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Neighborhood Voices, Citywide Power July 2007

Issue #6 Volume 1

Photos by Travis Leger

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NPN provides an inclusive and collaborative city-wide framework to empower neighborhood groups in New Orleans.

Find out more at NPNnola.com Musicians Union Hall, 2401 Esplanade Ave. New Orleans, LA 70119 â—? Office 504-940-2207, Fax 504-940-2208 â—? thetrumpet@npnnola.com

2

NPN’S THE TRUMPET

JULY 2007

I

n this, our sixth issue, our submissions explore different relationships.

Travis Leger, Editor-in-Chief

When things go together well here in New Orleans, we may say, “They go together like red beans and rice.� This Trumpet asks whether there are other combinations that can be as popular.

Max Goldstein, Assistant to the Editor EDITORIAL SERVICES

Emily Zeanah For example, in our “Neighborhoods Voicesâ€? section, RobĂŠrt Sullivan wonders how much of a relationship the foursome of class, color, caste and culture will have with the plans for the future New Orleans. In the environmentally-friendly “Green Orleansâ€? section, Uma Negandra examines the relationship between development and healthy trees.

Bill Quigley, in our new “Lessons in Recovery from India� section, lets us in on the things he has learned from his recently formed relationships with his tsunami recovery counterparts in India.

DISTRIBUTION AND PUBLISHING

Gill Benedek

How does, “It goes together like schools and playgrounds,â€? sound? Or, “Like schools and neighborhood associations?â€? We have a story on the building of a new playground at the John Dibert School and another on TremĂŠ schools and neighborhood associations coming together to improve the community.

While lamenting the loss of some good friends, the “Transient Blues� columnist Shana Dukes also welcomes a newfound friend in Mia Partlow, who has responded to her call for stories about life here in transient New Orleans. We also have a new pairing of poetry and creative writing on pages 18 and 19, which you’ll want to get to know.

Enjoy the latest issue of The Trumpet! It’s written by you for you. Keep the submissions coming.

Travis Leger Editor-in-Chief, The Trumpet

Submit, Write, Share Your Story!

Event, Poem, Neighborhood Update Opinion, or Advertisement Contact us with submissions or comments Email: thetrumpet@npnnola.com or call 504-940-2207 Write to us at The NPN Trumpet, 2401 Esplanade Ave. New Orleans, LA 70119 Submission Guidelines: An article in doc, txt, html or any other format.

Any photos and credits of photographer.

Contact information such as name, telephone #, email address, neighborhood/district affiliation, organization.

is online @ NPNnola.com

NPN provides an inclusive and collaborative city-wide framework to empower neighborhood groups in New Orleans.

Find out more at NPNnola.com

Third Party Submission Issues Physical submissions on paper, CD, etc. will not be returned unless an arrangement is made. Submissions may be edited and may be published or otherwise reused in any medium.

By submitting any notes, information or material, or otherwise providing any material for publication in the newspaper, you are representing that you are the owner of the material, or are making your submission with the consent of the owner of the material, all information you provide is true, accurate, current and complete.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Nathan Shroyer VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR

Jules Goins FINANCE

Mario Perkins SUMMER INTERN

Uma Nagendra FOUNDING BOARD MEMBERS

Phil Costa, Board Chair City Park Neighborhood Association Patricia Jones, Board Treasurer Executive Director, NENA Lower 9th Ward

Non-Liability Disclaimers The Trumpet may contain facts, views, opinions, statements and recommendations of third party individuals and organizations. The Trumpet does not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any advice, opinion, statement or other information in the publication and use of or reliance on such advice, opinion, statement or other information is at your own risk.

Copyright Copyright 2007 Neighborhood Partnership Network. All Rights Reserved.

Any copying, redistribution or retransmission of any of the contents of this service without the express written consent of Neighborhoods Partnership Network is expressly prohibited.

Corrections We would like to apologize for multiple technical errors in our May-June issue. Two articles were cut off and there were some repetitions cause by file format conversion. We are more aware of this problem now and are on the lookout for these errors.

Deborah Langhoff Steering Committee District 5 Lakeview, Lake Vista Neighborhood Association Amy Lafont Mid-City Neighborhood Association Latoya Cantrell President, Broadmoor Improvement Association Lynn Aline Baronne Street Neighborhood Association Dorian Hastings Project Manager, Central City Renaissance Julius Lee Pine Timbers Neighborhood Improvement Association Victor Gordon Pontilly Neighborhood Association Kim Henry Oak Park Neighborhood Association

HURRICANE PREPARATION

NPN’S THE TRUMPET

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By Ruth Davis and Jennifer Cooper, American Red Cross – Southeast Louisiana

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eing prepared for hurricane season requires strong communication and collaboration at the neighborhood level these days, as New Orleanians balance a flurry of recovery activity with a serious need to remain prepared in a hurricane and flood prone area.

Neighborhoods across the Crescent City are establishing strong ties as residents work side-by-side to bring back homes and neighborhoods.

Should a community-wide emergency arise, these stronger ties can have the power to boost everyone’s readiness for disaster. Meet with your neighbors to discuss how the neighborhood could plan for a disaster. If you’re a member of a neighborhood association or crime watch group, introduce disaster preparedness as a new activity.

Some of the ways that neighborhoods can plan together are: Know your neighbors’ special skills.

Are there people who have technical or medical skills? How might their skills be valuable in an emergency?

Be aware of neighbors who have special needs. How could you help neighbors who are disabled, elderly or have emergency transportation needs?

Identify existing social structures that could help to communicate and act during an emergency. How could you coordinate with your neighborhood association, community centers, churches and synagogues, even use local coffee shop bulletin boards to be prepared before an emergency event?

Promote individual and family preparedness. Read community disaster educa-

tion materials from American Red Cross, FEMA, the local Office of Emergency Preparedness, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, and other sources.

Neighbors can also prepare by volunteering with the American Red Cross – Southeast Louisiana, and getting trained to help with a disaster response. The Red Cross is led by volunteers who provide mass sheltering, feeding and emotional support to disaster victims.

In addition to responding to disasters, Red Cross paid and volunteer staff provide community disaster education to neighborhood associations, employee groups, schools, faith-based groups and other groups. You can request community disaster education by calling the chapter office at 504-620-3105.

Of course, the whole neighborhood does best when individuals have their own family plans, have some basic supplies and documents ready to take with them in the event of an evacuation, and are informed of the community-wide plan.

A disaster supply kit should include the following items: Water Food and a manual can opener Flashlight, alternative-powered or bring extra, fresh batteries First aid kit Battery powered or alternative powered radio Tools

The Broadmoor Website Emergency Preparedness Page

Duct tape and plastic sheeting Clothing and bedding Prescription and non-prescription medications Pet supplies Cash and coins Sanitary supplies Important papers (driver’s license, passport, home deed/lease; a photocopy of the front and back of all credit cards; copies of birth and marriage certificates and insurance policies), Contact information and a map

!" # Make a communication plan. Choose an out-of town contact for members of a family to call in case of a disaster. Have a back-up plan for communicating in the case of overloaded or disrupted phone service.

Learn how and when to turn off utilities, use a fire extinguisher, call for emergency help. Also learn alternate routes of transportation and means of communication.

Tell everyone in the household: Where the emergency supplies kit is stored.

Where the emergency contact information is kept.

The details of your disaster plan.

To always carry a copy of the emergency contact information.

Practice your plan. Practicing provides the experience of “what it feels like� so that when an emergency happens, people are more likely to respond correctly.

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Identify how local authorities will notify you during a disaster and how you will get important information, whether through local radio, TV or NOAA weather radio stations or channels. In New Orleans, two radio stations are part of the Louisiana Emergency Alert System: AM 870 (WWL) and FM 101.9 (WLMG).

Share what you have learned with your family, household and neighbors and encourage them to be informed, too.

Make sure everyone is prepared – residents and out-of-state volunteers With warmer, sunny weather gracing the Crescent City, New Orleans residents and volunteers visiting from all over the nation are ramping up the rebuild activities in neighborhoods across the parish.

It’s important, as we host temporary volunteers, that we help prepare them by educating them about the neighborhood plan, the parish plan, and the regional evacuation plan. Make sure they are aware of transportation options if they need them in the event of evacuation. And share the Citizens Awareness and Evacuation Guides with them so they understand the contraflow plan. Alert them to leave early in the event of an evacuation to stay safe.

Sharing this same information with residents who have moved to the area from outside of the Gulf Region will also help them learn about their new environment and to do what’s necessary to be ready for emergencies.

Additional Resources:

http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/ Commit to having at least one individ- emergency_planning.shtm ual in your household trained in first aid, CPR and automated external defibrillator http://www.preparelouisiana.redcross.org/ (AED) use. In many disaster settings, injuries often occur that require immediate http://humanela.org/ attention. As many people learned from hurricanepreparedness.htm experience in 2005, access to the Emergency Medical Services system (EMS) or http://www.entergy-neworleans.com/ other professional medical assistance can global/storms/pdfs/ be delayed or not available. The local 2006_LA_hurricane_reference_guide.pdf Red Cross chapter provides community training in first aid, CPR and AED use.

Learn what disasters or emergencies may occur where you live, work and play. These events can vary from those affecting only you and your family, like a home fire or medical emergency, to those affecting your entire community, like a hurricane or flood. The Office of Emergency Preparedness has the most complete information about the types of disasters that can happen in this area.

The Gentilly Website Emergency Preparedness Page

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NPN’S THE TRUMPET

Neighborhood Voices

JULY 2007

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The Trumpet has no responsibility for the views, opinions and information communicated here.

