opinion

jewel bush: House made of history, sanctuary against sorrow

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Over the weekend, I traveled to St. Landry Parish, the heart of Creole and Cajun culture and heritage in Louisiana, to attend my great-uncle’s funeral. My great-uncle Will was a tall, agreeable man who lived a simple life wearing flannel shirts, loving baseball, family and above all horses – horse training, horse riding and horse betting. He never left home, literally. He spent his entire 77 years living in the same quaint cabin tucked deep into the woods of Rideau Settlement on our family’s original homestead, land purchased for $25 an acre by his father.

court

jewel bush: The family business — convicting Trayvon

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Less than a half hour after George Zimmerman was acquitted of murdering Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teenager in self-defense, his brother, Robert Zimmerman Jr. appeared live on CNN to begin damage control. Robert has since been making the rounds in an aggressive, vigorous push to reassert his brother’s innocence and praise the American judicial system — all the while doing the proverbial happy dance on Trayvon’s grave. The George Zimmerman “nana-nana boo boo” media tour, led by Robert, is in full throttle. Robert’s interviews are packed with vitriol for Trayvon. He has accused the high school athlete, who was college bound, as being a drug dealer looking to purchase guns and cause trouble.

arts, books and music

jewel bush: More write hard

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I was startled to see a self-addressed envelope arrive in my mailbox over the weekend. Back in January, I wrote a letter to myself as part of a New Year ritual with my writers group. Jamey Hatley, a Memphis transplant and gifted wordsmith, leads what has become a literary sacrament for the MelaNated Writers Collective. We write handwritten notes to ourselves, seal them and then hand them over to her for safekeeping. It’s an individual exercise that we do together.

opinion

jewel bush: Civil rights in the Facebook era

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Last week, Facebook blocked my account for 12 hours because it alleged that a picture I posted violated its terms of use.  The image in question was a black-and-white still from the early 20th century of a man hung from a lamp post with a sign affixed to his chest that read: “This Nigger Voted.”

Yes, this is graphic, uncomfortable and hard to view, but given last week’s news — the highest court in the land striking down key parts of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — the context made sense. It wasn’t gratuitous Rambo-esque or Tarantino bloody and gory for brutality’s sake. I shared this historic image of a lynched black person to spark a discussion and to remind the pop culture community that while folks waste brain cells deciphering the lyrics of Kanye West’s new album or who is Twitter beefing with whom, our rights are being stripped away in brazen swoops. These photographs were taken as grisly keepsakes to cast fear and send a chilling message to blacks that violence wasn’t a false threat; it was a tree, rope and hate-filled mob away for those who sought to take part in this country’s democratic process. Sometimes these prints were turned into souvenir postcards and retailed for as little as a dime.

arts, books and music

jewel bush: A summer reading list — for grownups

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“When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground.”  African proverb

Growing up, I loved summers and not just for the stereotypical reasons like no school or staying up late. The bookworm in me cherished the summertime because it meant enrolling in the summer reading program at the library. I would go to the library once or twice a week to checkout new reading material. I don’t remember my top number of books read during the dog days or what I even read, though I vaguely recall one middle school summer checking out a hardback on voodoo that was later banned from the library system. Aside from having an affinity for literature, the incentives – bookmarks, gift certificates for personal pan-sized pies from Pizza Hut and coupons for Skate Country and Putt Putt Golf – didn’t hurt either.

opinion

jewel bush: A final prayer for Terrilyn

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The case of Terrilyn Monette has sparked discussion regarding the rules of engagement for a night out on the town with friends and has caused groups of gal pals to establish a code. One of the things that drew us to this incident is that so many of us could identify with Monette. She was one of us; a professional woman out celebrating an accomplishment, her Teacher of the Year nod. She could have been a member of our girl posse. Or on any given night we could have been Monette.

food and drink

jewel bush: Adventures in local eating

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I was first exposed to “patty pan squash,” an oddly shaped vegetable that somewhat resembles a bell pepper, at the Hollygrove Market three summers ago. A few of them came in the weekly produce box along with a recipe to cook the sunburst squash. For just 25 bucks, you get a grip of locally grown and produced fare, a rotating cast of fresh eats dependent upon the season. My foray with patty pan squash was a culinary bust. No one in my household liked the dish, and my memory is foggy as to whether I actually enjoyed it myself despite fond memories of repeatedly saying “patty pan squash.” Patty pan squash would be unknown to me if not for the New Orleans Eat Local Challenge.

health

jewel bush: Young trailblazers for equality

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The day before his Ben Franklin High School graduation, a time when teenagers might engage in pranks or attend parties with buddies, Will McGrew helped organize a counter protest to the NOLA Needs Peace, Not More Abortion Coalition rally. The action was held on Monday afternoon near the proposed Claiborne Avenue Planned Parenthood site, a controversial new state-of-the art health facility slated to open in 2014. A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for next week. NOLA Needs Women’s Health – Support Planned Parenthood; a pro-choice, pro-Planned Parenthood effort, is the brainchild of 18-year-old McGrew and a direct response to the recently initiated NOLA Needs Peace, Not More Abortion crusade. McGrew saw the billboards and immediately processed the message as potentially harmful to women.

health

jewel bush: NOLA does need peace — not judgmental billboards

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When I was driving on Carrollton Avenue yesterday, I was greeted by what I thought was a timely message: “NOLA NEEDS PEACE.” Days after a mass shooting left 19 people injured at a second line on Mother’s Day, no one can dispute the call for peace and an end to the violence that plagues — and numbs — the New Orleans community. But, then I read the rest of the sign: “NOT MORE ABORTION.”

Huh!? These large display billboards are sprouting up around town at the hands of the NOLA Needs More Peace, Not More Abortion Coalition, a citywide group of churches and community organizations. This anti-Planned Parenthood crusade is muddling the reality of the violent city we live in and mixing in hot button, pro-life rhetoric to further confuse the issue and not to mention impose religious dogma on the public at large. The framework for this messaging is illogical, defective and itself violent.

city government

jewel bush: Why can’t New Orleans just cut the grass at its ballparks?

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Last summer, my son played baseball for a park run by NORDC, the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission, the dramatic voter-approved overhaul of which was supposed to be one of Mayor Landrieu’s first major accomplishments. For months, his team practiced on a sliver of grass not on a baseball diamond. Although one game was played at Norman Playground, the rest were scheduled at Behrman Park — also on the Westbank — because we were told it was the only facility in NORDC that had operating field lights. There was only one bench for two dugouts to share. The team that arrived first claimed the bench leaving the other players to sit on the concrete slab or in the bleachers among the throngs of Little League supporters.