Miley Cyrus

Although it may not be as exciting  to most of the world as it is to me... but Miley Cyrus will be in fascinating city of New Orleans March 18, 2014!!!!!!!!!

A slice of nature

Living in a city (New Orleans), nature is not always apparent around us. One really has to go looking to find a spot that emanates "nature". Of course, there are some parks, like Audubon Park and City Park, that do a pretty good job of replicating nature, but none of these really capture the environment that New Orleans was before it became the city it is today.

Jean Lafitte is a national historic park and preserve that is located probably about 45 minutes away from campus. Although it is a little far away, it is well worth making the trip at least once to experience the swamps and marshes of Louisiana.

A couple weeks ago, my Environmental Studies class had a mandatory field trip to Jean Lafitte Barataria Preserve. I like nature and the environment, but mostly I was annoyed that I had to wake up at 5:30 am on a Sunday morning. However, when I got there, I changed my mind. I had gone on class field trips to Jean Lafitte when I was younger, but there's something different about being there with only a couple of people really early in the morning, and just observing all the things you can see.

There is a boardwalk that runs through the wetlands, and it's really cool to witness the change in vegetation and water level (swamps start to give way to marshes) as one goes closer towards the Gulf of Mexico. The thing that I loved the most though was simply staying silent and taking my time along the trail and really observing nature. It was a magical experience. My professor, Dr. Aimee Thomas, had such a depth of knowledge and a very keen eye for tiny things, and over time I started to develop this eye. For example, I started to become aware of all the bird calls around us, which normally we're immune to. We saw and were able to get close to so many things, such as spiders (including water spiders), squirrels, awesome looking caterpillars, many types of birds, grasshoppers, frogs, a garter snake we got to hold, a cottonmouth, and an 11 foot long American Alligator.

This trip really gave me a bigger appreciation for nature. I loved it a lot, and I think it's definitely worth the commute to experience this amazing slice of nature in such a big city.

Here are some pictures from the trip.

Bounce Night

Everyone knows about jazz coming from New Orleans, but another distinctly New Orleans musical tradition is bounce music. Bounce music is that music with the quick and repetitive beat and lyrics, popularized by artists such as Big Freedia and Sissy Nobby (personally, I'm a fan of Keedy Black). It's a highly energetic style of music that gets people dancing and, well, twerking.

I'm a fan of bounce music and have been wanting to go to bounce night at the Republic for a long time. Since I finally turned 18 the other week, I decided to go with a couple of friends last night (November 21, 2013). Now, I am the worst dancer in the entire world, but there's just something about bounce music that gets you moving and feeling the beat. I probably looked like an idiot, especially compared to all the people who were out there that could actually dance, but I don't care - listening to bounce just gives one the irresistible urge to move to the beat.

The night opened with Keedy Black. When she did her song Hammer (video below), I was just so excited. I just really love that song and it has a great beat and I love dancing to it and singing along. Next was Katey Red, who I love as well, followed by DJ Jubilee, also awesome and great to dance to, then Sissy Nobby, who I suppose was the main attraction. It was a great night full of dancing and twerking.

Speaking of twerking, I will never cease to be amazed at how some people can move their rear ends and thighs in such a manner. It's just so...intense. And everything just seems to move so...independently of the rest of the body.

Either way, I think bounce music is such an interesting part of New Orleans culture. Yes, it can be very obscene, but it's super fun and impossible to stay still when a bounce song comes on. I think bounce night is a night everyone should experience at least once.

As promised, here is the video to Hammer by Keedy Black. Beware: it's super obscene and explicit. But I love it anyway.

Miss Yolanda

A first couple of weeks into school my roommate and I decided we needed to go to some sort of drugstore. We ended up going to the Walgreens near by. We got there, did our shopping, and went to check out in the cosmetics. I asked the cashier where something was and that's where it all began. Her name is Miss Yolanda and she is one of the greatest individuals I have met in New Orleans so far. She grabbed my arm and took me by the hand and found the item I was looking for. We then sat and talked with Miss Yolanda for a while. She talked to us about school, Tulane football players, and parties she went to when she was our age. She warned us about punch at frat parties. She was the most interesting, outgoing, kind, hilarious woman. We went back to Walgreens a few weeks later and Miss Yolanda was working, she recognized us and started talking. She was really excited and said she had something for us. It ended up she got 3 numbers from Tulane students that came in and she talked about us. She told the boys we were blonde from New Jersey even though I have dark hair and my roommate has red hair and I'm from the mid-west and my roommate is from the south. It was definitely an experience to meet such an interesting woman.

