Living in New Orleans After Katrina (Graphic Essay)

[kpete]

Living in New Orleans After Katrina

Saturday 28 August 2010

by: Written by Jordan Flaherty, Images by Zeph Fish, t r u t h o u t | Graphic Essay









http://www.truth-out.org/living-new-orleans-after-katrina62738

[Scruffy1]

1. AWESOME

Having been there this July to do set up shots I still can't shake the feeling of loss.

[Swamp Rat]

2. Whoa, these cartoons do NOT reflect what our society in New Orleans is really like

Not only is the information inaccurate and exaggerated, it pits 'white' against 'black'.

Except for the newcomers, WE ARE CREOLE!!!... and we come in all colors, shapes, and sizes.

AND, our culture and society has NOT changed. The people who have moved here are adapting to OUR way of living.... the reason why so many came here.

Many of the so-called YURPS are native residents who have become planning professionals.

[KamaAina]

4. For one thing, "only" about a quarter of the population remains displaced

based on the most recent figures I've heard. Still WAAAAY too many, though. :(

Come to think of it, that would have been -- maybe still could be -- me: a long-ago resident returning to become a YURP. (Can a 46-year-old be a 'Y' anything??)

[Swamp Rat]

6. Please come home someday

unless you really like where you live now. :)

Yes, a lot of the so-called YURPS are 40-something native residents. Unfortunately, we often have to spend (waste) precious time trying to teach the non-native 20-something YURPS about what we residents really want, preventing them from making decisions based on some skewed construct.

"Can a 46-year-old be a 'Y' anything??" - YES!!! ... and we need YOUNG people like you! ;)

http://www.frenchcreoles.com/CreoleCulture/creoleexperience/7th%20ward%202010.html

http://www.frenchcreoles.com/CreoleCulture/creolesbydefinition/creolesbydefinition.htm

http://www.frenchcreoles.com/CreoleCulture/creolefacts/creolefacts_NEW.html

[KamaAina]

7. Any suggestions from the floor are most welcome

basically, I am a dilettante city planner sans degree. Being transit-dependent, I experienced the city on foot, bus, and streetcar -- as God/ess surely intended. Indeed, back in the heady days of '06, I would have gone, except that all the recovery organizations filled their slots with AmeriCorps people at 11 grand a year. That's pathetic even for the home town! :-)

[Swamp Rat]

8. Yep

Groups like 'AmeriCorps' and 'Teach For America' are fucking things up here. They have put a lot of locals out of work.

Now, I will have to spend a lot of my time trying to undo the damage they are currently doing to our society.

I hope you come back to NOLA and get a degree in planning. We have here, in the Crescent City, one of the best (and most affordable) programs in the south:

http://planning.uno.edu

They are doing a lot of work regarding public transportation. For ex., we just got new bicycle lanes on S. Carrollton Av.!!! :bounce:

[KamaAina]

9. If I were ever to have gone to grad school, I would have gone long ago

the problem is, as with AmeriCorps, how to support oneself while doing same. :(

Did you know? SoxFan, of all DUers, is a UNO alum (undergrad)!

[KamaAina]

3. For a while there in '06, it looked like it was gonna happen.

A grassroots neighborhood-based movement was emerging, led in part by occasional DUer funkybutt, who is involved in one of the oldest neighborhood associations in town:

http://www.broadmoorimprovement.com

The entrenched power structure actually felt threatened for the first time since at least the civil rights movement. I was ready to come back and be part of it. What's left can be found here:

http://www.npnnola.com

Somehow or other, TPTB rallied and crushed it, allowing the latter-day carpetbaggers to come in with their grand visions of corporate charter schools for all, no more public health care, etc. :cry:

[truedelphi]

5. K & R and thank you for posting this. N/t