If there was no New Orleans, America would just be a bunch of free people dying of boredom.” -Judy Deck in an e-mail sent to Chris Rose.
Do what you do. This Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year’s Eve, Twelfth Night, Valentine’s Day, Mardi Gras, St. Paddy’s Day, and every day henceforth. Just do what you do. Live out your life and your traditions on your own terms. If it offends others, so be it. That’s their problem.
This book is dedicated to Thomas Coleman, a retired longshoreman, who died in his attic at 2214 St. Roch Avenue in New Orleans’ 8th Ward on or about August 29, 2005. He had a can of juice and a bedspread at his side when the waters rose. There were more than a thousand like him.
The longer you live in New Orleans, the more unfit you become to live anywhere else.
Mardi Gras is the love of life. It is the harmonic convergence of our food, our music, our creativity, our eccentricity, our neighborhoods, and our joy of living. All at once.
To be engaged in some small way in the revival of one of the great cities of the world is to live a meaningful existence by default.
Even at the End of Days, there will be lap dancing.
It is impossible to capture the essence, tolerance, and spirit of south Louisiana in words.
Time is running out for the climate.
If you cannot improve upon the silence, do not speak.
Everybody here has a story. New Orleans was always a place where people talked too much even if they had nothing to say. Now everyone’s got something to say.
A New Orleans credo: When life gives you lemons – make daiquiris.