December 2007 Archives
single-layer doberge from Zuppardo's
happy new year, everyone!
On the sixth day of Christmas, we stopped at
K&B's, for a
Six Pack o' Dixie.
FRIED onion rings.
beFOUR you drive me nuts.
three french breads
Tujague's recipe
for the crawfish they caught in Arabi.
Katz & Besthoff Drug Stores were local new Orleans chain that expanded into Southeast Louisiana, up to Baton Rouge, and over into Mississippi and Alabama before being bought out by RiteAid in the 1990s. At its peak, K&B had over 160 stores, but they hit one of those points where they had to either go national or get pulled into someone who already was national, and New Orleans lost one of its local traditions.
K&B was in every neighborhood in town. When I was at UNO, I worked at the MB in Clearview mall and often ate dinner at the K&B soda fountain there, the last one to close in town. Remember the McKenzie's sign from Frenchmen and Foy? That photo was shot in the parking lot of a K&B (well, it's a RiteAid now, but you get the idea). This K&B was at the corner of N. Broad and Esplanade Avenue, just a short ride on the Broad bus from the A&G cafeteria at Broad and Canal.
And Dixie! The Dixie Brewing Company, located on Tulane Avenue, was the last of the local breweries. Dixie made a crisp, American-style lager, that was on tap at most bars in the city. Some considered it low-rent when compared to a national brew like Bud or Miller. My dad was a big Dixie drinker, and someone gave him a neat Dixie-logo thermal mug. I used to bring that mug to parties when I was in college. Several of my fraternity brothers would get annoyed with me for using the Dixie mug. They were worried that people would think the keg was Dixie rather than Bud, implying that we were low-rent in some way. :-)
He's one of Bill Maher's Dickheads of the Year:
Even more disgusting than Craig. Caught dead to rights as a customer of the D.C. Madam, and explained it away by saying, "Several years ago I received forgiveness from God in confession." Oh, well, all righty then, it's all good, then you're obviously not a disgusting, horrible hypocrite who runs on family values and then fucks whores at home and in Washington.
h/t adrastos
Then there's this catch from oyster:
RSCC member challenges Vitter to sign affidavit saying "he never had a homosexual encounter
Huh? homosexual? our Vitty-cent?Whatever will we tell the children?
Two pleasant year-ending stories, to be sure.
On the fifth day of Christmas, we stopped at
A&G, for
FRIED onion rings.
beFOUR you drive me nuts.
three french breads
Tujague's recipe
for the crawfish they caught in Arabi.
Ah, A&G, what an institution! There was one at both Lakeside and Clearview malls, over on the West Bank Expressway near Barataria Blvd., one out at Gentilly Woods, and the one in this photo, at Canal and N. Broad. If you remember others, let me know. A&G was a classic cafeteria. The food was OK, nothing to write home about.
I don't ever remember getting onion rings at A&G, though. When I think of onion rings, Liuzza's and Mandina's come to mind. And Popeye's, of course.
On the fourth day, I said OK, let's get a Christmas tree...
beFOUR you drive me nuts.
three french breads
Tujague's recipe
for the crawfish they caught in Arabi.
WWL-TV, Channel 4 on broadcast, Channel 3 on the local cable (Cox), isn't the oldest TV station in town; that distinction goes to WDSU-TV, but WWL was the station that "discovered" Benny Grunch. Back when Benny first did the "12 Yats" song, Channel 4 did a video of Benny and the Bunch, and several times the "fourth day" came by, you'd see shots of the WWL logo.
This particular version comes from the 1950s. WWL was owned by Loyola University at the time. Kind of an interesting notion, a part of the Catholic church owning the local CBS affiliate (assuming you consider the Society of Jesus part of the Catholic Church, of course--that's a debatable issue in New Orleans). While the other stations in town had signature programming and such, WWL was Da News. We're talking Walter Cronkite here. I grew up on Da News--my parents didn't want to watch Huntly and Brinkley, even though I always wanted to see the "editorial cartoon" by John Churchill Chase on WDSU (Channel 6).
Cable has changed the way we watch the news in so many ways, but WWL-TV keeps up. They re-broadcast Da News on Cox Channel 15, repeating whatever the latest newscast was, then going live when the next one comes on, so you can always keep up with local news.
