The Urban Frontier

[theevan]

We went to New Orleans yesterday to help Christine get some things out of her attic and rescue the last of the furniture from her 2nd floor of her Lakeview home. It's for sale and has had a few nibbles but nothing serious so far. The 'hood is still mostly a ghost town. One of the few occupied homes had a "Katrina graveyard" as part of their Halloween display. Hmmm.

Afterwards we took a ride over to Nancy's old neighborhood. The house she grew up in is just now being stripped out in preparation for rebuilding. About a fourth of the houses on her block have been razed with more to come. Two houses down, the new house that was built over a 'tear-down' (can you say "big n expensive?") has burned and when it collapsed it destroyed the wonderful bungalow next door.

The was a scattering of FEMA trailers around, perhaps one or two per block, in which owners re living while they rebuild. Nancy's across-the-street neighbor has one in her front yard. She's living in it and supervising the rebuild. Her husband lives in Lafayette where his office has relocated. That's a common situation. He built her a deck for her trailer, complete with bbq grill, lighted plastic palm tree, etc...all set up for entertaining. after all, this is New Orleans.

She said it's busy and noisy during the day with all the work underway, but at night it's an urban wilderness: no lights, utter quiet, almost nobody about. Over the months she and other urban pioneers have found each other. They take turns having dinner at their places and having an evening of visiting. I noticed another FEMA in the next block with one of those screen tent shelters, a frequent gathering place for this ragtag community. Mary said she's having the time of her life and wouldn't trade the experience for anything. She has a whole new set of best friends.

People are resilient.

[Deleted]

And so much detail of current life in NO escapes the evening news and the newspapers. Thanks for a little inside peek, Evan. It's been an absolutely awful situation, but a sizeable group of people there are going to come away with new and water-tight bonds of friendship, I'd wager, not to mention the experience of a lifetime.

[Village Idiot]

Exactly what Stormntwang said. Thanks for the insight.

This story reminds me of what I've heard from old-timers around here on occasion; that we hear about how awful the Depression was, and it certainly was, but to living through it had some aspects that they miss today. Everyone was in the same boat, everyone was humbled to the same level, so everyone shared, and everyone got along.

[sekhmet]

How fascinating Evan! I wonder how it will eventually turn out.

The old farming community here has similar depression stories to tell - the guys all worked building the roads for the government - hauling rocks and filling in the swamps and everyone was poor. One fellow said "the depression? hell, weren't no differnt than any time - no one had a pot to piss in anyways."

They did what they had to do, loved their frugality and their nights were full of music. The back concessions in the thirties were full of immigrants from Scotland and Ireland, many who had never learned to speak English, and anyone who could keep a beat played something. All sorts of people bring their old instruments in to the store - grandpa's fiddle, that never was much of a fiddle but sure sounded good when he played.