boys in the neighborhood
Mer-boy and spartina
We used to play here.
Sorry today was a bit of a bust as I had to help Brandon take care of some parking tickets in Algeirs. It involved finding the old court house in a sort of out of the way area (court had to be moved after the hurricane). We took a car ferry back over the Mississippi which was a lot eaiser and faster.
The tickets were a bit expensive and could have probably been contested and dismissed. At the time she received them she was given confusing and conflicting information and it was too late at this point to contest. Like everything here it is not easy to get the correct information.
Worked on some photos earlier today
6 comments:
Hi Suzanne-
Great job
Love the paintings. They capture an essence photographs just don’t.
I’m surprised at the amount of work that is being done by volunteers. Amazing!!
Where is the federal money going? What is the new construction? What is the government plan? The lower ninth looks pretty desolate, who is living there? What a sad situation.
Valerie
Thanks Val,
Pretty much ALL work here is done by volunteers and residents. City/federal work has been in demolition which has been controversial (of course), restructuring of the schools (firing all pre-Katrina teachers) and making sure the affluent sections are fixed up to pre-Katrina.
As for a government plan, Mayor Nagan recently said he wants to go along with residents desire to self determine. Remains to be seen if that is what will happen. The rebuilding in these blighted neighborhoods is thought to be deliberately slow in order to discourage a return. Sad, cause it is a chance to rebuild and make better. Without a big commitment on so many levels its is hard to say what will happen.
There are some residents who have had the were-with-all to repair their gutted out homes (all homes had to be gutted) and are living there today. You will see nothing but destruction and then suddenly one that is all fixed up.
We are going today to Musicians Village in the Upper 9th which is a project of Habitat for Humanity. There are people living there.
I am constantly surprised at the scope of the devastation and the problems here. It is really hard to communicate how huge it is. Miles and miles and miles of destruction.
I heard a phrase the other day, every bomb dropped in Iraq lands in New Orleans.
Hi Suzanne!
Like Valerie I'm amazed at the destruction Katrina left behind. It's worse than I imagined it to be, and I have this dark feeling (after seeing your pic's) that it will never really be live-able anymore. The 'reconstruction-aid' will be delayed long enough to get people demotivated to ever return and build up their homes again.
The leaders of the US should be ashamed of themselves -- and I am amazed at how 'they' can get away with this terrible attidude.
To Nature this is only an incident and she will recover quickly -- but I'm not sure about the people who once lived there. Thumbs up for the volunteers -- it really is a tough job out there.
Your paintings cry out the devastation. Lots of love to you and Brandon-- and thinking of you.
Ria
The Netherlands
You are showing and explaining so much. Impressive pics, art & descriptions. Keep up the great work!
Thanks Ria and anon.
It is hard to get a grasp on all this. And yes, shame shame on our government :(
Hi Sue,
I think you are doing a fabulous job! I keep telling everyone who will listen about what you are seeing and what Brandon is doing. Thank goodness for the volunteers! I'm so proud of both of you!
Mom
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