Some of you know that I was born and raised in New Orleans. I’ve lived in Northern CA since 1986, however my birth family and family history is in New Orleans. I visited for a couple of days, flying out of Oakland on New Years’ Day. The weather in N.O. was absolutely beautiful: sunny, yet cool enough for a heavy sweater or coat. No rain. My plan was to specifically spend time with my mother instead of visiting my usual haunts (City Park, Museum of Art, French Quarter, the Gumbo Shop — you get the picture).

On Saturday, 1/5/08, my “coon ass” brother (his words, not mine) was kind enough to take me for a ride to see Brad Pitt’s pink tent city for myself. Sure enough, the site is right at the site of one of the major levee breaks that devastated the Lower 9th Ward. It was impressive and inspiring to see all of the bright pink tents draped over scaffolding. A series of three trailers provided visuals of the 9 types of floor plan options. A new wall has been put up to hold back the water, and sadly there are still so many shells of houses still sitting – not just on this site, but throughout the City. Empty lots with stairs to nowhere – overgrown yard jungles taking over deserted homes. So many sad stories. So many emotions still at the surface…

Back to the Lower 9th pink tent city: donations are being accepted to help this project of 150 new homes on the site. There were several sites with scaffold stairs to allow for the full impact of the pink tent site location. (www.makeitrightnola.org)

I was glad to have followed my intuition because on the way to the airport to return to San Jose CA, I heard that 1/6/08 was the last day of the pink tents and scaffolding. You see, it’s now Mardi Gras season and the scaffolding is needed to prepare for the parades that follow the streets thoughout the City.

I’ll post photos and additional information shortly. Quite a sight – and as I said, very impressive. Brad is doing a fantastic job of making a real commitment to the city of New Orleans – you know the saying, “put your money where your mouth is.” He’s doing that… Many thanks to the efforts of Brad and Angie – lest we forget.