Our passages through New Orleans were marked by material cairns of stories.

 

Embodied energy of building materials, new memories violently folded into steel or cracked from timbers, reminded us to remember the chain of hands which brought it to New Orleans the first time; by barge, by train, by wagon, by back. We honor those whose hands transformed it into homes, into rooms, into birthplaces once before.

 

These materials had learned a lot in their journey, their strength only modified by centuries of storms; they can learn to build new stories again, creating jobs and hope for the people of New Orleans.