John & Edna Kenny are some of the nicest, most genuine people I have ever met. We used to be neighbors on Magazine Street, where Edna owned an antique store and was known for years as "The Angel of Magazine Street". Unfortunately, the store had to be closed a few months ago because of John's declining health. Edna shared with me recently that when you pass a certain age and your health becomes uncertain, you have to look forward to different events to hang on to life, and she assured me that John was going to be around for their 60th anniversary on February 12, 2011, and for the book release right after that.
I sure hope so. John is quite an extraordinary man: a graduate from the Polytechnic Institute of New York, he is an author, a World War II veteran, an artist, and earned his doctorate from the Louisiana State College System in Urban Studies on his 80th birthday in 2006. He's the other Dr. John! The story he shared for the book is quite amazing as well. Since hearing it, I started using the expression "I'll take the beans" as a mean to say "I'll take the lesser of two evils."
John and Edna were some of the first people to return to New Orleans after the storm, and there is a comment Edna made that struck me: one thing she missed the most when they came back to clean up (by-the-way, her fridge was fine because before leaving town, she emptied a whole bottle of vodka in it!) was the sound of children. After not seeing any kid for months, one day Edna went to Walmart and saw a little girl: she rushed to her and just hugged her.
Edna and John's photo was taken in the parking lot behind their store, and posing them in front of the brick wall was a no-brainer: there is still so much love between these two, that when I asked them to kiss, they didn't even blink!
That afternoon, I met with Donald Harrison, Jr. who was introduced to me at Antoinette K-Doe's viewing. The contrast between the decrepit wall and Donald's perfect attire and shining saxophone created already such a powerful imagery, I only asked the musician to play. It was delightful, and a particularly quick photo shoot I wouldn't have minded lasted longer...
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