reading assignments August 21, 2008
Library Chronicles and We Could Be Famous on Ray Nagin.
ladies invited June 21, 2008
Yesterday I went to Chalmette for the first time since the storm. We had a trial scheduled in St. Bernard parish’s beautiful art-deco courthouse. The courthouse has been renovated since the flood, but the rest of Chalmette still looks pretty sad.
The trial was continued, much to the frustration of our client, who has been waiting two years to settle a complicated succession.
We decided to make the best of a wasted morning and have lunch at Rocky and Carlo’s. Rocky and Carlo’s is an institution out in da parish. Slogan: Ladies Invited. It’s kind of a cafeteria of Louisiana favorites. I remember the deadly food poisoning scandal of a few years back, but, hey, nobody’s perfect. There was a lady in line behind us who looked just like Grandpa Munster. She was a frequent customer and she gave us the scoop on what to order.
I had crab cakes and “Wop” salad. The crab cakes were fabulous, about 95% crab and 5% cake. The “Wop” salad was not so good. It came with gelatinous “Italian” dressing from a bottle. I don’t think a salad can truly call itself “Wop” unless it’s made with homemade vinaigrette. I grew up on “Wop” salad from Doe’s, which is mouth-watering. They use a delicious vinaigrette made with lemon juice.
Incidentally, I know “Wop” is a pejorative term for Italians, but I have always wondered where that comes from. As far as ethnic slurs go, it’s inscrutable. An Italian friend once said, “well, when God made Italians, he took two pieces of clay, smashed them together and went ‘WOP!”" But, that just doesn’t sound like the real explanation. Does anyone know what “Wop” means?
My boss had the gumbo and friend shrimp. Both were outstanding. I had a Barq’s, and my boss laughed at me because I carefully dried out my plastic Rocky and Carlo’s cup to keep as a souvenir.
On the way back to the office, we drove through the pathetic Lower Ninth Ward and the not-so-pathetic Upper Ninth.
I haven’t taken a trip outside of New Orleans for a long time, but I’m going to Atlanta for the long 4th of July weekend. I can’t wait to experience that feeling of being in a city that isn’t recovering from anything. Fully-occupied neighborhoods! Buildings without water lines! Houses that don’t have rescue marks on the doors! Wow.
ashley morris gets props from david simon June 13, 2008
A very nice tribute to Ashley Morris from the Chicago Tribune and from David Simon, the creator of HBO’s The Wire.
i don’t see that under article 103 June 12, 2008
Our secretary was sick today, so I had to answer the phones. A lady called and asked me what she should do about her husband divorcing her “under military law.” I’m new at this, so I’m always open to the possibility that there are things I don’t know about.
“He’s divorcing you under military law?”
“Yes.”
“In what country?”
“The United States.”
“Um, what state?”
“This state.”
“Um, I’m pretty sure he is going to have to divorce you under state law. Have you been served?”
“No, he just has some papers.”
“Ma’am, I think you need to make an appointment to come down here and talk to us. And bring the papers, I’d very much like to see them.”
they might be giants May 24, 2008
My comments are still broken. Damn! I miss my comments. Blogging ain’t the same without them. My Geek Goddess Maitri is still working the problem, but she had to temporarily go back to her real life. I keep getting e-mails that say I have received the following comment: “Â Â Â “. How sad is that? Two empty quotation marks! I thought one was the loneliest number that you’ll ever do. But two can be as bad as one, it’s the loneliest number since the number one. Aaaaah.
I’m going to be setting up a blog for the Orleans Parish Democratic Party Executive Committee, and I’m taking applications for writers. If you want to participate, please contact me. Whatever you do, don’t try to leave a comment, just e-mail me. I could also use some help with graphic design. I would love it if some creative person came up with a graphic image that conveys both “Democratic Party” and “New Orleans.”
Sophmom is gone back to Atlanta. I miss having her around. She’s returning, but I’m not sure when. Her company has received the contract to knock down another building.
I had the funniest experience yesterday. My boss has hired a newly-arrive au pair from Latin America. Her plane landed in the middle of all that bad weather we had on Thursday. The boss brought her down to the office to make some phone calls to her family back home. I came out of my office to introduce myself. This young lady is very, very petite. She is exceptionally small and I am exceptionally tall. For those who don’t know, I’m 5′10″ and when I put on heels for work I’m an impressive 6 feet. When I came around the corner, she gasped audibly at the sight of my big ole honkin’ self. I’m well over a foot taller than her, and I walk faster than some people run. She recovered quickly and I shook her hand and welcomed her, but honestly, I have never felt so tall.
