Treme

Similarities between Syracuse and New Orleans include warnings not to go lots of places. I met an architect from Montreal who bought a house in a neighborhood his realtor advised against. He showed up the outside, the inside, and the backyard. A mockingbird sang its various melodies while he showed me the tattered back ends of the houses that look good from the street. His demolition crew included two Hispanic men, one from Guatemala and one from Honduras. The women I talked to yesterday told me that since Katrina there's a lot more laborers from out of town. They felt it cut down on their employment opportunities and their wages. The carpenter putting me up for my stay says this is probably true.