The contributor(s) is fully responsible for this content. In addition, the views and opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of the The Trumpet.

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By RobĂŠrt Sullivan French-Louisianan Writer

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realize that my lengthy style of presenting my points is not necessarily everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s the only cup I’ve got brewing.

It is not in my economic interest to focus exclusively on Central Carrollton or just on the Carrollton Area or even on the City of New Orleans. As I see it, a major city will exist in Southeast Louisiana only if municipal incorporation continues according to historical patterns. As the city began in the Vieux CarrĂŠ and grew by incorporation of Marigny, Bywater, Jefferson City, the Town of Carrollton, and other once independent municipalities, so now must New Orleans grow by incorporation of Metairie, River Ridge, Kenner, stopping only at natural boundaries.

Of course that's an initially implausible idea! We saw that the levee boards didn't want to surrender their perks and titles, and we know that the municipal and parish political leaders won't want to do so either.

But I honestly don't see New Orleans as a great city or the region as a prosperous one, unless we transform the UNOP stepby-step into a regional plan to create Metropolitan New Orleans as an enlarged and unified city.

I have not attended all the meetings dedicated to “citizen participation� since the UNOP was handed over to the City Planning Commission. At the last one I attended at the Chateau Sonesta on April 10, there appeared to be a consensus that two movements were simultaneously taking place: One movement was for citizens to select specific projects in the UNOP and to focus on funding and completing them, and the second movement was to create a legal structure within the charter of the City of New Orleans, through which citizens could address all issues.

Of course, by stating that the vitality of New Orleans also depends on its expansion through incorporation, I’m adding a third movement that is already occurring in practice, if not in politics. When I was in Karlsruhe, Germany, in high school, I heard of a plan adopted there to permit incorporation without suppression of his-

tent possible, historical offices remained in place, being eliminated only when they were obstacles to the function and purpose of the larger government, as multiple levee boards have been eliminated to assure professional oversight of levees.

Above the traditional municipal structures, a new structure was created in Germany to serve as the government of the incorporated entities. Clearly this is a federal system of city organization. Using a German approach to language, we would still speak of the Mayor of New Orleans and the Mayor of Kenner and so forth, but we would also speak of the ‘Over-Mayor’ of Metropolitan New Orleans. BĂťrgermeister and OberbĂťgermeister are real words in German!

The Parisians do something similar and call the historical communities arrondissements, each of which has its own mayor, even though there is also a Mayor of Paris.

Without the realization of regional unity underlying our city, district, and neighborhood proposals, it seems to me that the future of the city is rather bleak.

Still, we can put this third movement toward incorporation on a back burner, as long as it’s on a burner. The first two movements mentioned, i.e., selecting pro-

promote projects will cause structures to develop organically, which can later be codified into law. At the same time, reflections on legal structures will lead to clarification of what we are actually doing, so that the projects will be more easily managed. That’s the dialectic.

For me, it is premature to enact legislation to codify citizen participation. The process has only begun, and we clearly are not all on the same page. I don’t see how a referendum in November on the question is even possible yet. I prefer to proceed with the selection and support of projects, while we discuss the citizen participation structure at greater length.

There is great interest in selecting the most important projects from the plans which we have received, especially from the UNOP. Some say the UNOP was a ‘failure’. I disagree. The process alone was worth the effort, but in addition we now have recommendations, designs, and details that we would not have had. Many of us are not trained in city planning.

New Orleans’ historical differences of class, color, caste, and culture will remain part of us. Actually, we know that these are what makes our city interesting and exciting. It’s why it’s not like any other

2 '" #0 3 0 &' + " ) %% ' #+ 0 2 "" ' ( # ' &% *0 3 0 ( ( 1 2 + # " 3 0 ) %% ' #+ 0 ) - ) *0 # & 2 '' # % + &#0 % 0&1 #& " # 2 "" )& *0 #4 &&) jects while simultaneously creating a legal structure, are complex enough. An attorney at the meeting I attended at the Chateau Sonesta referred to the ‘dialectic’ of these two movements. I found out after the meeting that he had studied philosophy, so he was comfortable with the Hegelian term.

But he is correct. There’s no need to require a legal structure before promoting

place. At the same time, we can let these differences divide us into warring factions.

If so, no plan will do us any good.

I’m disturbed to read that some of New Orleans’ most notable benefactors, for example, are planning to use their wealth to create a city according to their image, effecting an ethnic cleansing of class, caste, and culture, as well as color. We know that in September, 2005, Mayor

New Orleanians in Dallas, among them James Reiss, to plan the city of their dreams. I am suspicious of the dreams of Phyllis Taylor, Joe Cannizzaro, William Boatner Reilly, Thomas Westfeld, Richard Freeman, Ashton O’Dwyer, and others who were comfortable hiring the Israeli Defense Forces and Blackwater as mercenaries during the Flood. I hope that they will offer an apology for hiring arrogant mercenaries.

There is here a difference of caste, class, and culture between them and me, which could become divisive. One could say that they have so much wealth that my plebeian opinion does not matter. In any event, our discussions of the city’s future can be easily disrupted and even derailed by the power and wealth of those who met with Mayor Nagin in Dallas, and the consequent divisiveness will benefit none of us, not even them. Mr. Riess said that he would be ‘out’, if the city came back as it was. Many of us will be out, if we can’t create a new city, but Mr. Riess’ vision is a partial one, limited by the vision which his class and caste have shaped, and no doubt he understands that New Orleans would be dreadful with only his community living in it.

I believe that color is actually secondary to class and caste in New Orleans.

Since it’s so painful to think about it, it’s difficult to move beyond it. Today, color is used as a sign of a person’s class and culture, I believe. Skin color itself is simply a genetic event, but color in Louisiana and in the U.S. has acquired a host of symbolic meanings. When the Nagin 40 speak of creating a new New Orleans with a different population, I interpret them to mean fewer street thugs and non-working adults.

I may be naive in my interpretation, since they may actually be racists, but I tend to doubt it. I’m assuming for the sake of dis-

SUBMIT Your Ideas and Opinions.

To The Neighborhood Voices Section

We want to hear from everybody!

Email: thetrumpet@npnnola.com Call: 504-940-2207 Write: The NPN Trumpet

2401 Esplanade Ave. N.O. 70119

NEIGHBORHOOD VOICES

doubt it. I’m assuming for the sake of discussion that they are genuinely concerned about the quality of life in the city. In that, we agree.

With respect to the Nagin 40 and their supporters, I have to observe that boardroom thugs are just as destructive in the long run as street thugs. To be sure, it is aesthetically more pleasing to see my thug in a fine suit than in baggy pants, but either way I lose, if the thug gets his way. If a developer, for example, purchases the

are meeting without a formal citizen participation structure, and we are discussing within each district and each neighborhood which projects are of greatest impact.

Mr. Blakely has also spoken to this question, and his plan is at last a real decision. We could, if we wanted, interfere with his proposals, but I appreciate that finally there is a detailed plan to begin reconstruction. Mr. Blakely, like Mr. Nagin, is blessed with a huge ego and a loose tongue. Bless their hearts! They will

' 3* 0 )&# + ' 1 #) .& ')'&&( 3* 0 + * ""4 )&# 3 ' # .& 3 '&* 01 3 .& &( " # 0 3 .& &( " # house next door to mine and has a tenstory building constructed there, then my quality of life is diminished and my investment in the house is threatened. A boardroom thug may actually steal more from me than a street thug.

The boardroom thugs have also led us into bloated military budgets, using almost half of our federal tax revenues to prosecute unnecessary wars, and thereby reducing the amount available for coastal restoration, insurance, flood control, and other domestic projects. Those who have lost a house, and all of us who have lost our way of life, will readily admit that militaristic boardroom thugs in the US have cost us far more dearly than the street thugs. Gen. Eisenhower warned us.

Have I wandered from the subject? I don’t think so. We want to fund projects from UNOP that will reconstruct our city.

The street thugs are bringing fear into our daily lives, and so are the boardroom thugs. If that sounds like paranoia, I can only say that events encourage paranoia.

In my judgment, our first priority must be flood control. All other projects are like moving deck-chairs on the Titanic, unless we create a city safe from flooding. New Orleans survived Katrina but not the Deluge. At this time, I have accepted to serve on the Executive Committee of the New Orleans Sierra Club, and it is my intention to learn about and participate in the physical restoration of the Gulf Coast. Street thugs don’t care, and boardroom thugs actually don’t either. In both groups, the bottom line is the bottom line.

Assuming that wetlands and coastal restoration are supported and proceeding, then it is possible to consider what projects from UNOP may interest us. It seems to me that we are fairly successful at this point in doing that part of the dialogue. We

get by with a little help from our friends.

The sources of funding are not restricted to governments, although government sums are by far the greatest. The application for funding is not restricted to government agencies, although again these agencies are the busiest. It is possible for private associations and even individuals to apply for funding to private foundations and even to foreign governments. For that reason, some projects may be pursued by an individual. In general, it’s easiest to work with a non-profit association, both for the special consideration received and the communal assistance offered.

For example, I have in mind the project of equipping all transit stops with simple shelters, like those where Canal Street meets Canal Boulevard. With a non-profit neighborhood association as my sponsor, I could write a grant to the Sultan of Qatar to purchase and install these shelters. This is fanciful, but it allows us to think of alternative ways of using the present UNOP and the laws under which it operates in order to begin projects.

