By Grayson Meckfessel “It’s no surprise that New Orleans has the third highest rate of new HIV infections in the U.S. Still, for all the challenges, Dery says there are some early signs of hope… ‘I think we could get to a point where we are reaching zero new infections. The question is not if… Read More Breaking Barriers: Reproductive Health & Stigma in New Orleans
Young percussionists stood in a circle around a fold-out plastic table, drumsticks flashing and table shaking as they struck in sync. The brass section sat in an arc, moving up the scale one slow, powerful step at a time. The room vibrated with the force of each note, with each beat of the drumsticks, ushered… Read More Love, Loss, and the Roots of Music
By Etta Coleman Illuminated by a flickering glow, an upturned face absorbs the images that flash across a screen. Images of fights for liberation. Shouts and songs of protest. The words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Images of grief and love and celebration and injustice. In the darkness, the stories reach off the screen… Read More The Art Leads the People: Film as a Tool for Social Justice in New Orleans
By Benjamin Patterson “There’s no longer New Orleans people, so now, you have people from New York that don’t know the culture, that don’t know about crawfish or jambalaya,” said Quintin “Quint” Walker as he weaved and swayed around in his cracked leather barber chair until he jerked to a stop. “But then they want… Read More Doll Houses
By Jeanette McKellar “I think that New Orleans, still to this day, continues in a vein of having a tourist oriented reputation for being lawless, and being a permissionless city when it suits their interests. Storyville is part of that,” said an anonymous sex worker in New Orleans, Jane Doe. Devised by municipal lawmakers in… Read More Sex Work in New Orleans: Where Vice and Shame are Inseparable
By Grayson Kanter The United States of America leads the world in most incarcerated persons, with well over two million prisoners nationwide. In a smaller frame, Louisiana is currently ranked as the state across the nation with the highest incarceration rate per capita. 564 per 100k residents. According to Vera, a nationwide non-profit organization battling… Read More Battling Injustice Behind Bars: Fighting Mass Incarceration in New Orleans
By Grace Blankenhorn Picture azalea bushes and long stretches of oak trees on a neutral ground, young families and citizens of all ages gathering under the shade, taking walks, and playing football. All surrounded by the neighborhood’s most beloved businesses, restaurants, theaters, insurance companies and drug stores. Claiborne Avenue is located in the heart of… Read More The Resilience of Tremé: The Fight to Reclaim Claiborne Avenue
“Have you been institutionalized?” Maryam Uloho skips the small talk when she speaks to previously incarcerated individuals. The answer to her question should be a resounding, “Yes,” but the person on the receiving end often has little knowledge regarding the prison system and its damaging emotional impact. Louisiana is the incarceration capital of the world.… Read More Treasure, not Trash: How Maryam Uloho Brings Light to Louisiana’s Prison System
By: Isha Goel 100 out of the 128 public school buildings in New Orleans were destroyed by the catastrophic effects of Hurricane Katrina. During the city’s repair process, the local government saw this as an opportunity to restructure the New Orleans public school system. The plan set in motion sought to replace formerly locally controlled… Read More The School to Prison Pipeline
By Camilla Stapleton Just up the river from New Orleans is St. James Parish, a community of about 20,000 people, part of the New Orleans metropolitan area. Driving along the Mississippi, the thick smell of chemicals hangs in the air while a seemingly never-ending corridor of petrochemical plants, refineries, and factories lines the river’s banks.… Read More Just Breathe: Industry, Politics, and Neglect in Louisiana’s Most Polluted Communities
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