What it means to miss New Orleans

17 Responses to What it means to miss New Orleans

1. Scott Lahti says:

   November 16, 2011 at 1:41 pm

   “At ACME Oyster”

   Come for the oysters – and you’ll stay for the generic bird seed, dynamite, hand cars, anvils, giant thumb tacks and rocket skates!
2. Charles Cosimano says:

   November 16, 2011 at 1:44 pm

   Taking a shot of insulin while drinking wine? His blood sugar is going to drop like a rock!
3. Mary Russell says:

   November 16, 2011 at 1:48 pm

   But not for the schools and the medical care.
4. Caroline Nina in DC says:

   November 16, 2011 at 2:00 pm

   Rod– How come you don’t have a feature where you can post a single blog post on your page to FB?

   That is one quintessential New Orleans anecdote I’d love to highlight online!
5. Caroline Nina in DC says:

   November 16, 2011 at 2:00 pm

   Woops– I need to be a more careful reader…you just have to hit the “see all” button…

   Posting now…
6. Al-Dhariyat says:

   November 16, 2011 at 3:54 pm

   That’s terrific. I’ve only been twice but loved New Orleans.

   On a slightly more serious note – Rod, how do you reconcile this “laissez le bon temps roulez” attitude with your social/religious conservatism?

   I know you’re not a prude and you have a sense of humor but isn’t some (most?) of the debauchery which makes New Orleans fun in conflict with your beliefs?

   (no snark intended:)
7. Rod Dreher says:

   November 16, 2011 at 4:03 pm

   Yeah, Al-Dhariyat, there’s a conflict, but … I dunno, it’s not logical. I love my crooked neighbors, with my crooked heart. Hard to explain. I just think it’s funny, sitting in an oyster bar next to a drag queen shooting up with insulin while not spilling her drink. I’m a big old conservative, but I would make a terrible Puritan.
8. Caroline Nina in DC says:

   November 16, 2011 at 4:08 pm

   Re what Al-Dhariyat said, if I can jump in here and kinda-sorta paraphrase Flannery O’Connor:

   It’s because New Orleans still knows what a sin is that it is a holy place…
9. Scott Lahti says:

   November 16, 2011 at 4:30 pm

   “sitting in an oyster bar next to a drag queen shooting up with insulin while not spilling her drink.”

   Cf. “How to Drive Fast on Drugs While Getting Your Wing-Wang Squeezed and Not Spill Your Drink” by P.J. O’Rourke.
10. Siarlys Jenkins says:

    November 16, 2011 at 4:48 pm

    Being Orthodox, I think Rod can handle it. Southern born-again Protestants tend to presume they can commit all the sins they want, not because they go to confession each week to be absolved,like Roman Catholics, but because having accepted Jesus as their savior, they are saved, and no amount of sins will be held against them, especially if they repent now and then (in their heart).
11. Suz says:

    November 16, 2011 at 6:02 pm

    You can be morally conservative without being repressive; It merely requires being conservative about the Constitution as well.
12. Geoff G. says:

    November 16, 2011 at 6:49 pm

    Wise men know we need a time or a place for the world to be turned upside down.

    But I agree with Caroline Nina, there’s no point in transgression if there’s no understanding of sin.
13. Grumpy Old Man says:

    November 16, 2011 at 7:32 pm

    If Jesus dined with publicans and sinners, let Rod dine with Republicans and transvestites.

    The Episcopal Church used to be “the Republican Party at prayer,” but whatever the Orthodox Church is, it’s not that. A “hospital for sinners” will include both diabetic drag queens and CPAs, hopefully equally repentant.
14. Roland de chanson says:

    November 16, 2011 at 8:16 pm

    drag queen shooting up with insulin while not spilling her drink

    Pardon my naïveté but does the nature of the beast (so to speak) not demand “spilling his drink”?

    Not that I mind eccentrics whom I indeed cherish, but aren’t we far beyond the innocent antics of “drag queens” and into the more pernicious and specious sorts of transsexuals who masquerade against the testimony of their DNA? What a déchéance to have awakened next to a chimera transmuted from the vinous-nimbused nymph of the night before? It’s enough to cause one to forego the Satyricon haunts and fall contritely into the penitential haven of the confessional.
15. thomas tucker says:

    November 16, 2011 at 10:55 pm

    A side question: is it safe to eat Gulf oysters after that BP oil spill? Forbes just ran a piece about how the Gulf is sicker than s**t and the well is still leaking!
    btw, roland de chanson’s writing sounds like a reincarnation of Confederacy of Dunces.
16. Thomas S. says:

    November 17, 2011 at 1:40 am

    Thomas Tucker – Throw enough Tony Chachere’s on them and they’ll be fine.
17. JonF says:

    November 18, 2011 at 6:21 am

    Roland

    By convention drag queens are referred to by the feminine pronoun when in drag. Is that any worse than the German habit of using the neuter gender for young women?

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