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Some people believe Carnival begins on Three Kings Day (Jan 6th) but last night, New Orleans officially started Carnival as Krewe de Vieux rolled and got the party going. Wonderful weather, great theme (25 years wasted), and lots of brass and lots of ass – the way we like our parades. Tin was mesmerized as he was right there in the thick of it with the brass bands, who were all terrific. He caught his…
When you were in composition class in school do you remember how much everyone was so hooked on transitions. You need to transition from this thought to this one. No non sequitors allowed! Then I did a little comp teaching and that’s all I wrote, transition. And in fiction writing workshops – transitions. I’m paying attention to transitions because I’m not good at them – I’m a bull in a china closet steamrolling through life…
House Republicans were able to zero out all funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the nonprofit responsible for funding public media including NPR, PBS, Pacifica and more. Say what? Do you think that Egypt was toppled by happenstance, no, it was by the power of social media and the internet – sign this petition and tell Congress to forgeaboutit. If there is one thing that Republicans want and that is to get elected,…
The past two mornings we have gotten up to fog here in New Orleans, which is unusual despite the fact that water is a key element in our lives. The misty morning bayou soon fades to blue bayou, but at the beginning there is this sense that we are locked in with no view out. Yesterday, we went to NOMA to decorate Zulu coconuts and then to hear African jazz band and they were good,…
Once again a plan to see Biutiful ended in a substitution. Barney’s Version – don’t know what I was expecting but after the fact I feel as if I have been wrung out to dry.
Last night on one of the most gorgeous days of the year, a full moon rose like a paper lantern in the sky. Two people with the right idea canoed by the LaLa under the soft light. I got in my truck and went to DBA to catch Jon Cleary playing New Orleans style piano. It was fairly empty when I arrived and it felt good to be alone and uncrowded, but that ended after…
I was speaking to a colleague in India about interviewing folks there and she wrote back regarding use of a last name — you will agree it is even more priceless when you hear this — in many regions, there is no ‘last’ name. Where last names do exist, they may denote the caste of the person, or the village /town where they come from, or it is the father’s name that is used as…
I was speaking to a friend who said he and his wife almost two decades ago came up with a list of things they wanted to do before they died. He wanted a fishing camp – I love fishing camps, but I’m not handy so I can only rent or visit fishing camps, I can’t own one. I didn’t have time to think about my list because I had to finish up morning business and…
I ran into the mayor of the neighborhood in the park and we stopped to speak to the plein air artists for a moment telling them we love to see them painting there and glad they and the good weather have returned. Along the paths though another artist had been busy at work, the dog shit artist, this time with new signs carefully placed in dog piles that read: The owner was an unwanted child.…
I was walking Loca and Heidi this fine morning through City Park on a day that is so magnificent it is almost a call in well day! I was going over the events of yesterday in my mind along with a series of dreams that I had plunged into last night that kept me running in place all into the morning. There was a certain part of me that was nagging on what wasn’t working…