Anne Rice: What it means to lose New Orleans

I was waiting to hear from novelist Anne Rice, who was a New Orleans institution for so long. She writes a little defensively (but she's more than a little right, I think) about her former home in the NY Times:

"...to my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us. You looked down on us; you dismissed our victims; you dismissed us. You want our Jazz Fest, you want our Mardi Gras, you want our cooking and our music. Then when you saw us in real trouble, when you saw a tiny minority preying on the weak among us, you called us "Sin City," and turned your backs.

Well, we are a lot more than all that. And though we may seem the most exotic, the most atmospheric and, at times, the most downtrodden part of this land, we are still part of it. We are Americans. We are you."

What It Means To Lose New Orleans [NY Times]