new orleans

My second view of new Orleans far outshined the first, since the first consisted of the underside of the city. For some reason little towns put the train station in a quaint little section of town. In cities it is in the worst part of town. But that may be just a post hoc situation. Also, New Orleans has little trollies which ferry people in circular routes adjacent with tourist spots.

I would call new Orleans a place of destruction and rebirth. Traces of destruction abound, either from hurricanes or the constant swampiness of the area. Or just hard use. They cant seem to make flat roads or sidewalks, but they constantly lay fresh concrete. Stone may not last here, but plants thrive. In fact, plants with replace brickwork if allowed. Saying a house has water damage is synonymous with saying its over 5 years old.

I heard some wonderful jazz. I also learned about the birth of jazz; it started in the red light district in the midst of prostitutes and bars. “jazz” is actually the shortened version of the name “music of jezebel”, jezebel at the time being the slang for prostitute. How odd that a musical genre started for accompanying prostitution has become the music of the elite music lovers. But that’s new Orleans. Out of a destructive practice comes new music.

I visited the French quarter. Amazing area. Wrought iron balconies overlook the streets from the second story. Sometimes you can glimpse the courtyard within the buildings. The profusion of certain stores seemed a bit odd. First; bars and nightclubs of various flavors (including the ones sporting porn in the windows), then the tourist shops, then art galleries, then voodoo stores. I kid you not. Unfortunately, most of them looked to be serious about their produce. Even more distressing was the fortune tellers in the pedestrian mall. For those of you who haven’t been there, the pedestrian mall is the small area between Jackson square and the st. Louis cathedral. Not 30 feet from the walls sit little tables draped with brightly colored cloths and adorned with crystal balls and tarot cards, etc. I got a picture of it. Kinda reminds me of something in the Bible. Maybe the part where Jesus goes on a rampage against the money changers in the temple.

In the tourist shops, along with the t-shirts and the beautiful masks, sat baskets of alligator heads. I assumed they were plastic till I picked one up. Its real. Hundreds of these little and not-so-little alligators heads sit for sale in all kinds of shops. I asked a local why they have so many. Its cuz the people eat alligators and save the heads to sell to tourists. Very odd.

Decadence. I never fully understood decadence till seeing new Orleans. Im sure there are places which display it even better. It seemed like if you had the money, you could get whatever you wanted and you didn’t have to hide it. The houses in the garden district stand among huge gardens full of exotic flowers, but the flowers do not overpower the house. The houses were mansions pretending to be understated. Thankfully they weren’t gaudy, rather gorgeous rather. Sadly I think the sights of the nightlife ruined my vision of extravagant beauty for a while.

I had the rare privilege of a personalized tour of the ninth ward where Katrina hit and most of the areas that were underwater. So many of the houses flooded still stand today, tho not in the ninth ward. I saw houses with red X’s and the date on the front. This was the symbol for no bodies inside on the date checked. On some houses which have been fixed, you can still find traces of the flooding. And every once in a while an empty lot sits between houses. I got to walk through one abandoned house. Plaster crumbled down from all over the house. In the ninth ward, only 2 houses still stand, both are brick. Everything else has been cleared. But you will find very modernistic energy efficient houses standing on stilts. These homes even rich Seattleites would proudly live in. the locals call these “the brad pitt homes” after their patron. Very unsettling sight to see artistic homes in the midst of recently cleared chaos. Catfish was welcome after that sight. Good food clears away unsettlingness.