New Orleans - Part Trois: Traces of Katrina....


Did you expect a part three??? I bet you didn't! Especially as it has been a while since I have returned. But I still feel like I owe it to my beloved city to include this part. Part Three (Trois is three in French) covers the part that is not quite so happy or fun. We drove down to the 9th Ward area and the Desire Housing Projects area where I used to tutor as a college student, and I was saddened to see that almost 3 years after Katrina, George Washington Carver High School was still closed.... Rebuilding was going on, however slowly. One friend was indignant - that people were allowed to rebuild on plots of land that will obviously flood again. I didn't know what to say because I feebly wondered where these people would then rebuild their lives. Where would they find a plot of land where they could rebuild their homes and rebuild their lives? The obstacles in this area were numerous, but to change the location of their homes to somewhere else in New Orleans would be almost impossible considering the current situation and state of affairs there right now. Frustrating but a sad reality and a sad truth.

This is the exit off the I-10 I used to take 2 to 3 times a week to go and tutor in the inner city of New Orleans. It's an exit people seldom take but it was an exit to one of the most influential experiences of my college life. It leads to the Carver High School I mentioned previously. Interestingly enough, this picture was taken while I was riding in the car of one of the guys I used to tutor! Isn't it great how things come full circle? :)


Here we see a house that still has not been torn down. You can see the rust-line.....created by the flood after the levees broke during Katrina.







Windows still boarded up and writing still on the doors - when they were inspected and if they found any bodies....




















Even the French Quarter seemed to be not quite back to its former glory....

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