Things I Love New Orleans
Eve Abrams

In the weeks after Hurricane Katrina, I could do little besides think, talk, read, write, and worry about New Orleans.  I surrounded myself with New Orleans music and people who, like me, carry around a connection to that magical place even when we’re not there.  One night, in the midst of mourning my former (if temporary) home, I decided to do it New Orleans style.  I went out to a club listen to music, and while there, I scribbled this list on a scrap of paper.  Later, I transformed into an audio tribute set to the delicious tune, "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" by Allen Toussaint.

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Things I Love New Orleans

men know how to flirt
people dance
no one is afraid to look like a fool
It’s slow
It’s really slow
you can bike everywhere on a cruiser
people say hey when you pass on the street
people say darlin and baby

Calliope is pronounced cal-E-ope
Burgundy is bur-gun-dy
Chartres is chart-ers
Every night, there’s live music
and every odd hour, WWOZ announces all 30 sum varieties of it on the radio

There are twenty-two blocks which lie between Piety and Desire.
peeling paint
neutral grounds
Pimm’s Cups, with a slice of cucumber, at the Spotted Cat
the southern love of the woman
a plate of beignets, drowned in powdered sugar,
at a table surrounded by tourists,
at Café du Monde

all those musicians
brass bands
Gallatoire’s
driving to Gretna for Vietnamese food
the week after Jazz Fest
Mandina’s
Super Sunday
WWOZ, 24 hours a day

The Soul Rebels, Wednesday nights, at the Matador
double shotguns
canopies
how lush it is
the creative use of Mardi Gras beads
Trombone Shorty
Kaboom Books
stopping by and hanging out

sneaking into the pool at the Hyatt
  and the Marriott
    and the New Orleans Athletic Club
hearing people downtown say quarter and corner
The Fly
saying Tchapatoulus
running into people you know, everyday, all over town.
April

How many different ways there are to say, New Orleans