Noon, Sharp!


August 17, 2019

Why did we choose this date and time to launch?  Even hard-bitten skeptics find it difficult to ignore astrological advice when it includes the word “auspicious."

-by Ellis Anderson 


They say timing is everything.

Our French Quarter Journal astrology columnist, Dina Cavanaugh, chose Sunday, August 18, 2019 - at noon, sharp! – for us to key in the command that opens up the first of our stories to readers.

Not that we here in the editorial office really take stock in astrology, of course – although we love  reading our own horoscopes for fun.  In general, we stick to the “only-the-facts-ma’am” side of the road.  But last month, Dina casually asked when we planned to launch this new endeavor. We told her we were going public “sometime” mid-August. 


This column is made possible by the LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana



That’s the time Southerners have sunk into a morose, comatose state from the unrelenting heat and boredom. Even the most hardy of us are held hostage by air conditioning, dreaming of a day when we can go outside and it doesn’t feel like we’re swimming through warm custard.

People will be spending a lot of time on their devices then, we told Dina.  They’ll need stories like ours to perk them up.

Makes sense, said Dina.  But let me get back to you on that timing.

When she delivered the chart with the recommended date and time, she wrote “Jupiter in the second house is good luck with finances, and a grand trine between Moon, Mercury and Jupiter is auspicious for anything to do with publishing and communications!”

French Quarter Journal's astrological chart


While we still aren’t sure what all that means and we have no idea what a “grand trine” is, the promised outcome sounded extremely positive.  We especially liked the word “auspicious.” With an exclamation point!

Admittedly, we have concerns about the Saints pre-season game at 3p.m. stealing our thunder.  But who could pass up a prediction of “good luck with finances?”

So we will lift a glass and push a button – at noon, sharp! - and begin to weave our little thread into the fabric of French Quarter living.


Check out Dina's StarScope column here. 


 
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Ellis Anderson

Ellis Anderson first came to the French Quarter in 1978 as a young musician and writer.  Eventually, she also became a silversmith and represented local artists as owner of Quarter Moon Gallery, with locations in the Quarter and Bay St. Louis, on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  

Her book about the Bay's Katrina experience, Under Surge, Under Siege, was published by University Press of Mississippi and won several awards, including the Eudora Welty Book Prize in 2010 and the Mississippi Library Association's Nonfiction Author's Award for 2011.  Under Surge, Under Siege was also short-listed as nonfiction finalist for the 2012 William Saroyan International Book Prize, Stanford University Libraries.

 In 2011, Anderson founded her first digital publication, the Shoofly Magazine and served as publisher from 2011 - 2022.  She established French Quarter Journal in 2019, where she currently serves as publisher and managing editor.

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