Let's tour the Lower Ninth Ward!

Near 7 a.m. this morning, while en route to the camp, Rob received a cell call that said, due to the rain (it was raining), our call time was postponed to 9:45 a.m. I beat a retreat to Uptown. At 9:45 a.m. Rob calls to say the call time was postponed to 10: 15 a.m. At 10:15 a.m. Rob called to say the day was called off.

This was unfortunate and yes we were angry. The rain was subsiding, the sun was peeking through, birds were chirping. Yet for some reason that initial storm created the decision to call everything off and present the volunteers -- FREE manpower who took vacation time here to work -- an opportunity to do squat. I felt like Rest A Cop but gyped of that $500/day.

I called the Methodists I heard were gutting homes. They called me back to thank me but because I was not in their "system," signing liability papers for a half day would not be worth it. I hear the Episcopals are working Saturday so maybe I'll show up there.

Rob took the free day as an opportunity to meet up with our team, eat lunch and see a movie. I declined, deciding instead to go to the jazz festival office to pick up my press credentials and then tour, by myself, the Lower Ninth Ward.

It was a day I will never forget.

I've probably been in New Orleans about 25 times over a course of 12 years. Yet I've only been to the Lower Ninth probably ... twice: I went up to the levees (they are high) and also to check out Fats Domino's house. This is a problem since most out-of-towners have never been there and if they did, why would they put down their margaritas and parrot hats to check it out in the first place?

What I learned from this driving tour was that the Lower Ninth was not the ghetto-in-squalor that news reports tell us. It was slowly being gentrified, some artists were moving in, some middle class blacks. Homes had character and especially -- dignity. A neighborhood association had been formed, I was told. I compare this to Bronzeville in Chicago, but without the grand austure homes on MLK Drive.

So I drove in. I encountered overwhelming sadness. I shot over 60 photos. Many are below. Some speak for themselves. I hope they present a picture of what that neighborhood is like now and the lives that vanished there. When we experience narratives through a filter, it just meshes with our preconceptions and in our busy lives, our preconceptions disallow us to fully experience What Happens. I suppose a blog is another filter. Yet unlike a sound byte, I hope this one takes a little more time than three minutes to absorb.

Before getting into specfics, here are some general photos.

Let's take a drive:

Convenience store with products still on the shelves:
Empty church, junk grass has claimed the parking lot.
This street turned into a cul de sac, just like in the suburbs. Why? Someone's house is blocking traffic.
The house on the corner turned a corner. Now it's tilted.
I think that's a fireplace with chimney. Whatever it is, it's last wall standing.
Spring is a beautiful season to be in New Orleans. Except scenes like this are bittersweet. Lush, pretty flora. Decaying empty home.
New Orleans is a sign crazy town. Way before Katrina, every corner was littered with signs: see this show, this band is coming to town, car wash Saturday, vote for me. The signs in the Ninth Ward are shouting louder. They are in spray paint on homes, telling anyone who drives by where to find the dead dog or dead cat, telling looters to leave their shit alone, shouting at the government, or telling neighbors to find them and if they're coming back. Here's a long look at the new reading in the Ninth Ward.

Someone on this block is telling everyone to leave their cats be. I don't know why. But it's everywhere.
This is the same cat house (see cat head in upper left) with signs all along the property asking looters to, before entering, think about this is something that would make their mother proud.
Most signs involving animals told people where to find the dead animals. And what kind of dead animals. This one says the dead chow is under the porch.
Dead dog this way.
This one was incredible. It reads "dead dog by fence ... killed by owner stupidity ... assholes!" I assume the owner locked the dog in then fled the scene. But we'll never know.
Another dog.
One dog dead, one still at large.
Dead still
Want harrowing? The sign reads "Patsy please watch my place they're breaking in"
Dog missing? This could be one of them. He was poking about acting very paranoid. Cats in this neighborood are reed thin too.
"Bell South has abandoned the Ninth Ward" Because there's still no electrical hookup after eight months perhaps?
This community garden -- and the one across the street from it -- both are not messed up lots with junk weeds.
A voodoo doll created from an old stuff toy warns looters to rethink messing with this home.
Reads "keep out grave robbers" and "NOPD NOFD sucks"
Unsure what to do after a major disaster? This pole offers you three options: Sell it, get involved in class action law suit or hire someone to gut it.
This picture is almost poetic. A bedroom set thrown around, leaving the bedpost almost outside the window with Mardi Gras beads hanging.
The Ninth Ward might be largely vacated but one person seems to be everywhere. She's busy while simultaneously lonely. Her name is the Virgin Mary.
A new meaning of the tree house concept.
This neighbor got it from both ends. One neighbor's boat and another neighbor's shed rammed into his living room.
There were signs of people trying to find beauty in the tragedy. An ornamental corner:

Beside the levee, a Christmas tree with decorations, flowers and a duck in the role of the star:
The few people seen were gutting their own homes. Yet some homes were far along. There is definitely a determination to keep this neighborhood home.
Read the writing on the wall, literally and figuratively: "Next time we are to vote for somebody who cares." My thoughts exactly and a fine way to end this post for the day.


Thanks a lot kids! See you for tomorrow's field trip to exotic lands our national leaders know nothing about and have never been!