My latest: Louisiana's bayou bandleader

Dear friends,

Here’s a fast weekend read that I hope you’ll enjoy. It’s about Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes, a New Orleans bandleader who also spent decades working as a naturalist for the National Park Service.

As a young man, Barnes could be found hanging out at Fats Domino’s house over a pot of red beans. And also in a canoe in Barataria Preserve, harmonica in hand, serenading a half-dozen alligators by moonlight.

For Barnes, music and nature don’t inhabit separate silos. Louisiana’s rhythms, he says, are as place-specific as its bayous, marshes, cane fields and forests.

https://www.nwf.org/Home/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2024/Fall/Conservation/Bruce-Sunpie-Barnes 

I wrote this for National Wildlife magazine. If you like it, please share.

Plus, some articles I appreciated:

• Hanna Rosin on her insurrectionist neighbors;

• Aymann Ismail on visiting Springfield, Ohio;

• Carli Brosseau on having deep conversations with voters;

• Kavitha Surana on how abortion bans delay lifesaving care; and

• Katie Thornton on one man’s fight to save his region from coastal erosion.

And what I’ve been listening to: Well, Sunpie Barnes, of course. 

I’ll be back in October with an election story. In the meantime, I’m holding close all those along the path of Hurricane Helene, especially the heroes who are guiding others to safety.

All best,
Barry Yeoman