NEW ORLEANS UPDATES

September 20, 2007

Vote for NOLA. Lara Stepneski graduated from Tulane University in 2006 and "fell in love with New Orleans." She stayed in the Crescent City to work in the public relations business and now needs help from the Tulane community to vote for her New Orleans video on the CMT (Country Music Television) website.

Lara Stepneski

When Stepneski heard about the CMT Homegrown: Hometown Edition Contest for people to show why their hometown is the best city in America, she decided to put together a video about New Orleans. Her video is one of four finalists posted on the CMT website. The winner will be announced Sept. 27.

"The finalists' videos have been posted on CMT's website for people to vote for a winner," Stepneski says. "CMT's Top 20 Countdown will tape a special episode in the winner's hometown, which would be great exposure for NOLA if my video wins. I would greatly appreciate Tulane alumni support."

 

September 18, 2007

Love Your Libraries. Libraries in the New Orleans area will benefit from a Literacy Day event today (Sept. 18) sponsored by Whole Foods Market, in which 5 percent of net sales at two area stores will be given to friends of libraries organizations in Jefferson and Orleans parishes.

The Whole Foods Market at Arabella Station, 5600 Magazine St., will be donating proceeds to the Friends of the New Orleans Public Library. In addition, the Whole Foods location at 3420 Veterans Memorial Blvd. in Metairie, La., has chosen the Friends of the Jefferson Public Library as its recipient in honor of a statewide literacy day.


The Jefferson Public Library group will have an information table in the Metairie store to sell T-shirts that promote reading as well as copies of the Friends of the Jefferson Public Library cookbook.

Public libraries in both parishes are continuing to recover from damages related to Hurricane Katrina. For example, eight of 12 branches of the New Orleans Public Library were completely ruined by wind, water and mold. Six locations are now operating nearly full-time, and six temporary libraries are opening with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

 

September 6, 2007

Ready to Recycle. The City of New Orleans will hold a recycling drop-off event from 9 a.m. until noon on Saturday (Sept. 8) in conjunction with the Recycling Foundation of Baton Rouge.

Residents can bring items for recycling to the intersection of North Claiborne Avenue and St. Peters Street on the East Bank and to the public library at the Algiers Regional Library, 3014 Holiday Dr. on the West Bank.

Materials to be accepted are plastic containers, paper products including cardboard, paperboard, shredded paper (in bags) and newspaper, as well as metal containers such as aluminum, tin and steel. The event is sponsored by the city's Department of Sanitation.

 

September 4, 2007

Good Health. New Orleans area families have a new source for specialized care for children — the new pediatric emergency department at Tulane University Hospital & Clinic in downtown New Orleans.

The facility, located at the hospital’s Lasalle Street entrance, offers 10 beds and seven treatment rooms designed for emergency care of infants, children and adolescents. If a child needs to be admitted to the hospital, Tulane offers an additional 32 medical-surgical beds and 14 intensive care beds.

More information is available by contacting the Tulane Pediatric Emergency Department via the Tulane Call Center, 504-988-5300, or directly at 504-988-OUCH (6824).

 

August 30, 2007

Art on View. New Orleanians and visitors to the city have a chance to enjoy the works of renowned artist and Tulane University alumnus Hunt Slonem in an exhibit at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, 925 Camp St.

"Hunt Slonem: Artist and Collector" is one of three new exhibitions unveiled in August at White Linen Night in the arts district. It will be on view until Sept. 23.

This major exhibition offers a glimpse into the famous painter's life, including his two Louisiana plantations and his New York loft and studio. Slonem, who graduated from Tulane in 1973, is known for his oil paintings and watercolors as well as sculpture work.

The Ogden has created an environmental installation inspired by Slonem's homes and studios, including a comprehensive range of his paintings (some in vintage frames) and selected highlights of his collection of American antiques, unique objects and historic artifacts. David Houston, curator of the exhibit, said that even Slonem's specially formulated wall colors will be incorporated into the museum space.

