gwynhefar | (no subject)

Today I am watching the SuperBowl.

I know, you're shocked. I have never watched the SuperBowl before. I *hate* football. I am the anti-jock mumbling about overgrown children who think slamming each other into the ground in the name of "sport" is fun.

But this is the Saints. This is New Orleans. And as much as I might complain, I love my adopted state. And we need this. It's been a rough couple of years for Louisiana. Louisiana was one of the poorest states in the country *before* the economic crash. And with Katrina, and Rita, and Gustav, all of which caused not only physical and emotional devastation but serious economic losses as well, we were hardly in a position to weather the smallest of economic storms. Which this hasn't been.

We are your tired, your poor, your huddled masses. The homeless, the tempest-tossed. Yes, I'm being dramatic, but it's true. Louisiana has the second highest percentage of residents below poverty level in the US. Only Mississippi is poorer.

And football is next to religion down here. So when the Saints made the SuperBowl there were parties in the streets. The French Quarter looked like Mardi Gras had come early, I'm told. This is important. This is not about a bunch of men fighting over a little ball. This is about standing up and saying "This is my city. This is my state."

So today I am wearing black and gold (ok, fine it's a black LSU t-shirt with a light brown overshirt that could maybe be gold if you squint, but it's all I have). Today the Saints are playing in the SuperBowl for the first time. And today I am watching the SuperBowl for the first time. Because right now, for better or worse, this is my state.