“It is better to live here in sackcloth and ashes than own the entire state of Ohio.” — Lafcadio Hearn….
New Orleans is one of the most magical cities in the world. There is something about this city that has a tendency to take hold of you and won’t let go. If you are born in this city it’s easier to appreciate it if you’ve live other places as I have. For many people who move away they are drawn back by something intangible. There is a spirit and deep sense of belonging that the city seems to invoke.
Yes, it’s the customs, traditions, the music, the food, the architecture, the history, all the different ethnic groups who’ve put their indelible mark on this place. And it’s something more. It’s this something that is in the air, that bubbles up from the streets, that silently sings to you in a sultry evening. It’s this indescribable otherness that some have tried to put into words over the decades but somehow manages to escape description.
Writer Andrei Codrescu, a Romanian transplant to New Orleans, describes the city like this:
“There are certain cities and certain areas of certain cities
where the official language is dreams.
Venice is one. And Paris.
And New Orleans, the city that dreams stories.”
New Orleans, America’s Most European City
