Wednesday, May 13, 2009

McKain Street Erased


McKain Street, after Katrina

My mom reports that McKain Street in New Orleans has been bulldozed. I feel like a psychic umbilical chord has been cut. Our history being erased.

This is why I make photographs. To preserve what life must destroy. It’s a melancholy art. Embalming loved memories.

She writes:
"beautiful day - bridget and her husband came and got me and lorraine and we drove the back way down hwy 90 down chef menteur hwy and we went to visit mckain street and were totally shocked to find that it has been torn down and is no longer in existense...just a vacant lot...the only thing left of mommas house was the top part of the front porch bulldozed over to the front side of the lot and her two concrete flower pots...which we took as our mothers day gifts...one for me and one for lorraine. after the shock of mckain street gone, it did make me joyful to know that no crackhead would live in her house again...another door of the past closed and it makes your pictures of it even more precious to us!"

4 comments:

Leviticus Jewelry said...

I still love New Orleans and try to go back as much as I can but it just isn't the same and it always depresses me.

This picture makes me want to cut.

Angeliska said...

I lived in NOLA for seven years, and left after Katrina- I am afraid every time I return for a visit of seeing empty lots, bulldozing, nothingness. I would rather see the ruins, honestly. I would rather see the beautiful old buildings and houses with people living and working in them. Something rather than nothing- as long as it's not some modern horror, 7-11, Burger King, condo, etc.
Oh beloved city! Oh heartbreak on top of heartbreak.

Alise van Hecke said...

I would like to know more about this story. How can the government destroy a house without warning? Will there be some compensation? It seems so surreal.

At moments like this, it is good for us to remember that our time here on earth is just a place to learn . It is a classroom situation, where we are given different tasks to learn to deal with strife, to keep our hearts open, to be compassionate and stay linked to our center, which is divine.

Alise Ford said...

In the meantime I traced this blog back to 2005 and now I know the whole story and why this moldy house was erased.

Now I know why Leonard Cohen recently said, when asked what has been his darkest hour, that he doesn't have one in light of the suffering of the rest of the world, even though he was defrauded and robbed of all his savings by his financial manager.

The writing and the photos are brilliant and this blog should be made required reading in all colleges and should be celebrated like a piece of literature for all time.Thank you, Clayton.