Congratulations! We're expecting...
My fellow Americans...get ready for a new city. New Orleans is being reborn right now. From the death and destruction, in the rebuilding, in the cleaning, and in the help of people from everywhere, a new place is coming into being. It will be the love child of the original citizens that came home, and the adventurers that came to make something out of the city, and out of their lives. It will be born again out of the funky old and the visionary new, and I predict it will be a happy baby. There might be some growing pains along the way, and of course the surly teen-age years, but all in all it will be a well-adjusted member of the society of American cities.
It is an odd courtship that brought this baby into the world, and the old cliche about opposites attracting will never be as evident as it is for New Orleans in 2006. The big contractor pick-ups from every other state in the union and the brand new Porches and BMWs all seem to dance around the city. It is a place of dichotomies, where a pile of trash can exist peacefully next door to a lovely garden. Campers live in the front yards of houses for blocks and blocks. The brand new residents of the city find their way around--and listen quietly to the survivor's stories of last summer. The old and the new are working together, and something is clicking. The old gumbo pot is on the stove, but there are new ingredients, and the recipe is good. Sexy good.
It was a shotgun wedding, you know. The City of New Orleans was in a delicate condition, shall we say, and the suitors showed up in droves to assist the grand damsel in her time of distress. New Orleans has always been a place for visitors, the hedonists port of call; now, some of the visitors have decided to commit to her and make her their new home. It isn't an exclusive club. All comers are welcome. Just be respectful, and, like any good husband, just be there to listen. That's what most of the survivors that will tell you their story really want...someone to listen...someone to look at the pictures of their slimy, mud and mold covered old house with the refrigerator from hell itself, and how they had to vomit every six feet that they moved it to the curb. The dead guy tied to the fence. Living with the in-laws. Living in exile. But now they're back, they're rebuilding, and they are so glad that others also chose to make the city their home, too. Be gentle with the survivors, because they are still in a delicate condition themselves.
The due date is very soon for the new city. I can't say exactly when, since no one alive in America today has had to rebuild a whole city before. But she is coming along just fine. And from what I can see now, the ultra-sound is amazing!
It is an odd courtship that brought this baby into the world, and the old cliche about opposites attracting will never be as evident as it is for New Orleans in 2006. The big contractor pick-ups from every other state in the union and the brand new Porches and BMWs all seem to dance around the city. It is a place of dichotomies, where a pile of trash can exist peacefully next door to a lovely garden. Campers live in the front yards of houses for blocks and blocks. The brand new residents of the city find their way around--and listen quietly to the survivor's stories of last summer. The old and the new are working together, and something is clicking. The old gumbo pot is on the stove, but there are new ingredients, and the recipe is good. Sexy good.
It was a shotgun wedding, you know. The City of New Orleans was in a delicate condition, shall we say, and the suitors showed up in droves to assist the grand damsel in her time of distress. New Orleans has always been a place for visitors, the hedonists port of call; now, some of the visitors have decided to commit to her and make her their new home. It isn't an exclusive club. All comers are welcome. Just be respectful, and, like any good husband, just be there to listen. That's what most of the survivors that will tell you their story really want...someone to listen...someone to look at the pictures of their slimy, mud and mold covered old house with the refrigerator from hell itself, and how they had to vomit every six feet that they moved it to the curb. The dead guy tied to the fence. Living with the in-laws. Living in exile. But now they're back, they're rebuilding, and they are so glad that others also chose to make the city their home, too. Be gentle with the survivors, because they are still in a delicate condition themselves.
The due date is very soon for the new city. I can't say exactly when, since no one alive in America today has had to rebuild a whole city before. But she is coming along just fine. And from what I can see now, the ultra-sound is amazing!
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