Pitt's Lower 9 Homes Win Awards

Brad Pitt's connection to New Orleans is making national news once more - and, no, it's not the ridiculous Pitt for Mayor angle.

Pitt's Make It Right Foundation and the avant garde interpretation of New Orleans-style 9th Ward homes that the organization built are catching the attention of architectural critics and environmentally conscious builders.

According to a story in "Building Design and Construction," the homes received some of the highest praise from green builders at the Clinton Initiative in New York.

"U.S. Green Building Council President, CEO and Founding Chair Rick Fedrizzi today declared that the neighborhood being built by Make It Right New Orleans, the post-Katrina housing initiative launched by actor Brad Pitt, is the 'largest and greenest community of single-family homes in the world,'" says the article.

Pitt's foundation is one of the few organizations that invested in the devastated Lower 9th Ward after Hurricane Katrina laid waste to almost the entire neighborhood.

Amid a landscape that brings up images of Dresden post-World War II, the homes rise up above a land dominated by concrete slabs and grassy lots. Not only do the homes offer a beacon of hope for the neighborhood, they offer a glimpse into the future of green construction.

"Make It Right offers a blueprint for how to build homes that instill pride and combine to form communities of hope and opportunity. By following the Make It Right model, we can generate the green collar jobs our economy needs to move forward and advance building practices that reduce carbon emissions, while at the same time growing neighborhoods where families can thrive," said former President Bill Clinton, according to the article.

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HuffPo weighs in on N.O. Mayor's race, pushes James Perry

As the race for New Orleans mayor had made more headlines for who isn't running, as opposed to who is in the race, the national media is beginning to pay attention to what, as of now is a sparse field of candidates.

An article by Karen Dalton-Beninato in the Huffington Post, notes "With mayoral qualification coming up in just over two months and the primary in four, it's becoming late in the day for a surprise contender. The current declared candidates, Sen. Ed Murray, James Perry of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Coalition and Rep. Austin Badon, constitute a relatively small field this late in the game."

Dalton-Beninato is quick to give the lion's share of the space in the article to Perry, a favorite of left-leaning blogs and a local attorney who is running a grassroots campaign and is thought as a longshot candidate in local media, especially since he lacks the money so far to compete with political heavyweights like Badon or Murray -- that's not counting if millionaire John Georges gets involved and pours his personal fortune into the race, which he is expected to do.

She quotes an editorial/political statement that Perry and Princeton professor Melissa Harris-Lacewell wrote for HuffPo: "The lesson from New Orleans is clear: racial injustice and racialized politics too often stand in the way of doing what is best for the whole community," Perry and Lacewell concluded. "We need both local and national leadership that will stand for fairness for all people while also refusing to misuse historical racial antagonisms for their own purposes. The survival of New Orleans is no longer just about restoring America's most distinctive city. We are all living in Katrina Nation now. Learning the lessons of New Orleans may just have the power to save all of us."

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NPR: Cyril Neville On Mountain Stage

Music, New Orleans' signature form was also in the national media, as a performance by Cyril Neville who has a new album had a live show on NPR.

Performing at Mountain Stage, "Handling lead vocals with his wife Gaynielle Neville, Cyril is joined here by Omari Neville on percussion, Norman Caesar on keyboards, Ricky Ceaser on drums, Manny Yanez on bass and Jimmy Dreams on guitar."

Neville and company perform "Shake Your Gumbo," "Mean Boss Man," "I Found Joy," "Cheatin' And Lyin'" and "Feelin' Good."

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