Colorlines.com created an amazing infographic to detail Hurricane Katrina a decade later. Take a good look at it. How does this article and image make you feel? How does it inspire you to take action?
Here are some images from the infograhic, but check out the entire article and illustration because it is fantastic!
One of the mornings that I was in New Orleans, I woke up early and thought that it would be a great wake up treat to bring my travel companions some beignets. I walked outside, walked for a moment and then realized I had no clue where I was going. I hailed a cab, jumped in, and told the driver what I needed. I soon realized that I jumped into the cab of New Orleans best tour guide/entertainer.
When I told him that I wanted to find some beignets, he laughed and said ok, we’re on our way. As we zoomed through the small streets of the French Quarters, he told me that he had always lived in the city and has seen it go through so many changes. He first talked about the drinking history in New Orleans. “It’s just part of who we are.”
When he was a teenager, there were still bars in different categories. There were beer bars for anyone over 16, liquor bars for eighteen to twenty-one year olds, and then twenty-one and older bars. When driving drunk, the cop would follow you home, drive your car, or have someone else come get you. It has always been a party, but now, with the influence of new laws, social taboos, and a hot college destination, drinking in New Orleans takes on its own life.
We arrived at the one and only place to get beignets in the city, Café Du Monde but the line was so long that Francis, my driver, asked, “How important are these right now? You can get them later and there is no way I’m letting you wait this long for them. Will donuts be good? I know where the best donuts in town are.”
As we went to get donuts, we passed by Saint Louis Cemetery Number 1. This was before our visit there, so he informed me of the basics, but then mentioned that he will be buried there because that is where his family tomb is; Just more fact that these cemeteries are still fully functional.
We got to this donut shop, but it wasn’t a donut shop at all, it was a small little market. Of course, me being me, asked if he was sure. “They get two large boxes of donuts from the shop and sell them on their counter.” That is a driver that really knows his city.
I ran in, grabbed the donuts and some juice, and got back in the cab. As we made it back to where we were staying, I asked about rent in the French Quarters. It can be a mind trick looking at the residential part of the French Quarters. So many houses look ran down and beat up but the minute you step through their front doors, the entire world changes. Francis shared with me on how deceiving this can be but to know that the French Quarters are still the highest priced real-estate in the city.
My little twenty-five minute journey that morning way one of the highlights of my trip. Francis was so informative and was a great welcome wagon to the city. I unfortunately didn’t have my flip or my camera with me, but here are some of the other pictures from New Orleans I have. They still show some highlights of the French Quarters as well as a little extra. The next time you’re in a new city; don’t disregard your cab drivers. They drive the streets day in and day out. They are the visitor’s best resource for the city.
Last night I escaped to the pool of the apartment complex I’m staying in. I’m tending to this nasty sunburn that I received down here on the first couple days when I fell asleep on the beach. It is not pretty and I am about to get on a train for twenty-seven hours. I laugh at it because it is all a part of this journey that I am so fulfilled to be on.
While I was down by the pool, I met this woman who had just recently moved with her husband from Michigan. She was also escaping for a moment. Her husband was taking care of their one year old while she enjoyed the hot tub. They moved to Tampa because her husband is in the Air Force and he was placed in Tampa.
After she told me the basics: How they met? Where they got married? Why they came to Tampa? She told me her passion for art and music from video games that get mixed into different music genres. Then, we got on the topic of fan fiction. Remember Claire at the Starbucks in Austin? She was a fan fiction author.
When I met Claire and her fans, I had no clue what fan fiction really was, but I faked it well. Last night in the pool, I was educated. The abridged version is fiction written in order to combine two or more characters from different story or plot lines. A good example would be if I wrote about Harry Potter in a samurai story with Edward from Twilight. There are no boundaries to what the story can do so it really unleashes the imagination into limitless scenarios. Even though it doesn’t have boundaries, it does have very philosophical rules. I’m not educated enough to really go into them, but can say some thought really did go into the creation of fan fiction.
This conversation at the pool last night though really got me thinking about my journey in just a month. Tomorrow I go to New York to stay put because I am quickly running out of funds. In New York I can stay with loved ones who are family and being in New York, I will have plenty of content as well as resources.
My intentions of completing this full year are big and bold. As I look over this first month, I am overwhelmed by the greatness I have come across. Las Vegas opened my eyes to things that we have overlooked in our country like social responsibility from private entities in our communities, the fact that refugees are still coming to our country in hope of a better life, and what a community looks like when it’s second strongest source of revenue stops.
In Austin, I met Claire the fan fiction writer, Teresa who is working on a project to really show talented dancers in our country, the entire group from the APASO conference and hundreds of more. Their stories are all individual and have a right to be shared.
This progression of eye opening moments and great lifelong stories have been constant since Austin into San Antonio, Beaumont, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Mobile, Panama City, Saint Petersburg and now into Tampa. Rhonda sharing with us in Beaumont to my Cab driver in New Orleans talking about the progression of New Orleans over the last fifty years all has relevance in our lives. All of it as a whole makes us a community and that continues to be an underlying theme in Project Kinect.
I’m not sure yet of the outcome of this year will be and I probably won’t until much later in the year. I am sure though that there is a benefit to what I am doing even if only for entertainment. We need to know each other better without judgment and without prejudice. We will never get further as a society if we don’t take the time and find the common ground with one another.
As I take the next twenty seven hours off line, on a train, heading toward New York City, please take a moment to think about what Project Kinect can mean in your life. If it does nothing, then that is that. For majority of us though, we really need that human connection on some level so Project Kinect should really hit close to home. In order for me to continue with this and see really where this movement can go, I need all the help I can get. I ask that you please share this, donate, email me, or any other assistance you can think of. Once I have the resources I need to reach out to as many people as possible then and only then can we see the capacity of Project Kinect.
Thank you all for your support so far and see you in New York City.
Tons of love,
Gregg
Cemeteries have a spot in all of our towns, cities and communities. How we take care of our dead really does say a lot of what we want in our future when we pass away. In New Orleans, they take their cemeteries seriously. One of the spots that we made certain to check out when we were in New Orleans was the Saint Louis Cemetery Number One. This is told to be the oldest cemetery in New Orleans, not to mention the most haunted, but that is for your own beliefs to juggle.
One of the reasons that New Orleans cemeteries are so unique is that they are built above ground. With the water table being so close to the surface in the city, this was the only way to do a burial. With these tombs being in the direct sunlight, and the circular shaped ceilings on them, they are known as oven tombs. The tombs naturally cook the bodies in them so when another person in that family passes away, you just place that corpse right on top of the last. It really is a space saver, yet a respectful way to bury the dead that is continued to be practiced today. My wild cab driver from one of the mornings while I was there told me all about his families plot is in this cemetery and that is exactly where he plans on being buried.
For more history about this phenomenal piece of American History, check out the Wikipedia page on it.
I was picked up in San Antonio on Sunday, March 20th and took a week-long road trip with friends Alyssa, Levi and Megan. While I am getting caught up on all of the connecting I’ve done since that Sunday, here is a little teaser video to reveal our trip. It was such a great time and I will never be able to thank the three of them enough for letting me tag along.
