The Return Home

I have lost nothing. I returned home to New Orleans and found my home miraculously intact. While others only one street down have nothing but mold and memories, I have books and treasure. Through my window I can a house that a tree smashed through it but my only damage is having to take cold showers (the only gas on my street comes from my ass). Perhaps hurricanes are real, but they still can't touch the Professor of Passion or his shit. So enamored I am with the wanton destruction displayed in this city, that I have decided to stay and take part in its rebirth. There is beer, there is electricity, and there is a palpable desperation to rebuild.

The trolley line is jacked and dirt has swallowed the tracks. Refrigerators stand stinking in the center of every median and along the sidewalks of the smaller streets. Sometimes it really stinks. The air is filthy. Houses are rotten, and trees and glass are shattered everywhere. But the city has the same feel that I get in Israel: The population is uncertain that the town they live in will even exist in a few years, and everyone considers their luxuries (running water, power, beer, etc) to be uncertain. I like seeing military vehicles drive up and down neighborhood streets, and I like desolate main roads. I feel excited when I see an open business, or restaurant (the bike store and The Boot have opened), and the people are legitimately interested in each other-- everyone wants to hear how each other got out, whether they plan to stay, what they think is going happen to the city, and so on. It feels so much like Israel in that even the trivial polite talk usually concerns something vitally important rather than the inanity of weather or gas prices (if a conversation is so dull as to turn to the weather it concerns the bad ass hurricane brewing down near Florida).
I hope this town comes back. But even if it fails to, it is still beautiful in its decayed state. I don't want to miss the chance to witness either it's renaissance or it's complete collapse. For those of you looking for some spicy adventure, this is the place.