Eve Abrams

One enduring legacy of Hurricane Katrina and the storm's aftermath is stress.  Stress about  home, family, money, environment, and on and on.  But stress doesn’t stay stress; it has a tendency to become other things.  Eve Abrams investigates how dealing with hard situations, in a New Orleans helping fewer mental-health patients, has affected the health, safety, and moral compass/future of our city.

New Orleans has 43,000 blighted properties, more than any other American city. Fighting blight can be complex, But since Mayor Landrieu’s administration took office, there’s been an invigorated effort at easing the problem.

April 20th marked the two-year anniversary of BP’s Macondo Well explosion, which set off one of the worst oil spills in our nation’s history, causing extensive damage to marine and wildlife habitats, and to the coastal communities which depend upon them.  The full impacts of the disaster are still unfolding, but in Shell Beach, Louisiana, there are signs of how marine life is reacting to the oil and the dispersants which flooded their waters two years ago.

Eve Abrams visited Campo’s Marina, as boats needing gas, ice and bait pulled in and out along the bayou.

For thousands of years, people have walked the intricate patterns of labyrinths as a form of meditation, prayer, and spiritual journey. Here in New Orleans, Trinity Episcopal Church hosts a weekly organ and labyrinth hour open to the public.  All are welcome to walk the twisting labyrinth path at Trinity Episcopal Church, every Tuesday night, from 6 to 7 pm. Eve Abrams followed the labyrinth's ancient path to brings us this story.

When the 2009 Muses parade rolled down St. Charles Avenue, they were accompanied by one of the city's most famous bands: St. Augustine High School's Marching 100. This Mardi Gras Season, St. Augustine's was in a total of nine parades, but none were as momentous as the parade they marched in 42 years ago, when St. Augustine was the first non-white band to roll down Canal Street. Eve Abrams brings us this story.

A long-awaited historical marker was unveiled in February at the corner of Press and Royal Streets, marking the spot in 1892 where Homer Plessy was thrown off a railway car and arrested. Plessy's planned act of civil disobedience eventually made its way to the Supreme Court in the landmark case Plessy v. Ferguson, and, for some, marks the beginning of the civil rights movement.

Some analysts say young voters may have been the key to Barack Obama's presidential victory. According to CIRCLE, a non-partisan organization promoting research on the political engagement of Americans aged 15 to 25, young voters preferred Obama over McCain by 68 percent to 30 percent. But President Obama has inspired even those youths not old enough to vote. Eve Abrams brings up this story.

2009 marks the 100-year anniversary of the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, one of New Orleans' most renowned benevolent societies and Carnival organizations. A yearlong exhibit opens tomorrow at the Louisiana State Museum in Jackson Square, exploring Zulu's origins, unique Carnival traditions and civic contributions.

More information at:

http://lsm.crt.state.la.us/zulu/index.htm