Her hips uncover the truth about America’s music history
The movement of her body and the drum are one. Every sway and hit of her hips seems effortlessly in sync with beats from the drum and the notes from the piano and saxophone. It’s a practice session for the Chipo Kandake Revue: Black Magic Woman, which promises to deliver Kandake’s dance and jazz drummer…
Recent Posts
K-3 reading improves as Louisiana continues early-literacy focus
Armed by scientific studies, reading experts urged a resurgence of phonics, which helps children learn to read by sounding-out words, in a way well-known to older generations. But the state’s third graders are still struggling from their Zoom-heavy start to reading.
Tracking the sediment carried by the muddy Mississippi
New research shows that typically, less than 10% of land-building alluvium reaches the Bird’s Foot Delta region, the southernmost reach of the river, where it meets the Gulf.
Judge’s order requires Farm Line ‘be treated with human decency’
For the second consecutive year, a federal judge tells the DOC to provide Farm Line workers with protections from the sweltering Louisiana heat.
‘It’s just not fair’
Nearly 1,000 Louisiana prisoners, including a Jefferson Parish man convicted by an 11-1 jury verdict, hope for relief in a non-unanimous jury bill that could hit the Senate floor on Wednesday.
KIPP and NOLA Public Schools argue over special education of a kindergartener
Parents said that their young child was too sick to go to school. But the school disagreed, and so the child received no services last year, then started this year with no services. It’s still unclear who’s to blame — and how to catch other students before they fall through the cracks.
Through a new Mississippi River channel, Mother Nature shows the land-building power of sediment diversions
As the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion flounders amid politics, some scientists say that doubts about its effectiveness can be addressed by Neptune Pass, which branched off the Mississippi on its own and is creating the largest new delta in North America.
opinion
Nothing is ever black and white on a plantation
The recent fire at Nottoway Plantation, which reduced the “big house” to ashes, serves as a stark reminder of the complexities we navigate to uncover the truth of our history.
Only those who have experienced jail can understand the bigger picture
In New Orleans, where incarceration touches nearly every block, jail population counts are much more than numbers – they represent families fractured, futures derailed, and communities under pressure.
The New Orleans jailbreak: crisis, blame, and a system built to break
Some of the loudest voices talking about problems that led to the jailbreak are the same ones who’ve supported underfunding and cuts to social services, education, and mental-health programs—drivers of crime and incarceration in the first place.
Working for bike safety, after suffering a severe bicycling injury
Bejasa, an avid bicyclist who spent three months in a wheelchair after being hit by a car, asks Lens readers to join her at two upcoming bicycle-safety events this weekend. See details below.
PODCAST
Behind The Lens episode 273: ‘Caught in the lurch’
Delaney Dryfoos on the the largest new delta in North America. Marta Jewson on how the decentralized New Orleans school district caught one special education student in the lurch between NOLA Public Schools and KIPP New Orleans.
About the Lens
The Lens aims to engage and empower the residents of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. We provide the information and analysis necessary to advocate for more accountable and just governance.