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News from the West Bank

A friend and co-worker sent this via e-mail. Hope she doesn’t mind me posting it here.

I journeyed into Algiers this weekend to work on my home and visit the area. As I’m sure you are aware, some areas of the city are opening up this week. Astoundingly, the Westbank and Algiers is bustling. As Susan and I worked in our yard on Saturday clearing branches and cutting bushes (the gardenias are history), the Salvation Army stopped by with lunch, the Army Airborne (didn’t catch the division) dropped off cases of water and MREs, and the FBI stopped to inquire as why “BIOHAZARD” was spray-painted on the side of my freezer. I laughingly invited him to open the top and investigate for himself. He said that wasn’t necessary: He could smell the contents from the street.

The sounds of chain saws were everywhere. Traffic on the main roads (DeGaulle, MacArthur, and Meyer) was constant. People’s voices could be heard calling to one another. But all of this stopped at 8pm when curfew began. Then the streets became deserted except for an occasional NOPD car or Army Humvee patrolling. My neighbors sat with Susan and I on our driveway burning cedar from a nearby fallen tree in our firepit. We drank frozen White Russians from the single daiquiri shop open in the entire city (on Clearview Parkway near the Huey) and told hurricane stories.

Published inKatrinaNew Orleans

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