I woke up to the shocking news of Anthony Bourdain’s suicide. I literally felt a shock, dropping my iPad in my lap, coming to my feet. I’m not a person who is impressed by celebrity. I don’t follow celebrities or read about their lives. But I didn’t consider Tony a celebrity- he was too down-to-earth, too “regular”. Kind of like your cousin that’s weird but not too weird. I’ve watched his TV shows for years, starting with No Reservations on The Travel Channel, following him to Parts Unknown on CNN. He took us around the world, showed us different cultures, educated us, took us outside our own self-obsessed American lives. He seemed comfortable with and interested in everyone. He didn’t seem to have a bit of artifice or pomposity, instead, he related to all. That was his magic. He was a great friend to a New Orleans and came here often. I wrote this piece on my old blog after his show about New Orleans in 2013 .

I’ll miss you, weird cousin Tony.

Photo via The New Yorker – I highly recommend reading the accompanying 2017 article.