lost city

[owlmoose]

Somehow I ended up not paying any attention to the news yesterday, so the first time I really registered the extent of the devastation in New Orleans was this morning, when I came downstairs and saw the headlines on issues of the SF Chronicle and New York Times sitting by the mailboxes. Now I'm reading news stories and looking at pictures and trying to comprehend it all, and failing miserably.

I've seen a great deal of the US but somehow I have never managed to make it to New Orleans. (This is where E steps up and reminds me of all the times he's invited me to go there with him. To which all I can say is: you're right. I should have made it work at least once.) As a student of architecture and a lover of cities, this is the aspect of these tragedies that I often end up focusing on. The human toll is too much, too terrible, too difficult to conceptualize. Easier to grieve for the beautiful cemeteries, the old buildings, the cityscape. It was much the same after 9/11 -- the loss of life was awful and I felt it, but it was too distant to really mourn in any personal way. I knew the Twin Towers; they were old friends. I had visited them and studied them and always meant to climb to the top of them someday (I never made it up there, either). It was the loss I felt most keenly that day and during the weeks following. If that makes me cold and heartless so be it.

My thoughts are with anyone who has friends or family down there, or who loves the city and is grieving its loss.

Comments

[anonamys.livejournal.com]

I have been reading some stuff online, but not watching the TV news. Even though I checked several times yesterday, the enormity of the situation is only beginning to hit me, too. I think it just keeps getting slowly worse, as the city floods more and more. I think it will still be a while before we really know how bad it is. The scale of it just boggles the mind.

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

The descriptions of efforts to stop the flooding are incredible -- 500 ton bags of sand, boats, whatever they can get there. I agree, we aren't going to know the extent of this for a long time. It's like 9/11 in that respect, except in that case they kept revising the numbers downward and this time I fear they can only go up.

[anzubird.livejournal.com]

The thing that I find most amazing and terrifying is the idea of evacuating a whole city, and the fact that they actually did manage to get a large majority of the people to leave. But that was with a few days notice... what happens when you don't have those few days?

as for New Orleans, I am an optimist, and I believe that the city will be rebuilt. It will not be easy, and the people who will suffer the most are the ones who can afford to suffer the least, but I think in the end human ingenuity will win out, and perhaps we will have a little more respect for nature when we are done.

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

I do agree that we will rebuild; that's what we do, after all. But it won't be the same; recapturing the character of that kind of place is so difficult. There was an LA Times article on Yahoo News (I can't find the link now) about the issues with New Orleans' location, how being surrounded by water is both its blessing and its curse.

[anzubird.livejournal.com]

No, it won't be the same. I am sure many of the jewels of the French Quarter and the Garden District will be lost, which is a huge tragedy, but I also hope that some of the huge inequalities that existed in the city will also be lost.

And that hopefully people will realize that there are better ways to revitalize cities than by building casinos.

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

And that hopefully people will realize that there are better ways to revitalize cities than by building casinos.

I hear you on that one. And on hoping that some good can come out of the rebuilding in other ways.

I

[kunstarniki.livejournal.com]

I do not know if you have read any of my comments on this subject. This is the second city for which I have mourned as a hurricane devastated parts I knew well and loved. New Orleans was unique amongst cities where I have spent much time and which I treasured. During my graduate school days, it was my asylum. I was as happy there as I have ever been; the memories are frozen in the amber of my mind.

I think that was one reason your latest fiction hit me so hard. I was already in mourning. I do not know if the city will be rebuilt; I do know it will never be the same. I grieve.

Re: I

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

I know I saw some of your comments, but that was before the extent of the destruction had really registered with me, and I certainly didn't pick up on the depth of your connection to the city. I am truly sorry, and if you are one for receiving Internet hugs, I send some your way.

I'm sure that they will rebuild, but as I said to anzubird above, I doubt they can recapture the exact character of place. Such a difficult thing to do, especially in a city with so much history. I really regret that I never got to see it.