october 2005

10.october.2005 :: monday :: been a while, huh?

hello all, and sincere apologies for the long period of silence. there has been much afoot in the neighborhood(s). august came and went in a series of upheavals...both in our little world here and, of course, in the lives of millions of people who call the Gulf Coast home. evan and i were visiting my folks and friends in good old Greenville when hurricane Katrina came through Louisiana and Mississippi with all her might. we gaped at the images and stories on the television, holding each other with silent tears for every pang of feeling powerless to help. i am grateful to have seen the city of New Orleans last year before this. it is a beautiful city. forget Bourbon Street, and think of Audubon Park, City Park, the street cars, the cemeteries that tell the story of the years, the slow and steady warmth, the silent smell of hot grass, the everyday greeting from strangers...all of these things are the city of New Orleans, and i cannot imagine the city without them. i hope that the 'rebuilding' allows room for these things that make New Orleans what it is. i hope it is not rebuilt to look like any other city we know already somewhere else. it isn't, and shouldn't be. let it be a slow, organic rebirth; i hope we can learn from our mistakes and honor the forces of nature that have the power, and always will, to better any of our genius, artificial barriers. there is room for symbiosis with the river, with the Gulf. finding that symbiosis, i think, is the basis of a sustainable, great city of New Orleans. it just seems there must be a way to return to the roots of the City; to honor the cultures that built the city instead of erecting a shiny, new, impersonal, expensive glamor-town. can we do it??

and now..after declaring my love and my vision for the City of New Orleans, i'll thank it for claiming a distinct part of evan's spirit. there is no question that part of my being so in love is the slow, easy honestsy and fun that evan embodies, and that NoLa is a distinct part of that quality :) pisces, blue eyes, two meters, inquisitive, playful...a recipe for delightful infatuation, if you ask me! in the mean time, as those crazy Scots say, i'll do my best to do the best i can :)