I'm a NOLA ex-pat. Ran screaming from the place, though I still feel fondly towards that hot, swampy, vile-smelling town that just oozes history and attitude: NOLA is like an ex-significant other with whom I remained on good terms with after the break-up. Maybe we're not a couple anymore and I think it's deeply flawed, but I'd never wish pain on that city. NYC could learn a thing or two about eating its young from New Orleans, but sometimes that steaming bowl of drunken tourists and odor could be unexpectedly beautiful. The fog would roll down the Mississippi at nightfall, a breeze would pick up, the muggers could be seen lurking in the dark, there was music everywhere, and it was possible to forget that earlier that day I had slogged five miles home, waist-deep in filthy water the entire time because a tropical storm had stalled over Texas and I was living several feet below sea level.

It boggles the mind that the Journey Steps and streetcars, the Clover Grill and Port of Call and Dragon's Den, Audubon Park and its spanish moss-covered live oaks and those bizarre damn bar/laundromats are all under water and that the emergency management people are talking about forced evacuations of the remainders, looters taking hostages, and years of recovery if they don't just abandon the Crescent City altogether...and the water is still rising because the pumping stations failed and the levees are breached. Interstate 10 is flooded and the Pontchartrain Causeway is destroyed and the West Bank is in equally bad shape, so the only way out is by air or by water. Wasn't there a bad 80s sci-fi movie about this, albeit set in a different city?

Until a couple of days ago, New Orleans was a grand lady fallen on hard times. Maybe she had to sell the family heirlooms and her house was falling down around her, but she could still pull out all the stops when she hosted a banquet. Now the poor old dame would be better off if she were living out of a shopping cart.

Here's hoping the NOLA people are safe: [livejournal.com profile] micahra and her critters, Robin and his mini-tribe, Bobby and her battered truck and oil-spewing bikes, and all the rest. Someday we'll meet again over beignets, pralines, and chicory coffee, even if we have to sit in a boat to do it.

From: [identity profile] rhiannasilel.livejournal.com


I never lived in NO, but at one point I applied to go to UNO (even got a scholarship) but circumstances beyond my control kept me in Baltimore. I've always had a love for that city and there's something remarkable about the way that you can almost breathe the magick in the air as soon as you step out of the car.

I only hope that at least some of it remains after the town is rebuilt and a part of me is seeing this as the last of the magick leaving the United States. I don't know why, but it's been floating through my head since I first read about Katrina being the long talked about hurricane that would finally sink the city.

From: [identity profile] miss-adventure.livejournal.com


San Francisco and Seattle are still standing (and San Francisco keeps burning down or getting knocked down and getting built back up), so the magic is safe.

We all knew that NOLA would someday float out to sea; I just never thought it would be so soon. Time will tell.

From: [identity profile] rhiannasilel.livejournal.com


*nods* True enough, no one ever thought it would really happen and I think that somehow we all thought that the city would continue to avoid the big one, but I guess you can only roll the dice so many times before you get snake eyes.

From: [identity profile] miss-adventure.livejournal.com


Living in some areas is like hanging around underneath the sword of Damocles. Everyone knew this would happen someday, but that doesn't make it any easier.

From: [identity profile] pirate184.livejournal.com


Ah, the wonderful Clover Grill, which brags that its wonderful burgers are all cooked under "real American hubcaps". God, you are making me hungry just mentioning the place.

I love N.O., probably because I've never lived there. Don't worry, she'll be back, probably a little bit better than before.

From: [identity profile] miss-adventure.livejournal.com


Don't forget the pecan waffles, or the grilled cheese.

San Francisco rose again after the 1906 earthquake. I hope NOLA can do a similar (if much soggier) phoenix act.

From: [identity profile] jaenanda.livejournal.com


"The Soggy Phoenix" sounds like a good name for a NOLA-based band, doesn't it?

From: [identity profile] jaenanda.livejournal.com


That's it. I'm moving down there, and opening a cafe/ bar in the Quarter called the Soggy Phoenix, which will feature live entertainment from the Soggy Phoenix band three nights a week!

... or not. But it's a neat idea.

From: [identity profile] gothangelnikki.livejournal.com


This has been the storm i knew would come someday and the sad thing is there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. Living here in Houston most of my life i know how bad these storms can be yet we have been really lucky because the last hurricane to hit us was in 1983 and it also worries me that people here would not leave if something like this was about to hit us ... i know i would get out no mattter what. It just breaks my heart everytime i see this one man talk about how he was trying to hold on to his wife but could not .... my thoughts and prayers are with everyone there of has had their life touched by this hurricane.

From: [identity profile] miss-adventure.livejournal.com


Yep. I left NOLA very soon after Hurricane Georges, which was very much a non-event by Gulf Coast standards. Katrina, OTOH, was Damocles' sword dropping. We all knew it would happen someday, but that doesn't make it easier to wrap our heads around, or for those directly effected to pick up the pieces.

