Sam - I am New Orleans

New Orleans is knowing your neighbor. It’s being able to knock on a door and ask for some Café Du Monde coffee in that strange yellow package.  It’s knowing that your neighbor isn’t just the person who lives right next door but every person you encounter in this strange city. New Orleans is your eighty six year old aunt. It’s being able to call her and find out how life is down in the Quarter. It’s knowing about how she walked out on her stoop to grab the paper, but instead came upon a man peeing in public. New Orleans is going to a beautiful historic building five days out of the week. It’s being able to go to an institution that doesn’t necessarily look like an institution. New Orleans is having a line of royalty in your family without being British. It’s being able to wear a crown and fancy dress and have fun with loved ones. All of these things have made me who I am, and all of these things are truly New Orleans.

Sam, age 17

Courtney - I am New Orleans

I think that New Orleans is the best city in the world. When I was thinking about what makes New Orleans great, I realized that no one aspect of New Orleans has shaped me. Everything great is put together into one experience, all creating the experience of New Orleans. I realized this when my exchange student came from Chile. I knew I would have to take her to do everything that is “typical” to New Orleans such as the French Quarter, poboys, beignets, music festivals, and Mardi Gras parades. New Orleans is so unique, and I realized that in this city, there are so many occasions and things that no other city has. New Orleans has a spirit that shows through our culture, music, food, and most importantly, our people. Even after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the city came back better and stronger than ever. One of my favorite sayings came after this, 504ever. This saying assured New Orleanians that the city would recover and come back. As we went to experience each characteristically New Orleans feature, I realized that joy of New Orleans is not many different experiences, but everything in one. Every aspect from the Saints and Who Dat to Hurricane Katrina and the Swamp blend together to create a truly memorable cultural experience. Everything that has occurred in my life in New Orleans has made me who I am today. So many memories and emotions came to me when thinking about my life and writing on this topic. Not one part of New Orleans has shaped me into who I am, but everything and every experience in this city. I am New Orleans because of every experience, person, place, and culture.

Courtney, age 17

Mae - I am New Orleans

What does one think of when they think of New Orleans? Mardi Gras? Crazy parties? The French Quarter? Well the first thing I think of is diversity. Everyone in New Orleans is different and unique, and I love New Orleans for that. We have our high class snobs, our wannabe ghetto Westbankers, our laid back suburbians, our Cajuns, our eccentric French Quarter residents, and the list could go on and on. Yes, New Orleans is very diverse like many other cities, but what makes New Orleans different is the fact that we all work together in perfect harmony. Every type of person respects the other for being who they are. Everyone loves the diversity. We love the fact that during Mardi Gras, we can look out into the crowd and see so many different kinds of people all having a good time together and enjoying each other’s company. New Orleans is one of a kind.

What I believe makes me so New Orleans is how my life is so diverse. I go to a school that is in the heart of uptown and experience many ”uptown” activities, such as eating at Kyoto as a special treat, riding the streetcar to your nearest destination, or the daily Pinkberry visits. I also get to experience something very unique to New Orleans: being a maid in a parade. I am on a dance team for Jesuit High School and get to show my inner “Westbank” and get to act cheesy for a couple of hours a day. My family owns a camp in the middle of the swamps of Louisiana. I get to experience the life out on the bayou, enjoying the abundant nature that Louisiana supplies. I love how I can go duck hunting in the early morning on the bayou, dance practice at noon, and a formal dinner at the Windsor Court that same night. No other city in the world could let an individual be so diverse. I am an uptown girl. I am a cheesy Westbanker. I am a bayou-loving redneck. I am a royal maid in Babylon. I am unique. I am different. I am diverse. I am New Orleans.

Mae, age 17

Darby - I am New Orleans

As a young New Orleanian, I have learned to appreciate moments but also live life.  Here, unlike in any other city in America, I was exposed to things I never thought someone at the age of 16 would experience.  One of my favorite memories that happened somewhat recently would probably have to be Superbowl Sunday last year when the Saints brought New Orleans their first championship.  The reason this has to be one of my favorite memories is because of the atmosphere of that day as well as the fact that it didn’t matter that you didn’t know most of the people you high-fived or hugged.

