New Orleans in My Eyes
Here is a list of random facts that I’ve picked up and some observations that I’ve made after my second week of living in New Orleans………………………………………………………
- Everyone here is SO NICE!!! It makes LA look really bad.
- Everyone LOVES the Saints and can’t wait for football season to start… I’ve never really enjoyed watching sports but something tells me that I won’t have a choice. Their chant goes something like “WHO DAT” and you respond “WHO DAT”…. Most of the jazz bands I’ve heard already do the chant during their jam sessions. “WHO DAT” is printed on flags and T-Shirts all over the city.
- It’s not as scary as people think it is. At times I feel safer here than I do in Long Beach.
- Katrina has effected EVERYONE’S life here- my cab driver, my roommate, the man who owns the camera store. The whole city was evacuated and dispersed somewhere in the country. I met people who moved all the way to Berkeley. Everyone lost their jobs, and their community of people, and some people even lost their loved ones.
- Some people are still dealing with PTSD like my landlady who lives a few houses away form me.
- I’ve heard that the demographics are something like 45% Black 45% White but according to the 2000 Census it’s 28% White 67% Black. I have not yet been a witness to any racism, thankfully. Everyone is very cordial and friendly to each other.
- There is a small community in St. Bernard called Arabi. This community is right next door to the 9th Ward which is a predominantly Black poor neighborhood. Arabi is 95% White, and some locals have told me that these people rarely leave. When Katrina hit most of them had never even been to New Orleans (a five minute drive from their little town). My friend George teaches in this community and tells me that most of the people who live there are racist and some of them even have confederate flags hanging in front of their homes. Strange that people like this still exist in the 21st Century.
- Ever since Katrina no one recycles :(
- There are tons of movie people here. It’s funny I left LA to get away from these people but they just seem to follow me wherever I go! Or is it I’m following them??…. Anyway, there was a big industry boom here after Katrina, and a lot of production agencies moved in and made a lot of $$
- True Blood is filmed here.
- A Street Car Named Desire by Tennessee Williams was named after the street cars here.
- The Street Cars here, which I call Trollys but I was corrected by a local, are pretty efficient. I can probably get anywhere in the city in 15-30 minutes just for $1.25! Pretty sweet. AND it picks up right outside my house!!
- Voodoo is a common practice here. I have to watch out for body swaps and cats turning into people in stuff…
- There is a weird buzzing noise here that is similar to what the buzzing of the phone lines make in Long Beach, but my roommate told me that the buzzing noises I hear are Lotuses….
- I will post pictures and more observations soon!! :)
