If you’re a regular reader, you know a bit about New Orleans, the old, southern seaport where I once lived and that I still love. When my family dwelled in that historic, dreamy place for five years in the 1980s, I had four daily rituals: • drink strong chicory coffee, preferably accompanied by a […]
The Big Easy: Back, Not Better Than Ever
Posted November 29th, 2011 at 5:03 pm (UTC-4)
As August slipped into September six years ago, Hurricane Katrina blasted ashore out of the Gulf of Mexico and into Louisiana and Mississippi, delivering widespread devastation and death. Evacuations in its wake outnumbered those of any other storm, earthquake, drought, or war on American soil. In particular, the ruination of romantic New Orleans, inundated when […]
Fat Tuesday
Posted March 1st, 2011 at 9:45 am (UTC-4)
Next Tuesday, New Orleans, Louisiana, will officially shut down for the day. It has nothing to do with a budget crisis or, let us hope, any sort of calamity. The occasion is a street party, the biggest in America and one that happens every year. It’s Mardi Gras — “Fat Tuesday,” translated from the French […]
The (Fill in Here) City
Posted February 2nd, 2011 at 3:36 pm (UTC-4)
After today I will, I think, have the “nickname thing” out of my system. I’ve told you about various state nicknames, such as “The Buckeye State” (Ohio) and “The Volunteer State” (Tennessee). And about the exuberant, often animal-related nicknames that colleges and universities have attached to their sports teams, such as “Wolverines” (University of Michigan) […]
N’Awlins
Posted October 17th, 2008 at 5:47 pm (UTC-4)
It’s been 23 years since I left New Orleans, and still, to quote the Eddie De Lange and Louis Alter song of half a century ago, I know what it means to miss “New Orleens.” Oh yeah, I know. This old postcard view captures the Pontalba Apartments, built by Baroness Michaela Pontalba, who also convinced […]
