by Mary-Devon Dupuy

When most people reflect fondly on their high school experiences, very few of them are reminiscing about the solid, triangular layer of cheese on the top of their slice of “pizza,” or the questionable meat patty on their “hamburger.” School lunch lines are notoriously full of processed foods that slow students down rather than pumping them full of the nutrients growing kids need to make their brains and their bodies operate at top speed. A small group of New Orleans kids decided they deserved better from their cafeterias, and they challenged a food service provider to provide them with fresh, healthy food for two days of the week. Recently, HBO chronicled their efforts, and the documentary will be screened this week so locals can see the fruits of their labor.

The N. Claiborne Ave. overpass was once a haven for the homeless, and it makes the ManChu wings even tougher to resist. But Treme residents and urban planning experts alike have long sneered at the relic of Robert Moses-derived urban renewal. Next week, a community group seeking change and experts alike are set to sit down and discuss the future of the area. The Claiborne Corridor Improvement Coalition is hosting a 6:30 p.m. lecture and discussion at the Louisiana Humanities Center (938 Lafayette St.) that will hold forth on the future of the area.

From Press Street's Room 220

Two of the most legitimate ladies of New Orleans community literary projects will take the stage before a live audience on Tuesday, Nov. 15, at 6 p.m. at the Louisiana Humanities Center (LHC) as part of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities’ The People Say Project. The LHC is at 938 Lafayette St.

Today, The People Say Project features a special Film Fest edition, Wine Walk Tuesdays kicks off in the CBD, and Washed Out chills out One Eyed Jack's. Before all that jazz, the first U.S. labor organization was formed by Boston shoemakers (1648), the Mason-Dixon line was completed (1767), Melville’s Moby Dick was published (1851), the Grand Ole Opry opened in Nashville, TN (1925), the Nintendo Entertainment System, along with Super Mario Bros., was released (1985), Wynton Marsalis was born (1962), and Thomas Edison died (1931). Back to today’s lightbulbs:

September 13, when Congress authorized the first national election and declared New York City the nation’s (temporary) capital (1788), the first fatale car accident in the U.S. (1899), when ‘Law & Order’ premiered on NBC (1990), and when Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV Video Awards (2009); it’s Sherwood Anderson (1876) and Roald Dahl’s (1916) birthdays, George Wallace’s death (1998), and Nation Celiac Disease Awareness Day.

August 27, when Petrolium was discovered in Titusville, PA, leading to the world’s first commercially successful oil well (1859), when the Kellogg-Briand Pact outlawing war was signed by the first group of 15 nations (1928), when Stevie Ray Vaughn died in a helicopter crash (1990), and when the skeletal remains of Russian Tsar Alexei Nikolaevich were found (2007); It’s Tom Ford’s birthday (1961), W.E.B Du Bois’ death (1963) and Lyndon Johnson Day…in Texas. Make today your Day with the following:

by Sean Rhoads

New Orleans Community Cinema screens Welcome to Shelbyville Monday night at the Lousiana Humanities Center in the CBD. The documentary, from PBS' Independent Lens, centers on a hard-luck town in Tennessee with a history of racial strife coping with whole new wave of racial division with an influx of Latino and African immigrants. (No, it's not the Shelbyville from the Simpsons, adjacent to Springfield and founded to allow its original settlers to marry their attractive cousins).

April 19th, the day that Marie Antoinette married Louis XVI (1770), when the Revolutionary War began with the battles of Lexington and Concord (1775), when Gen. Douglas MacArthur retired from the military (1951), when Charles Manson was sentenced to death for the Tate massacre (1971), when The Simpsons premiered as a short on The Tracey Ullman Show (1987), the Oklahoma City bombing (1995), Tim Curry (1946), Dar Williams’ (1967), and James Franco’s (1978) birthdays, and Charles Darwin’s death (1882). Speaking of survival of the fittest:

The Defender Picks (a gauche) lay down our list of suggestions each jour de la semaine, but today, we begin a daily ‘pick of the litter,’ spotlighting a few of the day's offerings with some added detail. So, if you don't have plans for the night, here's our inaugural for all y'all's social needs...