For Superbowl Sunday, I spent my entire day in the French Quarter, not getting home until about 3 in the morning.  My cousins had gotten a hotel room, and we were about a block off of Bourbon Street.  From the hotel, one could hear the excitement coming from Bourbon, whether it was about the fact that the Saints had gotten to the Superbowl or the fact that they had just WON the Superbowl.  When my mom and I decided that we were going to walk Bourbon, we got there and could barely move.  Anywhere else in the country I would have been annoyed but in New Orleans and on this day, it was exactly how it was supposed to be. 

Later that night, we all got back to the hotel for the game, where I was reminded just how special the city of New Orleans really is.  Every time the Saints put points on the board and every time the defense or offense made a phenomenal play, I found myself hugging a random person in the room out of pure joy.  None of us there could believe what we were witnessing.  We couldn’t believe that it was the New Orleans Saints who had finally given us, the city, a Superbowl. 
Darby, age 16

Alli - I am New Orleans

"WEST SIDEEE"- normally when people think of this term, they think of the west coast. But we are not talking about the Californians. We are talking about the West Bank.  The West Bank, also known as the Best Bank, is an area on the outskirts of the Greater New Orleans area. Although I was born on the East Bank, when I was about 3 my parents moved to the Best Bank because of my Dad’s job. The West Bank has had a special place in my heart because of its unique qualities and contradicting stereotypes. Whenever people in New Orleans or Metairie hear the mention of the West Bank, they automatically assume guys that mimic Lil Wayne, and girls that wear bump-its and still take cheesy Myspace pictures. While this is pretty accurate, not everyone is like this. The people that are mainly like this grew up on the West Bank and go to school there. I, for example, only went to school on the West Bank up until middle school. Going to school on the East Bank is what probably saved me from becoming a bump-it booty short wearing type of girl.

“The West Bank scares me…” is one of the responses I got from someone when I told them that I live there. Sure the West Bank is known for a lot of crime and some parts of it can seem sketchy, but really there is nothing to be afraid of. Many people don’t go to the West Bank because they consider it to be too “far away.” Without traffic, it takes me about 25 minutes to get to school in the morning. I just guess 25 minutes to some people seems like 5 hours. I like to flaunt my West Bank pride to everyone who is not from here. The West Bank is the Best Bank. I am West Bank and I am New Orleans.

- Alli, age 16

Hannah - I am New Orleans

“Hannah, I have something important to tell you.”

…I’m getting a car? We’re going on a trip? My cousins are coming in town?... Thing after thing ran through my mind. I just couldn’t figure out what was so important! No, I wasn’t getting car and we weren't going on a trip. My cousins weren’t coming in town, but they would be for whatever this surprise was. My dad had me on this one. I had absolutely no idea what it could be.

“Hannah, you are going to be queen of Thoth.”

I don’t think that hearing any other nine words could have made me any happier than these nine words did. My favorite Mardi Gras parade, the one that I had been a part of for my entire life, had chosen me, Hannah McIntyre, to be their queen when I was born. Mardi Gras is New Orleans. So being a part of Mardi Gras in this way, made me New Orleans. Since Thoth has always been a part of my family, my family was New Orleans. Since my sister has been born, at every Thoth function we attend we are introduced as “the queen in 2012 and the queen of 2028.” Because I am Mardi Gras, I am New Orleans.

Hannah, age 17

Matty - I am New Orleans

There is this thing that the seats on street cars do. They can slide back and forth to create four seats instead of two, to make one out of many.

At night, the air smells like Confederate jasmine and magnolia, flowers that make you drunk with nostalgia.

There is a tune heard from October till June, Voodoo, Jazz fest, and finally that ring of the graduation bells in your graduation dress with your graduation crown.

There’s Downtown, and Uptown, in the park, in the clubs, on the street, inside the float, and on top of the levee--there is anywhere and everywhere for someone to be.

