New Orleans, LA
Project: Field Notes: Letter from "Joseph Lopez"
Narrated email from “Joseph Lopez” (pseudonym), former University of New Orleans student and resident of “Cancer Alley. Sent to University of New Orleans alum Ella McIntire.
Courtesy of Ella McIntire
Joseph Lopez (pseudonym) is a former University of New Orleans student, an educator, and a resident of “Cancer Alley,” a diverse Latin-American and African American community in rural south Louisiana. This audio narration of an email from Lopez was recorded using another student’s voice to protect the anonymity of Lopez’s family. In the email, Lopez reflects on environmental justice, his family history and how the pandemic has impacted them, the inability to gather as a family and travel to Louisiana due to COVID-19, and educating black and Latino students without internet during this time of online education.