New Orleans

[kimberkit]

I only understood how bad it really was today. Up til yesterday, the news didn't have exact reports; the channels of communication had all been sliced, and I didn't want to face it.

It seems inconceivable, at some level, that an entire city could be demolished. And there are some of my angry-incredulous reactions back there in my head, accentuated as I read more news - why weren't we better prepared? Why did we build a city below sea level? Why didn't the fools who had advance warning leave? But I realize, talking to myself: Kim, those aren't helpful reactions; it doesn't particularly matter that it's upsetting, because other city planners and emergency response people are the ones who have to deal with it. At a personal level, it's just my job to deal with the idea that some of my memories of a place are gone.

Okay. I didn't love it when I visited there; I thought the people were too snobbish, too racist, too loud. I thought it was the typical South; it still remembered slavery. And then I think about people going into cardiac arrest, starving in a crammed stadium, poor people who lost everything, and, most of all, I think about the stunning beauty of the place... I guess I tried to forget that part. I forgot the old, old oak trees, the smiles of the salespeople who were kind, the old cemetaries, and I didn't understand that they were probably all gone.

The cold thoughts worked til I really looked at it.

So I lit this candle, and said a prayer, and felt a little lost.

Comments

[shellaby.livejournal.com]

The oil refineries there and the port are important. If the French Quarter was not as destroyed as the other parts of the city (which I heard was true in one NPR account) then the tourism industry will come back - albeit probably very slowly.