While initiating projects, it is advisable to work with neighbors and officials at all times. No one has a monopoly in judgment and knowledge. The diversity of opinion and the extent of the expertise available will make every proposed project a better one if it is created in consultation.

Through these consultations, the projects will be accomplished, and the political structure of citizen participation will be created. If all classes, castes, colors, and cultures are willing to work together to this end, we could in fact create a new New Orleans in which we will all be pleased to live.

NPN’S THE TRUMPET

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! 0 3.&'3&&) 0&# !'& ' ( .* ") # & 0# - & . &" '4 '* " Uma Nagendra Neighborhoods Partnership Network

N

ew Orleans has often been described as a patchwork quilt of diverse, distinct neighborhoods. As citizens, we are known for our neighborhood loyalties, for being proud of our Uptown, Treme, Irish Channel, Ninth Ward or Lakeview roots. And once we put down our roots, it’s difficult to pull them up. Our neighborhoods can become our worlds, especially following Katrina. The challenges of returning and rebuilding after the storm have put the blinders on us all, narrowed our focus to the developers down the street, the construction down the block, the piles of debris in front of our neighbor’s houses. We started living day-to-day, leaving little room for thinking about what’s going on across town.

All around the city, however, community organizations are pushing separately for the same things—for control over development, for safety on the streets, for the resources to rebuild and ensure stability.

All around the city, community organizations are searching separately for the same information.

Rebuilding is a struggle, but it doesn’t have to be solitary. Fifteen blocks away from your neighborhood headquarters may be another neighborhood that has been

working on crime prevention for half a year. Perhaps they have things to teach you, or perhaps you have things to teach them.

Communication and collaboration— that’s what we’re here for. Neighborhoods Partnership Network (NPN) wants to get to know your neighborhood and let you do a little‌information matchmaking. The better we understand your projects, your successes and your struggles, the better we can represent your neighborhood’s needs in The Trumpet and in forums. By posting our learnings online, neighborhoods like you have contact information and resources resting at your fingertips.

Let us share your successes to give other groups that one vital piece they need.

You may get calls or emails from us; we’ll talk with you at your neighborhood meetings. So far we’ve been reaching out to Marigny, Hollygrove, MARI, Faubourg St. John, Faubourg St. Roch, CUNA, Central Carrollton Association, Milneburg, Bywater Neighborhood Association, Broadmoor, Carrollton United, Central City Partnership, The Porch, DNIA, Bunny Friends of the Ninth Ward and others.

We want to talk to your neighborhood as well. Join us in our mission to get the most accurate portrait of the city and share as much information as possible. Contact NPN to invite a neighborhood liaison to your area.

Are you a resident of

Lakeview, Gentilly,

or

Broadmoor?

Were you a resident of one of these neighborhoods prior to Katrina?

A Harvard undergraduate is currently conducting interviews with residents and former residents of these neighborhoods, and he would love to talk with you!

His study focuses on hurdles that residents of each neighborhood face as they try to rebuild their homes and their lives.

If you would like to take part in this study, please contact: Tom Wooten Cell Phone: (617) 997-9430 Email: twooten@fas.harvard.edu

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NPN’S THE TRUMPET

JULY 2007

&((*# 4 - # 0 NPN WEDNESDAY FORUMS

Forums

NPN Forums are held from 6-8pm on Wednesdays

5 )# 0) 41 6*# 7 Community Participation in Government

5 )# 0) 41 6*"4 8 Development Forum 4, You Decide the topics

5 )# 0) 41 6*"4 Neighborhood Emergency Preparedness & Levees

5 )# 0) 41 * *0 Right Question Project Workshop

Musicians Union Hall 2401 Esplanade Ave. New Orleans, LA 70119

Neighborhood Meetings

Faubourg St. John

Bywater Neighborhood Association Meetings

Gentilly

2nd Tuesday of the month, 7pm Holy Angels Concert Hall 3500 St. Claude Ave.

Bunny Friends 2nd Saturday of the month 12 noon, Greater Mt Carmel 3721 N Claiborne Ave.

Carrollton United Saturdays, 8:30am Greater St. John Missionary Baptist Church 8616 Hickory St.

CCRA Saturdays, 2pm Ashe Cultural Arts Center 1712 O.C. Haley Blvd.

Central City Partnership Last Friday of the month, 1pm 2020 Jackson Avenue Second floor

Claiborne/University Neighborhood Association Last Thursday of the month, 7pm, Jewish Community Center 5342 Saint Charles Ave.

District 6 Community Council Meets every other Tuesday 6:30 pm UNO old Business Admin Bldg Room 211

DNIA 2nd Tuesday of the month 7pm, Musician’s Union Hall 2401 Esplanade Ave., Upstairs

2nd Monday of every month, 7pm, Fair Grinds Coffee House

Tuesdays, 6 p.m., at Sav-ACenter, second floor, 6600 Franklin Ave. The group holds a meeting to discuss community issues in Gentilly. Call Crystal at (504) 943-0044, ext. 112.

Gentilly Terrace and Gardens Wednesday, 7 p.m., in Kirschman Hall, Room 137, University of New Orleans.

Call Norm Whitley at (504) 280-7120 or e-mail president@gentillyterrace.org

Hollygrove Saturdays, 12noon St. Peter AME Church 3424 Eagle St.

Holy Cross Thursdays, 5-7pm Holy Cross High School 4950 Dauphine St.

Lake Bullard Homeowners Association Saturdays, 3pm Cornerstone United Methodist Church 5276 Bullard Ave.

Mid-City Recovery Planning Committees First Monday of every month, 6:30 pm, in the chapel of Grace Episcopal Church 3700 Canal St. Call (504) 905-9713.

Zion City Neighborhood Improvement Association Monday, July 9 , 7-8:30pm St. Matthias Catholic Church 4230 Broad St.

Other Meetings Citizens Road Home Action Team (CHAT) Wednesdays, 6:30 p.m., in the old Business Administration Building, Room 212, University of New Orleans. The advocacy group meets weekly. Visit chat.thinknola.com.

Hispanic Forum A broad discussion of all the issues relevant to the Hispanic community of the New Orleans region.

Fridays:

1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.

An Inner-city Wellness & Health Project Using Culture to Promote Wellness & Healthier Lifestyle.

All age groups are welcome!

(504) 569-9070

If you and your neighbors would like to participate, with a block party or neighborhood walk, contact your police district. http://secure.cityofno.com/

Upper Ninth Ward Farmers Market

United States Social Forum

portal.aspx?portal=50&tabid=24

Wed. June 27—Sun. July 1 Atlanta, Georgia If another world is possible another U.S. is necessary.

Lower Ninth Ward The US Social Forum is more Farmers Market than a conference, more than a Sundays, 1-4pm, St. David networking bonanza, more than Church (St. Claude at a reaction to war and repression.

Lamanche) The USSF will provide space to build relationships, learn from National Night Out each other's experiences, share Against Crime our analysis of the problems our The "24th Annual National Night communities face, and bring Out" (NNO), a unique crime/drug renewed insight and inspiration. prevention event is scheduled It will help develop leadership for Tuesday, August 7, 2007.

2007 and develop consciousness, Last year's National Night Out vision, and strategy needed to campaign involved citizens, law realize another world. enforcement agencies, civic https://www.ussf2007.org/ groups, businesses, neighborhood organizations and local officials from over 10,000 communities from all 50 states. In all, over 34 million people participated in NNO 2006.

Saturdays, 1-4pm,Holy Angels Convent (St. Claude at Gallier)

Road Home Application Deadline

6/22, 3315 Maine Ave., Kenner

Events

Faubourg Marigny Improvement Association

Eracism Discussion Group

3rd Monday of the month 6:45pm St. Paul Lutheran Church 2624 Burgundy St.

Saturdays, 10-11:30 am 3606 Magazine St., Topic: race relations in New Orleans.

Call 866-1163

Sistas Making a Change Monday & Thursday 6:00 to 8:00 pm Ashe Cultural Center

NNO is designed to: •Heighten crime and drug prevention awareness; •Generate support for, and participation in, local anticrime programs; •Strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships; and send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back.

July 31, 2007 Family Resources of New Orleans is looking for homeowners who have yet to apply to the Road Home Program. The Deadline to submit applications is July 31, 2007. If you need assistance with completing and submitting an application, please contact 822-8519 to schedule an appointment.

Family Resources of New Orleans 817 N. Claiborne Ave. (504)822-8519

NPN’S THE TRUMPET

Green Orleans

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Green Orleans # %&' 3 ' 0 Uma Nagendra Neighborhoods Partnership Network

S

Photo by Travis Leger

ince Katrina’s powerful winds and standing water drowned and denuded many of our city’s trees, holes plague the canopy. The storm damage has been done, but the story isn’t over. Our hardy oaks stood up to the trial of nature, but construction has the potential to be even more destructive to the canopy in the long term.

Construction poses a two-fold threat to historic trees: developers often fell trees next to building sites, but even trees that are saved during construction may suffer long-term damage from stress. The same Live Oaks that are highly resistant to both water and wind are extremely sensitive to construction pressure on roots. Rebuilding and development are stressful for everyone—we’re fighting for the money, rights, and control to build what we want where we want it. We’re also trying to repopulate the urban forest and make our city greener.

Sometimes these two options seem to be mutually exclusive.

Residents of the Carrollton area, however, agree that no one should have to choose between living in a developed area and having healthy trees. The Carrollton Area Network has joined the forces of neighborhood groups from Maple Street to Gert Town in order to ensure that their corridor of oaks doesn’t disappear in a cloud of construction. Their two-pronged plan directly addresses the two-fold threat of felling and long-term damage. First, they hope to register as many oak trees as possible as “significant trees� with the Live Oak Society. Secondly, they plan to push city council to adopt a revised ordinance giving the Department of Parks and Parkways more power to enforce tree protection.

