The zen temple down the street has started offering dharma talks after the meditation on Sunday mornings and the topic has been Genjo Koan, which was written in 1233 by Eihei Dogen, founder of the Soto Zen tradition. The “issue at hand” is the koan of everyday life. And so let’s just start with that. As I kneeled in the corner, facing the wall, meditating and practicing the tradition of letting thoughts come and go,…
Krewe du Vieux rolled tonight in between thunderstorms; the first parade, one of my favorites, went unseen as Tin started coughing early this morning and pretty much went to bed this evening coughing. There are other parades, I told him. Other marching bands, I promised. Thank god is all I thought. We go to a handful of parades, so they carry more import than they possibly should, but whatyagonnado? We live in New Orleans where…
A colleague I used to work with was fired a long time ago and she said it was because she was the Miner’s Canary. A more recent ex colleague sent a note saying that I tweet like a canary. I replied it is what it is. My mind is simply where I am right now, in Ohio, with my friend who has just became a mother to a beautiful and adorable baby boy. Meanwhile, I…
Tidings of Love ‘Twas the night before Christmas in Faubourg-St. John And not a creature was stirring, at home or beyond. The stockings that hung by the chimneys were frayed With thousands laid-off and the rest underpaid, And tucked into spots where they wouldn’t be taken Were cookies for Santa in case of a break-in. The kids dreamt of sugar plums dancing with stars, But the dreams of the grown-ups were really bizarre: The mayor…
Yesterday was a glorious day here in New Orleans and a neighbor/friend text me – Bike Ride? – and an hour later we were careening down the bike path that follows the bayou out to Lake Ponchartrain. Beautiful doesn’t begin to describe the ride (a large Louisiana pelican followed us in flight for most of the way) and there was even more reward when we got to the Lake and rode up the ramp to…
So you know how they say beauty is in the eyes of the beholder? And well, it is. This morning I went with a friend and our dogs to the Couturie Forest in City Park, which I’ve been hearing about for a while now. Yes, I was expecting a forest, but the sad fact is that most of the forest was denuded by the Federal Flood and the subsequent clean up that took away all…
Scientist predict the unusually hot summer that has hit New Orleans is here to stay till mid-century – thank god for air conditioning! Last night, we headed to the Fair Grinds to see film clips from If God is Willing and Da Creek Don’t Rise called Pickin Up Da Pieces, starring Angie and her dog Roki and were treated to some good music from Angie and Gingerbread along with Monica and Joy. The film was…
Last night, a friend ragged my joie de vivre saying she reads my blog but disagrees sometimes with my effusiveness about New Orleans. “It’s so great to live here!” she mocked, “is there any place better?” she rolled her eyes [well, no] – she harpooned me, “there are other places, this place isn’t always so great.” Oh, really now? Do tell? Could I live in another city and raise Tin like I’m raising him? I…
So in 2004 during Mardi Gras, I was walking around the streets singing Who Shot The LaLa over and over and a little boy kept telling me to quit singing that song. But obviously the song stuck in his head so in 2005 when I bought the house on Moss Street his dad drove him by to look at it and he pronounced it first Rachel’s Writing House and then later changed it to Rachel’s…
The Saints & Sinners Literary Festival is this weekend. I got a day pass for Saturday and will be checking out the poetry readings at the Bourbon Pub. There is a Toy Art Show on Saturday night at 4537 N. Robertson @ 7PM. Tin’s nanny is curating it and it promises to be worth a peek. There is a photography show at HomeSpace, 1128 St. Roch, starting at 6PM. Worth a stop. I’m sure there…