Apricot Street
Apricot Street, the street we were assigned for LJI’s Community Mapping Project, brought our group through a community with experiences of all types. Some residents were doing quite well. Katrina had damaged their homes, but they able to renovate quickly and get back to living their lives. Other homes were still decimated. The owners either didn’t have the means to fix the property, or the owners were living out of the state and had no desire to quickly fix things. We even saw a few properties on our street that not only were damaged by Katrina, but then completely distroyed by a tornado last year.
But what makes me optimistic is that the Hollygrove neighborhood is slowly coming back together. A few of the women we interviewed were amazingly upbeat. One woman, who had renovated her home with little funding from the government, told us that she didn’t want our help and gave us the numbers of some of her friends who were in more dire situations. It’s that type of attitude that will help New Orleans recover. The neighborhood is still splintered. With dozens of homes still not able to be inhabited, it’s hard to rebuild a close-knit community. But hopefully they can rally around a common cause. It’s just so hard for those who have lost so much to become trusting of strangers.
I also can’t stress enough how incredible this trip has been. New Orleans is amazing city, and I look forward to coming back time and time again. I’m not sure I’ll ever have as much fun or learn as much as I did for the past 5 days. It was the perfect way to spend my spring break, and anyone who has the mildest interest in it should make the trip in the future.
- DK
