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The House of Dance and Feathers: A Museum by Ronald W. Lewis

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I spent the first 4th of July after Katrina in Ronald's driveway in the completely devestated Lower 9th Ward. It was me, Rachel, Dan, Abram, Ronald, Ronald's family and a bunch of architecture students from Kansas- grilling in the rain and playing cards in the gutted frame of a house with a tarp for a roof. There was not a house with the lights on for miles in any direction. Every once in a while, a neighbor would drive by, and Ronald would go out and tell them that everyone was here to help him build a museum and that they should move back because the neighborhood was going to rise from the wreckage.

This book helps me understand how he was able to convince folks, and why people came to him for convincing. The stories, photos and soul in this book, and the care with which it was put together: Amazing. It's so hard to explain to people what New Orleans and Second Lines and Mardi Gras mean, now I have an amazing tool to help in my explaining.

Inspirational on a deep level, educational even to folks who know NOLA well, fun to read, and full of gorgeous photos. Every American should own a copy.

The House of Dance & Feathers tells the story of the powerful bottom-up culture of New Orleans, with a special focus on the neighborhood where Ronald W. Lewis grew up and where he makes his home today, the Lower Ninth Ward. But this is not a disaster book. It's about family, community, sacrifice, and the spirit work of sewing a Mardi Gras Indian suit and preparing for an anniversary parade. In partnership with co-author Rachel Breunlin, Ronald invites a parade of fellow-New Orleanians to help him tell the story of his city. The book is beautifully illustrated with photos donated by professional photographers as well as family snapshots. Most of the book is in Ronald's voice, the voice you'll hear if you have a chance to tour his museum. Essays by anthropologists Helen A. Regis and Rachel Breunlin place New Orleans' traditions in historical and international perspective and support Ronald's Pan-African vision.

You can sit down and read this from cover to cover, like I did. Or you can browse through the photos and read about the things that grab you. I couldn't put it down.

If you want to learn why New Orleanians are so passionate about their city, this book is your primer. Ronald takes you through a storied tour of his city's black festive traditions: Mardi Gras Indians, Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs, Skeletons and Baby Dolls. His friends, family, and allies join him to add their visions and memories to this family album.

Neighborhood Story Project, the folks who produced this book, are an amazing resource for stories from New Orleans. If you are at all interested in the culture of New Orleans, the stories of New Orleans, or the people of New Orleans, buy this book.

In a backyard on Tupelo Street, in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Ronald W. Lewis has assembled a museum to the various worlds he inhabits. Built in 2003, and rebuilt after Katrina, the House of Dance & Feathers represents many New Orleans societies: Mardi Gras Indians, Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs, Bone Gangs, and Parade Krewes.

The House of Dance & Feathers is a unique space, showcasing communities who come together to sew and sing, to vaunt and dance, and to reconstruct the city. Like the cultures represented, the museum mixes the the magical and the mundane, and makes explicit the connections between New Orleans, the African diaspora, Native America, and our shared future.