Two blue states.

Your humble narrator, Whalehead King

Wandering about New Orleans and sometimes going somewhat further afield in each direction of the Mississippi River, I have recently been pondering the differences between where I am from and where I am.

First of all, New Orleans is like no other city in Connecticut.  Comparing New Orleans to Bridgeport or New Haven or Hartford or Waterbury (the four biggest in descending order) and then Stamford (#5 and the only one that is gaining population) is like comparing a carp to a goldfish.  They are of the same genus but the differences outnumber the similarities. My favorite description of Connecticut's capital: "The Nation's Filing Cabinet."

I compare the populations of the two states, which are roughly equal.  Of course, Connecticut is maybe a twentieth the size of Louisiana.  When I entertained visitors from out Iowa or Oklahoma or Texas in the Nutmeg State, they compared it an anthill.  There was always somebody else nearby and very little true solitude.  I guess that's why Yankees are so adept at not acknowledging the presence of others.  We have rich interior lives.

As an armchair vexillologist, I spend a lot of time studying flags.  Connecticut's and Louisiana's are similar in composition and especially in background color:

 Few people in Connecticut speak Latin.  The state motto is "Qui Transtulit Sustinet."  Few people in Louisiana speak French anymore but you would think this former French colony would have a Gallic motto.  Nope.  It is "Union, Justice, and Confidence."