Their struggle began at the corner of Claiborne and Carrollton, shared by a large oak tree and a Chase bank that is currently under renovation. Only the tree survived Katrina, but only the bank will survive construction. Due to proximity to the building, Chase has decided to cut down the oak before construction begins. Helen Jones, an active member of the Carrollton Area Network representing Palmer Park Neighborhood Association, petitioned

Chase to save the tree by moving it across the street to Palmer Park. Her proposed idea was turned down, however, because the size of the tree made the project not physically feasible and far too costly.

Not long afterwards, the developing Walgreens across the street cut down a number of distressed oaks. Two of the four corners were now treeless, or destined to be. Between them lay Palmer Park, a small spot of green already stressed by sharing a corner with a bank, an abandoned grocery store, gas station and bus stop. When Helen Jones saw that FEMA had marked a line of oak trees in the park, she sprang to action. “I had to preserve the trees!� she said.

Armed with a tape measure and a pad of paper, Helen recorded the location of all the trees in Palmer Park that had an eightfoot trunk and whose branches reached at least a hundred feet. These dimensions qualified them for protection by the live oak society. “There are 36 trees in Palmer Park. 23 of them were large enough.� By submitting her measurements to the society via their website (see bottom of page) she was able to successfully protect many of the park’s trees.

The Carrollton Area Network hopes to continue registering with the Live Oak Society many trees down the length of Carrollton Avenue. They are starting with the area represented by Carrollton Riverbend Residents’ Association, Central Carrollton Association, and Northwest Carrollton Civic Association.

Registering trees with the Live Oak Society, however, does not protect them from development and construction, especially in work done by the city itself. Many oak trees are damaged when new curbs are put in. The Carrollton Area Network’s second strategy tackles the problem at a city-wide institutional level. Led by Barry Kohl of the Sierra Club, they have been examining the codes and ordinances in place for tree protection on city property.

The city’s current ordinance dates back to the 1950’s. Although it offers guidelines on how to properly care for trees on city property, as Barry Kohl says, “it doesn’t have a lot of teeth in it.� The ordinance leaves the Department of Parks and Parkways virtually powerless to effectively enforce these rules, so that utilities and the

- # ''&"" &# 0 - 0

Residents of the Carrollton area agree that no one should have to choose between living in a developed area and having healthy trees.

Street Department can easily override its authority.

The struggle to enforce city accountability for tree protection began before Katrina and the Carrollton Area Network.

Kohl and other tree activists formed the group New Orleans Citizens for Urban Trees (NOCUT) to protect the city's municipal trees starting in 1997.

When, in 2001, the Street Department cut down many mature trees on Burthe and Hampson streets without alerting the neighbors, NOCUT stepped up. In response, NOCUT met with mayor Morial and his staff in 2002 to develop the Chief Administrative Policy no. 104, which was designed to inform neighborhoods of the impacts that city projects would have on trees. "But we don't know whether it has been adopted by the Nagin Administration," said Kohl.

In numerous conversations with city officials, Kohl and other members of NOCUT learned that the Department of Parks and Parkways were unable to challenge the Streets Department and utilities. NOCUT

drafted a tree protection ordinance in 1998 to amend the power imbalance. Although NOCUT had to withdraw the ordinance due to politics in 1998, Barry Kohl is revisiting the revised ordinance with the Carrollton Area Network. Their plan is to put the Department of Parks and Parkways on equal footing with the other city departments.

If the ordinance passes, the Streets Department and Utilities will need to inform neighborhoods of their plans to cut down trees, and there will be steeper fines for transgressing guidelines on city property. Although the ordinance was unsuccessful nine years ago, the Carrollton Area Network is optimistic. As Helen Jones said, “This time, [Barry]’s not alone‌He has a lot of community support.â€? “It will hopefully be submitted sometime this year,â€? Kohl said. “Now there’s interest again in the trees.â€?

Visit www.louisianagardenclubs.org and click Live Oak Society for more information about the Live Oak Society.

8

NPN’S THE TRUMPET

JULY 2007

00&#0 # +&- '4 f r o m I n d i a # '&)*+ &#

Photos by Melody Robinson and Nathan Shroyer

By Nathan Shroyer Neighborhoods Partnership Network

L

ike most New Orleanians who travel out of the city, I consider myself a selfappointed ambassador of New Orleans.

Recently, I had the great privilege of visiting the sub-continent of India as part of a delegation of grassroots social activists whose work had been either affected or initiated as a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The premise of the trip was to exchange and share experiences and insights with our counterparts who are organizing people's restoration and recovery after the Tsunami disaster in the Indian coastal states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. While we are geographically oceans apart, we have much to offer in the similarities of the difficulties and opportunities with which we struggle.

The participants who made up the Katrina/Rita delegation did not come from positions of high office or privilege, but were all community organizers whose sense of the wrongs inside of Katrina called us to establish new initiatives to

A delegation of local, grassroots social activists recently traveled to India to learn from their Tsunami recovery counterparts.

called us to establish new initiatives to help people out, mostly while we, like you, were still struggling to put our own lives back together. We traveled under the sponsorship of Action Aid International, a very interesting non-profit based out of South Africa, and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, a U.S. foundation long committed to social justice.

Over the next three Trumpet issues, we will share with you reflections, photographs, links, and video images from par-

ticipants among the Gulf Coast delegation to India. These varied impressions and expressions are being presented in anticipation of a visit in August by a number of the Indian community organizers who hosted our May, 2007 visit.

It is the intention of this series to connect disaster, social justice, and human restoration work across borders and to share lessons learned from the ongoing recovery work happening since the Tsunami disaster, particularly those lessons

00 # 1 &' 3 # 9 00&#0 '# ) .4 ' 00'&& 0 ' # #) 0*# ( &+ " 6*0 + + - 0 0

By Bill Quigley Human Rights Lawyer and Loyola Professor

T

he tiny old woman with the tanned deeply lined face stood up and told us what happened to her coastal village of 130 families in Tamil Nadu India, along the southeastern coast. Before the tsunami, villagers survived by gathering prawns by hand from shallow waters and by hiring out to work for people who owned fishing boats.

Without warning, on December 26, 2004, a thirty foot tsunami wall of water roared through their coastal village sweeping aside everything in sight. The elderly woman was knocked down. With her hands she demonstrated how she was violently tumbled over and over by the powerful following waves. Finally able to wrap her arms high around a coconut tree, she clung to it as her clothes were ripped from her body by the surging waters. When the waters receded, every house in her village

was gone. The tiny woman, now quietly crying as she told her story, was ashamed as she searched for something to cover her nakedness. She started searching for her missing family and the rest of her village.

Many were dead. Some are still missing today. Those who remained were homeless.

Today, some families in her village live in newly constructed 340 square foot concrete homes constructed by international relief agencies. Others live in temporary thatched huts perched on top of their neighbors’ new homes. All are trying to rebuild their lives.

The December 26, 2004 earthquake in the Indian Ocean measuring 9.3 in magnitude sparked-off a series of devastating tsunamis that killed over 230,000 people and made millions homeless. Since then, Indian community organizations have struggled in the face of unprecedented problems to try to recover and rebuild.

A group of grassroots Katrina social justice activists were recruited to visit with our Indian counterparts from the most dev-

astated areas of coastal India to see what we could learn with and from each other.

Together we visited numerous villages up and down the Indian coast and listened to hundreds of people describe how the tsunami and its aftermath continues to impact them. We listened to displaced families as we sat on woven mats in steaming thatched huts as the temperatures passed 105. An entire fishing community told us their story under towering palm trees backed by the brilliant blue Bay of Bengal of the Indian Ocean. We ate rice, yogurt and fish off of banana leaves with our fingers while we visited with one village.

Others shared what happened as we walked in the blazing sun through fields of women and men digging dirt with shovels and pails to construct a new road.

We shared the experiences of our gulf coast communities and the massive and continuing human rights violations perpetrated against Katrina survivors both at home and internally displaced. We shared a slide show illustrating human and civil rights violations after Katrina. After find-

that international supporters of the Gulf Coast Recovery feel may have relevance to our recovery.

Through this series of Trumpet articles, our delegation, colleagues, our readers, and Trumpet writers will include stories, vignettes, aphorisms and observations that describe a world that benefits from collaboration and exchanges between people and cultures. Please join us on our travel across the world as we prepare to learn from our Indian visitors in August.

!*." 03 ) &# * 0) 41 4 :1 ;;7 .4 &((&# ' (0 &' ing out that police fired weapons to turn away fleeing people trying to escape across the Mississippi river in New Orleans, the continuing displacement of hundreds of thousands, and the government’s determination to demolish thousands of usable public housing apartments, our Indian friends were incredulous. One said “This would never happen in our country.

If this happened in India, there would be a revolution!�

Over hundreds of miles and days and nights of visits, we and our Indian friends

The delegates eating rice, yogurt and fish off of banana leaves with their fingers.

00&#0 # +&- '4 f r o m I n d i a

found tremendous similarities in our experiences between the Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.

Our governments, on all levels, have and continue to fail us. The needs of poor and working people have been mainly neglected. Incredible incompetence and apparent lack of sustained concern have combined to aggravate and amplify the effects of the disasters. It is primarily through the efforts of small voluntary organizations that any real progress is being made.

