Babylon, Chaos, Muses

We arrived at 6:00pm to watch the Krewe of Muses parade, only to be surprised to find that the two parades ahead of it had just started. We were on the parade route at Napolean and Camp for over four hours. Krewe of Babylon led the first parade. As floats ambled by - beads,flowers, games, dolls, and other trinkets are throw to on-lookers. James was the shocked and thrilled recipient of a child-sized stuffed monkey.

Krewe of Chaos parade followed Babylon.



Kim Roberts, Trouble the Water filmmaker and rapper, led the Krewe of Muses parade. High-heeled shoes represent the Muses - and most items thrown are shoe-related. Beaded and decorated shoes are created by a group of artists and are highly sought after during the parade.
Marching teams, like the Pussyfooters, the Camel-Toed Lady Steppers and the Bearded Oysters are featured in Muses. Hopefully, I'll have photos of them to post soon.

ship fetish

James' favorite passtimes continue to be photographing ships on the Mississippi and riding the ferry.

King Arthur parade

Everyone loves a parade.... or two or seven

The parades have started and they just keep coming. I've attended only two so far, even though we live only 7 blocks from St. Charles, which is a major parade route. There were, I think, 7 in our neck of the woods over the weekend - 24 total throughout the city. One parade often follows another, so the theme changes after an hour or so. This week will be filled with more on each day of the week and then next weekend will culminate in absolute parade craziness and end with Mardi Gras day on Tuesday. Check out the schedule http://www.nola.com/mardigras/parades/

Our piles of beads and James' collection of photographs are steadily increasing. Photos should follow soon.

demolition/decoration

Over the past week, I've been watching the standing remnants of the recently burned Carpet World fall to the ground. The demolition crew has been steadily working away removing dumpster after dumpster of scrap metal, bricks, and other debris.

Strange to see this building demolished and removed, while so many around it, continue to stand even though they look equally devastated. It took a fire, not a hurricane or neglect, for the Carpet World to be torn down.

Even stranger to see gold, purple and green banners, streamers, and grandstands, start to mask the reality of the abandoned buildings that lie in wait behind them. Those buildings act as a backdrop for the festivities that are about to happen. Do those folks visiting New Orleans for Mardi Gras think about what the buildings used to be, what they are now? Do they wonder if the abandoned buildings are really vacant? Or are,instead, places for squatters and homeless people to take refuge? Will the visitors leave the confines of the quarter? St. Charles? Canal? Or will they go only where the party takes them?

As I drove down Canal today, I was amazed by the sheer number of people who were out,and the vendor trucks parked - ready - as if waiting for the city to come alive. The irony is that the city lives in a way that those who are visiting now - for Mardi Gras -will most likely not see. That life exists all year - not just during festival season.

King cake season

It's carnival season in New Orleans, which means king cakes keep showing up everywhere! At work, at parties, pretty much every social event has one or more. There are all different kinds and everyone claims that theirs in the best. (Kind of like po-boys, I guess). I entered king cake season on January 6, with Epiphany, never having tried a King Cake. Since that time and without any effort on my part, I've sampled maybe 15 different cakes. (They are kind of addictive.)


I have not, however, gotten the baby, though I'd really like to. My brother, on his first visit to New Orleans, without knowing what a king cake was or that there would be a baby inside, cut a large piece of two different choices and after a couple of bites, walked over to me - holding a tiny, plastic baby, 'Why does this cake have toys in it?' He inquired. I didn't know the answer and neither did anyone else. That's just the way it is. I looked it up since, and I think it means that he was the queen of the ball. I haven't told him that yet though. http://www.gumbopages.com/food/dessert/king-cake.html

Some articles I read this morning...

Poverty Creates Toxic Stress for Young Children

With nearly one in three of Louisiana’s children under the age of five living in poverty, and an 81 percent increase in abuse and neglect cases in this age group over the past six years, the question of how to improve the lives of Louisiana’s youngest citizens is an increasingly pressing issue, says Geoffrey Nagle, director of the Tulane Institute of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health.
Read More: http://tulane.edu/news/newwave/020309_child_poverty.cfm


New Orleans struggles to find compromise on trash

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and City Council members appeared to have reached an agreement late Monday on how to pay for washing streets and emptying litter cans in the French Quarter, but they were confronted with a separate smelly issue: garbage bags piling up throughout the historic neighborhood and the Central Business District.

The new front in the sanitation battle had little to do with the long-running feud between the executive and legislative branches that prompted Nagin -- claiming a $7.5 million shortfall in the 2009 city budget -- to pull the plug during the weekend on street sweeping and flushing and round-the-clock litter collection in the city's premier tourist destination.

