Feedback, yes feedback...on Saturday's post:

I think this is one of the problems with the nola blogosphere - it's so clique-ish. Many people in Nola have no intentions to leave, they just don't blog about it. It kinda bugs me that a few people decide to leave temporarily and everyone gets all worked up. What are the rest of us, chopped liver? :-(

Trust Pistolette to say what others may be thinking. :) Your post is lovely, Leigh, but I agree with P. - there are plenty of us with no intentions of moving. Nothing against those who are/do - it's a personal choice and I wish them all the best. But all the hue & cry seems a bit dramatic.

First off, I didn't mean to offend or exclude. My apologies on that.

Hana simply touched on something that I struggle with sometimes, is all. For her, it wasn't just the bloggers' leaving that affected her, but also her next-door neighbors' leaving. My husband, when he first moved down here, worked at a place in the CBD. He can't do that anymore. Some of our other friends who live here work, at best, in Metairie or Slidell. Some commutes are much longer. Yes, in some ways, that's just life...but it still says a lot about how things are going here.

I am very, very glad that the rest of the 300-plus bloggers who are still here have employment that sustains them. Please, please, keep it up! The more hard work y'all do in your own ways keeps this place strong. I worry about the availability of things that, barring deep personal decisions or family needs, are most likely to keep us here...like affordable, good schooling for our kids, like other economic development, like more good hospitals.

Here's to ALL of the New Orleans warriors online who are still here. You are most certainly not chopped liver, even though I LOVE the dish.





BUT.....................












Damn, now I feel like having a gumbo party! Who's with me?

(T-P gumbo pic from here. Check the list of gumbos in it at the link.)