New Orleans

This is becoming such a sad tale. The mayor, the chief of police, & others are spinning last year's murder numbers, yet they really can't escape the stats. & today I read in the Times-Picayune of a young mother being murdered, in fact two young mothers. The husband & child of the first murdered woman survived the crime. scout prime has a picture up of the couple. Fuck, it's sad. What was the perpetrator thinking? It's a question I've always wanted ask. I don't suppose the answer would be very illuminating. & it's true that this is, apparently, a handsome white couple. He was a doctor who operated/founded a clinic that charged its patients on a sliding scale. Something my dentist great uncle did 60 years ago, or so goes the positive quarter of my family history. The other murder involved a 20-something mother of two. It looks like the boyfriend didn't like the way she looked at him this morning. 6 murders 24 hours. & yet, when The Kid & Son-In-Law lived in NOLA, pre-The Twins, there were 9 murders in the space of 29 hours. When they first moved down there, I didn't like the idea because of the violence. They convinced me that it was mostly property crime, & of course, their bikes were soon stolen. & all the time I spent there celebrating how good life can be with music & food & carnival & mint juleps, I never had a bad experience (outside of being taken like the hick I am at a French Quarter photo shop & having to look at The Kid's fucking, jerk of a landlord one too many times). But I hate to read about how that city is rebuilding itself in it's own worst image. Mayor Ray, while being good-looking & friendly & funny at Ray Charles' memorial jazz funeral, he needs to get his shit in order & quit making excuses. I never fell for a place like I fell for New Orleans. I had never been there until I was in my 50's, yet, it was/is a city that made true the idea that new neural pathways can be built, joyously built. It took me back to Easy Rider & my desire to be Dennis Hopper. Or Jack Nicholson. I never wanted to be Peter Fonda, although I did meet & fish with his dentist brother-in-law in Michigan. Two dentists mentioned in the same post, a record for me. & now, given that Peter Fonda has done wonderful things for Trout Unlimited, maybe I would like to be him, as well. Maybe not, just click on the TU link & join. If you don't, well, I'll think of something to do to you, my loyal four readers. Back to New Orleans, the new Democratic Party controlled Congress has two vital tasks to accomplish - (1) Get the fuck out of Iraq, & (2) fix New Orleans. If they don't do those two things, they, too, will be failures, like that miserable failure Bu$hCo. Pics of the jazz funeral here. These are not my pics, but if you're really interested, I could put some on the blog, since I have quite a few. It was a great experience, particularly since The Black Men of Labor organized & ran the funeral. It was my first time in a second line. New Orleans gave me that opportunity.