On the Rachel Maddow show the guest host, Melissa Harris-Perry, interviewed two young people who survived Hurricane Katrina and went back to the city and made a mark. The girl, Madeleine LeCesne, won the 2014 student poet award, an award won by President Obama, she remarked, as she introduced him in a WH ceremony. The other, Jason Mitchell, has burst upon the Hollywood scene in his excellent performance in Straight Outa Compton, this season’s big hit film. Both were asked about their high schools, something only Melissa would know to ask b/c she is from N.O. and knows the special role high school identities play there. It turned out the young man had attended the roughest high school in the city, which is saying something, and the young lady had attended what he good-naturedly referred to as the nerd school. I remarked to my wife that with that last name and light skin, she is no doubt Creole, an aspect Melissa did not bring out.
The two youth’s articulateness, the boy’s colored by strong Black dialect patterns, the girl’s a honey-sweet accent, is well worth listening to. here is the link to the 5 minute interview.