Judy Cooper is a longtime New Orleanian and second line photographer. A former staff photographer for the New Orleans Museum of Art, she has spent more than twenty years documenting second line parades. More than a decade ago she made it her mission to honor the city’s social aid and pleasure clubs with a book combining history, photography, and commentary from scholars of New Orleans music, dance, and culture. Dancing in the Streets is the result.
Lee Cole was born and grew up in rural Kentucky. A recent graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he now lives in New York.
Edgar “Dook” Chase, IV is a proud New Orleans native, and business owner. He is Owner/President of Chase Concessions, LLC, Executive Chef at Dooky Chase’s Restaurant, proprietor of Leah’s Kitchen and Dook’s Burgers and a partner in a number of other restaurants in the New Orleans International Airport. Chase holds a Masters of Business Administration, and a formal Culinary degree from Le Condon Bleu Paris, France. He received his undergraduate degree in Economics and Finance from Dillard University in 2004.
Professor William Craft Brumfield, recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship (2000) and Fellow at the National Humanities Center in 1992-93, is Professor of Slavic studies and Sizeler Professor of Jewish Studies at Tulane University. In 2002, he was elected to the State Russian Academy of Architecture and Construction Sciences. In 2006, he was elected Honorary Fellow of the Russian Academy of the Fine Arts—the only American elected to two Russian state academies.
Barri Bronston is a native New Orleanian who spent over 30 years as a staff writer at The Times-Picayune before making the switch to public relations in 2012. Currently, she is assistant director of public relations at Tulane University, where she writes for the daily online news magazine Tulane Today as well as the Tulanian magazine. She wrote her first book, “The Lobster Kids’ Guide to Exploring New Orleans” in 2002.
David Brooks is a columnist for The New York Times and a contributor to The Atlantic, as well as Founder and Chair of Weave: The Social Fabric Project at the Aspen Institute. He is a commentator on “The PBS Newshour,” NPR’s “All Things Considered” and NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Charles M. Blow is an acclaimed journalist and op-ed columnist for the New York Times who appears frequently on CNN. He is the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir Fire Shut Up in My Bones and the New York Times bestseller The Devil You Know. He lives in Atlanta.
Amy Banks MD is a Harvard trained psychiatrist and a Founding Scholar of the International Center for Growth in Connection (formally the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute) She is the author (with Leigh Ann Hirschman) of Wired to Connect: The Surprising Link Between Brain Science and Strong, Healthy Relationships. She is a member of the Clinical Advisory Board for the Renfrew Center for Eating Disorders. Dr. Banks has lectured nationally and internationally on Relational Neuroscience.
Kent Babb covers sports for the Washington Post and is the author of Not a Game: The Incredible Rise and Unthinkable Fall of Allen Iverson. His journalism has received national praise; he has won more than a dozen awards from the Associated Press Sports Editors and received the Poynter Institute’s Van McKenzie Cup. His writing has twice appeared in the Best American Sportswriting series. He lives in Washington D.C. with his wife and daughter.
Raymond Arroyo is a New York Times Bestselling author, an internationally known, award-winning journalist, broadcaster and producer. He is creator of a string of New York Times Bestsellers including the Will Wilder series for middle grade readers (Random House) and his first picture book, The Spider Who Saved Christmas which spent weeks on the bestseller lists. He is a Fox News Analyst and co-host, a former CNN contributor, and founding news director at EWTN News where he is seen in more than 350 million households internationally.