We released a joint Tsunami-Katrina statement at the end of our trip summarizing five of our joint observations. We first agree that our communities have each been the victims of disaster capitalism. After each of our disasters, the tremendous loss and suffering of our people have been seized upon as opportunities for profit by commercial and financial interests. The rebuilding processes have been driven not by the needs of the people, but by economic and corporate interests which have neglected and over-ridden the needs and perspectives of local communities.

Second, we agree that technological and bureaucratic planning for disasters is not enough. Communities at risk of disaster must be respected and involved in all preparations for disaster. While we recognize the important responsibility of government in preparing for disaster, we have seen the failures of preparation that is based on technology alone. We have also seen the failures of bureaucratic and professional planners. These failures will continue until the communities themselves are given a priority in preparing and shaping and executing planning for disasters. All preparation must be sensitive to community needs and traditions.

Third, before, during, and after disasters, the needs of the least powerful must be made a priority. This is nearly the opposite of what has been occurring. These needs include the full implementation of human rights to housing, land, occupation and livelihood, freedom from discrimination, and the right to return.

Fourth, we insist on gender equity. Our experiences have clearly shown us that there is a systematic violation of the rights of women in every phase of disasters. In planning, preparation, evacuation, distribution of relief, rebuilding, the right to return, and in every phase of policy and decision making, the presence and participation and value of the role of women have been seriously inadequate. The human rights of women must be immediately respected as their suffering and disrespect continues today in both our countries.

Fifth, we demand accountability and transparency. Anyone who is raising, taking, or spending money in the name of our communities must be accountable to our people. We call specifically for our gov-

ernments, our NGOs and our non-profits to let our communities know how much has been raised, how much has been spent, how all funds have been spent, how it has been spent, and each organization, corporation, governmental unit or person who

This need continues now and will continue until it is met. Recovery is not only about the physical aspects of rebuilding a place to stay or finding a job or getting some compensation. It is also about relationships. On the gulf coast in the US and In-

0 # ( &' # ' &% 0&" ) ' 41 2 3 - & ' ( #) # &*'0 "- 0 #) &*' &' # < &#0 3 + &# + ##& . +&#%*0 ) 2 3 '& ' 00 receives any funds. Our communities must participate in all these decisions. In order to have true community directed participation, we insist on our rights to accountability and transparency. Our joint TsunamiKatrina statement can be supplemented by many other personal observations of this writer.

As social justice activists and organizers, we need to do a much better job of developing solidarity. We are battling for the very lives of our traditional communities and we need each otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ideas and support. We cannot afford fragmentation.

We cannot afford to consider one group more worthy or deserving than others. In the U.S., we need to do much more to forge linkages between the needs of coastal Louisiana and coastal Mississippi and the urban needs of the New Orleans metro area. Nationally, we need to strengthen our alliances with other communities fighting for justice. Internationally, we have much to learn from each other and we must build much better solidarity. Our Indian sisters and brothers told us if they knew what was going on after Katrina they would have demonstrated in front of the U.S. Embassy in India demanding the government respect our human rights. It is a tactic of our enemies to divide and conquer, it is our job to connect and conquer.

We must insist on rebuilding our own communities. In India, we found examples where the communities decided how to rebuild, chose to use local materials, and demanded and won the right for local people to do the rebuilding so they could learn new skills. We were shocked to find that many more new homes have already been built in India for their displaced than in the U.S. Non governmental agencies and nonprofits, many with the best intentions have come to our communities and have accomplished little good. They and the government must be held accountable. India is trying, we have much to learn from them.

There is a universal need after the trauma of disasters for what the Indian activists call â&#x20AC;&#x153;psycho-social counseling.â&#x20AC;?

dia we know there are hundreds of thousands of people who continue to deeply suffer the traumas of these disasters. They cannot â&#x20AC;&#x153;get over itâ&#x20AC;? without trained assistance. The same is true in India; however, the Indians are training volunteer community counselors to help villages and organizations identify the non-physical effects and to help people and communities heal.

In India the caste system creates invisible divisions and tens of millions of invisible people. Dalits, or untouchables, built magnificent temples as slave laborers but are met with violence if they try to enter

NPNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S THE TRUMPET

9

the temples their ancestors built. In the U.S., we use the systems of color to create our invisible people. No just solutions are possible without directly confronting the continuing existence and legacies of these systems.

At the same time, economic lines have been sharply drawn in both our nations. In the U.S. it is property ownership that draws the line. Two people who lived different halves of the same house for the same number of years are treated dramatically differently if one owns the house and the other rents. Property owners may get up to $150,000 in compensation in Mississippi and Louisianaâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;renters, nothing. In India, fisherfolk are eligible for compensation for their lost boats and new housing.

Those who worked on the boats for the owner are entitled to nothing. Like most economic injustices, these artificial human distinctions, often codified into unjust laws by those who profit from them, must be challenged and dismantled. Our shared economic class issues must be a point of unity for us, across lines of caste and race.

In both countries, if you plot the intersection of race (or caste), gender, and economic status, you will find those who are left out of the repair and rebuilding. In both our countries the disabled were left

10

NPN’S THE TRUMPET

JULY 2007

behind at every step. This is not an accident. These are all human decisions and can and must be reversed.

As an important part of solidarity, we have to keep reminding ourselves and our organizations that action cannot be confused with progress. After a disaster, we are all very busy. We have all been subject to countless planning meetings and consultations and we have tried to participate in our communities. But the test of all actions should be - “Does this help build, expand, or defend a movement towards justice?” If it does not, we must re-think it. Because unless we are building a more just world, the next disaster will prey on the victims of injustice just as much as these did. Our Indian friends reminded us that economic equity is the best way to reduce the impact of disaster.

Disaster victims in both the U.S. and India are crippled, confused, and buried beneath bureaucratic paperwork demands.

The approach in both countries is that one must prove they are eligible and worthy of assistance. Legal requirements and administrative schemes choke the distribution of help. Right, not charity is our common demand. Human rights, not bureaucratic eligibility criteria, must be the foundation for relief, recovery and rebuilding. People have human rights to food and shelter and the opportunity and assistance necessary to live a life of dignity. The government must respect and implement human rights. The degradations and delays and disrespect of eligibility applications for basic human necessities must cease. Human rights must be our shared basis for going forward. Internationally, if the bottom of the North can link up with the bottom of the South, human rights will be our shared language.

The final and best piece of advice I received was from T. Peter, head of the Kerala Fish Workers Association. Their organization has struggled with elected officials, private companies, and the caste system in all phases of life. He leaned over, his dark face split by a broad smile, and told me what we in the U.S. should be doing to bring about justice for our gulf coast: “Less meeting, more fighting!” And so we will.

Bill is a human rights lawyer and professor at Loyola University New Orleans.

Bill recently returned from India where he and other Gulf Coast community activists toured hundreds of miles of coastal communities devastated by the Tsunami. They met with Indian community members to discuss common challenges and strategies to rebuild their communities. In August, the Indian people will be visiting the gulf coast. The trips were sponsored by ActionAid International and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Bill can be reached at Quigley@loyno.edu.

Under the shade of palm trees, a shell is all that remains of a house destroyed by the tsunami (top, left).

A man has started and plans to expand his own business selling goods out of his home (top, right).

An old woman, seated, wearing the green sari in the photo, told the delegates how she survived the thirty foot waves by clinging to a coconut tree .

THE PEOPLE IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

NPNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S THE TRUMPET

11

Photos by Travis Leger

The People in your Neighborhood

URG and AmeriCorps volunteers cleared the playground for new equipment. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mostly everything has been donated and volunteered,â&#x20AC;? said Dibert teacher Gina Dornan.

% &* * ")

By Travis Leger Carrollton Writer

O

n Orleans Avenue, in early February, I found the John Dibert School, a white three-story building Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d driven past plenty of times before but never noticed. The school re-opened in September, 2006, for Pre-K to 8th grade students. Children are bussed in from pretty much everywhere, including N.O. East and across the river.

I parked on a side street and entered through the front gate facing Orleans.

Turned out I was a little early.

The custodian lead me upstairs to Gina Dornan, a kindergarten teacher, now twenty

3 &'4 &% . ' +3&&" 0 ' #0%&'( &#

years in the education business, who was on the committee to get new playground equipment. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Where are the guys?â&#x20AC;? she asked me. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know, Iâ&#x20AC;ŚI just showed up,â&#x20AC;? I said, a little confused.

I explained I was with NPN, the Neighborhoods Partnership Network, and was there to cover the clean-up day for The Trumpet. As we walked outside she told me a group of juniors and seniors from The Dunham School, a small Christian school in Baton Rouge, were coming this morning to clean up the grounds â&#x20AC;&#x201C; here she handed me a list of the things they would do â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in preparation for Build Day, February 13, where a group of 250 volunteers made up of Fannie Mae employees, com-

munity members, church members, and parents would put together new playground equipment given to them through a grant from KaBOOM!.

We stood before the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s current playground. A dull slide stood alone. A cone-shaped ball basket sat atop a metal pole. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot that has to be done,â&#x20AC;? she told me, â&#x20AC;&#x153;And a very short time to do it in.â&#x20AC;?

A Few Good High School Students KaBOOM! began its Operation Playground in December 2005. Their goal is to build 100 playgrounds in communities affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

along the Gulf coast. John Dibert School is one of six New Orleans schools that would see the installation of its new playground on February 13. The other five were Martin Behrman Elementary Charter School, McDonogh #32 Charter Elementary School, Benjamin Banneker School, Einstein Charter School and Benjamin Franklin Elementary School.

