"Someone suggested that there's an incomplete part of our chromosomes that gets repaired or found when we hit New Orleans. Some of us just belong here." -John Goodman
At 18 years old, I guess I could say that I found my missing chromosomes when I moved to New Orleans as a college freshman at Tulane. I liked it so much that I applied to be an admission counselor when I gradated four years later. I got the phone call telling me that I'd been hired literally as I was walking into the Wave Goodbye graduation party. A few weeks later, my parents helped me to buy a little house not far from campus. I moved in and started the new job. More found chromosomes, more of New Orleans in my genes. That was in July of 2005. One month later, I had lost everything I owned, and I was working for a closed school in a destroyed city and living in a very dark, cold hotel room outside of Richmond, VA. At that point, New Orleans had officially infused itself in my DNA forever.
To me, Katrina seems like a lifetime ago. It seems like some sort of alternate universe that I vividly remember, yet can't seem to fully recollect. I remember reading a blog a few months after the storm that said "stick a fork in yourself, Tulane. You're done." I have memories of moving back to New Orleans and Tulane and driving around for hours trying to find anywhere that would serve breakfast. Or somewhere to get a haircut. I have memories of working with my incredible colleagues that year after the storm to recruit someone, anyone, to come be a part of the next incoming class. I still give so much respect to those 844 students who came to Tulane just one year after the storm.
And then I look at New Orleans and Tulane, today. Speaking of things that are genetically intertwined, New Orleans and Tulane were forever bound together on August 29th, 2005. By now, you've seen hundreds of articles about where New Orleans is ten years later. You may know about the progress: the 1.1 billion dollar hospital that opened this month, the booming film industry, the remarkable amount of new facilities and infrastructure improvements at Tulane, the 9.5 million visitors that came to NOLA last year (up from 3.7), the 600 new restaurants, the "best flood control system of any coastal community" in the world, the largest freshman class we've ever had here at Tulane, and how we've now become Startup/Entrepreneur/Medical/Technology City, USA.
You also know we've got work left to be done. With wetlands, with inequality in the recovery and with public safety. We as a university recognize this, and work every day to build this community and its residents a better future. New Orleans has come a long way, and we have a ways to go, but to me, that is what it means to have something truly in your blood. It will always be there, it will move with you, it will grow with you, it will improve as you do and it will be in your genetic code forever. That is what New Orleans means to me. Sure does make that old Chris Rose quote, "you can live in a lot of cities, but New Orleans is the only city that lives in you," ring undeniably true.
If you haven't already, take a few minutes to watch this video.
Whether you came to New Orleans for four years as a college student, four days to visit a friend, or you're like me and came here and just... stayed, one thing will always remain true: New Orleans gets into your blood. It truly does become a part of your chromosomes, your lifeblood, your dreams, your passions, your hopes and your soul. I travel the world recruiting students to come to New Orleans, and I can tell you from years of personal experience that it really IS different down here. It really does affect you like few other cities can. Chris Rose put it best; "the longer you live in New Orleans, the more unfit you become to live anywhere else."
So as we watch the ten-year anniversary of Katrina come and go, we feel NOLA in our DNA. We let it fill up whatever is missing in us and whatever piece of us is lacking; the city makes us whole. We've made a lot of progress in this town and know there is even more that can be achieved. But today and every day of the last ten years and of the next to come, we know that New Orleans will be a part of us. Forever.
To me, Katrina seems like a lifetime ago. It seems like some sort of alternate universe that I vividly remember, yet can't seem to fully recollect. I remember reading a blog a few months after the storm that said "stick a fork in yourself, Tulane. You're done." I have memories of moving back to New Orleans and Tulane and driving around for hours trying to find anywhere that would serve breakfast. Or somewhere to get a haircut. I have memories of working with my incredible colleagues that year after the storm to recruit someone, anyone, to come be a part of the next incoming class. I still give so much respect to those 844 students who came to Tulane just one year after the storm.
And then I look at New Orleans and Tulane, today. Speaking of things that are genetically intertwined, New Orleans and Tulane were forever bound together on August 29th, 2005. By now, you've seen hundreds of articles about where New Orleans is ten years later. You may know about the progress: the 1.1 billion dollar hospital that opened this month, the booming film industry, the remarkable amount of new facilities and infrastructure improvements at Tulane, the 9.5 million visitors that came to NOLA last year (up from 3.7), the 600 new restaurants, the "best flood control system of any coastal community" in the world, the largest freshman class we've ever had here at Tulane, and how we've now become Startup/Entrepreneur/Medical/Technology City, USA.
You also know we've got work left to be done. With wetlands, with inequality in the recovery and with public safety. We as a university recognize this, and work every day to build this community and its residents a better future. New Orleans has come a long way, and we have a ways to go, but to me, that is what it means to have something truly in your blood. It will always be there, it will move with you, it will grow with you, it will improve as you do and it will be in your genetic code forever. That is what New Orleans means to me. Sure does make that old Chris Rose quote, "you can live in a lot of cities, but New Orleans is the only city that lives in you," ring undeniably true.
If you haven't already, take a few minutes to watch this video.
Whether you came to New Orleans for four years as a college student, four days to visit a friend, or you're like me and came here and just... stayed, one thing will always remain true: New Orleans gets into your blood. It truly does become a part of your chromosomes, your lifeblood, your dreams, your passions, your hopes and your soul. I travel the world recruiting students to come to New Orleans, and I can tell you from years of personal experience that it really IS different down here. It really does affect you like few other cities can. Chris Rose put it best; "the longer you live in New Orleans, the more unfit you become to live anywhere else."
So as we watch the ten-year anniversary of Katrina come and go, we feel NOLA in our DNA. We let it fill up whatever is missing in us and whatever piece of us is lacking; the city makes us whole. We've made a lot of progress in this town and know there is even more that can be achieved. But today and every day of the last ten years and of the next to come, we know that New Orleans will be a part of us. Forever.
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| Oh look. It's me. With all my stuff. |
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| Tulane under water. |
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The Office of Admission back in 2005, living in Richmond, VA. We weren't used to that snow behind us.
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