Those kids are lucky to have her, she is very sweet and she speaks Spanish and French as well as perfect English. I’m always amazed when people who have never left their home country speak such perfect English. I can’t imagine gaining equal acuity in French or Spanish without ever leaving home. Any way, I want a trilingual au pair to take care of me and Georgina.
I’ll be at Bayou Boogaloo later today at the OPDEC voter registration booth. Stop by and visit me, particularly if you need to register to vote. We’ll also have mail-in voter registration cards if you need some for friends and family.
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the internet is broken May 21, 2008
My blog is actin’ funny. It won’t take or display comments. Maitri is working on the problem, with the determination of Georgina going after her George W. Bush doll. I’m so grateful to her. I have no idea how to mess around with databases and SQLs. She has already upgraded me to version 2.5.1. Everything looks . . . different. She’s still working on the comments, so if anyone wants to communicate in the interim, please e-mail me.
Sophmom has been having trouble with the websites she normally uses as well. We’ve come to the only logical conclusion - the internet is broken and They are not telling us. And, anyway, we think we are on the list of 8 million. I mean, please, it’s not a very exclusive list.
I will be manning (womaning?) the OPDEC voter registration booth at the Bayou Boogaloo this Saturday. Come by and visit with me. For any teachers out there, we will have stacks of voter registration cards, so you can give them out to your students.
stimulation without representation May 18, 2008
I haven’t been writing very much on the blog lately. I think it’s because I spend my days writing now, so I’m all wrote out when I get home. I’ve also got things going on in my personal life that I can’t write about for fear of hurting other people.
One thing that has been going on is that my son and his girlfriend, parents of Jackson, have broken up. I was worried, stressed and in tears out for a while, but I’m accepting it gradually. I love both of them and I don’t want my relationship with Amy to change. Jackson is doing as well as can be expected. They are not fighting, and they are sensitive to his needs. He goes to school now, so he is very wrapped up in that. The school is religious, so he’s asking my son questions like, “Daddy, why did God give me two houses?”
I received my government stimulus check! The new stimulus check is here! The new stimulus check is here! I am going to take my check and turn around and stimulate Chase Bank by making an extra-large payment on my credit card bill. Then I’m going to stimulate Shell by filling up the Exploder. All this stimulation is wearing me out, I better lie down.
I’ve had lots of company, with Sophmom being here and B coming in and out because he is in the middle of moving. It didn’t take a lot to get Sophmom into my habit of hanging out at home in the evenings and listening to music. We turned on the television for a rare bit of news when we heard that John Edwards was going to endorse Barack Obama. Damn! If those two were president and vice-president, I would watch more TV news, that’s for sure.
Sophmom said, “God, he’s cute.”
“I know. The eyes. The hands. The relentless focus on poverty and education.”
“I want HIM to be our president.”
“I want him to be our King!”
Speaking of Edwards made us think of Ashley Morris and the great big hole left by his death. Ashley loved John Edwards. Things just aren’t the same. Ashley must have been a muse for me or something. Writing on the blog without Ashley reading it just isn’t as much fun. I remember when I wrote something and used the non-word “satiated.” Ashley wrote and called me out on my hyper-syllabism. “‘Sated’ will do, madam.”
monkey-stacking in the bewilderness May 10, 2008
I went camping last night with B and the kids. We were at Fountainbleau State Park, which B’s daughter called “the bewilderness.” I’m not much of a camper, but, as B said, it was only “sorta camping.” For instance, we had wireless internet. I’m more of an indoorsy type, so I was like “too many bugs, not enough room service.”
I do like sleeping outdoors, though. I have vicarious nostalgia for the days when we had sleeping porches in the south. We were snuggled down in our tent with a nice breeze blowing through when we were awakened in the middle of the night by car headlights and the cops yelling at the next people down.
They were a group of teenagers. I heard a policeman yell, “put your hands behind your back and lean over the car!” The four of us quietly peered outside but we couldn’t see what was going on because of the headlights shining in.
This morning, we found out that the group had just graduated from high school and they were celebrating by camping out and committing the terrible crime of drinking beer. There were two eighteen-year-olds in the group and they were both arrested. One of the moms brought the teenagers back this morning to get their cars.
B and I really didn’t think a little beer-drinking ought to provoke such a display by the cops. They were yelling at the kids like they were dogs. I thought it was pretty responsible of them to park themselves at a campground and drink rather than to drive around in cars doing it, like when I was a kid. I guess I should be happy that no one was tasered.
