Friday, December 31, 2010

So long, 2010

As 2010 comes to a close, I must admit this blog does not get the attention it used to--not from me and as a result not from readers.

This is not a bad thing. I started blogging in the dark days after Hurricane Katrina, when the city of New Orleans was still mostly deserted, when the power was not yet on in many neighborhoods and the heavily damaged parts of the city were off-limits in daytime and at night. I blogged because I had a story to tell. I knew I was living through something unique, something terrible, yes, but something people needed to know about nonetheless.

But the main reason I started blogging was for my own sanity. My mind was filled with images and ideas that I had to put into writing. My mind was screaming with despair for what had happened but also with hope for what would come.

But I guess my life is more "normal" now. I don't expect anyone will want to read about what I had for lunch, and I don't feel a need to wax poetic about the new TV we bought earlier this year. Hence, this space is left quiet.

I hope everyone remembers that just five years ago, there was talk that New Orleans should not be rebuilt. Many, in Congress, on the news and especially on the Internet said it would be "stupid" or "a waste of time and money" to rebuild New Orleans. This talk has subsided, but the sentiment remains. Just yesterday I heard myself defending the existence of New Orleans yet again, telling a Virginian my well-rehearsed line about how New Orleans is almost 300 years old--what makes you think it won't survive 300 more?

Today, New Orleans is growing and thriving. Like every other city in America we have our challenges. But we face them, head on. What kind of cowardice has taken hold of America when someone can seriously propose that a major port city should not be continued?

New Orleans is no place for cowards. We steadfastly struggle with nature, ourselves and everyone else on a daily basis. Someone wrote to The Times-Picayune a few years ago that every day in New Orleans is 24 hours long and 48 hours hard. You're damn right.

So everyone who doubts us, everyone who says or thinks we're not worthy, piss off. This is New Orleans, this is America, and WE ARE STILL HERE.

And we are moving forward into 2011 with your help or without it. Doesn't matter to me.

Peace, and Happy New Year.