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Katrina: Two Years After, New Orleans reflects

It hasn't entered the lexicon of infamy quite like 9/11 (perhaps since events spanned far more than one day), but today, Aug 29, marks the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina hitting the Gulf Coast.

Unlike Manhattan, where herculean efforts got the disaster zone cleared faster than expected, the recovery of New Orleans and surrounding Louisiana and Mississippi has progressed far more slowly.

Reasons abound: the sheer size of the disaster; politics of ineptitude at nearly all levels of government; enormous costs and uncertainty surrounding the feasibility of rebuilding; fearsome crime.

Whether the federal response has been hindered by some Rovian scheme to deny a blue state, or the far less machiavellian reality that US resources have been stupidly bogged down in Iraq (where was the Louisiana National Guard two years back?), it remains that the efforts to restore the region were punted by the Bush administration, and have yet to be run back.

With a new election pending, politicos will leverage Katrina. They'll pledge not to forget it, develop grand plans, even in the case of John Edwards stoop to kicking off his campaign in the Lower Ninth Ward.

Regardless, what you'll find in New Orleans if you visit yourself - and please, do - is a populace accepting the fact that they can't rely on their government, that if they wish to rebuild they need to do it themselves. They're hardened, assuredly, at times depressive and mad. But they are New Orleaneans, still, and by nature lovers of life, quick to shake off the demons with a concoction of regal cuisine, pure hospitality and the most ass-shakingest music scene anywhere in America.

Do yourself and them a favor, and get back on down to New Orleans, hear?

Big Plans for Boosting Funds to US National Parks

More than 200 US National Parks stand to gain from a much-needed injection of cash for key development and infrastructure projects, courtesy of the legacy-conscious Bush adminstration.

California Redwoods, the USS Arizona, Mesa Verda cliff dwellings and the New Orleans jazz legacy are among potential recipients of the "Centennial Challenge" proposal.

Underfunded for years, the parks are in line for upwards of $150 million in federal funds, in anticipation of the national park system's centennial, in 2016.  Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has been urging advance planning for the 100th anniversary, and developing public/private funding plans.

In this USA Today article, Kempthorne announced some proposed park initiatives, including Everglades habitat restoration in Florida and the building of a memorial to Flight 93 in Pennsylvania, and the amount of funding lined up: $215 million in private donations, to be coupled with proposed federal funds.

Before you book centennial campsites, know that federal funding still needs to work its way through Congressional approval. Watch this space.

Article: Can the Washington Post Survive?

It's no great secret that the US newspaper industry is freaking out. But how can writers, reporters and content producers adapt to the changing needs of the industry? What's the best plan of action for staying relevant to the editors?

In this Fortune Magazine/CNN.com report by Marc Gunther on the state of the Washington Post, the answer is to diversify: Reporters increasingingly provide multi-platform content that stretches far beyond words, while publishers are rushing headlong into new media solutions.

(Fortune Magazine) -- Barry Svrluga, a 36-year-old baseball writer for The Washington Post, was on his way to the barber when an e-mail pinged his BlackBerry telling him that the Washington Nationals had sent two struggling pitchers to the minor leagues. Svrluga detoured to Starbucks, wrote a 572-word commentary on his laptop and posted it to his blog, Nationals Journal at washingtonpost.com. After his haircut he swung by the Post's newsroom to do a live question-and-answer session online with fans. That night, after filing a story for the newspaper, which he calls the "$0.35 edition" in his blog, Svrluga recorded a ten-minute podcast for the Web site, with sound bites from team officials and players.

Like most reporters at the Post, Svrluga has become platform-agnostic, which is a nice way of saying that his bosses are no longer big believers in print. Today a small army of bloggers, podcasters, chatroom hosts, radio voices and TV talking heads, as well as a few old-fashioned ink-stained wretches, populates the newsroom at the 131-year-old Post. They understand that Donald E. Graham, the chairman and CEO of the Washington Post Co., is hurrying the paper into the digital future. "If circulation is dropping," Svrluga explains, "and we're trying to figure out how people are going to get their news, who am I to say no to trying out new avenues?"

New avenues: That's the story of the newspaper business right now. Alarmed by declining circulation, advertising and profits, America's newspaper publishers - as hidebound a collection of businesspeople as you can find - are thrashing about to see whether they can separate the news from the paper and still make money. They're going way beyond the headlines.

Full story, here.

Lonely Planet Encounter New York

Happy to announce Encounter New York. Lonely Planet's new pocket urban travel guides. Local NYC author Ginger Adams Otis dishes on the best galleries, happy hours and street eats in the city. Fun book!

