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An Open Love Letter to French Quarter Residents
A journalist turned buggy driver reflects on the people who live in his unusual workplace - a combination historic museum, adult amusement park, and a residential neighborhood.
– by Mark Orfila
French Market Memories: My Last Sip at Morning Call
On the eve of Morning Call’s closing fifty years ago, a young writer joins a crowd of locals lining up to pay their respects - and savor one final cup of coffee.
– by Bethany Ewald Bultman
The Veiled Lady and the Bird Man
The controversial 19th-century naturalist John James Audubon is best known for his artwork in Birds of America - but few have heard of a portrait commissioned by a mysterious New Orleans woman in 1821, a painting that’s been lost to history.
– by Richard Goodman
Confessions of a Recalcitrant Declutterer
Stuff + lack of closet space = the French Quarter dilemma. But once you’ve committed to downsizing your wardrobe, what’s the best way to be rid of your cast-offs?
– by Bethany Ewald Bultman
Revisiting the Civil Rights Movement in “The Trail They Blazed”
A new traveling exhibit, currently at the TEP Center through November 12th, brings on both memories and reflections for a New Orleans writer. Photo of Doratha "Dodie" Smith Simmons above by Melanie Cole.
– by Juyanne James
Digging in at Madame John’s Legacy
One of New Orleans’ oldest houses will soon have a new look after years of debate, delays and historic forensics work – including a recent archeological dig.
-By Frank Perez
The Tattooed Arm & The Natchez Massacre
In the early 1700s, a powerful woman chieftain of the Natchez tribe – Tattooed Arm – was unable to prevent an attack on the French Fort Rosalie, with disastrous consequences for her people.
– by Frank Perez
Return to New Orleans
After living in New Orleans for more than a decade, a writer who has moved away gets “all funny” when he returns to visit.
-by Richard Goodman
What’s in a Name? Bulbancha and Mobilian Jargon
Louisiana’s tri-millennial Native history and culture is reflected in this name, part of a common indigenous language used for trading throughout the lower Mississippi region.
— by Frank Perez
The Quarter's Last School May Close
The historic building that's often referred to as "The Little Red Schoolhouse," may soon dismiss classes permanently, despite protests from many parents and neighbors.
Campaign Trail Reflections: What I learned running for office
The overwhelming majority of NOLA's District C voters live on the West Bank and no East Bank candidate has won the council seat in more than four decades. Despite the odds, a French Quarter resident, writer and activist throws his signature hat in the ring.
Of Two Mississippi Writers
Despite the state's legacy of repression, some of the country's best writers are Mississippi natives. It's the birthplace of contemporary luminaries like Kiese Laymon and Jesmyn Ward. Tennessee Williams scholar Kenneth Holditch looks back at two 20th-century literary lions who wrote about that “postage stamp of native soil.”
On Mardi Gras, 2021
A young writer roaming the French Quarter during this historic Carnival discovers different doesn't mean dead.
Haunted Streets
A tour guide well-versed in the ghoulish tales of the French Quarter's history finds the present day offers its own spooky circumstances.
In Memoriam: Lost Lands
As the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches, a look back at the unnamed 1856 storm that erased the Island of Derniere off Louisiana’s coast, taking the lives of more than 400 people, including thirteen ancestors of the writer.
- by Bethany Ewald Bultman
It's Fruitcake Weather
Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory possesses the power to make even contemporary readers summon up their own most-cherished holiday recollections.
-by Rheta Grimsley Johnson
The Bay St. Louis Booker
On November 8, 1983 - 36 years ago this week - legendary New Orleans pianist James Booker passed on. While his legacy grows even stronger in the city, recent interviews with Bay St. Louis family members give details about Booker's early life on the Mississippi coast - and explain why "the Bay" became one of his touchstones.
- by Edward Gibson
Blood Type FQ
A New York writer finds that a year of French Quarter living leaves him with an undiminished devotion to the neighborhood.
- by Richard Goodman