One of my favorite restaurants

The first time I came here with my Mom a few months ago, we found ourselves somewhat stranded in the Garden District—hot, tired, and STARVING after a 2 hour walking tour through Lafayette Cemetery and what’s probably the more touristy part of the Garden District. By Magazine St. and unwilling to walk that much farther, we took a chance and walked into one of the first acceptable looking restaurants we saw: Coquette, a tiny café style place sandwiched on a street corner. It’s one of the best chances we took and I’ve gone back at like every possible opportunity since.

The food is basically a classy funky twist on creole food—so think all those amazing comfort food flavors-- shrimp and grits, etc.-- mixed with the fanciness and good taste of French food. Also, all their food is fresh and locally grown; basically, good quality, authentic, unique, DELICIOUS food. It's worth the semi-expensiveness. To better explain their unique style, when we ordered funnel cake for dessert, we imagined/expected something along the lines of the typical big hunk of fried dough and powdered sugar type of thing you'd get at the Fair. This is what we got: 

-Definitely recommend this place.

Just something generally great about New Orleans

A few weeks ago when I was walking to the free showing of 12 Years a Salve at Prytania Theatre through a typical Uptown New Orleans neighborhood, I passed this hilarious house that I don’t think I’ll ever forget—this was maybe the week before Halloween, so to put it in context nearly every house in all of Uptown was completely decked out in Halloween decorations.

Picture one of those hugely oversized, creepy old-fashioned architecture houses that characterize all of the Garden District. The front yard was FULL of showy Halloween decorations—like it looked like someone dumped three Party City warehouses onto these people’s lawn-- with hilarious pun tombstones, dressed skeletons, etc., etc. By now the only one I remember is a skeleton dressed in rock and roll hippie clothes with plaques like “the Grateful Dead" but my memory does this house NO justice, its decorations would definitely qualify it as an outdoor museum. I LOVE how seriously locals take things like Halloween; it adds so much to the funkiness of the New Orleans atmosphere.

Harvest the Music

                        Though New Orleans seemingly has less going on during the fall months than during carnival season, the Harvest the Music concert series offers a fun and free event every Wednesday at Lafayete Square. Local artists like Kermit Ruffins, the Rebirth Brass Band, the Soul Rebels and Irma Thoas all took part in this year’s festival. Every week during the series two bands perform from 4 to 8 and local vendors and restaurants set up tents with delicious food and diverse art and products. The open, outdoor atmosphere is definitely family friendly, though plenty of alcohol is available, too. Afterwards the musicians usually hang around for CD signings and pictures. This is definitely an event to check out at least once while in NOLA.

Arriving at Zion Hill

Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church is the type of place you have to be searching for in order to come across it. It is not the showiest, most extravagant building and by no means lures in visitors from around the city. Located just off the corner where Gov. Nicholls St. meets N. Robertson, it lies right in the heart of Treme, one of the oldest, poorest, and most historic neighborhoods in New Orleans. It’s in fact one of the humblest little buildings I’ve ever stepped foot in, but inside it is bursting with passion.

            While researching online the best places for Christian worship in the area, I came across a list of “Best Authentic Experiences in New Orleans” that advised visitors of Zion Hill, “Don't expect fancy robes or masses of choir members, just rooms and rooms full of spirit.” Though I knew I was bound to stand out as the only nonparishoner in such a local church, I was sold by this description and decided to make the trip.