There are the characters who tell you their stories, who greet you for a hot pastrami sandwich on lower magazine street at 7am and there is the pill-popping tattooed gentle giant who gives you strawberry lemonade at your favorite Mexican restaurant. There is the waiter who works every night, and on busy nights his girlfriend works with him, just so they can be together. There is the po’ boy shop that has always called out their customers names over a creaky loud speaker, even if their only customer was the president. There is the homeless guy who stands in front of Jackson Square cathedral and sings Amazing Grace and when your coin drops in his bucket he thanks “you my dear sister.” There are the fighters who stand up against those (oil) companies that think we are just backwater country bumpkins, oh how they showed them. There are the French, the Spanish, the people who are at least 1/3 angel and 2/3 devil and frequently tour the streets. There are the chefs and the firefighters who ring 6 alarms. There are the ghosts who thought New Orleans was better than heaven, so they stayed. There are the catholic school girls who Can-Can at Christmas in their lovely plaid skirts. All of those things make me New Orleans. All of those things are things I think are unique and that honestly, if you don't live here you won't understand why those things are sacred. I am New Orleans because without those characters and without those places I would be a shell.

I am New Orleans because the Mississippi River flows in my veins, and I can only hear what the brass section plays. I only speak in hymns, and curses, and with cheer (WHO DAT!). I am New Orleans because I know those people and those places, those endless nights with endless faces. I am New Orleans because New Orleans found me. Sought me out. Welcomed me home.

Matty, age 16

Lillie - I am New Orleans

New Orleans has a certain feel to it; one that can’t be found anywhere else. I would be lying if I said the air was nice and crisp, complemented by the sun gently smiling down on you, because that’s not real, and if nothing else, New Orleans is real. The air here isn’t nice and crisp, but rather humid, and for the most part, miserable. The sun is brutal and summer is nearly unbearable without air-conditioning and at least a few pounds of snow balls. Heat stroke is not uncommon because of the summer days filled with either sunbeams or hurricanes in rotation, but it’s still hard to resist going out for a bike ride, even when you know you’ll be sweating within seconds. Growing up here, I have learned that the “hard” way, but I still think it’s worth the trouble to see the oaks bloom followed by the Japanese magnolias, and even sometimes the azaleas in the dead of winter. 
  
New Orleans is so indescribable because, in truth, it is such a distinctive and bizarre place that couldn’t be altered, not even by a corrupt government or increasing hipster population. New Orleans has shaped me more than I could ever describe on paper because I feel that I am a part of New Orleans and it is a part of me. I see that as something that could never be taken away from me, like an inherent or natural right that I will forever possess. Although city residents actually live in Louisiana, you would never know when surrounded by the New Orleans vibe. Regardless of racial, sexual, cultural or meteorological obstructions, New Orleans has agelessly stayed as cool as a cucumber.

New Orleans is ageless, although many floorboards creak in disagreement. I see my city as being ceaselessly active. New Orleans is alive in every sense of the word; awake at all hours with lights flashing, drinks sloshing and inhabitants carousing. New Orleans is as diverse as the adjectives chosen to depict it: easy, mysterious, rich without being wealthy. It cannot be embodied into one description or contained into one interpretation, in the same way that the inhabitants cannot be all jumbled into one. In the end, we are all true New Orleanians, and we even made up the word to tell the world exactly who we are.  

Lillie, age 16

Lizzie - I am New Orleans

“THEY DID IT! THE SAINTS WON THE SUPER BOWL!” As I heard these words from the television screen, I couldn’t help but join my fellow peers in screaming, jumping for joy, and dancing in the streets. As the whole nation knows, the Saints won Super Bowl XLIV for the first time in their entire 45 years of existence. What the whole nation doesn’t know is how happy all the people of New Orleans were. As we won, the entire city was in the streets, crying, hugging, and celebrating the win. I remember that night perfectly, and how when I walked out onto the streets with my friends, everyone was just dancing and cheering. As we walked outside, we ran to one of the local bars across the street from my friend’s house. Everyone who was there was outside hugging each other, cheering that the Saints had won. As cars came down the streets, one would hear honking horns, people chanting the famous phrase, “Who Dat?!,” and singing the famous Saints anthem, “Halftime,” by the Ying Yang Twins. Trying to get around the city was nearly impossible, for there was literally bumper to bumper traffic. There was no moving, but no one even cared. All of the sudden, it didn’t matter who anyone of us was anymore. It wasn’t just a win for the Saints; it was a win for the whole city. It gave everyone hope that no matter how many times people say that you can’t do it, with a lot of hard work and effort, anything is possible. For years, the Saints had been called “The Aints,” and that night, we proved to the country that we could go for the gold, and win it all. The victory of the Saints wasn’t just about winning the Super bowl; it was about bringing the city together. I’m not sure how many people I hugged that night, or who I hugged, necessarily, but it was one of the greatest nights of my life. I’m so glad that I got to be a part of that experience, and it is one that I will never forget.

