Medellin          With almost minute by minute reports from New Orleans because of the tragedy, the holiday has become hollow, and it is clearly time to go home.

The death count is up to 15 now, and according to the Parish coroner, is likely to rise.  In a rarity, the Sugar Bowl was postponed for one day with its 100,000 expected visitors rooting for Georgia or Notre Dame.  The President weight in on the tragedy, and the President-Elect claimed, wrongly, that the perpetrator was an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, rather than a native-born US citizen and corporate consultant from Beaumont, Texas, just across the border from Louisiana.  The FBI is looking for others involved.  A Tesla blew up in Las Vegas, and any connection is being investigated.  In short, the story is dominating the news, and there is little that is really new at this point as I write.

Since it’s a hometown story, the more poignant news is all closer to home.  Facebook is blowing up with friends reporting they are safe.  A nephew and his partner are a huge topic on our family’s WhatsApp group, since they both work in the Quarter’s huge service industry and were pulling shifts on this busy holiday, luckily behind the bars, and were thankfully far away.  Tears are being shed for the youth of many of the victims seeking fun and finding death.

A close family friend living in the middle of the Quarter, not far from St. Louis Cathedral, was awakened by a cousin and told to turn on the television.  Later two IEDs were found on her block, which is still cordoned off, keeping residents in their homes.  Television newspeople were in and out of her home.  The police used her bathroom for some relief, while she made them toast and gave them fruit.  As the police bomb squad blew up the IEDs, she could hear them yelling “fire in the hole” repeatedly in preparation.  Who expects the street in front of their house to be a scene from the “Hurt Locker.

Twenty-seven of the thirty injured were taken to University Hospital’s emergency room and trauma center, the best in the area, so that they could be cared for by the doctors and nurses there.  It was hard not to think of these nurses all working on the holiday, with more likely called in to handle the crisis.  Recently, they had been in the news on a one-day strike, having voted overwhelmingly in a New Orleans first to be represented by National Nurses United (NNU), where, almost a year later, they are still trying to negotiate a first contract.  There are rumors that they may be forced by the hospital to strike yet again later in January.  Regardless of their struggle, as first responders, like the police, they do their job saving lives behind the scenes without comment or conflict, even as they fail to get justice from their employer.  Their union put out an understated release on the tragedy, expressing sympathy and the fact that their nurses, as always, would do their best.

Whether Katrina or this Bourbon Street tragedy, in crises in New Orleans, we regularly step up to show the world how a community comes together in collective support for safety, health, and community.  This is a deep wound for the city and the country, but these are the times when we need to recognize all who stand behind as heroes in the healing, and then, go and do likewise.