rants

ON THIS THANKSGIVING, I AM GIVING THANKS

For these past two and a half months, I am overwhelmed with thanks to all the people who have helped me with work, places to stay, financial aid, and just plain good thoughts. I will honor a few of them later in this essay.

I'm happy to say that I am now home--home, such as it is (to paraphrase an old song), be it ever in shambles, there's no place like home. Many of us have had to think and rethink about what home means to us. Those of us among the New Orleans Diaspora are still thinking, and still reinventing "home" from wherever we are: whether we are away from our beloved city, or are back, picking up the pieces and rebuilding.

Home. I read in a recent email that now "How's ya house?" has replaced "Where y'at?" as the New Orleans greeting. I've had several people ask me "How's ya house?" in the last two and a half months.

I am happy to say that I didn't lose my house. On this Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful to be able to celebrate it in New Orleans. However, I don't know yet whether I still have my HOME, my CITY, my COMMUNITY. Much of that community is gone, and the loss leaves a huge hole in my heart.

I miss the Ninth Ward studio I used to go to to lay down fiddle tracks. I miss Mike and Katie. I miss the Ninth Ward, Lakeview, and Carrollton Avenue as they once were. I miss Thrift City.

In August, I was all set to lose everything. Many of my friends did. I came back, weeks later, to find out that the water in my street went up to my third porch step, and stopped there. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for my luck, but sad for my friends.

On this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for all the people who have opened their homes to me, and allowed me the time to think about all the things I miss about New Orleans. Now, however, I get to think about them from my apartment that now bears a blue roof, some ruined furniture in my shed (the duplex where I live was raised, but not the shed), and some missing porch steps.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, here's my list of thank-yous:

To the Howells, who put me and my two cats up in Missouri; to Tom Piazza, for helping me stay sane; to Mike Luster, who helped me out with a gig and a place to stay on my way back south, through Monroe, LA; to Philip, who put me and the cats up in Lafayette (or maybe, put up with us); to Jeanne and Lee, for cat-sitting; to Paula, for miraculously finding Georgia when she was trying to find her way home one evening...

To Terry Huval, Tom Yeager, Michael Terry, Lisa Markley, Dayna Kurtz, Pat Humphries and Sandy O. for helping me get gigs, and helping to make up for the lost income due to the storm; to NERFA, and to Heymanns for their help; to Esther and Dudley for getting my cats, car, and guitar out of New Orleans; to the Daigreponts for a place to park that car; to my brother, Tom, for a place to crash in Dallas; to Sam and Meera, for places to crash in Lafayette and Houston, and finally, to Dave Cash, for keeping this website going through it all.

And if I've forgotten anyone, sorry for the omission, and thank you, too.

And oh yeah--the Sunday fais do do at Tipitina is back, but gigs are still scarce around here. So if you have a house concert or other venue you'd like me to play, I'm still very much available to travel. And I will be traveling again over the next few months...

Posted by gina at November 24, 2005 11:22 AM