Guess what?! On May 19, 2025, I decided to make a newspaper for New Orleans East! The New Orleans East Sunshine Weekly, “uplifting and enlightening New Orleans East through good news.” Since then (today is 6/9/25), I’ve shared bits and pieces here and there about the founding. Basically that getting there is a whole testimony. So many puzzle pieces over the years, and now we have the finished product. Going to try to just explain what I think are God’s reasons behind some of these latest experiences.
Friend’s New Path: door opened 11/22/24, door closed 01/30/25 3:54 p.m.
One of my dearest friends was looking for a new role (haha I sound like LinkedIn) and bought some resume and cover letter resources. When I went to care for her during dental surgery, she shared those resources with me as part of a thank you. I gladly accepted them, but had no plans on using them. Because five years of rejection really had me drove. But one day I saw an opening to be a restaurant critic for The New York Times! Thanks to these resources, I applied and wasn’t instantly rejected by ATS! That’s huge! So though I ended up not even getting an interview, I now had a resume and cover letter ready for any food writing job!
God’s reasoning: To get me back into applying for jobs, to help me create a resume for any food, restaurant or dining reporting role.
Lenten Rejection: door opened 01/08/25 11:38 a.m., door closed 02/19/25 4:46 p.m.
A friend I love so much and always have (and always will!) texted me a job at her workplace. Great timing because I was crying in the car about my housing situation when she texted it to me. I was so thankful and felt like it was meant to be, because I’d been thinking that I needed a lil handshake job, that maybe that was the key. To know somebody. Then I looked at the board and saw a man who cannot stand me (or other joyful Black women). I knew at that moment I wouldn’t get the job and well yep I didn’t. He’s a clown though, so I’m glad it didn’t work out. Because truth be told, I’d like to beat his ass. Just for sport.
God’s reasoning: To push me to let people know about potential conflicts early on. Because I would’ve saved myself energy had I just told my friend that since someone on the board can’t stand me, it’s best that I politely decline. Like that time I was asked to write for OffBeat, and the time I was asked to write for AirBnB. Against my morals, didn’t end well, should’ve just said no.
Final Rejection: Door opened 04/01/25 8:02 p.m., door closed May 12, 2025 9:09 a.m.
Baby I was heartbroken. So heartbroken that even lil Franklin could pick up on my energy a couple miles away at his 826 afterschool program. Overall, one of the worst days in my life. Getting rejected for this job was just the start of a horrible day for me.
First, another rejection, another time being second-runner up. Getting this job — food and dining reporter at The Daily Memphian — felt like my destiny. In fact, right before applying I learned that my great-great-grandmother, Lillian Elizabeth Lightfoot Meine, was a native of Memphis! And her husband, my great-great-grandfather Charles Frederick Meine, was a well known printer from New Orleans. The hiring process included three interviews but thankfully no edit tests. I’m good at those, but I hate them. Everyone I interviewed with seemed to love me, of course, but they went with someone in market. That’s fine, I get it.
But the thing that made the day so horrible was that I came downstairs to see my beautiful doors were gone. Long story short, maybe this is something I’ll share in more depth with my newsletter subscribers (it’s free, no more than monthly!) my childhood home that I used to own is now owned by someone else and though I live in it, that someone else is making lots of changes to it. So I was already sad about not getting the job, and now my beautiful doors are gone and there’s a hideous AirBnB-style door and my service stairs are gone too. Everything is fucked. However, I ended up going a little viral on LinkedIn after sitting with myself and figuring out what I want from a job and what I can’t tolerate.
GOD’S REASONING: (Job) To get me thinking about moving, to teach me about nonprofit newsrooms that have more than investigative reporting, to get me interested in learning more about my great-great-grandfather Charles Frederick Meine. (House) To help me detach from this house, to make me see folks’ intentions, to make me realize another horrible thing in life — the worst at the time — was actually setup for something greater.
MEGAN’S WINNING SEASON BEGINS!!! Multiple doors open and stay open from 05/01/25 through 06/01/25
- May 1: Got a Seven Powerful Swords of St. Michael candle and an Abre Camino candle. My first full day being 40.
- May 4: St. Michael candle is BLACK at the top, burning fast and cracks but still burns. Cracked at 11:51 a.m. and stayed burning til 2:07 p.m. Abre Camino candle keeps burning clear.
- May 7: Go to Pontilly Coffee and my friend Jared sees me and asks to pray for me. Suggests I find a church home.
- May 11: Get an email from PrayMoreNovenas.com about the Mary, Undoer of Knots novena. I look up favors granted/prayers answered, and WOW! So (full disclosure) I ask Her to help me undo knots of depression, unemployment and poverty, explaining their interconnectedness. Before this, I successfully completed a St. Therese Little Flower novena and a handful of Mother Theresa flying novenas.
- May 15: College bestie and forever friend Sheena tells me she’s singing at Franklin Avenue Baptist Church. I am sooooo proud because she’s one of the most gifted singers of our time. She tells me that she actually won’t be singing Sunday, because a different choir is performing, but still invites me to church.
- May 18: Church at FABC! My first time going to church since Ash Wednesday 2020. A WORD!!! The little girl I used to babysit, Kaitlyn, is being honored! Pastor Chip’s message is “God knows what’s best, so I’ll trust Him with what’s next,” with Jeremiah 29:11 being the main scripture. I have a fabulous day in the East and ask God to please please PLEASE make it clear what He wants from me.
- May 19: My Maw Maw visits me in a dream that morning. I know it was a visit, because I knew in the dream that she was dead, and I saw the light and felt the warmth coming from her. I finish my Mary, Undoer of Knots novena. I literally hear something in my ear say “New Orleans East newspaper.” I look up my great-great grandfather, Charles Frederick Meine, who I’ve looked up many times before, and see that he made a weekly newspaper! It was called The Monitor.
Now Here We are, The New Orleans East Sunshine Weekly is a thing!
On 5/22/25, historically my best day ever, I created a New Orleans East weekly paper feasibility survey and the answers (87 people!) brought me so much joy! I’m doing what God wants! What the community needs! What will bring me joy! June 1 I created a crowdfunding page on Givebutter.com and June 3 I shared it with the world! God is good and I am blessed and thankful! Last few times I had ideas that felt crazy at first — Crescent City Snow, Public Transit Tuesdays — they worked out great! I’m likely giving up the fancy meals and drinks and trips I used to get for free, but I’m excited to do work that does more than just benefit restaurateurs and hoteliers. And I can still benefit them and I can still work on my mom’s memoir!