Gina then took me upstairs explaining that in December the school had a Design Day. Each class had selected two student representatives to meet with KaBOOM! leaders to design what they thought was the perfect playground. She showed me a wall display of the drawings done by those students.

12

NPN’S THE TRUMPET

They included space for a hundred yard dash, basketball court, playhouse and soccer field. Ultimately, the school chose the pieces that they felt would meet the kids’ needs, creating the final design, with colors chosen by the school. It included a rock climbing wall and a modern threehoop, multi-level basketball goal.

“I can’t wait for my little ones to get out there and get to play,” she said.

A familiar voice came up from behind.

It was Phil Costa, a member of the KaBOOM! Committee and also Board

JULY 2007

gan. “The school was in pretty bad shape.

You can see right now it’s back. Not back to where it was. The cafeteria is right behind you, it’s not working yet. That’s one thing they don’t have here yet.”

“Hey,” Whitney called out, interrupting. “Guys in the back, I need y’all to come on up and quit talking.” They quieted and shuffled forward. Gina chimed in.

“The kids have cold sandwiches everyday for lunch.”

“Yeah, the kids here have cold sandwiches, but at least they have sandwiches,”

of girls got to work cleaning the grimy windows of the P.E. room. I could hardly see the girls working on the outside. I could just make out their rags rubbing back and forth on the rectangular panes.

I made my way outside and found two girls, Caroline Wise and Kate Chapman, squatting over a sparse butterfly garden. I asked them what brought them all out to New Orleans.

“Our school does service days,” said Caroline. “We have to have service hours to graduate.”

court. Under one of the hoops a student was perched on a wooden bench. He cut down the tattered net with a pair of scissors and replaced it with a new one. The lines on the court were faded, hardly distinguishable. Same for the four-square court nearby. Gina told me these lines were going to be repainted when the new playground was being built.

I took pictures with the borrowed disposable camera as I walked around, eager to capture good images of the school in its current state to compare with the pictures I

Little Maliyah Santee pauses for a photo before she takes a shot on the new basketball hoops where only months before the playground was as bare as it had been since Katrina.

Chairman of NPN. “We got a whole bunch of little kids outside,” he said. We walked downstairs and outside. There was a chilly wind. But, Gina pointed out, at least it wasn’t raining.

There were students exiting cars and busses. They came in wearing jeans and sweatshirts with “Dunham” on the front, filing past us into to the school. Whitney Alexander came up and introduced himself.

Whitney is Associate Pastor of Youth Ministry at First Presbyterian Church in Baton Rouge. He was one of the coordinators of this event with Principal Bartlett.

He is himself a New Orleans native and has two children who attend the Dunham School.

We followed Whitney into the noisy P.E. room where the students were gathered. He shouted over the din for the students to listen up. The roar faded out. He introduced Phil Costa.

“You’re standing in an area that had water up to your knees probably,” he be-

Phil said.

As Phil continued, Gina told me bottled water was brought in, sometimes, for the classrooms. The kindergarten classes had cups with their names on them to drink from and other classes drank from bottles.

The bathrooms had poor water pressure.

Thinking about the work the students from Dunham were going to do, I suddenly realized that I had forgotten my camera.

Gina said she had one, a disposable camera she kept in her car to take pictures of the progress, or lack of progress, as she corrected herself, on her Lakeview home. She got it for me.

After Phil finished Whitney called everyone together for a prayer. We formed a circle and held hands.

“Every little window you clean in a few minutes,” he began, “Every ounce of dirt that you rake outside, whatever you do is for the glory of God, and it’s not for you.”

The volunteers grabbed shovels and gloves, rags and window cleaner. A group

‘Have you done any gardening before?” I asked her.

“A little bit with my dad,” she said. “I know which ones are weeds.”

“That’s all you gotta know, I guess,” I replied.

“My mother gardens a lot,” said Kate, “So I know what flowers these are, for the most part,” she said as she weeded.

I found a picture of what the garden looked like in its prime. Behind posing, smiling students was a colorful, healthy garden. Hard to believe looking at it now, brown and empty.

On the other side of the fence boys shoveled mud from the curb and collected it in wheelbarrows, filling the air with the sound of shovels scraping the street. When the barrows were full they dumped the contents in the low spots around the school, where puddles had formed from rain the day before. The boys joked and laughed as they worked.

I stood beside to the largest puddle, which was next to the school’s basketball

was going to take in a week’s time. I met up with Gina and Phil again.

“We had a church from Kansas, right before Christmas, donate a basketball for every boy in this building,” said Gina.

“And all the girls got stuffed animals.”

“Did some of the girls want basketballs?” asked Phil.

“Some of them did, yeah. A couple of them did,” Gina answered. We watched the students hard at work, all around.

“Mostly everything has been donated and volunteered,” said Gina. “We have not had to come out of our pockets for anything.”

“That’s pretty phenomenal,” said Phil, “We didn’t have any money to come out of our pockets anyways.”

Meeting the Designers I returned to the school the following week to get some pictures of Hole Diggin’ Day. On this day, volunteers from URG and AmeriCorps were going to prepare the area for Build Day, which included the

THE PEOPLE IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

task of digging holes with an augur. Volunteers had pulled up the old equipment a few days before.

Gina was organizing things again today. I mentioned I’d like to talk with some of the kids about how they felt about the new playground. A few minutes later I found myself at a kids’ size table in the cafeteria talking with a few bright young students rounded up by Gina.

First there was the very impressive Lindsay, an eighth grader. She had poise and the confident, friendly smile of a leader. In fact, she was student council vice president this year, the first time she had ever run for a student council position.

When I asked her why she ran , she said, “I wanted to be a good role model.”

Lindsay was not a rookie when it came to interviews. She told me she was interviewed by Channel 6 when she was in the sixth grade here at John Dibert School, when it only taught K-6, for her efforts in the creation of the once thriving butterfly garden in the front of the school.

She said when she was chosen from her class to participate in the KaBOOM! sponsored Design Day, at first she thought it was “babyish,” but since it benefited the school, she was game. In her design she included a slide, jungle gym, monkey bars, swings and a sitting area for the “babies.”

“Nothing to get hurt on,” she said.

Before she left I asked her what her plans were for the future. For high school, “35” or Easton High, then Xavier and Tulane on her way to becoming a pediatrician.

Candace was a bright third grader who’s mother is a teacher at Clark High School.

Candace told me everyone tells her she’s creative. She likes to draw pictures and give them to her friends. When I asked her what her future held she didn’t hesitate a second: she wants to be a librarian.

“I love to read,” she explained.

She went on to say she wanted to go to Stanford because, “It’s one of the top three colleges in the country.” When I asked her how she knew that she said she saw it on TV. Her design included the usual slides and swings, but that’s not all. She also wanted a tennis court and a climbing wall.

“I like to climb,” she said.

Fourth grader Eric Fontenot was animated when he talked, quiet when he listened. He wore a good luck football medal around his neck on a lanyard. It’s also where he keeps the key to his trailer.

He told me he was a good running back.

“I spin around and stuff,” he told me.

He breaks tackles, too, but his weakness, he confessed, is his stiff-arm. “I’m scared

to get my fingers stuck in a face mask.”

He wants to either go to LSU, like his dad, or to USC. “To the Trojans,” he said.

After college ball, when he’s, as he put it, “a legendary football player,” he’ll become a rapper, and when he gets enough money he’ll donate it to the hungry people of Africa. He got the idea from his old school, where they donated food to a program there. He would also donate to the city of Opelousas, one of the places he lived after Katrina. He’d buy football equipment for the teams there.

Though he hadn’t thought of it, he was excited that there was a climbing wall in the playground’s final design. His included “swings and stuff” for the little kids and, of course, a football field.

A few days later, when I pulled up on the big day, Build Day, I came upon what looked like a small army camp. Volunteers were everywhere. The equipment lay in pieces ready to be assembled.

Check Up I visited the school recently to see how it was doing. Kids were all around, inside the fence, jumping rope, tossing a football, hanging out around the stone benches with checkerboards painted on them. As I walked to the front door a purple ball the size of a basketball flew threw the air overhead.

NPN’S THE TRUMPET

13

I made my way to the office to see if I could talk to the principal. I wanted to ask him how the kids were liking the new playground and if perhaps there was a noticeable change in their behavior. But he couldn’t see me, he was in a conference.

As I wrote my name and cell phone number on our generic NPN business cards, a woman came in and announced to the office that there was a food fight in the cafeteria and that she had caught some milk in her hair and on her shoulder as she tried to stop it. Maybe that was the answer to my question. Now, the kids were having lots and lots of fun.

Mr. Bartlett called me a few hours later. He said the school is glad to give the students more variety, more opportunities to use their imaginations and more ways to release their energy. The neighbors think it’s an attractive addition to the area as well. He also mentioned that Tulane had done a project to determine how the new playground affected the students, talking with them before and after the installation, but he hadn’t heard what the project had concluded.

In my own opinion, the school definitely looks nicer, which certainly lifts the spirits of everyone who runs across it, especially those who see it every day. As for noticeable changes in the children, well, it’s just a playground, right? What did I

Students enjoy the new jungle gym (top, left) and scale the new climbing wall (right) thanks to the volunteers who cleaned up the school ground, pulled out the old equipment and installed the new.

14

NPNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S THE TRUMPET

expect? Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just one little change for the better in this brave, new post-K world. It was a little step forward. From Gina Dornan, to little Eric to Caroline Wise to the AmeriCorps and Fannie Mae volunteers, to the people at KaBOOM! to the neighbors to you, the reader, and me, the writer, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a little more hope. And a little less hopeless.

