Sunday, February 10, 2008

The Kid Camera Project

Its a rainy saturday morning in January at the Robinson home in the ninth ward but it feels a little like christmas as the kids gather around Aria Martin a volunteer from the Kid Camera Project. The kids are receiving their graduation cameras. They were the first participants of the program when it started as a plan to give kids something to do after the storm. They were given disposabe cameras and taught some basics about photagraphy and since then the program has grown to several other neighorhoods throughout New Orleans.

Live at Vaughn's: Stories From a Mexican Drug Smuggler

Its wednesday night at Vaughns and the place is packed, but tonight the smoky bywater bar is filled with an unfamiliar crowd. Dozens of law students from Maryland are drinking cold beer and eating barbeque before the show starts. But it is not Kermit Ruffins or Shamar Allen who will take the stage. Its Eppy Lopez, a former drug smuggler from a small border town in Texas. The students are volunteers who came to give free legal aid to the citizens of New Orleans and tonight they will hear Eppy tell stories about his 13 years in Louisiana state and fedaral prison. Eppy strolls up to the stage and makes the Microphone look like a toothpick as he adjusts it to his massive frame. But he is all smiles as recalls the artwork he created while incarcerated in Louisianna.