*Sigh.* New Orleans. A city that sweats culture year-round and has a feisty, hot-headed personality of its own to boot. A city we can call our mother, our sister, our daughter, and our bitchy, merciless, princess-of-a best friend who sneaks into your house when you're not home to rummage through your closets and glitter-bomb your floors. Oh, perhaps I am speaking too closely to my own experiences here. Either way, the lady's got a fire about her, and nobody will deny that she's one of the last remaining truly unique places.
The problem with our stay in New Orleans is that no amount of time we could've given ourselves would have been enough for us to touch all the bases we wanted to. We'd set up a good chunk of interviews before we'd even landed there, and upon our arrival, more just kept trickling in, all which seemed equally interesting and important in attempting to depict the countless alternative lifestyles in New Orleans. From squatting to busking to selling artwork to disaster relief to bicycle culture and beyond, there is simply just too much going on in this little city on the Mississippi to do it justice in just two days.
The problem with our stay in New Orleans is that no amount of time we could've given ourselves would have been enough for us to touch all the bases we wanted to. We'd set up a good chunk of interviews before we'd even landed there, and upon our arrival, more just kept trickling in, all which seemed equally interesting and important in attempting to depict the countless alternative lifestyles in New Orleans. From squatting to busking to selling artwork to disaster relief to bicycle culture and beyond, there is simply just too much going on in this little city on the Mississippi to do it justice in just two days.
We were able to touch base with some cool folks though, the first of which being Ingrid Lucia, who is the daughter of the late famed William Pearlman, better known as Poppa Neutrino. Ingrid lives in New Orleans and is an avid participant in the music scene there, emphasizing on the involvement of female singers and songwriters. Initiated during childhood into the world of performance, we reminisced with her about her time growing up with her family as The Flying Neutrinos, who traveled around the United States and Mexico as a family band and circus.
We also interviews Marlo and her family who reside in the Upper Ninth Ward in a house that is their's now, but wasn't always. Years ago she squatted in the house she lives in now, but over the years obtained ownership of it and several surrounding houses as well by fixing them up and converting them into spaces she used to take in troubled, lost, and otherwise misguided youth and help them get on their feet. Now she's converting one of the spaces into a health clinic that is available for the community and has plans for the other spaces as well.
The last place we stopped for an interview in New Orleans was at Common Ground Relief in the Lower Ninth, where we met with Tom, their Executive Director. Common Ground, a 501(c)(3), was founded just days after Hurricane Katrina annihilated New Orleans, yet the Red Cross was nowhere to be found. Rather than waiting for the help that wasn't coming, Common Ground began assisting the city in all the ways it could, helping to rebuild homes, supply food and water, etc. Today they specialize in new home construction, wetlands restoration, and community gardening.
All in all, while we didn't hit everything we wanted to, New Orleans is still an incredibly captivating place that almost convinced me not to get back on the bus and finish out the journey. And, for me personally, after traveling around this entire country in search of a place to call home following this adventure, there is no other place so blatantly capable of charming me back into its bitchy arms.
All in all, while we didn't hit everything we wanted to, New Orleans is still an incredibly captivating place that almost convinced me not to get back on the bus and finish out the journey. And, for me personally, after traveling around this entire country in search of a place to call home following this adventure, there is no other place so blatantly capable of charming me back into its bitchy arms.
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