My latest: The Louisiana Sunspot

Dear friends,

This is the final episode of our “Still Here” multimedia series. We’re finishing with one of my favorite New Orleans storytellers.

https://apeaceofmymind.org/2025/10/09/bruce-sunpie-barnes/

Bruce Sunpie Barnes is a bandleader who plays accordion and harmonica for Sunpie and the Louisiana Sunspots. The band travels around the world playing what he calls Afro-Louisiana music: a fusion of zydeco, blues, Creole funk, gospel and tunes from Africa and the Caribbean.

But Sunpie also has a parallel career as a naturalist. He spent 32 years working for the National Park Service, much of it in Barataria Preserve, a vast expanse of wetlands, bottomland hardwood forests, and palmetto groves.

As a young man, Sunpie kept one foot in each world. By day, he surveyed plants and animals and led hikes and canoe trips. At night, he frequented the numerous New Orleans bars that offered live music. He befriended some of the greats, including rock-and-roll pioneer Fats Domino, who would sometimes call him late at night and invite him to hang out at a nearby hardware store.

“He would go through the hardware store, not buy a single thing, just take two hours and walk through it,” Sunpie recalls. “But before he went, he would put on a gigantic pot of red beans and rice or something like that. And it would cook for three or four hours. And he’d come back, play piano, drink a few beers, and just hang out all day.” 

There is so much more—about how to preserve both wetlands and culture—so please check out the interview at this link. Here’s a video preview: 

“Still Here” is a collaboration with photographer John Noltner and his non-profit, A Peace of My Mind, which uses art and storytelling to bridge divides. You’ll find links to all the episodes here.

Plus, what I’m reading:

One of the most profound experiences of my career was visiting a sanctuary in China’s Sichuan Province that gave second lives to captive moon bears. Before their rescue by the  Animals Asia Foundation, the bears had lived in small rusted cages and wore armored jackets designed to restrict their movements. Permanent latex catheters were used to extract their bile, which is used in traditional medicine. 

At the Chinese sanctuary, they have access to grassy enclosures equipped with hammocks, wading pools, and climbing bars. They enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables, quality medical care, and the company of one another. 

I wrote about this in 2011 for onEarth magazine. Here’s one of their bears post-rescue: 

I haven’t seen much coverage of the bear bile trade since then. So I was grateful to read Ryley Graham’s article in Earth Island Journal about a bear named Chinh, rescued to a sanctuary in Vietnam. You can read it here.

And some bragging on a former student:

As the Trump administration purges government websites, journalist Natalie Alms is on the case. Natalie, whom I taught at Wake Forest, now covers federal technology policy for the news site NextGov. Here’s her latest about the disappearance of at least 15 government oversight websites, and with them access to watchdog reports and whistleblower links.

Thanks for letting me send you weekly newsletters. I’ll send you one more issue in October. After that, I’ll be ratcheting down the pace, but you can expect to hear from me about once a month.

All best,
Barry Yeoman