Starting Over

Throughout its magpie history, New Orleans has cast a forgiving eye on the world's follies and failures, blithely accommodating the former while managing to dodge the worst of the latter. Now, however, the prospect of defeat hangs heavily in the thin winter air.

The long road back

Photo: Jim Lo Scalzo for USN&WR

UP CLOSE: FRERET STREET

Freret Opener Freret Opener2

U.S. News photographer Jim LoScalzo captured images of those to whom the real challenge of rebuilding will fall. Here's what he saw.

WHERE I COME FROM

Wynton Marsalis, musician

I was born in New Orleans in Flint-Goodridge Hospital, right behind the Magnolia Housing Projects. I grew up in little Louisiana towns--and finally, at age 12, moved to New Orleans proper. But in the way that extended family works, I was always a child of the Crescent City.

Paul Prudhomme, restaurateur

I grew up on a farm in the Central Louisiana town of Opelousas. Mom ran a household with 13 children and no electricity. But she and my father would make repairs, plant more crops, and put dinner on the table. And it was always delicious.

INTERACTIVE

More on Hurricane Katrina

Road to recovery (PDF map)

THE REBIRTH BEGINS

There's no shortage of ideas on how to protect the Crescent City. But ideas are the easy part.

A post-Katrina public flaying

More tough reviews are in the offing. Two major reports on Katrina failures are due out in the next few weeks. The atmosphere has many in Washington wondering whether Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff can save his job. But the larger question is how the government's disaster response might be improved and whether the Bush administration can tame the hydra-headed bureaucracy and make it function more smoothly.

Back to Tulane

Richy Leitner was about to begin his second year at Tulane University late last summer when Hurricane Katrina disrupted his life and academics. He's back in New Orleans as the university prepares to reopen its classrooms.

Read Richy's blog