demolition/decoration

Over the past week, I've been watching the standing remnants of the recently burned Carpet World fall to the ground. The demolition crew has been steadily working away removing dumpster after dumpster of scrap metal, bricks, and other debris.

Strange to see this building demolished and removed, while so many around it, continue to stand even though they look equally devastated. It took a fire, not a hurricane or neglect, for the Carpet World to be torn down.

Even stranger to see gold, purple and green banners, streamers, and grandstands, start to mask the reality of the abandoned buildings that lie in wait behind them. Those buildings act as a backdrop for the festivities that are about to happen. Do those folks visiting New Orleans for Mardi Gras think about what the buildings used to be, what they are now? Do they wonder if the abandoned buildings are really vacant? Or are,instead, places for squatters and homeless people to take refuge? Will the visitors leave the confines of the quarter? St. Charles? Canal? Or will they go only where the party takes them?

As I drove down Canal today, I was amazed by the sheer number of people who were out,and the vendor trucks parked - ready - as if waiting for the city to come alive. The irony is that the city lives in a way that those who are visiting now - for Mardi Gras -will most likely not see. That life exists all year - not just during festival season.