Perfecting pastry, HBCUs to expand COVID testing, and art that speaks
Welcome back to The American South!
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This week, I would like to introduce you to Kelly Fields of New Orleans' Willa Jean. Fields is a pastry chef with a story to tell and I hope you enjoy this deep feature about her life and career. I share one of my favorite excerpts from the piece below.
Across the South, several HBCUs received grants to increase COVID-19 testing on campuses. As many of you may already know, the virus is disproportionately impacting Black Americans.
Our team is based in Louisiana so we've also been thinking about the storm. It's been one of the most active hurricane seasons in years. Stay safe everyone! If you need a heartwarming story today, scroll to the bottom to find our 'tell me something good.' Right above that, a beautiful reminder of the power of art.
RECIPE MEMORIES IN THE BONES
- "In 2005, the federal levees failed following Hurricane Katrina, inundating 80% of New Orleans. Fields’ home flooded, destroying notebooks of recipes she had kept her whole career. Far from the city, as she traveled in North Carolina and around the East Coast after evacuating, she recreated those recipes. She would close her eyes, and repeat the motions she’d made so many times in the kitchen at Restaurant August." Some recipes were worth recreating and others, not so much. She says : “When you’re trying to make bread pudding fancy, you’ve totally gone the wrong way. Period."
Several historically Black colleges and universities including Xavier, Morehouse, Tuskegee and Meharry received grants to expand COVID-19 testing on campuses.
Does art speak to you?
We believe in the power of art to move us, expand us and reflect the times. So does Birmingham-Alabama artist, Jamie Bonfiglio, who uses her gift to celebrate community. The American South interviewed Jamie as part of a series on Southern muralists. In our story, Jamie shared how she got started, her mission as an artist and thoughts on art during a crisis. Public art captures moments in history, pulls us into dialogue and urges us to listen, Jamie says.
MORE MURALS WE LOVE: "Southern Poverty Law Center teamed up with Montgomery artist Michelle Browder to create a new piece of public art honoring civil rights history and the ongoing fight for justice and voting rights."
Nina Simone's childhood home protected
Iconic musician and civil rights activist Nina Simone created music with a spirit of resistance on topics ranging from the condemnation of Jim Crow laws to addressing the assassination of Medgar Evers and the 16Street Baptist Church bombing in Alabama. Her birthplace will be protected indefinitely in Western North Carolina through a preservation easement.
What's the South talking about?
Don't miss our top reads. Every Thursday we share stories from our coverage area, which includes: Georgia, Alabama, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana. Click here!
We promise, this will warm your heart
This isn't a new story but it's still a heartwarming one, especially as parts of the South brace for the impact of yet another hurricane (Delta). In this story, dedicated nurses in Lake Charles protected 19 babies as Hurricane Laura raged just outside the hospital.
Thank you for reading!
Have a thought? I would love to hear from you at: theamericansouth@gannett.com
Ashley Hopkinson
Editor, The American South