Alan Gutierrez

Finally finished the leftovers from my visit to Father Luke’s church on Sunday, Our Lady of Vietnam, in East New Orleans. I went with Karen Gadbois, and their had lunch with outgoing NPN board members Renia and Calvin. Father Luke cooked this wonderful fried rice. We talked about levee politics with Patti Lapeyre, who’s been campaigning for a unified levee board.

After we’d stuffed ourselves, Father Luke filled up to go containers, and we all went home with at least five pounds of food.

Father Luke’s neighborhood is coming back strong. It is like an island in East New Orleans. The drive to the neighborhood goes past the Six Flags Jazzland amusement park which rises out of the wetlands in tinker-toy glory. The rippled and cracked road cuts through the marshes.

Then you drive right into suburbia. Most of the homes are occupied. There are people riding bikes in the street. It’s a neighborhood.