Clean Magazine

I’ve been working on our house every day since I got here. It’s lonely work, and it can be a little wearing.

So today I decided to take a break. Instead of going into the Dead Zone that is my neighborhood, I participated in a massive effort to “Clean Magazine.” If you’re familiar with New Orleans, you know that Magazine Street runs about six miles, from the CBD through the Garden District and Irish Channel to Uptown, right through Audubon Park by the zoo and into the Black Pearl neighborhood. It’s dotted with restaurants and shops and residences, ranging from upscale to funky, and generally is a favorite destination for locals and some of the more discerning tourists.

A huge crowd of volunteers showed up at 9am. We were organized into small crews, each assigned to a particular block. I got the 2700 block. We were given N95 masks, gloves, rakes, brooms and bottled water. Each crew was assigned a few National Guard and sent to their respective block.

So, in a nutshell, I spent the morning cleaning the 2700 block of Magazine Street with a bunch of civilians and soldiers. Mainly we were removing debris: some garbage and an incredible quantity of fallen limbs and attendant twigs and leaves.

I was happy to be working with others instead of all alone, and by noon we had our block looking much better.

I heard that if this effort is deemed successful, they’ll be repeating it in other areas on coming weekends. Can’t wait ’til they hit Canal Street.