In the 1860 U.S. census, New Orleans ranked as the 6th largest city in the United States. It was the only city in the South with over 100,000 people and one of the most important places in the country. Since then, we’ve found ourselves dropping steadily on almost every meaningful list and now find our city ranked around 60th largest.
Whether the city’s fall from prominence was the result of crooked politicians, hurricanes, desensitized citizens or any other factor, one thing was clear—New Orleans was struggling and had been for quite some time. Since its founding, New Orleans has been fighting longstanding negative stereotypes, both internally and externally, that have stymied our growth. Here, now, we address those stereotypes head on as the new New Orleans.
STEREOTYPE #1—New Orleans parties too much.
You sing in the shower. We sing in the streets. We’re your crazy uncle who likes to have fun at weddings. We celebrate any and everything, and know how to have a good time. Our culture is unlike any other in the world because we celebrate life—always. Even in death our Jazz bands lead funeral processions down the streets as we dance the second line. Death isn’t the end. It’s when we finally get to be in that number that marches in with the original saints.
Mark Twain once said, “Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you've never been hurt and live like it's heaven on Earth." Our lifestyle is such that we do all those things even when everyone is looking. Everyone dies, but not everyone truly lives.
Here, we gather around our tables to do more than just eat. We gather for community. We love how food draws us together and helps create memories we’ll hold dear forever. It’s part of a colorful legacy that allows us to share spirits, not just meals.
STEREOTYPE #2—New Orleans is nothing but booze, boobs and beads.
If Bourbon Street is your image of New Orleans, then you're really, really missing out. Sure, we locals know how to do it big, but 9 times out of 10, the people projecting that Bourbon perception are usually tourists who decide to cut loose and act like they see on TV.
As for booze, we don’t just imbibe. We’ve turned the cocktail into an art form of priceless value, creating drinks that come with a kick...and a story. Our city is a masterpiece novel. Venture beyond the first chapter called Bourbon Street and delve into our city's story to see what we're really about. The characters and adventure await.
STEREOTYPE #3—New Orleans is racist.
Mayor-Elect Mitch Landrieu, the first white mayor of New Orleans since 1978, won the office by crossing racial, social and economic lines and captured a whopping 64 percent of the vote, including the majorities for black, white and minority voters.
Through Hurricane Katrina, we learned that we must face our problems together or die. We’ve experienced things that almost no one can or should imagine. Experiences that stretched us to the limit, yet also united us as brothers and sisters in arms. We’ve battled through hell and have come out alive. We see things differently. We feel different.
STEREOTYPE #4—New Orleans has its priorities mixed up. Renovating the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina was dumbfounding.
It’s been reported that crime in New Orleans plummets during Saints games almost to the point of not existing.
I was there when Garrett Hartley nailed the game-winning kick to send the Saints to our first ever Super Bowl. As the crowd erupted, I saw grown men cry and absolute strangers hug. I saw black and white meld into black and gold. In a world where bad can seem to rule, good had shown up like it owned the place. In fact, it had owned the place since the Superdome’s emotional reopening in 2006; an amazing 9-month miracle rebuilding that saved our team from becoming the San Antonio or Los Angeles Saints.
But they were back. In that one glorious moment, every New Orleanian released decades of frustration, heartache and always finding ourselves behind the 8-ball. Our entire world had changed forever and everyone here was a part of something greater than ourselves. The Saints were different. And so were we. No longer were they the Aints. No longer was our city a bunch of underachievers. The Superdome became a symbol of our rebirth. Back from the brink of hell and devastation, we both stood anew.
STEREOTYPE #5—New Orleans is made up of losers. Always have been. Always will be.
After 43 years, the New Orleans Saints are Super Bowl champions. Read that again. Several times if you have to. Of 32 teams and after 19 games, the Saints are ranked #1. With a newly elected mayor, a new year and a new attitude, the landscape of New Orleans has changed.
Prior to the Super Bowl, almost every expert picked against New Orleans. Most football fans picked against us. Why wouldn’t they? They were on the outside looking in. To them we looked like the same old losers. But they didn’t get it and others still don’t. And that’s okay, because unless you’re from New Orleans it’s something that can’t be explained.
