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June 05, 2006
New Orleans, Initial Impressions
Categories: Travel
I'm hanging out at PJ's coffee house in Slidell, LA. They are great because they have free wireless and good vanilla creme frozen drinks. I only have about 10 minutes before they close and am feeling a bit overwhelmed by the day, so I'll just post some random thoughts which I will elaborate on later.
-- In some parts of the city, it's hard to believe it's been nine months. There is still debris everywhere.
-- The big thing is just the sheer amount of trash and debris, piled on roadsides, in mounds in parking lots. It's almost post-apocolyptic.
-- Contribiting to the post apocolyptic feel are these spray painted messages on homes throughout the city. There are numbers, codes, and letters. There are SPCA messages like "6 dogs seen here on 10/17." It's like something out of The Stand.
-- If you want a job, move here, especially if you work in the service industry. Every place is hiring at what looks like good wages. I saw a Wendy's that said they are hiring starting at $9/hr (which is pretty good for fast food). Copelands had a big sign that advertised a $2400 signing bonus for experienced kitchen help.
-- There are maybe 75 people here from some churches in Kansas. It's like summer camp, with all these 14 and 15 year old kids running around. I don't want to disparage anyone's charity, but what can a 13 year old girl contribute to the clean up effort?
-- At what point does charity become pity? Or relief some form of voyeurism? Or travel into tourism? I'm wrestling with all of those, especially the second one. I brought the video camera and am taping stuff. But when we visited (very, very, very briefly) the 9th Ward today, people got out and immediately began taking photos. Dad remarked that, if he lived there, he would be angry at people like us, who just come over the bridge, park in the first parking lot, take some photos of the ruin (and it's just as bad as it looks on TV), and then turn around. I think I agree. I stayed in the car.
-- Right now I am also wrestling with how I am supposed to shower in a place that has 4 stalls for 80 people, only has HOT water, and has no ventillation in the shower trailer.
More tomorrow, as we return to Canal Blvd and a deaf church to rewire the altar and worship hall.
Posted by Nakia at June 5, 2006 08:48 PM