My NOLA at #K10

My few words on this day where many are having indescribable feelings and experiences are surely of little comfort and even simple bearing on any, save myself, but I do feel moved to share some of my observations.
I was not here during hurricane Katrina. I was in Milledgeville, GA, watching with great stress what was about to happen and what did happen. Though I'll never understand exactly what NOLA went through, I did understand some and it hurt because, being from Charleston and having experienced our massive devastation of hurricane Hugo in 1989, I understood what many in land-locked places had never experienced. I felt, as many "outsiders" did, helpless to do or say anything that would or could make any positive difference. That year, I had my Central HS choirs give performance benefits to raise money for Ben Franklin HS, not knowing that 9 months after this day, I would have signed a contract at UNO and be making three trips to New Orleans to search for scarce housing. There were boats and refrigerators and half of some houses in the streets. Charleston had prepared me for this. What it couldn't prepare me for was having students who returned throughout the year, some of whom came home in September to find to skeletons of "lost" family members dead in their own houses. It couldn't prepare me for the anger that so many felt and (and feel) and shared quite openly at the drop of a hat. It could not prepare me for the blank eyes of shock and the thread of hopelessness that was still here. Many thought I was crazy to move here after what you were going through and the full aftermath of wrongs that befell the city's residents (insurance, dislocation, despair, U.S. FAILS, etc.) and wondered if I'd be here long. I wondered too.
I came.
I stayed.
I learned.
I watched. I watched as you picked up your feet and began walking again. I watched and participated as the city stumbled and grabbed hold of its spirit again. It may sound silly, but I feel like I saw a haze in your eyes lifted after about six years. I've seen you smile again (especially on the streets after the Superbowl win!). You rose from it all into a resurrected and thriving city full of returned and vibrant communities. There is much work still to be done, but we do it together. One of the things I appreciated seeing around facebookland this week was that while "Katrina was big, God is bigger."
New Orleans is home to me.
I was welcomed and accepted (even my puns) smile emoticon
I absolutely love living here and it was the best move I've ever made! It is a noble, crazy, cultured, inclusive, and exciting city. It has been broken and yet it stands the test of time with grace. I hope to do that too! (Photo taken on my first drive through the ninth ward the first week I got here) ‪#‎Katrina10‬‪ #K10 #Katrina

An Afternoon in NOLA City Park

Sometimes in the winter and often in the spring, I LOVE to take some time out and go to City Park (New Orleans) to chill amongst the beauty! 

I semi-regularly go to the walking track near the NOLA Museum of Art and actually exercise, but avoid it like the plague in summertime because it's approximately one billion degrees and a million percent humidity here. If that sounds like it's an exaggeration, it's not.....it's completely true.

                               

Anyway, before I moved to NOLA, apparently most of City Park was comprised of golf courses and while there has only been one in the almost ten years I've lived here, post-Katrina, they are now being re-developed. So, a giant swath of the park will no longer be the lovely, natural, and free area I've known it to be. 

                        

It always makes me so happy to drive through the Harrison Avenue cut-through and see people out playing with their dogs or kids. On some Tuesdays after my St. Paul's staff mtg and in my way to UNO, I stop and sit for a little while with my morning coffee. I haven't been able to in a while since I have lessons now on Tuesdays, but I do still steal some Friday afternoon time or weekend time to go and read in some of my favorite spots! 

                          

I've been soooooooooo happy over the years to see the lovely Spanish moss returning to the trees! Though I was a new resident after hurricane Katrina, I noticed its absence and it struck me as rather odd for this Savannah / sub-tropical climate area. 

City Park helps me relax. It gives me (and countless others) a place to be out "in the wild" without driving outside city limits and while being relatively (and arguably) safe because roads are nearby, it's reasonably populated, and one still probably has cell phone service. 

                       

I love the place. While it's exciting (and brings the city tons of revenue and glitz, I'm sad to have seen the start of rebuilding the golf courses. I have no idea how many of them they're planning to rebuild, but I surely hope there will be some of my favorite places left when it's all said and done!

PS. Two weeks ago, a whole field was covered in giant, beautiful thistle!