Philadelphia and Kansas City played Sunday at the Super Bowl Lix, well, at least Philadelphia did it, but the aura that surrounds the game was New Orleans and Los Angeles.
The great easy gave everyone perfect where: The Superdome, Bourbon Street, Big Bands, Beads, parades and music by miles. He because It was for Los Angeles, an answer to the devastating wind and fire last month that burned almost 100 square miles, turning hundreds of thousands of lives in just a few weeks. There was the parade of stars prior to the program associated with Hollywood, from Brad Pitt to Tom Cruise; In the stands they were people like Paul Rudd and Anne Hathaway. And then Kendrick Lamar himself, winner of the Compton Pulitzer Award, walks on stage for the mid -time show, ending with his recent Grammy -winning song “Not Like Us”.
The New Orleans message for Lamar and everything was clear: You can be like us.
Almost two decades have passed since Hurricane Katrina crossed New Orleans in August 2005, when devastating the wind and water overwhelmed the city. The Superdome itself, the “living room of New Orleans, was mistreated, but still provided refuge to more than 10,000 people who could not leave before the storm.
Long before Katrina, Tennessee Williams allegedly joked that New Orleans was one of the “only three cities” in the United States, and “everything else is Cleveland.” After Katrina, could the city come back?
He has it. Maybe it's not exactly the same. Maybe not completely intact. But the essence, the soul of the city, is still there, the good times roll again. Laissez Les Bon temps Rouler. And the soul of the city is not difficult to find. Simply talk with a place for five minutes.
Like my friend's aunt Betsy. While visiting New Orleans recently, I sat next to the Brunch. She has lived her life in New Orleans and would not have her otherwise. She made a case for food, saying that else people simply “eat to live”, but in New Orleans “they live to eat.”
Come on, I thought. A friend joked that New Orleans is “the best managed city in the Caribbean or the worst city in the United States.” There are graffiti and potholes, and blue canvases in many houses. I saw a dead rat the size of a cat.
But even Katrina could not kill culture. It is resistant to disaster. He returned and will always grow again, so the message of this city is exactly what angels need to hear at this time.
New Orleans' soul is still essentially oral. They have so many good words. Faubourg. Hubig's. Neutral land. Rougarou. Cheewees Bourbon Street Gravy. Po'Boy (Dress). Lis flower. Sazerac. Krewe. Tchoupitoulas. (Warning: some could cause a chatgpt collapse).
They even fight how to pronounce the name of the damn city. Some throw in the middle with “new or pegues.” A few Gussy it with a “new or lee-anns”. Others dirty it with “Nawlins.” Some can find that unpleasant, but I think it's great. Show that they care.
Some New Orleania can be rich, but money does not matter much here. The peasants eat as kings. Café Du Monde: open 24 hours a day for beignets, only effective. Parkway for po'Boys, especially roasted meat. Türkiye and the wolf sell the best relief sandwich in America (and has no meat, made with vegetable collection). Or Hansen's Sno-Bliz for a warm day, 86 consecutive years, so he can “air conditioning his belly”. All these rough cutting delights will cost you less than a point of ten.
Culture is for everyone. Music and menu manufacturing are mass contagion activities that transmit culture. Welcome to the world doing something that does not do it anywhere else.
And the heart is cherry on everything. Upon leaving the city, Aunt Betsy did everything possible to leave a huge can of Pralines (“Praw-Pealing”, by the way, definitely not “Pray-tieens”). It was the last little touch. The heat. The kindness. Or was it a small sale argument for your beloved city? I can't say, but the Pralines have gone and I'm very happy.
So what can the angels offer? What can the beach teach the swamp? What can the city of the saints say to the city of Los Angeles after the devastating fires last month?
You cannot maintain a good low city. You will be back, and soon. And whatever it does to the eye, inclined to that.
From New Orleans to Los Angeles: You can be like us.
Ml cavanaugh is the Author of the next book “Best Scar Wins: How can you be more than you were before.” @Mlcavanaugh