Instead, the sudden accumulation of garbage along sidewalks in the Vieux Carre and CBD was the product of a surprise decision by the city's Sanitation Department to start enforcing a long-standing law that says owners of large businesses and residential properties with more than four units must hire private contractors to collect their trash. The law applies citywide.
Read more: http://www.nola.com/timespic/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1233642021239700.xml&coll=1

random sharing - 'world gone mad' scenerio

-My friend, Jill, (also know as Pinky's human companion) had a dream last week, which she described to me as a 'world gone mad' scenerio. She claimed that this dream was pretty typical, except that she was playing recreational sports and James had a mullet.

-The Carpet World building which is directly across the street from my office building burned down yesterday. http://www.wdsu.com/slideshow/news/18596157/detail.html It started at 4 am. I arrived at 8am to the insanity of firetrucks and road blocks. After finding a different parking spot (mine was being occupied by debris falling from the burning building), I made it inside my building looking for an explanation and was met with a smokey building and employees who by and large seemed indifferent to it. Classes weren't canceled - business as usual, we were told.
After an hour of trying to convince others to do the same, I packed up my laptop and went home to work from there. Today Carpet World is nothing but a pile of rubble.





-James is doing professional development today, which means there are no kids at school. He seems glad about the no kids part, but didn't seem ready to be developed professionally when he left this morning. I think he'd just prefer the day off.

-My boss is on leave in Norway and so I'm flying solo this month - maybe all semester. It is hard to say at this point.

brother love

James and I spent a fabulous weekend touring around with my big brother, Nick. He was here for three full days - and the more we did, the more we realized there was still left to see. That's the thing about New Orleans - there is so much food to be eaten, music to hear, houses and churches to tour, streets to wander, people to watch, shops to visit... There is more to do than can be done. Yet we tried to pack as much in as possible-
Hopefully, he'll e-mail some photos soon so that I can post them, because I didn't manage to take any pictures all weekend.

umbrella hat man

Picture an in-the-flesh version of fat albert (one of my all-time favorite cartoon characters) wearing one of those red, yellow, blue & green umbrella hats, standing near one of those little folding camp chairs, in downtown New Orleans on Canal Street where the street cars ride back and forth between really tall buildings, equipped with a megaphone in one hand - king james bible in the other, yelling (sometimes into the megaphone, sometimes not) words like 'cometh' and 'believeth' and 'repent' to passers-by.



I see umbrella hat man almost every day when I bike to work and he always makes me smile. I appreciate his effort - he's on a mission - he's devoted - and he understands the importance of sun protection. I haven't been biking because of the weather, but today it is warmer - so I'm back to my routine and I'm reminded of one of the many reasons why I love New Orleans so much.

ambidexterity - a personal experiment

I'm right-handed. However, in high school soccer, I had better aim with my left foot than I did with my right. I also place my mouse on the left side of my keyboard, so that I can point and click with one hand and take notes with the other (this always freaks people out if they sit at my computer - I enjoy that). I have a few other left-handed preferences as well, but am predominantly right-oriented. Since my mom and my sister are lefties, I have been wondering if I have a tendency toward ambidexterity and, as a result, have made my new year's resolution to become ambidextrous. Possibly weird - I realize, but a fun challenge.

So, awkwardly, but with great attention, determination and enjoyment, I have sworn off the right hand for:
-writing journal entries and grocery lists (at work I choose efficiency over adventure and continue to use my right hand)
-cooking (e.g. holding the knife to cut vegetables, stirring anything, grating cheese, etc.)
-brushing my hair and teeth
-dialing a phone

Some things I haven't quite convinced my brain of yet:
-unlocking doors
-stitching of any sort (buttons, etc.)
-turning the pages of a book or newspaper

More updates as I progress (or not...)
(p.s. just to clarify - this is Heather's experiment. On occasion James will eat or brush his teeth with his left hand to show his solidarity, which I appreciate.)

First Book

Students saying 'thanks', 'hallelujah' and 'amen' to us for giving them books!


Last week, I went to a local KIPP School www.kipp.org, McDonogh 15, to photograph and write a newsletter article about a book distribution for First Book, a non-profit I have been volunteering with. First Book gives donations in the form of books to kids who are low income, high need (predominantly all children in public school in NOLA). Teachers apply for the grant for their classrooms and, for those selected, First Book provides a book to each student in that teacher's class six times in one year. The books are read at school and then go home with the kids. The books become their personal property - a big deal to kids who love to read, but have little access to books.

Three KIPP classes received and distributed books on Friday. Pre-K, K and 1st grade.KIPP focuses on the college graduation of the kids they teach, so everything each grade does has the theme of the year they will graduate. The kids even have class cheers, which they do every day to remind them of their future goal:
'We are the class of 2021 - We read, We laugh, We have lots of fun - We are the class of 2021!'

