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Author: C.W. Cannon

New South Quackery: Decoding the cultural politics of ‘Duck Dynasty’

June 27, 2014 Updated November 7, 2019
The key is not to be found in the antics of the carefully crafted “rednecks” in front of the camera, but in the political commentary surrounding them — which is essentially a form of marketing.

Is Frenchmen still cool — or just a Bourbon Street for hipsters?

May 23, 2014 Updated November 7, 2019
The ultra-hip have concluded that Frenchmen Street is already too well-known to confer “underground” cred.

The Quarter’s a treasure — so should those trashy tourist shops be banned?

April 11, 2014 Updated November 7, 2019
Many of the galleries proliferating in the Quarter sell wares distinguishable from souvenir-shop fare only by their price tags.

A Kale of Two Cities: the magical New Orleans and the Americanist version

March 14, 2014 Updated November 7, 2019
The national press shows that it’s not really interested in New Orleanian self-analysis. Apparently we’re not qualified.

When was Carnival’s golden age? Take a look around — we’re living in it

February 14, 2014 Updated November 7, 2019
Carnival is more broadly participatory than ever, and its downtown culmination on Fat Tuesday is a public art form unique to New Orleans.

Hipsters, take note: Still not crazy about Starbucks after all these years

December 19, 2013 Updated November 7, 2019
"Starbucks has done a great service to the United States in general by putting semi-decent coffee in places that never had it before. But that obviously doesn’t apply to us."

Garbage in, garbage out: ‘Grand vision’ for French Market junks tradition

November 5, 2013 Updated November 7, 2019
Does a cleaned-up French Market affirm or betray its storied past?

Identity politics: Gentry cling to go-cups while kids and roosters face extinction

September 6, 2013 Updated November 7, 2019
New Orleans native C.W. Cannon savors his right to carry a drink into the streets, but wonders if the go-cup kerfuffle wasn't a tad overblown.

Zimmerman verdict a victory for ‘white fear’

July 19, 2013 Updated November 7, 2019
Was Trayvon Martin's killing a lynching? In one way, it's worse: It was legal.

Media hypocrisy and the n-word: Was Paula Deen fired for her sins or ours?

June 25, 2013 Updated November 7, 2019
Multi-generational white Southerners are not any more racist than racists in Colorado, New Jersey, or the new Florida of George Zimmerman.

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