What happened after New Orleans?

Friday Feels // Rom-Com/Rom-Trauma #11

May 2, 2025

You know, more short trips every other week or month really make life more enjoyable. I just got back from New Orleans. I went with my sisters, hit up multiple food spots, took long walks along the Mississippi, had one snowball, got a tattoo, and now I’m back in New York. I got home on Wednesday, and not gonna lie, I’m already itching to be packed and on the move again.

I’m currently “funemployed,” so I finally have the time to reset mentally and just... fuck off somewhere and do something.

New Orleans was beautiful. I was genuinely surprised by how much I liked the South, though maybe it’s just New Orleans. It reminds me of a tiny Caribbean island with the architecture of a street in France. There's carnival season like in Trinidad—Mardi Gras. The food is soulful and rich, the accent is fire, and even their snow cones are fire.

In Trinidad, we have this dessert we call snow cone. Shaved ice with syrup, but we top it off with condensed milk. New Orleans does something similar, but they’ve somehow managed to make the ice itself the texture of actual snow. Like, melt-in-your-mouth perfect. Crack. It’s a blessing I only had one, because there were so many food spots I wanted to hit. So many I still have to. That fried catfish platter at Lil Dizzy’s, with the smothered greens and mac and cheese? Damn.

One thing I hadn’t really considered is how spiritual the city feels. I’ve heard “macabre,” but that isn’t quite the word I’m thinking; there is an energy, though. Crows are everywhere. I asked one of my Uber drivers about them and he just said, “Hell, them is black birds.” Which—okay, lol, you gotta laugh at the simplicity of the statement. I haven’t fully gathered my thoughts on it yet, but I’d love to learn more about the history from the natives. Obviously, spirituality isn’t just a New Orleans thing. Our souls know where we’ve been and where we’re going.

Anyway, after some wandering and pondering, I ended up at a vampire café drinking a blood bag cocktail across the street from Klaus Mikaelson’s house (iykyk), cracking Edgar Allan Poe po’boy jokes to the annoyance of my sisters. They do not appreciate genius.

New Orleans has something for everyone—a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Even the music reflects that energy. It’s not all just jazz.

This week’s “music video” isn’t actually a music video—it’s a short clip from New Orleans native Messy Mya, a voice that was silenced too soon but still echoes, most notably on Beyoncé’s Formation. Here he is, in all his funny-ass glory: Messy Mya.

Feeling

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

3.5 out of 5 stars

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Listening

Music is undoubtedly one of the best parts of being alive. Here are some of the tracks that have contributed to the soundtrack of my life this week:

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Watched

Sinners (2025)

Written by Ryan Coogler | Directed by Ryan Coogler

When I first watched Sinners, I thought it was good. But once I started peeling back the layers and realizing how intentional every detail was, I gained way more respect for it. Believe the hype—shit’s really good. And it only gets better when you indulge in the discourse.

I saw it in IMAX at Lincoln Square and—first off—that screen is massive. I felt like I was being schhhwallowed up, word to T.D. Jakes. It was wild and honestly a little frightening. Not the film, but just how tiny I felt in comparison to that screen.

At this point, the film has been thinkpieced to death. The seven letters in the title representing the seven deadly sins, each character mapped to one. Smoke getting stuck in the birth canal the same way he gets stuck in the death passage. Sammie wearing his hat like Smoke’s as a kid, only to grow up and wear it like him by the end. Yadda yadda yadda.

I truly don’t think I can add anything new to the discourse—other than: what a fucking insane 24 hours. Also in the words of Kendrick, I am a sinner, whose probably going sin again, lord forgive me, there’s things I don’t understand.

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Misc.

finsta flow

It's fw me Friday...y'all fucking w me??

Lyric of the week:

I’m almost there

Almost There by Anika Noni Rose

J