The Saints, long known as a symbol of futility, overcame their star-crossed history during our amazing championship season and swept three postseason games after winning only two in the previous 42 years. The team was composed of outcasts and castaways who had been doubted or given up on, much like the city they represented. But this time, the underdog prevailed. The world had been turned upside down. Hell had frozen over. “Anything is possible” or “You can do anything you put your mind to” seemed more credible than ever.
“Four years ago, who ever thought this would be happening when 85 percent of the city was under water?” said quarterback Drew Brees just after the historic Super Bowl win. “Most people left not knowing if New Orleans would ever come back, or if the organization would ever come back. We just all looked at one another and said, `We are going to rebuild together. We are going to lean on each other.’ This is the culmination in all that belief.”
STEREOTYPE #6—That feeling can’t last. New Orleans will go back to how they were.
It’s been three and a half weeks since the Saints won the Super Bowl and the feeling in the city is still unbelievable. I almost keep waiting for Ashton Kucher to jump out and say we’ve all been punk’d. But I know better. We all know better. New Orleans has changed forever for the better. It’s everywhere we go, on every channel we watch, every radio station we hear and website we surf. It's on our streets and in our hearts. We feel it.
A Way of Life
Political pundit and transplanted New Orleans resident James Carville recently said, “I’ve lived all over. In most cities it’s about maintaining quality of life. Here, it’s about maintaining a way of life.” Living in New Orleans always has been a unique experience, but now more so than ever. Even after reading all of this, you still may not believe a word of it, which is fine. We don't really expect you to. But know that New Orleans is rising…and our “it’s never going to happen” Super Bowl victory has given you fair warning.
Maybe it was the “Obama wants you to go back to school” ads that were just too enticing. Maybe watching Van Wilder gave them inspiration. Or maybe they were simply asked to be guest speakers. Whichever reason it was, HERO|farm went back to college and loved every minute of it.
The team was given the opportunity to speak on two panels at the University of Southern Mississippi's Mass Communications & Journalism Career Day on Thursday, November 19, 2009. Chief Strategist Reid Stone and Creative Director Shaun Walker spoke to students during the morning session about the growing fields in strategic communications, offering insight into how advertising has been affected by the rapidly changing world of digital mediums. Students not only contributed questions with the traditional raised hand but were also able to "tweet" in questions and offer relevant insight into the topic of the moment via a Twitter.com feed aggregator. Students had their questions and comments displayed in the banquet hall by simply affixing the hash tag #CDUSM to each post they wished to contribute.
In the afternoon session, Shaun joined several other notable Southern Miss graduates to discuss conventional and inventive methods students could utilize to win a job in such a tough economy. Some stark realizations were made by the crowd about the scarcity of openings in this market. However, tactics to demonstrate persistence and ingenuity along with entrepreneurial options were addressed.
"It was sort of a strange feeling," said Shaun, a 2006 USM graduate. "Just a little over three years ago I was sitting in the same seats they were and was looking for advice like them. Today we were able to return the favor and pass on what we've learned. It's important to give back whenever you can."
Later in the day, the HERO|farm team reviewed student portfolios and offered advice on ways to enhance their work and presentation. It was a great experience and the crew at HERO|farm was thankful for the opportunity to share a little bit of the experience they learned the hard way.
HERO|farm is excited to announce that our recent documentary video series, Project 30-90: Elements of a Sustainable Music Festival, has been recognized for outstanding film production by the Public Relations Society of America.
Chief Strategist Reid Stone and Creative Director Shaun Walker received the award on Tuesday, November 3 at the PRSA’s annual banquet, which took place at the stylish W Hotel in Downtown New Orleans.
“We basically made these videos in real-time by shooting, editing and posting each episode the day it was filmed. We really didn’t get any sleep that week, but it was all worth it because it was for a great cause we believe in,” said Shaun.
Check out the award winning videos here
Stop, take a moment and think about your life...pre-internet.
Hard to remember, isn’t it? Like a growing number of people today, one of the first places I log into when going online is Facebook. It’s almost a natural reflex now when I turn on the computer. It's even found a way into my face-to-face conversations when discussing other individual's status updates from that day. I'm sure, like you, a scary amount of my life has become almost entirely digital.
