Katrina

Linnea Ashley on March 22nd, 2007

so today’s excursion was to the “evil empire”. they are down the street from me and i needed a few things so i figured i’d take a little stroll. five minutes in and i was waving casually to folks perched on their porches carrying on conversations with their neighbors – in true southern style – […]

Continue reading about walking part II

Linnea Ashley on February 16th, 2007

it took forever to get the blood out. the shaved hair and glass. for days it all stayed with me, moments from a day that was almost my own finality. you can’t get stitches wet when your head is infected. you can’t stand up long enough to pick out glass when your medicine is making […]

Continue reading about where they meet

Linnea Ashley on February 15th, 2007

…or the garden district, or even downtown – haphazard as the rebuilding and rejuvenation of downtown is. midcity approaches it but nothing i’ve seen so far comes close to the 9th ward. today i did some volunteer work in the ward. driving across the industrial canal i thought i was prepared. i wasn’t. driving was […]

Continue reading about it ain't uptown

Linnea Ashley on February 13th, 2007

call it paranoia call it old age, call it whatever you want but i half expect for there to be tornadoes here tonight. i know. ridiculous. all the more so because i’ve spent a good part of my life in the fringes of tornado alley. i’m accustomed to the warning system that takes up residency […]

Continue reading about paranoia

Linnea Ashley on January 15th, 2007

It can be difficult even for eyes adjusted to the sometimes squalor of pre-katrina New Orleans. Difficult to discern the difference between what wind, water, and the stranded wrought and what has been brought on by years of sinking swamplands, humidity and poverty. My new neighborhood offers up the challenge of guessing which tragedy has […]

Continue reading about NO return

Linnea Ashley on October 18th, 2005

these guys shared laughter, tears and bootie shaking when times were rough!

Continue reading about FEMA-esqe Friends

Linnea Ashley on October 15th, 2005

getting to sleep and going to sleep are two different things for me these days. now that i’m done with the 10 and 12 hour workdays and i’m just making plans for my time being tired is more an emotional state then an absence of sleep. don’t get me wrong, i’m sleepy too – it’s […]

Continue reading about sleep

Linnea Ashley on October 9th, 2005

I guess you could say I rode the fence on this one. A funny thing to say for anyone that knows me because I’m notorious for being – shall we say impassioned – about everything. I’m rarely at a loss of opinion. But when the footage of “looting” in new orleans started making its way […]

Continue reading about everything to nothing

Linnea Ashley on October 8th, 2005

this morning on the way to boutte, the sun bright and yesterday’s clouds scattered and forced to the fringes of the sky, we followed a caravan of trucks hauling cages of would-be-garbage if… “there goes someone’s house.” lee danced with the truth on that one. each truck was an assortment of carpet and foundation debris, […]

Continue reading about mile of sorrow

Linnea Ashley on October 7th, 2005

today i smiled at people again. not the smile i paste up because i don’t want them to see me looking sad when they already have so much to deal with…but the real smile. anyone who knows me knows the one i’m referring to…all 187 teeth (big as they are) exposed to the whole world. […]

Continue reading about a smile