There are strange moments in all of our lives. I call them Epiphanies.
These are the times when we can truly “see” and make the changes needed that we are in control of. This stuff hits you and you just have to go with flow… shoot the curl as I see it. Right now I feel like I’m carving a 60′ face and staying on my board. I’m seeing the moment and the flow, and the possibilities…
You, my Gentle Readers, know much of my mind. I realized why I have to be so open here: this city makes you accept your truth. I had an epiphany years ago about my being, but returning to New Orleans gave me the avenue to really become myself. I can never, ever repay that gift. Here you must be freakin’ real… it’s also about believing.
Here one must be their selves, must be real, must be a part of the whole. That is the promise (as Lord David puts it, in the “Great Drunken Whore of a City that will Save your Soul”. ) Here you must be a part of the Whole. Ya’s gotta fucking play.
Here one must drop the Social cloak, bare yourself and just be yourself. Here in New Orleans you must live your Reality, or find it. Ya’s gotta be real.
New Orleans does this to real souls. She grabs you and makes you Live. That is Her gift to those willing to experience the true world. To live in a cauldron composed of many souls being themselves. To be part of the gumbo that is livingness.
It’s an interesting scenario, yes?
That’s why I came back to my ancestral home. I had to be a part of this Dance. And the Dance is wonderful… so many different folk “seeing” the same sort of Life. We move together in a symphony. It’s the way of the Real World. It is Life.
Marion Zimmer Bradley once wrote in one of her novels, “Only men laugh, only men cry and only men dance” (probably screwed that reference up and I should have written this as pan-sexual), but I “see” this here in New Orleans. Post-Flood, we fucking continue. We believe in the genius of our culture. We know what can happen in the Future. We stand in defense of our fanatstic managherie of people. This is our home, and there can be no other. And we dance the Dance.
There comes a point in Life that you MUST STAND.
A tale: In ’89 the Loma Prieta quake hit the Bay Area of California. We made it, but it reminded us of the fragility of our existence. The same happened here after the Federal Flood. We rebuild, we stand, we believe, and if we freakin’ go down so be it. The same goes for those of us in New Orleans… this is OUR place, and as She goes so shall we. This is our home.
Darlin’s, don’t count us out. We will continue to keep this place as the best city on the Planet. In my view, we here in New Orleans are the last of the “Free Peoples”, the ones that live real lives. We understand our mortality… remember, we have the cities of the Dead.
We eat food, drink and dance . We respect our Past and we understand the Future. We LIVE, and that is the charm and wonder of this place.
It’s what the Dance of Life is all about. It’s what I’m about.
Namaste!