Donaldsonville, Wassup. – Dopebombs on art, style, and all things dope or not dope.

Plantations, mud races, shooting ranges, and crawfish boils—Donaldsonville is buck. I had always wanted to visit since I heard the shout-out to Donaldsonville in the song “Walk Like Ronald” by Hot Boy Ronald, the rapper from New Orleans who ran with artists such as Juvenile and Magnolia Slim. The opportunity for a short visit arose recently, and I found the Southern culture in Donaldsonville to be pleasantly rich. Statues of Black Jesus sit on front lawns, rebel flags attached to trailers fly high, and beautiful historic plantations nestle in the oaks whose branches shade the gravel country roads. Possibly this city’s best kept secret is the monstrous racetrack made of nothing but mud, grass, and pond. This track is home to the gloriously ferocious sport of mud-racing, where the perfect blend of redneck and coonass athlete soups-up his truck to partake in consecutive 15-second long, 75 mile-per-hour races that drench the fence-lined audience in swamp mud. To put it in Southern drinking terms, if the Kentucky Derby is tipsy, Donaldsonville mud racing is white-boy-wasted.

My weekend ended in a place called Pierre Part, 20 minutes down the road from Donaldsonville. Pierre Part harbors the Southern-charmed home of a true Louisiana hero, “Choot ’em” Troy Landry of the History Channel’s Swamp People. He literally has a Cypress-filled swamp in his own backyard. Alligators and all. His living room utilizes the largest wall for not one, not two, but ten mounted buck heads lined up in a row. The Cajun aura of this place is totally intoxicating. Mr. Troy and his family are the epitome of Southern hospitality, on top of being refreshingly humble despite their fame. Aside from his show, Mr. Troy owns the biggest distributor of crawfish in Louisiana, putting out about 2,000 sacks a day during crawfish season. His boiled crawfish were nothing short of DANK, maybe the best I’ve ever had. Needless to say I was star-struck, being a Southern girl and inhabitant of Louisiana, so when he told me he was visiting D.C. the same day I was moving up here, I told him that maybe we could grab a drink? Totes inappropo, but I really didn’t know how to react. Now that I think about it, the proper response was probably a simple “Choot ’em!”

Anyway, I encourage you to embrace your inner Louisiana stereotype and even if you don’t see Landry himself, take a lil half hour drive down to Donaldsonville when you get the chance. Hit up the Houmas House. Kick it to 4-wheel drive and get a little muddy on the way to the shooting range. Drop a boat in Bayou Corn of Pierre Part. C’est bon.

RENU is the dopest jewelry line I’ve seen thus far. Brooke Squyres, creator of RENU, designs modern pieces by hand using vintage and antique findings. She lives and works in New Orleans and always hooks me up with sick jewels. The tightest thing about this line is that each piece is one of a kind. Layered or as a statement piece, RENU jewelry is fun and eye catching. I can wear my boho fringe necklace with just a white tee and jeans for daytime, then dress it up for going out with a tight peplum cocktail dress. Brooke also has a men’s line that legit makes me want to be a man so I could sport that flossy dopenausity. You should seeri follow RENU jewelry on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter if you love bomb jewels.

    

Probs the least dope thing any American can do is to be ungrateful for our freedoms. Not Dope: not knowing why an American holiday such as Veterans’ Day or Memorial Day is celebrated. It’s so easy to be totally ignorant while you’re cuddled up in your fuzzy blanket of freedom, but dude, if you’re an American citizen, catch up on your basic American facts. Memorize the national anthem and belt those lyrics when given the opportunity. This is standard. Recite the pledge of allegiance often. I even like to start U.S.A. chants when things are getting a little rowdy, because remembering that we’re all American is one of the biggest contributors to bar-fight prevention.

Why not do it live?

I hope you love your country at least enough to annually take a moment out of your day to think of the people who have sacrificed their lives in wartime for our freedom and be appreciative of this. Everyone else loves America. You should, too. Mexicans are getting tazed by border patrol, straight dropping their families and possessions to run across vast deserts just to have below low-income construction jobs here. Canada try’nna vibe off of us with 75% of their pop posted-up chillin’ within 100 miles from border. Fourth of July is coming up. Love America. DOPPEEEE.