Treme and other hoods
For years television writers have been trying to capture the spirit of New Orleans in a drama and have failed. Not because their efforts weren’t good, but because the world just couldn’t understand the message. New Orleans is perhaps one of the more unique places in this world and knowing the city is something that comes viscerally and no other way. So I read in the New York Times magazine the excellent review of the effort David Simon is undertaking to create Treme for HBO and I have to say it will be worth checking out. But my favorite part of the review was the quote that New Orleans is made of moments and of those I know many. One of which is on repeat, as I mosey down Orleans Avenue most every day to go to NOAC and I pass the Be For Real Lounge, I always smile.
Another writer captured the spirit of New Orleans and this weekend is the celebration of his life with the Tennessee Williams Literary Festival in full regalia. There are a plethora of writers in town gathering and speaking. I heard Cokie Roberts speaking about her wonderful books and life but the best was when she spoke of her mother Lindy Boggs, who lived on Bourbon Street, not but a block from the Royal Sonesta where Cokie was speaking and when Ms. Boggs was 81 years she became an ambassador to the Vatican. Cokie said the children told their mother she should feel right at home as the costumes were the same – men running around in dresses.
And another New Orleans son, Michael Lewis, spoke as well at the conference, from his own particular slant and talked about how he could not write or see the stories no one else does without having come from New Orleans and having learned how to see from the margins.
I wish Simon luck with his drama, Treme, and hope that it is well received as he is trying to capture something that is almost incommunicable to those who don’t know what it means to miss New Orleans.