The club is open

I know it seems lazy to recycle an old post. In fact, Oyster has gifted us with the colorful though probably accurate term "masturblogging" for the practice of referring to and over-quoting oneself but on this 8/29 I find that I'm in much the same frame of mind I was in during the last one when I wrote what I've reproduced below. And anyway it's not bad shit, for me anyway.

So maybe holiday still isn't the word to describe what happens during the days surrounding 8/29. Maybe not yet. On the other hand, for five years now, it has been a time for city-wide recognition of the most significant historic event of our lifetimes. It has become a time most New Orleanians are becoming accustomed to marking with reflection, family, service, and, yes increasingly, celebration. I expect that, as years pass, the celebratory nature of the event will continue to grow. August 29 is and will continue to be a time to remember tragedy but also to count blessings, reconnect with family and neighbors, and, if the previous five years are any indication, engage in civic dialog and service in remembrance of an event that reminded us how important our community is to us. At times during the week of innumerable gatherings, parties, symposiums, parades, concerts, readings, and so forth that sprung up around 8/29, I found myself referring to it as "Bizzaro Mardi Gras" in conversation. But I'm beginning to see it as a kind of Thanksgiving.

And then the post went on into the gritty details of re-capping RT5 but I came back to this point about the holiday here.

It is often said that there are four seasons in New Orleans and that those seasons are Carnival, Festival, Hurricane, and Football. Isn't it only fitting, then, that this newest holiday on the NOLA calendar sits almost exactly on the emotional cusp of two of those seasons? This line of demarcation between segments of the year also marks the end and beginning of yet another year since the disaster. Falling as near as it does to Rosh Hashana, it's tempting to think of 8/29 as the NOLA New Year.

For a multitude of reasons, I am ready for this New Year to begin. The year that just passed has been extremely difficult for me both in regard to my own personal life and to my hopes for the world in which I live it. But after this weekend's again cathartic and inspiring experience of seeing another Rising Tide come off so beautifully and in such excess of expectation, I can't help but feel re-energized and ready to start again.

I can't say enough about how much it means for me to play the small role I play in putting that event together each year. A healthy community, and a healthy democracy depend upon an informed, literate, and engaged citizenry. I sincerely hope that each Rising Tide inches our community at least a little bit in that direction.

Because I have a special talent for setting a low bar for myself, I've thus far managed to slide through each new year without worrying over lofty goals unmet and resolutions not kept. And as proud as I am of all that I would like to risk it a bit by beginning this new year resolved, above all else, to be a better friend to the people I've spent time sweating, fretting, and bleeding with over the past year trying to make shit happen. Seriously. Call me.

Beyond that, I wish everyone the best in what is sure to be another trying, at times frustrating, but certainly never dull year in New Orleans. Do not fret. The bus will get you there yet. Yada yada. Happy New Year.