Saturday, September 10, 2005
the way we think.
I was in a class earlier this year where participation was a standard routine. It was an Urban Anthropology class and on this particular day we were theorizing how the changing dynamics of the modern city would affect the city of the future. When I casually mentioned that my major was Emergency Management/Disaster Planning my professor asked if I had anything to share about what I might know about how safe cities of the future will be. Trying to sound impressive (as one always does when there are girls listening) I threw out my standard answer of "Well, never move to New Orleans! That place will cease to exist in our lifetime."
Six months later and it couldn't be more true. I commented comically earlier on the film "Red Dawn." Relying on the military for law and order in American cities, yeah right. But it's happening now. We all saw Outbreak, and no matter how much that movie sucked the images of quarantines and black hawk choppers in American towns still play over in our minds. If only the answer lied in throwing some monkey out into the ocean...or however that movie ended.
I haven't had any television in the house since I arrived home so I've been relying on NPR or the internet for all my news from Louisiana. Even though I was somewhat prepared for it to happen eventually, it still blows my mind everyday. And I just returned from a hurricane ravaged island. But it's nothing like what has happened here.
Like most Americans I've been to the French Quarter. I've had coffee at the Cafe du Monde, I've listened to the kids tap dance in Nikes, I visited the Worlds Only Voodoo Museum. I saw my first transvestite. My last visit was two and a half years ago, where my dad met up with me while I was off interning and traveling the country. I had a stop to make at Tulane and we spent a few days at the Hotel Panchartrain in the Garden District, right off St. Charles avenue--clearly one of the most beautiful streets in the nation. At least it was. We had Sunday brunch at the Bluebird Cafe...and it was one of the best breakfasts I ever ate.
I used to tell people not to move to New Orleans. It was a truly beautiful city, and maybe sometime it will be again. But it will never be the same. From a emergency management standpoint, from an human rights standpoint, from an economic standpoint, from an American--world--standpoint the city will forever be synonymous with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
As beautiful a city as it was, I never really liked New Orleans. I loved the music, I loved the food, I even liked the people I met there. But the last time I visited I imagined it being the true last time for me. I don't know yet what I am learning from witnessing all this. It's overwhelming and it has been from Day One. And I'm just a witness through the media. Nevertheless there are lessons we all can learn from the city of New Orleans. Some of them are pretty easy to figure out, others might take time to process. I only decided to write all this tonight after reading the most disturbing article yet from the Times website. The images make me sigh, the voices make me cry. But this writing just made me stop. And the thing is, I don't feel like we're being overwhelmed with it yet. Maybe it's because I haven't had CNN, or maybe because it's just another 9/11 all over again.
One thing I have learned is to change my standard answer. If you want to live in New Orleans, live there. Live wherever you want to, be it Austin or Anchorage. Just don't be ignorant about it. The minute we take our surroundings for granted we've already lost. Earth was here long before we were, and it'll remain long after we've left. If anything, we're in Her way. But unlike of that famous Big Easy tale suggests, we don’t have to be a Confederacy of Dunces. We choose to be. ¶ 9/10/2005 12:31:00 AM
Six months later and it couldn't be more true. I commented comically earlier on the film "Red Dawn." Relying on the military for law and order in American cities, yeah right. But it's happening now. We all saw Outbreak, and no matter how much that movie sucked the images of quarantines and black hawk choppers in American towns still play over in our minds. If only the answer lied in throwing some monkey out into the ocean...or however that movie ended.
I haven't had any television in the house since I arrived home so I've been relying on NPR or the internet for all my news from Louisiana. Even though I was somewhat prepared for it to happen eventually, it still blows my mind everyday. And I just returned from a hurricane ravaged island. But it's nothing like what has happened here.
Like most Americans I've been to the French Quarter. I've had coffee at the Cafe du Monde, I've listened to the kids tap dance in Nikes, I visited the Worlds Only Voodoo Museum. I saw my first transvestite. My last visit was two and a half years ago, where my dad met up with me while I was off interning and traveling the country. I had a stop to make at Tulane and we spent a few days at the Hotel Panchartrain in the Garden District, right off St. Charles avenue--clearly one of the most beautiful streets in the nation. At least it was. We had Sunday brunch at the Bluebird Cafe...and it was one of the best breakfasts I ever ate.
I used to tell people not to move to New Orleans. It was a truly beautiful city, and maybe sometime it will be again. But it will never be the same. From a emergency management standpoint, from an human rights standpoint, from an economic standpoint, from an American--world--standpoint the city will forever be synonymous with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
As beautiful a city as it was, I never really liked New Orleans. I loved the music, I loved the food, I even liked the people I met there. But the last time I visited I imagined it being the true last time for me. I don't know yet what I am learning from witnessing all this. It's overwhelming and it has been from Day One. And I'm just a witness through the media. Nevertheless there are lessons we all can learn from the city of New Orleans. Some of them are pretty easy to figure out, others might take time to process. I only decided to write all this tonight after reading the most disturbing article yet from the Times website. The images make me sigh, the voices make me cry. But this writing just made me stop. And the thing is, I don't feel like we're being overwhelmed with it yet. Maybe it's because I haven't had CNN, or maybe because it's just another 9/11 all over again.
One thing I have learned is to change my standard answer. If you want to live in New Orleans, live there. Live wherever you want to, be it Austin or Anchorage. Just don't be ignorant about it. The minute we take our surroundings for granted we've already lost. Earth was here long before we were, and it'll remain long after we've left. If anything, we're in Her way. But unlike of that famous Big Easy tale suggests, we don’t have to be a Confederacy of Dunces. We choose to be. ¶ 9/10/2005 12:31:00 AM
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