“Tradition is a temple”: Chuck Perkins at the New Orleans Healing Center

On October 2,  we went to the New Orleans Healing Center to meet the local poet Chuck Perkins who introduced us to some cultural traditions of the city and the state. Initially, Chuck read some of his poetry, talking about topics such as the recent economic crisis and the cultural heritage of New Orleans. The title of this post also comes from one of these poems.

After this spoken performance, Chuck introduced as to a number of colleagues and friends with whom he performed music and talked about some of the cultural traditions of the New Orleans area. For instance, we learned - more or less successfully - some of the basic rhythms of local music and also