The reason why this makes me New Orleans is not because of the Saints winning the Super Bowl, but it is because of the experience I had with the city. In no other city would random strangers be hugging each other, or even waving and saying hello to each other on a daily basis, just to put a smile on someone’s face. As the Saints won, I couldn’t help but feel so connected with everyone in the city, even with complete strangers. It was as if the fact that we didn’t even know each other didn’t matter. That night, we all became one as a city. Experiences like that is part of the reason why New Orleans is so unique and special, and it is one that makes me proud to say I am from New Orleans, Louisiana.

Lizzie, age 16

Amy - I am New Orleans

Several summers ago, a volunteer group from Arizona came in town to help rebuild after Katrina. When we met them we tried to tell them about everything deemed perfectly normal in New Orleans that might seem utterly preposterous in the minds to a foreigner (someone who lives more than 40 minutes from downtown or uptown New Orleans.) Of course, as normal tourists ask, someone in the group from Arizona asked about Mardi Gras, and to us, who can fully explain the extent of Mardi Gras without mentioning King Cake?

 "King cake: a round-ish, braided dough cake that is iced and can sometimes have colored sprinkles or filling on them. Kind of like a better cinnamon roll. After it's served, whoever gets the baby will bring the next king cake."
"Wait. Whoever gets what?"
"The baby of course. There's one hidden in every king cake."
"You guys put BABIES in your cake!? What kind of crazy city is this!?"

This illuminated half-scared, half-confused response to our simple New Orleanian tradition made me stop and truly realize how unique the traditions and customs of New Orleans really are. New Orleans is the only place where it is perfectly normal to boil more than 40 pounds of crawfish (not crayfish) at a time, where Mardi Gras is not the Gay and Lesbian Parade like it is in Sydney (as my Australian cousins informed me), where the new hip nutria fur fashion can make the front page of the Living section, and yes, we hide small babies in our cakes.

Only recently were the true originality and outlandish ways of the New Orleanian world reassured when I went to Caesar ball to watch one of my close friends who was a maid. As another friend and I waited in the giant ballroom where all of the maids were preparing to don their 60 pound feathery, sparkly backdrops that attached to their waists, I realized that I had become accustomed to certain kinds of events that to others might seem strange.

Me: "Oh hey! Someone dressed up like Marylyn Monroe! (short pause) Oh wait. That's an old man… (another pause) Let's go take a picture with him!!!"
Friend: "Sure. I'll just watch and take the picture."

It seems to me now that in New Orleans, it is perfectly normal to dress up in public, and it is even more normal for hundreds of straight men to put on black and gold dresses and parade down the French Quarter in honor of a deceased radio announcer who promised to dress like a woman in public if the Saints made it to the Super Bowl. But of course, this mini-parade was most definitely not the strangest occurrence in New Orleans after the Saints won the Super Bowl. To tell tourists that people were running, jumping, and screaming "WHO DAT!?!" in the middle of traffic only to get an even louder group response of, "WE DAT!" from unknown distant strangers would be an understatement. This type of action was the complete required norm for living in a city where the action never sleeps.

Sure, it takes less than 35 minutes to get from Kenner to the West Bank without traffic but, New Orleanians scoff at the showy volcanoes, Eiffel towers, casinos, and simply say, “Eh, who needs Vegas anyways?” If it is one thing that being in New Orleans has taught me, it is that it is our differences from the rest of the world are what brings New Orleans together as a family.

