Good-bye for now.
Some important things happened in New Orleans while we were here:
--The Superdome's exterior repairs and dome covering were finished-and wow does it look great.
--Paul Tagliabue visited to make sure the Dome was on track for NFL season.
--Barak Obama and John Kerry made stealth visits to NO that were barely reported
--NOPD got a raise (much to the irritation of NOFD--who did not get a raise)
--Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne visited Bayou Savage and Chalmette Battlefield...
I found out, from a very nice park ranger at Jean Lafitte National Historical Park Visitor Center in the French Quarter, that the Chalmette Battlefield and National Cemetery were under six feet of water for a very, very long time. The cemetery had...issues, as do many cemeteries to this day, in St. Bernard Parish. I understand that Chalmette no longer exists. And I mean Chalmette the city. Currently, there is no visitor center at the battlefield, and no place for rangers to actually live when the park reopens later this year, let alone get lunch. Chalmette Battlefield is where Andrew Jackson fought the English in the Battle of New Orleans (this is one of my favorite stories from American history). Apparently, the Park Service archaeologists had to go out to the park after the water subsided and make sure that artifacts and burials that were disinterred by the storm got taken care of properly, surveyed, and reburied. Our very nice ranger also told us that the Civil War burials had the most trouble. The large trees that surrounded the battlefield were uprooted in the storm, and after the soil was under water for so long, many trees just fell over, disinterring even more bodies.
After discussing the future of Chalmette Battlefield for a bit, we all decided that there should be an additional marker added to the obelisk that stands there now in memory of Jackson's victory...a Katrina Memorial of some kind. The more we talked about it, the less likely it seemed that a single obelisk could really convey what happened here last year. But there was no doubt that New Orleans is now engaged in another battle, one to simply survive economically, let alone rebuild. There are so many issues that this city will have to overcome to crawl back into the light. Ultimately, the people will rally again and come to the defense of the city, just like in 1815. And it will be a rag-tag bunch, just like in 1815.
Katrina was one of the worst disasters in American history. Perhaps one day when the Park Service has a good budget they can plan for a huge Katrina museum somewhere. There is a really small display up at the French Quarter visitor center that could be so much bigger and more...well, neato. And informative. But you will have some contention, even among Park Service people, about how to go about telling the story, and what people should read and know about what happened. Right now, all the Park Service has are laminated clippings from the Times-Picayune taped up to a wall. They are good, but so much more is needed. At least something is there...
-----------------
So, in less than an hour, we are leaving New Orleans, again. I'm tired. We worked hard while we here. We took exacty three days off in full. We were here from July 10 until July 28. We played at night if we weren't totally wiped out from hauling concrete bits down three stories in five gallon buckets during the day. We aren't completely finished with the job we came to do, either. So it looks like, if things go as planned in at least three different scenarios for our immediate future, New Orleans will be a destination for us again. The third time we come, if our property sells in Utah, it will be for a few months. I like it here. I write quite a bit here if I'm so inspired, and over the course of this trip I have been inspired almost every day. We did go down to the French Quarter for our last night, wander the quiet back streets, look at weird store windows, and I drank a "big ass beer" as we made one last walk down Bourbon Street.
--The Superdome's exterior repairs and dome covering were finished-and wow does it look great.
--Paul Tagliabue visited to make sure the Dome was on track for NFL season.
--Barak Obama and John Kerry made stealth visits to NO that were barely reported
--NOPD got a raise (much to the irritation of NOFD--who did not get a raise)
--Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne visited Bayou Savage and Chalmette Battlefield...
I found out, from a very nice park ranger at Jean Lafitte National Historical Park Visitor Center in the French Quarter, that the Chalmette Battlefield and National Cemetery were under six feet of water for a very, very long time. The cemetery had...issues, as do many cemeteries to this day, in St. Bernard Parish. I understand that Chalmette no longer exists. And I mean Chalmette the city. Currently, there is no visitor center at the battlefield, and no place for rangers to actually live when the park reopens later this year, let alone get lunch. Chalmette Battlefield is where Andrew Jackson fought the English in the Battle of New Orleans (this is one of my favorite stories from American history). Apparently, the Park Service archaeologists had to go out to the park after the water subsided and make sure that artifacts and burials that were disinterred by the storm got taken care of properly, surveyed, and reburied. Our very nice ranger also told us that the Civil War burials had the most trouble. The large trees that surrounded the battlefield were uprooted in the storm, and after the soil was under water for so long, many trees just fell over, disinterring even more bodies.
After discussing the future of Chalmette Battlefield for a bit, we all decided that there should be an additional marker added to the obelisk that stands there now in memory of Jackson's victory...a Katrina Memorial of some kind. The more we talked about it, the less likely it seemed that a single obelisk could really convey what happened here last year. But there was no doubt that New Orleans is now engaged in another battle, one to simply survive economically, let alone rebuild. There are so many issues that this city will have to overcome to crawl back into the light. Ultimately, the people will rally again and come to the defense of the city, just like in 1815. And it will be a rag-tag bunch, just like in 1815.
Katrina was one of the worst disasters in American history. Perhaps one day when the Park Service has a good budget they can plan for a huge Katrina museum somewhere. There is a really small display up at the French Quarter visitor center that could be so much bigger and more...well, neato. And informative. But you will have some contention, even among Park Service people, about how to go about telling the story, and what people should read and know about what happened. Right now, all the Park Service has are laminated clippings from the Times-Picayune taped up to a wall. They are good, but so much more is needed. At least something is there...
-----------------
So, in less than an hour, we are leaving New Orleans, again. I'm tired. We worked hard while we here. We took exacty three days off in full. We were here from July 10 until July 28. We played at night if we weren't totally wiped out from hauling concrete bits down three stories in five gallon buckets during the day. We aren't completely finished with the job we came to do, either. So it looks like, if things go as planned in at least three different scenarios for our immediate future, New Orleans will be a destination for us again. The third time we come, if our property sells in Utah, it will be for a few months. I like it here. I write quite a bit here if I'm so inspired, and over the course of this trip I have been inspired almost every day. We did go down to the French Quarter for our last night, wander the quiet back streets, look at weird store windows, and I drank a "big ass beer" as we made one last walk down Bourbon Street.
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