am hoping to get away from it all and recharge my batteries. Unfortunately, I don't know when exactly that may be, but hopefully some time soon.
I met up with some friends from St. Bernard yesterday. The girl I dated through high school that I met when I worked at Pontchartrain Beach. Everyone in her family lost everything. Their homes and apartments were under twelve feet of water. Today they take their first venture into the city to see if anything can be salvaged. As Pam lamented over the loss of her photos, I dug up an old album where we found I had copies of many historical pictures that she thought were gone forever.
Pam and her sister were sleeping in an office building in Metairie last night. At least it had electricity. They dropped me a line and we went and brought them some supplies and offered more resources which I think they may take us up on. Many of her family got out of St. Bernard with no money and little but the clothes on their backs. Her family had a modest house that, at least from my perspective, they seemed to have forever resided within. Now it's all gone.
If there is one thing that's consistent in my observations thus far, it's the bizarre tranquility that I've observed from those who were hit worst by the storm. Somehow, having much less ambiguity over the loss of ones' material possessions seems give all those I've witnessed, more peace of mind. Someone such as myself, who didn't have it all taken away, and who has more ambiguity over the future of my business and career in this area, seems to have more to worry about than others whom you'd normally think are more deserving to be wallowing in concern for the future.
Times like these really illuminate the disparity between those who are truly good hearted:
Pam's parents, having lost everything, fled to the Columbus, Mississippi area. They're at a gas station, waiting to meet with a real estate agent about finding an apartment, and a woman drives up and asks them if they're evacuees. They respond yes, and she explains to them that she has a second home her and her husband hardly ever use; they've been looking for someone to offer it as a place to stay and Pam's family looked nice and they wanted to see if they might be interested in the offer. Long-story-short, they end up moving into this home of a stranger, who proceeds to stock the fridge with food, give the family gift cards so they can get clothes, hooks up a satellite tv, barbecue pit, takes the kids out on boat rides, and otherwise does everything they can to make their new adopted family feel comfortable. I'll tell you they couldn't have picked a nicer group of people to offer such generosity towards and in times when everyone seems to be so wrapped up in themselves, to see someone going so out of their way to help others is really nice.
Exodus
While the local media keeps harping on the "rebuild our city" mantra, I continue to get more and more reports of people saying Buh-Bye to New Orleans for good. The scope of this exodus is being downplayed locally, but from my observation it's substantive. I get the feeling that the New Orleans area will take two major demographic hits: the low-income evacuees who were shipped out and will probably settle wherever they end up, and a sizeable portion of the skilled upper-middle-class and high-class who have moved elsewhere and are already hooked into new jobs in new cities. What's left will be a predominantly middle-class group. The professional class will be noticeably absent in the coming years IMO. I'm not sure what's going to come of the city when it has always had marginal professional representation and now may not have a proportion of these people worth even mentioning. Tourism will of course come back, and all the traditionally locally-oriented businesses will return, but I don't see any new industry that would want to come here. There will be a construction boom, but that doesn't generate the kind of equity the city really needs in order to become a world-class city; New Orleans has always needed a higher representation of well-educated white-collar industries, and what little we had, I fear, are now on their way out.
Nowhere is this more poignantly illustrated than when watching mainstream media prop up a New Orleans figurehead like Anne Rice, Harry Connick Jr., or Branford Marsalis, as they harp about "their city" and how beautiful it was and will be.... never mind the fact that all of these people moved out of New Orleans a long time ago.
The Threat of Rita
I suspect many locals have been so busy they haven't had time to look at the local weather reports and the looming threat that tropical storm Rita may turn into a hurricane and hit the Gulf Coast area. Obviously, those of us still digging our way out of the Katrina mess are very worried about the threat of another hurricane coming our way.
Irony Department
Word has it that Elmwood Fitness Center in Harahan is open. Those of you who aren't getting enough exercise moving furniture and pieces of trees can visit the club and work out.
Fast food places are opening: Burger King, Rally's, Lee's Hamburgers, Bud's Broiler on Clearview, and Baton Rouge's own oil-encased-fried-breaded-chicken-thingie-with-yucky-sauce, Raising Cain's are now open to pander to your high-cholesterol needs.
-----
More tidbits:
Map of affected mail delivery areas:
http://www.usps.com/communications/news/serviceupdates/zipmap.htm?from=bannercommunications&page=katrinamap
Louisiana District (Current as of 9/19/05 - 10 a.m.)
