nay nay

"Bye Nay!" Hustler shouted down the street to me as I left to go to the grocery store. I hadn't seen her because there were five women on the stairs blocking view of her. (She told me earlier that Hustler is her nickname, and I was like, "Really? Your parents didn't name you that?")

What's funny about it is my friend's recent post of her "non-nay accordion lesson" (that is, somebody teaching her the accordion who isn't the Upstairs Boy she used to screw and who gave her ... ok, maybe I've already overshared more than enough).

I'm in the nay world. Shenaynay?

Have I mentioned how much I love my neighborhood? Or 'hood as Hustla would say - when I asked her if she fixes cars for a living she said she just does it as a hobby in the 'hood.

I'm a Grrl in da Hood, and I already got two women, two dogs, and a 5-year-old football whiz in my posse. And drunken men in various dental states. Point is, don't fuck wit me. I may not always love my hood, but right now I'm blissfully deliriously in love.

Honestly, I would be more sketched out about this area if the projects down the way were still open. Not that I discriminate in any way against people from the projects - one of the ladies yesterday was talking about the hell of growing up in them, and the worst was how people outside looked at them - all the girls were treated like hos.

Of course that's no worse than other discrimination. Why I LOVE LOVE LOVE that Sara V came back to visit Gail last year and was looking for me, too, to report to us. She's off to college and doing great - and only four years ago, a fellow teacher said it was just a matter of whether she'd get knocked up before 15 or wait until then. I just about punched him, but I didn't have to - Sara proved him wrong many times over. And Gail and I have to take some credit because we tough loved that girl until she gave up the fight. Gail and I were a great tag team with those poor kids - they never stood a chance. Heck, any nonsense they pulled in my room, Gail already knew before they showed and they got scolded again by her - and vice versa.

My point is NOT that kids or people from the projects are less than other places. I just know how sketchy the projects can be here. They haven't reopened since Katrina, and I feel really ambivalent about that - but mostly I just am ignorant and need to learn a lot.

When I was outside with Ernest and Hustla, a young woman (maybe 17) walked up to me and asked me something, then showed me a text message with a street name and I didn't know it. I thought she was just hoarse and couldn't speak - but when I called out (they were under the car) and asked them to tell her how to get to that street, they realized she was deaf. She's walking through a part of town that she doesn't know and she's deaf? I gotta give major props to her. And to approach me and ask for help and then figure out what she needs to do - what independence she's got.

But that's New Orleans. I could be deaf and blind and the overwhelming majority of people here would look out for me and help me get around and do what I need to do. Have I ever mentioned that I love this city?