ezekielsdaughter | Day 3 - Good News in the Community (Reply)

Nov. 6th 2007 Post about some good news that has taken place in your city, community, etc. that has happened in the last 3 months?

Oh, you are joking surely. This is still New Orleans.

However and nevertheless….
It has been heartening to see how people have reached out to this northern Caribbean city. Last weekend and this coming weekend, “Waiting for Godot” was presented by a New York company. They planned for 600 people and 1200 people showed up. Its eerie words rang out over the emptiness that still defines the 9th ward. (http://samuel-beckett.net/Waiting_for_Godot_Part1.html)
College students nationwide have made their way to the city to rebuild. Post-graduate students have made their way here to live. For the first time, I’ve seen a web site of volunteer opportunities around the area. People are more involved.

However and nevertheless….
The news is full of attempted and accomplished suicides. Lower and middle class housing is difficult to find. There is only one large employer in the city. Most workers are employed by the tourist industry. Researchers indicate that PTSD is rampant. I say this not to discourage or sabotage the week’s theme. Only to indicate that no movie, no book, and no TV show can tell you what it is like to live in a city that is both a frontier city and a dying city. I live in the suburbs. Some people in the city are making life and death decisions every day—literally. The stress is unbelievable.

However and nevertheless….
This is part of the history of New Orleans. I read early histories of New Orleans and read about the Yellow fever scourges, the floods, malaria, race riots (against Italians and African Americans). New Orleans is the city it is because its inhabitants have usually “voted” for pleasure. They know that death is always around the corner. It’s a Catholic city, but the sensibility that this life should be enjoyed to its fullness feels Jewish. The natives take care of each other. I hope that it never becomes a totally “American” city despite the chiding of our northern cousins. A northern Louisiana native, I have learned to love the live and let live attitude here. It's a Catholic city that made it easy to choose Judaism. That felt impossible to do in my very protestant and very straight-laced home town. I expect that some of our volunteers will discover how alluring New Orleans is themselves.