Saturday, September 17th

After Jefferson Parish began to reopen, N.O. mayor Ray Nagin announced plans for business owners to go back to the CBD, Uptown and Algiers. It was amazing to think of the progress made in less than three weeks. Only two weeks before, we were being told that there would be no commerce in New Orleans for at least three months, and that it was possible no one could live there for up to six. Half a month later, people were going to be allowed to go back!

Sure, there are areas of the city that are uninhabitable. But the heart of the city, the CBD, the French Quarter, and Uptown, was intact, we were told. If those parts of the city could reopen, how bad could our place in Mid-City be?

We were anxious to get to our house and check it out. The more information we dug up, the more sure we were that the house had gotten more then five feet of water in it. Surely some things would be salvageable, like books high on our bookshelves, Michelle's postcard collection. The only problem was getting into the city.

Luckily we had a way. One of the owners of Handsome Willy's was trying to get a freelance gig for a magazine in Baton Rouge, so he had a press pass. He'd actually been back into New Orleans a few times, exploring the area and talking to people. He suggested that I make passes for AG, and offered to print them for us. I designed one for me and one for Michelle, and that Saturday, when all the Willy's guys drove in from Breaux Bridge, they brought us our laminated passes.

Saturday morning we were on our way to our house.