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NEW ORLEANS : more click above
Finally, friends, a positive article about New Orleans. The piece is long, but
worth the read . Unfortunately, the author is unnamed, but he or she deserves
our gratitude for reviving our most
pleasant memories of the beloved city of our youth.
Check the Chris Rose quote at the end!
New Orleans
New Orleans. How wonderful those words sound when said with no quirky emphasis
on odd syllables. They always seem to elicit some response.
Have you been there?
Have you ever been to Cafe Du Monde for beignets and cafe au lait and gone back
every morning of your visit? Have you ever sat for hours in the piano bar
at Pat O'Brien's sipping hurricanes?
Have you ever been to Mardi Gras - Bacchus? Endymion? Rex? Have you ever had
oysters at the Acme House? Have you ever sat out on the "fly" eating crawfish
and drinking Dixie beer?
Have you ever taken a walking tour of the Garden District? Have you ever sung
karaoke at Cat's Meow? Do you know who John Folse is? Have you ever risen
at 6am to roam the streets of a "quiet" French Quarter?
Have you ever been to Galatoire's? K-Paul's? Emeril's?
Can you remember when Zulu threw gold-painted coconuts?
Have you ever ridden the street-car down St.Charles Avenue secretly sipping your
strawberry daiquiri?
Have you ever had a mint julep on the porch of The Columns Hotel?
Have you ever been to Audubon Park? City Park? Have you ever been to mass at the
St. Louis Cathedral?
Do you know who Harry Connick, Sr is? Have you ever had breakfast at Brennan's?
Have you ever been to the original Tipitina's? Have you ever been to the
Superdome? Saint's game? Sugar Bowl?
Super Bowl? Final Four?
Have you ever had cheese fries at Fat Harry's? Thrown peanuts on the floor at
O'Henry's? Have you ever been to the Rendon Inn? Can you remember the New
Orleans World's Fair?
Have you ever been to the campuses of Tulane and Loyola? Have you been to a
crawfish boil? Sucked the heads? Have you ever been "on the lake"? "Across
the lake"? To the "west bank"? Have you had a Ferdi from Mother's and wondered
what "debris" was? Have you ever been an unexpected invitee to a jazz funeral?
Have you ever been to Jazzfest ---- first or second weekend? Have you ever been
to Pontchartrain Beach ?
Have you ever stood in line at the Camellia Grill? Had a po-boy at Uglesich's?
Oyster and artichoke soup at Mandina's? BBQ shrimp at Pascal Manale's? Gumbo
at Dookie Chase? Have you ever been to a plantation home?
Have you ever been to the French Quarter festival? Can you pronounce
Tchoupitoulas? Thibodaux ? Boutte? Have you ever been to Clancy's? The Upperline?
Brightsen's?
Have you ever been to the Biloxi beaches? Have you ever had a monsoon at Port of
Call? Breakfast at the Blue Bird?
Have you ever seen the Neville Brothers? Cowboy Mouth? The Radiators?
Have you ever been to New Orleans ?
If you've been there, undoubtedly one of these things found its way to your
itinerary. You probably also saw the dirty streets, the tired shotgun houses,
and cracked sidewalks. You've heard about the high crime, poor public schools,
poverty, and racism. And yes, there are many housing projects. It is very
hot in the summer, people are generally overweight, and the city is always a
hurricane away
from being flooded.
Each visitor chooses to see the New Orleans they want to see it. Luckily, New
Orleans has the amazing ability to win over many more than it loses. It can
cause one to see the big oaks hovering over St.
Charles and not the trash on the sidewalks. It can cause one to focus on the
street musician and not the street beggar. It can cause one to see the wrought
iron balcony rather than the dilapidated
building. What is it about the Big Easy that makes most see the positive and not
the
negative?
The answer to New Orleans' allure may, on the surface, seem different for locals
and tourists, but I suspect that there is a common thread - the people,
the heart and soul of New Orleans.
There is a culture and tradition in New Orleans that is sweet and simple. No
need to over analyze this. It recognizes that the enjoyment of family and
life is as attainable for the poor as it is for the rich.
A hand on a shoulder and touch on the arm is just the way we say hello. We know
that good music, food, and drink is made all the better when surrounded
by friends who share the same outlook. When
it is your way of life, when it is woven into your circle of friends, social
gatherings aren't seen as "excesses" but as something you just do.
New Orleanians don't believe they've cornered the market on this way of life.
They recognize it when they see it elsewhere, and they applaud it. What makes
New Orleans special is that they have a
concentration of people who have it and foster it.
It's generational.
It's hereditary.
The challenge to New Orleans , to the New Orleanian, is as great as ever. Its
reputation temporarily tarnished by the things that occurred in the aftermath
of Katrina, it is up to those who live there, have
been there, and adopted this city to not let these terrible scenes replace the
ones they have of the Big Easy. While money is needed to rebuild, preserving
that feeling and attitude that New Orleans gave you on that last visit is just
as important. Did the flood waters wash away the New Orleans way of life?
Not a chance. Not a chance that New Orleanians would deprive future generations
of this breeding
ground of the good life.
With the vast destruction of parts of New Orleans now clear, the question is
being asked repeatedly, "Is New Orleans worth rebuilding?"
To that, I can only reply, "Have you ever been to New Orleans ?"
To end, here is a quote from Chris Rose, the Times-Picayune Columnist:
We dance when there is no music, We drink at funerals. We talk too much, and
live too large and,
frankly, we're suspicious of others who don't...
When you meet us now and you look into our eyes, you will see the saddest story
ever told. Our hearts are broken into a thousand pieces. But don't pity
us, we're gonna make it.
After all, we've been rooting for the Saints for 40 years. That's got to count
for something.
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