June 19th, 2009
Another good thing about living in New Orleans these days, according to some: it’s a great refuge from the recession. The gyrations of the Dow, the collapse of General Motors, the prospect of regulating credit default swaps – even the collapse of the housing markets – mean little to most New Orleanians. The city operates at such a low level of economic activity that it never really prospers in good times or suffers in bad.

The Way of the Bayou in the NYT, from my parents. Many are fond of attributing to their cultures -those of their cities, states, regions- the characteristics of their personalities, and I’m sure Stephen Pinker would reject it all out of hand, but: this article explains a significant portion of my worldview. It also explains why, despite its diminishing fortunes, New Orleans will always be an important city: it is the largest American city in which the war against “dollar and clock” has been won.

“New Orleanians have been guardians of tradition and masters of living in the moment — a lost art. Their preference for having more time than money was at the heart of what made that city so much fun to visit and so hard to leave.”

Long live the anti-revolution; long live the moment!

29 notes·
economy new orleans politics steven pinker
  1. moth reblogged this from mills and added:
    mills, whom I know...get along with famously in real life, speaking about
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    “New Orleanians have been guardians of tradition and masters of living in the moment — a lost art. Their preference for...
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Aporia

Aporia is written by Mills Baker and concerns art, culture, love, philosophy, memory, history, and more. A selection of better posts has been assembled. It's been featured on Tumblr Tuesday and is listed in the Spotlight, but it pines for its youth as a coloring book.