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Sherbet
A dove flew down from the highwire, into a field of lilies, where children played happily. Then the sun went behind a cloud. But it came out again and shone on the children's faces and they were still happy. A hawk came and chased the dove but it was ok because the dove got away. The children shrieked, happily, in the field of lilies. And there was nothing in the world to hurt them, ever.
Just An Idea
Another new friend went out of town so I am out of the ghetto and up on St. Charles Ave. in this little condo, house sitting, resting, getting over a cold, watching football, and preparing for my exit to Texas, tomorrow, where I will visit friends and family and possibly inhabit yet another home devoid of its intended occupant. My mother is being moved to an assisted living facility in Arlington, Tx., today. It is going to break her heart when she realizes this is happening but it can only be an improvement over the extreme autonomy she pretends to enjoy now, as an 88-year-old woman alone, with Alzheimer’s.
Finally there are more black people coming back to New Orleans and although the numbers are small compared to the Pre-K population, the essence they are projecting on the street corners, and in city hall and school board meetings, and in local businesses, and in the recovery efforts, is a thing so positive to the future of New Orleans, that I am uplifted and at the same time a little weary by the memory of what we as a city and we as individual citizens are capable of as in regards to neglect of our fellow man.
Some members of the new majority (white) population are bemoaning the idea of that very small percentage of the New Orleans black population regaining its power on the streets and exercising its control over the whole city, as they have in the past. We should all be against such a thing happening, but the idea that your opinion alone is a positive force, is just dumb. Without any personal grassroots effort to improve the thing you see as a problem, you are not going to solve anything, anywhere.
People are opining that the projects should not be reopened because they are synonymous with gangster crime. This is an insult to the majority of the occupants of any given project in New Orleans. The conversations always range from—there is too much government assistance or there is not enough. I am not a big fan of projects because I think they separate the poor into concentrated blocks of buildings historically overly imprinted with the idea of failure and squalor, no matter how well the majority of the people living there are getting on with their lives.
I don’t think government is the answer to our problems but I think government assistance to people who show concerted effort towards improving their lives and the lives of others is a good thing, or could be a good thing. Unfortunately, “government” is also synonymous with failure and dysfunction in this country, and in this city especially. So be the anarchist, which is what many of you pretend to be with your disdainful attitudes toward government, and take control of what you can take control of.
Get a piece of framing lumber from the debris pile on any given block in New Orleans, sharpen one end of it by using a piece of broken glass wrapped on one end with duct tape. Attach to it a scrap piece of plywood, or siding, or sheetrock, from same debris pile. Get a fat permanent marker or a can of spray paint and write the words “free tutoring.” Pick up another piece of heavy lumber and drive that bitch into the ground in front of your house. Wait. Adjust your schedule as necessary and tutor your new mentees according to their needs, relative to your abilities. An ex-girlfriend and I did this, except without the sign, me for a few years and her for ten, she at the same address, right up until she got boatlifted past floating dead bodies after the flood in September 05. For a week she had thirty neighbors with her in that house on Dumaine, just high enough above the water.
By doing this will you single-handedly change the world? No, you will not. Will it be easy everyday and seem like a good thing? Nope. Will you stop crime in your neighborhood? No, not really. Will you prevent each and every one of your mentees from growing up to be murderers? In our experience, no. Will area gangsters stop throwing giant dead rats over into your side yard, kicking in the quarter panel of your car, ice-picking your tires, occasionally threatening to kill you? I would say it would benefit you not to expect that. Will your mentees never steal from you? They might occasionally. But will you positively impact the lives of one or two or ten? Fuckin A’ right you will. Will you make a difference? Yes, you honestly will. Will it look and feel that way? Not very often, but what else is it that you are doing here that prevents you from giving up some of your time, from the comfort of your own home, to take that chance of giving something back to a city that has given you so much enjoyment. Could we change for the better this world of New Orleans if a thousand of us did this, around the city? I guaranfuckintee we could. We could actually change the world. And without any government assistance.
I’m not likely to be a permanent resident of New Orleans in the future so you can just discount everything I’ve said. You need to know and your mentees need to know you are going to be around for awhile. But if you are staying, think about it. At least volunteer somewhere. Good luck to all of us.