Travel, crime, and the Times-Picayune
So I went to Kansas City for three days this past week to check in on a friend and to say hello to my family. It was an unplanned trip, but I'm glad it happened, and everyone was very happy to see me. I was not used to winter, though. It has been in the 60s and 70s here in New Orleans, so I had to lug a winter coat with me through the airports until I arrived in KC. I was not prepared for what happened when I walked out of the terminal. It looked warm; it was sunny. It really wasn't. I was glad I had lugged that coat along. My friend Carolyn was supposed to come here, but a family emergency kept her in KC, so I went up there. She'll be down later in the year--we hope for Mardi Gras, maybe St. Patrick's.
I came back to New Orleans Thursday night in the middle of a vicious thunderstorm. The next morning it was bright and sunny and warm, and my husband ran outside to get a newspaper. The front page headline on Friday morning was:
"Killings bring the city to its bloodied knees."
Apparently, New Orleans is more dangerous than Baghdad these days. The headline even made NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, as a recent murder in the Marigny was of a young wife and mother who was a prominent independent film maker. I didn't know I was coming home (yes, home. Somehow over my KC visit, I finally realized that New Orleans is now my home) to such sad tidings--and grim statistics. More people have been killed in New Orleans since New Year's Day than American soldiers have died in Iraq.
*sigh*
I'm not very frightened, actually. But I am perplexed. Then again, if all you had in the world was FEMA trailer and nothing to lose...not that that's an excuse to commit evil against another human being, but morale is low here; emotional health is a premium, actually. The city just isn't bouncing back as quickly as other parts of the Gulf. And people that moved back to rebuild are beginning to leave because nothing's happening, crime is nuts, and business isn't back to normal for professionals that relied on a local population that was twice as large as it is now...which means our muder rate, per capita, is the highest in the United States.
The first parade of the carnival season is tonight; we'll have a front row seat from where we live. At least there is that to look forward to...
I came back to New Orleans Thursday night in the middle of a vicious thunderstorm. The next morning it was bright and sunny and warm, and my husband ran outside to get a newspaper. The front page headline on Friday morning was:
"Killings bring the city to its bloodied knees."
Apparently, New Orleans is more dangerous than Baghdad these days. The headline even made NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, as a recent murder in the Marigny was of a young wife and mother who was a prominent independent film maker. I didn't know I was coming home (yes, home. Somehow over my KC visit, I finally realized that New Orleans is now my home) to such sad tidings--and grim statistics. More people have been killed in New Orleans since New Year's Day than American soldiers have died in Iraq.
*sigh*
I'm not very frightened, actually. But I am perplexed. Then again, if all you had in the world was FEMA trailer and nothing to lose...not that that's an excuse to commit evil against another human being, but morale is low here; emotional health is a premium, actually. The city just isn't bouncing back as quickly as other parts of the Gulf. And people that moved back to rebuild are beginning to leave because nothing's happening, crime is nuts, and business isn't back to normal for professionals that relied on a local population that was twice as large as it is now...which means our muder rate, per capita, is the highest in the United States.
The first parade of the carnival season is tonight; we'll have a front row seat from where we live. At least there is that to look forward to...
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