i’ve wanted to see new orleans ever since katrina wrecked her unimaginable damage across the gulf coast and i got my chance coming out of biloxi. i didn’t want to spend the night there because of the chronic crime problems, but i thought it at least merited a drive through and it wasn’t too far out of the way. i’m glad i went.
new orleans looks like shit. being that that was my first time there, i have no way of knowing how much of it is attributable to the hurricane and how much to general conditions, but i know that it’s shit now. houses falling apart, lots filled with trash, and poor people absolutely everywhere. i can’t imagine it has much trouble cracking the top 10 dirtiest cities in the US.
i drove around downtown a bit, then parked and walked the french quarter. tourism dollars have spruced that area up disproportionately to anything surrounding it, but even in pristine condition, it reeks of alcohol and bad food. do you want to know what you have to do to get weed? you have to get out of your car. actually, i’m pretty sure they’re willing to overlook even that requirement. i was first propositioned about 30 seconds after i park and didn’t leave before i’d collected 8 more offers.
after revelling on bourbon street with saints fan (who were out for the eagles game) and driving through some of the beat-up parts of the city, i was sufficiently depressed and decided to move on.
if george bush does like black people, new orleans is not the proof.
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