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I drove down Louissville Street in Lakeview the other evening, one…
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ABC Z Question 1 Which three statements best describe the central ideas of “We Raze, and Raise, and
Keep Pushing Forward”? A the unique character and spirit of the people of New Orleans B the strength
and resilience of the community following Hurricane Katrina C the incompetence and ineffectivene…
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I drove down Louissville Street in Lakeview the other evening, one of the Avenues of Despair that I have incorporated into my regular rounds of the city as I seek out the progress of our recovery.
I have several friends who lived here, one of them had not mucked out or gutted his house since it’s soaked in its own sewage last fall and, rather than take offense at the disaster of Tourism phenomenon that abounds in our region, he welcomed visitors– friends and strangers alike to enter his home and experience the full sensory shock of what happened here.
to walk into this file and infected house and gaze upon the domestic Carnage was, in many ways, a more effective storytelling device than driving past miles and miles of wrenched in abandoned Exteriors. the eyes burn, the breath shortens and the weight of loss history, memory and family is crushing.
” imagine if you came home to this” I used to tell my visitors.
This week, my friend James had the house where he lived for 14 years and raised two sons torn down he left work one morning to witness the act with his wife. he bought sodas and ice cream from passing truck for the work crew, went to Subway for lunch and then went back to work
three blocks down louisville, I drove past my friend AJ’s house his block was nearly pristine, having been recently mucked, weeded and scrubbed out by one of the legions of young volunteer groups who have come from elsewhere to Aid our city in its distress.
next to AJ’s house, I was taking a back by the spectacle l of a house and transformation: it had been raised that afternoon on giant Piers, looming above the shoulders of a profoundly cheerful woman who stood in her yard, planted her hands on her hips regarded me and said:
“Whaddya think?”
what do I think? I think she’s crazy. bonkers. Stark raving mad. that’s what I think.
but what I wanted to tell her was that I loved her. I wanted to hug her and what I said was looks great and I continued on my journey, strangely Comfort by what I have to come to consider the nearly delusional optimism of our populace. life gives you lemons? make icebox pie
the corps of Engineers give you 8 ft of water? raise your house 8 ft. move on. move up
not all stories around here are so cheery so full of equanimity and can do. far from it.
but we move on, move up, our faith and government washed out to see with all the flood water and our hopes for recovery Rooted in our Reliance on each other and the Triumph of human spirit. they are a best in only chance.
Folks from other places must think we are out of our minds when they see pictures of the ruination and hear about all of the stress and depression and hear the crazy stuff that comes out of our mayor’s mouth and maybe they are right.
it will be decades before we sort through our posts Katrina housing landscape while psychiatric journals right about our post KaTrina emotional landscape
Most of us have visited other places this past year, where sidewalks are clean and parks and playgrounds are pristine and schools are progressive and city government is efficient but still, this is where we are
We stay. We raise our houses and we raze our houses and we get up and go to work-the lucky onesbecause this is home and no word has a stronger allegiance in the English language
I’m not going to try to lay down in words the lure of this place. Every great writer in the land, from Faulkner to Twain to Rice to Ford, has tried to do it, and fallen short. It is impossible to capture the essence, tolerance and spirit of south Louisiana in words and to try is to roll down a road of clichés, bouncing over beignets and beads and brass bands and it just is what it is
It is home.
There are tough hours, tough days, tough weeks at a time but underneath all our sorrow is the power of community and the common good.
I remember sitting on my front stoop near the end of the first week of September last year when a disheveled and seemingly disoriented guy pulled up in front of me in his pickup truck. He had Michigan plates and was pulling a boat behind him.
Which way?” he shouted to me. Who’s in charge here?” he said.
I had to laugh at that part. No one’s in charge , I told him. But if he wanted to put that boat to good use, I said: ” Keep going straight and you’ll hit the water”
He nodded. And then he started crying”I’m sorry I took so long, man,” he told me. “I got here as fast as I could. ” And he drove off
I saw him two days later on Canal Street , looking fresh and invigorated . He had been rescuing people and pets ever since I’d him.
From time to time, talk to a retired New York City fireman named Jim Kearney on the phone . He has made several trips here and to the Mississippi Coast to give free massage therapy to first responders , rescue workers and volunteer house- gutters
He says that every time he goes back to New York, he flounders with a sense of loss of purpose and direction . He says his friends who have volunteered to work here feel the same way
“It’s like leaving the Titanic for a safe distant shore-and leaving all the people behind There is such a dissonance between what’s going on down there and everywhere else in America…”
He paused and said”You all are amazing people to be doing what you’re doing”
And he’s right. We are
Tens of thousands of other volunteers like him have discovered this, too. They have come by the bus and plane load to help us help ourselves and the ship is far from righted but, one year into this we’re trudging forward.
Moving on, moving up
It’s impossible to thank all these people who have come from far away places. It’s impossible even to know who they are anymore, so many have come and gone and they come still and again
There is only one way to properly express our gratitude to the masses, to show them that what they have done is not wasted time and effort. To show them that we are worth it
And that is by succeeding
