Julianne, 21

Where are you from?
I'm originally from Baton Rouge and Belfast.

How do the dating scenes compare between those two places?
Well, in Belfast it's more like, "Oh, are you good looking? Yeah, I'm good looking too. Let's bang." In Belfast it's like everybody's at a rave. In Baton Rouge, not so much.

What do you look for in a guy?
I like skinny boys, I like boys who like obscure music, I like boys who have awkwardly cut hair. You know, "My hair is halfway over my eye and halfway down my ear." I'm totally into that. I buzzed my hair in January of 2008.

Like all off?
Yep. I got a bad haircut and my only solution was to cut it off.

What's the craziest place you've had sex?
Florence, in a tent. My boyfriend at the time and I decided, yeah, we're going to backpack Europe. We were gone for five and a half weeks. One weekend, we were in Florence, and we were drunk, in a child-sized tent, you know... It was awesome.

What are your turn-offs?
Little dogs. Like that one [pointing to a man and his dog walking by]. I'm not saying it's giving away their penis size, but I mean come on, you have a Pomeranian. My stepsister has a Pomeranian.

 

 

John, 33

Where are you from?
New York.

Do you see a difference in dating between New York and New Orleans?
The best way to put it is that there are three million more people to talk to in New York. And I've got to talk to you before I know if there's going to be anything between us. People can look very pretty, but if you don't know what's inside them, you can't connect. More than anything else, I think variety is the spice of life.

What's your profession?
Law.

Do you get a lot of dates through law?
None at all.

So where do you usually find dates?
I don't. It's a desert right now. It's been the rainy season, now it's the dry season.

When it's not dry, what do you do to impress?
Go outside, meet people, try to remember their name, and hope that community service means something.

And what do you look for in someone else?
More than anything else, honesty. And good conversation. Somebody who knows what they're about, and somebody who likes themselves and also is ready to like other people.

What do you like to do on a good date?
I like to climb trees. I like running, climbing trees, I like City Park a lot, I like the museums. A tree is a good place to fall asleep in somebody's arms.

What's the craziest place you've had sex?
I'm not crazy so it's hard. I've had sex in a car while driving at sixty miles per hour on the interstate. But the craziest time has to be on a rooftop in a public place.

What was the public place?
I'm not telling.

 

 

Maureen, 24

What do you do for a living?
I just graduated from Tulane. I have a degree in psychology and also in print making. I'm currently living at home because I don't know what I want to do and I don't know what I'm qualified to do.

I'm in that spot too. It's scary.
Yeah.

What do you look for in guys?
Good taste in sweaters. Boys who are willing to stay up with me all night while I'm doing homework. I've had a couple of boys who have met or exceeded my expectations as far as being there for me while I was stressed. That was nice.

What about turn-offs?
North Face clothes. Cargo shorts. Though, I can appreciate that all boys have gone through cargo-short phases. I think every boy has owned a pair of cargo shorts at some point in their life, but if they're still wearing cargo shorts, I think it's a no. Also, I'm not into really short haircuts. I'm into hairy boys.

Do you have any crazy exes?
I think I'm a crazy ex. I always have grass-is-greener syndrome. I'll break up with someone, then I'll go out with someone else, and I'll be like, "Wait, no, I like that first person better." I change my mind and go back and forth, and that's really frustrating for people I've dated.

Are there any guys you would consider dating again?
There may be someone like that, but like I mentioned, I have terrible grass-is-greener syndrome. I'm saying this now, but when I was with him, I dropped him, right? I have this two-year limit, where I'm with someone and then after two years I feel like, "No, I don't want to do this anymore," and it makes me panicky.

How do you feel about love at first sight?
You can know really early on whether you could be in love with someone. But there's definitely something to be said for love developing.

Interviews and photography by Katie Putnam and Chris Givens.