New Orleans is a lot of things, but it is not what you’re used to. Even for many Americans, visiting the city can feel like traveling to a foreign country or some sort of alternate reality. People are throwing around all kinds of funny words you’ve never heard before. Someone is always in costume. The houses are inexplicably skinny, and no one has closets. When you turn down certain streets, the potholes and pot-hills catapult you out of your seat. Similarly, the people of New Orleans are a lot of things, but they are not what you’re used to. Your waitress will call you baby and sweetie, and she is not hitting on you. Total strangers will talk to you, sometimes bearing intimate details. This is not a self-conscious population.
The spirit of the city is playful and carefree. New Orleanians embrace fun and merriment for its own sake. This sentiment is not a society-wide affection for total debauchery, as is often implied by outsiders, but a healthy skepticism of restraint. New Orleans might be the place in the United States where you are most allowed to be an adult. The citizens of the city are not preoccupied with rules, and they prize the freedom to be a little strange and eccentric. This is simply accepted. For a while, I used to see a guy around town wearing only an adult diaper. He wasn’t insane; he just liked to attend local events in an adult diaper so he wouldn’t have to stand in line for the bathroom. No one paid him any attention whatsoever. Nobody cared.
New Orleans is a city with a sense of humor. There has always been adversity, but the population has always been among the most celebratory in the world. Above all, New Orleanians value enjoying life with no ulterior motive. They like to dance or dress up or decorate their houses year-round, simply because it makes life more fun. That’s why Mardi Gras parades are staffed by small armies of local residents who joyfully spend their own time and money preparing their krewes each year. That’s why there is plenty of music to see every night of the week and why there seems to be a festival at least every weekend.
So when you visit, take the opportunity to do something different, perhaps to not get as worked up about life as usual. That is to say, let New Orleans change you instead of the other way around. It’s a nice feeling. Relax and observe for a little while. Support local musicians. Eat better. Breathe easier. Like Bob Dylan said, the people here “seem to have insights you might want to listen to.”
