Outside looking in
Part of the curse and part of the joy of being in the BBQ bidness (now in Mid-City!) these days is the conversation that goes with it. I try to engage dveryone I serve in some kind of conversation — to find out where they’re from, what they’re doing or something else that pertains to them. I figure if they’re spending the time and money to stop at my rudimentary place, they deserve as much personal attention as I can give them, right? I serve about an equal mix of locals and out-of-town folks (FEMA, SBA and contractor-types), so I figure I get as good a balance as anyone when it comes to local opinions.
A few things are consistent…
1) Locals are sick of the Texans.
2) Texans are sick of the locals.
3) Big-time.
Speaking as (gasp!) a native Texan, I can certainly understand the Texas viewpoint. This ain’t home, y’all. As a city, they see New Orleans as way too vocal, way too Catlick, way too out of control and way too unappreciative of 1) the work the Texans do and 2) Texas itself. Ain’t we a Whole Other Country? Ain’t our beloved president a Texan? Ain’t the Texas way the only way?
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes and, um, no. I could not live in Texas anymore, despite my pride in it. I’ve seen too much of Someplace Else, and it exasperates me when those who have never lived outside Texas can’t understand the rest of the world doesn’t care.
Those of us who love and live in this city, native or not (regardless of where we’re from) have voluntarily taken upon ourselves the positives and negatives of living here. As bizarre as the local customs might seem to others, they are what they are and are among the major reasons why we’re here. This isn’t to say some things don’t need changing — they do. But we’re very protective of our city and the way it is — even though it’s evolving. The faster our out-of-town help realizes this, the better we’ll all get along.
That said — those of us who live here need to also realize the Texans and others are behaving only the way we’d behave if we found ourselves working for months on end in Houston, Dallas, Kansas City, Miami, Toledo (or even Shreveport or Alexandria) or wherever. In other words — we’re going to celebrate where we’re from and we’ll get irate if someone denegrates it or is otherwise critical. The longer we live in some motel or some skankyass apartment, away from our families and what and who we know, the more we’ll get that way.
It’s plain we’re going to have to co-exist for quite a long while. I think the sooner all of us give each other a little room, the better it’s going to be. It can get old, but those of us who live here don’t have a choice.
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I had to drive to California and actually drove many extra miles just to NOT have to drive through any part of Texas. Further, Bush might be you and Texas’ “beloved” president but he sure isn’t that to most of us. Ask the 2,000 plus dead servicemen and women and their families if he is “beloved” to them. You can keep Texas.
Do NOT lump me in the Bushie camp.
Never.
For any reason.
Ever.
Thank you.
…Craig
Sorry, Craig, anyone not in the Bush camp has to be a friend of mine…… But with all that glorious Texas pride you were going on with, you sort of didn’t come off that way. You say all the Texans in New Orleans for work complain to you about the locals. I just don’t get it. I know, when I go to someone else’s house, I don’t get an attitude and start carrying on ’bout how much better my house is. If it is that great, stay there, find work there and let someone from the other 49 states, come to New Orleans. Matter of fact, have been on the road since October from New Orleans (editor-have computer will travel) and saw two cars in two different states with bumper stickers that said “Let’s mess with Texas.”
Took a few weeks in San Francisco last month for the Year of the Dog and not once did I tell anyone how much better New Orleans is than their city. You go to other places to enjoy what they have, not to give the locals a verbal assault on their home. Vive le difference, yes?
I guess my point is that we’re seeing a tremendous clash of pride. Texans are extremely proud of their state (and New Orleanians of their city). The difference is that too many Texans are that way all the time no matter where they go (hence the bragging Texan stereotype) — and it’s running afoul of the New Orleanians who have had enough on their own turf.
I chose to live in New Orleans (after some 25 years of living various other places in the South — and Texas is not the South) because I found it the best place for me. Believe me — few things rile me more as a New Orleans resident than to see some yahoo with a Texas plate acting obnoxious. I wanna yell, “go back to Houston” or whatever.
The thing of it is, however, I understand why they are that way. It’s not a good or a bad thing. It just is — and that’s why I say we need to give each other more space.