It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

In Chris Rose's collection of columns, he has two contrasting themes that reoccur throughout his work. A lot of the time, he focuses on the despair and brokenness of the city after Katrina. The magnitude of disaster is a central point to many of the columns. However, Rose also makes it a point to continuously discuss the diversity and traditions of New Orleans, and the strength and resilience of it's people as they face life post-Katrina. He often addresses how the city plans to rebuild, and how Mardi Gras must go on a few short months after the city is reduced to rubble.

Ellen Montgomery, the woman profiled in "The Cat Lady" on page 110, is the epitome of the "silver lining" of the city. This slightly offbeat and self proclaimed cat-lady hid out in her New Orleans home after the hurricane, not even realizing that a natural disaster was coming her way until merely hours before. For thirty days, she affectionately cared for her "babies", her thirty four cats. Ellen would read, spend hours drinking a cup of coffee and painting anything she could get her hands on. She said that "At first, actually, it was kind of nice around here. The birds came back, and the squirrels would come deliver me the news. It's all been so peaceful, really." This older woman, who had already been isolated for some time (well, besides the exquisite company of her feline friends), completely embodies the attitude of rebirth and moving forward. Although she is quite an eccentric example, Ellen Montgomery had weathered the storm - physically and emotionally - and was making the most of it. Life must go on in New Orleans, and Ellen understands this in the most simplistic of ways.

However, after such a devastating tragedy, it is natural - almost expected, even - for humans to feel overwhelmed with the loss. Such is the case of the unnamed fiance of Rose's neighbor who committed suicide in "Despair" on page 61. This young couple had everything going for them: friends, family, and an engagement that was soon to become a marriage. However, once he left his family in Atlanta to live with her in her homeland of New Orleans, the relationship began to suffer. One night, the couple was drinking some wine and decided to kill themselves. They were overwhelmed by the despair and immense sense of failure that occurred during and after Katrina hit. Although the young woman did not follow through with the plan, her fiance did. And although the storm did not literally take his life on August 29th, the aftermath of Katrina was enough to kill him. He drowned in the negativity and the loss, and never really found his footing. The sad thing is, he wasn't even there for the storm. What about all of those people who witnessed the immediate aftermath? Who stayed in their homes as the waters rose? That is some psychological damage I can't even begin to fathom.

So while Ellen Montgomery sits contently in her home with her plethora of cats and paints away the afternoon, the neighbor's fiance kills himself after falling apart into sadness of it all. One represents the brightness of the future and the path to restoration. The other is a sad example of one of many victims' plight to emotionally recover from inexplicable sights and experiences. The eccentricity of New Orleans and the optimism for rebirth is embodied in the cat lady, but the utter devastation and failure is shown in the ladder.