06-23-08 New Orleans LA: 1250 hrs. I got here yesterday and am in perhaps not one of the more colorful parts of the city at present. I will be here for a few days, interviewing people and checking things out in some of the more neglected parts of town, also I will be doing a small talking show on Wednesday night I think it is. As of late, there has not been all that much to comment on, hence the relative salience of this journal thing. I was in LA for weeks, basically working on what will hopefully turn into two books to be released this fall. Besides that, I spent a good amount of time preparing radio broadcasts for the weeks I will be away. Things should be far more interesting almost immediately, especially after we get a day of shooting under our belt tomorrow.
New Orleans is one of the more amazing places I have ever been. Some parts have been hit hard enough to where I don’t know if they will come back structurally and many of the people have suffered immensely in all the ways you can imagine and perhaps some you have not thought of. There is a lot of medicated people here. A lot of depression and people trying to make sense of their lives, starting over has been extremely difficult for many people here. But still, there is something beautiful and unbreakable about people here and it’s great to be around it.