Another fine evening in NOLA

Ah, yes. A beautiful sunset to cap my last full day in the United States not on a bus. Tomorrow, the trip home begins. Atlanta, here I come.

Today, NOLA Sean, NOLA Cole, and I played Frisbee in Audubon Park. Perfect.

Map update: 15 November

Ah, it's good to be home (away from home) here in sunny, if chilly, New Orleans. The bus was about 20 minutes late, but no matter. I ate pizza with NOLA Cole (a friend of NOLA Sean, and now a friend of mine) and all is swell.

You know, that map is looking pretty full by now...

VIDEO: Hallowe'en in New Orleans.

So this is an example of the hilarity and surreality of New Orleans on Hallowe'en. This scene was on the way to Frenchman Street. We followed these drummers and their silver leader as they snaked their way through the streets.

And some other pictures. In sum, lots of people. In costumes. All night. We got in just before 6 a.m.


Frenchman Street, (arguably) the biggest party of the night.

Bourbon Street, par for the course.

Again, other direction.

The Simpsons run into each other.

I went out as a road trip across America. Did it work? Yes.

New Orleans at approximately 4:45 a.m.

Memories of Canada. I know, I know. This stuff is deadly. But it was deliciously home.

VIDEO: The eve of All Hallow's Eve

Hey, another video! I just realized how dark this is. Oh well!

The best place to be on Hallowe'en

Last night on Julia Street, we walked by singers, musicians, dancers, artists, sumo wrestlers, post-modern art, stilt-walkers, and lots of local food. It was all part of Prospect.1, an 11-week art festival that will take over most New Orleans galleries, museums, and in some cases, street blocks. It was apparently just a prelude to tonight's festivities.

The Location is Frenchman Street.
The People are filling the block.
The Costume is the United States of America.

It's only 2:30 p.m. here, but people are already roaming the streets of the French Quarter in full costume. I found an Uncle Sam hat, but I still need to find a shirt with this great nation's stars and stripes all over it.

Where the other half live(d)

Lived, because very few people still live in New Orleans' Lower Ninth ward. It's impossible for me to convey the lingering devastation in that part of town. I'm sure words can describe the situation on the ground, but nothing I can compose would do it justice.

Four years later, the infamous markings on the houses used by search-and-rescue teams are still there -- some faded, some as vivid as when they were sprayed. Some families live in the houses, and kids walk past these markings as they run in and out of their front doors.

I didn't take pictures, and if I had I'm not sure I would post them here, or anywhere. They are already all over the Internet. And these are peoples' homes, whether the owners are dead or alive, long gone or staying put.

Come to think of it, the lower ninth has no lingering devastation. That takes the situation quite lightly. Only a 15-minute drive from the French Quarter and this weekend's Hallowe'en parties, there sits a neighbourhood -- and there are others -- that died four years ago.

It might be on life support now, and things might be improving in small doses, but a refurbished lower ninth wouldn't be a resurrection. It would be a new neighbourhood built on top of a graveyard.

That's not all there is to say. Not even close. But everyone should come to New Orleans and understand the situation. It is dire.

I did it again. I understated it.

VIDEO: Lafayette Square

A couple of hours after I recorded this, the park turned into a party. Rock band, drunk people, food, and art for sale.

Such is an evening in New Orleans.

Hullabaloo!

The student newspaper at Tulane University, the Hullabaloo, is impressive. It's a weekly broadsheet, which just looks cool. It's not a daily like so many other American student papers. But who cares? The Hullabaloo has great content that makes up the difference.

Th stories are very thorough, and writers and editors quite obviously strive to cover both sides of their stories. Their editorial this week is also worth reading: reasonable, understandably harsh, and well written.

Go Tulane! (They're playing against LSU, who I presume are their rivals, this weekend at the Superdome.)

New Orleans: This area is where the better half lives

A lone string of beads dangles from a limb on Napoleon. Beads like this hang everywhere on St. Charles. It's equal parts eerie and hilarious. While it's clear that a party happened here (and does every year), the beads really do like, well, dead. Their colour has dulled, the revelers are long gone, and everyone now walks idly by.

Behold a fountain in Audubon Park, at the edge of a golf course. Hanging out in this part of town, you'd never have guessed anything had happened in this city (contrast visible here).

The golf course in Audubon Park. In the distance is a tower at the entrance to Loyola University. People here must always be happy, happy, happy. Money does that, right?

Map update: 30 October

Made it to New Orleans!

This city might have more character than anywhere else in the world.

I'm comfortable saying that even though I have only ever been to three countries and never to continental Europe. Call me wrong if you want. I dare you to provide a better example.

(Map pending; not the greatest connection here at the CC House at Magazine/Jefferson)