Sunday, January 20, 2008
Goodnight and Good Luck
The time has come to turn a page and start something new. The Wet Bank Guide has been a defining part of my life, of what I do and who I am, for two-and-a-half years. From the first days after 8-29 when I started gathering tidbits of news because the mainstream media we so lost and confused in the days of the flood, until I wrote the last post just below this, it has both captured and defined how my life was changed by those signature events.
The last piece, Carry Me Home, seems a perfect book end to the story of my journey home, the story line that predominated on WBG at the end. That journey is complete, and what is before me is not a journey but something like a continuous arrival. Having reached this cultural Galapagos, it is no longer about the voyage: the rats and the hardtack and the bad weather. It is instead about the beauty of a life unimagined elsewhere.
I think I need a change of tempo and time to begin the next movement, and so we will leave this story here and continue elsewhere. Look for me at my other sites that have sprouted up over time, primarily at Toulouse Street -- Odd Bits of Life in New Orleans, and at Poems Before Breakfast. I plan to collect what I think is the best of Wet Bank Guide and publish it to paper sometime in the near future, and I will post that here when I do.
Beyond the book idea, I have other writing projects banging around in my head or in progress. There simply aren't enough hours in the day or days in the week to do all I want and need to do and I think Wet Bank Guide is what has to give. If you've been one of my loyal readers or one of those who have left kind comments or track-back links, thank you. You have pushed me indirectly to keep writing, and by doing so first to keep my head above water and then to grow as a person. I am forever indebted to you for that.
For Victoria and Annette, my some-time editors, thank you for your help. To all of the NOLA Bloggers who were my eyes on the ground when I was still in Fargo, and who have become friends since coming home, thank you as well. This blog is just one, tiny part of a huge collective and collaborative space that is telling the story of the rebirth of New Orleans better than any other media. It is a privilege to be in your company. And to my wife Rebecca, who blazed the trail home, and my children Killian and Matthew left the place they knew growing up and who made this city their home, thank you beyond the ability of words to express.
One last thing for everyone who comes here: Remember.
Katrina NOLA New Orleans Hurricane Katrina Think New Orleans Louisiana FEMA levees flooding Corps of Engineers We Are Not OK wetlands news rebirth Debrisville Federal Flood 8-29 Rising Tide Remember
The last piece, Carry Me Home, seems a perfect book end to the story of my journey home, the story line that predominated on WBG at the end. That journey is complete, and what is before me is not a journey but something like a continuous arrival. Having reached this cultural Galapagos, it is no longer about the voyage: the rats and the hardtack and the bad weather. It is instead about the beauty of a life unimagined elsewhere.
I think I need a change of tempo and time to begin the next movement, and so we will leave this story here and continue elsewhere. Look for me at my other sites that have sprouted up over time, primarily at Toulouse Street -- Odd Bits of Life in New Orleans, and at Poems Before Breakfast. I plan to collect what I think is the best of Wet Bank Guide and publish it to paper sometime in the near future, and I will post that here when I do.
Beyond the book idea, I have other writing projects banging around in my head or in progress. There simply aren't enough hours in the day or days in the week to do all I want and need to do and I think Wet Bank Guide is what has to give. If you've been one of my loyal readers or one of those who have left kind comments or track-back links, thank you. You have pushed me indirectly to keep writing, and by doing so first to keep my head above water and then to grow as a person. I am forever indebted to you for that.
For Victoria and Annette, my some-time editors, thank you for your help. To all of the NOLA Bloggers who were my eyes on the ground when I was still in Fargo, and who have become friends since coming home, thank you as well. This blog is just one, tiny part of a huge collective and collaborative space that is telling the story of the rebirth of New Orleans better than any other media. It is a privilege to be in your company. And to my wife Rebecca, who blazed the trail home, and my children Killian and Matthew left the place they knew growing up and who made this city their home, thank you beyond the ability of words to express.
One last thing for everyone who comes here: Remember.
Katrina NOLA New Orleans Hurricane Katrina Think New Orleans Louisiana FEMA levees flooding Corps of Engineers We Are Not OK wetlands news rebirth Debrisville Federal Flood 8-29 Rising Tide Remember
"And when we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard nor welcome, but when we are silent we are still afraid. So it is better to speak remembering we were never meant to survive." -- Audie Lorde
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