We are back from our trip. One thing is sure to happen now when I travel out of state: you good people throughout the country want a first hand account of the state of the city. I am always asked “how IS it there?” Now, I know sometimes people ask this only to be polite. And, hey, that is really nice. And to be polite back, I don’t want to give some diatribe about the problems many of our citizens are facing on a regular basis. So what I usually say is, “well, I was very lucky. My home had very minor damage that isn’t worth mentioning, my job did well, and my day-to-day life is pretty normal.” Then I pause to gauge for a reaction. Most folks do want to hear more. Then I get stuck–do I piss and moan about the sad state of affairs? Do I tell them it isn’t really so bad here (because for me it isn’t)? I really appreciate the concern people show me. But I personally don’t deserve that concern, but many of my fellow citizens do. So I tell bits by bits so as not to “wear out my welcome.”

I tell them the parts of the city that were most famous, the French Quarter and Uptown, are intact and ready for business. I tell them that other parts of the city, like the Ninth Ward, Gentilly and Lakeview, are forever altered and still very sad to see. I tell them that many of our citizens are still living in crappy FEMA trailers on their front lawns. I tell them about the influx of Mexicans, the dire need for medical treatment–especially mental health treatment, the spike in crime, the continued need for the National Guard as the NOPD is still severely understaffed, and the difficulty of getting hired help (see an example of how far we need to go to get work done in our own houses). I tell them insurance costs have doubled, property taxes have tripled, cost of hiring employees (secretaries, clerks, fast food workers) has skyrocketed. I tell them how embarrassed I am by the political situation (see here for a taste of that). Again, I don’t just ramble on with this list; I constantly gauge to be sure I haven’t gone too far with someone asking me the equivalent of “how are you?”

But what I really want to tell them is COME, COME FOR A VISIT. First, we need the tourist dollars. Second, the more tourists we have, the more normal it feels here. Third, some of it truly needs to be seen with your own eyes to appreciate. I realized this fact after we’d taken pictures of the worst of the devastation: a photograph minimizes it. It is an optical illusion–it suggests an end at the picture’s end, when in fact the devastation literally goes on for miles and miles and miles. Film CANNOT capture the (ongoing) miserableness of it all. Here are photos CS took in October of 2005 of a friend’s home in Gentilly and two others’ in Lakeview.

But I think that who may be a better spokesperson than someone like me who lives it each day (and maybe is too close and may be desensitized) is someone who loves the city, HAS been back and still sees the gem it is and the beauty it has to offer while appreciating the injury it sustained and from which it is still healing. So go read this blog of a recent vacation spent in the Big Easy. And come to New Orleans for a visit. We need you, we miss you, and it will keep folks like me from bending your ear when I visit your town.