Naked City Kitty Sticker launches today
August 29th. A date that living New Orleanians would rather not exist. I apologize in advance, this short will be a bit longer, poorly structured, and decidedly heavy at the start. The inspiration for this story began with a text message from a person I admire greatly, and is a coworker in my real life. If this is too much for you to read and not whiskey-centric enough, then I won’t hold it against you for moving on.
Here’s the text:
“So 8/29 makes 17 years since Hurricane Katrina decimated the gulf coast. I was 15, a week into my sophomore year of high school, and excited about going to a football game with my friends. My mom and I headed to Texas for what we thought was going to be a few days while my dad stayed (first responder). It’s weird to really sit down and realize how crazy it was at 15 to lose your house (and almost everything you owned) and an entire life that you knew…but it’s not just you though. It’s literally everyone that you know. How can a community heal when everyone has been made a casualty? There is no way every New Orleanian isn’t still experiencing trauma from the hurricane. We were never able to grieve and heal. I still can’t look at Katrina related documentaries and media. As an adult, it’s an absolute mind fuck to even begin to comprehend what happened so long ago. I mourn the lives that were lost, both body and spirit. I mourn the city that I love. I mourn the time that was stolen from me and my fellow survivors. Hurricane Katrina feels like yesterday and a lifetime ago all at the same time. Old wounds become battle scars, but the pain still runs deep.”
It is still difficult to imagine a city being 90% flooded, even photos from the time do not paint the picture of the scale of the disaster.
As a transplant to New Orleans, I have been struck by how literally every single native of the area has a Katrina story. In any group at any place, the mere mention of the name Katrina brings an audible sigh as the person or persons, rights themselves emotionally, perhaps turning the key on the lock in their mind that houses the pain and anguish. Then the stories come pouring out, told as if they had happened last week, not a decade and change ago.
History is my greatest passion in life, I love to learn more about places, and events, and how they shape a people and a culture. Katrina, horrific as it was, was a historically significant event for me personally. I’m not attempting to insert myself into the Katrina story here at all. See, the destruction wrought by that storm displaced people all across the land, some never returning. My girl has personal tales of loss from the hurricane, she is from here. She grew up here. She has lived Katrina not as an observer, but as an unwilling participant. The destruction complete, and the stress and trauma of rebuilding being too much, she left nothing (no one had anything left to leave) and ended up in California (my home), where eventually we met one another. To shorten the story a bit, and spare you the boring details of one couples relationship (perhaps it’ll become a Lifetime Channel Holiday Movie featuring Hillary Duff), we moved to back to the area three years ago.
The Superdome during the aftermath of Katrina.
My love of history has shown her parts of the city’s past and present that she hadn’t been able to explore, the pain too great. I’ve devoured as much media about this city that I can, and always, always it comes back to Katrina. What happened before, and what’s happened after. Over time I have shared what I’ve learned, gently asking for her insights along the way, to give her the outlet to grieve. She has a different view of this place than I do, but she has settled in nonetheless. Time passed allowing comfort to take the place of fear. Her trauma, subsiding like the waters long ago, less potent.
Then came Ida. On the same fucking date- 8/29. The second most intense and damaging storm to hit Louisiana, second only to Katrina. That story is for another day perhaps. The gulf is deep into another hurricane season, it’s been a year since Ida, and the area has still not recovered. Many homes and businesses are still sporting the ubiquitous blue tarps covering holes in the roof (these things are supposed to be temporary, not permanent), and internal damage remains unfixed due to a shortage of contractors and supplies. People that still live here had all the old festering wounds from Katrina reopened. My girl was metaphorically speaking, catatonic during Ida, barely able to function. While we had evacuated prior to the storms arrival, many had not. The decision to evacuate being a privilege for those with the means to do so is not lost on me. People that remained were without power for days or weeks. Hot food was scarce.
As trying as that time was, some pretty remarkable things happened, and I wish to celebrate one thing in particular- World Central Kitchen. This organization founded by Chef Jose Andres, has made it their mission to act as first responders to disasters, and organize local chefs to provide hot meals for free to those in need. Since 2010, if there’s been a disaster, or humanitarian crisis, odds are, WCK is there providing nourishment, and support. They were here in New Orleans post Ida, and they were feeding the people. Donations from the whiskey community poured in, and a real difference was made.
In honor of the efforts of the WCK, I am today releasing a new Bourbon and Rye Club sticker featuring Naked City Kitty. We will be posting a feature story soon on NCK and how it represents good fortune and supporting local, but I wanted to get this sticker out there into the world to coincide with the 17th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and the 1 year anniversary of Hurricane Ida. Why connect a sticker launch for a silly website with two horrific natural (and unnatural) disasters? Because we are going to sell this sticker, and all monies (not just profits, but all incoming scratch) will be donated to support the incredible efforts of World Central Kitchen. These stickers are now available only via email for $5 (shipping included). Send me an email, and I’ll send you the Venmo/Paypal/Cash/Zelle link. I will personally be doubling any money raised here dollar for dollar.
NCK cat design by Sharon Williams. Printed by Vinyl Bandits.
I hope you can support one of the very best charity organizations on the planet. They are all over the world serving hot meals to those in need. This is my way of continuing to give back to community based support organizations. I hope you’ll help with this small but meaningful gesture to support local, wherever they are.
- Mickey Pinstripe