The SMITH Diaries Project

Going Home to New Orleans Archive

Katrina One Year Later—Magic & Logic

Monday, August 28th, 2006

One year after Katrina, how’s the recovery going? Depends on who, where,and when you ask.
Many households — and even whole neighborhoods, like Broadmoor — are in full recovery mode, forging ahead on a wing and a prayer, without waiting for official approval or the long-awaited Road Home rebuilding funds. Thirty cottages in the Habitat for [...]

Backed Up in the Big Easy

Friday, July 7th, 2006

You know that old adage about how you should always take an umbrella along if you don’t want it to rain? Same thing applies to hurricane season, and if New Orleans gets through this one without an evacuation — let alone a major hit—it’s got my mom Millie, my sister Jill and me to thank. [...]

Bipolar and Proud of It (I think)

Thursday, June 8th, 2006

The whole world was watching when we re-elected “Our Mayor Ray Nagin,” and I’m glad the old swashbuckler won. Me, I voted for Mitch Landrieu, but that’s a mere technicality. I was coin toss undecided until the moment I pressed the button, torn between two candidates I actually wanted to win — [...]

Life on the Strip in the New Normal

Tuesday, May 2nd, 2006

MARDIS GRAS HAS COME AND GONE, along with the St. Patrick’s Day parade (both Uptown and Downtown versions), the Italian parade, the Irish-Italian parade, the towering food altars of St. Joseph’s Day, and a scaled-down version of the Mardi Gras Indians? annual St. Joseph walkabout. So for a brief period between now and the big [...]

Krewe Du Vieux 2006

Tuesday, May 2nd, 2006

“Oh, No!” Mr. Bill leads off the parade in the float bearing his creator, Walter Williams, King of Krewe Du Vieux 2006

The T.O.K.I.N. subkrewe puts Mayor Ray Nagin on the (G-)spot

Spoiled fridges were a favorite parade motif

Blue tarp blue is the new black

“Home is where the tarp is”

One-man Blue Man Group

Five months after my husband [...]

 
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