Sweet Home New Orleans has had three homes since its founding in 2005; from a crowded two-room office in Tremé, to borrowed space from NOCCA and the Antenna Gallery, helping clients along the way to rebuild their roofs while their own was falling down! According to Sweet Home New Orleans Executive Director, Sue Mobley, musicians, Mardi Gras Indians, Social Aid and Pleasure Club members, and others have responded to this move in the same way, “That’s perfect, that’s where y’all should have been all along!”

Sweet Home New Orleans’ mission is to support the individuals and organizations that perpetuate New Orleans’ unique musical and cultural traditions. Merging with Renew Our Music Fund in 2008 to create a one-stop service center for New Orleans’ music and cultural community, Sweet Home New Orleans supports the revitalization and sustainability of New Orleans music and the cultural community through individual case management, counseling, legal assistance, advocacy, and music business education.

Welcome Sweet Home New Orleans!

January marks the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. Dr. King, known the world over as a civil rights icon, who advocated non-violent protest, had a special relationship with the city of New Orleans.

In a recent interview with the New Orleans Healing Center, Charlie Johnson, special curator for the New Orleans African American Museum’s 14th annual exhibition celebrating Dr. King’s legacy observed that Dr. King would come to the city to meet with ministers and leaders here, people like Reverend A.L. Davis, and others. It was here that he was asked to assume leadership of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Mr. Johnson went on to explain that the history of New Orleans made it different than a lot of other cities in the U.S. at the time. “There was always a climate of militancy in New Orleans,” he said. “Groups of individuals, particularly a lot of the free people of color, fought against injustice because they weren’t about to accept being treated as less than equal.”

Dr. Nikki Brown, a history professor at the University of New Orleans, spoke to the other side of that equation. “There was certainly an element in the hierarchy in New Orleans at that time that resisted any change to race relations and felt that African Americans were being treated well.” Dr. King fought against that power structure all through his civil rights career but Dr. Brown points out that it’s important to consider Dr. King, not as a static icon but rather as someone who evolved during the course of the Civil Rights Movement itself. “In the early 60s, Dr. King faced pressure from other elements of the Movement that were skeptical about his non-violence principles,” Dr. Brown explained. “And ultimately he was just as influenced by his opponents as he was by the people who supported him.”

The New Orleans Healing Center commemorates Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. this weekend with a series of videos documenting his life that will be shown at Café Istanbul starting at 2:00pm, Saturday, January 14, prior to the Saints vs. 49ers game.

When: Saturday & Sunday, December 17 & 18, 2011, 11am to 6pm

Where: New Orleans Healing Center, 2372 St. Claude Avenue

The New Orleans Healing Center will present its first Holiday Bazaar on Saturday & Sunday, December 17 & 18.  The Crossroads Arts Bazaar will feature a wide range of works such as sculpture, textiles, paintings, clothing, and jewelry as well as repurposed items and art made from recycled objects.

These arts and crafts will be available for sale and make great handcrafted holiday gifts.

In addition to the arts bazaar, Saturday will feature an appearance of television personality Shorty Rossi and his Pit Bull Hercules, sponsored by the Sula Foundation.  Shorty and Hercules are featured on the popular Animal Planets television show, “Pit Boss.”  From 11:30am to 1:00pm, Shorty will be available for pictures and signing autographs.  In keeping with the Pit Bull theme of the day, there will be Pit Bull caroling, adoptable animal friends by
the SPCA, and presentations by the Sula Foundation, Dogs of the 9th Ward, The Pit Krewe, ARNO, Canine Connection/NO FLEAS, Dog Levee Dish, and other animal rescue organizations.

Spay/neuter certificates will be distributed by Shorty to people who need them and there will be sign-ups at the Sula table for certificates to make sure anyone who wants one.

“The Little Rascals” shorts will start at 3:00pm in Cafe Istanbul, followed by

“Hercules Saves Christmas” at 4:00pm.

From 12:00noon to 3:00pm, Benardett Jno-Finn, founder of Sénica health and beauty, will present a DIY Gifts Making workshop in Rm. 252 at the New Orleans Healing Center Street University.  Fee: is $20, $15 co-op owner/members.  This will be an open workshop with the opportunity to make 3 spa quality gifts with ingredients found at Island of Salvation Botanica and the New Orleans Food Co-op.

Later in the afternoon, AfricaNOLA Drum Circle will perform in Café Istanbul and members of the ensenble will serve free samples of traditional African dishes.

Sunday will feature once again, the arts bazaar, live music performances, free hot chocolate and food samples, free samples of traditional African dishes, and kids’ activities.

