How New Orleans celebrates its dead is unique to the rest of the United States. And a lot of what we do comes from African and Latin American cultures.   We have something called second line which started as part of a funeral procession from the black community where the mourners walk from the church to the cemetery, the first part the band plays a slow dirge and then after that the music changes to something more lively. Usually the tune

Many believe that the flooding of New Orleans during Katrina had to do with the water overtopping the levees and the flood walls. This is not true. The city was flooded by the incompetence of the US Army Corps of Engineers. Everyone in the city knows this to be true.   The 17th Street Canal had flood walls of sheet piling that did not extend all the way to the clay soil. People who lived along the New Orleans side of

New Orleans was built on a crescent in the Mississippi. The story goes that it was actually built on a site that was sacred to the Indians. Is it any wonder that New Orleans is perhaps the most spiritual city in America? We have tons of churches and religious ceremonies throughout the year, the biggest is Mardi Gras. Yes, it is a religious celebration that comes before Ash Wednesday.   The city is built on a natural levee and the old

New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Sieur de Bienville who was actually Canadian. The spot that he picked was recommended by the Natives of the area at the time. It had a natural levee that help to protect it from seasonal flooding when the Mississippi River overflowed its banks.   There were many times in the early days when that levee could not contain the river and the French Quarter was inundated by water. So in its early days the

New Orleans can absolutely survive another hurricane. What a question! We are a city that is over 300 years old and the challenges that they had in the beginning of the city were a lot more than we have today. Back then there were no levees or at least there were no manmade levees.   There were only the levees that the Mississippi River naturally built but they were not enough to protect from all flooding. There were hurricanes and there

Hurricane Katrina dealt a pretty savage blow on the city. The winds were very strong and caused a lot of destruction with huge trees blown down, roofs torn off, and even some unstable building collapsing. In the central business district many windows were blown out and took months for those to be replaced.   Because the storm was so huge stretching from it seemed Texas to Alabama many in the people chose to evacuate. Before then people did not leave the

The New Orleans Saints have made the playoffs many times over the course of their history. But there success has always been spotty. In recent years when they played the Rams and that famous no call when it was obvious that a call should have been made, kept the Saints from going to the Super Bowl again.   They have only been to the Super Bowl once and they won the game with the excellent coaching by Sean Payton and play

First of all New Orleans is not sinking. I don’t know where anyone would get this idea. over 50% of the city is at or above sea level. What Hurricane Katrina did was expose the areas that were originally swamp that was filled in without building it up first. And this causes the neighborhoods in this area to flood more readily than other areas. So no New Orleans is not sinking.   Then there are those that want to blame this

Yes, New Orleans is always being saved. New Orleans has always struggled against the elements and has always come through over its more than 300 year history. It’s survived fires, hurricanes, floods and yellow fever epidemics. As well as terribly poor management by city government. Hurricane Katrina dealt a heavy infrastructure and financial blow to the city. And it is still recovering in some areas.   Also you have to look at saved from what? Poor government, incompetence by city officials,