Changing of the Seasons

The changing of the seasons is usually a gradual shift between the long bright days of summer, and more cold, crisp days of autumn. This was not the case in New Orleans this fall, however. First, let me mention how much I miss fall back home. It may be my favorite season, there is just something special about it. The cold, the crispness, the rustling of fallen leaves, the explosions of colors in the trees, etc. The activities- doing corn mazes in a full moon, hayrides, or just walking through the forest with a pallet of colors surrounding you and a slight breeze.

Here in New Orleans we sort of had an Indian summer, I say "sort of", because, is it really an Indian summer if there's never any fall to begin with? It's normally hot and humid until late September, when it cools off and progressively turns into the 2nd season of Louisiana, not-summer. But up until yesterday, it was 90s and 90% humidity virtually everyday, and true to monsoon season, every afternoon there was intense rainstorms, sheets of rain pounding the sidewalk and the streets fill up with rain. There was a week break mid-September, but it was only false hope.

Last night the season changed in about 6 hours. Yesterday, there was a high of 92F, about 85% humidity, and an early afternoon shower. A powerful cold front came through, waking me up around 2am. I had just fallen asleep about 30minutes ago, having spent most of the night writing a paper on how I could fix all of Brazil's economic problems in 20 pages. (an exaggeration, of course) I was awoken by a crack of thunder, and the pounding of rain on the roof. I opened the blinds and watched the storm for a while, 30minutes, 2 hours, I'm not really sure. I watched as the pounding rain cleansed the sidewalks and streets of New Orleans, doing it far more efficient than any government service could do.

When I woke this morning to come to work, it was definitely a new season, that of not-summer. Not-summer in New Orleans is generally 70s of highs and lows of 50s, and a decent amount of wind. It's a bit chilly in the day, and colder at night, and progressively gets to the low of not-summer, which is high of mid50s and low of mid30s in the winter months of January-February. It rarely ever hits freezing temperatures here on the Southshore (south of Lake Pontchatrain) and if it does, the media issues plenty of freezing alerts.

I have to say, I'm glad it's not-summer. No longer do I break a sweat walking to campus and back. And I have to say, I think that the late summer makes the semester fly by even faster. When it feels like summer, you kind of forget it's September or mid-October. Now, it feels like school, and Thanksgiving is only a month and a week away, and thus, we only have 5-6 weeks left in the semester. Maybe Tulane should put that up on the admissions website as a per.

Surburbia, Madrid, and my Dislike of Cars

I'm taking Urban Economics this semester, which is one of the most interesting classes I've ever taken at college. On the surface, the questions seem simple- Why do we build the way we do? Why do cities even exist? It's complex and simple, in a strange semi-contradictory way, but there are so many fascinating explanations. The current unit is on suburbs, pros and cons. I uploaded a chapter from a textbook we read, that is a scathing critique of suburbs. I agree with a decent portion of it, not all, but it's a good read (not too long, 10pages) and worth your time.

Currently I've been thinking a decent amount about my future after college; I've thought a good amount about where I'd like to live, (or more specifically where I wouldn't like to live) though perhaps I should be focusing on what job I'm going to do. Secondly, I sent an email to a girl from my old high school who is studying abroad this semester in Madrid, she asked me for suggestions on places to go, and I happily obliged, it brought back some good memories. Thirdly, I've been studying Urban Economics recently, and they all brought about an interesting revelation.

Having returned to the US, I often wondered why I loved Madrid so much. The culture, food, definitely. The people, certainly, everyone there was very friendly and it was quite easy to meet new people and become friends, not like the clique-filled social network of Tulane. I had been thinking about that, and the prior 3 things, and that chapter from the Urban Planning book really nailed it for me. Before, I thought it might have just been city living, but I live here in New Orleans and I'm frequently frustrated at getting around. what the main thing I loved about Madrid was- The lack of a need for a car.

