“The Superdome got lights ya’ll.” This was what I overheard from a conversation between some fellow New Orleanians.
When I saw the dome for the first time I nearly crashed my car. It was hard to drive eastbound on interstate ten on the Slidell ramp that approaches the Superdome. The lights were flashing and circling the mighty iron saucer. It was like a scene from a movie with an alien apocalypse. I nearly crashed for two reasons. The lights were such a spectacle that I could not focus my attention on the constant gradual right of the elevated road. But, for a split second, I wanted to crash. Better to die than to subject myself to the slavery or extermination that would surly follow a sighting like that.
Once I got over this initial awe and fear I was suddenly enlivened. It felt like a Saints Super bowl victory in an instant. I only wish it was possible to pull over on the interstate. I would have pulled over and danced. The feeling has returned each time I have driven past the newly lit New Orleans icon.
More recently, I was on my computer reading news sites. I saw that the Superdome’s new 26,000 LED lights and corporate sponsor were the subjects of the main headline on NPR’s homepage. Although the lights make me happy temporarily while I drive past them, I didn’t understand how the dome had made the main headline. The surrounding headlines were about the debt crises and wars of the world. Meanwhile people are supposed to give a shit about the tackiness of the Mercedes logo that’s projected onto the dome. I knew the massive structure’s new luminance was special for a passionate local, but I couldn’t take it for news on the worldwide scale. It was two forty-eight in the morning, the hour where news is most scarce, when this story reached the main headline. When I checked back on the NPR home page, about fifteen minutes later, the dome headline was replaced with a headline about European debt debates. I felt relieved that the Superdome LED’s had faded out just like hoe the actual light and elation fades as I drive past the illuminated giant. For a brief moment the dome reached national headlines, but every time I drive past it now I question the logo of Mercedes-Benz and wonder about how it all fits into a world perspective.
In a way the dome’s luminous shell exposed for me the world and its own shell. Headlines often distract us from the monumental by using the trivial. This makes it harder for people to realize the core issues of the day. Perhaps those unsatisfied with the new face of the dome should occupy it. That seems the popular solution to all current affairs. I look past the shell and see the old exterior or the less illuminated realities.
I was fortunate enough to receive a free ticket to the Saints, Colts game. It was a butt whooping. But, I couldn’t help but notice that the domes interior renovations were incomplete. The majority of the rainbow seats had been changed to black ones with added cushioning, my seat included. The money for the dome renovations seemed to go to appearance rather than modifications to improve the typical fan’s experience. The dome is like its headline, a distraction from the grit, a welcome reprieve by the world’s big-spending renovators. I will always remember the dome as it was. The 26,000 lights have come to represent something more. American surplus, of what I don’t know, is now what I think they represent, but headlines just enforce the naivety. Is it tacky? Or should the stories content ask is this necessary or is this news?
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