The next day I went back to capture a few photos of students enjoying the new playground. It was the last day of school, Principal Bartlett had informed me, so it was my last chance.

When I made it to the school at around 2pm, the playground was empty. I went to the office and asked the secretary when the next recess was going to let out. She said I was a little late, there were no more, but she could help. She gathered three little girls for me.

They led me down the stairs and to the playground, which, they realized with excitement, they could have all to themselves for the next ten minutes. I asked them to show me how the new equipment worked, which they did with joy. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m gonna climb the wall!â&#x20AC;? one of them shouted running towards it. The other two alighted the colorful centerpiece of the playground, shouting, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Watch this! Watch this!â&#x20AC;? as they climbed up, beat the built-in plastic congo drums and jumped off again.

The wall-climber scaled the nearly sixfoot high wall, complete with hand grips , and climbed over the top and down the

JULY 2007

other side.

The smallest of the three, Maliyah Santee, showed me how she sometimes tries to run up the slippery three-slide-wide slide.

They showed me the three-hooped multileveled basketball goal but couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t find a ball to shoot with. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Is that one over there?â&#x20AC;? I asked and pointed ahead. All three girls ran over to fetch it and came back. The first shot was nothinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; but plastic net.

Then, to my surprise, they ran over to the only remaining piece of what was once the old playground. It was a smaller version of the centerpiece a few yards away.

Its plastic colors were all faded, quite dull in comparison to the bright new equipment. But they climbed up on it just the same and slide down the slide. They even crawled under the slide and huddled, all three of them, in what they called the â&#x20AC;&#x153;living room.â&#x20AC;? There was a picture of a campfire on one of the walls. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not real,â&#x20AC;? Maliyah assured me.

I was also pleasantly surprised to see what looked like an outdoor classroom under a tree. There were wooden benches arranged in a semi-circle and a blackboard. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Who teaches out here?â&#x20AC;? I asked. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We all do,â&#x20AC;? one of them said and they ran over to demonstrate, one of them at the board, pointing to imaginary writing with a crooked twig. The other two girls sat obediently.

They also showed me a small basketball hoop almost hidden in a corner. They

all took turns shooting. Little Maliyah was last. Before she shot she let us all know she was the best and then, from a good four feet away, threw a huge air-ball high and to the left.

They went on to show me a hop-scotch grid that was almost completely worn away.

It was not part of the plans for the new playground. Instead Alaska partially covered it; there was a giant map of the United States painted on the concrete, the states in different colors.

Amid all the excited shouts and questions I asked them if they spent any time on the other side of the school, where the basketball court is. No, they agreed, not without a teacher.

We headed back inside. I thanked everyone for their help. Maliyahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mother, Cheryl Joseph, who works at the school, told me not to forget to bring her a copy of this article when it was printed. I told her Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d bring a bunch.

On the way out the girls who showed me the playground waved from the basketball court. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I thought you girls said you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t come over here,â&#x20AC;? I said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re with a teacher,â&#x20AC;? they said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hey, look at this!â&#x20AC;? one of them shouted and ran over to the far side of the court. There they pointed to the name â&#x20AC;&#x153;John Dibertâ&#x20AC;? painted along the sideline.

It was clear. They were quite proud of their new school.

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Twenty-one months after Katrina, New Orleans continues to repopulate even as the advent of hurricane season triggers intensified evacuation planning and concern. Though local matching funds requirements for federal infrastructure aid have been dropped, substantial recovery obstacles remain, including the budget shortfall of the Road Home program, delayed city redevelopment plans, and skyrocketing insurance rates.

The Katrina Index is a joint publication of the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center and The Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program.

It is updated monthly at www.gnocdc.org

THE PEOPLE IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

2 '" #0

An exciting month for me and the Transient Blues column, as weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve begun to receive some reader feedback. This month, a relief workerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s personal story is a welcome and touching addition to the page as I offer this column to the whole community. So, write to us about life in your transient New Orleans and express yourself here!

NPNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S THE TRUMPET

15

Share Your Transient Blues With The Trumpet

We want to hear from you and so does the rest of the city so make your voice heard and get your story in our paper.

-Shana Dukes We are pretty open minded so don't be afraid to send us something.

' #0 # ' #)0

By Shana Dukes Broadmoor Poet/Writer

I

returned to New Orleans from postKatrina exile in New York over a year ago now. It doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seem that long ago to me, though. They say that time flies when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re having fun; but it also flies while you are swimming upstream.

And that it what it has been like to come home and try to maintain a static, or at least somewhat dependable, idea of home. Even the faces have changed. For my family, many of our trusted friends from before Katrina have yet to return to the areas in which they previously resided.

The ones that came right back in the wake of Katrina have since become weary of red tape and overpriced rentals and so, they have moved away.

Even as we miss the ones who have gone, we can look to the new arrivals and say, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nice to meet youâ&#x20AC;?.

In doing so, we have opened a new door in our lives while keeping the true New Orleans spirit of friendship and family alive in our hearts. That is a positive, right?

Sure, but what happens when our new friends move on or away? Considering our recent losses, the tax seems too great at times. The people who befriended me when I first returned to the city quickly transformed their roles in my life from strangers to the greatest sources of continued strength and renewable emotional energy. They have become much like a support group, though much less clinical. I cannot imagine what the past year might have been like without their collective presence.

However, I must say goodbye to a few here and there. It happens. Maybe it is a healthy reminder that life is not static, but ever transient. I could close the door to my heart and refuse to attach myself to more new arrivals, but that would be cheating myself. Instead I will choose to keep the good memories and try to keep in touch while remembering that when one door closes, I must open another and allow the next friend to pass through.

I can only hope that more New Orleanians will share this sentiment. If I know my city at all, they will.

So, safe journey to my departing friends. I have learned a great deal from you, so there is no loss. (But I sure will miss those backyard BBQâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s!).

T

hree months ago, I came to New Orleans as a transient relief worker. I made the decision to go to New Orleans because of a strong desire to participate, to know more and gain an understanding of the situation by being here rather than sitting at home shaking my head at media reports of philanthropic â&#x20AC;&#x153;Katrina fatigue.â&#x20AC;?

I put my bike in the back of a pickup truck and rode down to New Orleans from Indiana, a state that one New Orleans native has described to me as "flyover country." Rather than insult me, this remark was intended to cement my status as an outsider: if he didn't understand the simple college town I was coming from, I certainly could not understand the complex social and political realities faced by native New Orleanians.

Through my work with the 7th Ward Family Shelter, I have been told I was crazy by a woman overwhelmed by toxic houses and crime; thanked profusely; eyed suspiciously; cried to; and made fun of for turning my own suspicious eyes on a plate of turkey necks and rice sitting in the fridge. Apparently, my native Kentucky is not as far South as I thought.

I came to New Orleans to understand the realities of the situation. I expected to find stalling, setbacks, backwards police and upside down politicians; I also expected to find straight-up good people working hard to rebuild the city. What I did not expect was the extent to which the long history of corruption, racismâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and a powerful music and artistic traditionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; affect the political and social culture in the city today. All I can understand now is that it will take me years to uncover all of these layers and truly participate.

Before I came to New Orleans, I ran

For submission guidelines see page 2

Email: thetrumpet@npnnola.com Call: 504-940-2207 Write: The NPN Trumpet 2401 Esplanade Ave. N.O. 70119

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We cant publish everything we get but we do our best to let everyone express themselves in our paper.

into two articles about the rebuilding efforts that made me want to come here. One was a New York Times op-ed by Walter Isaacson in which it was reported that President Bush said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;If I were young and looking to make my mark or some money, I would move to New Orleans.â&#x20AC;?

The other article was by Naomi Klein in The Nation, in which she asserted, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Evacuees must be at the center of all decision-making.â&#x20AC;? Bushâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s statement asserts the power of the market; Kleinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the power of being a native, a community member. I did not come to New Orleans to exploit the booming housing market; I came here to work with people who made the difficult and brave decision to return home to a city devoid of old friends, jobs, houses. Because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s their home. Even if it isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mine.

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16

NPNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S THE TRUMPET

JULY 2007

!

Photos by Travis Leger

TremĂŠâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s neighborhood associations and school leaders plan to create strategies and programs to maximize the use of schools and community facilities.

' (AB

By TremĂŠ Community Schools Planning Group

I

n Spring 2007 the Greater New Orleans Education Foundation (GNOEF) entrusted Concordia Planning & Architecture, coordinators of the Unified New Orleans Plan, along with the Historic Faubourg TremĂŠ Association and Esplanade Ridge TremĂŠ Association with the development of a Community Integrated Schools plan for TremĂŠ.

Participation by the principals and leadership teams of four neighborhood schools, J.S Clark H.S., John McDonogh H.S., Mc 35 H.S. and Craig Elementary, provided a unique opportunity for parents, students, educators and the TremĂŠ community to create strategies and programs to maximize the use of school and community facilities. The relationship, development and work between neighborhood associations and school leaders signifies a fundamental shift, re-establishing â&#x20AC;&#x153;community ownershipâ&#x20AC;? of public schools.

The recommendations and strategies developed by the planning process and

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public meetings will help guide the Recovery School District (RSD) and the Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) in providing post-Katrina integrated neighborhoodbased educational opportunities.

The Recovery School District was created in 2003 by the Louisiana Department of Education to allow the state to take over failing schools, those that fell into a certain â&#x20AC;&#x153;worst performingâ&#x20AC;? metric. The RSD has responsibility for 112 public schools in Orleans Parish. The OPSB has 16 public schools under its authority and owns the school buildings and other assets of all the public schools in Orleans Parish.

