On hometowns and politics

My head is so full of Old Testament factoids that I feel the need to empty it of other stuff before my exam (aka I'm taking a not-really-necessary study break before my exam in an hour).

I went to the French Quarter Fest Saturday with Charity...not for long since we're both up to our ear lobes with school stuff while we both attempt to graduate. We did get to see Charmaine Neville perform though, and I loved it. She's got this incredible voice and a fantastic stage presence...the crowd was great too. We were in Jackson Square at the Southern Comfort stage, and it was so great to revel in the music and the sun and the fantasticness known as New Orleans. FQF is very different from Jazz Fest since it's free and pretty early in the festival season here. It's mainly home folks having a good time, and it was great to be a part of that. I guess it's like any hometown...there are qualities and characteristics that intrinsically connect you to anyone else who calls it home too. I love it. I love this city. I love the people here...we are a beautiful disaster. As much as I love to travel and desire to see the world, I'd be perfectly happy if God called me to minister to this city for the rest of my life. If He tells me to go, I'll do it, but staying wouldn't be bad either.

The mayor's race has come to a run-off between Nagin and Landrieu, and I actually read a post by a girl who flipped out because of this, calling them the two worst candidates that will drive New Orleans "down the tube." While I'm all for her expressing this, I couldn't help but bristle when she said that "those people will get what they deserve." Excuse me? What is it that I deserve that I'll be getting? Because news flash, I'm one of "those people." Yes, I'm particularly protective and defensive of my hometown these days, but don't you dare make judgment calls on a place you haven't lived in for three years and that you don't even love like you claim to (how can you if you refer to it as a place for "those people"?? Good gosh). Yes, I'm not Landrieu's biggest fan (nepotism in politics is too shady for my taste), but he just may be the best man for the job. Yes, Nagin has excluded and goofed up and stuck his foot in his mouth so much that he probably has toe cheese stuck in his teeth, but seriously, look at what this man has led us through. Would you rather a woman who hid out and evaded arrest for 7 months? Or what about someone hell-bent on ridding the city of taxes while she throws out racial stereotypes?

There, I'm done being fired up...okay, I'm not, but I'm done rambling about it. It just frustrates me when people who don't understand this place try to explain exactly what needs to happen. I don't dare pretend to know all of New Orleans' secrets, but that's one of the beauties of living here and discovering her day after day.