Curissa "Cee Cee" Davis doesn't trust men, and she's slow to make friends. She can't remember the last time she did something fun.
It's not that she's antisocial; the former Carver High student body president is quite gregarious once she starts talking. But after losing at least 20 friends to gun violence before she turned 18 in June, it's difficult for her to get close to people when there's a good chance they'll be killed.
"Why would you want to make a new friend?" she said. "You still interact with people, but you don't get as close to them as you would."
The revelry of Mardi Gras is over, and so is a series of high-profile pro and college football games that had people dancing in the streets, yet with nearly a slaying a day in January, not all city residents feel like celebrating.
The mayor has called murder "the single-most important issue facing our city." Since Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has racked up six straight titles as the most murderous city in America. January suggested a seventh was coming, though the pace of the killings slowed considerably in February.
