"Economically optional"

"When, after Katrina passed, the levees broke and the pumps failed, another essential part of at least this New Orleanian's mind was activated: the part devoted to doubt about our competence to operate the purely human aspects of our society. New Orleans is, and for a long time has been, the opposite of a city that works.

...Over the years, New Orleans has moved from being a top-ranked port toward becoming an economically optional city. Traditionally, it has had the kind of developing economy that runs on plantation agriculture, mineral extraction, and an intentionally impoverished, unempowered, and uneducated populace; its transformation into a tourist mecca was a form of going to ground, and it means that the city will be especially difficult to re-start."


FMFM: J.J. Johnson's swinging First Place, which features an excellent backing band -- Max Roach, Paul Chambers, and Tommy Flanagan -- as well as a terrific cover shot