After work...

Our Dean was gracious enough to take a group of UMKC professors out to dinner tonight. We all walked down to the French Quarter and had delicious gumbo and other creole and cajun food. A few of the professors kicked in for some bottles of Fess Parker wine and it was a merry night. After desserts of pecan pie, bread pudding and praline sundaes we walked back to the hotel via Bourbon Street; which seemed to be a shock to some of the more fragile among us.

After two days here I‘m beginning to get a feel for the place. During our time off we offered $35 for an under worked taxi to take us for a personal tour of the Ninth Ward. Later some of us drove east along the river to Slidell. Yes, it is as bad and worse than we had expected. It is a wonder the people of New Orleans are coming back at all, with so much destruction and so much bureaucratic red tape delaying everything.

Years ago I use to visit New Orleans once a year. It has always been one of my favorite cities. The food, the music, the life, the people. It is still an exciting place to me. But something is missing. However the people that are here are doing a damn fine job of bringing it back to life.