New Orleans Re-Entry: Despite heavy rains that flooded the southwestern portion of Louisiana and caused another round of evacuations, New Orleans continues to dry out nicely. Mayor Ray Nagin wishes to get back on track repopulating the city with the able-bodied and business owners.
Meanwhile, Governor Blanco seeks $31 billion in aid and Vice Admiral Thad Allen still doubts Nagin’s vision and schedule. Our state is going to need a lot more money than the governor’s request. Also, what is not mentioned in the press but serves as a major concern to NO law enforcement is the re-entry of looters and violent criminals along with rightful residents. This is a double-edged sword: looters and other miscreants may not be kept at bay sucessfully, but as the city is populated with residents and business owners, these people can take care of their own. Structures that weren’t hit by the storm and that remain unoccupied currently make easy targets.
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Another New Orleanian Writes From Exile: Author, musician, frequent contributor to the Gambit and occasional reviewer for my former music project, whatcharockin?com, addresses us in last week’s Houston Press. Michael, a resident of the Bywater, evacuated to Conroe, TX (a far northwest suburb of Houston) with his girlfriend and pet goat, Chauncey.
This paragraph from his article, Between Is And Was, speaks eloquently on behalf of a lot of us:
… after three days in Conroe, Texas, Chauncey’s ears are drooping. By now, our initial shock has worn off. I think of all our dead neighbors in Bywater, and somehow I see and feel it all less clearly than I did at first. Shock almost felt better. There was electricity running through us then, at least, even if it was a negative charge. Now we’ve deflated. We’re puddles. And we’re in Conroe: the exact opposite of New Orleans, of how I want the world to be. Chauncey doesn’t like the manicured grass, the sterile uniformity of my parents’ neighborhood, located somewhere along the 15-mile stretch between Wal-Mart and Super Wal-Mart, any more than we do. His movements have visibly slowed. Like he’s as lost and despondent as his owners.
Even if as a tiny respite from the wilds of big-city suburbia, it appears that I have to get in touch with Michael and introduce him to Houston inside the Loop. As grateful as we New Orleanians here are to the city of Houston for taking us in, this isn’t home and we want to go back. Now that Rita spared us her worst, let’s get back to that ever-important task of smart and passionate rebuilding.