In a visioning process built upon the Unified New Orleans Plan recommendations for District Four, participants in the TremĂŠ Communityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s School Planning Process were led through a series of public meetings intended to offer new ideas about school facilities and the relationship to community development. Community members identify, catalogue, and map neighborhood assets and opportunities.

They then develop potential scenarios for their learning community and achieve consensus on a final set of recommendations and a strategy for implementation.

seven out of the eleven schools in TremĂŠ are in use. Of these active schools, three are elementary and four are high schools.

The TremĂŠ Community Center, Municipal Auditorium & Mahalia Jackson Theater, as well as other community facilities, need rehabilitation and facility renovation to provide expanded programming and performance centers. Renovations in these facilities would result in positive impacts on the community and reinforce TremĂŠâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history and traditions. A number of cultural institutions such as the New Orleans African American Museum of Art, Culture and History, the Backstreet Cultural Museum, and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation each play a vital role in the communityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s identity and future.

Taking these facilities and institutions into consideration, members of the TremĂŠ community met at four planning meetings to discuss the use of schools as the center of the neighborhood. Through the process, a mission statement was developed emphasizing the communityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s great support of TremĂŠâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s public education by improving the relationship between schools, their community and the surrounding resources, ultimately creating schools as the center of

To produce the desired results the following goals must be met: develop a liaison between the schools and the community, develop private community resources to support school programs, create a new image of the schools, strengthen parental involvement and decrease truancy, and create a strong core curriculum in all schools while encouraging each school to have specialized programs that would set it apart from others.

In addressing their goals, the group focused on resolving the lack of resources for teachers and students, the absence of social services for students, the absence of support services, and the need to increase participation of parents. From the outset of the meetings, the community understood the assets a school provides to a neighborhood and how it can become a nucleus of activity. Potential was recognized in using the school facility for a health center, cultural activities and shared performance space, sports facilities, and for services such as vocational training, GED and adult education courses, financial assistance, and counseling.

Community participants in the meetings identified ways to make connections

THE PEOPLE IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

sponses included improved communication with school leadership, engaging service providers, facilitating dialogue with the greater community through marketing, re-establish tourism opportunities, improve library access, and explore small learning communities. Additionally, an information campaign should be built through a network between the schools and neighborhood associations.

Community members suggested Tremé schools re-design their curriculum to reflect and preserve the indigenous community culture, specifically by focusing on the historic significance of Tremé as the oldest African American Community in the U.S., founded before America became a country. Promotion of this history can be established through every educational opportunity and programs within institutions of higher learning. Historic arts such as sewing and design could be added to the curriculum using Mardi Gras costumes.

Also along this theme of arts, the schools can be involved in the film industry, connecting to the new production studio in Lafitte. Courses in this field could teach both production and marketing. All of these connections to the community can be made by re-establishing student internships with local businesses.

Establishing a new curriculum should enhance, but not override basic skills in reading, writing, and arithmetic. Students

must still be able to pass the LEAP test and move forward educationally and eventually move into a global marketplace with experience and confidence. To this end, every student should have access to a computer, be involved in business courses, and have public speaking opportunities.

Participants indicated the larger community issue of violence must be addressed in the schools by creating a relationship with police and creating programs in violence awareness and conflict resolution campaigns. This is particularly important in troubled schools. Other broad community needs, resulting in a boost to neighborhood quality of life, include increasing parental involvement and addressing the problem of truancy. There is hope that these social issues may be addressed by bringing intergenerational activities and neighborhood focus into the educational facility.

The Recovery School District and Orleans Parish School Board recently announced a New Orleans Schools Master Planning initiative involving every school property throughout the city. Once again neighborhood organizations and citizen planners are positioned to lead the recovery effort!

NPN’S THE TRUMPET

17

18

NPNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S THE TRUMPET

JULY 2007

Poetry

What followed the clearing of rebukes

Through this life

and fallen pieces from the storm chutes

let me travel carefully.

after the sun itself obscured in midday

Always with the Passion of the Dawn,

hid under a veil shroud of dust and air-born jettison.

Vibrant hues of amber, translucent amethyst.

Waters receded leaving behind bordermaps

Shadows giving way to the Dawn.

over walls, tarmac, soaked dark trunks

Refusing to be denied, driving of the darkness.

and a sudden brightness embodied the sky

With the gentle caress that only passion brings.

as if the air itself had liquefied to the very essence of light.

Loving outstretched arms, embracing the horizon.

Filled-silt crevasses of blue green mosses,

Earth basking in her warmth.

small shoots heading out, purple dandelions parceled cleared lots.

All aglow.

In the city, we only heard of destructions, decomposition,

Darkness yielding to the light.

the innards of New Orleans turned inside outâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;stench,

Darkness once the powers that be,

corpses, oil spreading over waterâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a Venice of nightmares,

now submissive to the Dawn.

a paper described it, almost deserted, clammy,

For her passion all afire will not be denied.

reverberating silence like the bottom sound of a gongâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Come, greet the new day,

a reflected gleamâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;warmth of a copper ray

as earth is reborn.

the sun lingered slow like honey drip

I am the Dawn.

the very color from a trumpet

Cool, yet all aflame.

implicit pulse beneath the silence.

Reaching out with

High on a balcony flowers still grew through the Spanish wrought irons

loving arms.

chrysalides of orange hues under leaves

Embracing,

phlox red blooms out of season

touching,

something unseen before the hurricane

tasting the droplets of crystal that capture the sunlight.

nature tossing its clock

I give so freely,

great monarchs swirled free slow above windows

Love that is like a breath of morning air.

passing over our faces, lending us new eyes to see above,

I am the Dawn.

showing us lightness, the counter weight of gravity.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Jean-Mark Sens

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Priscilla Baca y Candelaria

POETRY & CREATIVE WRITING

NPNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S THE TRUMPET

19

Creative Writing

My friend called and said his girlfriend wanted me to write something about the French Quarter.

And I'm thinking thanks but what do you mean and I live here and everyone writes about the French Quarter and I...

And he says, "About before, during or after the storm."

Oh. We almost didn't leave the Midwest for the first visit. An ice storm was painting the way down silver with ice. I gripped the wheel and looked over at Dan as we hit a highway lined with grey trees dripping Christmas and said, "Should we turn around?"

"Maybeâ&#x20AC;Ś Want to?"

"Yes." "Okay." He picked up the guidebook and started to read, out loud.

I kept driving.

When we turned off the highway and eased into the pastel colors of the French Quarter where solid buildings squatted around the edge of the streets, plump happy buildings dressed as Easter eggs.

Behind us, in the rear view mirror, rose stale downtown buildings from Anywhere Else.

Ruthie still rode her skates and asked for a beer and a couple of cigarettes, one for later. Artists and Tarot readers unfolded their skills along the grey stones in front of St. Louis Cathedral. Gutter punks shed songs and black along the lower end of Decatur. Drag Queens winked and waved, bold, like the food and music that filled the streets and air.

The air was different: coffee beans, sweat, sugar, a liquid blue light of sex and living just under your feet and in the sky going all funny above.

Everything was different here colors, street names, shadows. A Bowie song in my mind rang out "boys, toys, 'lectric irons and TV's' and Dan sang out loud, 'My brain hurts a lot!' We kissed. Dan patted my shoulder and quoted Joni Mitchell, "Well, 'In France they kiss on Main Street.'"

"We aren't in France."

He sighed, "We're in the French Quarter."

"Oh." The storm came and tried to rip it all out. Every thing went black and hot and dry. No water. Trees and broken bits of history in the streets. Out side the wonder-

land of history and sorrow, was a wasteland of horror. Empty-eyed folk walked through the Quarter, shopping carts filled with belongings or kids on bikes doing the wrong thing, shoe boxes and desperate grasps at hope on their shoulders; mothers with tons of bags of potato chips and no water to drink.

After it hit, some of us hung on in cracked Easter eggs with split sidewalks and heat eddies in our dark houses, prying our windows open wishing for wind.

The Quarter had been a color draped film; it became a military movie â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a week too late. Blushing boys from the Midwest with guns and tanks and bored: too late.

A guy yelled at me as I walked down the sullen sad Chartres, past what was once La Madeline's. It was hot. Day four.,Three gutter punks huddled near him, a girl and two guys. Each drinking and smoking and scared.

"Hey!" I looked at them.

"Got a cigarette, man?"

"No." "Hey, man?"

"Yeah?" I could not stop my self. I hadn't talked to anyone for days. Few of us had.

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"I love you."

I turned and looked at him, "I love you too."

I walked across the square. The pigeons were all settled at the other end, near the edge of the Barroness Pantalba's masterpiece; in that dark corner of a restaurant that was shuttered, eating crumbs tossed from an androgynous black being, breast bare and low; I adverted my eyes: I'd seen too much already. I wonder, but don't care, if that was a fat guy or a fat woman. It's the Quarter. And I cry as I walk on.

The damage in the Quarter was physic, artistic, historic. Other areas were bathed in death. There is no comparison. We know that.

We wonder what happened to Ruthie, did she get out of the home she was sent to long before the storm, or did she vanish, wishing for a beer and a cigarette for latter? We wonder who in the world dyes Jim's hair and why the Royal Street Grocery is empty. We wonder about the odd folk who live and float here, wanting to escape the Anywhere Else that surrounds all but Ruthie and Jim and most of us. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Mike Deer

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