The Jesuits sold WWL to an employee-owned corporation in the 1980s, which in turn sold it to Belo, the current owners.
OK, even if she likes Michelle Malkin, reading Kiss My Gumbo is inspiring. Greta shared a post about her "J The Governor" sticker:
Well, should Piyush have a sticker and not Vitty-cent?
or perhaps
Does anyone know if I'll get in trouble if I add www.louisianaconservative.com to the stickers, or will Adams & Reese represent me pro bono like they're doing for Levees.org?
h/t to ersta for the pre-Greta inspiration. :-)
On da third day of Christmas, we stopped at
McKenzie's, for
three french breads
Tujague's recipe
for the crawfish they caught in Arabi.
McKenzie's (prounounced MUH-ken-zees) Pastry Shoppes was a New Orleans institution for several generations. People used to say they were going to "McKenzie's Bakery," but the stores themselves weren't bakeries. They were retail storefronts, literally "pastry shoppes." The main bakery was down on Desire Street. All the goodies were baked down there, then trucked to the 30+ retail stores throughout the metro area. To this day, you'll have people tell you that they miss McKenzie's donuts or turtles, or petit fours, or blackout cake, or...well, you get the idea. Even my 19-year old misses their chocolate whip-top pie.
The McKenzie's chain closed in 2001. This is, to my knowledge, the only McKenzie's sign left (If you know of another, please let me know). "Chicken in a Box" was a feature of the McKenzies on the corner of Frenchmen and Foy in Gentilly:
The entrance for the pastry shoppe was right on the corner, or you could go around to the side entrance and get fried chicken. After the storm, someone took over the entire location and it's now a take-out chicken-and-sandwiches place.
There was only one "Chicken in a Box." There was one other variation on the typical McKenzie's store, the "McKenzie's Ice Cream Parlor, on Harrison Avenue in Lakeview. That also closed years ago. The location, a bay in a strip mall, was slated to become a Tastee Donuts prior to the storm, but it never materialized.
...drove these drunk fucks home:
We even closed the place down as Murray Starkle (hubby’s old buddy) hit the piano. A few glasses of wine and some lalas to fill in for missing words, Murray entertained us with every song he knew (at least partially). Next time we are bringing sheet music with the words.
If you can’t afford the fine dining and still want to enjoy the atmosphere (who the heck really can),you can always have something at their beautiful bar where Deborah make a mean Cosmo, there are tons of fabulous wines and every flavor of Abita Beer is stocked (my favorite)!
US 190 between Mandeville and Slidell is two-lane. That road always makes me nervous at night when I've gone up for Lodge meetings (Kosmos #171, F&AM, meets at Lacombe Lodge's building, just off 190), I feel like I'm taking my life in my hands.
I need to make sure I co-ordinate with Greta and make sure I'm away from their dinner group.
Tujague's recipe
for the crawfish they caught in Arabi.
Tujague's (pronounced locally, "TOO-jaks") is one of the city's oldest restaurants, opened in 1856. It's funky little place with great food. You don't need a reservation, so it's a great place for a spur-of-the-moment dinner in the Quarter. Tujague's is moderately priced (meaning it's not as expensive as, say, Galatoire's), but it's not a bargain place, either. The most popular menu choice is the daily Table d'Hote menu, which is a fixed-price dinner including an appetizer, soup du jour, boiled beef brisket as a transition to the entree, the entree (usually a choice of 3 or 4), coffee and dessert.
The restaurant has three main areas. When you enter the door on the corner, you walk into the bar. There's a huge mirror that was imported from Europe in the 1850s that is a single 10'+ piece of glass, remarkably expensive for the time. As you wak to the back of the bar, you come to a hallway where the matire d's station is located. You'll be seated either around the corner to the right in the front dining room (which is the second door, to the background of the photo, or the back dining room, further into the building. The atmosphere is very laid-back, but still that all-business attitude of an old-school Creole restaurant. It's all about putting a good meal in front of the diner.
