Torre - I am New Orleans

After we received the topic for the blog post, I thought I immediately knew what I was going to write about. As I sat down to write, nothing came to mind that could sum up why I am New Orleans. Living here since my birth, there have been numerous occasions that I could refer back to and claim that they shaped me as a young New Orleanian. When it came down to putting all of these experiences and emotions into words, I just couldn’t do it. Of course, I could sit here and list the true, but extremely cheesy, experiences that have undoubtedly made me New Orleans. I could talk about Mardi Gras. Every New Orleanian could agree that your first Mardi Gras experience is a defining moment in developing your love and attachment to New Orleans. For me, this experience included my family’s crazy, multicolored, ladder-like contraption that ensured ultimate bead catching success, that toppled over one time due to uneven weigh distribution between my sister and me. If I wanted to stay away from the Mardi Gras experience reminiscing, I could easily talk about the tourists who pointed to every white house on St. Charles Avenue and exclaimed that they were sure that this one was the wedding cake house. Or I could recall the horrible experiences that happened on August 28th, 2005 and the many months after. I could recall how I lived in a four room apartment for months in an unfamiliar city, wondering when I could go back home. If I decided that writing about those months of confusion and displacement where too cliché to use, then I could write about the festivals that have unquestionably shaped and influenced my love for food and, more importantly, music. With each food festival comes hours of eating foods that I would never have tried in my own kitchen but now have a new appreciation for. With each music festival comes hours of listening to new bands perform various genres of music that slowly make an incredible impact on my Ipod. If I decided that my love of music and food could not express my experiences as a New Orleanian, I could talk about the crazy questions I get when I say the phrase, “I am from New Orleans.” These questions never bore me, as I answer each time with either, “No, I don’t live on a swamp,” “No, I don’t have a pet alligator,” or “No, the levee doesn’t break every time it rains hard”, and “No, I don’t live in the French Quarter.” If I decided that talking about the ridiculous stereotypes New Orleans has endured by outsiders, then I could simply talk about the atmosphere. I could talk about how the passionate and electric atmosphere that is prevalent on each street corner is overwhelming. If, finally, I decided that all the options above would not express why I am New Orleans, then I could talk about the universal (well, it’s universal in New Orleans) term “Who Dat.” I could talk about how this term has connected a city full of people after a time in 2005 that was full of uncertainty. I could talk about how a few dozen Saints gave this city hope and love.

As I sat down to write this, I decided that there was not solely one thing I could talk about to sum up why I am New Orleans. All I can say is this: I am New Orleans and a part of this Who Dat Nation because of all the above and more.
- Torre, age 16