My city, my heart...

   I'm heading back to Oklahoma now. Sitting in the passenger seat as Jana drives our weary butts home. But my heart is elsewhere. It's stuck, inevitably, in a city that my soul calls home. The beautiful city of New Orleans.

   With it's gas lights, slow pace, excellent food, moody weather, colorful people, mystique and music I am forever bound to it. By an invisible ribbon I will stay connected,  I'm sure, till the end of my days.

   I've been many times to this magical place. The experience always leaves me breathless. The connection to those who have the privilege of calling the "Big Easy" home is undeniable. Like family. Past or present makes no difference. They are home.

   But home is changing. Outsiders coming in and taking a place rich in history and trying to twist it to suit their monetary needs. Those who don't care about the people, or their struggles, seeing this magical place as a quick way to turn a buck. Residents being turned out of their homes so that some fat cat in New York, or the like, can buy it up and rent it for $300 a night.

   These vultures have little to no respect for the way of life that is only New Orleans. They have no understanding, nor do they care.

   And it saddens me.

   I urge you all. Anyone who has never been there or who hasn't been in a long time. Please go. Seek out the locals. Go to their shops. Buy their wares. Listen to their tales. Find local historians and tour guide, like Jonathan Weiss, and take his tour. Not the commercialized "big business" tours that pack in dozens of people making it difficult to hear anything. Find the ones who live and breath New Orleans. Who know it like the back of their hands and have no need for a script.

   Check out "Maskerade" for the handcrafted mask made by local artisans. They are beautiful!!! Be sure to go by "Esoterica" and "Glass Magick". I promise you won't be disappointed.

   By all means....check out Jackson Square. Show the local artist some love. Have your cards read. Listen to the families play their music on homade instruments. Above all else...enjoy. Soak up the culture. Respect the history. Immerse yourself in the lore and just breath. There is no other place in the country like it and outsiders are trying to change it fast. Get there and enjoy it while you can. Who knows....maybe if enough of us do the locals can actually win this battle for their way of life.

   Blessed Be )O(