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Bruce Nolan: Farewell to New Orleans
Jul. 23rd, 2023 10:11 pm{Via Kim Welsh; I wasn't able to send this online)
New Orleans journalist Bruce Nolan wrote an eloquent farewell to the city. I think many of us can relate:
“New Orleans has become a hard city to grow old in. In the span of my adult years evacuations have become a scourge and hurricanes a mortal threat.
“This is new, and presents an untenable paradox: Aging in New Orleans, one can become too fragile to stay, and yet too fragile to run.”
“The best thing about New Orleans is the local culture its people built, the culture of feasts, traditions, family, and the street. The worst thing about New Orleans is the local culture its people built, of violence, disrespect, laissez faire nonchalance and the street. They coexist.
“More than ever, to live in New Orleans lately is like navigating an abusive romantic relationship. On Mondays, Wednesdays and weekends the sex is magical, she laughs at your jokes, reads to the kids and bakes for the elderly neighbor—and on the other days she staggers about high and half-dressed, neglects to flush and burns the furniture with cigarettes.
“To some degree New Orleans has always borne this kind of contradiction, unashamedly proud that it is emphatically not Houston, not Dallas, not Atlanta. But it is a perilous balance to sustain, a dangerous chemistry that threatens at any moment to tip into ruin.”
New Orleans journalist Bruce Nolan wrote an eloquent farewell to the city. I think many of us can relate:
“New Orleans has become a hard city to grow old in. In the span of my adult years evacuations have become a scourge and hurricanes a mortal threat.
“This is new, and presents an untenable paradox: Aging in New Orleans, one can become too fragile to stay, and yet too fragile to run.”
“The best thing about New Orleans is the local culture its people built, the culture of feasts, traditions, family, and the street. The worst thing about New Orleans is the local culture its people built, of violence, disrespect, laissez faire nonchalance and the street. They coexist.
“More than ever, to live in New Orleans lately is like navigating an abusive romantic relationship. On Mondays, Wednesdays and weekends the sex is magical, she laughs at your jokes, reads to the kids and bakes for the elderly neighbor—and on the other days she staggers about high and half-dressed, neglects to flush and burns the furniture with cigarettes.
“To some degree New Orleans has always borne this kind of contradiction, unashamedly proud that it is emphatically not Houston, not Dallas, not Atlanta. But it is a perilous balance to sustain, a dangerous chemistry that threatens at any moment to tip into ruin.”
