10 Actual Reasons I’m Moving To New Orleans
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Going for a good time, and a long time, at the right time.
The most chafing thing about moving long-distance as a single woman is that everyone assumes you’re doing it for a secret reason. Since we live in the relationships-obsessed culture that we do, that secret reason is assumed to be a man. There is no man. I am a—rather publicly—single woman who made an independent decision to move across the country. (A decision I’ve made four other times before, also as a single woman FYI.) And if you think there’s something else that’s really going on in the background, what a waste of time for you. In a month, I’m moving from Brooklyn, New York to New Orleans, Louisiana, and without question the first thing people say when they hear that is: Why?
This wasn’t something I decided to do overnight. I don’t make hasty or uncalculated decisions, the extent of my impulsive behavior can be observed on a Target run. Last summer during High Pandemic I decided to leave New York, then I made a shortlist of cities I thought I’d like to live in, followed by six months of waiting for one of them to stand out to me. Around New Year’s, I knew it was NOLA.
Yes I’ve been before. Many times. Yes I’ve been there when it wasn’t Mardi Gras. In fact I’ve only ever been to Mardi Gras once, the rest of the visits were just normal days. When you move on as grand a scale and as often as I do, you learn that you don’t move to a place for its famous stuff—you move for things only locals know. I lived in Chicago for four years and had deep-dish pizza once. We only eat that shit when friends visit. Moving on.
It’s hard for me to list “my intuition” as a reason without all of you rolling your eyes and comments at me, but it played a role nonetheless. In fact this list had to be made up as supporting arguments, rather than motivating reasons, because the real reason is: I just want to.
On it’s most mellow day it’s still fun.
I like the idea of living someplace that requires me to keep a costume closet. I don’t care how old I get, I will always be a magpie for dressing up in things with sequins, and glitter is a component of my everyday beauty regimen. New Orleans has an endless variety of festivals and gatherings, to say nothing of the casual day where there’s…