The photo of the restaurant was shot in January of 2006, just after Tujague's re-opened. That's why the big banner on the second floor. New Orleans' restaurants have been in the lead of the city's recovery. Restaurants employ a wide range of folks, from management to dishwashers. The post-storm period has been problematic for restaurants, however, since gutting houses and hanging drywall pays a lot better than washing dishes. Given how many people have been displaced by the storm, skilled cooks and chefs are also in demand. These increased labor costs have seriously cut into the profit margins of restaurants, as there's only so much of the cost increases that can be passed on to diners.
Business owners in the restaurant/tourism/hospitality industries know all too well the importance of making sure affordable housing stays a high priority for the city leaders as we continue to rebuild.
Because I just can't ever see me continue to beat the public housing battle horse to this extent on Boxing Day.
Or maybe I'm just too New Orleanian to stay that bummed out.
Baseball season starts in April and runs to October. You can't dwell the game you played last week, else you're going to get beat this week.
- Healthcare
- Public housing
- Demolitions of privately-owned homes
- Road Home
- FEMA trailers
- Public Schools
- The LA-01 election (Gilda!)
...and so many other issues. I will not wallow in misery and depression. We have Chris Rose for that.
they're playing some injun music right now, as I sit at The Bean Gallery on Carrollton.
I have a personal belief that, like king cake, Mardi Gras music should only be played between Twelfth Night and Mardi Gras.
But still, this is getting me psyched up a week early. :-)
On the first day of Christmas, my maw-maw gave to me:
a crawfish they caught in Arabi.
The Arabi photo is an Alexander Allison photo of homes along River Road in that neighborhood from the 1920s. Arabi is the first neighborhood you come to as you drive through the Ninth Ward of New Orleans and reach the parish line between Orleans and St. Bernard. In the storm, Arabi got 6' of water and up, catching the water from both the Industrial Canal breach and the storm surge from the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet. To add insult to injury, the neighborhood was flooded a second time durng Rita.
And if you don't get what I'm up to here, see www.benygrunch.com.
Happy Boxing Day, everyone...and go Gunners (Arsenal-Portsmouth later today)
from Markos:
A system that replaces the judgement of doctors for that of accountants is inherently broken and must be scrapped.
while we've all been navel-gazing (in the form of project-gazing), the world is still moving by. Americans are dying in Bush's war, and 17-year olds die because insurance companies are pieces of crap.
Kos is right, the system needs to be scrapped. You can't reform people who allow a teenager to die so they can save money.
Ray had a very thought-provoking post on the guilt he's feeling about "missing" the storm. I understand this totally. In my travels this past year (I spent over 30 weeks this year out of town on Monday thru Friday, teaching computer classes), I encountered a number of expatriated New Orleanians who really were upset that they weren't "home" to help out.
This is something that, like the WWII soldiers Ray mentions, individuals have to work out for themselves. I don't think any real New Orleanian would think less of someone who survived the storm, or who returned to the city afterwards and now work to make this a better place.
It's the carpetbaggers that think their opinions have more worth than the survivors and the displaced that I have problems with
.For example, take Andrei Codrescu, writer, poet, and teacher at LSU. While I was gutting my house in September of 2005, I had to listen to this arrogant prick broadcast on NPR from somewhere in Arkansas, telling people how New Orleans was "dead." Well, fuck you and the horse you rode in on, Professor. Just because you had nothing vested in New Orleans to the point where you could up and leave and stay away for an extended period of time doesn't mean the place is dead. While you were burying the city, a lot of us were working to fix the place so that your sorry ass could come back.
Now we've got bloggers from other parts of the country who haven't been to the city for years before the storm (if they've ever been here), telling us how we should proceed with respect to rebuilding. While I support anyone's right to their opinion, you'll forgive me if I choose to value some of those opinions about as much as I do an old book of coupons from K&B. If NYC, Philly, or DC were some sort of models for the way public housing should be done, and the working poor were treated with compassion and respect in those cities, I might feel like these bloggers and activists were entitled to some sort of moral superiority. New Orleans is not a blank drawing board for experiments in urban planning. My house is a better analogy, where the framework is still there, even though we had to cut out the walls. The walls and floors have to go back in, but most of the existing framework has to remain. It's all too easy to sit back in another city and say what you like and don't like about New Orleans and its residents. When you get off your ass and house-sit someone's property in a FEMA trailer to make sure their home doesn't get demolished prematurely, come talk to me. Until then, you'll pardon me if I don't find a lot of value in your moral outrage.