I've never particularly liked driving, or being driven. I don't really like being in a car. I do occasionally get carsick, but generally it has nothing to do with it. I don't know exactly what it is offhand, I haven't really thought about it. But I know I don't like cars, and even moreso I dislike the obligation of needing a car to get to places I want to go. That's what I loved about Madrid- I lived in a neighborhood with an incredible amount of shops and stores, of all sorts of kinds. There was a grocery store, a pharmacy, a drugstore, several bars and restaurants, a pizzeria, etc, etc, etc, all within 3 blocks or so. And everything else was only a metro ride away on one of the world's best subway systems. I loved it- the comprehensiveness of the metro system extended out to the suburbs, yet had plenty of stops in the city center so it was never far away from your destination. That's one thing that bothers me, in the US there's no place with anywhere near as great of a subway system. In Madrid, it was very easy to live without a car, here, with the exception of NYC, even living in a city it's difficult to live without one.

If I wanted to go to the grocery store in Madrid, I walked a few blocks. If I wanted to go play soccer in the south of the city, I hopped on a metro, walked to a friends house, and went to the field. If I wanted to go to the movies, I hopped on the metro and took 6 stops to Callao. If I wanted to go to Barcelona, I could take the metro to the train station (Atocha RENFE) or take the metro straight to the airport. There were few places, if any, within Madrid I could not get to cheaply and quickly- and thanks to the connection to the airport, it was easy to get anywhere within Spain or Europe.

In New Orleans, if I want to go to the grocery store, I have to beg a friend to drive me. If I want to go to the movies, I have to do the same or take a cab. If I want to play soccer, I can usually take the streetcar but it depends on where we are playing. If I want to go to Miami, I have to take a cab to the airport, or take the streetcar downtown, and hop on a bus to the airport. In Fairport, it's worse. The public transportation sucks in New Orleans, but it exists. In Rochester...you can pretty much get downtown after a long walk to the bus stop, and that's it. If I want to go to anywhere within Fairport, I need to bike.

Not needing a car in Madrid and still not being limited was so liberating, in a strange kind of way. And that's what I'd like- To live somewhere where I can get around alright, and not need to own a car. Preferably efficiently...but I doubt I can find that here in the States.

Wanderlust

I defintely have a case of wanderlust. Every few months I get feeling a bit restless, and I want to travel or move somewhere. I guess that's why I moved to New Orleans after graduating high school, and I guess that's why I chose to study about in Madrid, among several other reasons. I feel a bit of nostaglia about the old places I've lived, even though I know they have changed a lot. Maybe that's why I don't have much interest in going back.

Recently, I've been thinking about moving out west after I graduate. I don't know why, but it just seems like the region is very fresh and pulsating with ideas. California, Oregon, Washington...maybe Arizona. Seattle has been particularly appealing, though. I wouldn't be opposed to the East Coast though, but DC appeals to me more than say, Boston or NYC.

I think it's a bit funny though, as much as I want to travel and move, sometimes I'm annoyed about how I don't have a permanent home. Somewhere where I can buy furniture and stuff, without wondering how I can transport it when I move next. My stuff is 1/2 split in Rochester and New Orleans right now, it'll be nice when I graduate to get it all in one location. Maybe the ideal job for me would be one where I travel a lot for business.

Violent Crime in New Orleans

This picture will never fully convey the anguish and the pain going on in New Orleans. For every red dot on this GoogleMap image of New Orleans, there has been a murder in 2007. We are only 6 months into the year, it is likely that this map will continue to be colored red. In 2006, a Tulane University professor estimated that the murder rate was the highest ever recorded in the United States, beating New Orleans previous national record set in 1994, when 425 people were killed. In July 2006 alone, 26 people were killed. By comparison, in the same month, 43 US soldiers were killed in Iraq. There's something seriously wrong when a city is losing almost as many people as an occupying force in a warzone. Compared per capita, it's disturbingly close, considering we are not in a war. (New Orleans had an estimated population 223,000 in July '06, the US had about 140,000 troops in Iraq, and given the fact that Iraq is much much much larger than the city of New Orleans.)

New Orleans is down on its' knees, and the murder rate is killing our potential reconstruction and rebirth. The city is beginning to see white flight, which threatens us economically and culturally. The violence is a huge deterrent to tourism, which accounts for 40% of New Orleans income as well as 85,000 people. (Not including the multiplier effect) Combining these two losses, it's unlikely rebuilding will proceed at any reasonable rate and the already-strained social services will be cut back even further. While the influx of Latinos (to a traditionally "Chocolate City") has provided cheap labor to aid reconstruction, it has fuelled a violent drug gang war between Blacks and Hispanics.