In the 21st century, people practically live and die through electronic means: Texts, email, instant messaging, digital documents, mp3s, blogs, forums, videos, pictures, cell phones. At this moment there are 826 photos on Facebook in which I am tagged. And with one hack of that site, the crash of several key servers or simply the person who posted them deleting the albums that stores them, all those pictures could be gone in an instant.
The average life of a website is 44 to 75 days—just about twice the length of a common houseflys. So don't count on electronic means like Snapfish or Flickr to stick around forever and safeguard your memories. Rarely do I ever print out those photographic memories. They primarily live a digital life, much like most of us. But why worry? You should worry because the Digital Age makes everything immediate and easy, but also instantly perishable.
"Back when information was hard to copy, people valued the copies and took care of them. Now, copies are so common as to be considered worthless, and very little attention is given to preserving them over the long term." - Supercomputer designer Danny Hillis
In 1844, Samuel Morse sent the first telegram. It said, “What hath God wrought?” The first email was sent about 35 years ago. What did it say? Good luck finding out because no one really knows for sure. Since 1945, society has easily amassed more than 100 times the amount of information that all of human history had been able to up to that point. That's absolutely mind boggling.
Think of the things passed down by your grandparents: Old love letters, diaries, faded pictures that have a tangible warmth and sense of history to them. Years from now, what will you pass on to future generations? CDs with jpegs? Flirty, love emails? By that time the information on the CD will have either begun to disintegrate (CDs have a debatable shelf life of between 10-100 years, depending on many factors) or the technology to read them will no longer be available. Many people today don't like digging through their own avalanching inboxes or maxed-out hard drives, so why would anyone in the future care about what you didn't either?
The BBC’s Domesday Project in 1986 teaches a valuable lesson on this subject. As an information source that was supposed to last 1,000 years, it lasted only 16 before becoming increasingly inaccessible. On the other hand, William the Conquerer's original Domesday book made of sheepskin, which recorded Britain’s state of affairs in 1086, can still be inspected and read today in excellent condition at the Public Record Office in London—instantly and easily.
Today, CDs and DVDs are the primary method used to archive nearly everything...and it should make you worry. Especially when these discs are essentially the only places you store precious, irreplaceable family memories, photos and movies, as well as vital family, personal and company data/documents.
I'm just as guilty as anyone else of living too digitally, which is why it's important to step back and reflect. Remember that the next time you log onto Facebook, Flickr or write in your blog. Nothing lasts forever. But at this point, getting it to last just a few more decades is starting to sound good.
Some simple ways to preserve pictures:
• Print on acid-free paper
• Store in albums made from acid-free materials with acid-free dividers
• Create duplicates that are stored separately
• Avoid subjecting to extreme lighting and moisture.
• Keep in room temperature, preferably between 65 to 70 degrees with a relative humidity of about 50%
• Store in a place that is secure, such as a climate-controlled storage facility
• And the easiest, most simple? Handle with care
Related Links:
Library of Congress - Caring for Your Collections (Books, Photos, Film, Newspaper, etc.)
Escaping The Digital Dark Age - Preserving Memories for Future Generations
eHow - How to Preserve Family Photos
Hear HERO|farm's Creative Director Shaun Walker speak on WWL's September 18th edition of the Think Tank with Garland Robinette about young entrepreneurs and the Farm's recent podcast.
We're always digging into something new at the Farm, and this is what we've come up with:
The Utility Belt is our chance to share what we find in the latest in business technology, creativity and strategic thinking. Each short segment centers around a common theme and offers strategic analysis, interviews and tools for busy business leaders—in plain English.
We aim to filter the fast lanes of business into relevant and entertaining podcasts to be heard at your speed while demonstrating how it affects your daily life and ultimately makes you more successful.
We're test driving now, so let us know what you think by messaging signal@hero-farm.com
The Utility Belt Executive Brief:
Podcast 1 - The Free MBA + Marketing Through Teaching
Tools for teaching yourself and teaching others about your business
Section 1: The reading list.
