Marilyn and I had walked several miles by the time we reached the Crescent City Brewery, and we were both ready for a comfortable chair and a cold beer.  The restaurant was jammed so we sat at the bar.  On the way back from a bathroom break, I noticed yet another cartoon of Mayor Ray Nagin that chided his chocolate city remark.  One of the bartenders was a young black woman and I asked her for her opinion on the subject.

"He embarrassed the entire town," she said, bluntly, her nerves obviously raw.  "Someone on his staff should have read the speech before he gave it.  He came across like a buffoon, and now the world thinks we're all buffoons."

Nagin gave his speech at the annual Martin Luther King parade.  What he actually said is, "It's time for us to rebuild a New Orleans, the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans.  And I don't care what people are saying in Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day."

In response to Nagin's remarks, City Councilman Oliver Thomas, also black, said, "Even if you believe some of that crazy stuff, that is not the type of image we need to present to the nation."

The wait staff at the Crescent City Brewery seemed to agree, and not a single one of them, be they black or white, was smiling.

Leaving the Brewery, Marilyn and I headed for the Sheraton.  Along the way, we stopped at a little hole-in-the-wall Irish Pub and sat at the dark bar for a Guinness and an Irish Coffee.  The pretty bartender was from Scotland, and her dog waited patiently for her at the far end of the bar.  A personable young man also named Eric was flirting with her.  I later learned he has finished a novel and is looking for a publisher.

We were soon joined at the bar by Gill and Tim.  Gill, we learned, is a graphics artist and Tim a poet.  "There isn't a single bookstore left in the City," Gill told me.

Under no time constraints - and on foot - Marilyn and I remained at the bar for several more beers and coffees - happy to learn that the Quarter was still filled with eclectics, artists, poets and people of vision.  Not a single person was happy with the Government's response to the City's needs.

Tomorrow, we check out the destruction in Chalmette.  http://www.ericwilder.com  http://energyissues.blogharbor.com  http://ghostofachance.blogspot.com