I walked Loca early this morning because I had to be at my desk earlier than usual. We went to the post office down the street at the end of the bayou – recall the pictures from the storm – this is where the red helicopter went down, where the people were waiting on a spit of high ground for days, where dogs and people wrote signs RESCUE ME on top of the American Can?…
Last night, we took Loca out for an evening stroll and looked for a place to have a draft beer. Since the storm Liuzza’s by the Track has not had draft – the machine hasn’t worked. Three years, you’d think they’d find a way to fix it – we sure miss those icy schooners of Abita. We ended up going to Pal’s – and I must admit I was a little apprehensive as I have…
The news here says: The new report, “A Long Way Home: The State of Housing Recovery in Louisiana 2008,” shows that while some progress has been made during the past year, thousands of residents who want to return home are facing a critical rental housing shortage, inadequate rebuilding grants and a recovery plagued by red tape and ever-changing rules. Yesterday, President Bush visited historic Jackson Barracks in New Orleans to tout the progress of the…
We are getting bombarded here in the U.S. by images and text on aggressive Russia storming into Georgia. Condoleezza has issued warnings left and right that we don’t invade countries with elected officials. On the phone with European colleagues, we were talking about how negative the press is here in the US about Russia but that over there they see the events differently. Later, with an expert on the subject, I learned the heart of…
We were talking this morning on our walk about how some people live for drama. And if they don’t encounter it naturally, they foment it. It reminds me of an interview with Wallace Stegner and Terry Gross that I heard many years ago that kind of put me off Stegner. He was saying he remained in a tumultuous relationship for material to write about. Bizarre. Throughout my life, I’ve heard people say that they loved…
Home is definitely where the heart is and having my heart in one city, one house, one person has made this LaLa a home.
A source of mine from another time was in town and we met for a drink at my new favorite bar (820 Rampart) – one of the thoughts I took away from this chance face to face meeting is how important it is to be passionate about your job. The source had entered a new field and to build passion, he became a student all over again. I remembered when I first started speaking with…
For every obstacle you face on the outside, there are larger ones you confront on the inside. To truly believe that every wall is a door, you have to take a deep breath and pull from that well inside of you that you know to be true. If we are all connected, if I do something that affects someone I love, and they do something that affects someone they love, it presents a different construct…
I woke up this morning and didn’t have an email waiting for me from T, nor did I make a phone call to Croatia, and I didn’t even have to drag my cellphone with me on my walk with Loca. I left the shutters closed to keep the house cool. I took a deep breath after running from spot to spot yesterday, and decided that today, I would do my work in a timely fashion,…