a new New Orleans

after Hurricane Katrina,
the levees failed, the city
in tatters, a beloved,
but wrecked city.

seven years later, a city

transformed. neighborhoods,
once bleak and crime-ridden,
now have coffee shops,

art galleries, bookstores,

restaurants, tech start-ups
new businesses, entrepreneurs.
starting over,

demanded ingenuity

and risk-taking.
New Orleans,
a start-up city,

more accessible,

but still a place
like nowhere else, a city
that celebrates misfits.

New Orleans is a national treasure with a unique culture.  I thought it was lost forever; how wonderful that it is coming back stronger than ever, but with its culture intact.

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

I found this picture at  http://allabouttravelokc.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/f2-2new-orleans-jazz-posters.jpg


I wanted to find one picture that encompassed all of New Orleans. It was impossible because there is just too much—in no particular order, the architecture, Mardi Gras, the food, the streetcars, the music, the steamboats, the Old City, Bourbon Street, The Saints, and more.

Finally, I choose this picture because I think it captures the spirit of New Orleans.