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20 APRIL 2007 PRESERVATION IN PRINT Esther and Wisdom Nganga Paul and Nicole Timmons Chris Harrington Stephen Maggart continued from page 19 Ava Brucato Irish Channel Junior Architect I was working for an architecture firm in New Jersey when I decided to come to New Orleans after the storm because it would be an exciting opportunity to be part of the rebuilding process on both a professional and personal level. I came by my shotgun apartment in the Irish Channel through a friend who had to relocate after Katrina. Turns out to be a great neighborhood. I love New Orleans for its food, nightlife, great architecture, and amazing people. ■ Paul and Nicole Timmons Faubourg Marigny Hurricane Recovery Program Supervisor for Red Cross (Paul) Disaster Recovery Director for United Way (Nicole) Nicole and I came to New Orleans in December of 2005 as disaster recovery volunteers for the Red Cross. By Mardi Gras, we were engaged and found a new home and work in New Orleans. Our part of the Marigny received very little damage from Katrina, thus it had rental property available immediately. We wanted to live in the city, and it certainly helped that we had fallen in love with the character of the neighborhood and close proximity to the French Quarter. Our wedding was this Halloween weekend in the French Quarter. Our out-of-town family and friends came to celebrate with us. We wanted to offer the people closest to us a taste of New Orleans and why we must all work hard to preserve and rebuild this city. The wedding ceremony went beautifully in the courtyard under the stars and culminated in the grandest of New Orleans traditions, a second line down Bourbon Street. We came to give. We gave to each other and now are blessed with receiving the gift of life as our first child will be born in July, a proud New Orleanian. The circle of life continues in this great city we now call home. ■ Christopher Harrington Carrollton Plumber I used to be the drainage engineer for the Royal Household taking care of Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle and all the houses inside the M-5 [beltway]. I was just six months short of getting the Royal Crest for my business when we decided to move to Sarasota, Florida, so our daughter could live in the States. I came with my wife to New Orleans right after the storm looking for work, and my wife (she’s English) fell in love with the city. She says it’s the closest place to Europe. Anyway, there were so many layers of corporations, contractors and subcontractors in the early days that guys like me couldn’t even cover expenses. When I heard that the work and pay had gotten better we moved here and put our daughter in school. We’re hoping she can get in Lusher School. I want to help start a curriculum in the schools for plumbing because I think kids here are being trained to work at McDonald’s and not much more. There’s a real need for skilled labor; the pay is $45-50 an hour, but the kids need to get experience. ■ Mandi Thompson French Quarter Commercial Interior Designer Provider of Discount Furniture and Appliances Before Katrina, I had been living in Atlanta, running my medical furnishings firm. I decided to move here because my favorite city needed all the help it could get and would for quite some time. My nonprofit organization provides donated furnishings at massive discounts to people in need. Living here today is American history in the making. I fully believe in the future of our home. I found my office/home in the Times-Picayune and am blessed to be a French Quarter resident. There’s nothing like the thick fog in the winter and sounds of boats, trains, horses, singers, life. It really has made me focus that much more on work and our future. ■ Toy O'Ferrall Mid-City Assistant Editor, The Historic New Orleans Collection I moved to New Orleans from Greensboro, North Carolina, where I taught composition and literature at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. My boyfriend teaches architecture at Tulane. I believed in what he was doing here, and I loved the people I met in New Orleans and believed in what they were doing – people like Rachel Breunlin, co-director of the Neighborhood Story Project, and Ray Cannata, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church. When I moved to Mid-City, my neighbor introduced himself, and the next day his wife – before she even met me – started calling friends to see if they knew of job openings for editors. New Orleans is the only city I know of where strangers – when they discover that you are new – thank you for moving there. It is the only place I have ever lived where I sit in church and know, without a doubt, my exact location on the map – where the musicians, after playing in some of the best clubs around town, wake up early on Sunday mornings to play old hymns in a style that belongs to the city; where people pray for each other and for their city like they are praying for family; where the service is intimately connected to the ground beneath the floorboards. I feel lucky to have been able to move, to meet women and men who are rebuilding their homes and caring for their families, to eat crawfish on the neutral ground on Tupelo Street near the House of Dance and Feathers (I've never enjoyed gaining twelve pounds as much as I have in New Orleans), to be part of a church that limps and rejoices and is learning – in a very tangible way – what it means to love and pray for each other. www.prcno.org
