New Orleans

A little less than a year ago, my company sent me to Macromedia MAX, a technology conference held in New Orleans that year. I flew down a couple days early, Halloween weekend, with my then-girlfriend to explore the Big Easy for the first time. We gawked in wonder at the history, the architecture, and of course, the brazen debauchery at every corner of Bourbon Street. We toured St Louis Cemetery No. 1, walked the streets of the French Quarter drinking our hurricanes, and while a week there was far too long, I had little doubt that I'd love to come back for a strictly personal trip someday soon to see more and frankly booze it up but good without worrying about having to be at a conference session at 8 am!

It sickens me to think that much of that history may be lost forever, but it sickens me even more to think of the suffering happening there as we speak. Bodies floating in the very streets I walked down. People dying, being shot at, and young girls being raped in the same convention center halls that I milled about in 10 months ago.

I was going to school at the University of North Dakota in 1997 when the Red River flooded and put half the town of Grand Forks underwater. It was a frightening experience, and it took them years to recover, but no one died. Property and livelihoods were destroyed, but no one had to fear starving to death, dying of dehydration, or being shot or raped by roving bands of armed thugs.

I spoke with my brother on the phone briefly yesterday, and he said, "I'll bet you're glad you went there when you did." Yes, I'm extremely grateful to have experienced the chaos of Bourbon Street on Halloween, to listen to some of the best jazz and blues in the world, and to learn about the history and culture of one of our nation's oldest and most storied cities. I fear none of us will ever have the opportunity to have the full depth of that experience again.

I guess I don't really have much of a point to all of this, other than to vent my sadness, anger, and frustration over what is happening to the people in New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf coast area.