Why we Stay, Pt II
ByWhy do we stay in New
Orleans? Part 2
By Charles Burck, Special to the Beacon
Last Updated ( Thursday, 04 September 2008 )
According to news reports we heard while battened down in our home for Hurricane Gustav, some 10,000 of us had stayed behind — less than 5 percent of the city’s population. Hmmm, don’t the Hell’s Angels call themselves the 5 percenters? Do we stay because we’re closet outlaws?
We now break from our regularly scheduled post to note that the St. Louis Beacon has emailed to request I take the piece down. I assumed that as Charlie had donated his time to write this, it was public domain, and having left their website addy there would be sufficient.
Apparently not, so my bad. Apologies all around.
Link to full text of part II here.
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3 Comments
September 15th, 2008 at 3:07 am
Hi there !
I’m really glad I could read those lines from Charlie (whenever you need a translator, Charlie…) I realize how lucky I was to have the opportunity to stay a few days at your place. When you write about Jazz and Ed, I know who they are and that makes your account so vivid to me. I also knew in which category you would be, because I died with heat when you drove us to this unofficial « Katrina tour » so that you could be « in touch with the town », windows open and air conditioning off. You could have been in the « We’ll drink to that » category though
but you might have opted for fresh orange juice with a couple of strawberries…
Many thanks to both of you.
Anne-Carole
September 15th, 2008 at 7:15 am
We are the one’s we have been waiting for isin the ether now..originally a Hopi prayer but never more applicable than it is HERE and NOW.
It was true then and true now.
Thanks, Karen
September 15th, 2008 at 10:41 am
As Anne Carole, I feel very proud and very lucky I got a chance to go on the Katrina Tour with you and to meet all the wonderful characters you describe during your “night out against crime” (and get a few delicious and free hotdogs, too!). I hope we’ll get a chance to give back what we’ve been given, because we both feel very fortunate to know the 2 of you – 2 equally great writers, by the way. Visiting New Orleans with you guys was like a study trip in college, since we learnt so much about the area that it’s hard to believe that you haven’t been living there for more than a few years. You’re lucky you found your place in the world, but New Orleans is lucky too to have ambassadors like the 2 of you guys. Keep the flame, and keep filling us in, because now there is a strong link between New Orleans and Tronchoy, and it’s all because of you !