PRESERVATION IN PRINT APRIL 2007 21 Ava Brucato Nancy and Guy Fournier Jed Malitz and Sophie Omoro Bill Austin Treme Social Worker I lived in Baton Rouge doing social work with hurricane-displaced kids until Thanksgiving 2006. My new job is with Bridge House, a substance abuse center. I hated to see New Orleans decline, and I was at a point in my life where I could move. I bought the first house the Realtor showed me. I fell in love with it at first sight. The house is a 100-year-old duplex with tall ceilings, a front porch, and a nice yard. I just couldn’t pass it up. Treme is a great neighborhood with great neighbors. I lived in Baton Rouge for 35 years, and there's so much more to do here. I've been making a lot of friends, which is easy because everyone here is so nice. ■ Olivia Dawa Stinson Uptown Senior Program Coordinator at the Tulane City <strong>Center</strong>, Tulane School of Architecture I moved here in January from New York City where I had finished my Master of Urban Planning at NYU the previous May. I was looking for work in New York but felt that there were other areas of the country and world that needed more help and energy. As a planner I actually felt some responsibility to come here and do my part for the recovery. I live in a swanky Victorian mansion on St. Charles that has been divided into apartments. Nothing is at a right angle and the plumbing is iffy, but I love the floors and get great light. I ride the bus daily and love it. My neighborhood is beautiful and safe and close to work, but a bit quiet for my taste. Basically I believe in this city and I wanted to be a part of its return. I am morbidly fascinated by a culture that celebrates eating something called mudbugs. My new culinary obsession is those spicy pickled string beans. I am also totally bonkers about the trees and the greenery and so on. I am a jazz freak so that doesn’t hurt. ■ Ali Sharif Lower Garden District Taxi Driver I spent six years in a refugee camp in Kenya after leaving Ethiopia. When I came to the United States I went first to Nashville, but my cousins and aunties lived here and wanted me to come to New Orleans. I was scared because of the hurricanes but finally came here a few months ago. I live with my family on St. Andrew Street. It’s good. The taxi business is getting better. There’s good opportunity in New Orleans for me. It’s my home now. ■ Craig Morse Faubourg Marigny Photographer • Writer • Artist • Documentarian • Community Activist I worked on a photographic documentary covering the [San Francisco] Bay Area’s underground, performance art, and Burning Man culture (1999 – 2006). I visited New Orleans many times over the past twenty plus years and lived on Esplanade (1993 – 1994). It is, without question, my favorite North American city. I decided to return to New Orleans in February of 2006 to contribute as a photographer and share with the nation, and the world, the struggles and the recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina and The Great Flood. I also wish to bring attention to the indelible spirit that makes this city so profoundly unique and culturally rich. The title of my project is “Forsaken...Not Forgotten: New Orleans After the Flood.” I hope to share this extensive body of work as a touring gallery show, a four volume book, and as a Web presentation. [A series of chance encounters and new friends] resulted in my living in the house and neighborhood of my dreams. Marigny and Bywater offer a diverse community of characters who have a variety of creative talents, worldviews, eccentricities, and the time to know one another. The streets and houses are human scaled, infused with history, ornamentation, and personality. A mix of uses makes it very easy for me to not own a car. I can easily walk or bicycle. I am never bored because I feel like I am part of something greater than myself. ■ Noel Henderson-James Broadmoor Affordable Housing Development I came to New Orleans from Chicago in March 2006 on a volunteer trip that I co-organized and fell in love with the city. I was finishing a graduate degree in urban planning and working fulltime with an affordable housing development company and after seeing the city firsthand, I knew that I had to be here. I went back to Chicago, convinced my now-fiancée to apply to Tulane (as she was looking at schools at the time), and when she was accepted with a good financial aid package, I had to find a job to make the move happen. I found a nicely renovated apartment in Broadmoor, and chose it because I wanted to experience firsthand a neighborhood that was rebuilding, and it was proximate to Tulane. I can’t imagine living or working anywhere else in America right now – in the field of urban planning and affordable housing, it is the acme of relevancy. Plus it’s great fun. Please share your story with <strong>Preservation</strong> in Print The citizens of New Orleans, government leaders, international media, T.V. pundits and everyone in the race for President of the United States need to know that our city is alive with new blood, new ideas, new dreams of opportunity, new commitment and renewed love for this place we will fight to call home. If you have moved here since the storm, come back to the city after finishing your education, relocated to town from the suburbs, decided to return after leaving for a while or declined opportunities to transfer because you chose to remain in New Orleans WE WANT TO HEAR YOUR STORY. Contact mfitzpatrick@prcno.org or call Alex Lemann, 504/636-3043. www.prcno.org
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