Month: May 2007

Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?

I saw a street car crawl down Canal Street today. It was the first operational street car I’ve seen in the streets of New Orleans since I’ve been here. I also saw a garbage truck collecting trash in the French Quarter late last night. These are the signs of progress in post-K NOLA. Only a Bourbon Street tourist, or someone (like me) who has been away for nine months, could appreciate the little bit of progress that has been made in New Orleans’ recovery from the storms and floods of 2005. The Lake Shore neighborhood, for example, has seen relatively little change since Katrina. Before the storm, this was a prosperous middle class neighborhood of lakefront property. Then the lake flooded. These are people with money and insurance, so even if the FEMA money hasn’t arrived, they have the means to rebuild. Entire blocks in Lake Shore are renovated and […]

The High Cost of Health Care (For Cats)

The high cost of health care is a problem for more than just us monkeys. The price of veterinary services has skyrocketed faster than inflation, too. I had the opportunity to buy pet insurance through my union, but declined. Pet insurance is for little old ladies who order chemo-therapy for their hobbled, mangy 19-year-old cats, isn’t? Well, about two months ago, my cat, the duck, began a campaign of biological warfare in protest of my longer hours at work on a campaign in New Jersey (or so I thought). I took her to the vet. Urine tests were inconclusive, but antibiotics were prescribed anyway, in case it was a urinary tract infection. Oh, and duck needed booster vaccinations. It’s the law, the vet said. The bill was eighty bucks, but that didn’t seem too bad a price to pay to get my cat to stop peeing on every piece of […]