News For Friends of New Orleans Restaurants and Food
Day One After The Storm
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Personal news, for the many kind people who have shown their concern for us:
Our family evacuated to Atlanta Sunday, where we are now with Mary Ann’s niece, who has extended us limitless hospitality. I hope that anyone reading this who also had to evacuate is safe and even half as comfortable as they have made us.
We have learned that our home, on the North Shore, is unscathed by the storm. We can’t get in to see just yet, of course. There is no power anywhere, which also means no water--since we get our water from a well.
The radio station group I work for has taken a generous and firm stand behind us, even though they, like most businesses in New Orleans, will experience a lengthy interruption of profitable operation. WWL is on the air, and so are a few FMs.
One of the first things we needed to address was getting our children Mary Leigh and Jude into schools. We were incredibly lucky that they both have been accepted into great schools in the Washington, DC area, where Mary Ann’s sister lives.
My thoughts are obsessed by the future of our city in the near and medium term. We know that the construction business will boom, fueled by billions of dollars from outside. That alone will prove a huge boost. It is hard to imagine that the existing investment in the city and our uniqueness will not be enough impetus for us to rebuild.
On the other hand, the rioting and arson and the rest of the hooliganism that took place is giving our city a black eye that will be hard for some people to forget. Please be confident in our city and know that what you’re seeing are the actions of a very tiny, craven bunch of desperate people.
No small number of productive Orleanians will choose not to return. They will make that choice not out of defeat, but out of a need to resume earning an income. In my own case, I can think of many scenarios in which I will be able to resume working in New Orleans--perhaps not doing the same exact things, but using my abilities somehow.
However, it’s hard to write or talk about New Orleans restaurants when the restaurant community is months away from re-opening on even a small scale. So I am already exploring the national freelance markets to replace what I have lost from my local newsletter and other writings. They will return when the restaurants return.
My next thought is that those of us who are productive members of the community must come together, even in as informal a way as this, to determine what we will do collectively to re-launch our business. It’s much scarier to look at the situation on one’s own. We must talk to one another.
And to roll our sleeves up. If we have any sleeves to roll.
