Today is Mardi Gras and that, of course, reminds me of New Orleans and the whole “should Nawlins survive?” conversation.
Specifically, I was thinking about a recent podcast called The KunstlerCast, “a weekly audio program about the tragic comedy of suburban sprawl,” featuring James Howard Kunstler, author of The Geography of Nowhere and The Long Emergency, among others. It was the distinguished Alan David Doane, who said such kind things about me recently, who turned me on to Kunstler.
In episode #52, Duncan Crary, the host/producer of the Kunstlercast, was wondering, and this is a broad paraphrase: Isn’t New Orleans culturally cool enough to try to save? And I think there’s a part of me that shares that viewpoint. Kunstler, for his part, indicated that the city may survive in a smaller form, although, with global warming, who knows?
I suppose the argument that it’s under sea level, so it is foolish to save it would resonate more with me if people weren’t also rebuilding in fire zones in California, flood zones further up the Mississippi and other places that have been destroyed more than once. A friend got hit by two Florida hurricanes in one year a few seasons back. I’m still convinced that some earthquake is going to carry half of California into the ocean.
But let’s fret about that another time:
Mardi Gras 1941 and 1954 and 2006, just after Katrina.
Take Me to the Mardi Gras
jamming with the Meters
ROG