Gonna Make You Groove.
Saturday was my birthday party. I was so excited to have eleven friends show up at La Macarena to celebrate with me. Everyone seemed to enjoy their pupusas, flautas, enchiladas and plantains. Yes, it was a Central American restaurant. My birthday, my loves win. But it was a good atmosphere and everything was delicious so I think people were ok with it.
After dinner, about six of us headed down to Frenchman Street to try the hooka bar. Apparently I seem like someone who would be down for a hooka bar. Anyway, the bar had an hour wait, so we headed down the street to where a brass band was playing and proceeded to dance in the street. Yes, the band was playing in the street, not in another bar. This is one of the reasons I cannot leave this town. Where else do people dance in the streets with complete abandon? It amazes me every time, and I was actually a little sad that our table came up early and we had to leave the band. But we had a nice round of strawberry, vanilla and mango flavored hooka-ing, and it would have been nice and mellow had the band not added a strange member in the form of a rapper. They were just a chill jazzy trio until this guy got up and started belting it out. Other than that it was an awesome night, and I fell asleep thinking just how lucky I am to have made so many friends in this town.
Gonna Make You Sweat.
I got up this morning to flier for the co-op. We headed into the L9, to the Holy Cross Neighborhood. If you think that New Orleans is fine, that it's been rebuilt and all is grand, well, the Lower Ninth will certainly disabuse you of that notion. I snapped a few photos with my phone to show you what I mean.
I'd say about 85% of houses in this neighborhood are already being worked on, or they are being lived in. This is one of the 15% that no one really knows what is happening with.
Gutted elements laying in the sidewalk and street. Look in the background--you'll see a FEMA trailer, still being lived in. You can also see a car. Notice how high the weeds are compared to the car? That's an empty lot.
The last one I took because the bright flowers really stood out on the downtrodden street. They showed me that there is hope. And there is. Holy Cross wasn't devastated in the same way that the other side of St Claude was--the place where the levy breached and the barge burst through, causing flood waters to rise so rapidly that people needed to break out of their attics and leaving eight feet of standing water for days. Holy Cross is rebuilding and they are proud--and we were there to talk to them about what the NOLA Food Co-op is doing to also rebuild the city.
Unfortunately, the weather was ridiculous today. It was 88 degrees with 67% humidity. Yes, it could get worse, and it will, but walking around for two hours in the heat was more than enough.
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Now playing: Anberlin - Dismantle. Repair
