Just in time for the historic New Orleans mayoral election, SMITH’s own Cree McCree unfurls Chapter 2 of her Diary, Back Home in New Orleans. Here’s a little taste.

When we came back home after two months of post-K exile in Asheville, North Carolina (which ain’t exactly the Superdome), most of the plants we’d dragged inside were dead. But our lucky “money” plant was still alive. And, more importantly, so was Tig — the outdoor cat we’d left behind, who reappeared miraculously right after I stopped searching for him online at PetFinder.com. (”Moron!” he meowed. “I’m out here, on the deck!”)