In the summer of 2004, I quit my first full-time job—teaching high school—and answered an alt-weekly ad that asked "Do you love New Orleans history? Do you love to tell stories?" followed by a date, a time, and the location of a 24-hour bar.

My job interview lasted a week: I read and memorized stories, shadowed other guides, and took the city-mandated drug test and history exam. In a week,

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