By Evelynn Coffie As floats coast through the streets of New Orleans, being a royal court member seems like a simple task—look pretty, wave at the crowd, throw a few beads. It’s about being a decorative asset to the month-long Mardi Gras grand spectacle for teenager Kelsie Mengel—a 17-year-old Chinese-American teen from New Orleans.  But… Read More All Hail the Maid of Endymion

By Anusha Rainey Photo by Caleb George on Unsplash From hotels to restaurants, from live music to biking tours, New Orleans has its reputation of being loved by tourists. One thing about New Orleans that people love is it’s hosting services. But for those working in the tourism industry, it’s no vacation. A table from the Louisiana Tourism… Read More A Virus Infects the Tourism Trade in New Orleans

By Pia Heyert Photo by Mathieu Cheze on Unsplash New Orleans is full of culture, creativity, and excitement. But does the rush of parades, festivals, and activities contribute to an environment teetering on catastrophe and can anyone do something about it without sapping the mojo out of the Crescent City? New Orleans’s environmental problems are… Read More The Sinking Truth

By Alejandra Vargas When you live in a country where you see struggle and very few opportunities to better your life, you often think similarly to how I think about what life in another country is like. For instance, the “American Dream.” I always thought of the American Dream because of pictures being so realistic… Read More The Unrealistic American Dream in New Orleans?

By Maggie Apperson What comes to mind when you think of the closet? A small, dark confined space. But what comes into mind when you think of a person in the closet? It becomes more fear-inducing, more dark, and desolate. This is where the term comes from, and for good reason. Why could something that… Read More Is the closet door still closed? An inside look on LGBTQ youth today

By Zoe Moseley Throughout the years, Mardi Gras has been a time of revelry attracting both tourists and locals to the New Orleans area. The widely accessible holiday, where requirements of involvement are minimized to showing up, requires much more work when riding in a parade. The free-wheeling and rather disorderly crowds often make us… Read More What Mardi Gras Is Like: An Insider’s Experience

By McKenna Smith In a city known for its raucous spirit, the streets of New Orleans have been unnervingly quiet in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Neighborhoods like Treme and the Marigny, that are home to an especially high concentration of the city’s Airbnbs and consequently, a great deal of the city’s tourists, now… Read More The Tourism That Broke The Camel’s Back