I LOVE NEW ORLEANS

Leah Chase

“I LOVE NEW ORLEANS.”  So wrote Leah Chase, 90, in the February 12 issue of our newspaper, the TIMES PICAYUNE.  She is well-known African-American restaurateur; an elegant role model and spokesperson for the city and people of New Orleans.  And we recent immigrants have to agree, especially during the weeks leading up to Mardi Gras.

We are within two blocks of the beginning of 20 of the Mardi Gras parades that began on February 10^th this year; there are 63 parades if you count those in neighboring cities and towns.

Last Friday, OSHUN kicked off at 6:00 PM, on Saturday, PONTCHARTRAIN set off at 2:00 PM, followed by SPARTA, then PYGMALION at 6:00 PM and 6:45 PM respectively.  On Sunday, CARROLLTON and KING ARTHUR marched at Noon and 1:45 PM.  It meant that for our return from Mass in East New Orleans we diverted to Tchoupitoulas Street, which was clogged with floats going to KING ARTHUR, so we drove side streets to avoid traffic. 

   

The great thing about living on Constance Street between Milan and General Pershing is that  on  Saturday afternoon, while doing yard work, one saw all the young families hurrying to get a good spot on the route;  the horses and riders and motorcycle groups go right by the house and you can hear the bands from the yard!  And Bob brings beads back!

The week began with one of us dealing with a sadder aspect of life.  On Monday and Tuesday John was on a jury in Orleans Parish Criminal Court that was involved in a murder trial.  He came away with profound respect for the presiding judge, Franz L. Zibilich, his fellow jurors, the attentive and helpful court officers, the process and the lawyers.  He was deeply moved by the tragic circumstances of the crime and the tragic lives of the participants who testified and whose lives were exposed during the trial.   This was John’s third of the seven days one is required to serve jury duty, every other year.

On Tuesday, John and Charles left the house at 5 AM for Charles to catch a 7 AM flight to Newark for a meeting of the Province wellness committee. 

Neal Bourgeois, Laura, Russ Greco and Joey Gaines at Bob's Jubilee

On Thursday, Bob bid farewell to Russ Greco, Miss Kathy and four long-term volunteers as Operation Helping Hands continued to close down. 

John was at Holy Cross High School until Noon that Thursday for a Discovery Walk; he then met Bob at OHH’s location on Paris Avenue and they went to Café Reconcile for lunch.

 

Ryan Dalton working with a new arrival on the staff at Cafe Reconcile

Bob and John had an opportunity to see the renovations going on at Café Reconcile, to meet Chef Joe, Linda Collins, the Case Manager who oversees placement of students in restaurants for field experience, Ryan Dalton, the Floor Trainer who was close to Br. Joe Fragala, and David Edmond, the Director of Development.  We also got to see Cara McMenamin, a Jesuit volunteer there, who recently had dinner with the Brothers community.

On Friday evening the parades began with OSHUN.  Saturday was a cool, bright day, and John planted two ‘Carolina Jessamine’ vines to compliment the two planted several years ago by Caitlyn and Kyle.  When the new ones come in, they will balance the other two on the front wall.  It was also time to prune the crape myrtles, cut back the plumbago, and lantana and begin shaping the roses.  In New Orleans, there is more work cutting things back than there is planting.  We have finally had rain, so now we must prune, prune, and prune some more.

The Mardi Gras celebrations that we have experienced are an interesting reflection on the social progress of the city.  In an article in Sunday’s TIMES PICAYUNE, Bruce Nolan wrote about the progress in society reflected by the current make-up of Mardi Gras ‘krewes.”  More racial and class diversity and inclusiveness are the result of societal changes, new generations of more inclusive people and economic necessity.  Nolan wrote:  “ Twenty years after much of New Orleans convulsed in bitter public debate over whether its beloved Mardi Gras was racist, elitist and exclusionary, new realities illuminate this year’s parading season: Today, hungry krewes unconcerned about race solicit membership on the Internet, offering downloadable applications and helpful credit-card authorizations.

Grass-roots walking organizations ranging from the ‘610 Stompers’ to ‘‘tit Rex’ and the ‘Redbeans krewe’ have sprung up since Hurricane Katrina, allowing residents of all income levels to be full participants in Carnival without the costs associated with belonging to a major krewe.

And on Saturday, George Lafargue Jr., the son of an African-American produce vendor, will reign over Endymion, one of the most spectacular parades on the Carnival calendar.

At one level, it might seem the memorable 1992 debate over racial discrimination in Carnival sparked a revolution in New Orleans’ signature cultural treasure.

But krewe captains and historians say the moves toward openness that have overtaken Carnival in the last two decades have been largely organic.

They say they are driven by krewes’ economic needs and the arrival of a more progressive generation of Carnival participants, assisted by an awareness born out of the historic debates of 1991 and 1992.”

"Leah Chase cutting squash" in the National Portrait Gallery

 In the same edition, there was a letter to the editor by the aforementioned Leah Chase, whose restaurant, Dooky Chase, holds a special place in the culinary world and whose portrait has been chosen to hang in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.  Reflecting on art, life and NOLA, in a letter to the editors she wrote, in part:  “I love New Orleans. I love its openness and the diversity of its people who seemed to have in common with me a joy of just being alive. I love the intermingling of different races and ethnicities of people, the different languages (seldom the King's English) Creoles, Cajuns and others speak, and the fact that rich and poor do not separate themselves, that much, one from another. From my daily readings of The Times-Picayune, you seem throughout your history to like those things, too. However, both you and I are well aware of negative cultural influences that life in New Orleans does have on children. You work hard to portray that objectively and inspire us all to change and improve as I say, "by investing in the artistic excellence of people and in the education of neighborhood kids.''
Like you, I am determined to shelter children from all that is negative, yet to prepare them to deal with the real world and to develop in them a strong commitment to community, family and quality. The measure of our successes is not whether any of us (your editors, staff writers, workers and me) achieve fame or wealth in life, but whether we truly understand what it means to love and be part of one united family, one community striving to get better.”

Well said and true to our experience of New Orleans and its people.

We now anticipate the upcoming parades; all 17 of them  There are one on Wednesday evening, the three on both Thursday and Friday evenings, the two next Saturday and the four on next Sunday.  And there are two each on Monday and Tuesday before the Lenten season begins with Ash Wednesday.