Antoinette de Alteriis was preparing with hundreds of others to put on the Joan of Arc parade, a joyous, freewheeling kickoff to Carnival season. Just a few blocks away, people wept and laid flowers and crosses at the site of a horrific truck attack that killed 14 people only six days earlier.
A memorial to the dead stretched for half a block. How do you reconcile that with having a parade? Countless times in the past week, politicians and outsiders have praised the city for its ability to bounce back. New Orleans has faced tragedy again and again, perhaps more than any other American place. Mark Schettler, a veteran bartender, said he prefers to think of this parade, and all the ones that will come after it, as an act of defiance that inspires others to follow, to act.
That, he said, is what the city needs most right now. How about for once things just work? Schettler watched the parade from the Double Club on Chartres Street, at a party reserved for people in the service industry. It was his 39th birthday -- he had a stack of dollar bills pinned to his chest, a New Orleans birthday tradition -- but there was a bittersweet tinge to the celebration.
Most knew the answer right away. They were given little choice but to keep moving: Bourbon Street reopened a mere 36 hours after the carnage, before all the bodies had yet been identified by the coroner. The Sugar Bowl was delayed, but by less than 24 hours. Officials, eager to move forward, plugged the upcoming Super Bowl. Many people who work as waiters, bartenders or dancers in the French Quarter had to go back to work the day after the attack. Louisiana relies on tourism, with And although some view the return to normalcy as resilience, others don't share that view or see it as a compliment.
Dressed in leopard print with glitter sparkling all over her cheeks, Lopez said the only real resilience is in the support that the community has for itself. Someone brought out shots for the table, and they all raised a glass. It's been just 20 years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, and in the decades since there have been more hurricanes, the BP oil spill, and spasms of violence.
