Swampland Beckons where Voodoo and Magic charm a Spell

Whenever people ask me where I live, I say “Las Vegas,” and pause a beat, and add “Not near the strip”. As if defending myself that I am not a gambler, nor a drinker or a smoker. It elicits opposing reactions; a blank stare, a sneer or downright hostility. Pity maybe, but never, ever envy.

Las Vegas once the wild west was intended for cowboys, and if you have ever been to a city social event, the chaos and lack of organization still musters a dog and pony show. Then came the Mob and the casinos and nightclub scene gave rise to a little city with dirt roads. Those who lived here at the time reminisce about those good old days- how the Mobsters generously provided locals with free food and drinks and there was one schoolhouse where everyone rubbed elbows. I call it Provincial. Decades later, with the arrival of Howard Hughes came the corporations and federal money outlaying master-planned communities otherwise known as suburban bland.

Personally, I don't go to the shows, all the has-been that come to town listed in the newspaper make me turn the pages faster than a flash of animation. But the worse thing about being in the desert is not the heat, I can live with temperatures rising but I can't live in a intellectual and cultural void where the days have such a sameness to them, a hypnotic placidity, like a pool where nothing ever falls, not a leaf, not a particle of dust. I float on this pool. The quiet rhythms of existence would have driven me to desperation a few years ago but my restlessness hides under the surface and the only way to combat the missing and necessary stimulation for my survival is to break away to places where culture, beauty and nature thrives.

Having been asked to go to New Orleans over a decade ago, I declined but two years ago when Steven and I planned a business trip to Biloxi, my mental fantasies conjured images about steamboats going down the Mississippi carrying Mark Twain and Scarlet and Rhett on their honeymoon. After Katrina the French Quarter was still in tact and despite all the rhetoric about danger, which has never stopped me from going anywhere I vocalized my idea to my husband and a week later-presto!

New Orleans, is nothing but festive. Just as I had been told, it is like Paris in the 19th century, because the French Quarter or, the “Vieux Carre," is in both the geographical and the chronological sense a different place within the larger entity of New Orleans, which is not really part of America. The architecture isn't French either, it's Spanish, on the model of Cadiz, like a mini-Havana.

But like everything about New Orleans, is a layering of clashing histories like a Napoleon (still served fresh at the "Croissant d'Or" cafe on Ursulines Street). And I find two new cliches rush to complicate its jelling reputation: vampires and writers. Anne Rice bought mansions in New Orleans from the riches the Vampire Lestat brought her, and her presence drew the Vampire wing of the Goth-tide to her Halloween Balls and to a revived Mardi Gras season. Mardi Gras itself, a proven revel that outranks Venice and draws level with Rio de Janeiro, colored deep red with vampire blood.

Every time I walk out my door I am blocked by mobs of tourists on vampire-tours led by awful unlicensed tour guides who sometimes come to blows with each other when their rival crowds intersect.

Writers drawn to the mystique of other writers who had lived on the ill-lit streets of the Vieux Carre, flock to New Orleans; the annual William Faulkner and Tennessee Williams festivals swell phenomenally year after year. And poetry venues like the Gold Mine Saloon are premier stages for young dreamers. Now I am in my element.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is being filmed on the streets during our visit.

The two steady charms of New Orleans are music and food. From the jazz to the latest indie combination bands of R&B and nouvelle retro explode with energy; Jazz Fest packs more great music than any other city in the world. We stroll into an intimate club, Snug Harbor where we listen to a blues band then head over to the Spotted Cat, a rustic club, the place is packed with memorabilia and upbeat people. So we make our way in and finagle some ringside seats, a rattan settee near the front front window while I people watch. Musicians jam while my husband, also a musician is intent on watching, eyes are fixed. At the end of a number the bass player, a robust guy with gray slicked back hair, dressed in black pants and a black turtleneck, moves between the parting crowd with supreme confidence walks up to Steven shakes his hand and says, “I love you man”.

The bartender slung a towel over his shoulder, and calls out.
"Hey Joey, where ya been?"
"Oh hey good ta see ya Max. Me and Sheri jess got back from Arizona. We wuz at dis place northa Phoenix. Some place called Zedona. It's got dem rocks an shit. And got lottsa dem new age types runnin around all in dem vortexes."
"No kiddin'. So ya hadda good time?"
"Yeah, was allright. Played some golf, drove around some and bought some stuff. So listen, gimme a Johnny Walker Black onna rocks, ana Chardonnays fur my frenz, will ya"? He pulled out a fold of bills and dealt Max a twenty.
"Sure ting, boss."

