Jan 16, 2023
I visited New Orleans recently for the funeral of a friend and, against my better judgment, got a hotel not far from the French Quarter so I could honor my buddy fittingly with a night of Bacchanalian revelry. Fortunately for me, the reports of the city's top tourist spot being overrun with crime appeared to be somewhat exagerrated. Having spent a year living on the bayou, I knew well enough where not to wander alone in the wee hours when visiting the Big Easy. That's not to say I didn't encounter a few shady situations that, but for my good fortune, might have ended worse. While ambling up Bourbon Street, I happened to drift just past the commercial area and into a more residential (read: darkly lit) section, where I stopped to get my bearings. Within a few minutes, a red SUV with tinted windows pulled up, and the driver-a black woman in her 20s or 30s-beckoned me over. I got closer but still maintained a healthy distance to find out what she wa