Download NewYork.pdf

A Streetcar Named New Orleans

A Streetcar Named New Orleans  

 

By Jay Cooke

They'd gathered at Beauregard Circle by the entrance to City Park, a crowd several hundred strong, tooting horns and shooting video, tossing beads and waving Saints hats.

The steady 'bwomp, bwah bwah' of a brass band marked the cadence we quickly fell into, dancing around the vintage St. Charles streetcar with the throng on the median, or  'neutral ground'. They'd gathered to cheer us on, a krewe of 60-odd costumed revelers, temporary freaks and ambassadors who climbed aboard the streetcar, bedecked by purple, green and gold.

We were in Mid-City New Orleans, with the Phunny Phorty Phellows social krewe, to kick off Mardi Gras 2007. It was January 6, AKA Twelfth Night, when legend says wise men bestowed gifts onto baby Jesus, and New Orleans' Mardi Gras season begins.

I was riding with Anna and Kristian, two New Orleaneans impacted by Katrina, but fighting to revive their town. We squeezed to the front of the streetcar, grabbed window space and some beads and held on as the streetcar lurched into the night. The band, stuffed in the rear of the car, kept on blowing.

In the 18 months since Katrina became a four-letter word in this town, New Orleans has struggled to recover. Despite red tape and doubters, a hearty core has returned to make a stand and rebuild this unique American city.

It's not been easy. Normalcy is hard to fathom when half a city remains uninhabited, when empty homes line once-vibrant neighborhood blocks. Crime is a major issue.

That's what makes Mardi Gras and New Orleans' spring celebrations - the French Quarter Festival, Tennessee Williams Literary Festival, and New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival - so important for New Orleaneans. In the city that's mastered communal celebration unlike any other, public parties now symbolize progress, a reminder of good times past and promise of future ones to come.

We saw this first-hand in Mid-City, a broad, middle-class borough that flooded but is now returning in fits and starts. As our streetcar clanged down Carrollton St. away from the kickoff crowd, smaller groups clustered along the neutral ground, awaiting our approach. They'd wave and bellow "throw me something", we'd whoop and shower down beads in return.

We had the perfect front-window vantage of upcoming groups, some standing, some in lawn chairs, all ages and ethnicities represented. As we approached, they'd erupt in joy.

Though stereotypes paint Mardi Gras as a raucous show of drunks going wild (which they do, on Bourbon Street), for New Orleaneans it connotes much more. Mardi Gras is about families, and generations, gathering for reunions; neighbors reconnecting at favorite parade route spots, year after year.

The conductor noticed the turnout. "So many people," he said as he worked his dual-levered magic, angling the streetcar left onto Canal Street for its dash to the French Quarter downtown. Truth told, the crowd wasn't huge, but in a city striving to repopulate, parade goers were a welcomed site.

As we rode through our final leg downtown, a king cake appeared, and we munched the ceremonial pastry of Mardi Gras. Our beads depleted, we stumbled off at Royal Street, barely noticed despite our elaborate masks and clownish costumes -  which in itself, was a small symbol of normalcy returning to New Orleans again.

If You Go

The 2007 Mardi Gras season runs through Fat Tuesday, Feb. 20, when the police sweep Bourbon Street at midnight and Ash Wednesday begins Lent. Popular parades include Endymion (Feb. 17, 4:30pm), Orpheus (Feb. 19, 5:45pm) and Zulu (Feb. 20, 8am). For schedules, video and trip planning details visit www.mardigrasneworleans.com.

 

Festival season continues throughout spring in New Orleans. Favorites include the Tennessee Williams Festival (Mar. 28-Apr. 1, www.tennesseewilliams.net), the French Quarter Festival (Apr. 13-15, www.fqfi.org) and the granddaddy of American music happenings, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (Apr. 27-May 6, www.nojazzfest.com).

Places to Eat

Down-home Mothers (401 Poydras St., 504-523-9656) dishes fluffy biscuits and 'heaping debris' po'boys. Palace Cafe (605 Canal St., 504-523-1661, www.palacecafe.com) masters horseradish oysters, velvety crusted duck and unreal desserts. The Central Grocery (923 Decatur St., 504-523-1620) birthed the muffelatta, a mega sandwich stuffed with ham, salami, provolone and olive tapenade. One fills two.

Places to Stay

A great value in the French Quarter, the 1830's-era Place d'Armes (625 St Ann St., 504-524-4531, www.placedarmes.com) features several buildings around a communal pool and courtyard. The Canal Street Guesthouse (1930 Canal St., 504-266-1930, www.bestguesthouse.com) shrugs off Katrina with its watery murals and festive traveler's ambiance.

Travels with Lonely Planet

King Features Syndicate 2007