When I arrived at college, I found that there were two things that made me more interesting than your average freshman: I was ambiguously brown and widely confused for Indian, Asian, and various other ethnicities, and I was from New Orleans. People were interested in my hometown, and I seized on it.
Tucked away in a corner of the Botanical Garden is the Yakumo Nihon Teien, a small Japanese garden run by the local Japanese Garden Society. The garden is named after Lafcadio Hearn, a famous resident of New Orleans in the late 19th century.
I was at the Historic New Orleans Collection in the French Quarter this past week to see Jason Marsalis at their Concerts in Courtyard series. Members get in for free, but at $10 with three drinks included, it's not a bad deal for non-members.
This past weekend was the 4th annual Crescent City Blues and BBQ Festival. The festival is run by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, the same organization that runs Jazz Fest (officially known as the Jazz and Heritage Festival).
After a hot summer almost entirely dominated by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, signs of Autumn are in sight: The mornings are cool and dry (at least until 9am), and oyster season has begun.