I will likely add more when I have more time, but for now:

I was a resident of the French Quarter of New Orleans when Katrina hit. I had evacuated to Lafayette. I returned just after Rita hit, and I noted that someone had come through the French Quarter and written on all of the taped up refrigerators:

Voodoo Today Here Now (and then the number "5" with a circle drawn around it)

I was curious about this (wish now I had taken a photo of it), but it took a while to find anyone who knew what it was all about. I finally was told by one of the black residents that it was supposed to "kill" the bad smell coming from the refrigerators - in 5 days from the time the refrigerator was marked.

I thought this was interesting, but of course I didn't believe it, because the refrigerators all smelled pretty bad (a smell never to be forgotten). I *was* however quite surprised when I eventually walked past a refrigerator that had *not* been written on - and it smelled *much* worse than the others! Too funny. So typically New Orleans.

(My own refrigerator was carried down 3 flights of stairs from my French Quarter condo at 1117 Royal Street by 2 gay guys. They were the best movers I could have found for it! "Don't hit the wall!" "Don't scratch the floor!" they told each other as they moved it. I wish the movers who had moved me into the condo had been as diligent!)