The PersonalMBA.com website, list of reading material and their network
Two books we highly recommend (not found on the list) especially for those in communications fields:
"Hey Whipple, Squeeze This." by Luke Sullivan for creative writing and "The Perfect Pitch." by Jon Steel for delivering effective presentations.
Section 2: For you auditory learners.
"Free: The Future of a Radical Price" by Chris Anderson
iTunes Link to Anderson's book
Section 3: For you visual learners.
"Physics for Future Presidents" course by Professor Richard A. Muller of UC Berkeley
The Course found on "YouTube U"
Section 4: Teaching others.
Make your presentations and sales kits available to the web
This podcast is brought to you by Zhephree Web Design and Development. Please show them some love. And if you'd like learn how you can sponsor an upcoming segment, see below:
Email us: signal@hero-farm.com
Tweet us: http://www.twitter.com/herofarm
HERO|farm out and about at various events, including: a business meeting with New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson, HF's SEO Presentation to the department heads @ Audubon Nature Institute, guest bartending @ the Ritz-Carlton New Orleans to benefit Children's Hospital, Bacardi B-livE @ the House of Blues New Orleans, the launch party for New Orleans' first green sustainable music festival Project 30-90, Wednesday @ The Square, doing some campaign work and various other outings.
Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.
One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.
As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.
He came closer still and called out, "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"
The young man paused, looked up, and replied, "Throwing starfish into the ocean."
"I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" inquired the somewhat startled wise man.
To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."
Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!"
At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, "It made a difference for that one."
(Adapted from The Star Thrower by Loren Eiseley (1907-1977)
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain
So what are the odds that Farrah Fawcet, David Carradine and Ed McMahon are having it out spiritually with Michael Jackson for stealing their thunder? Then leave it to Billy Mays to arrive late as the mediator and try to clean up the mess.
Admittedly, I’m not much of a Michael Jackson fan, but I do like several of his songs and may or may not have moonwalked to the refrigerator this morning. With his passing, radio stations across the world have been playing his songs non-stop. While driving around one day I heard one of his songs that has a deeper meaning for me than any other.
Back in college at my fraternity house, there’s a memorial room for one of my fraternity brothers who died about ten years ago in a cliff-diving accident shortly after graduation. His name was Chris Morgan. I didn’t know Chris, nor did I ever meet him. I just saw pictures and heard stories, but through secondhand accounts I know he was a standup guy who many, many people loved.
So what’s MJ got to do with Chris? Simple. Man In The Mirror. This song was one of Chris’ favorite tunes. After Chris’ sudden departure, his fraternity brothers wanted another way to honor his memory, and what better way than to wake up with Michael Jackson? Well, one of his songs—not him in your bed.
As a lasting tribute to Chris, whenever fraternity members have to get up early, such as for a philanthropy or community service, they are awakened to MJ’s Man In The Mirror blasting through the house’s sound system. Honestly, I was mad the first few times it woke me up at 7 a.m. I didn’t really know the song nor its significance. But it’s a great way to start off a day and I’ve grown to really admire the song’s soulful message. It's powerful and meaningful. As a matter of fact, it holds the sentiment that HERO|farm was founded on: doing your part to make the world a better place.
It’s sad that it usually takes a tragic event to get us to slow down, reflect and remember what’s important in life. Chris may not have been as widely known as Michael Jackson, but he did enough every day to have a big impact on people and they both put forth a message of hope. Now it's your turn. Let’s help make the world a better place—today. Little actions can make big difference. Like the song says, “You gotta get it right, while you got the time,” so here are some simple things to help you get started:
• Make at least one person smile every day.
• Be thankful for each new day—and show it.
• Make at least one person, every day, feel good about themselves.
• Never turn down those who are truly in need.
• Be the first to say hello.
• Do your best without expecting anything in return and often you'll get more back than you ever could have asked to receive.
• Encourage others.
• Be the optimistic one. Negativity doesn’t help anyone, especially yourself.
• Never forget to say thank you.
• Give back, even when nothing has been given to you. People remember most those who do the unexpected.
• For twenty seconds every day, hold each person dear to you—tight.
• Do more listening, less talking.
