Lessons in Community

I visited NOLA this weekend (that's New Orleans, LA in case you didn't know) and found that my weekend was suprisingly thematic. Even more surprisingly, (for those of you familiar with NOLA) the theme had nothing to do with the Rue Bourbon. In fact, my reflections start even before we left for NOLA...

Thursday night Red 4 arrived (they are the team taking over our project; we have a startling two week overlap). Suffice it to say, they are not as chillaxed about everything as we are - mostly regarding lights out. Long story short - Friday night my cell phone rings, like, 10 minutes after lights out and my sisters are (drunk) dialing me to say "We miss you" (BTW, I miss y'all too!) Which brings me to my first point:

What Matters Most

A person really starts to think about what matters most when faced with one week to spend time with all those in her life at "home". (at which point I interject - don't be surprised if I spend that week half-blitzed, because wine may not be what matters most, but repression and regulation are two of the best forms of incentive, man). Anyway, as the list begins to form it is interesting to note those people and communities that really rise to the surface. Also, the question is begged: can one return to a community in which she experienced a mixed bag of good and bad to accent the good, without cutting into old scars. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to risk the slings and arrows of nostalgia or to take arms against the desire to see old friends and by opposing ignore them.

Didn't catch that? It's ok, remember - I was in NOLA when I wrote this - and that place is weird. Point two...

They Love their Sin and they Love their Saviour

NOLA has a unique, artsy and resilient culture. We spent the day Saturday going on a tour of the levee breaches guided by a Tulane geology professor and then on Saturday night I attended DramaRama13 - think Fringe but smaller and cheaper. It was amazing how the theatre and performance community was affected by the same devastation that we had spent 4.5 hours touring that morning. I would say nearly 75% of the pieces I saw were directly related to Katrina. This community really took the opportunity to reflect on the disaster and to say - screw you! we're still here and we're still strong and we're still New Orleans.

A quick summary of my favourite part of one of the pieces:

On Public Housing in New Orleans
- We want to go back to our homes
+ You can't go back to your homes
- We want to go back to our homes
+ You can't go back to your homes
- Why can't we go back to our homes?
+ Because your homes are unsafe
- Unsafe? I live on the fourth floor of a brick building, three blocks from the French Quarter!
+ You can't go back to your homes
- But we want to go back to our homes
+ You can't go back to your homes
- Why can't we go back to our homes?
+ Because we want to tear down your homes and build another Wal-Mart

Now imagine this being said by a drag queen balancing on rope and swinging back and forth. There you go - only in New Orleans.

It's amazing to see the juxtoposition of sacrilege, decadence (hello Bourbon street) and the Bible belt - but Mama NOLA has it. I don't think there is a community anywhere else in the world that is quite like it. Speaking of Church...

Without Community, Religion Can become Self-serving
(or, Apparently you can Find Churchage Starting at 10:45am)

Sunday morning I learned again that when they say this is a full-time residential program what they really mean is 24-7 TL time (there is no rest for the wicked). However, it got me to church. I was convinced that noone ever starts stuff at 10:45am and then I totally ran into a church that was doing Bible Study at - you guessed it - 10:45am... so I had to go in.

We studied a passage of Proverbs, but the theme was really community and how we need it to really practice our faith. See the heading for a quote I pulled from the man leading the class. As a person who doesn't really have the you have to go to church every Sunday to be a Christian perspective, it was interesting to reflect on the way community is important in one's spiritual life. There isn't one concept that really stood out to me, but it was a fun topic. In community, we worship, we hold one another accountable and we provide guidance... yeah. Lastly,

Whatever you do... Talk to Locals

If you're looking for guidance (ooh, sort of segue), make sure to always talk to the locals. I did that at DramaRama13 - a trick I learned from years of solo Fringe attendance - because you always get the best tips from those around you. I wasn't as successful in the gleaning of info at DramaRama13 - because really noone had any idea what was going on as far as I could tell - but on Sunday afternoon as I wandered about the French Quarter I totally found something worth justifying my emphasis on talking to locals.

I arrived at Pat O'Brians - famous for something, although I wasn't sure what - and just sat at the patio bar next to a couple of ladies. It was an interesting coversation time with a total stranger, but I really got a look at the life of someone who has really lived through the disaster... kind of odd, since that's also what I do for a living right now (talk to people about how they were affected by Katrina and where they are at in the recovery process). Anyway, she is really tied to the community - there's no place like New Orleans (home). I also got a great tip for a place to go to lunch. I would highly recommend it to anyone going NOLA's way: Cafe Mesparo and the corner of Toulouse and Decatur: good food and cheap - as the locals put it - an entirely accurate description.

Ok, longest blog post ever. But it was fun...

Peace y'all,
Ali