From: [identity profile] gothangelnikki.livejournal.com


Oh i know there are lots of people here in Houston now from NOLA and i am trying to do my best and help its hearing the stories and seeing the sadness in the peoples eyes as i am tyring to help but at the same time it just does not seem to be enough.

From: [identity profile] tex-arcana.livejournal.com



Well said.

If only the people ransacking and looting the city right now had half your appreciation for it. The last time I checked, OfficeMax did not carry food or anything that remotely qualifies as a flotation device.


From: [identity profile] miss-adventure.livejournal.com


Looting food and water is understandable given the circumstance. Necessary, even, without a good disaster relief infrasturcture in place. I can even understand the looting of clothing to some degree, as people have lost everything and are soaking wet with gas and sewage-contaminated water, but to quote a coworker, "WTF are they going to do with flat-screen TVs in a city without any electricity?"


From: [identity profile] tex-arcana.livejournal.com



Bingo. Hell, I can even see why they'd want guns--I don't agree with it, and it's exacerbating LE's job, but you can KIND OF follow the logic.


From: [identity profile] the-heathen.livejournal.com


This is a great entry!

I've always wanted to go to New Orleans. My mom loves it, and I love all the stories about it and the voooodoooooo!

Life just keeps getting "better" and "better." Hmm.

From: [identity profile] miss-adventure.livejournal.com


Thanks. Earlier today, the radio played "Refugee" followed by "It's the End of the World As We Know It" followed by "Rain." Either the oracle has spoken or the DJ thought he was being cute.

I used to bitch about the Big Sleazy, but now that it's destroyed, I really miss it in all its scuzzy glory.

I'm really glad to see you around. If you need anything, don't be shy.
ivy: (polite raven)

From: [personal profile] ivy


Never lived in New Orleans itself, just near it. Pascagoula's pretty flattened, though, as expected. Can a Mississippi gal join your beignet party? [rueful grin]

From: [identity profile] miss-adventure.livejournal.com


Of course. You're always welcome to join me. Come on in, the water's fine. [sigh]

I heard the flood that walloped Pascagoula described as a giant, moving wooden floor, as the water was to full of tress and bits of smashed buildings.

From: [identity profile] miss-adventure.livejournal.com


That should have read "...so full of trees..." Aargh. Brain,deal with the fact that you're sleep-deprived, and cooperate. Sheesh.

A pox on thee, lack of comments edit function.

From: [identity profile] kambriel.livejournal.com


This is such a beautiful post... Like the city itself, you have woven all the highs and lows into a tapestry that in the end is uniquely "New Orleans". I think the city may be taken back into it's history, but the heart remains, and that aura can not be washed away by a storm.

From: (Anonymous)


Hello,

I don't know you from Eve, but I just wanted to let you know that the Pontchartrain Causeway was not destroyed (as reported on some national news). It is fine, and should be open to civilian traffic once the rescue effort is over & the place is drained.....

From: [identity profile] miss-adventure.livejournal.com


If the Causeway is fine, though, that's great news. Thanks for letting me know. I don't want to get my hopes up, but if the rest fo the damage is somewhat overreported, it would be a good start towards getting the region back up and fanctioning.

From: [identity profile] sa-arine.livejournal.com

Hello...


Just wanted to introduce m'self.
I hope you don't mind if I add you as a friend.

From: [identity profile] miss-adventure.livejournal.com

Re: Hello...


Not at all.

I see you're on a future cops community, so I have to add the obligatory "Don't do it!" warning. [grin]

From: [identity profile] sa-arine.livejournal.com

Re: Hello...


*laughs and grins back* Shoulda caught me six months or so ago...maybe I'd have changed my mind then *wink* Now..I'm just kind of curious to get beyond security guard and then see what the path has to offer(and I to offer in return). It's been a hell of a learning experience though.


From: [identity profile] sa-arine.livejournal.com

Re: Hello...


*laughs*
*runs* *joins the circus*
Thanks! Hey wow...those laced donuts really do work!;)

From: [identity profile] ibejedi.livejournal.com


Hi found your post through lawenforcement...and I too found your description of NO quite eloquent...never been there but i almost think I have been after reading this :) do you mind if i mark you as a friend...you seem really interesting - i'm new to this so i don't have too many yet!

From: [identity profile] miss-adventure.livejournal.com


Welcome to the addiction that is livejournal.

I don't mind at all. Hurrah for pro-choice tattooed chicks!

From: [identity profile] macavite.livejournal.com

appropriate analogies


. . . . very nice use of the "grand lady fallen on hard times", thanks.

From: [identity profile] miss-adventure.livejournal.com

Re: appropriate analogies


Inspiration has to strike occasionally. (As in hits..not my normal state, in which inspiration strikes in the sense of marching a picket line and chanting "Hell no, we won't go" or some such.)

From: [identity profile] colt-forty-5.livejournal.com


Hey there... just surfing around and keep seeing your name pop up in LE communities. NYPD it looks like. Cool.. I work for a PD in Montana. Everyone here is mounted patrol.... (j/k) Thought I'd add you. Hope you don't mind.
.