Cold Spaghetti

One year ago, Paul, Will, and I were traversing the southeast, seeking information about the tragedy unfolding in our city and at the same time, trying to find refuge from it. We got back roughly 12 weeks after the storm, overwhelmed, disappointed, sad, disillusioned. Holding to our pre-Katrina plans, we escaped to Lima, Peru, for a few months and decided to move there. Only to return to New Orleans, remember why we loved it, and choose to stay.

People often ask, “how is New Orleans these days?” and I have a hard time knowing how to answer. We get asked often why we’ve stayed.

There are certainly aspects of life in NOLA that are markedly different from the rest of the country, both good and bad. Violent crime is high and reports of violence are not consistently reported by the local government and media. Distrust of police and emergency crew is widespread. Neighborhood break-ins have occured. Life seems a bit more risky.

A few weeks ago, while working on the front yard with the kids, we heard the disruptive squeal of car tires pealing off, a signal of possible conflict a few blocks away. It is a sound more familiar to us in our post-Katrina lives. Paul, who keeps tabs on the local crime reports, turned to me and instructed: “If the car comes our way, you grab Will and run inside. I’ll go for Kate’s chair. Don’t hesitate; if I say go, go.” It sounds jumpy, but it was delivered in a conversational, everyday tone. No need to worry, but the risk is always in your mind.

We are close to having the last license necessary for opening Abeona House. Although the licensing office has lost the paperwork FOUR times, today, one of our board members stood in the licensing office, on the phone with our director as the forms were faxed through. That is the kind of direct in-your-face advocacy it takes to get things to happen… standing by a fax machine to prove that forms were sent. *sigh* Still, we could not be happier with the school. A second home for my children, surrounded by wonderful people and talented children raised by competent and informed adults.

Below is an excerpt from a message sent by a couple trained in teaching the Reggio-Emilia style who have acted as advisors in the process of setting up the school. They eloquently say what I feel:

“Loris Malaguzzi, the creative thinker and prime influence in the development of the Reggio Approach, wrote an article entitled ‘For an Education Based on Relationship.’ He concluded the article by saying, ‘…children, although naturally inclined, do not acquire the art of becoming friends or teachers of one another by finding models in heaven or in manuals; rather, children extract and interpret models from adults when the adults know how to work, discuss, think, research, and live together.’ I think the best models in the United States can be found at Abeona House.”

I’ve been watching “When the Levees Broke,” Spike Lee’s documentary on Katrina, the levee breaches, and the aftermath. The documentary is a series of interviews, media clips, and city sights – and it is very well done. As I write, I’ve only seen 3 of the 4 acts. The third, which discusses the impact of the post-storm diaspora, post-traumatic stress, and realities of loss has, in my view, been the most relevant to the question, “how are things in New Orleans?”

I can’t seem to read or see enough about the Katrina disaster. What is particularly interesting are the spins associated with different reports. For example, Spike Lee’s film shines Mayor Ray Nagin in a light I feel is much too favorable. While Nagin certainly had my respect for his candid breakdown on WWL, he has proven himself to be a terrible leader: interested in grand-standing, practiced at double-speak, and with the new-found post-Katrina attention, a megalomaniac. He has been absent from New Orleans at long stretches in the past year, failed miserably on his election promises of a “100 days plan,” and seems to be dedicating more attention to the memoir he’s writing than to writing the future of our city. Lee’s film does have the Mayor expounding on and on about the posh atmosphere and warm shower aboard Air Force One – glossing over the fact that he rolled over during that meeting, leaving Blanco to alone challenge the President’s grandstanding, when the day before he had so critically spoken of the administration. (Not to admonish Blanco for her mistakes in the debacle, but as far as Nagin is concerned, the man is not vested in the work of leading a major city.)

The Discovery channel aired a special on “Surviving Katrina” during this anniversary week. Largely made of re-enactments and special effects, the show sensationalizes the disaster. Interviews are mostly from survivors. Of the major players in the disaster, the GOP’s former-favorite dandy, Michael Brown is the one heavily featured. As a result, the program is punctuated by “Brownie’s” finger pointing of how all the failures of that week were someone else’s fault. I watched hoping he would re-iterate some of the anecdotes he has given in other interviews: for example, Douglas Brinkley writes that Brown recalled Karl Rove advising GW to intentionally ignore requests from Governor Blanco in order to exploit her politically. I was hoping that kind of interesting nugget would be thrown into the mix. Instead, Brown seemed to be trying to squeal to get back at the Administration for making him the fall-guy.

In the days immediately following the storm, government (local, state, and federal) instructed us to “pray.” Now, as we look to reconstruct, the official line is “hope.” Neither prayer nor hope are PLANS – which sums up the current situation in the city. Lots of people prayin’ and hopin’, but no one with a plan.

Prayer and hope won’t make anything happen, so people are filling the gaps as much as possible. This is impossibly difficult because acts that signal progress and change seem to threaten the delicate society that has lived so richly on the city’s status quo. (Case in point: the ridiculous, mind-numbing, deliberately sabotaging actions that the Abeona board has had to go through over the past year.) When road blocks aren’t being thrown by the city’s business elite/government (they are virtually one and the same: Nagin’s nickname is “Ray Reagan”), then they come from unexpected ugliness from our neighbors. Case in point: Mark Morice, who used his neighbor’s boat to rescue several hundred people from their attics and rooftops immediately following the storm, is being sued by the boat’s owner for “stealing” the vessel. (The owner’s name is John M. Lyons Jr. and his attorney in the case is Metairie’s E. Ronald Mills. Please feel free to track them down and harass them mercilessly for being sub-human assholes.)

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Last weekend, local bloggers held a conference called “Rising Tide” to aid in community building and networking. Being linked to the conference opened me up to the writing of many more New Orleanians; a wonderful discovery. The more I look into the words of others in the city, the more inspired I am by the energy of spirit, community, and good-will that survives here. In short, for now, this is where I want to be.