The Storm

I came to New Orleans with my family on vacation many years ago. We took the train—of all possible forms of transportation possible—from Newark to the French Quarter. I remember the weather being sticky. And there were bugs everywhere.

Not much has changed. When I walk out of the airport, I’m overwhelmed by the heat. It’s not just hot. It’s oppressively still and humid. The cab driver speeds. After a few minutes I can see downtown New Orleans rising up, a cluster of gray skyscrapers growing larger and moving towards me. To my right, I see the Superdome. It looks scary. The top of the building is discolored and looks broken and wrong. I don’t know if I would think that way if I hadn’t seen what the Superdome became in the aftermath of “The Storm,” (which is how I overhear people referring to Hurricane Katrina).

I see signs for LSU and it reminds me of Shaquille O’Neal. Years ago, while he was still in college here in Louisiana, there was a two-page spread on him in People. He was stretched out and seemed impossibly long. I wasn’t sure how to pronounce his name, (Sha-kwill? Sha-kwilly? Sha-keel?). But then, the story described his name as “mellifluous” and I figured it out. I asked the guy I was dating at the time—a super sports nut—if he’d heard of him. He hadn’t. I wondered then if he would really be famous one day.

Aside from the discolored roof of the Superdome, I can not see any signs of the New Orleans disaster. Due in part, I’m sure, to the fact that I’m staying at a semi-swanky hotel in a fashionable district. As I write this, I’m eating blackened salmon at a restaurant where the waitress took out my napkin and placed it on my lap as soon as I sat down. Across the street from this restaurant, there are expensive condos with tiny balconies. Most have plants and trees all over the space. One apartment has a Mitch Landrieu For Mayor sign on the balcony as well. I just heard last night that Ray Nagin won the election.

Something bothers me about Ray Nagin. And I’m not sure what it is. I read a story—damn! I wish I could remember where!—about the response to Katrina and he came off exceptionally self-serving. There was an anecdote about him refusing to meet with President Bush until his baldie was sufficiently smooth. And this is like, at the height of the aftermath. And then, I’ve read that he was holed up in a hotel and refused to visit the Superdome when things got hectic. I don’t know. Maybe I need to meet the man. Because no one came off well during “The Storm.”

But alas, I'm not here to interview Nagin. I'm here to meet a former American Idol who is shooting a movie, based on her life, here in the Big Easy. More details to follow...

Comments

[Hanif Sowell]

You can't stop now. Happy Memorial day, but I've been waiting for your next post. What's up Ms. King....