New Orleans, LA

I got an email from the zoo:

My name is Zelda, an African Blackfooted Penguin—one of the many animals you can adopt from Audubon Nature Institute! Over the past year, my animal friends at Audubon Zoo, Audubon Aquarium of the Americas and Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species have been doing well because of the kindness of supporters like you.

Your gift of $35 to adopt me will help feed and care for me—and for the many animals within Audubon’s care.

When you adopt me or any other animal at Audubon Nature Institute, you will receive a “parent package,” which includes a personalized adoption certificate, a photo and fun facts about your new wild child and an invitation to a special event only for adoptive animal parents. Animal adoptions are terrific holiday and birthday presents, too!

Thank you for being a part of our Audubon family! Please come visit us; we love to see the people who make our excellent care possible.

Love,
Zelda
African Blackfooted Penguin at Audubon Aquarium of the Americas

zoo, audubon, aquarium, penguin, adopt, new orleans

When a neighbor stirred up trouble after Hurricane Katrina, Jane Dumestre decided to take matters into her own hands. She built a privacy fence, affectionately coined as her “Frustration Fence” to provide a barrier between her home and the pesky neighbor.

Jane’s frustration of dealing with the nosy neighbor forced her to action in building the homemade barrier. The Frustration Fence started out with colored masking tape to protect her side of the fence from prying eyes. But Jane, a self-proclaimed eclectic, says the tape was too boring. That’s when a Mardi Gras parade gave her a brilliant idea.

Jane started placing Mardi Gras beads, barettes, medallions, amulets, pinwheels, milar paper–anything shiny and sparkly–over her fence. “I’ve always had a fondness for anything shiny and glittery,” said Jane, her Frustration Fence evidence of that.

“I’ve always relieved stress by creating things,” Jane told me. “I built the fence to create privacy for myself. But as I continued adding to it, I found that it also relieves some of my stress from this situation.

“It reminds me of when I was a little girl,” adds Jane. “When we used to drive through old Metarie, people would hang colored bottles or glass, naked baby dolls, Mardi Gras beads, and other odd things from the trees.”

Now Jane continues to add to the fence every week. It has even become a neighborhood attraction. “People stop by all the time and take pictures,” Jane says. She even started making goody bags for the passers-by, filled with Mardi Gras beads and other such things. “I’ll ask them if they’re from New Orleans. If they tell me ‘No.’ I tell them to wait while I go inside and get them a bag to take with them.”

With great strength and resolution in her voice, Jane told me the fence is her way of saying, “I’m here.”

Despite having gone through the tragedy of Katrina, Jane has emerged–not a survivor, but a thriver. Jane, also known as “Our Lady of Magazine Street,” said she’s determined to make it, despite the opposition facing her. And I have just enough faith to believe that she’ll do just that.

All photos courtesy of Jane Dumestre.

Jane Dumestre, fence of frustration, New Orleans, faces of New Orleans, New Orleans interview