The Saints. Things are starting to feel familiar again. Even before the pre-season games began, the local media whipped up such a frenzy, you would have thought the Super Bowl was a forgone conclusion.
Never been a football fanatic but the Saints are very important to this city. When your Mayor buys a house in Texas, your Governor is on an economic development mission to Spain, your Recovery Czar is dividing his time between this city and his home in Australia and your utility company is advising you to lower your electric bills by visiting a mall….the Saints are the only game in town.
Sean Peyton could teach the city a thing or two….he conducted a mock jazz funeral symbolically burying all the accolades of a winning season. Think his message was simple…you’re only as good as your last game. The city is now teaching Sean Payton a thing or two about it’s culture hinting that this act may have in fact cursed the team…bad juju and all that….and are seriously suggesting another ceremony be conducted to resurrect the past….dig that stuff back up! If I was Payton this morning, I’d be rolling my eyes in the back of my head at the thought. He’s got enough other problems at the moment.
Game day is always exciting. My wife loves it. She waits an hour or two before kickoff and then goes shopping. Few people on the streets means that she can accomplish more in a couple of hours than it would normally take a day to do and parking is a breeze. If your not at the dome or at home watching the game, you can walk around almost anywhere in the city in relative safety…it’s a lot like it was the first few weeks after the storm.
The highlights of this day included the ability to make full use of the remote control making it possible to watch both part of the game and part the second episode of K-Ville. Using this technique we were able to hear a sportscaster state, after a discussion with a FEMA official, that it was going to take 20 years to rebuild New Orleans and to satisfy ourselves that someone had finally researched the local dialect and not everyone here hails from Mobile or Acadiana.
Game over and the TV city safe again for a week, the phone rings and it’s a charter member of the local “Glass Half Empty Club.” He’s relieved that the road to the Superbowl looks like Interstate 10 (always under construction).
When I ask him why he precedes to tell me that the team ever did win the Super Bowl, the Mayor’s Office would determine this was a divine sign that Halliburton should not relocate to their headquarters to Dubai but relocate here and the Saint’s owner would determine this was a divine sign to hit up the state for a new dome.
Yep, things are starting to get back to normal.
“I really think this AA thing is working. I only had one bottle of wine last night.”…overheard at a local coffee shop.
Have spent months pondering whether there’s anything left to say about this community. Is there anything left that the local or national press hasn’t beaten to death? Finally came to the conclusion “yes, no and maybe.” I am not a native but I frequently catch myself thinking like one.
“What do you mean armed National Guardsmen are bad for tourism? There’s lots of vacation spots around the world with armed guards running around and people pay big bucks to go there.” Former City Council Member.
Have been fascinated by the developing world of blogs and the pioneers of the media. I thought I’d try my hand. It’s naturally going to be a work in process but everything is moving slow in this area.
“You weren’t born here. You don’t know anything. My family has been in this city since the Big Bang.” Bar Patron
Have read that every blogger should have a niche. Guess my niche has developed over the last two years. Every time some outrageous headline about something that “has” or “has not” happened in this city hits the airwaves, there are phone calls and emails from associates around the country who demand to know if the story was correct, how on earth could that of happened and why am I still living here. Yep, that’s my niche…”Why am I still living here?”
“When life hands you a lemon, make a daiquiri.” Anonymous
There is no question in my mind that New Orleans is one of America’s most unique cities. While there are many who would now argue that it is one too many, I think not. Every industrialized country has a city like New Orleans and some even have more than one.
Something strange is going on here…the lid is off the pot so to speak. The storm brought the rare opportunity of a second chance for a city on the skids, however, the second chance comes with a price tag…”Open your books.” This isn’t referring specifically to financial documents as much as it does to a mythical loose leaf operations manual outlining how and why things are done in this city.
“There’s a right way to do things and there’s a wrong way to do things and there’s the New Orleans way of doing things.” Anonymous
This is an exciting time to live here. The Federal Government probably wishes the hurricane would have landed anywhere else but Louisiana, the state is treating the city as a new profit center and the only municipal entity working at peak efficiency is the one responsible for issuing parking citations.
I close my first blog with a lesson I’ve learned from this experience. The keys to maintaining a healthy mental outlook during a disaster rebuild is to keep optimistic, keep healthy and keep your car full of gas.
