I am jumping on the bandwagon of those who love Angelina Jolie. I am so, so, so pleased that she and Brad are living in New Orleans, and I can't say enough about the importance of education-reform here in New Orleans (she mentions helping with schools in the excerpt from a Newsweek interview that I've posted below).

This weekend, I attended a fundraiser with Simon at St. George's Episcopal (where Simon teaches), and I was astounded as I watched parents bid hundred of dollars on student-made art... if only our public schools had those kinds of resources!

Anyway, I suspect that Angelina means Maddox's school when she says she loves the schools. I hope that she is planning to focus on helping us improve public--as opposed to private or charter--schools.

From an interview published in this week's Newsweek:

You're living in New Orleans right now. Is that just because you like the city or because you wanted to bring attention to New Orleans, too?
A bit of both. Brad was doing a film here and so we were going spend a month here. [We] realized it was a place we liked, we liked the people, I liked the school for the kids. They're very diverse. I liked the other parents. I feel very comfortable with them. We're happy having our children here. Brad is working on rebuilding here.... But for me, just as a mom, I love the other parents and the kids and the schools. I'm starting to work on the education here and the school system here. There's a lot of work to be done.



The neighborhood she mentions that Brad's working on rebuilding, by the way, is our future home: Holy Cross. Is it, like, so Whatever of me to dream that they'll come to our open house once our house is finished? Whatever!