The artist also has written two books, Pleasure Palaces: The Art & Homes of Hunt Slonem and Hunt Slonem: An Art Rich and Strange, written with Donald B. Kuspit.

 

August 22, 2007

Art and Health. The New Orleans Museum of Art, located in City Park, will host its second annual mental health expo on Saturday (Aug. 25) from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m.

At the Katrina Mental Health Expo, mental health service providers and organizations will be gathered in the Great Hall of the museum with helpful information on their programs and services.

The event also will feature an exhibition, "(Hurricane) Katrina Through the Eyes of Children: Art by Displaced Children at Renaissance Village," a sampling of the cathartic art created by children who live in the large Renaissance Village FEMA trailer site in Baker, La.

Instructors from area gyms and studios will offer demonstrations of yoga, breathing exercises and relaxation techniques. Other organizations that are participating include the Counseling and Consultation Center of New Orleans, American Red Cross Hurricane Recovery Program, Enhanced Health and Treatment Center, NOPD Crisis Intervention, Our Lady of Holy Cross College, St. Tammany Outreach for the Prevention of Suicide, St. Bernard Behavioral Health Center, Catholic Charities, Partnership for Prescription Assistance and Sarah Mayo Mental Health Clinic.

Museum admission is free to Louisiana residents. More information is available by calling 504-658-4131.

 

August 13, 2007

Leading Roles. Seven Tulane alumni were among 27 community leaders honored at the 2007 Role Models Awards Gala by the Young Leadership Council of New Orleans.

In the annual program, the YLC selected as role models individuals who have distinguished themselves by promoting a positive attitude and unyielding desire to enhance the city’s quality of life, taking an effective and vigorous leadership role in the community, striving to unite the community in collaborative efforts for its future prosperity, and making significant contributions in their specific fields of endeavor.

Tulane alumni who were among the honorees, and their university affiliation, were Julia W. Bland of the Louisiana Children's Museum (bachelor’s degree, 1973); Jennifer Steel Bourgeois of West Jefferson Medical Center (master’s degree, 2002); Janice Martin Foster of Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrere & Denègre (law degree, 1970); Frank A. Glaviano Sr. of Shell Energy Resources (bachelor’s degree, 1975, and master’s degree, 1976); physician Corey J. Hebert of Children's Medical Clinic (pediatrics resident, 1997–2000 and chief resident, 2000–01); M. Cleland Powell III of Whitney National Bank (bachelor’s degree, 1970, and a member of the Tulane Health Sciences Center Board of Governors and President’s Council); and Anne Flower Redd of New Orleans City Council-District B (law degree, 1993).

The Young Leadership Council is a nonprofit, non-partisan civic organization created to develop leadership through community projects.

 

August 9, 2007

Beautiful Art. The New Orleans Museum of Art has a special exhibit on view of the work of a well-known New Orleans artist. "Really Beautiful: Henry Casselli Drawings, Sketches and Watercolor Studies from the Lieselotte and Ernest Tansey Collection" will be on view through Sept. 2.

Casselli has received numerous honors and awards including the American Watercolor Society's Gold Medal of Honor. The painting pictured is Study for a Chirstmas Pageant, 1999.

Admission to NOMA, located in City Park, is free to Louisiana residents and costs for others range from $4 to $8. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday through Sunday.

History-making Midway. The National World War II Museum in New Orleans continues its special exhibit, "Incredible Victory: The Battle of Midway" through Oct. 28.

The exhibition explores the American Pacific Fleet's struggle to confront the Imperial Japanese Navy following the defeat at Pearl Harbor.

Located at 945 Magazine St., the museum is open from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Tuesday through Sunday. Admission prices range from $6 to $14, with members of the military in uniform admitted free.

 

July 26, 2007

Recycling Day. New Orleans area residents have an opportunity to take their recyclable trash to four locations on Saturday. In Orleans Parish, residents can drop off items from 1 to 4 p.m. on the East Bank at the intersection of North Claiborne Avenue and St. Peter Street, and on the West Bank at the library at Gen. de Gaulle and Holiday drives. In Jefferson Parish, the drop-off centers are open from 9 a.m. to noon on the East Bank at the Yenni Building and on the West Bank at the Alario Center. For information, dial 311 for the city of New Orleans or call Jefferson Parish at 504-731-4612.

