Super Domes & Squalor Homes

"EL NUEVO ORDEN DE NUEVO ORLEANS"
(The new order of New Orleans)

This is a flyer I've made for my Latin American Theatre class project final. The inspiration for it (and the PaprPapr tambien) comes from the newspapers, posters, and other bits of printed propaganda that the Mardi Gras Krewes throw out along their parade routes satirizing the current state of affairs.

"La Cupula Pulula!" The word for dome in spanish is 'cupula' and 'pulular' means 'to swarm or gather'.

The Superdome is the grandest of New Orleans modern landmarks. I remember as kid roadtripping with the family in mom's chrysler minivan, driving into town, and laying eyes on that massive bubble at the end of the day. After 8 hours in the car, coming from Nashville to NOLA, the city skyline was a sign of relief, encouragement that soon we'd get to our cousins house.

The most memorable crowd that ever gathered there was of course on August 29, 2005 when those who couldn't or wouldn't leave their homes, came to hunker down during Katrina. I surely wasn't there among them then and I don't have any particular memories of seeing that building on my way out of town the morning before. Crossing the Lake on I-10 and seeing how beautiful and calm the water looked is the thing that struck me as I left.

But who can imagine all the memories that monumental blister of a building must conjure with each different person in the city?

Today there is a new dome on the city's horizon. Or rather its underneath the city. Below I-10 at the end of Canal St. and along N. Carrolton St. is the new location of the city's unofficial homeless encampment. Since December, when these people were evicted from their roost out front City Park, camping tents having popped under the overpass. Everybody in the city has seen them because N. Carroloton is such a main artery to get downtown and it would be impossible not to notice them. But the street was also never a really pleasant place for pedestrians in the first place so I just zoom by in my car, staring to the left for a moment to wonder, then they're passed by and I'm back on my way with the air-condition on, the windows up, and my music blaring for nobody but me to hear.

What's going to happen to these people? We all want to know (or at least I say I do) but I haven't sought out the answers for myself. What happened to these people in the first place? Its easy to surmise when I see all the storm wrecked neighborhoods that have stood in disrepair for the past two and half years (now closer to 3 really).

Probably they were residents of these areas, people who never ever imagined they might be forced out on to the streets. Or maybe their homes didn't flood and received only minor wind damage but they were told they couldn't move back in because their housing project would better serve the city if it was reduced to rubble.

There is a lot to wonder about in New Orleans today. Why are the housing projects being torn down while people who need to be housed are sleeping under the streets? How is it possible that a group of people can be so close up in front of me can remain invisible? What will have happened when they truly do disappear as the local government keeps promising each week?

NOLA residents can't wait and see...