Walking in our neighbor"hood"

Last week, I was biking home from work and a girl of about 8 or 9 smiled and waved at me and said hello, then as I passed, she turned and yelled, "White lady, you are going the wrong way - you must not know you are in the hood!" I looked back over my shoulder at her - she stood with arms crossed and lips pursed, shaking her head.

I wasn't sure if she was angry with me or warning me.

James and I live in the Irish Channel of New Orleans - to our south is the Mississippi River, to our east we are separated from the St. Thomas Housing Project by Jackson St., the Walmart, and a few additional blocks. To our north 7 blocks is Magazine Street, which separates the Irish Channel from the Garden District(possibly the wealthiest neighborhood in New Orleans proper), to our west are houses and neighbors of varying income levels. In other words, we live among the richest and poorest in New Orleans - right in the middle of it all. We take walks regularly and are constantly amazed by how, in a few blocks in any direction, the economic status and demographic changes completely.

Mostly people treat us very kindly while we walk along - we recognize many of our neighbors, we stop and chat with those who seem interested in us and wave to some and nod at others. We acknowledge everyone we pass and they offer us the same respect. We sometimes receive words of warning about what times we should walk or which roads to avoid and for what reason. We take all of the advice into consideration and generally heed the warnings of the people who seem to know the most and to have our best interests at heart (those people who actually walk around and sit outside and ride their bikes - like we do ). We do not as readily accept the advice we receive from people who don't spend time on their porch or who don't talk to their neighbors or who run from their car into their house or live in a gated and locked home or community because they are frightened by their world.

We do not see ourselves as bold or brave or noble or stupid or naive or misguided. We are two people who like to live our lives by participating in our neighborhood, by talking to people who are interesting and who tell a good story, by taking walks, by riding our bikes, by planting things in our yard, and by eating poboys from the corner grocery store. We aren't fancy and we aren't plain. We aren't special. We just want to belong in the place that we live and we want to honor the people we live among.