Do what you do. This Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year's Eve, Twelfth Night, Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras, St. Paddy's Day, and every day henceforth. Just do what you do. Live out your life and your traditions on your own terms. If it offends others, so be it. That's their problem.

It is impossible to capture the essence, tolerance, and spirit of south Louisiana in words.

Time is running out for the climate

To be engaged in some small way in the revival of one of the great cities of the world is to live a meaningful existence by default.

Even at the End of Days, there will be lap dancing.

When I am introduced as someone from New Orleans, people sometimes say: "I'm so sorry." New Orleans. I'm so sorry. That's not the way it was before,not the way it's supposed to be. When people find out you're from New Orleans, they're supposed to tell you about how they got drunk there once, or fell in love there, or first heard the music there that changed their lives. At worst people would say: "I've always wanted to go there." But now, it's just: "I'm sorry." Man, that kills me. That just kills me.

The longer you live in New Orleans, the more unfit you become to live anywhere else.