New Orleans Processing and Distribution Center operations remain suspended until further notice. Retail and delivery services remain suspended for most Post Offices in the City of New Orleans (701 ZIP Code range
I met up with some friends from St. Bernard yesterday. The girl I dated through high school that I met when I worked at Pontchartrain Beach. Everyone in her family lost everything. Their homes and apartments were under twelve feet of water. Today they take their first venture into the city to see if anything can be salvaged. As Pam lamented over the loss of her photos, I dug up an old album where we found I had copies of many historical pictures that she thought were gone forever.
Pam and her sister were sleeping in an office building in Metairie last night. At least it had electricity. They dropped me a line and we went and brought them some supplies and offered more resources which I think they may take us up on. Many of her family got out of St. Bernard with no money and little but the clothes on their backs. Her family had a modest house that, at least from my perspective, they seemed to have forever resided within. Now it's all gone.
If there is one thing that's consistent in my observations thus far, it's the bizarre tranquility that I've observed from those who were hit worst by the storm. Somehow, having much less ambiguity over the loss of ones' material possessions seems give all those I've witnessed, more peace of mind. Someone such as myself, who didn't have it all taken away, and who has more ambiguity over the future of my business and career in this area, seems to have more to worry about than others whom you'd normally think are more deserving to be wallowing in concern for the future.
Times like these really illuminate the disparity between those who are truly good hearted:
Pam's parents, having lost everything, fled to the Columbus, Mississippi area. They're at a gas station, waiting to meet with a real estate agent about finding an apartment, and a woman drives up and asks them if they're evacuees. They respond yes, and she explains to them that she has a second home her and her husband hardly ever use; they've been looking for someone to offer it as a place to stay and Pam's family looked nice and they wanted to see if they might be interested in the offer. Long-story-short, they end up moving into this home of a stranger, who proceeds to stock the fridge with food, give the family gift cards so they can get clothes, hooks up a satellite tv, barbecue pit, takes the kids out on boat rides, and otherwise does everything they can to make their new adopted family feel comfortable. I'll tell you they couldn't have picked a nicer group of people to offer such generosity towards and in times when everyone seems to be so wrapped up in themselves, to see someone going so out of their way to help others is really nice.
Exodus
While the local media keeps harping on the "rebuild our city" mantra, I continue to get more and more reports of people saying Buh-Bye to New Orleans for good. The scope of this exodus is being downplayed locally, but from my observation it's substantive. I get the feeling that the New Orleans area will take two major demographic hits: the low-income evacuees who were shipped out and will probably settle wherever they end up, and a sizeable portion of the skilled upper-middle-class and high-class who have moved elsewhere and are already hooked into new jobs in new cities. What's left will be a predominantly middle-class group. The professional class will be noticeably absent in the coming years IMO. I'm not sure what's going to come of the city when it has always had marginal professional representation and now may not have a proportion of these people worth even mentioning. Tourism will of course come back, and all the traditionally locally-oriented businesses will return, but I don't see any new industry that would want to come here. There will be a construction boom, but that doesn't generate the kind of equity the city really needs in order to become a world-class city; New Orleans has always needed a higher representation of well-educated white-collar industries, and what little we had, I fear, are now on their way out.
Nowhere is this more poignantly illustrated than when watching mainstream media prop up a New Orleans figurehead like Anne Rice, Harry Connick Jr., or Branford Marsalis, as they harp about "their city" and how beautiful it was and will be.... never mind the fact that all of these people moved out of New Orleans a long time ago.
The Threat of Rita
I suspect many locals have been so busy they haven't had time to look at the local weather reports and the looming threat that tropical storm Rita may turn into a hurricane and hit the Gulf Coast area. Obviously, those of us still digging our way out of the Katrina mess are very worried about the threat of another hurricane coming our way.
Irony Department
Word has it that Elmwood Fitness Center in Harahan is open. Those of you who aren't getting enough exercise moving furniture and pieces of trees can visit the club and work out.
Fast food places are opening: Burger King, Rally's, Lee's Hamburgers, Bud's Broiler on Clearview, and Baton Rouge's own oil-encased-fried-breaded-chicken-thingie-with-yucky-sauce, Raising Cain's are now open to pander to your high-cholesterol needs.
-----
More tidbits:
Map of affected mail delivery areas:
http://www.usps.com/communications/news/serviceupdates/zipmap.htm?from=bannercommunications&page=katrinamap
Louisiana District (Current as of 9/19/05 - 10 a.m.)
New Orleans Processing and Distribution Center operations remain suspended until further notice. Retail and delivery services remain suspended for most Post Offices in the City of New Orleans (701 ZIP Code range
posted by Wisdom at 11:13 AM
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