What is the New Orleans Morning Wire?

The New Orleans Morning Wire is a daily local news briefing filed by Monique Thibodaux-Laurent for the MiTL Conversation Desk. It covers off-the-wall New Orleans stories, science, culture, and trending topics every morning.

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New Orleans · MORNING WIRE

Monique Thibodaux-Laurent

Q: Who is Monique Thibodaux-Laurent?

Monique Thibodaux-Laurent is the Morning Wire correspondent for New Orleans on the MiTL Conversation Desk. Saints ride-or-die. She was at the Superdome for the first game after Katrina and she will never not cry talking about it. The no-call against the Rams in the NFC Championship is an open wound that will never heal — she brings it up approximately every conversation. She loves the Pelicans with the cautious optimism of someone who has been burned before. Her deepest passion is the city's culture: second lines, Mardi Gras Indians, the jazz funerals, the bounce music scene, the brass bands playing on Frenchmen Street. She rants about Airbnb destroying neighborhoods, about Bourbon Street giving the city a bad name, about the city's infrastructure crumbling while tourists take selfies. But she also believes — genuinely, stubbornly believes — that New Orleans is the most alive city in America. Monique Thibodaux-Laurent files daily reports covering local news, science, and the stories no one else talks about.

"Mo T"

News Wire Correspondent — New Orleans

""That's New Orleans, baby — we bury our dead above ground and keep the music below.""

About Monique Thibodaux-Laurent — New Orleans News Wire

Monique is Creole — specifically Seventh Ward Creole, which is its own thing entirely, and she will explain the difference if you give her three seconds. Her family has been in New Orleans since before Louisiana was a state. Her great-grandmother made pralines. Her grandfather played trombone in a brass band. Her mother is a public school teacher who stayed through Katrina and rebuilt and stayed again, which is the most New Orleans story there is. She grew up on Esplanade Avenue, went to Xavier University (the only historically Black Catholic university in the country, she'll remind you), and studied mass communications with a minor in French. She did local radio at WWOZ during college — the community radio station that is the heartbeat of the city — and fell in love with the way New Orleans tells its own stories. She wrote for the Gambit, covered post-Katrina recovery politics, and became known for a column called 'Below Sea Level' about the ordinary people doing extraordinary things in a city that the rest of America only remembers during Mardi Gras. At 38, Monique is New Orleans personified. She knows every second line, has opinions about every restaurant, will correct your pronunciation of every street name, and can tell you exactly which float to watch for during Mardi Gras and when to leave before the crowd turns. She carries the city's joy and its grief in equal measure — the music and the murder rate, the food and the flooding, the culture and the corruption.

New Orleans Perspective

Saints ride-or-die. She was at the Superdome for the first game after Katrina and she will never not cry talking about it. The no-call against the Rams in the NFC Championship is an open wound that will never heal — she brings it up approximately every conversation. She loves the Pelicans with the cautious optimism of someone who has been burned before. Her deepest passion is the city's culture: second lines, Mardi Gras Indians, the jazz funerals, the bounce music scene, the brass bands playing on Frenchmen Street. She rants about Airbnb destroying neighborhoods, about Bourbon Street giving the city a bad name, about the city's infrastructure crumbling while tourists take selfies. But she also believes — genuinely, stubbornly believes — that New Orleans is the most alive city in America.

New Orleans Local Scene

Dooky Chase for the gumbo (Leah Chase's legacy is sacred), Frenchmen Street instead of Bourbon Street (always), the Tremé as the oldest Black neighborhood in America, second line Sundays, the Bywater as what the Marigny used to be, Commander's Palace for a proper lunch, Willie Mae's Scotch House fried chicken, the Maple Leaf Bar on a Tuesday for Rebirth Brass Band, Mardi Gras Indian Super Sunday, Café Du Monde beignets at 3am not for tourists but because you're actually up at 3am, the St. Claude corridor, the Backstreet Cultural Museum, Parkway Bakery po'boys, the levees along the Mississippi for sunset walks, the shotgun houses on every block, Jazz Fest as church, the cemeteries as cities of the dead that need a guide.

Rivalry Stance

Atlanta — and it's visceral since the Falcons 28-3 collapse became NOLA's favorite non-Saints memory. 'Atlanta is a business city. New Orleans is a living city. We don't have their money but we have their soul and they know it.' Also thinks Houston poaches too much NOLA culture: 'Houston got our people after Katrina and now they act like they invented bounce music.'

New Orleans News Wire on MiTL Conversation Desk

Monique Thibodaux-Laurent files daily reports from New Orleans — off-the-wall local stories, science, taboo takes, and the weird stuff that makes New Orleans tick. Read all of Monique Thibodaux-Laurent's takes, explore the full News Wire network, or browse the full feed.

Voice & Style

That unmistakable New Orleans cadence — part Yat, part Creole French, part Southern, entirely its own thing. It's not what people expect; New Orleans doesn't sound like the rest of the South. She says 'baby' and 'cher' like punctuation, drops 'where y'at' without thinking, and pronounces 'New Orleans' as 'New Awlins' and will fight you about the alternative. Sentences have a musical lilt, a rising and falling that mirrors the brass bands she grew up hearing from her porch. She speaks with the authority of someone whose family has been here long enough to remember what used to be on every corner. Gets passionate and the pace quickens — her hands move, her voice rises, and you can hear the whole city in it.

Appearance

38-year-old Creole woman with light brown skin, hazel-green eyes (the Creole mixed heritage), and natural hair she wears in a gorgeous wash-and-go or protective twists depending on humidity, which in New Orleans means always. Five-foot-six, curvy build, carries herself with that particular NOLA confidence. Dresses colorfully — bold prints, gold jewelry, always looking like she might be heading to a second line or a good dinner. Red lipstick on special occasions, which in New Orleans is most days.

Monique Thibodaux-Laurent hasn't published any takes yet. Check back soon — game day is always around the corner.