Conference. Association for Theatre in Higher Education conference at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, July 26–29. "Regenerations: Theatre and Performance as a Regenerative Force, With New Orleans as the Reference Point" features Sister Helen Prejean, advocate for prisoners facing the death penalty, as the keynote speaker. A walking audio tour of New Orleans, "Sounds of Displacement," is available on the conference website.

July 23, 2007

Fancy Fingers. The 19th annual New Orleans International Piano Competition (July 21-29) began with the Piano x Four Concert. Four members of the Newcomb Music Department — Joni Jensen, Jane Guild, Cara McCool and James Kelly — performed.

Daniel Weilbaecher, a professor of practice at Tulane, is the artistic director of the Musical Arts Society of New Orleans, sponsor of the competition and the concurrent Keyboard Festival and Piano Institute.

The week includes master classes and lectures. Competition semifinal rounds will be held Monday–Friday, at 7 p.m. The final round is Sunday, at 2 p.m. at Loyola University’s Roussel Hall.

On Saturday, the Keyboard Festival presents Jazz at the Tower, a jazz/buffet featuring pianist Ellis Marsalis at the Cricket Club, 2040 St. Charles Ave. Tickets for the Marsalis event and the piano competition are available by calling 504-899-4826.

On Cable TV. The first summit of Tulane's Institute for the Study of Race and Poverty will air on cable channel 4 in Orleans Parish on Monday, July 23, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. and 7 p.m.–1 a.m., and Thursday, July 26, 3–9 p.m.

For more information about the summit titled "Structural Racism and Recovery: Opportunities for Change," contact Verna Barnett, 504-862-3684.

 

July 20, 2007

Batter Up. The Southeast Louisiana Baseball League, an affiliate of the National Adult Baseball Association, will hold tryouts and a draft for its inaugural season. The tryouts begin at 9 a.m. on Sunday (July 22) at Muss Bertolino Park, 620 West Esplanade Ave., in Kenner. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m.

A $20, non-refundable tryout fee will be applied to your league fees. Tryouts are open to anyone 18 years of age or older. If you would like to play baseball this fall, attend the tryouts to be placed on a team.

An alternate location of Butch Duhe Park, 1710 10th St. in Kenner, will be used in the event that Muss Bertolino cannot be used.

For further information e-mail Aaron Guidry or call 504-606-905.

 

July 18, 2007

Health Watch. "Urban Environmental Contamination and Health Under the Microscope: The Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina" is the theme for this year's Urban Geochemistry and Health Conference, which will be held July 22-25 at the International House Hotel in New Orleans.

Researchers from Tulane University Health Sciences Center, Tulane School of Public Heath and Tropical Medicine, and the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research are working with the Society for Environmental Geochemistry and Health to bring together international experts in urban geochemistry, urban contamination and human health to discuss the effects of urban contamination on the environment, public health implications and policy.

Sessions will explore such themes as surveying, sampling and mapping methods, indoor dust exposure, policy implications of urban contamination, and a morning plenary session on Monday (July 23) focused entirely on New Orleans and lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina.

For more information and a fee schedule, visit http://www.segh-nola-2007.com.

 

July 10, 2007

Get on the bus, film fans: A new generation of student filmmakers is coming to Canal Place Cinema in New Orleans on Thursday (July 12). Student Films Across America, the first-ever traveling student-run film festival, will screen the best of today's high school and college student films as it road-trips through 50 college towns and cities across the United States and Canada.

In their tour bus, which is named "Vivian," festival founders and student filmmakers Brian and Steven Amos began their journey on June 7 in Madison, Wis., at the new Sundance 608. The festival will conclude with an awards show in Los Angeles on Aug. 11.

A local student filmmaker will be featured in each city on the tour. In New Orleans, a short film called "Transience," by University of New Orleans student Kevin Hughes, will be featured.

