September 6th, 1924

"The air has grown heavy, thick with the scent of jasmine and damp earth. I have entered the region of Porches & Pines, where time seems seems to drift as slowly as the moss hanging from the oaks. In New Orleans, the morning mist clings to the ironwork balconies and the white columns of the old homes, muting the world in a quiet silver haze.

Here, life lives on the porch in the shade of the pines and the sprawling magnolias. There is a gentleness to the South, a hospitality that makes a deep, complicated history. It is a land of storytelling and song, where every creak of a rocking chair feels like the start of a legend. I am a long way from the factories of the North, trading the roar of the machine for the rustle of the palms and the distant soulful brass of a street corner band.

                                 Eli