From the Royal Street Photo Album: Irony

In Royal Street, DJ slips back into New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to find a strange sight on the sidewalk in front of her house: a waterlogged copy of the Times-Picayune from the day before the hurricane made landfall--the last printed copy of the Times-Pic that was delivered for quite a while.

This is one instance in which I did use my own experiences in the book. When I returned to New Orleans for the first time after the storm, I found this at the bottom of the steps leading into my house (along with tons of broken limbs and debris). The newspaper had survived the winds that uprooted the tree that fell on my roof. It had survived lying underwater after the levees broke (you can see the mold already crawling up the wrought iron railing to my steps, in the top of the photo). And there it still sat.

I left it there for a few days, just because it struck me as such a bizarre, ironic thing, but it was moldy and smelly and I eventually trashed it.

Enjoy your Saturday! I'll be back tomorrow with this week's contest winners. Lots of books being given away, so scroll down and enter if you haven't already!