SEPTEMBER 2026 ISSUE

Welcome to the September 2026 ANTIGRAVITY—

We open with an invitation to tend to our integrity, enter self-possessed Virgo season, clean out our fridges for the Harvest Moon, prepare for hosting guests without overextending, pass down the BS Detector to our kids, shine a light on practical art in Kyle McLean’s Gain of Function, consider the importance of local food systems as larger ones collapse, and evade musical genre with Sasha Masakowski. MaCCNO breaks down how musicians make money, Jane Place updates us on the drastic shifts to our housing justice landscape since July, My Spilt Milk discusses Bunny Matthews’ never-ending search for Cool, and Alt Scene NOLA humanizes the myth of Two Quarter George. Our Close Encounters this month includes a rotary phone at Goodwill and more (send us your own close encounters through our ANONYMOUS Google form or at [email protected], a place for missed connections. All email addresses will remain confidential. Don’t be a creep).

Jesse Lu Baum reports on the historic union at Tulane for non-tenure track professors; Danny Cherry Jr. sits down with librarian Amanda Jones to discuss her place in the book ban fever of the past several years; Branna Elenz interviews New Orleans drag queen Laveau Contraire about her trajectory and storytelling; and Co-EIC Dan Fox talks to the authors and Jude Matthews about the new Bunny Matthews book coming out this month from the Historic New Orleans Collection.

But wait, there’s more—comics, reviews, poetry, a crossword puzzle, and a tarot reading are still packed into this brimming issue. Here’s to making it through another August. We Will Always Love You, Dolly.