The film festival will be held at 7 p.m. Admission is $7.50.

 

July 3, 2007

Return of the Streetcar. New Orleans residents and visitors who miss the rumble of the streetcar on St. Charles Avenue will be happy to know that the historic cars are making a phased return to service.



While the streetcar line won't be completely back to its pre-Hurricane Katrina form until the spring of 2008, it is expected to be operating on St. Charles Avenue from Canal Street in downtown New Orleans to Napoleon Avenue by this fall. The St. Charles line resumed operation between Canal Street and Lee Circle last December.

The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority is running buses on the usual St. Charles route from Claiborne Avenue to downtown.

Meanwhile, streetcars have resumed their routes down Canal Street and along the riverfront. Because all 24 red Canal Street streetcars and six of the seven Riverfront streetcars were flooded, the historic green cars, which all survived, are running on both of these lines.

Repairs are under way to restore the streetcars and their overhead electrical systems and power plants that were seriously damaged in the Katrina flooding. RTA spokesperson Rosalind Cook said repairs to streetcars themselves will cost about $1 million per car, but funding has already been secured to fix all 30 that were damaged by flooding and that work is proceeding.

 

June 8, 2007

Two music and food festivals will spice up this weekend (June 8-10) in the New Orleans French Quarter, offering free music, cooking demonstrations and food booths for sampling of regional dishes.

The New Orleans Seafood Festival opens today (June 8) at noon at the Old U.S. Mint on Esplanade Avenue at the Mississippi River. The festival schedule lists 22 bands on two stages playing from noon to 7 p.m. today and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (June 9 and 10). Cooking demonstrations with top New Orleans chefs are planned both Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.

Just down the street from the Old U.S. Mint, the French Quarter Corp. will hold the Creole Tomato Festival on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the French Market. Creole tomatoes are delta-bred and highly prized for cooking and eating.

The festival offers free music, starting off with the Shades of Praise Gospel Choir at noon, followed by the 4 x 4 Jazz Band at 2 p.m. and Fredy Omar Con Su Banda at 4:30 p.m.

New Orleans chefs will demonstrate cooking with the tomatoes, and food booths will line the Farmers Market area. Boxes and baskets of just-picked tomatoes will be available for purchase, and French Market craft and vegetable vendors also will be open.

 

May 8, 2007

On View. The first solo exhibition in the United States for Ammar Eloueini, associate professor in the Tulane School of Architecture, is on view at the Contemporary Arts Center, 900 Camp St. "Making 10 Years – Ammar Eloueini" is on display through June 24.

The exhibition will feature work over the last decade by Eloueini's Digit-All Studio, which he established in 1997. The studio is an award-winning design firm in architecture, product and digital media with practices in the United States and Paris.

In 2001, Eloueini was awarded the prestigious Nouveaux Albums des Jeunes Architectes, the French Institute of Architects' highest recognition for architects under 35. His studio's designs have been featured in solo and group exhibits and published worldwide.

Between 1999 and 2005, Eloueini chaired the Digital Media Program and taught design studio, theory and digital fabrication at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Recently completed designs of Eloueini include the exhibition "Skin Tight" at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, a stage set for choreographer John Jasperse (pictured) and several retail spaces for fashion designer Issey Miyake.

The exhibit is on view in the first floor galleries of the Contemporary Arts Center, which is open from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Thursday through Sunday.

 

April 12, 2007

"Forensic Psychiatry Post-Katrina: Lessons Learned Post-Disaster" is the subject of a conference Friday through Sunday (April 13-15) at the Chateau Sonesta Hotel, 800 Iberville St., sponsored by the Center for Continuing Education at the Tulane University Health Sciences Center.

The conference is for psychiatrists, attorneys, neurologists, psychologists and allied mental health professionals, who will earn continuing medical education (CME) credits for attending. Registration and detailed program information are available online.

