Badge of Allegiance

Since moving to New Orleans, I have noticed time and again the level of pride that residents have for this city. New Orleanians love their home – their neighborhoods, their accents, their food, their city. In noticing this I have realized that New Orleans is far from being just a dot on a map; it is a way of life and state of mind that has to be experienced to be fully understood. Being from New Orleans is like being a member of a club, a friendly group to outsiders, but whose foundation is built on history and traditions it is hard for someone on the outside to fully become a member. When locals realize you are not from New Orleans, many go out of their way to extend a heartfelt welcome to their city. They want to know if you like it here. They want to make sure you have been to all of their New Orleans favorites.

As ready as locals are to share their city with newcomers and tourists, there is also a layer of mystique that is ingrained into the core of this city and the people who live here. I suppose like any new place, there are localisms that a newcomer may not “get” at first. The bumper stickers of black boxes with a white x inside, the cryptic words be a new orleanian. Wherever you are. – to me it’s like catching a glimpse into a secret society whose members are so loyal and so allegiant to something that I can only barely begin to understand.

These proclamations of pride were one of the first things I noticed after moving here. It was close to the two year anniversary of Katrina and the levee failure, and I thought that this outpouring of local pride might have something to do with it. But as I became more immersed in New Orleans and learned more about this city than I could have in just a few days time, I realized that allegiance to this city is not solely a result of the aftermath.

I wanted to figure out New Orleans. I wanted to figure out the people that call this city home. I wanted to figure out all the mysterious, catchy phrases that I kept seeing around the city. I thought that once I understood one of these things, the others would follow, that somehow deciphering one would give me a key to deeper understanding of life here.
Then I realized something. This secret society, this club, this union of people, was not at all limited to New Orleans. This New Orleanian pride was something of a nationwide trend, not something that everyone is aware of, but a bond to this city and the people who call New Orleans their home even if they don’t live here.

The source for a lot of the badges of New Orleans allegiance, as I like to call it, is a local t-shirt company. They first began to have recognition as a way for New Orleanians living in other places after the storm to declare pride and place to a home they were away from. It is a small company to say the least, the shirts are screen-printed to order just down the street from their new storefront. I wanted to ask the man behind all of the local taglines the same questions I had been asking myself. Surely he knows the answers to all of these riddles I have been seeing around town. I have an interview with him on Monday, until then, I will just have to wonder.