Wow, what an exhausting day -- _again_ with the rain! I don't have any good new pictures to share right now, but I'll try to take some tomorrow. Anyway, you can't tell anything has happened here when you're in the downtown area (I think the locals call it "uptown" here) because it's so built up. If anything, everything looks very new, probably because it is -- even at the Morial Convention Center, where I was earlier today. You may recall the Morial Convention Center is one of the areas where masses of people took refuge -- and if you don't remember, here's what happened.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/14/AR2005091402655.html

I got into a conversation with some of the security guards at the Convention Center and asked what their experiences had been. They were so open to talking about it, pulled out a book of pictures and everything -- it was really touching. They had just been talking about it themselves, apparently, and one woman said it helped to talk about it. I guess I knew that, but I'm glad they didn't think I was prying. After all, to them I was just a stranger.

This is a pretty well-lit tourist area right now, so I didn't really see much in the way of poverty _or_ crime (though one of the security guards did have to leave at one point because someone had reported a purse stolen). Still, while I'm not seeking to be a victim of crime, I want to see more of the _real_ New Orleans, what I know is all around me.

I think I'll get a better sense for sure of the devastation and poverty, to be sure, when I do my volunteer day for Habitat on Monday. They have an amazing infrastructure -- I couldn't believe how easy it was to sign up for even just one day. Maybe you'd like to try it yourself someday.
http://habitat-nola.org/