After a friend and I arrived and took a seat in the back pew, Reverend Joshua introduced himself and offered us breakfast which we gladly accepted before the service began. A processional hymn was sung by the choir, a group of twelve or so members, mainly middle-aged women dressed in red and black. Their voices resonated beautifully in the small sanctuary, and each selection throughout the service had a soulful feel that I would never expect from a Protestant church back home in Connecticut. Throughout the service the music never stopped for more than a moment or so, and even when the offering baskets went around there was an upbeat jazz interlude rocking the whole sanctuary. The emotional highlight of the service for me, the part that I would relive over and over again if I could, was a solo performed by Brother Andrew Miller, one of the younger members of the congregation. He stepped up to the microphone without introduction and opened his mouth to let out the most beautiful and heart wrenching notes that poured out like honey and hung in the air. His voice seemed to ring on forever but it still was too soon when he finally stepped off the stage, carrying his last note with him all the way through the door into the men’s bathroom with a hand over his face. As the door swung behind him and the music faded I suddenly understood why there were tissue boxes placed on shelves along the walls, and I watched as the people around me reached for them.

  After the service we followed a line of people back into the kitchen area where we were served lunch and cake, and chatted with a few members who were very interested to know how we heard about their church. When we saw it was raining outside, the Reverend’s wife kindly offered us a ride back to campus, which we gratefully accepted only as far as the streetcar stop, then said our goodbyes and promised we would visit again. I couldn’t believe the warmth and hospitality that I was receiving from people who were complete strangers and had very little to offer.

What we can learn from New Orleans' resistance to chain stores

Before I moved to New Orleans,  I saw this Facebook post by a high school friend who was already living down here. I quote:

            “Dear God, I just wanted to go to a mall where I could find a bra that made my         boobs look amazing for K----‘s party tonight, but New Orleans says nooooooo,        you need to go spend a ton of money at some lingerie boutique on Magazine.”

            There was something excited inside me when I saw this. And now that I’m here, I see what this girl was talking about. Mind you, buying a new bra for a party is never a large priority for me. But just yesterday I was taking a walk around Uptown and though I would treat myself to something delicious. I was Maple Street where there is (in a row on the same block) a PJ’s of New Orleans, an independent Patisserie, and a Starbucks. On a Saturday morning, many people were out for coffee and breakfast at all of these spots. I realized that I had walked for 50 minutes without stumbling upon a Starbucks. I use Starbucks as an example because its such a global monopoly of a coffee shop, but in Seattle it’s a local thing. The stereotype of there being a Starbucks on every corner is no joke people. But here in New Orleans, on that cloudy Saturday morning in November in the corner of Maple Street, Starbucks seemed like a deserted sad little outpost. Mind you, that day I went into the patisserie because it was making the whole street smell like butter, so how could I resist?

            I wonder what the rest of the country could learn from New Orleans’ resistance to chain stores and change in general. On a semi-related tangent of coffee I need to talk about the first time I tried chicory coffee here. To be frank, I thought I was drinking a cup of dirty water, but now I love it to pieces. I am being converted.

That Time I Bought a Gris Gris...

I grew up in the secular Pacific Northwest. I never pride myself on this because I identify myself more with my hot-headed, superstitious Cajun heritage.  That is probably the number one reason I was attracted to New Orleans. So the minute I had a chance to leave my dreary enclave of a hometown, I chose to come to New Orleans, for college. I went to the Historic Voodoo Museum, which, before I went I thought “what a novelty” or “how kitsch,” but it was actually quite a destination. To support this tiny little gem of a museum I surveyed the gift shop. I paused on the gris gris. Gris gris are a West African tradition that transformed into voodoo tradition. They are little pouches, amulets, or charms that you wear on your person for a variety to intended outcomes. I bought one for creativity, because I had been feeling a little too academic the last few months, and one for love, because what the hell, I had been unlucky ever since I got to college. They were just little trifles, souvenirs, memories, or so I thought.

            On car ride back to campus, I got a phone call from the residential life office telling me that I had flowers waiting for me at the office. I was astonished, and if you knew me, you’d know that things like this don’t happen to me. I was all excited about this prospect of a secret admirer. But when I opened the note, the result was even better. The flowers from my father, who I hadn’t talked to for the last 3 months, and he sent them to wish me good luck for the play I was in. Love, in a very expected and wonderful way.

            That night in curiosity, I placed the creativity gris-gris on my desk. I then proceeded to break a writer’s block that had swamped me since I had arrived at school. I don’t know what to think about these occurrences. Other but take caution about where I take these gris gris with me now.