Amy, age 16

Brooke - I am New Orleans

I was born in the land of deep fried seafood platters, spicy jambalaya, gumbo, red beans with rice, and praline bacon; where the spices have burned away the harsh R’s and TH’s in the authentic Cajun tongue. I live in a geographical danger zone that could easily flood in the months from June to November. But, I also live on a parade route where, from late February to early March, a person’s main concern is catching a coconut in a Zulu parade. We don’t bury our dead; we dance with them, and then, let them slumber forever in small white houses shrouded in oak trees and Spanish moss. I live in a city where it is unlikely to find a fourth grader who can spell jealous, but where every literate person can whip out T-C-H-O-U-P-I-T-O-U-L-A-S flawlessly. In New Orleans we are a combination of the weird, the impractical, and the miraculous. We are our own culture; our own variation of Tony Cacher’s seasoning.

In certain instances, being a New Orleanian means something similar to dragging around a weird relative that seems okay at home, but who is bizarre out of context. As I get further and further away from my beloved 504 area code, I not only get a spike in telephone bills, but fellow Americans look at me with skepticism when I tell them of my origins. I can tell they are thinking “Oh yeah crazy Uncle New Orleans…The one that mixes up words and calls counties, parishes. He’s the one that doesn’t know how to run a public school system and who takes an extra holiday during March because he likes to pretend he is French. Doesn’t he live underwater with a bunch of murderers and alligators? Lucky for him, Miss Issippi next door has a reputation that outranks him for scandals.”

I do not care. I am my weird Uncle New Orleans. He isn’t some ball and chain I take with me. New Orleans has shaped me into a person who believes in culture as a huge system of telepathy rather than a categorization in a history textbook. Because I am from New Orleans, “WHO DAT” makes my pulse jump and talking about 2005 makes me grind my teeth, because this way of life requires a built in set of reflexes. Because I am from New Orleans, I can be whoever I want to be and still subconsciously be a part of a huge family that will adopt all people regardless of shape, size, age, or color, (unless of course they are a fan of the Atlanta Falcons). Because I am from New Orleans, I am not ashamed of my individual, weird family members or personal quirks. I have learned that being different is better than normalcy any day, and I embrace it.

- Brooke, age 16

Ruthie - I am New Orleans

Walking the streetcar tracks feels like a step between two worlds. Balancing on the track like I did when I was six and took gymnastics, step by step, I shift my weight toe heel toe heel like that dance we learned in sixth grade (toe heel toe heel rock step), but now I am sixteen, and sixth grade and six-years-old isn’t that far behind me but it feels like I’m nearing a point where I should edge my place into the world.

Anonymity is impossible here; all the schools are connected, and my mother is always calling out to someone whenever we walk down the street. When I was younger there was always someone watching; the city was my nanny, and crime stats and politicians were just words in the newspapers I made paper mache hearts out of. New Orleans makes me claustrophobic. Pinched down into words, I guess I look pretty bleak, I haven’t done much to help out after Katrina and I’m not exactly scooping oil out of the Gulf, and this city is already filled with so many heroes, so many names to live up to, musicians, artists, writers, politicians, war heroes and civil rights activists, it’s scary walking this streetcar track because of the options it presents. New Orleans is filled with so many more opportunities than every other city, even the dust it is made of seems to call at me to live up to my name and my city. The fine dirt that laces the sidewalks. The sand kicked up by hundreds of feet at Jazz fest. The mud rising over the heel of my foot as I stand barefoot in Audubon Park. The slick grime in between the cobblestones on St Joseph’s street downtown. The dry crusted dirt on Mardi Gras beads left on the streets for three days. The specks that cover the lens of a tourist’s camera. Stained glass windows with spider web dust and dirt lace lines. All made of the same stuff coating the same city like a glaze; it is a part of the whole.

Growing up in New Orleans is standing at the end of the streetcar tracks, looking forward and seeing a million directions to go in, and I become New Orleans in my choice.




- Ruthie, age 16

Katie - I am New Orleans

New Orleans. It is a horrible place filled with crime, despair, and no opportunities. It would never be a place where I would want to go to college, start a family, or begin a successful career. Somewhere like Boston, North Carolina, or Chicago would be much more enriched with opportunities for success in life. These past few sentences are a summary of my thoughts the summer after freshmen year. The last few weeks of that May were particularly hard and emotional, and I was ready to pack my bags and say goodbye to New Orleans.  So, that is exactly what I did. I packed my bags and escaped from my “NOLA” life ready to forget everything involving New Orleans, and it is because of this that I am New Orleans.

