Hello everyone! I'm Jaenalyn, I recently graduated from USC with my degrees in English (Creative Writing) and Cognitive Science. I decided to do this Maymester because I needed a moment between finishing school and jumping into real life to experience something beyond myself, and New Orleans felt like exactly the right place to do that.
This city has so much culture, food, music, and history layered into every block — and as a writer and obsessive reader, bookpacking through it felt like a natural fit. New Orleans was one of the largest slave trading ports in the country, and so much of what makes it beautiful and distinct today grew directly out of that — the Tremé, Congo Square, the Creole communities, the traditions that survived because people fought to keep them alive. And I want to learn it and let it inform how I see the reality of life and how history has shaped people’s stories. As someone who is biracial and whose Black ancestry traces back to slavery, this feels especially meaningful.
The religious landscape is something I've been wanting to explore too — Catholic churches alongside a living Voodoo tradition and folk magic that never really went away. New Orleans holds so many different ways of making meaning, and I really want to dig into it.
Overall I am excited to read alongside the landscape to experience at least a glimpse of what the characters experienced themselves — and maybe the fervor that the authors’ intended for the reader to encounter.
