Nix Bits

So J and I were invited to a little shindig this past Saturday in the Marigny. We met a group of local residents we hadn’t met before in a social setting with food and drink. Where do you think the conversation turned? Inevitably, I found myself discussing with new friends our shared evacuation and post storm travels. It’s the one shared event every New Orleanian has in common now. And of course we find the same cultural confusion during our absence in late 2005. We also talked about that discussion we all had at the time:

“Okay. Maybe it would be best to leave. But where would we go? I mean, really. Where? It’s not like I can get a job in Europe.”

“Exactly. That’s the same problem we have. So here we are.”

One sense I got, at least from this crowd, is that we are moving forward. Our local, state, and federal government may be dragging their collective heals, but the people who have managed to return are trudging forward.

While I was having the above conversation and laughing about the shared experience, my wife was talking to someone else who was strongly urging her to write a book. My wife is a psychologist in private practice and she has some tales about what people here are going through that are truly interesting. At least I think so and apparently this guy did as well. The problem is, she’s got to protect the confidentiality of those clients. Still, I’d love to help her put something like that together.

Obligatory link: The New Yorker’s(!) New Orleans Journal