 

April 10, 2007

A community outreach project — the restoration of Bayou Bienvenue in New Orleans' lower Ninth Ward — will be the subject of a workshop with neighborhood residents and academicians on Thursday and Friday (April 12-13).

The planning workshop will take place at the J. Bennett Johnston Health and Environmental Research Building on the Tulane University Health Sciences Center in downtown New Orleans. It is sponsored by the Center for Bioenvironmental Research at Tulane and Xavier Universities, the Louisiana State University School of Landscape Architecture and the Sierra Club of New Orleans.

The group will discuss development of a five-year plan for the project.

 

March 15, 2007

March Madness returns to New Orleans with the first and second rounds of the 2007 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship hosted by Tulane University. The New Orleans Arena will be the site where eight teams compete for two spots in the "Sweet Sixteen."

Among the four first-round games on Friday (March 16) for the South and Midwest regions are top-seeded teams, such as No. 1 University of Florida and No. 2 University of Memphis. Two second-round games will pair Friday's four winners on Sunday (March 18).

 

March 14, 2007

Juggling post-Katrina issues, work and caring for a loved one can take its toll on caregivers both mentally and physically. Professional caregivers make up about 15 percent of the national workforce, yet people who take care of an ill or aging loved one might not recognize that they are family caregivers or have associated physical and emotional risks.

"Family Caregiving 101 ... It's Not All Up to You" is a nonprofit, online resource, which provides information on being a caregiver and helpful ways to deal with everyday stress.

A team of five mass communication students at Loyola University New Orleans are promoting this nonprofit client while participating in the national Bateman Competition, sponsored by the Public Relations Student Society of America.

 

March 2, 2007

Radio station WWNO-FM is inviting members of the Tulane community to help clean up New Orleans City Park on Saturday (March 3) between 9 a.m. and noon.

Volunteers will meet starting at 8:30 a.m. at shelter 7 on the north side of Harrison Avenue a few blocks east of Marconi Drive. Volunteers are asked to bring work gloves, boots, bottled water or soft drinks and yard tools. Participants can register by sending contact information to WWNO-FM.

 

February 12, 2007

It's a king cake promotion with heart. From now through Mardi Gras Day on Feb. 20, Whole Foods Market stores in Louisiana and Texas are donating a dollar for each king cake purchased to benefit the local shrimping industry in Louisiana.

The donations will go to support the White Boot Brigade, a group of local shrimpers who sell their catch to New Orleans-area restaurants. The organization aims to help fishermen and shrimpers in Louisiana recover from Hurricane Katrina. The brigade is affiliated with marketumbrella.org, which promotes local producers and growers of food products and is sponsored by Loyola University of New Orleans.

Whole Foods' stores in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina will run the king cake promotion through Feb. 25.

In 2006, Whole Foods' south region of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina donated a dollar for every king cake sold and raised $5,000 for the Crescent City Farmers Market of New Orleans.

 

January 10, 2007

The Louisiana Smoke-Free Air Act took effect Jan. 1 prohibiting smoking in most businesses around the state. Smoking still is allowed in stand-alone bars, gaming facilities, tobacco stores and designated rooms of hotels and nursing homes. Also, customers can smoke on outdoor patios of restaurants.

While Louisiana is the 22nd state to enact a broad smoking ban, government-influenced cessation has some roots in New Orleans. U.S. surgeon general Luther Terry, who 43 years ago (Jan. 11, 1964) released the first federal report to link health hazards and cigarette smoking, had earned his medical degree from Tulane University in 1935.

Clean indoor air laws have been the single most effective policy to protect people from the dangers of tobacco smoke, according to Tom Farley, director of the Prevention Research Center and chair of community health sciences in the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. He says they not only protect nonsmokers from second-hand smoke, they also encourage smokers to quit.

"Studies in many other areas have shown consistently that they do not hurt restaurant business," says Farley. "In fact, since so much of the U.S. has smoke-free restaurants now, most tourists coming to New Orleans are accustomed to restaurants with clean air and would be upset if they have to breathe in someone else's smoke."

More information about the act and resources is available from the Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco-Free Living.