Guess Who's Back . . .

I admit it--I've been down lately.

For the first time since I started THE THIRD BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS nearly a year ago, I haven't had the energy or inspiration to post much to it . . . My feelings have been increasingly negative and I really don't want to go in that direction in my postings as the point of the blog is to attempt to be creative, positive, and constructive about post-KTMB New Orleans--not harp how impossibly and eternally screwed New Orleans is in the wake of man-made disaster. (I mean, Christ, most of the nation doesn't even realize or give a flip that what happened to the City of New Orleans wasn't caused by a natural disaster. How disconcerting is that?)

And the thing is I didn't lose my house. I didn't lose my job. I didn't lose my business. I think about that and then I feel guilty for being down. Hell, I'm one of the lucky ones. I personally know many, many people who lost it all. And my house still stands--never inundated with Lake Pontchartrain. Neither my wife or myself lost our jobs or lost our paychecks for those two exiled months. I know people who lost all of this. And some of my friends in this position somehow are managing to not only cope, but actually embrace the changes and positively move forward. I don't know how I would have handled such losses--and my wife doesn't know how I would have handled them either.

Is it the now-past year anniversary of the ruining of my city and the revisiting and rekindling of emotions stirred by the imagery shown in the one year anniversary media blitz of the event that has gotten me down? Is it the reality of how difficult if not down right impossible it is going to be for New Orleans to ever recover that has gotten me down? Is it the complete lack of political leadership and political games at virtually all levels that continues to hamper progress that has gotten me down? Even if some aspects do move forward in the recovery (as I think can be physically seen day by day in some portions of the city), the insurance industry (5K+ for homeowner's insurance) and the utility industry (i.e. poor bankrupt Entergy "violin-playing" New Orleans) will assure as little incentive as possible for current residents to stay here or for there to be any attraction of new residents New Orleans desperately needs. That thought--along with the future of property taxes within the city (while Jefferson Parish will continue to have 200K houses 100% homestead exempt)--really gets me down.

I've also been busy the past few weeks. A new child. A new job. Both are requiring adjustments. Both are causing sleep deprivation. Then I had internet issues at my house, but Bellsouth customer service representative "Steve" from Hyderabad helped me remedy that problem. Then I had a little automobile accident--which occurred because of an outsider's confusion of Uptown New Orleans going the wrong way on a one-way street. (No one was hurt.) Now his insurance company (the one with Pedro Cerrano as spokesperson) is trying to say that the accident is partly my fault--despite the issuing of an NOPD traffic citation for his failing to notice the DO NOT ENTER and ONE WAY signs a block before he hit me.

I know, the blog has become THE THIRD DOWN OF NEW ORLEANS over the past two weeks, but as Mr. Dar Dar correctly stated earlier the football thing is relevant right now. Whether one despises Tom Benson or the big business that is the NFL, the New Orleans Saints have played a significant role in this place over the past forty years and as the Times-Picayune stated earlier in the week do serve as a well-needed diversion in post-KTMB New Orleans. And as a friend of mine once made the point to me a few years ago (a friend by the way who suffered a flooded house and an exile from New Orleans for six months) as we were talking about the potential future departure of the team from New Orleans (presumably to Los Angeles) the Saints are perhaps the single thing that this city--black and white, poor and rich--unify and come together on. People that would otherwise likely not say a word to each other have no problem high-fiving or hugging each other when the Saints make a good play. That is worth something.

Mr. Dar Dar, by the way, as his posts demonstrate knows what he is talking about on these subjects. His posts are appreciated and are both relevant and important.

To those that think the football talk has been too much, I think I.D. Reilly's "Focus" post was timely and his points are dead-on. Schroeder also remarks about the football and Marinello saturation by WWL saying: "It's becoming far more difficult these days to hear anything of substance about the recovery of New Orleans."


So hopefully I am out of the funk. Geeeezz, I didn't even have the motivation to do a post on the "That's not my job" New York Times interview with Ruth's Chris Sellout CEO and anti-Ruth Fertel Coward Craig S. Miller two weeks ago . . .



NEW ORLEANS WILL PREVAIL.

TAGS: Katrina, New Orleans, NOLA, Entergy, Allstate, Craig S. Miller