New Orleans East

This house obviously hasn't been touched.

No one here either. Realize that this picture (all these pictures) were taken while drivng down a four lane road. The fact that I could stop and do that says as much as these photos
No cars, no FEMA trailers, no neighbors, just empty houses
Even the thrift shop is desolate

I've chronicled the recovery of New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina at various times here. Today I drove through the area known as New Orleans East. As the name implies, it is on the eastern side of the city, but within city limits. The area was developed in the 1970's and has gone from being a white area to a mixed area and now one that is primarily African-American. There are a lot of middle class and nicer homes--it is the part of town favored by African-American professionals--and a lot of huge apartment complexes that held Section 8 tenants before the storm. New Orleans East was also home to the largest (in terms of square feet) shopping mall in the city, namely The Plaza. Unfortunately, The Plaza had fallen on hard times even before the storm. Today when I drove by it was a pile of rubble. Several of the large aparment complexes had demolition signs on them and a few have already been torn down. A couple have been renovated and reopened.

For those of you who know the city, I drown down Read Blvd. to Morrison, and took Morrison (a four lane road) to Donman (another four lane road that connects to the Interstate). From Dowman, I turned onto Gentilly Blvd. and continued on it until St. Bernard, at which time I quit playing tourist and got back on the interstate. Here are some pictures.

DONE!!!!!!!

My son has his last final exams tomorrow. If he passes, that means homework is over until August. YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And if you think I'm excited, you should see him. He got out of school at 11 today and I came home this afternoon to study with him so hopefully he got in enough study to pass the tests. I suspect he failed the one today. It was algebra and he has struggled with it all semester. If he passes the class it will be with a low D. If it was a class that he was never going to see again, I'd take the D and just be happy it is over, but he is going to have to take Algebra II in another year so I'm queasy about him barely passing. Summer school is a drag but it will only be for three weeks, assuming he passes all his other classes--and he could fail the other two too.

It's been a long year. We've decided to send him back to the same school next year as much for the stability as anything. We don't know if someplace else would be any better, and it might be worse. Sometimes I hate a lot of things about the school; but I do think that the people working with him care about him, and that's worth something.

Teens and Driving

One thought that has been on my mind lately is teen drivers. You see, I have a son who just turned 15, and who last week informed me that the kids at school told him that at 15 you can get a learner's permit. My mildly autistic son has a normal teen desire--to drive a car. On the one hand I'm thrilled that he is experiencing a normal desire at a normal age. On the other hand, like I told the special ed teacher at school this morning when he made a comment about my son driving "that's a scary thought". My son is disorganized, inattentive and has lousy motor skills. Those aren't exactly qualities that make me eager to put him behind the wheel of a car. On the other hand, my job is to get him ready for life, and in our society, grown-ups drive.

Elena wrote tday about her teenaged driving son. The gist of her post is that she doesn't like the fact that the car allows him to distance himself from the family. That's not really my problem. My problem is that I think it will take a long time for my son to be a good driver (if he ever is) and we live in suburban area with lots of busy streets. The "payoff" for me letting him drive would be that he could drive to school, and since his school is in the city, it would be a major help for us not to have to pick up and drop off. However, it would mean a long drive on busy streets during rush hour.

When I was at school this morning I saw flyers for drivers' ed. They are teaching it at summer school for a couple of weeks. At this point we may be looking at summer school for academics. If not, I'm trying to decide whether to sign him up for drivers' ed. Parenting teens is tough. I don't have the dating issues to deal with, but I have others.

I'm Bragging

My daughter's school had an awards ceremony tonite. She was recognized, along with lots of other kids (it is a magnet school for academic achievers) for having a GPA of 3.5 or higher. Last nine weeks she came home with a report card that left a lot to be desired, so I guess the increased supervision has helped.