Speaking of the cute things five-year-olds say, B’s daughter overheard him use the term “multi-tasking.” She asked, “what’s monkey-stacking?” So, henceforward, the word “multi-tasking” is hereby replaced by the much more apt term “monkey-stacking.”
my parole powers May 8, 2008
At tonight’s OPDEC meeting, Sheriff Marlin Gusman came and explained to us about our parole powers. Apparently, all elected officials in Orleans parish, including yours truly, can get people out of jail. Not for everything, just municipal offenses, and nothing involving violence. But, hey, get caught piss-ass drunk on the street on Mardi Gras, and I’m your girl.
Gusman was pretty funny when running down the list of offenses for which we cannot get you released from jail, such as murder, domestic abuse, etc. “Basically, stuff you do not want to touch with a 50-foot pole.”
He said they are tearing down the old jail and building a new one, because everyone figured out that you don’t want the utilities to come into the jail from underground. You want them to come in from above. Well, no kidding. The jail is in one of the lowest parts of the city.
At tonight’s meeting, I also found out who our super delegates are to the Democratic convention. Without further ado, they are: Patsy Arceneaux, Elsie Burkhalter, Don Cazayoux, Ben Jeffers, Dollar Bill Jefferson, Mary Landrieu, Buddy Leach, Charlie Melancon, Sugar Ray Nagin, Renee “Dodge Durango” Gill Pratt and Chris Whittington. All are unpledged except for Renee Gill Pratt and Patsy Arceneaux (Clinton) and Ben Jeffers (Obama).
I also have a lot of names and e-mails for Democratic party organizers, so if anyone wants to get involved, e-mail me. I believe they are hiring field organizers, and they are looking for neighborhood volunteers. I think it’s worth it to organize, just to get people to register to vote. We have other elections coming besides this one. I also have a large stack of voter registration cards, if anyone needs them.
‘08 fest notes May 4, 2008
I don’t know what got into me yesterday, but I went to Jazz Fest without sunscreen. I guess I just assumed it was going to rain all day, since that seemed to be this year’s theme. Twenty minutes into Henry Butler’s set, I was beet red. We went to the Foundation’s hospitality room to recover and a nice woman there took pity and rubbed suncreen all over me.
I sat with B and Sophmom on the balcony overlooking the Allison Miner stage and heard a very pleasant performance by Spencer Bohren. Unfortunately, a helicopter kept buzzing the area and drowned him out at times.
I think my favorite thing about Jazz Fest, after Crawfish Strudel, is the craft booths. When they first moved the contemporary crafts out of the infield and onto the paved area, I didn’t like it because it always seemed so hot out there and the sun was blinding. This year, the weather was much cooler than it usually is because of all the rain. The contemporary crafts area was mostly dry and completely free of mud. I realized that as you make your way down the rows of booths, you can clearly hear what’s going on in the Gospel tent, then you can clearly hear the Blues tent at the other end.
I went on a bit of a shopping binge that included a couple of beautiful dresses from Kate Beck and another aluminum cut-out bracelet from Go-Go.
At the end of the day, B and I went to Viv’s, where we had the most delicious dinner in a lovely setting in Vivian’s beautiful garden. A friend of theirs had single-handedly cooked crawfish etouffee, grits and grillades, bar-b-qued whole beef filet, eggplant parmesian and I don’t know what-all for 30 people. A beautiful meal to top off a beautiful day. Most of the group was from out of town, here just for Jazz Fest. It’s always interesting to meet people who have come to town visiting. One interesting thing about last night was that the visitors asked us about Mardi Gras, the Neville Brothers, etc., but no one even mentioned the hurricane. It seems like for such a long time now, people who don’t know you would always ask if your house got flooded.
Some of Viv’s guests were from New Iberia, so she had Remy on display with some of his shriveled flowers still clinging to him. His Spanish moss beard still looked great.
I woke up still pretty sunburned, so I decided not to go festing today and just hang around the compound. B and Sophmom didn’t want to go either, so we gave our tickets and our hospitality room passes to Hana Morris, her mother and her kids. Hana said that she wants her kids to be real New Orleanians, so she wants to start them off going to Jazz Fest. It seems a lot harder to do that nowadays. When my kids were little, you could still set up canopies at the back of the audience area. We used to sit under the canopy shade with the kids all day while the menfolks brought us beer and food, the way God intended it.
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