Looking over the Extreme Ironing website, I was discouraged at my chances of doing an extreme iron feat worth noting. I’m in New Orleans. There are no mountains, people don’t skydive here, the water is too murky to iron in; you’d need to extreme wash your clothes right afterward.

So I revamped my notion of extreme. There have certainly been a lot of extreme things going on in New Orleans in the past year, and evidence of these extremes lay all over the place; ruined homes, entire blocks abandoned, rising murder, as well as acts of extreme humanity; volunteers offering countless hours, music in the streets, neighbors meeting who never would have before.

The draw of extreme ironing is not the act of ironing or climbing in and of themselves- it’s the combination of two seemingly non-suitable activities. It’s odd, and then engaging. So will be Extreme New Orleans Ironing. Envision- pressing a shirt in the shell of a gutted house- steaming your pants atop an upside down car- smoothing your collar in an abandoned store front. The juxtaposition means what- rebuilding, reaching for normality, sustaining a routine- I don’t know. Please submit your ideas for other “extremes” to iron in.

We all need cheers.