Then there's this from Ray's post:
I have another high school friend who is Nth generation Y'at, born on Mardi Gras Day in the back seat of a taxi stuck in parade crowds, and she has told me that amongst her writer friends, that division was not implicit, it was explicit. Writers who had lived here only a few years treated her as a tourist because during the storm she was teaching at a university in another state. "Sorry, honey, but you weren't here for it, so you don't really know." I know it hurts her quite a bit.
I'm glad I don't hang out with this type of carpetbagger. I have little patience for someone who's spent a few years eating occasionally at Domilise's and going to Rock N Bowl telling someone whose life essentially drowned in the Federal Flood that they "don't really know." I don't care if a 1982 graduate of Redeemer High School hand't been back to the city until last year, all it would take is one look at what eleven feet of water did to the place where they spent their adolescence, and the pain is going to be there. Unless the person we're talking about lived a very insular life Uptown (and Ray's description of her being an "Nth generation Y'at" indicates that's not the case), EVERY local lost something. These posers will go back to their high school reunions and hang out with people who have never experienced the loss of their town like New Orleanians have.
They can all kiss my pale white ass.
Von Dullen 2001, the CKD/Tatra test car, and 963, all on Canal Street at Christmastime.
The prototype Von Dullen car, 2001, on the street in December, 2000. NORTA was evaluating PCC-style trucks from CKD/Tatra, and the Czech company sent over a streetcar to test. Earl Hampton caught 2001 and the CKD car on Canal Street and got this photo right as 963 is beginning an outbound run on the St. Charles line.
Merry Christmas!
>We're not all the way to this point yet, but it's the ultimate goal of rebuilding the St. Charles line--the terminal at S. Carrollton and S. Claiborne Avenues. This 1958 photo, from the collection of Mr. Irwin From, shows Perley A. Thomas streetcars 967 and 908 at the end of the line, ready to begin the inbound run, and 927 is approaching the terminal, concluding her outbound run.
When belt service on St. Charles and Tulane was discontinued, the St. Charles line took on its present configuration, which is point-to-loop. Streetcars start out here, at Carrollton and Claiborne and go down Carrollton to St. Charles. They turn at the "Riverbend" onto St. Charles and head down to Lee Circle. Further down from Lee Circle, St. Charles is one-way going outbound, so the streetcar goes around Robert Edward and then one block up Howard Avenue, turning right onto Carondelet. The line continues inbound to Canal on Carondelet, which is "Stop #1." From here, a new run begins, looping round one block on Canal St., turning onto St. Charles Avenue, running up St. Charles to Carrollton, then Carrollton back to Claiborne.
Yesterday was a red-letter day for NORTA and the St. Charles line. The hard work of Mr. Wil Mullet and his crews in the rail department, along with NORTA management's ability to re-hire a number of the streetcar operators displaced by the storm paid off. The St. Charles line has extended operations to the Riverbend district, so the line now runs the entire length of the city's most famous avenue.
That leaves just one section of the line left to complete, S. Carrollton Avenue to the terminal. The overhead wire is almost complete, but this segment won't go back operational until the spring. NORTA and Entergy are doing upgrades to the power substation at Willow and Dublin, next to Carrollton Station. Once those electrical upgrades are complete, the St. Charles, Riverfront, and Canal lines will once again be fully up and running.
This photo, from 1958, shows the old wooden light poles supporting the overhead wire for the streetcars. You can also see the trolley buses on the Tulane line on the street. After the storm, a trolley bus manufacturer offered to work with NORTA to replace some of the diesel buses with electric ones, but the proposal hasn't gone any further. I don't know what the circumstances are on that, though. My guess is that, like many other people working to bring New Orleans back, NORTA staff just haven't had the time to work on such things. Many city services, from transit to housing to the libraries, have lost employees because they were unable to return. In some cases, older folks took one look at the mess they came back to, became overwhelmed, and retired right then and there. That leaves those working to keep things running even more overwhelmed, to the point where ideas and suggestions that make sense to armchair quarterbacks in other parts of the country end up on the shelf for a while.
