As a native New Orleanian who has lived in other cities, I do know what it’s like to miss New Orleans. There’s nothing else like this city on the planet. It continues to amaze me how the people who live in this city take our music and culture for granted. Our citizens who live in the city’s suburbs, when asked where they’re from, will invariably say “New Orleans” instead of Metairie, or Kenner, or Slidell or Gretna. That’s because most of the people who now live in the suburbs are from families whose grandparents or parents lived in New Orleans. Our cultural identity as a region is based on New Orleans: Mardi Gras, jazz, crawfish boils, Irma Thomas, the Neville Brothers, beignets and café au lait, and the French Quarter. All of these things and many more New Orleans characteristics are engraved in our subconscious, so much so that when we’ve moved to the suburbs, we’ve taken our “New Orleans-ness” with us, and we’re often pretty proud of the fact that we have that connection. The same goes for anyone from southwest Louisiana (zydeco, boudin, Cajun culture and accent, Courir de Mardi Gras) and from northern Louisiana, too (Louisiana Hayride).

I suppose most people identify closely with their birthplace for their entire lives, but I doubt seriously if the cachet attached with being from New Orleans or being a Cajun is the same as being from West Virginia, Montana or San Diego. We in New Orleans and Louisiana have a very special place in American culture. Our heritage and cuisine is different and unique, but our music is the basis of what really sets us apart from the rest of the United States, and the rest of the world.

Louisiana’s music and culture is something that’s so unique, so precious and so fragile that it must be recognized for its importance to our quality of life and its contribution to the world. It’s certainly innovative to incorporate our “Cultural Economy” into a plan to preserve what we have and to use our uniqueness as a way to showcase our culture to the world, which is something the Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu’s office has taken to heart with its “World Cultural Economic Forum.”

I just wish locals would approach our unique heritage and culture—quirky though it may be—with the same enthusiasm they give to a Saints game. You can find football in San Diego, but you sure can’t find an Allen Toussaint. But then, I guess the NFL has a lot more marketing resources than Preservation Hall. Personally, I’d much rather live in a world where there’s more New Orleans music and much less football. Imagine if this country had found a way to promote the arts in as big a way as it had sports, and make money at it. What a different country this would be!