Rock n Roll Cleveland!
I finally found it...an open coffee shop with WiFi! I'm at the Rue on Oak St. and Carrollton. Apparently, WTUL is now broadcasting from here, in the little upstairs balcony. Underneath which hangs a bannder reading "Rebuilding New Orleans, One Party at a Time."
Yessiree, New Orleans isn't nearly as devastated as I thought it would be, in most areas, but little things like 24 hour grocery stores, drug stores, coffee shops open past 5, etc., are a hot commodity. In my professional opinion, if I had never been to New Orleans before, and I didn't stray from the Quarter/Marigny/Uptown/Riverbend/Metairie area, I probably wouldn't know a Category 5 had been through. There is nowhere to park in the Quarter, and there are stll 24 hour bars. But I know better, I know that each bar should have more than 2 people in it, that there should be large number of choices for late-night dining, that 4 way stops are NOT the norm, and that City Park should have a lot more trees. On a scale of one to ten, with one being completely leveled ghost-town type of situation, and ten being exactly as I remembered it, I give the entire city, or at least what I've seen, about a 4.5-5.5. Keep in mind I've seen New Orleans East, Mid-City, Lakeview, part of Gentilly and the 9th Ward, and all the places that didn't get much damage. It seems like every single city block I've seen has at least 1 sign of something fucked up that befell this city. Whether a collapsed house, the spraypaint tags, an MP truck, downed street/traffic lights, uprooted trees, the ubiquitous piles of refrigerators and other discarded household items, or just the silent streetcar rails.

I will do a real update when I get my pictures developed. For one, I'm taking alot of pictures of the destruction, and for another, New Year's is kind of blurry, and the pictures will help to recount the night harhar.

But just as a word of assurance to concerned readers...New Orleans will DEFINITELY be back. Maybe not next year, or in 5 years, but even since I've been here I've seen progress. For instance, there are like 5 working traffic lights in the city, meaning 4 way stops everywhere, even really busy intersections. Most of the ones on Canal around the Quarter seemed to be working, except for the one at the intersecion of Peters and Canal. The first night I got in, it definitely wasn't working. But now, as of at least yesterday, the lights are now on! I know, it seems like a small step, but that's what it takes, and just seeing all the FEMA camps, people cleaning out their houses, Entergy people working on lines, etc., gives me an indescribably satisfying feeling, that people are NOT just going to sit on their asses and let my home rot in mold-infested squalor.

But yesterday, I did come across a thoroughly disturbing sight. I was crusing the Fly, which still looks great. I saw a Military Police vehicle parked under a tree. I didn't think much of it, honestly, I've seen a ton of those MP trucks and the MPs themselves since I got in. So I kept cruising, and saw 2 MP's walking towards me, in the direction of the truck. They were leisurely strolling, I guess off duty, despite being in uniform. One was even smoking a cigarette. Only when they were illuminated from behind with the setting sun on the Mississippi did I notice the assault rifles they both carried over their shoulders. In the middle of the fucking day, like 75 degrees beautiful weather, around kids playing frisbee and people walking dogs, and couples making out on the river. Two MPs carrying assault rifles. *Sigh* I really almost cried. I had to call my best friend to calm down. It was like some shove back into the reality of this city's recent past. As I did that though, my spirits lifted when I saw that the Tree of Life is still standing! A few pruned branches, but goddammit, that big ass tree is still here! I walked underneath it, as two hippies walked out from behind, trailing the sweet smell of marijuana behind them.

And I keep reliving all the shit I talked about this city in the last couple of years I lived here. I know we all did it, it was the love-hate nature of the city that keeps us coming back, if ever leave in the first place. And I take back every word with every destroyed house I see, black water marks ten or more feet high, flourescent pink spraypaint tags reading "Attic Exit."