We at NOSRA and CanalStreetCar (dot com) would like to express our appreciation to the Commissioners, management, and staff of NORTA, and wish all of our readers a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
"Mr. Bingle" was created in 1947 by Mr. Emile Alline. Alline was an employee of Maison Blanche department stores at the time. There was a trend post WWII for department stores to create fictional Christmas characters that would be their own brand, not just the ubiquitous Santa Claus. After seeing this at Marshall Field's in Chicago, Alline came home and created a chubby little snowman with holly wings and an ice cream cone hat. He christened the little guy "Mr. Bingle," for "MB" as the store was known around town.
Mr. Bingle was a fixture of Maison Blanche until the chain was acquired by Dillard's in the 1990s. Dillard's kept Mr. Bingle even after the MB stores were long gone. In the 1950s and 1960s, Mr. Bingle dolls were the feature of the Christmastime window displays at the chain's main store on Canal Street, between Dauphine and Burgundy Streets. He was also featured in "Santa's Village" upstairs in the toy department.
In the 1980s, MB commissioned a huge Mr. Bingle that they put up on the front of the Canal Street store. After Dillard's bought the chain, they closed the Canal Street location, and Mr. Bingle was moved to the side of their store in Lakeside Mall in Metairie. (The MB building is now the Ritz Carlton Hotel). Mr. Bingle on the side of a suburban department store just didn't work, so the big Bingle went into storage. Dillard's then gave the big figure to the Friends of City Park, who now display him as part of the park's annual "Celebration in the Oaks" light display each holiday season.
TRIVIA (answer in comments if you know): In addition to the main store on Canal Street, Maison Blanche operated a "Budget Store" right behind the main building, on Iberville and Dauphine Streets. Why was this store very important at Christmastime? (NO peeking at others' answers if you're going to take a shot at it... :-))
I hope everyone had a good Solstice and you're having a Blessed Yule season. To everyone celebrating Christmas, best of luck with your last-minute shopping tomorrow. To my Catlick friends, my best wishes that you stay awake at Midnight Mass tomorrow night. :-)
Which is why I'm surprised nobody's really addressed or mentioned DeBerry's column in Da Paper on Friday:
A fight broke out in the New Orleans City Council chambers Thursday as people opposed to the demolition of some of the city's housing projects struggled to exert some kind of influence on that morning's meeting. But if we were to go back 15 years or so -- about the same time Chuck D was the frontman for Public Enemy -- one imagines that a similarly activist crowd would have been decrying what they saw as the government's grand scheme to ghettoize and pin down the poor.
He makes a valid point here. Prior to the storm, public/affordable housing advocates in the city didn't have a problem with tearing down the projects. The argument was always over how to provide for the people displaced once they were torn down. Now, activists are trying to preserve these buildings. Asking which is it to be is a fair question.
Then there's DeBerry's money shot:
Wednesday morning, I visited the home of a 71-year-old woman who can't understand why Road Home has suddenly declared her ineligible to receive money to repair her home. She told me of her personal struggle as a factory worker and domestic to get out of the Fischer projects and buy the home that now needs repair. She'd wept, she told me, when she saw footage of people trying to fight their way back into the kind of environment she'd worked so hard to escape.
When she was there, she thought the projects were a bad place to live. And all these years later, she still thinks the same thing.
I think about some of the families who were living in the projects so they could afford to send one kid in the family to Redeemer, in the hopes that at least one kid would "get out."
An aerial view of Pontchartrain Park from the early 1950s. The area in the top left corner is Camp Leroy Johnson, an army supply depot. That land was turned over to the University of New Orleans in the 1960s, and is now the university's East Campus. On the right, jutting out into Lake Pontchartrain is Lakefront Airport (NEW). The top left corner of the undeveloped area is now the campus of Southern University in New Orleans. The drainage canal separating the park from the rest of Gentilly on the left is the Peoples Avenue canal. Next to the canal are the tracks for the Southern Railroad. They head from in town, curve right then travel east across the Industrial Canal and out to the train bridge across the lake that runs parallell to US90 and I-10. The canal and the train tracks make for a significant geographical boundary between the established part of Gentilly on the left and the new Pontchartrain Park subdivision on the right.
