First Lines on the Second Line

OK, people out there in cyberspace, let me start by offering a disclaimer: This is my first blog entry ever. I’m a newbie, neophyte, freshman, dare I say … blog virgin. So, when you read this entry, please be kind.

The name of this blog, The Second Line, is exactly what I want to talk about. Actually, it’s the Second Lines and black New Orleans culture. It’s one of the reasons I fell in love with this city, before Katrina brought me down here on a more permanent basis. And it’s this aspect of New Orleans life that everyone was secretly afraid would be washed away by the tears of Mother Nature and a less-than-reliable levee system.

There are so many people that live in this city who have never experienced a Second Line. Some of you may have never been carried away by the thumping sounds of drums, horns, and tambourines echoing through the streets of neighborhoods like Central City or Treme.

Everyone knows that New Orleanians celebrate and enjoy life to the fullest. In death, lives are celebrated as well, and for a few hours on random Sundays, the struggles of surviving life in the “Big Easy” are forgotten — seemingly lost in the hypnotic pulse of brass band music. The failing schools, the senseless violence that takes the lives of the young, the inequities that have been left since the days when this country could never imagine a black president, the simple hardships of being born into poverty — despite all of this, there is reason to celebrate life.

In the haze of 24/7 CNN news coverage of Katrina I remembered the first Second Line funeral procession that I witnessed. I was simply amazed at how people could celebrate life and ooze freedom, joy and happiness in the solemn moments usually attributed to death.
Even after that storm came and washed away dreams, there was a celebration to be had in black neighborhoods of New Orleans. In these neighborhoods the Second Line is simply a part of New Orleans culture and a way of life. It’s the break everyone needs. It’s the moment to lose yourself in a rhythmic spell and enjoy the beauty of sounds and moving bodies. As long as these parades with their pied pipers of social aid and pleasure clubs lead the way, New Orleans will always be NEW ORLEANS.

“I’ve recently found my means of expression through photography, says Shawn. Visit www.shawnescoffery.com.

If you’ve never been to a Second Line, please take the time to venture into the real New Orleans and experience what it means to celebrate life.

Until I write again,

Shawn Escoffery

Shawn Escoffery is deputy director of the New Orleans Neighborhood Development Collaborative and currently a Rockefeller Fellow through the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Urban Redevelopment Excellence-two organizations receiving grants last year from the Community Revitalization Fund. Shawn has a master’s degree in city and regional planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Want to learn more about Second Lines? Click here to hear an interview with the director of the Backstreet Cultural Museum, a Community IMPACT Program grantee.