New Orleans, Louisiana
By Mandy Walkenhorst
4 June 2008
What city do you live in? What neighborhood?
I live in New Orleans in a neighborhood known as Broadmoor. I like to think of my neighborhood as in the middle of everything. Close to mid-city and uptown, and just ten minutes from the quarter and the superdome.
Almost three years after that storm we all witnessed on the news, Broadmoor and the rest of New Orleans is still recovering.
What are some adjectives that describe your neighborhood?
New Orleans as a whole is tropical, colorful, creative, strong, and I like to say that even the houses have character.
Anyone who has been knows there is no other place quite like it.
How long have you lived there, and what brought you there?
My family moved to New Orleans almost eleven years ago because of my dad's job. We've lived in Broadmoor for nine and that's the house that flooded and was rebuilt after Katrina.
What is your favorite thing about this place? Your least favorite?
I love New Orleans for so many reasons. In some cities winter takes over like a permanent gray cloud. I love that in New Orleans, no matter what time of year it is, there is green foliage and sunshine.
I love that everyone drinks iced coffee and enjoys sitting outside with their friends.
I love that it's one part big city and one part small town--somehow most people are connected in one way or another.
And most of all I love how what was one of the worst catastrophes for New Orleans, reformed to create a tightly bonded group of people who would do anything for their city.
I guess the only thing I have to complain about the city is that in some summer months it is just too hot to move. But I'd take that over cold any day.
Do you feel that you belong there?
I feel like I belong there more than anywhere else. I think anyone born in New Orleans, or who ends up there one way or another either feels an instant connection or doesn't. There isn't much of an in-between.
What is the most common misconception about where you live?
Before the storm the biggest misconception was that life in New Orleans revolved around Bourbon Street. There is so much more to see and do in the city!
Post-Katrina people think the city is dangerous, and not worth living in, visiting, or saving. A year after the storm, some 60% of America still thought the city had water in it.
Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Mark Twain said "an American has not seen the US until he has seen mardi gras in New Orleans," but I think that can be extended to seeing New Orleans in general.
What is a special fact about your city that you have to live there to know?
If you live there you know that no one in their right mind actually pronounces New Orleans as N'awlins.
What aspect of your city do you secretly love?
I secretly love that I can go into my backyard and find lizards and that wild parrots can be found in the trees.
Anything else you'd like to add?
In my pictures I tried to capture several things: one is just some of the beauty New Orleans has to offer, another is the recovering aspect of the storm, and last but not least is that some parts of the city continue to decay.
