God Bless Vera:
My link to home has been WWL-TV, a New Orleans TV station that was forced to move to Baton Rouge from its French Quarter studios. Broadcasting from the Louisiana Public Broadcasting station, WWL sends out a live video feed we can get on the intenet. It shows us stories beyond what we see on the national news and clears up the misstatements made by the national press. Last night I saw two things that haunted my dreams. One was good and one was horrible. The good thing was a reporter standing in front of the St. Louis Cathedral and Jackson Square. It was, if you will forgive a cliche, a sight for sore eyes. It look beautiful. No water, no destruction.
The other image was a makeshift grave on the corner of Jackson Avenue and Magazine Street. An elderly woman named Vera, who lived in the neighborhood died on Wednesday. Her body is still there on the sidewalk. Someone has taken bricks from a nearby building that was destroyed in the storm and used them to make a grave around the body. Over Vera's body is a sheet. On the sheet are the words, "Here lies Vera, God help us."
Thank You Mr. Mayor
I'm proud to say that I voted for New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin. Seeing his leadership and resolve in this tragedy, I know I made the right decision. I got a call the other day from a family member who lives in Dallas. He asked, in a very critical tone, "do you know where your mayor is??" I answered that, "yes he went to Baton Rouge." Then I asked "do you know why he's there." I know that this individual saw Mayor Nagin's temporary retreat from New Orleans as an abandonment of the people when they needed him the most. But, Mayor Nagin has spent most of his time in New Orleans. He went to Baton Rouge because that's where the New Orleans TV stations are now. That's where the governor is. He went to Baton Rouge to plead for help for New Orleans.
We Are Out of Seafood:
New Orleanians simply cannot deal with the ups and downs of life without fresh seafood. It just can't be done. I think it's genetic. We always have fresh seafood at celebrations, and in times of stress. It's our comfort food. But, all the seafood we brought from home is gone. We tried making meatballs and other types of comfort food, but it's just not the same.
Thankfully, my daughter, Charlyn, found some fresh shrimp. We are saved!!!!! Charlyn whipped up a fabulous shrimp and pasta for us. (When I'm back in my right mind, I'll get the recipe.)
Goodbye to the Sharks:
My grandchildren love to go to the Aquarium of the Americas. There's a 400,000 gallon tank in the Gulf of Mexico exhibit featuring a replica of an offshore oil rig In that exhibit are endangered sea turtles, stingrays, the largest tarpon in captivity and, every kid's favorites, lots of big sharks. One of the fires in New Orleans this week was the generator at the aquarium. It simply couldn't keep up with the needs of the aquarium and it burned up.
Goodbye dear friends. Thank you for all the joy you gave to us.
Don't Give Up Your Mardi Gras Plans:
Over the last week I've heard several national news reporters state that there would probably not be a Mardi Gras next year. It's obvious to me that these individuals know little about New Orleanians. If there were only two people left in the city, next year on Mardi Gras day one would be on the street throwing beads and the other would be on the sidewalk catching them. That's just the way it is in New Orleans.
Understanding New Orleans is not easy if you're not really familiar with it. Most everything is different here. We have parishes not counties, we have neutral grounds not medians. Here a Catholic church can stand right next to a Voodoo temple and no one finds that unusual. Those of us who live in the uptown area are not surprised to hear that our house or one nearby has a resident ghost. (My husband named ours "Corny"). Here, the line separating the past and the present is very blurred. We even have our own language.
We don't use compass points to give directions. It just doesn't work. i.e. to get to the west bank of the Mississippi River fron New Orleans, you have to go south, and you have to go west to get to the east bank of Jefferson Parish. So, we use water as a reference. Let my show you how it works. First thing you have to know is that the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain are boundries. So, if you walk one block off St. Charles Avenue, you are either on the river side or the lake side, you are not north or south of St. Charles. Now, let's move on. The flow of the Mississippi River determines whether you are going up or downtown. So, if you are at the corner of St. Charles and Canal Street and you cross over from the American Sector into the French Quarter (that's a whole different lesson.) you are going down. So, a New Orleanian would tell you that Commander's Palace is on the downtown, lake corner of Washington Avenue and Coliseum Street. Got it??
