#1 on the list of things you should not tell your mother

[marathoner452]

New Orleans has the highest murder rate in in the United States, twice as dangerous as Detroit and Baltimore.  95 per 100,000.  Detroit is 46 and Baltimore is 45, and those are the cities the rest of my family lives near and sees on the news all the time.  We're also the second most dangerous city in the world, behind Caracas, Venezuela.  I also live in one of the more dangerous neighborhoods of New Orleans.  I like to shock people by telling them I live in the 9th Ward, like the kindergarten aide at the faculty meeting this afternoon who's a New Orleans native.

Sometimes I have to pinch myself and ask if this is really my life.  Three years ago I was fresh out of college and back living in very safe and comfortable Hampstead, Maryland, working as an AmeriCorps VISTA.  I could safely go out for a run at 11 pm.  Then I came down to New Orleans for what was supposedly just a volunteer trip in March 2006 and, as D. would say, New Orleans had "somethin' to say" about me ever leaving.  As they say, "New Orleans chooses you."  I live in the 9th Ward and teach at a school named hope.

I never had romantic ideals of New Orleans, never spent spring afternoons sipping coffee in a courtyard in the Quarter or at Jazz Fest or riding the streetcar down St. Charles.  Heck, the St. Charles streetcar wasn't even running when I came to visit and the Canal Street streetcar just ran as far as Claiborne and was free 'cause hardly anyone was visiting.  My first Mardi Gras was spent at the St. Anne parade through the neighborhood followed by dinner at Sugar Park.  My first impression of New Orleans was from the Claiborne bridge down into the Lower 9th Ward.  But jeez, I never expected to have a drive-by shooting 2 doors down on a Sunday evening.

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/11/new_orleans_has_highest_crime.html

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4480

In more positive news, Chicago came to visit and brought us cake this time.  If only all faculty meetings consisted of 6 layer lemon cake.

Comments

For Christmas...

[black-op.livejournal.com]

would you like school supplies,
or body armor?

[Hug]

[integritysinger.livejournal.com]

i just have to share this little nugget because I thought of you when it happened.

At my son's hippatherapy demonstration day, I bumped into someone I haven't seen since he was a teenager. Now he is working on his masters in education, SpEd, inclusion specialty. So I asked him how he came to the decision to do SpEd (thinking, this guy's at a special needs therapy event, he must have some motivation for chosing SpEd then)

He says, "Oh, i don't know. It was just something to pick to do, you know? So... this hippa stuff, it helps them, like with their muscles and stuff?"

Right. so this joker got into SpEd for no apparent reason other than it was an education field to pick from. I told him succinctly to watch out for fiesty moms like me that are particular about IEPs. He replied that it's no big deal, just tweaking a few questions and adjusting the testing format and such.

O.o

*tips my hat to you* thank you for choosing SpEd because you care about the kids. It's stressful, it's not always gratifying but as a mom, it is REALLY nice to know a teacher gives a flip.

[inked2x.livejournal.com]

Years ago, I used to visit friends in New Orleans a few times a year. Loved it!! Then they moved and I haven't been back. Your posts remind me of how much I miss the experience - even if it is a dangerous city - it is so beautiful as well.

:-)

Re: For Christmas...

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

For Christmas I'd like for my high-drama section 8 neighbors to move.

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

Thank you for reminding me what I'm fighting for.

Actually, at my school the problem is more that parents aren't fiesty enough. Maybe then the school would get its act together and not take over a year to screen a 12 year old 4th grader for dyslexia. He's lost enough time to New Orleans public schools and Katrina evacuation already.

At some point the "IEP records flooded" excuse wears thin. Like, 39 months later there is no excuse for having potentially dozens of special ed. kids walking around school without current IEPs. Either that, or records are in transit from Texas or South Carolina or wherever and with only 2 of us for 350 K-8 kids we're so in over our heads it's not even funny.

So yes, I do care.

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

That's the thing, as much as New Orleans is dysfunctional the dysfunctionality is part of the charm of living here.

On that note, I'm off to Marigny Perks for a decaf cafe au lait with soymilk and some quality reading time on Ekaterina.

[louismaistros.livejournal.com]

We're number one!

Re: For Christmas...

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

Either that, or maybe I should move. That's always an option.