My boyfriend went to Tulane and has friends that still live in NOLA, and his mom was saying something about one of her friends asking why they don't just raze the Ninth Ward entirely, since it's just a slum. Gabe (my boyfriend) countered that maybe to someone that's lived in a Columbus suburb their entire lives, it's a slum, but that doesn't change the fact that that's home to tons of people. Fats Domino lost his home and two pianos, and B.B. King lost his home and a ton of guitars. I heard an interview with King on NPR (I think) where he was talking about the loss of community that is occurring there. So many jazz/blues greats are from New Orleans and they still have homes there, because that is the community and culture that allows their music to flourish. He mentioned a cafe (the name escapes me) that a local musician (the name also escapes me) got his first job at bussing tables. That cafe has since been restored, but it's closed because there's nobody there to run it. I am looking for a link to that interview transcript, and I'll let y'all know if I can find it.
And according to what my friend Jeremy's saying, there's a situation going on as far as cleanup. Apparently, there is a large group of Hispanics (and I'm guessing Mexicans) doing most of the cleanup, and Jeremy (who lives down there) says he hears a lot of griping about all the Mexicans in NOLA. But, he says, the people complaining are the same people who gripe about how the city needs to be restored but they don't want to do any of that work. So you have this group of Mexicans willing to do the work that nobody else wants to do, but they're complaining that the Mexicans are overrunning the city. Not sure if that's true or not, but that's what I'm hearing.
I realize that I may not have the same cultural perspective, since I'm white and I've lived in a middle-class neighborhood most of my life, but that's my two cents.
My boyfriend went to Tulane and has friends that still live in NOLA, and his mom was saying something about one of her friends asking why they don't just raze the Ninth Ward entirely, since it's just a slum. Gabe (my boyfriend) countered that maybe to someone that's lived in a Columbus suburb their entire lives, it's a slum, but that doesn't change the fact that that's home to tons of people. Fats Domino lost his home and two pianos, and B.B. King lost his home and a ton of guitars. I heard an interview with King on NPR (I think) where he was talking about the loss of community that is occurring there. So many jazz/blues greats are from New Orleans and they still have homes there, because that is the community and culture that allows their music to flourish. He mentioned a cafe (the name escapes me) that a local musician (the name also escapes me) got his first job at bussing tables. That cafe has since been restored, but it's closed because there's nobody there to run it. I am looking for a link to that interview transcript, and I'll let y'all know if I can find it.
And according to what my friend Jeremy's saying, there's a situation going on as far as cleanup. Apparently, there is a large group of Hispanics (and I'm guessing Mexicans) doing most of the cleanup, and Jeremy (who lives down there) says he hears a lot of griping about all the Mexicans in NOLA. But, he says, the people complaining are the same people who gripe about how the city needs to be restored but they don't want to do any of that work. So you have this group of Mexicans willing to do the work that nobody else wants to do, but they're complaining that the Mexicans are overrunning the city. Not sure if that's true or not, but that's what I'm hearing.
I realize that I may not have the same cultural perspective, since I'm white and I've lived in a middle-class neighborhood most of my life, but that's my two cents.
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