hindsight

All Photography: Copyright Adam Lovingood 1995-2005

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After natural action and human inaction devastated New Orleans, many have eulogized the city, calling it one of the greatest in the world. But most have not told us why New Orleans is such a unique and important place.

Andrei Codrescu in his introduction to New Orleans Stories writes, "There are certain cities and certain areas of certain cities where the official language is dreams." When I first read that line several years ago, I found it revelatory. I have been traveling to New Orleans for once or twice a year for 14 years having discovered a connection to the city like no other. For writers, musicians, and other creative types, New Orleans harbors a lifetime of inspiration.

There is a pessimism in New Orleans that is shockingly, recognizably human. The city has always lived close to death and frailty and poverty. The city has been subject to disease and other ravages of nature, invasion - both hostile and friendly - by many nations and cultures, economic collapse, racial strife, each catastrophe adding yet another layer of complexity to a culture that is forever beguiling, sexy, nebulous.

One New Orleans writer talked about how the city is so comfortable with death and decay and how that has shaped its character. As he put it, New Orleanians believe in the occupied cross. Maybe that is why so many people chose to stay in the city following Katrina despite the destruction. The rest of the world could only see death but many New Orleans residents just saw it as the reality of life.

For those who have only experienced the city as a weekend drinking binge on Bourbon Street, you have never been to New Orleans. You will have future opportunities to find the real Big Easy, I believe. If the city continues to resist the hopeful optimism that is being heaped upon it the world over, the cities spirit may remain intact to entice many future generations of vagabonds to these seductive, enigmatic shores of the Mississippi.