I think you can see why
New Orleans Noise Ordinance is Withdrawn After Rally
I think you can see why
Category Archives: New Orleans
Drink and Learn
Drink & Learn experiences are themed, interactive presentations that uses famous drinks and ingredients to tell the rich history of New Orleans. Join culinary historian Elizabeth Pearce at unique locations all around town as she regales you with tales of rum, rebellion, whiskey, prohibition and more!
200 years in one book
My pal Dr. Nancy Dixon has just released her amazing anthology of New Orleans literature with fascinating historical and literary introductions by herself.
The reason this book was undertaken by this busy university professor was that the lack of a current anthology hampered her teaching and limited regular folks’ access to the treasure trove of authors that have written about our beloved city. I agree; if this had been around when I was a lit-hungry teenager roaming the Quarter, I could have expanded my knowledge of good writing and my own city so much more and probably reduced the petty crime/nuisance levels around Jackson Square for a few specific years.
From the first play performed in the city, to the details on the Creoles of color and the Los Isleños community, all the way to current writers, (she did stop before 2005 which makes me hope for her post 2005-levee break anthology to come along later), Dr. Dixon gives you a sweet sampling of great writers and/or great pieces to pick up at your leisure. Read a few and then to go to your local dusty used bookstore to dive deeper into those works that appeal to you.
Author Nancy Dixon and me at one of her first public book signings for N.O. Lit: 200 years of New Orleans Literature
great local bookstores have it in stock:
http://www.octaviabooks.com/event/nancy-dixon-no-lit
or buy it directly from the publisher and get it inscribed:
Love Letter to My City
Well, this letter could really be titled “Love Letter to the French Quarter” since that is where my mother brought me as a “world-weary” teenager and where I found my city. That lovely introduction to it all was why I write about the Quarter today; so that others will come to it and find their own home. I wrote this in an hour and sent it off without rereading it again so that I would have to let the emotion stay in there.
Garbage in, garbage out: ‘Grand vision’ for French Market junks tradition | The Lens
Local writer CW Cannon defends the vitality of the current vendor base and questions the new French Market director’s understanding of tradition and desired products.
Unfathomable City
Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas by Rebecca Solnit
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I wrote an earlier review of this book ( I keep busy) and have now decided to update it since receiving the actual published book as I used the advanced reader copy for the previous review and now after reading more of it in a different location than the last time and viewing all of the maps that weren’t in the ARC and let me share that I did all of that new stuff all on All Saints Day, no less. Told you: multitudes.
I decided to do it without the cranky insertion of MY New Orleans up front that was in the previous review and to simply state that it’s a well designed, well-edited and at times beautifully written and illustrated homage to our mysterious city.
This book gives credit where credit is due. To the city’s geography, to its outlandish robber barons of bananas and oil, to the nameless and named that have brought us and bring us music, food, and public displays and joy and sorrow and pain and punishment. It neatly shows a number of juxtapositions that may be uncomfortable for some to view and others that are certainly unfathomable, but it does show them. There. credit given.
Now, back to me:
If you look through my reviews, you can spot a certain fondness for maps. I love them and love poring over them before, during or in spite of actually traveling to the place depicted.
If you read my reviews, you will no doubt spot a serious fondness for essayists. I admire what seems to me to be honest human bravery in extending a point or a purpose to a new end. Taking a walk with an author is how I visualize an essay, and yes there are times that I turn back before getting to the end, but I still appreciate the offer. So maps and essays seem like two sides of one coin and when put together well can alter or color each other’s point and purpose.
So that this is a book of illusory and real maps combined with odd and delightful essays, edited by two sensitive writers is enough for me to tell you.
Let me let the writers and artists tell you themselves in essays and maps such as:
Civil rights and Lemon Ice
Hot and Steamy: Selling Seafood and Selling Sex
Ebb and Flow: Migrations of the Houma, Erosions of the Coast
Juju and Cuckoo: Taking Care of Crazy
Stationary Revelations: Sites of Contemplation and Delight
The first essays introducing this book are alone worth poring over and sharing; how often is that true? That should tell you about the care and thought put into this entire work and offer the best reason to plunk down your money, open it and thumb through while having a Pimm’s or a coffee in front of you, tucked away in a shady corner of our shared city. Enjoy it all.
American Horror Story: Coven Location Guide
Great overview of the locations for this series and, really, just some great houses and sites around New Orleans to visit for any reason.
American Horror Story: Coven Location Guide | Deep South Magazine – Southern Food, Travel & Lit.
French Quarter block by block 
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