Life after the Storm

I made my first night trip to Bourbon Street last Saturday. It was exciting, crowded, chaotic, repetitive and sad. The best part of the night was dancing with Liz and members of a jazz band on the corner or Bourbon and Canal. The worst part was seeing a man get mugged as I was talking to him about how not to get mugged.

Nick and I stopped to talk to a guy playing his guitar for some money to get directions to Frenchmen street. He stopped what he was doing and was telling us, "Go straight down Bourbon for a couple of blocks. Don't turn right or left. And hold your purse so you don't get mugged." As he was saying this, three guys about our age took his glass jar, smashed it on the floor, took his bills, said "Sorry, man," and ran away. I was speechless. I reached into my purse and grabbed two dollars and gave it to him, feeling somehow responsible for his being mugged. I said something like, "Wow, I'm really sorry" and walked away. Nick and I sat on the curb for a little bit and then I felt like I should give the guitar guy more money, so I ran back but he had already left.

We made it to Frenchmen and ran in to the guitar guy twice more. The last time we talked to him he said, "Yeah, there was nothing I could really do. Besides, they flashed a gun at me so I wasn't going to do anything. No part of New Orleans is really that safe." I was completely shocked. I had no idea that as I stood next to him, the guys had flashed a gun. It made me really sad that things like that actually happened. We all hear of people being mugged and it seems like a common thing: "Yeah, people get mugged all the time. Shit happens." But I guess this put a human face on the victim. The guy looked so helpless as they took his night's earnings from him. His face said, "whatever."

New Orleans is happy and sad, fun and tiring, pretty and ugly. I guess people are still struggling after the Storm.

I added some pictures of Redd House. This part of the house is being renovated to house rising artist and musicians. It looks kind of cool, and as Marc said, it looks like "man meets nature" with the plants serving as roof tops.

Renaissance on the Boulevard

After a Zydeco-playin', restaurant-hoppin', penguin-stealin', Nathasha-esque weekend...things are slowing down to normal tempo again. Our visitors left on Monday after a very fun and eventful 4 days. Here is short summary of "Justin, Katie and Kendra Do New Orleans":

1. Thursday - Justin and Katie were picked up at the Louis Armstrong Airport by Kendra and Tim. We all met up during our lunch break and ate at Cafe Reconcile, a local restaurant on Oretha Castle Boulevard, better known as OC Haley. After a very slow-moving but enjoyable lunch, we all went back to work and our visitors went back to our condo. Most of us managed to get out of work early in preparation for Natasha Bedingfield's concert at the House of Blues. Yes, we bought tickets to see Natasha (after much persuasion from the boys). We all met up at Liz, Leah and Nick's apartment off of St. Charles, then took the street car over to the French Quarter. We had a few encounters with locals before making it to the show, including friending a bellboy named Brandon who taught us that the word "dank" is lame. Maybe the cool vibe at the House of Blues influenced me, but I actually applaud Natasha's performance, and have completely changed my mind about her. Seeing everyone jam out to "These Words" made me laugh, but she's a cool chick. After our dose of British pop, we ate at a nearby (I think) pizza place...I don't remember the restaurant's name, but I do remember the amazing philly cheese steak pizza.
2. Friday- Marc and I managed to get off work in exchange for a phone conference that never happened, so we got to hang out with our visitors while the rest were at work. The first item on the list was a stop at the local grocery store to stock up on food for the weekend. We spent $120 on groceries. I hate the real world. After that I took an accidental 2 hour nap while everyone else explored New Orleans and danced in the rain (no, seriously). Since we did the whole French Quarter scene the night before, we decided to have some fun indoors by cooking a family dinner and having a dance party. Kendra, Katie and Marc cooked banana pudding (delicious) and David, Justin, Tim and I covered the chicken parmesan and pasta. Yay family bonding!
3. Saturday- The day started with a phone call at 10am from Nick, telling us to gather everyone and head over their apartment for eggs. After breakfast we all took the street car over to Canal Street in search of the Zydeco Festival, filled with free music and not-free food. I was more drawn to the food than the music actually, and almost bought a humongous jar of honey for no particular reason. We ate at a restaurant on S. Peters, ordered a fried shrimp Po-Boy, and left very full. We came home around 7pm and took a team nap for 2 hours. We woke up with only enough energy to watch Forrest Gump.
4. Sunday- After much discussion, we ended up eating lunch for breakfast at a restaurant on Magazine Street with Liz, Leah, David, Justin and Tim. Some of us went back home to watch soccer games and the rest went to the much anticipated Audubon Aquarium. We literally ran from the Canal Street to the Aquarium to catch the Sea Otter feeding at 2pm, explored for an hour, then sat to watch the Penguin feeding at 3pm. Let's just say that penguins were almost kidnapped--that's how awesome they were. We ended up buying a penguin from the store to take home with us. His name is Jack. After petting some nerf sharks and getting almost attacked by a sting ray, we went back to the Zydeco Festival in search of crawfish. We found some at the same restaurant from the day before. By the time we got home it was 7pm.

