This afternoon, I was on a Xavier University panel on blogging, courtesy of Editor B. More about that short yet sweet session soon. One of the repeat questions is “What do you blog about and why?” A very striking answer to that question is in today’s post by Ray: Cora Foster’s house fourteen months on
Back then we were so full of energy and optimism. Volunteers filled the city, the Road Home program was just getting rolling, and we knew it would just be a matter of time before we would be getting people back into their houses. Fourteen months later, for this part of Hollygrove, I have nothing but despair.
… I talked to Sheik from the [Arabi Wrecking Krewe] last spring, and he was discouraged. Said of the almost 100 houses he had done, only one person had moved back in, and a few of the houses had been demolished (against owner’s wishes), including Al “Carnival Time” Johnson’s house.
… It saddens me to think that she may never see New Orleans again, and if she does, it won’t ever look like home.
Where else could I have obtained this news and perspective? This is something one would never hear about when reading or watching the mainstream news. Neither would the story appear nor the bigger picture, which is the innate indefensibility of the social contract shattering into a million tiny little bits, and lives and a culture along with it.
No, I am not from New Orleans and have no ties to this place beyond employment. But, this city has given me a lot to ponder in the way of cultural, patriotic and human attachment. What I see here is America’s and humanity’s journey – whether we care for and how we treat our own is very much our baggage to bear on that trip. Let’s not continue to make empty promises.
