Man, ain’t this story the truth. I see it nearly every day — someone whose slightly unhinged door has been knocked just a little farther askew in our odd Recovery World here.

Not that New Orleans has ever been City of Sober Sanity. It’s one of our serious charms and a major reason why those of us who live here are still living here. So much of what’s the accepted norm in our city would result in quick arrest in other cities Out There. But I gotta wonder if the recent flood victims from the DC area to upstate New York are going to be seeing some of the same problems, at least in microcosm.

I’m sitting here ticking off a mental list of folks we hung out with before the storm and comparing how they were then versus how they are now. Maybe it’s just that I’ve gotten to know some of them better and longer over the past year or so — but I think nearly all of them are edgier and less patient than they were. Or, conversely, some have become virtual paragons of non-reactive patience — hammered into submission after ten months of dealing with the glacial process of recovery. I said shortly after The Thing that New Orleans was about to become the most medicated city in the country — and it certainly appears that way now (though we were medicating ourselves more than most anyway).

TBK and I have discovered it’s important to focus on alternative time-consumers — such as cleaning up our block every few days. Yesterday we spent about 30 minutes picking up glass, smashed plastic, tossed beer cans and other deritus on our street. For the third time in a week, we filled an entire big trash bag. Not that we’re altruistic, neatnik do-gooders — we just wanted to do something that made us feel better about where we live. To feel less frustrated and less hemmed in, as it were.

….then we sat down on the front steps and had a few beers.

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1. I been busy, babygirl
2. The Miracle on Poydras
3. Content is King
4. Yes there is a plan and Ray Ray’s the Leader
5. Wi-Fi Music Clubs in New Orleans