Feb 05 2008
Don’t Forget New Orleans
Please, let’s not forget New Orleans. In this time of Mardi Gras and Lent and election, please don’t forget that there are those who still need help. In this time of political pundits, military spending, and economic recession there are families who still sleep in tents so that they can stay near the only home they have ever known. And the only life they have ever had.
Please don’t forget the New Orleans. The land of jazz and gumbo, of Bourbon Street and the Saint Charles streetcar is as much a part of the fabric of this country as is Broadway and the California sunshine. The scents and sounds of this bayou city run through our food and our music and our literature. From Toole to Rice, from Storyville to the Mississippi, the subconscious blood of this nation flows through the Crescent City.
Don’t forget New Orleans. And her sisters. And her brothers. The township and parish just down the road. The city and county the next highway and interstate over. The Gulf Coast of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. The scattered children of a proud land blown by the wind and washed by the waters.
We can’t forget New Orleans. The lessons that were taught must not be wasted. The lives that were lost must not be in vein. The tombs of St. Louis remind us that all time passes, but it is the job of those left to make sense of the past. The voices call to us from attic and stadium, from the light and the dark, and they reach out to us with palms empty but full of hope.
I can’t forget New Orleans.
– Michael
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Tags: Aid, Disaster, Help, Katrina, New Orleans
Just a little history on the photo that accompanies this excellent piece.
My sister had lived in Chalmette in St. Bernard Parish for the past thiry plus years. Her home was destroyed in the storm and its aftermath. She and her husband have relocated, and are now living north of Lake Pontchartrain in the Covington area. She is a seamstress by hobby and made the doll in the photo. I photographed it as it lay on the debris pile that at one time had been their front yard and now contained an entire household of possissions and memories. As a photographer I was struck by the visual artistry that the scene created. As a brother I was horrified that my sister had been so Thoroughly victimized by this storm.
Pat Stuckart
Thanks for reminding us. Of course, this is the first year I actually knew that Mardi Gras was even associated with Lent. So I definitely won’t be forgetting New Orleans at this time. Happy first day of lent to you as well
Pat – Thanks for the story and background. And the rest of you – head on over to Pat’s site at http://www.PatStuckartPhotography.com for some more of his work.
FragileHeart – Thanks for the well wishes, and for stopping by.
I was supposed to go to New Orleans for a convention the summer after Katrina, it was moved to Orlando. This year I get to go to New Orleans for a convention. We are going early so we can visit and hopefully see the ‘real’ New Orleans. I am very excited.
It makes me sick that from what I hear New Orleans is not back to capacity, our government should be asshamed.
This wasn’t Tech-Ed, was it? I was due to attend that conference the same year and it was moved to Orlando. I keep trying to find a conference that will send me back to New Orleans, but so far no luck.
I actually forgot. I can’t believe Katrina victims are still suffering while America is fighting a war that should never have happened. Sad indeed.