The Times-Picayune is cool!

If there’s one thing that I had been dying to do when we got here, it was to read the Times-Picayune.  After a whole semester of using pictures and articles from the online version and discussing its cultural importance in the New Orleans life, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a real copy of this newspaper.  Now that I actually have access to it, I have loved waltzing into coffee shops, picking up the paper (along with my CC’s mochasippi strawberry shortcake smoothie of course), browsing through the articles on the streetcar, and carrying it under my arm for the rest of the day.  However middle-school this sounds, the best way to describe this experience is by calling it ‘cool’.  Its ‘cool’ that I’ve studied a culture from a distance for several months, and can now see it printed every day and available for 75 cents on newsstands.  It’s very cool indeed!

As last weekend was Tulane’s graduation, I expected to see something in the paper as a celebration for the seniors.  Not only did I find this, but also a detailed covering of the “Katrina Class”, which was the label given to the graduating class of 2009.  Though I had not realized it, this class had just ended their 4 year-long college experience that began in August of 2005, with students entering orientation just as Hurricane Katrina was making landfall.  The article (read it here)  praised this group of students who having evacuated the city, lost much of the excitement of beginning college and embarking on a new chapter of their life.  These were the students who faced great loss, but were brave enough to return to Tulane months after Katrina and continue along on their undergraduate path (being only one third of the total enrolled freshman class for the 2005-2006 school year). 

It was a very powerful moment to read this article and think about Katrina’s daily presence in New Orleans.  After the storm hit in 2005, I was concerned for the people, but soon turned my back on New Orleans’ situation, not thinking anything of it for the next 3 years.  It wasn’t until this last semester that I began to realize that life in New Orleans hadn’t picked back up, and things were still a wreck. In reading this article, I realized how selfish I’ve been to be so ignorant.  These people have been struggling for years, while I had been blocking the damage out of mind and focusing on my own concerns.  But there was the Times-Picayune, reminding me of this very real storm and its very real consequences. 

All of this is to basically say that I’m eager to use the paper as my inspiration.  There is so much cultural value in reading a newspaper, regardless of the city being reported.  But particularly in New Orleans, where the fast-paced lifestyle is supplemented by the city’s relaxed feel, the newspaper speaks volumes about the cultural brilliance that is taking place.  Even though I’m tossing around several ideas for my documentary, I know that the Times-Picayune will be a great source of motivation for my project.