Dear New New Orleans Resident,
We need to talk.
I am often treated by folks who just moved here about how New Orleans is so unique. I get to hear all about how New Orleans is the most European or the most Caribbean city. Some folks from elsewhere in America will exclaim to me, breathlessly, that “it’s not like being in America at all.”
But see, here’s the thing. It is like being in America. Our America. Our America is like most of the country in many ways and different in many ways. But this is the thing, it is still our America. 
Of course we have a lot of people who think there is some sort of homogeneous “American” experience, but of course that is a very narrow appreciation of the country and it’s basic diversity. The farm life in Kansas is very different than life in a New York City borough. There is a world of difference between the daily experience of someone in the Florida Panhandle and streets of Chicago. There are many Americas in this country. And even if there are things that are common to most of us it is very superficial to look at this as one culture.
And so we need to talk to you about our America because there are things you need to know.
The big differences are the easiest. Mardi Gras is a given but everyone in New Orleans has their own Mardi Gras. It might be old line krewe, or masking Indian, or truck float riding, or French Quarter rambling, or escaping to the ski slopes. Every family has at least one local culinary specialty that they take some sort of pride in: red beans and rice, crawfish boil, gumbo, jambalaya, etouffee. In addition to that they have one family food specialty that reflects their own personal history; lasagna or meatballs, stuffed cabbage, mole.
We are not hung up on drinking. We are gamblers, as you would expect folks who lived in such a precarious place would be. We like our bargains. Before the collapse of our retail sector we shopped at both local and national chains. We have things that we will only buy from one specific store but for most purchases the bargain trumps any notions of loyalty.
We have watched for a long time the decline of our city as places like Houston took our jobs and Atlanta took our people. We recognize the folks in Metairie and St. Bernard and on the Westbank as our folks, even if we wonder why anyone would move to the country, by which we mean, the Northshore.
We are social people. As evidenced by the story a fire chief in Maryland who worked after the storm told me about people he came to rescue inviting him in for a drink.
But still, this is our America. It may have been different than the America you grew up in but it is still America. And as it is America, it still has all the need for things that the rest of America needs: good jobs, a stable population that can support themselves economically, a desire to progress and grow so that their people can maintain themselves. Well, the basic things that every thriving city all around the world needs.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that New Orleans is so “unique” that we can afford to ignore the basics of modern life, to do so suggests that it’s best days are in the past and it has no future outside that of a museum and a playground. New Orleans is better than that.
Our America depends on being able to grow and have a future.
