Street Talk

WWOZ has long served as the voice of New Orleans's culture and as a source of information about the music community. We now expand that role with WWOZ Street Talk: a cultural news service.

On the air and on the web, Street Talk addresses issues vital to New Orleans' cultural rebuilding: from the future of music education to the struggle to keep traditions like second lines alive.

Hear voices from brass band players, city officials, gospel choir directors, bar owners and more. We address housing, jobs and schools through the lens of culture and ask local political candidates about their specific plans for rebuilding.

The Cream Rises to the Top

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Warren and Sandra Smith are a dying breed: family dairy farmers. Six years ago, they decided to stop losing money by selling their milk to producers, and began pasteurizing their milk themselves. That's both good and delicious news for Louisiana.

Salt Dreams

cover of Salt Dreams video
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J.T. Nesbitt has been called many things: a genius, a fool, even a modern-day Don Quixote. In 2005, he was the most famous motorcycle designer in the world. J.T. came at his projects not as a mechanic but as an artist. His undergraduate degree is in pre-columbian sculpture.

Out of the Ashes

Photo of fire-damaged church courtesy of NOLA.com
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When Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church lost their Central City location to an electrical fire, they found a temporary home inside Temple Sinai. As the Jewish synagogue rings with gospel praise, the circumstances give rise to a new friendship between the two congregations.

"We were locked in and then the water started rising . . ."

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Arrested for public drunkeness then locked into a cell as the water was rising, Terry resigned himself to an ignoble death: "I felt like a rat in a cage that was tossed into the water . . ."

The Closing of St. Henry's

St. Henry's Catholic Church — photo by Infrogmation
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The Archbishop of New Orleans announced recently that St. Henry's will be closing at the end of the year. There have been many who have accused the Archbishop and the Catholic church of closing the church in order to sell the land for profit.

No Dim Bulb — Green Light New Orleans

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Green Light New Orleans is reducing New Orleans' CO2 emissions, not to mention our energy bills. They do it for free, and with loving-kindness, one light bulb at a time.

Roll with the NOPD Crisis Unit

NOPD Crisis Unit
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The New Orleans Police Department's Mobile Crisis Unit attends to the city's mentally ill on their worst days.

Yoga in the Lower Ninth Ward

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Michelle Baker is the owner of the Swan River Yoga Studio on Magazine Street, where she teaches yoga during the week. After the storm, she wanted to expand her practice beyond Magazine street and into some of the harder-hit neighborhoods of New Orleans.

Rain or Shine Community Garden

photo of young gardeners
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Rain or Shine is a community organization that is looking to turn many of the city's blighted properties into community gardens. Today we take a trip to the garden where volunteers work with kids, teaching them the basics of gardening.

Student Design Expo

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The Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum has teamed up with several New Orleans Public Schools to teach kids design concepts by using hands-on projects.