“Another good thing about living in New Orleans these days, according to some: it’s a great refuge from the recession. The gyrations of the Dow, the collapse of General Motors, the prospect of regulating credit default swaps – even the collapse of the housing markets – mean little to most New Orleanians. The city operates at such a low level of economic activity that it never really prospers in good times or suffers in bad.”
The Way of the Bayou in the NYT, from my parents. Many are fond of attributing to their cultures -those of their cities, states, regions- the characteristics of their personalities, and I’m sure Stephen Pinker would reject it all out of hand, but: this article explains a significant portion of my worldview. It also explains why, despite its diminishing fortunes, New Orleans will always be an important city: it is the largest American city in which the war against “dollar and clock” has been won.
“New Orleanians have been guardians of tradition and masters of living in the moment — a lost art. Their preference for having more time than money was at the heart of what made that city so much fun to visit and so hard to leave.”
Long live the anti-revolution; long live the moment!
