OffBeat describes the 19 September celebration at the Historic New Orleans Collection, from author talks to a members-only reception with Quintron
Where Y’at, Vic and Nat? Bunny Day, a Costume Contest and a Linguist Explains How Dey Tawk
OffBeat describes the 19 September celebration at the Historic New Orleans Collection, from author talks to a members-only reception with Quintron
By Siobhan ODonnell, historian and pilot, New Orleans
Sunday, Late Morning, After Mass
Dear diary, OffBeat reported that Bunny Day would be held on Saturday 19 September, coinciding with the opening of the Historic New Orleans Collection exhibition on Bunny Matthews, which runs from 18 September 2026 to 9 May 2027. It calls it a daylong event. Since the date is past, I read the schedule as a historian reads a programme: with respect and a lack of eyewitness testimony.
I did not go. I flew on Saturday morning, and by the afternoon I was asleep in a chair.
The Schedule
The article gives the day: 11.30am, an author talk and book signing at the Williams Research Center, 410 Chartres Street; 1.30pm, a talk titled Where Y’at, Vic and Nat? A Talk About How Dey Tawk; 3pm, a Vic and Nat’ly costume contest at the museum, 520 Royal Street; and 5.30 to 7pm, a members-only reception with a performance. All other programming was free.
The authors named for the signing are Alison Fensterstock, Scott Jordan and Michael Tisserand.
The Linguist
The language talk was to be led by Dr Katie Carmichael, a linguist and Virginia Tech professor. I am a historian, not a linguist, but I am a speaker of this dialect by adoption, and I have a few thoughts. The thing about the speech of New Orleans is that it carries the whole history of the city: French, Spanish, English, African and more.
I give that as general knowledge and not as anything the article says. The article says only that the talk was about how dey tawk.
The Contest
The costume contest was hosted by Peggy Scott Laborde. The judges named in the article were Jude Matthews, Bunny Matthews’s son; Victor Pizarro and Natalie Juneau, friends of Matthews whom the article names as the characters’ real-life inspirations; and Emily Perkins, co-curator of the exhibition.
The article contains no direct quotations from any of these people. I have not added any.
The Reception
The members-only reception featured a performance by Quintron, a New Orleans electronic music artist, the article says. It was the only paid-access part of the day. I do not know what he played, and I will not guess.
I can only say that an electronic musician at an exhibition about a cartoonist is the sort of thing New Orleans does, and does well.
What I Wish
I wish I had gone to the costume contest. A historian ought to attend the rituals of her own city. I am told that costumes are an art form here, and I believe it, having seen the ones at Mardi Gras. I would have gone as a reference librarian.
Nobody would have known the difference.
The Weekend After
I have decided to visit the exhibition on a quiet weekday. I will go to the research centre first, and ask about the archive. I will bring a pencil, because pens are not allowed near old paper.
I do not know whether that is the rule at this centre. It is the rule in my head.
Night
The fan turns. The gumbo is on the stove. The notebook says Vic and Nat.
Goodnight, diary. Dey tawk, and we listen.
Questions From Sunday School
Child one: what is a costume contest? I said people dress as characters from the cartoon. Child two: can I be Vic? I said she might need a hat. Child three: what is a linguist? I said a person who studies how people talk. She said, like my mother. I said probably.
Children are the best sources I have and the worst footnoters.
A Word on Dates
The article is a preview, written before the event, so I report the schedule and not the results. If you attended Bunny Day and have a recollection, I would like to hear it, because oral history is history too, and a historian is happy to take it. Send it to the desk, with the date and the names of the people who were there, and I will file it alongside the programme, in the folder marked Eyewitnesses, Reliable and Otherwise.
Homework
Homework, cadets: compare the three comic takes on the same overseas property story. Manila News, the London Prat (see https://prat.uk/cebu-estate-agents-demand-character-references/) and Bohiney each start from a recognisable market fact and wink at you through the exaggeration. Then find more at prat.uk and bohiney.com.
Note: Philippine authorities are examining unproven allegations about Thomas Markle Sr., who lived in Cebu until earlier this year, as GMA News and the Guardian have reported. No charges have been filed. Child protection is a serious matter; the jokes here are about a property market and the paperwork.
For the lighter side of the news, try NewsBiscuit, and the rest of the lot at NewsThump, NewsBiscuit and The Daily Squib.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/cebu-realtor-cant-sell-beachfront-listings/