I was down in New Orleans for a work conference this week.  This was my third visit to the city in the last 7 years, and my second since Hurricane Katrina.  A few thoughts from the visit.

1.  There is something I love about New Orleans.  It was the first vacation I took with my then girlfriend and now wife.  The architecture, the music, and the smells coming out of the French Quarter, transport you to another time and place. Then there’s my favorite street and area of the city:  Frenchman Street & The Marigny.  An area with great food and live music…and a little sheltered from Bourbon Street.  My favorite music spot from this trip was The Spotted Cat.  Here’s a video I shot (on my new iPhone!) at the jazz club.

2.  The city feels more like it did on my first visit than my second.  The second visit was still relatively soon after Katrina, and while the French Quarter and Jazz Festival seemed ‘normal’, they seemed like props in an otherwise wrecked city.  This time, most people I spoke to sounded like they were moving on.   While some felt they should rebuild in the 9th ward, most felt like it was best to just let it return to nature.  Oh, and they love their Saints.

3.  While these medical conferences can be pretty stilted and textbook by nature, this was the most interesting meeting I’ve attended.   It was a conference for the American Association of Orthopedic Surgeons.  40,000 doctors and industry professionals descended on New Orleans for 3 days.  It felt like they took over the city and the city seemed to appreciate the business.  But the interesting thing about this meeting was an exhibit open to the public at the conference center.  The exhibit was about the earthquake in Haiti and the response from volunteer surgeons.  The exhibit featured a series of pictures, quotes and thoughts from surgeons that volunteered their time to help the people in Haiti.  The pictures were pretty wrenching; raw images of the mass amputations, and the crude equipment used to perform them.  Many of the surgeons commented on the horror of the experience, and the comparison to working in a war.  They wrote about the destruction, the lack of resources, the anger, and the amputations.  But then they spoke of the one thing that kept them going.

This was a quote from one of the surgeons while in Haiti:  ”…and I saw it many times, a sight more emotionally charged than the destruction spreading for miles in every direction.  A child’s smile.  Sound a bit sentimental?  Maybe.  But the sight of such simplicity, the essential human ability to feel happiness in dire circumstances, and the unbelievable sound of laughter – here on the backdrop of all this misery, well it changed me. ”  -Daniel Ivankovich, MD

4.  With that quote and those images in the back of my mind, it sure felt good to come home and walk through the door to this…

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