I tell people that we live in Tremé, and people say, "No, man, you live on Esplanade Avenue." They're right.

Esplanade Avenue is a world of its own, a fairyland of colorful historic mansions under the live oak trees. A wide neutral ground runs down the middle of the street, a linear park, to our block. Walk down the middle of the street as far as the river — that way you get the best view of both sides of the street.

Nothing in New Orleans happens in ordinary time — Mardi Gras is the day, Carnival is the season, and it starts on January 6th, when nobody knows it's Mardi Gras but the people who live here.

Go out and have adventures. You can watch TV at home. Esplanade Avenue is the real New Orleans, not Bourbon Street — a city rich with possibilities, where everything thrives and everybody needs a secret of their own.

We moved to New Orleans five years after Katrina. It was a totally different city back then — half the population, so many buildings boarded up, even if people lived there. Everyone who lives in New Orleans, lives here by choice. After Katrina, the population was zero. Everyone who lives here made a conscious decision to come back and rebuild, or, like Melanie and I, become part of this giant sociology experiment.