You think you'll run out of things to do here, but the only thing you run out of is money. I have to admit, I've underestimated how expensive living in the city would be, especially when trying to experience all that it has to offer (who wouldn't spend $17.50 to see the penguin's at the Audubon Aquarium?). Our weekend ended with the harsh reality that we need to live off left-overs for the next week.

Back at work, things are starting to pick up speed. Marc and I are making progress with the Scarf Initiative (Marc set up Ashe's first E-bay account!). The Ashe scarf website is almost up and running...so be on the look out for it! Today we drove over to Gretna to talk to the owner of Pak Mail about their being our shipping department and business partner. We think he's a winner. After making a stop at Smoothie King and almost "boarding a ferry" (that's what Marc's GPS system told us to do...really), we made it back to OC Haley to take some pictures of Ashe's sales boutique. This section of Ashe's website has been under-construction for over a year now, which points to two things: the lack to staff working on specific areas and how much the staff have their hands full with other projects. Marc and I are the only people besides Carol, Christine, and Fatiha (a volunteer and employee of the French Market) working on the Scarf Initiative. It seems as though Ashe is involved in most cultural events in the Central City, which makes me wonder how they ever have time for a lunch break.

Although going through a period of disillusionment with the whole non-profit sector, Ashe has revived my optimism for grassroots initiatives and non-profits in general. It's amazing being alive and around the time when the words "social entrepreneurship" are being thrown around and slowly becoming a common term--especially in such a blossoming corridor like OC Haley. This historically significant boulevard is a sort of brotherhood of non-profits, all working together with different focuses to reach a common goal: to resurrect the entrepreneurial spirit of the Central City, and and revive the citizens of New Orleans. OC Haley, formerly known as Dryades Street, is truly undergoing a Renaissance. The goal for most of these non-profits is to provide the necessary resources and services to locals so one day the street can be made up of small businesses, instead of non-profits, like in the past. Ashe does its part in this process by offering support and services to rising artist and musicians from the Central City area. Many of the artists showcased at sales boutique lost hope after Katrina, but found it with the help of Ashe.

I am happy to see Ashe move forward. They are moving progressively: attaining sustainability, broadening their network of supporters, and thinking internationally. I feel fortunate to witness the organization at such a great point of their development.

"Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou."

There is much to see, yet much that is easily missed in New Orleans. It's easy to spot the nice: the antique shops on Magazine Street; a beignet at Cafe Du Monde; the fortune tellers by Plaza D'Armas. But only with a deeper look can one really spot all that is New Orleans. It might take living here to really see it, and it's strange to say, but I am living in New Orleans.

I started work at Ashé Cultural Arts Center last Thursday and have already been introduced to some of the local artists in the area, including a pianist called Lloyd who works with me at Redd's House. Ashé is a Yoruban word that most closely translates to "Amen, so let it be done." The organization uses the community as it's main creative force in an effort to reclaim the true identity of New Orleans' citizens. More than anything else, Ashé serves as a hub for rising artists and musicians--a place where they can broadcast their work and get the resources and aid they need. It's easy to underestimate this small non-profit, but every staff member is deeply involved with one project involving the community. I am currently helping out with the Scarf project, a fundraising initiative to make the organization more sustainable. The scarf is designed by a local artist, Kharam Ngati, and the scarf carries the spirit of opportunity. It's two-fold purpose is to make Ashe sustainable, while broadcasting a new local artist each year to design the scarf. It was showcased at the annual VDay, worn by the actresses of the Vagina Monologues, and has already gotten much attention my locals and visitors. The next step is showcasing them at Essence Music Festival on the weekend of July 4th.

