Katy Reckdahl covered the working poor in New Orleans, their struggles to return to the city after Katrina, and the hurdles they faced once they arrived home. She paid particular attention to New Orleans's Tremé neighborhood, which before the storm was home to a rich African American culture and the meeting place for many jazz musicians. Reckdahl wrote long-form pieces about outsiders' perceptions of New Orleans, public-housing residents in one of the city's least-damaged developments, and the struggles of musicians, benevolent societies, and evacuees.