We thank Max and later when we leave walking down the street a woman standing along the curbside gently pulls me into a club placing a washboard over my head handing me a pair of thimbles. A Zydeco band behind me plays Cajun music but to my ears its a mixture of two steps, reggae and rock n roll while I jam with them. Laissez les bon temps rouler. Let the good times roll!

Our next and final stop, is the rustic and candle-lite Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop, an atmospheric piano bar, it's crumbling plaster makes it appealing and kitsch, and it's the oldest bar in the U.S.

The powers that be in New Orleans are full time and are in business- a city known for jazz and voodoo, and the fading glory of Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, and of bohemian pleasure done Southern style.

The next morning after a visit to Cafe du Monde to savor the world famous beignets, a fried doughnut sprinkled with powered sugar we pack a few things for a day-trip in our rented car that we did not need in the French Quarter. We take sight of the huge engineering failure known as Katrina that let in the waters of Lake Pontchartrain and drowned a myth, bringing to the surface instead the rank poverty and misery of a huge city that tourists never knew, a city ten times the size of the mythical burg carefully crafted out of travel guides. The sobering glimpse of the formidable challenges the city faces with debris, destruction, boarded up houses, potholes, malfunctioning street signals, is a visit to a third world country, right smack in the United States.

Another twenty miles and a drive through the suburbs where all is quiet with private schools and SUV's and zoning patterns clearly laid out by the signs of stillness. Spanish moss stands on either side of the Destrehan plantation done in a simple West Indies style built in 1787 by a free man of color. This discovery coincides with the book I'm reading, The Known World by Edward P. Jones that takes an unflinching look at slavery with all its moral complexities. A costumed guide leads us through the tour where we discover tea was kept under lock and key.

By evening, we find young chefs make hip new restaurants by re- and de-constructing Creole cooking, and ever-roving gourmands in search of new tastes descend rapaciously on New Orleans. A gastronomical lover of seafood, I sample etouffee, a spicy Cajun stew of vegetables and seafood, it's served room temperature. The tastes of most foods would read like a scroll, the ethnic diversity makes me glad I came hungry. It could make a food lover adopt the city as a new home.

As we leave the city we pass old cemeteries, and I reflect that I'd like to be buried here. I love the fancy dress and my eyes like a four year-old light-up to the sparkle. Sensory expression is everywhere. The city is alluring, funky and artsy. Not a typical southern city, it honors its European heritage. Then I'm reminded of a song that plays in my head used in funeral marches. The joie de vivre is so contagious where a spirit lives on.

A paradoxical land of brilliant greens and dusty browns

We’ve been married twenty three months, and Steven and I are in Florida where I sleep soundly and sense a kinship with my surroundings. We make a day trip to St. Augustine, the oldest port in the U.S. and the oldest occupied established European city, a step back into time. It feels natural to me, being on a peninsula and a colonial city where aspects of culture live on in captivating stately buildings founded by Spaniards. Late at night, we arrive back at my brother’s and sister-in law’s home where I dream of my grandmother.

We have come to the annual fundraiser for Temple Beth Shalom, the synagogue of Steven’s brother Sam where both brothers will be performing in a classical concert held in a fine art museum.

Steven’s humor goes beyond telling jokes. On stage, he does quite a bit of mugging, an actor’s way of playing up the fun and comedy of a show. He takes the liberty of improvising and embellishing Yiddish songs. As a consummate reactor, his large expressive blue eyes roll as he flips from one character to another. Sometimes, with a nervous mannerism, he reminds me of actor Gene Wilder, delivering a mad spark that explodes into manic hilarity. But it's his Yiddish that hurls me onto the floor, although I don't understand a word, it sounds like he’s either coughing or spitting in your face, and the audience cackles from his animation.

When he performs Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, he is praised for his versatility, and with his wide range—from tenor to baritone—his voice projects a strong resonance and a clear, ringing tone. It is clear to me why he is admired for his stage presence, musicality, and the impressive numbers that he masters, and I am proud to watch him on stage. His voice deep, triumphant from his standing ovation, drives people to tears, when the formal concert comes to an end, the audience crowds around the stage, demanding more. He pleases them with an encore from Porgy and Bess.
“…Your daddy’s rich
and your mamma’s good lookin,
so hush little baby don’t you cry…”

Steven’s liquid voice captures the hearts of everyone present. He is the highlight of the concert—his voice has no equal. However, as a practical man he chose long ago to not make Broadway his vocation because of the extensive travel required. He doesn’t look back with regret, but has found joy in traveling with me because he understands geographical variety stimulates and nourishes my soul.

