Don’t worry, be happy in Louisiana! 

By: Jim Brown

Bayou State residents are well aware that Louisiana is a pleasant place to live. Some would sarcastically say that we are fat, dumb, and happy down here in the deepest of the deep southern states. The state motto is, after all, Laissez les bons temps rouler. For you out of staters, that’s pronounced Lay say lay bohn tohn roo lay, and means “let the good times roll.” So it should be no surprise to the locals that in a survey of 100 cities listed as the happiest, and published by the U. S. National Bureau of Economic Research, Louisiana walked away with top rankings. 

Listed as some of the happiest cities in the U. S. include Lafayette, Houma, Shreveport, Baton Rouge and Alexandria and Lake Charles . The unhappiest? New York City. What? The Big Apple? How can that be? Simple. The cost of living in New York causes two thirds of the city’s population to just get by. 

With a number of family members now living in New York City, including several of my grandchildren, I’m up there for a week at a time, sometimes even more often. The differences are vast to say the least between the two states. Let’s start with my five “Fs.” Food, family, faith, fixin’ flats, and football.