In the late 1940s/early 1950s, Pontchartrain Park was a new subdivision developed for upwardly mobile black families. Jim Crow laws were still in force at this time, making a new subdivision a gold mine for the developer, since a lot of black men took advantage of their GI Bill benefits, went to college, and now had good jobs. These men became the doctors, lawyers, and other professionals of the black community in the 1960s and 1970s. Shopping centers in Gentilly Woods and Gentilly Terrace (along Gentilly Blvd., just off this photo to the south) began an even faster growth. The archdiocese of New Orleans built St. Augustine High School to educate many of the young black men from these families, and St. Mary's Academy moved out to Chef Menteur Highway from the French Quarter in 1965. Southern University in New Orleans (SUNO) opened in 1959.
Fast forward to 2005. The Federal Flood hit the Pontchartrain Park area as hard as the rest of Gentilly. The combination of Army Corps of Engineers-designed structural failures in the floodwalls of the London Avenue Canal to the west as well as wind pushing water over the tops of the levees and floodwalls of the Industrial Canal in the east were a double-whammy for this neighborhood. Homes in the area got anywhere from 3' - 8' of water. Then, to add insult to injury, a tornado spawned from thunderstorms associated with Hurricane Rita touched down in this neighborhood.
Victims of the Federal Flood who had less than 4' of water come into their homes, generally speaking have had an easier time of rebuilding, since it's possible to cut out drywall interior at 4' and replace it with new sheets of the same height. This is assuming you have the funds to fix your house, and that's where the problem comes in for many residents of Gentilly. Those doctors and lawyers who moved out to Gentilly in the 1950s are now old folks. Their mortgages have been paid off for years, and with those mortgages often went flood insurance coverage as well. When a bank holds paper on a house in most neighborhoods down here, the owners are required to buy flood insurance. The premiums are factored into your monthly note and paid by the lender. Since a lot of folks are on fixed incomes by the time they burn their mortgages, they drop flood insurance. After all, the Corps of Engineers built all these levees and floodwalls, right?
That's where "Road Home" is supposed to help, but the program has been problematic. The state was making it up as they went along, so a lot of early applicants got lost in the shuffle. By the time the process was refined and (supposedly) working, other homeowners found that the state was cutting back on what they were wiling to pay them, fearful in some cases that there wouldn't be enough funds to go around. In other cases, some accuse the program of deliberately being an obstacle to keep blacks from coming back to the city. (I don't subscribe to the notion that they're directly discriminating--I think they're just bloody stupid.)
Then there's the geniuses at City Hall. The city wants to demolish homes that are supposedly "threats" to the neighborhood. Judging by the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit (PDF) filed against the city to halt demolitions, if you're not living in your home or in a FEMA trailer on the front lawn, your house is in danger of being summarily knocked down, no matter what the condition is. Read the lawsuit, it's scary.
But if you think that developers are having a field day tearing down housing projects, just wait until the Shaw group and other contractors get ahold of entire subdivisions. People still in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Houston, and Atlanta can't keep an eye on their homes 24/7 while they wait for Road Home money and insurance settlements. Those who voluntarily choose not to return are selling their houses back to the state. Imagine if your dad's house is one of two or three on a block that didn't get sold back to the state? Do you really think those couple of houses are going to slow down these people?
This is how we're treating our middle class in New Orleans. These are people who, in many cases, busted their asses to get out of the projects to make life better for their families. These are men who went to war and women who supported them. Entire neighborhoods still lie empty, hanging in limbo.
The public housing debate has made for dramatic theater in the last couple of weeks while the city, state, and Republican private sector are combining to eradicate what's left of the black middle class in New Orleans. Without a middle class, there will be no tax base. There will be no pool of skilled labor and professionals for corporations to employ. There will be no black health care professionals (and there already are bloody few white ones at the moment).
This is the story you should be blogging about. Those of you who are watching developments unfold in other parts of the country and world see the news coverage and read local accounts of the public housing debate are getting very emotional about what is essentially a small portion of the displaced population of the city. What about the homeowners? It's not fair to say that these people have more of a right to return than those who have less than them, but they damn sure deserve advocates as loud as the out-of-town activists who have been chaining themselves to fences. They're going to move on to the next kabuki stage while people in Gentilly struggle to rebuild.
