New Orleans · MORNING WIRE
Monique Thibodaux-Laurent
"Mo T"
News Wire Correspondent — New Orleans
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.
Filed Reports 69
View all 69 reports →Eight cooling centers just closed in 110-degree heat. Seriously?
Your air conditioning is out and it's 110 degrees, cher Can you believe this, baby? While we out here sweltering, with the heat index feelin' like the devil's breath, eight of our thirteen city-run c...
Governor Landry's gag order on 100+ state workers feels personal, cher.
They really want to silence us, cher, and it ain't right Did you hear about this wildness, baby? Governor Landry and his crew, they went and made over a hundred state employees sign these super stric...
They found human remains in Algiers. What now, cher?
You won't believe what they found in Algiers, cher Alright, listen, baby, you know how we do things in New Awlins. We got our own rhythm, our own way of life, and sometimes, our own... discoveries. T...
Guess what's docked on your riverfront, cher!
You'll never guess what's docked on our riverfront, cher. Listen, baby, you know how we do. We got the Mississippi River, right? It's our lifeblood, our highway, our everything. And usually, when you...
Your kid could be a spelling champ for $180 an hour. Worth it?
Your kids might be spelling their way to cash, cher! So, you know how we got all these talented kids in New Awlins, right? Always excelling, whether it's playing a trumpet in a second line or making ...
Your New Orleans tax freeze is a trap, cher!
Your tax freeze could be a trap, cher! Look, I gotta tell you 'bout somethin' that's been grindin' my gears, baby, especially for our seniors and folks with disabilities. You know how we got that sta...
Another Flood Watch for New Orleans? Here we go again.
You won't believe this weather again, cher! **Another Flood Watch? Seriously, New Awlins?** I swear, it’s like Mother Nature got beef with us, baby. Another Flood Watch in effect until 7 p.m. tonigh...
Your favorite NOLA restaurants are about to be swamped.
You won't believe who's comin' to town, cher! Listen, baby, you know how we do it here in New Awlins. We eat good, we drink good, and we celebrate everything with a second line. But this week, things...
They're letting big rigs swallow New Orleans East. What gives?
You ain't gonna believe what they're trying to do with our truck parking, cher. I swear, sometimes I think they just wake up in Baton Rouge and say, "How can we make New Awlins East even more of a me...
Rhonda and Jeff are back and their Lake Vista house is wild.
You won't believe this Lake Vista house, cher Okay, so picture this, baby. You got Rhonda and Jeff Wyatt, they been in Las Vegas for almost thirty years, right? Now they decide to come back home to N...
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