So there was this house on the corner across the street bayou that was in disrepair and was basically an ugly house to begin with. And someone wanted to tear it down and put a new house there. And the neighbor opposed it. And every time there was some kind of neighborhood meeting, it got ugly between them. And then that neighbor sold their house. And Friday when I took Tin to school the house…
My neighbor the nun was on the bus in Chicago and I’m so proud of her. We were talking about the courage of Sister Simone Campbell in organizing and then kicking off the nine-state “Nuns on the Bus” tour. Here is an excerpt from their talking points: Ryan Budget would: Raise taxes on 18 million hardworking low-income families while cutting taxes for millionaires and big corporations. Push the families of 2 million children into poverty.…
I lay in bed last night with four books surrounding me, all of them ones I’m about to begin, along with Magic 123, a parenting book. If I had an iPad I would be using it to watch some more of the Issa Rae channel on YouTube, Black & Sexy TV, WIGS, and of course, The Louise Log. These are all channels and programming only found online. And they’re good. But I just had my…
Over a year ago, friends went on a trip and they brought back this little bud vase for us. During the hurricane, a lot of my succulents had hell to pay for being left outside and so I brought a clipping of one and put it in the bud vase. Since the light has changed in August and now seems to stream in golden and horizontal into our kitchen, I noticed the bud vase was…
I was on my way down the bayou this morning towards City Park and I ran into a friend who has been having some troubled times. He said he is coming out of an eight month hole via medication. Now he’s trying to put the pieces of his life together again. Only, very similar to me, because he and I have had these discussions walking in the park for years now, he really doesn’t want…
I’ve been in the weeds with work and hardly able to catch my breath the past weeks upon returning home from our two-month sojourn. And it seems as if the world has sped up yet again, just in time for the fast moving holiday season that begins here in New Orleans end of October and goes all the way through Jazz Fest. Which means zoom – there it is. So I’m trying to get my…
I’ve always considered that my place of worship is City Park. I’m not sure when it became so, but I did realize one day that any day I did not walk through the park was a day without my soul being inspired. This morning, I was walking through the park and looked across the lagoon to the Peristyle and saw a gospel choir robed in purple and gold lifting their voices to the sky. On…
The morning began like this: And quickly segued into this: All because the weekend had been filled with too much of this: I was behind on everything, including the stuff I do for free: The tasks kept piling up, a swim lesson was added at the last gasping minute: And I passed a house on Tchoupitoulas street that had a message for me: So I came home and regrouped in my comfort zone: Happy New…
I didn’t realize when I was “let go” from my job of many years that it would be the best gift someone had ever given me. So it was easy for me to tell my friend, Bill Lavender, that his “letting go” would be the best thing that could happen to him. Bill instantly did what Bill should have done a while ago and that is hang his shingle out, or rather dust it off,…
We watched a fabulous animated film last night called, Sita Sings the Blues, which I highly recommend. You can get it on Netflix, but you can even see it free here. The animation is so original and imaginative that it draws you into this parallel life, the modern one and the historical one (Ramayana). But the film itself was not made without turmoil. The artist Nina Paley used her own life trials for the modern…