Articles by Donnie Claybrooks-Carter

In a world where African spirituality is often reduced to Bourbon Street caricatures and neon “Psychic” signs, Andrew McKee approaches his practice with a quality of quiet covertness. Based in Milwaukee, McKee’s journey into the spiritual arts is deeply personal, rooted in his own family background and cultural inheritance. While he lives far from the […]

In the heart of the French Quarter, the line between the sacred and the mundane often blurs at 4 a.m. inside a 24-hour Walmart. For Mambo Brandi Kelley, the founder of Voodoo Authentica, those early morning hours spent having fun and trying on hats with her late godmother, the renowned Mama Lola, were just as […]

Located in the southern corner of Louis Armstrong Park, just outside the perimeter of the French Quarter, lies Congo Square—a sacred open space that served as the cultural and spiritual beating heart for enslaved and free Black people in antebellum America. Beginning in the eighteenth century under Code Noir regulations, Sunday was designated as a […]

The Voodoo Spiritual Temple in the heart of New Orleans is less a destination and more a confrontation. When I stepped inside, the air was heavy with the weight of accumulation—cluttered surfaces piled with offerings of money, cigarettes, and spirits left by those who had come before me. In the back, sitting at a table […]

Nana Sula, a veteran priestess and vice president of the Congo Square board, rejects the modern tendency to broadcast ancient rituals, viewing the public display of spirituality as a betrayal of the ancestors who fought to preserve these traditions in secret. She argues that the commercialization of the craft has stripped it of its inherent […]

For Laurita Marie, the journey from a strict Catholic upbringing to becoming a high priestess in both the Ifa tradition—as Iyanifa Ifashade—and Haitian Vodou—as Mambo Aqua Wiwa—represents a profound reclamation of self. A New Orleans native and granddaughter of a Baptist minister, Marie turned to the Orishas at age 19 after navigating personal trauma and […]

In the heart of the French Quarter, the Island of Salvation Botanica serves as both a sanctuary and a focal point for the city’s complex spiritual landscape. For Sallie Ann Glassman, Mambo Osagway, the work of African-derived spirituality is an ongoing battle against a centuries-old effort to cast the practice as something to be feared. […]

It is a little after 3:45 p.m. at The Page, a gay bar in the French Quarter, and the afternoon light is just beginning to settle into the corners of the room. The only sound is the rhythmic sounds of a knife against a cutting board as a coworker quietly prepares limes for the 4 […]

Brandon. That was the name of the host whose birthday celebration I attended 12 days before Christmas 2025. The party occupied a penthouse within a haunted landmark in Walker’s Point—a neighborhood of industrial bones and artistic nerves, currently caught in the sweeping tide of gentrification east of I-43. As I climbed the creaky stairs, my […]

The excitement surrounding the proposed accessible splashpad for Milwaukee County, a project championed as a test of fairness and speed, appeared to hit a major slowdown at a recent Commission for Persons with Disabilities meeting, held virtually Dec. 8. Despite being touted as a potential moment to move from Information to Action, the virtual meeting […]

The latest online clash between hip-hop powerhouses Nicki Minaj and Cardi B has again dominated headlines. However, the public’s intense fascination with their personal drama masks a far more significant story: Minaj’s consistent, often-vindicated critiques of the music industry’s structural inequities. While the rivalry is a compelling study in digital-age celebrity feuds, it functions as […]

The ongoing public dispute between Grammy-nominated singer Tamar Braxton and popular YouTuber Funky Dineva escalated this week. The feud revolves around allegations Dineva made concerning Braxton’s recent mouth injury and a former romantic relationship. The drama, largely playing out across social media and YouTube, has drawn significant fan reaction. The feud reignited after Braxton, in […]