Requiem for a city

I've been trying to write this post for days. And the words won't come. How best to pay tribute to the city I love on the anniversary of the natural and political disaster that changed it forever? How best to evoke the place, its lyrical sound, its spicy flavor, its sassy people, its aura of home? Should I write with hope for the future, bitterness and anger about the failures of a year ago, or sadness for the city that will no longer be?

Photo by Thomas Neff

Maybe I should write of the innumerable meals I enjoyed in that city, some in places that are once again open for business, others in places that may never welcome another guest. Or perhaps I should write of the heartwarming outpouring of support by chefs and restaurants throughout the country a year ago, and again now.



But really, Louis Armstrong said it best:

Do you know what it means
to miss New Orleans
And miss it each night and day
I know I’m not wrong...
this feeling’s gettin’ stronger
The longer I stay away
Miss them moss covered vines...
the tall sugar pines
Where mockin’ birds used to sing
And I’d like to see that lazy Mississippi... hurryin’ into spring