Found posted on nola.com in response to Mayor Nagin's State of the City address in 2007:
megpick says...
i forgot where i got this from but after reading all of these comments, i just wanted to share it
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 the Times-Picayune newspaper:
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 35 years.
Thats got to count for something.