Happy 2007!
Happy 2007, New Orleans! I rang in the New Year at the Bonfire on Orleans Avenue on New Year’s Eve. It was a killer time - I contributed a grocery bag full of fireworks to the fun and ran around the bonfire a couple of times, being careful to avoid the naked dudes that were skipping around it as well. There was a great flag that was circling that said ‘Mid City: Fuck Yeah!’ and an excellent fleur-de-lis shaped effigy that was lit after midnight along with the Christmas tree pile. The fire burned for maybe an hour and it was nice and hot and loud loud loud.
2006 was a great year for New Orleans. Really great. More progress happened this year that you can shake a stick at - for real. I know there are a lot of things that need a considerable amount of improvement, but here is my top 12 list of super-duper things:
12. The Superdome was rebuilt and is better than ever before
11. Tons of trash has been removed from the city
10. The streetcar is rolling into mid city and also on part of St. Charles
9. No hurricanes came though the city
8. We have a larger Hispanic population in the city. This is great for the ‘gumbo effect’ that is discussed ad nauseum by journalists and news readers
7. Water pressure is up. There have been a lot fewer major fires than in 2005
6. Electricity and gas has been restored to many neighborhoods
5. Schools opened back up and there are children everywhere. I believe the children are the future
4. The Saints have returned home
3. The Saints have had a killer season
2. The fans sold out the superdome and have carried the Saints into National attention - Sean Payton himself says we have the best fans in the country and I don’t think our men in black and gold would be doing quite so well without the loyalty and passion from the fans
1. New Orleanians have worked damn hard to make our home great. People have been volunteering, building, helping, organizing and advancing. It is a great thing to see so many people working together toward a positive outcome. Good work, New Orleans!
Related posts:
heather, many warm thanks for such a wonderful and uplifting post.
it’s a nice change.
Geaux Saints!
Damn, that was my first bonfire and it was something. (I was the old geek in the beret running around the fire with my son).
And thanks for taking time to find the positive, when it seems so many of the New Orleans blogger are in the deep doldrums.
Thank you sooo much for showing people some of the positive things that took place.
Gah! I wish I’d known about the bonfires! That would have been the perfect thing to take my husband to–he has lots of Burner friends (as in Burning Man) and wants to go next year.
The fireworks on the river were still cool, though. The crowd as well as the show.
Thank you for a post highlighting the good things of 2006. The bad things need attention in order to fix them, but so much of the pessimistic coverage has seemed to be along the lines of “we should all just give up; this ain’t worth it.” Here’s to a 2007 filled with more reasons not to give up on home.
Heather thanks for the highlites … with so much negative, it’s nice to see someone write about the positive — that’s the New Orleans I try see every day!
Heather, I almost fell off my chair reading this. You are gem! Just when I had made up my mind to stop reading this blogg, (what a drag) you write this post!! You rock!