Crescent City Makeover

Reach Out, a group of young people engaged in service learning at Chicago's Columbia College, has for three years spent their Spring Break in NOLA lending energy to help revive the wounded spirit of that city made of magic. One young man involved made a timely comment about the way that all must recognize that progressive civic action goes far beyond which political candidate one chooses to endorse. "Democracy isn't only about voting," he astutely recognizes. "Voting provides an extremely minute effect. Real change happens in devotion of your time and a change of your lifestyle." I couldn't agree more.

When New Orleans makes herself over she may not look the way we expect her to. (Who can say how she will mask when she studies what’s hanging in her armoire and selects robes to fit the occasion of her revival?) It's also possible that she may not be sighted at the fêtes to which she's been invited. And while it makes me sad to see the very real psychological and economic toll that Katrina and its aftermath has taken, I know that the secret of NOLA's allure is carried more in the living culture of her children than in the inanimate structures left crumbling behind. The real spark is kindled within the people, so no amount of neglect can inhibit its repair from fragility to strength. Einstein knew of this law of regeneration. And Zora Neale Hurston gave poetic testament to the same when she said: “Nothing is destructible; things merely change forms…Why fear? The stuff of my being is matter, ever changing, ever moving, but never lost.”

Lagniappe (A little something extra)

VMXperience New Orleans
A unique experience that gives a virtual tour of some of New Orleans meaningful cultural attractions

Making Groceries in New Orleans
Anyone jonesin' for a real taste of the city might want to take a look at what's in this pantry

New Orleans Priced Out of the Parade
An article written by a native New Orleanean taking a brief look at the past and present of the social aid and pleasure clubs

Coffee and Pie French Quarter Photos

Christopher Porche West Photography