New Orleans from a foreign eye

Mona Gao, Class of 2009

I have always shied away from writing in English. Why, it is like using chopsticks with my left hand. But the NOLA trip left such deep and treasured memories that I cannot help but write about it. Well, if the food is this delicious, I will have it, chopsticks or not.

New Orleans from a foreign eye

I came to America, fascinated by the “can do” attitude, the American dream. I went to New Orleans, and saw that dream coming true.

Prior to landing, the few words that I would use to describe New Orleans were: Katrina, racial tension, jazz, seafood. When I left, these words became: re-build, passion, entrepreneurship, talent, loud jazz, fried seafood.

So many things amazed me. The contrasts between different areas of town were striking: The grand mansions on St. Charles Avenue, the shattered surroundings of the Upper 9th ward. There was clearly racial tension too, passed through generations, and may take many more generations to completely change. However, what was so refreshing was seeing a street performance on Sunday, a group of African Americans doing amazing stunts and attracting a huge crowd. “We accept 5 dollars, 10 dollars; and 20 dollar notes from you white man.” Almost every sentence the performers shout out have something in there to contrast the different races. Yet to the listener, there is all humor, no bitterness; there is such openness to it. And if harmony is ever to be achieved, I feel this is the way it happens. Next day, we had an inspirational speaker- Ted, at Hope House. He spoke passionately about the racial issue. I don’t think we all agreed with his views. But having such a channel of communication is so valuable to solving many issues.

Then there are the talents who gathered to New Orleans to build charter schools, promote entrepreneurship. People who have many other choices but who have decided to put their financial interests, and themselves into New Orlean’s development. The passion is contagious, the efforts immense. Like a snowball, a critical mass of talent will attract more and more like them. There are so many problems, but so many hands working hard to solve them. One might argue that talents can be put to more efficient use if you have them working on problems with bigger financial returns, or on higher level strategies and vision. Yet I would argue that in a barrel that we call a nation, the strength is determined by the shortest stave, unless that is repaired, all else will eventually be slowed. More often than not, there is not enough social attention and buzz on the shortest stave. I think part of the reason that Idea Village has been successful is its ability to draw media attention, to create social buzz and to draw talent. This is something very valuable and tactics worth taking home with.

Team work

It is during team work like this that I want to congratulate myself for coming to the right school. Compassionate, cooperative, responsible, hard working, wanting to be fair and unbiased towards the entrepreneurs we were working with, all these qualities that I really value in a person, I see in our small team of four, and in our larger team of 16. I was also amazed by everyone’s ability to get by with so little sleep, and still enjoy the fun.

There were times when we were so emotionally involved with our entrepreneur that we just wanted to fight for her cause. There were times when we had to pull back and remind each other of the bigger picture. There were times when we just can’t wait to put in our own words, times when we’ve heard that question asked and answered more than once, by different people. There was roaring laughter, silent tears, yet all extremely rewarding.

Rewards

The moment I saw the expression on the winning entrepreneur’s face, I knew we had awarded the retail space to the right person. To her, it is a dream come true, after so many year’s of planning, to be able to finally open her own hair saloon and contribute to the community she hold so dear. To me, it is the most satisfying piece of work that I have been involved in in three days. Makes me think that the skill sets I have acquired through previous work, through business school, are not just good for becoming a young peg in a well lubricated institutional machine, it is useful in creating something too.