ENCW 205: Art & Identity in New Orleans

Things I Like About my Hometown & Some History • It’s my hometown. I’m not going to lie and say that none of it has become invisible to me and faded into the background of my daily life, or that I love everything about it, because I don’t. However, it is still my hometown. It […]

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I think a good word to summarize my thoughts and feelings about the two parts of the film series we viewed would be distressing. The aftermath of Katrina seems to be a topic that reveals more and more horror the more you learn about it. I had already learned about the situation in Memorial hospital […]

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For my final project, I decided to focus on a hurricane that affected my hometown like Katrina affected New Orleans. In 1969, Hurricane Camille stalled over the Blue Ridge Mountains and, meeting another storm, poured down rain into the valleys of Nelson County. I went down the path of an oral history, so I interviewed […]

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New School vs Old School Voodoo  Old  – Practiced in secret  – Used as a religion  – Most people who practiced were POC – Was used to gain certain social and economic benefits New  – A huge part of the culture in NO – Used for tourism  – More of a business  – Interracial  Similar  […]

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The information I found of my hometown that I am including in my final (+ sources): Grand Rapids gets its name from the Grand River and the rapids that used to help the local furniture industry with the transport of logs.  The Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad, founded in 1854, became the country’s longest north-south […]

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Sadly, I’m still behind the mark progress wise when it comes to my final project.  I have multiple ideas which I have researched to differing degrees but have not figured out a creative element.  I know I’m very likely overthinking it, but still.  I know last week I mentioned last week that I was interested […]

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Natasha Tretheway’s poem “Photograph of a Bawd Drinking Raleigh Rye” mostly describes a prostitute in one of E.J. Bellocq’s photographs of the same name. It ranges from her clothes, to her hair, to her surroundings. Tretheway comments on her necklace, armpit hair, and even the roundness of her cheeks. As a prostitute, she is accustomed […]

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In Section Two, Chapter Six, of The Moviegoer, Binx explains how he believes he relates to Jewish people because he feels like an outcast. He claims that he can sense “Jewish vibrations” and that he was “a Jew in a previous incarnation,” (88-89). He goes so far as to say “it is true that I […]

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I really wanted to do something food related, but everywhere I looked I found the star of the city, beignets. With that said, I am making beignets! I will also research beignets and their significance to New Orleans culture. I chose beignets because it is the most famous dish in New Orleans, even being mentioned […]

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“I am hardly ever depressed by a movie and Jane Powell is a very nice looking girl, but the despair of it is enough to leave you gone in the stomach” (part 2, ch 2, pg 74) I chose this passage because it was very interesting to me how Binx’s form of escapism is starting […]

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For my research product, I will be researching modern Voodoo in New Orleans and how it differs from its origins. I also would want to know how the actual rituals have changed as well. For the creative aspect of my project, I will be making a Voodoo doll.

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“I too once met a girl in Central Park, but it is not much to remember. What I remember is the time John Wayne killed three men with a carbine as he was falling to the dusty street in Stagecoach, and the time the kitten found Orson Welles in the doorway in The Third Man.” […]

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In the first 40 pages of “The Moviegoer” by Walker Percy, the main character, John Bickerson Bolling or Binx, is shown as a man of little emotion, who cares very little for those around him in a emotional way. When he loses his brother, he is told by his (great) aunt to be like a […]

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I hope to dive more into my Creole background, specifically where my family originated from and how we made our way to New Orleans. It’s important to discover how and when we became “Creole” because of the rarity of being a white Creole. The creative aspects I hope to include hand-drawn maps with pinpoints on […]

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I noticed quite a few differences between the written version and the movie version of A Streetcar Named Desire. I mostly noticed it in the portrayal of the characters. Stanley seems far more violent in the movie, breaking things more often and seeming to have outbursts every time he drinks rather than the few times […]

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I would really like to research the food of New Orleans. I would like to look into the origins of some of their most notorious foods like gumbo and beignets and why they are so meaningful to their culture.  I am unsure how I would portray this creatively aside from potentially creating a cook book.

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  My idea is to create a map of my town and highlight the landmarks that are important to me when navigating, as I don’t often use actual street signs to get from place to place, but rather inconspicuous landmarks with very little meaning to others. For example: turn right before THE brown house to […]

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Idea #1 For my research project, I am thinking about looking into the politics behind Hurricane Katrina. Basically, I would like to explore the disaster policies that were in place at the time and see how they were executed when it came to Katrina. I would also like to look at how disaster policies changed […]

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“The Awakening” by Kate Chopin is a reflection the 19th century and the struggles women of the time faced, both externally within society, and internally, with their roles in a family system. This novel shows how much men and the standing within society took control of women’s lives and happiness. The following quote from Mr. […]

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