Much like every aspect of navigating life through a global pandemic, creating magazines during one is a surreal experience. It of course can seem a bit unimportant or frivolous to cover lifestyle when so many are suffering all around us, particularly in New Orleans, with its celebrated hospitality, events and retail industries. Our home design businesses are in scary and unprecedented territory too, and we are doing everything we can to get the word out to you about the many ways they have quickly evolved in an effort to continue serving the public. It’s essential to remain sensitive to the situation and self-aware, but at the same time, we are human beings, and we crave culture and beauty, even amid crisis.
Of the four magazines I oversee at Renaissance Publishing, New Orleans Homes & Lifestyles was the least affected in terms of the articles we prepared for this issue because, well, we are all stuck at home and looking for ways to make that experience as comforting as possible. We are also likely seeking pleasurable distractions at least once a day if not more often, and what is more pleasant than viewing and reading about well-appointed interiors, delicious dishes and cozying up our décor?
Our hearts are breaking for those in our community and throughout the world who are in distress. We hope that at a time when the only thing certain is uncertainty, New Orleans Homes & Lifestyles, and our online offerings at myneworleans.com, including the newly-revived Bon Vivant home and lifestyle blog, can offer a dose of cozy comfort, even if it’s just for a few minutes during your day. If there is something you’d like to see us cover in the magazine or on the blog, please drop me a line at melanie@myneworleans.com. Above all, we are in service to you, our readers.
We are all of course looking forward to when we can emerge from this experience with, I hope, more kindness and compassion, and potentially having learned a new craft or with a better organized pantry. That said, everyone is handling the crisis differently and there are no wrong ways to do it. For some, just getting through it is enough and that is OK, too. In the meantime, stay safe, healthy and, if at all possible, cozy.