What's the solution? I'm not sure, but I am sure what's in place is not working. It is clear that the city of New Orleans needs federal and state aid, they do not have money to police the entire city. (One reason why they commissioned University Police as full police officers at all New Orleans colleges this Spring) This deficit only allows for more violence which perpetuates the downward spiral. A dearth of economic and educational opportunity also causes the violence. New Orleans public schools are barely functional, I can't even imagine what the dropout rate is. Good decent paying jobs are leaving the area and we are left with dead-end reconstruction which is generally being filled by imported Mexicans.

To save New Orleans, the city, state, and federal governments need to act. We need to immediately deploy more police to stop the senseless killings, but at the same time we need functional schools. New Orleans and Louisiana needs to woo companies to come to New Orleans (the 4th largest port in America and within 30 miles of the 4th largest port in the world) to provide decent jobs to attract talent to the city. (Read: wealthy taxpayers) We need to rebuild the oil and gas infrastructure destroyed during Katrina. (Southern Louisiana is the 2nd biggest oil refiner in the US after Texas. Wonder why gas prices shot up during Katrina and still remain high? We're still operating far below capacity)

Whatever the solution, Nagin, Blanco and others must act now, otherwise New Orleans is well on track to reclaim the ignominious title of the United States' murder capital for the 3rd year in the 21st century.

New Orleans, a Caribbean nation

It struck me today that New Orleans, and to a lesser extent Louisiana, is not really an American state, but much more similar to a Caribbean nation or Central America in a number of ways. I say New Orleans because it's very different from northern Louisiana which is more like Georgia and other Deep South states. I'm sure the scenes of New Orleans during Katrina reminded everyone of third-world disasters, but there's more than that.

#1- Culturally, New Orleans is a lot more like the Caribbean. I think it's the only area in the United States that is predominantly Catholic from inception. NYC/Boston have a lot of Catholicism but that has been mostly imported with the Irish/Italians. New Orleans also descends from the Spanish/French aka Latin-heritage than then Anglo-German of most of the country. Hence the name Louisiana, the french-names, etc. In a very insignificant thing, there is a lot more wine/liquor advertising than beer here. (Latin v. German/Anglo culture) Not to mention the incredible race-mixture here, blacks, whites, creoles, cajuns, hispanic people, etc. Much more like the Dominican Republic.

#2- Politically, we have a weird runoff system more close to Caribbean nations instead of typical primaries/caucuses, actually something I really like. Then there's the fact we don't use English common law and the fact that we have a creole political elite, a huge similarity. There's the fact that we have parishes instead of counties, etc.

#3- Economically, we are one of the poorest cities in the poorest state in America. It's kind of funny, the only reason we went from dead last to 41st in the last year is because of the exodus of people, so more per capita GDP for everyone left. The US GDP per capita is $43,000. The GDP per capita is $17,000 in New Orleans, around the Bahamas, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, and slightly above the Dominican Republic, etc. The inequality in wealth here is much more like Caribbean/Central American nations, it's huge.

Some other things-
there is a lot of corruption in politics and the police similar to Central America/Caribbean nations. No one really trusts the government to do anything but are resigned to the status quo. The police are notoriously bad- they take bribes, arrest at will, illegally confiscate weapons, etc. Their attitude is arrest now, let the judicial process (which is awful) deal with it later. My roommate is a good case. He was arrested on some stupid charge, public disturbance or something for arguing with a cop during Mardi Gras, sent to jail for a day (not pleasant during Mardi Gras) went to court and his charge was dismissed on the first day (although it took 2 months to get to court) The lesson? Don't mess with the police or they will put you through annoying unnecessarily-wrong processes and get away with it.

Lastly, the French quarter reminds me eerily of Caribbean nations tourist spots. In the French Quarter as in tourist-nations such as Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Bermuda and many others, it is pleasant and crime-free in the touristy areas, but once you leave that area, it's a whole different world. Police presence in the French Quarter is very high, there's few crimes at all in there. But outside of there, Central City, New Orleans East, are what has made us the most violent city in America with the highest murder rate.