My favorite part about interning at Ashe is the normal day-to-day conversations with my co-workers. For lunch Christine (artist/Director's assistant) and I usually drive out to local restaurants for food. As we drove passed OC Haley, she pointed out to a plot of land covered by rubble. She said, "See that there? That used to be the projects. The rubble used to be 15 feet high. It wasn't much, but those people have no where to live now. They're reconstructing it to something it never was." I asked her where those people are living now, and she said they are scattered around, but probably won't return to their old homes. Every day I hear a new stories of injustice and how Katrina affected the lives of the people here, but from what I've observed, most hold a positive attitude about the city, it's people, and it's future. The city is alive as ever with weekly performances on Lafayette square, a vibrant Farmers Market on Saturdays, cajun cooking at every corner, and jazz music pouring out of local bars (check out Tab Benoit's "Jambalaya" at the end of this post). This city's got soul.

On my first full weekend in the Big Easy, a group of us Tarheels and Dukies (in true Robbie spirit) saw the minor league Zephyrs baseball game at the Zephyr Field. After the Zephyrs won the game, we watched some fireworks and called it a night. On Saturday Liz and I went on a mission to find a public library, stumbling upon Milton H. Latter Memorial Branch on St. Charles. On Sunday Leah, Liz, Nic, Tim and I explored the French Quarter. We started off the day by watching an IMAX movie: Sea Monsters (we were probably the only people older than 8 years old). We started walking towards Cafe Du Monde, but we were stopped by a break dance performance in front of Plaza D'Armas. Of course, I was chosen to volunteer in one of their tricks. One of the breakdancers jumped over 5 girls plus one TALL guy by doing a flip. Thankfully, I didn't actually witness it since my head was down (but it's all caught on video). After this detour we all got some frozen and iced coffee from Cafe Du Monde. We explored the Plaza, almost agreeing to get our fortune read, taking pictures by the fountain (some of us got in ("you won't do it!")), and having a little too much fun investigating Liz's mace. We walked back to Canal and took the Street Car back to St. Charles. We didn't get home until 7pm, spending the whole day walking around.

Tonight we hope to see Washboard Lisa playing at the Apple Barrel by Meryl and Natalie's apartment. We are trying to see a local band each day this week--so stay tuned for details. This week David and Marc get here along with a visit from Justin and Katie! So far, my summer has been off to a good start.

Tab Benoit- "Jambalaya"

Goodbye Joe, I got to go, me oh, my oh
I got to go, pull the pirogue down the bayou
My Yvonne, she's the sweetest one, me oh, my oh
Son of a gun, we're gonna have big fun on the bayou

Said, jambalaya, craw fish pie, fillet gumbo
'Coz tonight I'm gonna see my machez amio
Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-oh
Son of a gun, we're gonna have big fun on the bayou

Well, Thibodaux and the Fountainbleaux, the place was buzzin'
Kin fold come to see Yvonne by the dozen
Dressed in style, go hog wild, me oh, my oh
Son of a gun, we're gonna have big fun on the bayou.

Beginnings of summer

I already know that I'm going to love this city.

Liz picked me up from the airport Sunday afternoon and after making a couple of wrong turns, we ended up in the French Quarter instead of the Garden District. First lesson learned: New Orleans is a city made up of one-way streets. Although by accident, we took a miniature tour of the Big Easy, driving through St. Charles Avenue, spotting the Mississippi River, and finally passing Magazine Street. I tried to take a mental note of each Jazz club we passed, hoping to go later in the week. I also saw the Street Car (not Trolley!) speed by, and I couldn't help thinking of Tennessee Williams (thank you, Mrs. Stearns). After settling in to our condo on the corner of St. Andrew and Camp street, Liz and I went to get lunch at Slice, a pizza and salad restaurant on St. Charles. We then made our grocery store run and went back to the condo. At night I went out to eat with Tim and his mom at a restaurant by St. Peters. We took a taxi back to the Garden District, and the cab driver said the quote of the day: "Don't cry when you're full. Only cry on an empty stomach."

On Monday we started off exploring Magazine street. We went in to a store that sold alligator heads and trilobite fossils (woo geology!). We then took the street car to the French Quarter, stopping on Canal Street. We walked to the Mississippi River, watched the steam boats go by, and made plans to come back to check out the Aquarium. We pretty much walked all day, which made me realize how hot it is in New Orleans. Second lesson learned: wear something you can sweat in during the day. For lunch we ate at the Red Fish Grill, the same owners of the place we went for dinner. If you ever go to New Orleans, you HAVE to go to Bacco on Chartes Street in the French Quarter. The lobster ravioli was probably the best thing I've ever tasted...ever. I start work on Thursday, so I plan to get to know the Big Easy more before then.