Valentine's Day: Love Is In The Air at Tulane!

Hey Y’all,

For Valentine’s Day I wanted to do something a little different than the typical “Most Romantic Spots on campus” so I reached out to Nikki and Dan, a couple that met during their time at Tulane.  I hope their love story gives y’all the warm and fuzzies!

How did you two meet?

Nikki: Dan and I first met in the beginning of our freshman year through a mutual friend. Although Dan was my first Tulane kiss (at a fraternity party bus), we just remained friends for the first 3 years of school.  It wasn't until our junior year, that Dan invited me to his Sig Ep Formal in San Destin, FL. We didn't expect it to be a romantic weekend, but somehow by the end of the weekend we were inseparable. From that point forward, we spent every moment together. Four years later we were engaged, and a year and a half after that we were married.  Currently, we are happily married, living in the city we love (New Orleans, of course), in our newly renovate house (a Katrina house, which we gutted and renovated, located blocks away from Tulane), and had our first baby boy this past Christmas. 

What were your first impressions of each other?

Dan: The first thing I noticed about Nikki was her big, beautiful smile.  In fact, I would always go up to her and tell her how amazing her smile was (thinking I was smooth and cool).  But looking back, I sounded more like a pathetic drunk guy trying to get lucky.

Nikki: My first impression of Dan was that he was a very charming guy. He was the "life of the party" and I always had a good time with him. 

What was your favorite NOLA date spot?

Nikki: I’m not sure college life was very conducive to fancy date nights, but our favorite "date spot" during college was the fly. Going to the levee with a blanket, some good food, and a box of wine was our idea of a great date.   

How do you feel that Tulane was a catalyst in bringing you guys together?

Dan: Tulane Greek Life was a huge catalyst in brining Nikki and I together; without it, we most likely would not have found one another.  Throughout college we constantly bumped into each other at a variety of Greek events (ex. date parties, mixers, and fund raising parties). Our social lives revolved around Tulane Greek Life, and the Sip Ep Formal is where our relationship truly began.

BOUNCE MUSIC 101: NOLA’s (formerly) Best Kept Secret

New Orleans is famous for being the home of Jazz music. However, Bounce music is a genre that is so uniquely New Orleans it has only started to receive attention from the country in the last few years. With the re-emergence of “twerking” as a dance trend, more people began to pay attention to where it originated. Bounce music started in NOLA in the late 1980s, and underwent a few shifts before it became what it is today. Future Tulane students should get to know NOLA the way locals do, and what better place to start than with music? 

As a native Louisianian, I grew up with bounce music so it’s as common as any other music genre to me. However, once I came to Tulane I realized that not everyone actually knows what bounce music is. It’s really hard to explain, so I’ll just let y’all hear it for yourselves. “It’s simple, uptempo, heavy bass, call and response type music, and it has a lot to do with a lot of a** shaking,” as Big Freedia once said in an interview. Big Freedia, self-proclaimed “Queen of Bounce” is probably the most famous Bounce artist ever because of her national following and mainstream appeal. She’ll be at Tulane on the 19th of February to discuss race, gender, and cultural appropriation with Tulane professor Marc Perry as a part of the 2014 Black Arts Festival, and I for one am BEYOND excited to meet her. After setting the Guiness World Record for Most People Twerking Simultaneously, her popularity exploded leading to concerts around the nation and her own reality show on FUSE Network, Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce, which follows her rising career and family life. 

Like everything else unique to New Orleans, the best way to understand Bounce music is to experience it for yourself. If you come to New Orleans for a weekend, I can guarantee that more than a few clubs around the city will be playing Bounce music, and Club Republic has a Bounce Night every month, so check it out! Don’t be afraid to search for artists other than the most popular ones. Finding the older or lesser-known artists will give you a really good insight into New Orleans life and culture over the years.

Here’s the video for one of Big Freedia’s biggest hits, “Y’all Get Back Now”: 

And her Guinness World Record Attempt:

Big Freedia follows me on Twitter (seriously), and so should you: @TulaneAlex