I’D NEVER SEEN NEW ORLEANS IN HER PRIME, BEFORE HURRICANE KATRINA. NEVERTHELESS, IN MY SHORT VISIT (JUST OVER A YEAR SINCE THE DEVASTATION) IT BECAME QUICKLY EVIDENT THAT LIFE IN THE BIG EASY WAS BACK IN FULL SWING, IF MISSING A BEAT HERE AND THERE. LONG BELIEVED HOME TO countless GHOSTS, MANY SPANISH AND FRENCH COLONIAL FACADES IN THE FRENCH QUARTER ARE NOW HAUNTED BY NEGLECT WHILE FRESH PAINT AND “FOR RENT” SIGNS ON OTHERS STAND OUT AS BEACONS OF HOPE. THE FACES, TOO, ARE UPBEAT AND HOPEFUL, THOUGH MANY CARRY THE UNDENIABLE WEIGHT OF DESPERATION. THE GATORS ON THE BAYOU, HOWEVER, show no such sorrow, as their faces are locked in permanent, toothy, grins. for new orleans, life may not be as easy as it once was, but it’ll always be big.
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