business

Sponsored: Propeller Pop 2018 will celebrate social entrepreneurs, local cuisine

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With some help from JPMorgan Chase & Co. and several local businesses, Propeller Pop 2018 will celebrate social entrepreneurs with a tasting of New Orleans’ best pop-up restaurants.

The event takes place 6 to 9 p.m. this Thursday, Nov. 15, and will showcase about 10 pop-up chefs based in New Orleans. Roulaison Distilling Co. will have a pop-up tasting room, and spirits from Bizou Wines, Urban South Brewery, and Broad Street Cider will also be available.

arts, books and music

Two literary events celebrate New Orleans tricentennial

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Two events tomorrow delve into the rich and complicated culture of New Orleans and celebrate the city’s tricentennial. But, they force literary-minded New Orleanians to make a rich, complicated decision: both are from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 14.

At Octavia Books at 530 Octavia St., near Laurel Street, New Orleans writer Jason Berry will present and sign his “City of a Million Dreams: A History of New Orleans at Year 300.”

“Jason Berry has a profound understanding of the main ingredients of New Orleans history: race, religion and music,” writes author Walter Isaacson. “In this fascinating work, he weaves them together in a luscious, multicolored tapestry of the town’s 300 years. Like a wonderful piece of jazz, it has recurring strands and lovely riffs that make the narrative dance.”

Advertiser specials

Sponsored: Local ‘Stars’ Dance for the Arts

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New Orleans luminaries dance-off to benefit arts education
Inspired by ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, the 9th Annual Young Audiences Dancing for the Arts gala will feature local community leaders competing on the dance floor with professional dancers for the coveted People’s Choice Award.

The gala will be held at Harrah’s Casino Theatre this Friday, Nov. 16 from 7 to 11 p.m., starting with a red carpet reception and cocktail hour. Festivities will also include a silent auction, open bar, fine fare, and entertainment.

Festivals

Oak Street Po-Boy Festival announces awards for the fest’s best

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A smoked-chicken po-boy from Boucherie on South Carrollton Avenue was named the Best Chicken at the Oak Street Po-Boy Festival on Sunday.

Parkway Bakery and Tavern’s James Brown po-boy danced away with the Best in the Fest award. The BBQ shrimp and beef po-boy beat out the more than 60 variations of the po-boy served at the annual celebration of New Orleans’ signature sandwich.

The Oak Street festival’s website describes Boucherie’s winning sandwich as “smoked chicken with white BBQ sauce, queso chihuahua, candied jalapeno and rapini.”

 

colleges

A harrowing account of mistaken identity: A rape survivor helped send a man to prison for life, only for DNA evidence to prove his innocence 10 years later (FULL VIDEO)

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In 1984, a man broke into to college student Jennifer Thompson’s apartment while she was sleeping and raped her in her bed, but she did her utmost through the assault to scrutinize every aspect of his appearance so she could give police as complete a description as possible. She helped create a composite sketch that swiftly led to an arrest, and her testimony sent Ronald Cotton to prison for both her rape and another woman’s for two life sentences.

Ten years later, DNA evidence proved that Cotton was not, in fact, Thompson’s attacker, and that the actual rapist was a similar-looking man Cotton had been blaming throughout the appeals process. While Cotton sat in prison, that man committed dozens of other violent crimes, including six rapes — leading Thompson to the horrifying realization that her mistaken identification not only sent an innocent man to jail, but also allowed a rapist to walk the streets free.

“If we’re going to talk about wrongful conviction, we also have to talk about wrongful liberty,” Thompson said. “…Everybody gets hurt. Everybody is failed — everybody except the perpetrator, who lives to be free.”