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From the Editor's Desk
If you like jazz and funk, and you like being around a lot of people, and I mean a lot of people, and you like sweating and getting sunburned, you'll love this festival. There really should be some law barring large outdoor events that have no shade from being scheduled after March in New Orleans. I saw three people get wheeled out in three hours of sitting in one spot. But the music was good, and the arts on display were fun. It was too hot to try the food, but I heard it was great. Nearly two years since Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans still bears the scars of that storm. It's kind of shocking to go back there and realize it's been that long. A lot of progress has been made, mostly by the residents of that town bootstrapping themselves upward and onward. But it almost serves to highlight just how much more work will have to be done there to fix what was so badly broken. New Orleans has always stirred mixed emotions for me. The vibrant multicultural mix that home creole and jazz. But deep divisions sharply the transitions between nearly every level of economic and social status. There's that wonderful laissez-faire attitude that means nothing is ever that big a deal, but also lets beautiful historic homes fall to pieces. It's beautiful but crime-ridden, noble yet corrupt.
Will New Orleans ever be the same as it was before Katrina? The short answer is no. Oh, if you go for a visit and never leave the French Quarter, you can be forgiven for thinking it's already back to what it was before, but Katrina irrevocably changed this city. Whether it will be for the better or worse remains to be seen, and ultimately, is up to the people who live and work there and the people they put in place to govern things.
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