Special Issues

When I began my public relations career at Sacred Heart, my relationship with The Times-Picayune was typically with community news, photography and education. When I entered the agency world, those media contacts broadened, commensurate with the more sophisticated needs of clients. I adjusted.

St. Joseph’s Day altars and Lenten fish fries are obvious symbols of New Orleanians’ faith. When I open my notebook to interview area cooks, however, less obvious expressions of that faith often emerge.

I can’t imagine a better way to learn all about your city than to write for a daily newspaper.

The Times-Picayune has diligently kept the public informed about the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center since its conceptual development in 1978, when the state Legislature was considering the feasibility of developing a modern convention center to replace the Rivergate.

I’ve worked for The Times-Picayune as a photojournalist for 26 years. Trust is all I have. On the day of Tom Benson’s funeral, I was hoping to get into St. Louis Cathedral to photograph the event.

The New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center has long been considered a “destination of choice” for events that bring world-leading innovators, entrepreneurs, scientists and technology and business leaders from all kinds of fields to the Crescent City.

I was 21 the three months I worked in The Times-Picayune newsroom on Lafayette Square. We used manual typewriters, shared telephones and threw trash on the floor.

I sat at a French Quarter bar watching floodwater creep in, when the familiar frenzied pinging of my phone started. The NOLA.com | Times-Picayune newsroom was shifting into high gear.

Working on the photo and video staffs at NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune was an amazing privilege. I spent 41 years as a photographer, chief photographer, assistant photo editor, multimedia editor and finally photo/video manager.

My favorite part of column-writing at The Times-Picayune was the memorable people who entrusted me with their stories. None inspired me more than Amanda Hill.

Ad Reporter was a daily column of blurbs about The Times-Picayune advertisers launched in 1981 by Advertising Director Bob O’Neill. It revived and updated a previously popular “Want Ad Reporter” column by Maud O’Brien.

Despite all The Times-Picayune’s rituals, it was sometimes hard to figure out exactly what was happening. It was impossible if you weren’t on a desk downtown.

New Orleans is a passionate sports town, and for two decades I had the best job in it. As The Times-Picayune’s lead sports columnist, I witnessed some of the greatest sporting events in New Orleans history.

This is the story of how we wrote the 2002 Times-Picayune series “Washing Away,” which set the stage for what would happen to New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. For years, I had tried to convince my editors that we needed to explain to readers what would happen if a catastrophic hurricane hit New Orleans.

One of the many things I handled during my years at The Times-Picayune was the Loving Cup ceremony. Before I was more intimately involved, I thought this was just some award that was given to a well-known person in the community, to someone who knew a lot of people and sat on a lot of boards.

With Mardi Gras under our belt, something on everyone’s mind is how to make New Orleans’ carnival more sustainable. In recent years, there has been a dedicated effort to make our city cleaner and greener.

It’s hard enough trying to explain New Orleans Mardi Gras much less describe Washington Mardi Gras. Since the 1940s, the Mystick Krewe of Louisianians has brought the pageantry and revelry of Carnival to our nation’s capital. Born when air travel was less easy, the Louisiana congressional delegation decided to bring the festivities to Washington.

The changes to the Metairie parade route this year bring to mind the history of Jefferson Parish’s Carnival.

Is your Mardi Gras costume ready?

ArcGNO has a unique take on supporting the community by turning a New Orleans tradition into wage-earning jobs for adults with disabilities. Employees and volunteers collect, sort and repackage Mardi Gras throws year-round.

With Mardi Gras falling two to three months after Christmas depending on the year, many New Orleanians keep their Christmas trees up and swap their red and green decorations for purple and gold ornaments on the feast of the Epiphany (Jan. 6).

For more than 50 years, the Krewe of Bacchus has made its definitive mark on Mardi Gras. This year’s parade theme, “Starring Louisiana,” will bring Hollywood South alive, as Bacchus honors some of the movies and TV shows filmed or set in Louisiana over the years.

Every carnival season, there’s always something new and fabulous to wear to Mardi Gras. That infamous (but otherwise tacky) swirl of purple, green and gold pops up in surprising ways.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the loss of a local landmark, which was particularly connected to Carnival history: the French Opera House. Built at Bourbon and Toulouse Streets in 1859, it was the center of the city’s cultural life for more than 60 years.

Shopping local is a priority for many New Orleanians. Plush Appeal – The Mardi Gras Spot is a second-generation, family-owned business located in the heart of Mid-City.

It’s Carnival time! Mardi Gras season is synonymous with king cake season. The king cake tradition is thought to have been brought to New Orleans from France in 1870, and like many cultural traditions, has its roots in Christianity.

The Historic New Orleans Collection’s Caillot Circle – a membership community for young professionals between the ages of 21 and 45 – welcomed the Carnival with a festive bash on Jan. 6.

2019 marks the 60th anniversary of Mardi Gras’ anthem – Al Johnson’s “Carnival Time.” He recorded the song in December 1959 at Cosimo Matassa’s studio. It was released in time for Mardi Gras 1960.

When a feather boa flies off a float during a parade, everyone’s hands automatically go up. But, do you know how these feathery delights are made?

After an early carnival season in 2018, Mardi Gras 2019 will fall on Tuesday, March 5. Even though you might have to wait until March for Endymion, Bacchus, Orpheus, Zulu and Rex, the first parades start rolling earlier.