Before we go home, I yearn for a sunkissed shoreline. We will be celebrating our second wedding anniversary in a few days, and, wanting old and cosmopolitan, we fly to Puerto Rico. There is a slower pace of life here, where nature lovers like Steven and I can soak up centuries of cultural legacies.

Besides the magnificent Spanish Colonial architecture and picturesque plazas,it’s blessed with a tropical rainforest, El Yunque. The sounds of El Yunque comes from an occasional wild parrot. Here it is quiet, serene, cool, with a variety of plants and trees that have managed to grow along a pristine hiking trail. A mist of fog surrounds its highest point with a pleasurable waterfall cascading at the bottom. Its beauty is overwhelming.

The next day we go to El Morro, a fortress with a the dramatic Castle of San Cristobal perched at its summit. I am looking out at the Caribbean, taking photos, and reading historical facts in my guide, all of which triggers a snippet of my memory.

Back in the city, one of my favorite pastimes is photographing the tropical fruit-colored facades, wrought iron balconies, European archways, and cobblestone streets.

We sit in a neighborhood restaurant after ordering tapas. Through the window, I can see the lights hitting the Mexican palm trees and the pale orange facade of Old San Juan. This is the ideal restaurant for a tourist, surrounded by clusters of high-rise buildings and the people going about their lives. I am prompted to remember my Hispanic heritage, my ancestors, their history, their accomplishments, and how imperative it is I continue the propagation of who they were to understand who I am.

I recall last night's dream of my paternal grandmother. My father was her change-of-life baby. Once when I was drawing her portrait I asked her, “Cuantos anos tienes, Grandmamma”? How old are you, Grandmamma? She replied, “Eso es un secreto de mujer, que no se pregunta,” that’s a woman’s secret and a question not to be asked. “Pero como eres nina te dire que soy major que tu.” But since you’re a child, I’ll tell you—I’m older than you. When I showed her my artwork, I captivate her age in my likeness of her by drawing laugh wrinkles. She found it humorous.

In her day, she had been a fiery redhead who, no doubt, had been the center of attention with her green eyes. She had a high forehead, high cheekbones thick eyebrows and a generous nose. A very slender woman, there was nothing frail about her—she had an air of aristocracy, and her finest attribute was her perfect posture. Whether sitting, walking, or dozing, she stood straight at all times—offset by a thin, elongated neck. Her long slender hands that once had been lovely were crooked from acute arthritis, but she never complained.

I recall my parents purchasing new bedroom furniture for me—French Provincial. The set included two twin beds because my grandmother and I would be sharing my room. Seeing the room for the first time, she stood at the door and looked around. “Tu tienes un spirito ordenado. Mientras el sitio de tu hermano es una masa de libros abiertos, ropas reveladas y una cama sin hacer, la tuya es una capilla a orden.” You have an orderly spirit. Where your brother’s room is a mass of unclosed books, unfolded clothes and an unmade bed, yours is a shrine to order, she remarks. My straight-backed dolls are neatly corralled and my dressing table with miniatures suggested an even space where one could assume they are awaiting orders. Feeling offended that I hadn’t anything to offer other than organization, “Tengo algunas cosas que sean las mías,solamente mias.” I have some things that are mine, only mine, I pointed out defensively, referring to the secrets in my lockable diary that I had stashed in a tin box under my bed.

A few days later, my father came home with a large gift basket given to him by a client. In it were cheeses, olives, salami, and a large jar of pickles. I love the sour pickle juice. It seems that every time my hand is in the jar, my grandmother was watching me. The late afternoon snack spoiled my appetite for dinner.

My father had given me a lesson in addressing her with the formal pronoun ‘usted’ versus the familiar ‘tu.’ “Grandmamma, porqué usted tienes nariz tan largo?” Grandmamma, why do you have such a long nose? “Yo también comi muchas salmueras cuando era una muchacha.” I ate too many pickles when I was a girl, she says with a straight face. Gullible, I stopped eating pickles, altogether.