It was another beautiful clear day here in New Orleans, and another bike commute to and from Tulane. I’m leaving for the chilly climes of Massachusetts tomorrow, so I took some extra time to enjoy this sunny ride. I stopped on Freret and Marengo to snap this picture of the Historic Second Baptist Church. I’m not sure if this church is still open, but I don’t think so. There are so many churches like this all over the city. Many churches can’t afford to rebuild and in some cases, there isn’t really the population to support it. I pass this church all the time and wonder about its old life, when it wasn’t overgrown and run down. It is set to reopen soon, though, with its stolen bell found again, because that’s what we do. Loss is so often represented as singular–the loss of individual lives or individual dreams. But places like this remind me of the loss of community, a loss of complex and long-developed social, cultural, and spiritual ties that can’t really be captured in a quantitative list. There was a lot of loss in the world today. I hope we mourn it.