Other people's stuff

We've always been collectors of other people's stuff. We love giving a home to things that other people have deemed unnecessary. However, our ability to acquire other people's discarded items in NOLA has surpassed my comprehension. I'm pretty sure that this is the city that Hurricane Katrina devastated. So,why is our two-bedroom residence filled with furniture when we arrived 6 months ago with only a mattress, two end tables, some random lawn furniture, clothes, toiletries, and basic kitchen supplies? We have bought almost nothing - a couch and loveseat and a couple of lamps from a yard sale during our first few weeks. The rest we have accumulated during walks or bike rides or by word of mouth.

Imagine carting a chair home on your bike - or strapping your bike to the top of your jeep in order to make room for the dresser, lamps, and dishes that you found on your way to the bike shop - or carrying a milk crate full of art supplies the two miles it takes to get home because you're on a Sunday afternoon walk. In a city where organizations are begging for clothes, books, school supplies, furniture, baby toys - why are we finding exactly these items overflowing from trash cans and discarded on the side of the road?

At first, we were thrilled by our luck at finding such treasure. Now we are frustrated with the waste, frustrated with the fact that people think so little of the things that they own and think so little of their neighbors a few blocks away who could benefit from them, frustrated that our solution is to gather these things endlessly in an attempt to keep them from becoming trash.

This weekend, while walking in a neighborhood we don't often visit, we stood before a brand new baby bouncy seat and a matching baby play yard. We were probably there for 10 minutes -looking at the items - looking at each other. We were too far from home - they were too heavy - we don't have a baby or have an immediate neighbor with a kid that size - we had our reasons for walking away, but I can't stop thinking about them. Just sitting there, wasted - while some baby who could have enjoyed those things goes without.

More photos from the holidays

Christmas morning at St. Louis Cathedral




Fog on the Mississippi

Rockin' Robin - In the French Quarter

vacation photos - a selection from our excursions

In order to maintain our sanity by actually taking a break - James and I decided to stick around New Orleans during our winter vacation. We spent our time looking for outdoor adventures, lunching at restaurants that we've heard are wonderful but couldn't afford the dinner menu prices, reading, and not doing much of anything taxing or important. It was a nice way to take in the city and to recharge after the chaos and emotion of the past 6 months. Our friends, Cyrus & Bozena, from Gainesville spent a day with us last week, which was also a nice change of pace. Here are a few photos...

View at Jean Lafitte State Park


Girl and horse on the levee


Lunch at Boucherie - a new restaurant uptown


Make it Right houses in the 9th ward -Brad Pitt's foundation (http://www.makeitrightnola.org/)


Lunch at Commander's Palace with Cyrus & Bozena - Birthday celebration


Waiting for the ferry - action shot


More ferry fun...

vacation

We are starting to feel human again. We have an entire week to adventure around the city and eat until our hearts are content. Today we are off to Matt and Nattie's for lunch - and then to the Columns Hotel tonight for music by David Doucet. One whole week of doing whatever we feel like whenever we feel like it.

Happy New Year!!!!!

RIP Minnie Mouse

Little Minnie was found in the trap mid-day on Christmas Eve. She couldn't resist the temptation of aluminum foil wrapped strategically around the mouse trap. James had been watching her patterns for weeks and determined that the mouse had an extreme interest in, not only his hair and grits, but also shiny pieces of tin foil that she collected and put in different locations. He capitalized on this new knowledge and Minnie immediately took the bait...

living fat-n-happy in the Big Easy

grits, oatmeal, licky, sticky peanut butter.... What more does a mini-mouse need to be content? Her light step never triggers the trap. Our only hope is that by receiving regular meals she'll gain some girth in order to amply weigh-in. She skitters about, never concerned by our presence. More of a companion than a nuisance, until a few nights ago, when late in the night, James was awakened by a little tug, tug, tug on his hair. For him, that sealed little Minnie's fate - the next day the trap was set.

off to bed with warm pjs and a good book

The Pajama Program provides sleepwear for kids in foster homes, orphanages, and shelters. The program was started in NJ by a woman who realized that kids went to bed in the same clothes that they wore during the day. After Katrina, a PJ program started in NOLA. Last week, I went to a Pajama Jam party - adults in jammies giving pjs to children in need. The Pajama Program's goal is to give pajamas to 5000 kids in NOLA this winter.

The kids who receive pajamas also get a book. The books were provided by another organization that I've been volunteering with First Book-Greater New Orleans. Also, a national organization with chapters or branches throughout the country.

I've been so impressed by the various organizations that exist in this city to provide for those who are struggling to get by. So much has been done. So much still to do.....