Ridin' in the City of New Orleans

*note- I wrote both the posts for New Orleans and San Antonio yesterday but the vast Texas highways we were driving on late last night apparently did not come equipped with wireless Internet..apologies for the delay.

Yes, I did have both Arlo Guthrie's, Tom Waits' and various other artists' songs about New Orleans on repeat in my head yesterday as we traveled the epic and perhaps infamous city of New Orleans. This was the first time I have visited this city that has always been on my travel list; my ideas about New Orleans were shaped by a variety of factors, from what little I know of its place in musical history, to the Nancy Drew mystery I remember reading when I was a kid about a haunted showboat and voodoo magic, to the reputation of Bourbon Street and Mardi Gras. I was very excited to see what this city had in store for us.
We started our day with a service project in the St. Bernard Parrish neighborhood, which is an impoverished community that was drastically affected by Hurricane Katrina. We did all sorts of tasks at the local community center; some of us organized their donated clothes “store”, some of us helped people select food from the center’s pantry and some of us helped clean up the community center. We worked hard and though I did not personally get a chance to talk much to the people coming in for aid or the other workers, check out Heather’s blog for a great account of her conversation with some of the center’s staff.
It was really interesting to drive around the city and see these absolutely beautiful, colorful houses in various states of disrepair from Katrina damage. Some streets were far worse than others though and there were definite lines of division where we could tell that certain parts of town had had work done to repair their houses and some parts of town that probably don’t look too different 5 years later than they did 6 months after the hurricane.
We went back to the main part of downtown New Orleans for lunch (my first po’boy – delicious!) and then headed over to Tulane University for our first much-anticipated showers. We walked around Bourbon Street for awhile after that and then had a great dinner (my second po’boy- I’m addicted! Good thing we spend all day walking…). Strolling down Bourbon Street was really interesting in terms of examining how gender is constructed (shout-out to Shelby Longard, who officially changed the way I look at pretty much everything gender, which both enhances and ruins the fun of so many experiences :) ). Seeing the “Gentleman’s Clubs,” hearing the older men paid to stand outside these clubs to tell female tourists “we’re hiring…want a job?”, seeing girls stand outside the clubs with males guarding them almost as if they are property makes one think about how a city like New Orleans is marketed. It advertises itself as a place where sex, alcohol and fun are abundant. I think it is comparable to Vegas in that people see it as an escape destination where there is anonymity and you can do pretty much whatever you want and no one will condemn you for it. This is a shame that a city so rich in a diverse and fascinating history seems to be overshadowed by such a cheap interpretation. I was fully intrigued by this city and I think especially with a place like New Orleans, there’s no way you can get a good feel for the city just spending 8-10 hours there. I look forward to visiting again because I feel like there is so much more to New Orleans’ story for me to find out.