My place of escape was Washington D.C. I went there for a camp at Georgetown University, and I was fascinated with the idea that no one knew who I was or know what my life was like. I could be anyone I wanted to be. However, it wasn’t hard for people to figure out where I was from.

Everyone made fun of me for multiple reasons: I was the old one that said “y’all” instead of “guys”, I got obnoxiously excited every time someone mentioned the Super bowl, and I listened to nothing but “Stand Up and Get Crunk”. Everyone complained about D.C’s warm temperature and humidity, when I simply thought that it was perfect condition for a light jacket. The city was filled with equally high concrete buildings, clean streets, and everyone dressed in business attire. I was used to Mardi Gras beads left on trees, trash on the roads, squished together houses, and everyone dressed in a Saints shirt and jeans. I began to feel overwhelmed; everything looked perfect. There were no chipped pieces of paint on buildings, unique iron work on houses, bands and painters in the street, and there was no waving to a random person on the sidewalk just because you decided you wanted to be nice today. It was concrete and grey. I began to long for the city that I worked so hard to get away from.

With the craving of Popeye’s fried chicken making my mouth water, I flew home after a month in D.C. Once I got back home, I realized that New Orleans is a lot more than I thought. New Orleans wasn’t the thing holding be back, but it was the thing that was pushing me forward. New Orleans makes me unique, and the daily experiences I have had here make me a stronger person. I can’t try to run away from New Orleans because it is a part of me, but it is not worth running away from. Where ever life takes me, I will always be a New Orleanian.

- Katie, age 16

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

Brittany - I am New Orleans

I am New Orleans because of some unique qualities of my family. I live on the "westbank", the opposite side of the river from New Orleans. I live closer to the swamp than many of my friends. I grew up in a hunting family where we kill what we eat. I also am used to living on the water and using the resources around me. My dad owns an airboat swamp tour business. We offer tours to tourists and curious natives to explore the swamp and see some of the native wildlife. Because of what my family does it gives me a background that is different from my other peers. Not many of my friends can say they have swum with alligators. It helps me notice the environment around me and become more aware of the earth. This has given me a love for animals. I have had some very wild pets that include alligators, nutria, rabbits, raccoons and turtles. I have enjoyed these pets and we treat them as if they were a household dog. Also because we live in the south, New Orleans is an area subject to frequent hurricanes. My family has been lucky and has never been majorly affected by a hurricane. The past few years we have not had any major ones and have been very fortunate.  When New Orleans is in the path of a hurricane, my family has many more responsibilities than the average home.  We have around 4 buses, 10-15 boats, multiple alligators, including 2 albino ones, a raccoon plus my family Labrador retriever. When we have to evacuate it is always a challenge that requires many helping hands. These differences make me truly not able to fit in anywhere else in the country, I am truly New Orleans.

- Brittany, age 16

Holly - I am New Orleans

New Orleans is unlike any other place in the world. No matter where one goes they are welcomed with the southern hospitality that is quintessentially New Orleans. New Orleans is a city where thousands can unite whether to listen to their favorite artists at Jazz Fest and Voodoo or to cheer on their home teams throughout game season. Living in New Orleans means that wherever you find yourself, you will be surrounded by others who share the same love for the city as you.

New Orleanians are all about southern hospitality and brightening up someone else’s day regardless of whether or not you know them. When I think of the hundreds of times I’ve seen two people walking down the street greet each other or tell me hello, one man sticks out the most.

After Katrina, the route I took to school was full of abandoned houses whose owners had not yet been able to return to New Orleans. Although a majority of the homes were empty or damaged, there was one house that I could tell had been fixed since the storm and the owners were people who wanted to return to their normal lives. We drove past the quaint home every day for a few months, and finally once the house had been fixed, I witnessed one of the nicest acts of kindness I had ever seen. Every day at 7:15 in the morning, the owner of the home would sit on his front porch and wave to everyone who drove down his street. I had never known how much a simple hello could brighten up someone’s day until I saw that man waving to people he knew he would most likely never see again.