Sweet Home New Orleans, the newest resident of the New Orleans Healing Center, will celebrate its grand opening during the Holiday Bazaar on Sunday with a Treme Brass Band second line parade beginning at their old office at 831 Elysian Fields at 2:15pm and end at the Healing Center at 3:00pm.  A ribbon cutting will occur shortly thereafter, followed by a reception and live music performance by the Treme Brass Band in Café Istanbul.

“AfricaNola brings African musicians to New Orleans to live, perform, teach, and share cultures that are uniquely intertwined with our own.”

Come and participate in the first Healing Center Drum Circle on Sunday November 27, 2011, 5pm at Café Istanbul! The Drum Circle will be a monthly happening at Istanbul and is hosted by AfricaNola. Master African drummer Thierno Dioubate of Guinea, West Africa will lead the circle. Please bring your own drums, horns, flutes,cowbells,etc. though additional drums will be provided. Spoken word artists are most welcome.

Following the drum circle there will be a performance by Africa Brass, a NOLA based African ensemble led by Tim Green and Thierno Dioubate that blends Jazz, Brass, and African drums into a powerful and moving sound, bridging the music of two continents and eight centuries.

This event is free and open to all. There will be delicious free food and discount coupons from Fatoush Restaurant and the New Orleans Food Co-Op available. Donations to the musicians will be welcome.

Photos by  Timothy White Eagle

Julie Valdivia

Saumya Arya Haas

Today, Aydin is behind the counter at Fatoush, her newest endeavor, the restaurant located at the corner of St. Roch and St. Claude where she is the master of her kitchen.  Housed at the ground floor at the New Orleans Healing Center, Fatoush is a 60-seat restaurant and juice bar, where “juice” can mean anything from alcoholic beverage to coffee, tea and, of course, juice. The patron anxiously awaited taking the first bite of Aydin’s homemade confection. The popular, sweet baklava is synonymous with Middle Eastern cuisine. It is the perfect accompaniment to that cup of steaming, black aromatic coffee. For Aydin, the kitchen is reminiscent of her father’s kitchens in Istanbul where he was king and she was student of cooking and baking.

Fatoush, which bears the restaurateur’s name, is open now and Aydin is preparing for the unveiling of a full menu of Mediterranean favorites. Over the years and several kitchens later, she’s learned the value of preparing and serving really good food that’s made with the freshest, healthiest ingredients she could find – the delicious foods that are reminiscent of her childhood.  Case in point – she’s traveled throughout Louisiana to procure the finest (Kosher) (Halal) meats, the meats that are the foundation of her beef and lamb dishes, like moussaka and kebobs; vegetables, like aubergine (eggplant) for her karkiyarki and grains for tabouli and pilaf.  From the grill, Fatoush promises gyros, chicken, lamb and shrimp kebobs and other selection, a variety of soups and salads.. For patrons who are vegetarians and crave meatless, there will be Mediterranean pasta and other tasteful choices.

Trained at the Parsons School of Design and later schooled at Tulane University where she earned a degree in economics, Aydin has combined her two passions – art and food. She’s become a known commodity in the New Orleans culinary scene. Originally from Turkey, Aydin already has made her mark in several New Orleans kitchens, all of which were a proving ground, places that prepared her for this venture –a restaurant that’s a mix of Greek, Mediterranean, Turkish and Lebanese foods prepared with the finest specialty ingredients of grass-fed meat and poultry, organic, natural vegetables and grains (sans refined sugars or flours, milled grains, hydrogenated oils and sweeteners. Aydin boasts about the quality of the meat and poultry – grass fed free range and hormone free, vegetable that are local.

The location was the first and biggest consideration. A 19-year friendship with Sally Ann Glassman, owner of Island of Salvation Botannica and one of the folks who created the Healing Center, convinced her to open a restaurant here. She admits she was unsure of the location but the vision presented to her by Glassman and others prompted her to be a part. “I didn’t know this area but I have always looked for a challenge, a good risk. I don’t regret this one,” she said commenting on the support she’s received.

The SPCA in recent years has embarked upon a major endeavor in its community outreach programs, which include their offsite adoption places. In the first two weeks at the Healing Center, Delilah, a black cat and Tammy Fae, a large brown dog were both matched up with new owners. “We’re really excited about the Healing Center and being its partner. A great addition to a great neighborhood. We’re all trying to save animals,” Katherine Lablanc, Communications Director at the LA/SPCA, said.

The adoption process includes an interview with you, the potential pet owner, and a meet and greet with any pets you may already have. The pet will be given a spaying or neutering, a microchip inserted into his/her shoulder, a rabies tag and license, and you will be given a bag of food for your new companion. The cost is $80 for cats, kittens, large and older dogs, and $150 for younger and smaller dogs.

The SPCA is always looking for volunteers with its offsite adoption programs, and can be contacted through their website: http://la-spca.org/.