Today I’m going to write about our tour of the 9^th Ward and St. Bernard Parish as well as a little bit about Southern Decadence 2006.

Our last day in New Orleans, our friends that live there drove us through the 9^th Ward and St. Bernard parish. We have heard much about these sites over the year following Katrina, but we wanted to see for ourselves. Though just over a year ago it was a thriving middle working class community, today the 9^th Ward looks like it has been abandoned for years. Everywhere you look there are foundations but no homes, or there are homes clumped together with no foundations. Often, you can see cars or trucks sticking out from underneath houses. The devastation is mind boggling. The shear magnitude of the destruction is much more dramatic than what a 30 second drive by a news team to be used as filler for the evening news can really convey. While there are a few homes scattered throughout this area where the homes are fairly intact and the families have returned to try and rebuild, the majority of what you can see is not quite as uplifting.

We heard some comments that it was terrible that it has been a year and they haven’t rebuilt this yet. Folks, it will be years before this city will be rebuilt. There aren’t enough contractors to complete this much work in a decade. There is still a major effort just to clean up the debris fields which stretch on for block after block, mile after mile. You can still see the water bubbling up from ruptured waterlines inside of a few concrete blocks which represent all that is left of a home swept away in the flood waters. I remember the cast iron lattice work my grandmother had on her front porch. There were several places where you could see three steps in the middle of a field, and at the top of those steps was an iron lattice work just like my grandmother’s, still standing proud but supporting only air today, no other evidence that it once served as the grand entrance to a home.

The weeds have once again reclaimed much of this area and most of the trees have long since been removed by either the storms or to clear them from where they fell across the roads. Where the few trees were still standing, expect to see odd things in them like perhaps a roof, chair, or other household item that got caught in the flood-waters. Yes, the cleanup will be massive.

Driving from the 9^th Ward into St. Bernard parish, strip mall after strip mall stands boarded up with vacant parking lots unless this one happens to be one chosen by FEMA to build a trailer city. Each of these impromptu trailer parks looks the same with the plain white trailers lined up in rows surrounded by a chain link fence topped with barbed wire. Hardly a place I would care to call home if I had the choice. In fact, many no longer call New Orleans home as we heard that they are now back to 40% of the population they had prior to the catastrophe.

If you should decide while driving along that you are becoming a bit hungry, don’t plan on being able to pull into a McDonald’s, Burger King, or Popeye’s every few blocks. They simply aren’t open. Usually they are just sitting there with all of the windows boarded up. Occasionally you can see one with a door open and some debris piled up outside of the door. Very occasionally, you can see major construction taking place inside. Same with the gas stations—you certainly wouldn’t want to be heading out at night with the car on Empty, planning on just stopping at the first station you drive past, you may be waiting awhile.

We drove out to Slidell where they have used debris from New Orleans to build two levees, which seems like a good way to make use of this abundant supply of waste material. We drove past Six Flags, formerly Jazzland, which has been closed forever following three weeks under the flood waters of Katrina. Six Flags had poured millions into the park since 2002 to try to make it into a popular amusement park destination, but it wasn’t succeeding. Katrina was the final nail in the coffin. This would make a great place to make a movie now with all of the roller-coaster and tall ride structures still standing eerily into the vacant park.

Visiting New Orleans in the past, you couldn’t help but notice the abundance of African American people in the city. It seemed like that was the majority of the people, in fact. Today there are more people of Hispanic descent. The little stands on the side of the road where you could buy red beans and rice have been replaced with trailers where tacos are sold. It is strange to see the magnitude of the transformation that has taken place over the last twelve months.

While all of this may seem depressing, one needs to look back at the people in the areas which are back up to speed and you get to see the indomitable spirit which built this city as well as this great country. The people that stayed as well as the people that have returned, dusted things off, licked their bruises and opened back up show just what Americans do. We’ve been pulling ourselves up by the bootstraps for a couple of hundred years to build this great land and these people are demonstrating that same spirit every single day.

If you have never been to New Orleans, go see it. If you have been there before but are hesitant to return after the storm, head on down and you’ll find that the tourist areas are mostly back to what we know and love.

Lastly I want to write a bit about Southern Decadence which is why we choose this time of year to head down to this rich city. This was the 23^rd year of Decadence which is affectionately known by many as the “Gay Mardi Gras.” Prior to Katrina, Decadence brought in over 100,000 people and generated more than $95 Million for the city and is one of the largest celebrations in New Orleans. If you have never been, it is really just a big three or four day party with a parade in the middle. While many of the participants are gay or lesbian, there are also many that come out simply for the good times or to support friends or family. Sunday is always highlighted by a parade that showcases virtually everything under the sun, and this year was no exception. The theme this year was “Rebirth”, a very fitting title for a city rebuilding and redefining itself.

Gay and straight alike, stood shoulder to shoulder and watched as the smaller than pre-storm parade made its way through the streets of the French Quarter. The costumes ranged from campy to macho, silly to extravagant, but all were loads of fun. Everyone seemed to have a great time, even though it was pretty hot outside. While I’m not one to dress up, it certainly was fun to watch and to catch a few beads.

While standing on the balcony of Lafitte’s on Sunday evening, I met a much older woman called Aunt Grace, who remembers the very first Southern Decadence. While not gay or lesbian herself, she comes to have fun and support her nephew. She shared some funny antidotes and then our conversation turned to people that were not enjoying the festivities. Grace specifically was talking about people she had spoken with earlier that same day who were very upset that there were so many gay people there. (Duh!) She said they thought there would be floats and things rather than a bunch of queers and their children were not having a very good time. Aunt Grace then adding something that I have been thinking every single year, Bourbon Street is NOT a place to bring your kids, not for Decadence, Mardi Gras, or any time. The street any time of year is all of the excesses you can imagine, all rolled up into a few city blocks for neat packaging. There are strip shows, sex shows, adult novelty shops, and bars everywhere you look. Why would anyone bring a child down there?

We’ve been there in the past and have seen protestors screaming the foulest hatred filled venom you can imagine into bullhorns while holding signs condemning the revelers to Hell, all with their kids in tow, frequently holding signs their parents gave them with the same epitaphs. Folks, I’m only gonna say this once, but if you are going to bring children into that environment, I think you are far worse than the people that you so love to hate, and I wouldn’t be surprised if God tells you so when we are all called home. For what it is worth, I am gay and yes, I am a Christian. If you don’t understand it or you can’t believe it, it’s really not your problem. God and I will work it out regardless of what input you think you may have. If you feel I have a splinter in my eye…well, if you are going to preach you should understand the reference.

On the other end of the spectrum, the city welcomes Southern Decadence with open arms. There are gay pride flags and rainbows everywhere you look. Some may feel this is pandering to the gay community to get a piece of the gay money pie, but I prefer to think of it more as a showing of solidarity and acceptance of gays as fellow journeyers in this voyage of life. Perhaps that is a little bit Pollyanna-ish, but does it hurt to consider the good in people from time to time?

I’m home now but still very happy to have had the opportunity to return to New Orleans to celebrate life and freedom and to see the strength of the human spirit. If you find yourself with an opportunity to enjoy the indulgences that this wonderful destination provides, you won’t be disappointed.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 6th, 2006 at 12:09 am and is filed under travel, gay, Vacation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.