We drove past that house for two years, and like clockwork, every morning at 7:15 I would drive past the old man’s home and we would wave hello to each other. Due to construction, the street I would take past the man’s house has been closed, and I am no longer able to tell him hello. Even though I am currently unable to drive past this stranger’s home, I have promised myself that as soon as the construction is finished I will begin driving past his house and telling him hello like I used to.

New Orleanians have a natural tendency to be hospitable to everyone they encounter. Growing up in New Orleans has taught me that the smallest acts of kindness can make someone’s day. As the waving man brightened my morning commutes to school, I too hope that one day I can perform a memorable act of kindness for a complete stranger.

- Holly, age 16

Courtney - I am New Orleans

Walking into Mother’s restaurant on Poydras St., I was expecting to have a normal dinner with my parents. I walked up to the register to order my food, took the number, and went to find a table to sit down. After about ten minutes, my number was called, so I went to the pick-up window to get my order. When walking back to the table, I saw a family of four sitting at the table diagonally across from us. Thinking nothing of it, I sat down and started to eat, only to be interrupted by an obnoxious flash. When I looked up, that same family of four was taking pictures of their food and the Mardi Gras beads around their necks. Not only did they keep doing this, sending off a flash every five seconds, but at one point they asked “a real southern local” to take a picture of everyone together. This real southern local was me. When I put the camera up to my eye, they didn’t just smile normally; they then proceeded to lift the plates of jambalaya they were eating to their faces and say “Mother’s” on three. Living in a city as diverse as this one, I can only expect to see these types of tourists vacationing here. New Orleans is one of the most unique cities in America and I understand why people from all over fly down here to see the city for what it really is. Whenever I have a similar encounter to the one I had that night, I can only laugh about it, because living in an environment such as New Orleans, comes with the price of seeing crazy tourists wandering the streets at any given time of the year.

- Courtney, age 16

Grace - I am New Orleans

Walking down the street I hear jazz instruments and see an open instrument case for tips.  I see carriages, and people dancing.  I smell po boys, and seafood.  Nowhere in the world is as special as New Orleans.  Whenever somebody asks me where I’m from I feel so proud and cool to say that I’m from New Orleans.  New Orleans has so much history and is such a special place, that it makes me feel like the coolest person in the world just to be able to say that I live in New Orleans.  My favorite time of the year is Mardi Gras.  One year I went out of town for Mardi Gras, and the celebration didn’t come close to comparing to Mardi Gras in New Orleans.  All year long I count down the days until I can put on my purple, green, and gold and walk down to the parade route.  All of the fabulous floats and drunken new Orleanians make the streets extremely crazy and fun.    Swaying my arms in the air screaming “Hey mister throw me something,” and then when the big guys on the floats throw me a pack of beads it’s just so exciting and fun.  I love New Orleans so much because there are so many different kinds of interesting people that live here.  Football also makes New Orleans special.  New Orleanians love the Saints so much, and support them through good or bad.  When other cities win, they may be excited, but they don’t have nearly as much spirit and heart in their city as we do in New Orleans.  People in New Orleans don’t cry when something bad happens, they cry out of joy when something good happens.  We all went through Katrina, and the saints losing games, but nobody gives up on New Orleans because it is so special and unique.  When the Saints won the super bowl, fifty percent of students skipped school, and went to the Saints parade.  Only New Orleans would have a parade for their football team.  The saints aren’t just a football team; they are all special people who bring the city of New Orleans so much joy.  Even though the Saints didn’t make it to the super bowl this year, something I like to say is “there’s always last year!”  New Orleans has shaped me and made me the person I am today.  I love New Orleans so much, and there is no place that I would rather live than here.

- Grace, age 16

Coming Soon!

Blog Phrase #1:  “I am New Orleans” (Reflect on an isolated or series of memories that highlight your experience(s) as a young New Orleanian.  How has New Orleans shaped you?  How are you New Orleans?)

Submission Logistics:  Submissions should be in response to the phrase topic.  Poetry and prose, up to 500 words in length, should be emailed to youngneworleanswritingtogether@gmail.com as a Microsoft Word attachment.  Emails should include author’s first name, age, and School.

Submissions can be sent to: youngneworleanswritingtogether@gmail.com
Submission due date: February 25th, 2011 @ 5pm