Second trip

William returned to New Orleans for Halloween, I arrived about a few days after Halloween.

We are staying in an apartment with Gordon Soderberg of Vets for Peace. We are overlooking the levee in Algiers a couple blocks from the Common Ground with a view across the river of the 9th Ward and Downtown.

The Common Ground and Algiers is doing reasonably well. The Times Picayune had a front page story about how Algiers is “a beacon of hope” for New Orleans which misses the point a little because it didn't flood. There are cars parked on the street in front of the houses and people walking around. Most are outside cleaning up their yards, some have a LOT of work ahead of them.

A local guy, who lived 8 or 9 houses down from Common Ground, stopped Will and I today while we were walking by and asked us if we were from the Common Ground. He thanked us profusely and told us that he had been living in the area for years and had not met Maliq [of Common Ground] and that he credited Maliq with looking out for the neighbourhood and helping the community have a place to come back to.

I finally got to see the French Quarter. It ranged from really cool bars, many with live music, on one end, to a touristy section on the other.


- Geoffrey Young