It’s worth noting that woman pepper sprayed and dragged away was Jamie Laughner. She’s an anarchist and advocate from D.C. Google her name. She seems to get roughed up by the police everywhere she goes (Miami, D.C.). I’m not saying our police were perfect here (I really don’t know), but if someone is always getting strong armed by policed you’ve got to wonder if she’s not trying to provoke the action.These people really are "outside agitators." Just what we need, for Stacy Head to be right.
WASHINGTON, DC - December 20 - Lakota Sioux Indian representatives declared sovereign nation status today in Washington D.C. following Monday's withdrawal from all previously signed treaties with the United States Government. The withdrawal, hand delivered to Daniel Turner, Deputy Director of Public Liaison at the State Department, immediately and irrevocably ends all agreements between the Lakota Sioux Nation of Indians and the United States Government outlined in the 1851 and 1868 Treaties at Fort Laramie Wyoming.This is the sort of thing that can't be totally pawned off on BushCo, either. The feds have been screwing native american tribes for almost as long as this nation has existed.
1. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
If you want to embrace your inner Yat, Ignatius is the character who will help you on your way. Toole's novel is New Orleans from the 1960s, before cable TV homonegized live.
2. Sandrine's Letter to Tomorrow by Dedra Johnson
The time frame jumps to the 70s in Dedra's first novel. Sandrine is a light-skinned black girl growing up in New Orleans. This book should be on Oprah. No kidding.
3. Gumbo Ya-Ya by Lyle Saxon
This is a great anthology of Louisiana folk tales. Great way to get a feel for the stories we all grew up with down here.
4. New Orleans Stories edited by John Miller
A great anthology with stories from Whitman, Faulkner, Rice, Capote, Percy, Williams, Hurston, and an introduction by Andrei Codrescu.
5. Sunset Limited by James Lee Burke
All of Burke's "Dave Robicheaux" novels rate being here. This one is just representative of them all
6. Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice.
This is a must-read in terms of New Orleans fiction. Whether you continue from there with the rest of Rice's vampire novels is up to you.
7. The Witching Hour, and Lasher by Anne Rice
Rice's "other" New Orleans series, the Mayfair Witches. The Witching Hour is set in the Garden District, and Lasher continues where TWH leaves off. There's one chapter in Lasher where Rice describes one of the family matriarchs, who is in her 70s, walking from her house at St. Charles Ave. and Amelia St., down St. Charles to the other Mayfair house on First Street. It's one of the most vivid descriptions of uptown New Orleans in print. Even you don't like the story, go check Lasher out at the library and read this scene.
8. The Feast of All Saints by Anne Rice
Rice's take on the gens de couleur libres in antebellum New Orleans.
9. The Voodoo Queen by Robert Tallant
A well-written (albeit very romanticized) version of the life of "voodoo queen" Marie Laveau.
10. Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite (amazon link because Powells doesn't have a cover photo)
Serial killers, cannibalism, and other horror fun, set in Da Quarters. Neat stuff!
11. Liquor: A Novel by Poppy Z Brite
A neat tale set in a New Orleans restaurant. A lot of docbrite's fans slammed Liquor when it came out, but I enjoyed it.
12. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
If you haven't already had to read it for a class, this is a great story of a woman's struggle with marriage in the 1800s.
13. New Orleans Sketches by William Faulkner, edited by Carvel Collins
A collection of short prose by Faulkner, originally published in Da Paper in 1925.14. Cane River and Red River by Lalita Tademy
Strictly speaking, these aren't New Orleans stories, but Cane River in particular ties directly to the city, since any tale of a plantation upstate (Natchitoches, LA, is on the Cane River) ties back to the city. Red River continues the story post-Civil War, in Colfax, LA. Great reads about African Americans in Louisiana in the 1800s.
OK, I know I'm forgetting more than I'm remembering here, so I'll stop at this point and let y'all add more in comments.
UPDATES:15. Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins
16. The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
17. Lives of the Saints by Nancy Lemann
and some suggestions from the LiveJournal neworleans community:
18. Coming Through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje (about Buddy Bolden and E. J. Bellocq
19. The Axeman's Jazz: A Skip Langdon Novel by Julie Smith. Smith has a number of mysteries with her Skip Langdon character.
20. Off Magazine Street by Ronald Everett Capps. This is the book that the Travolta film, "Love Song for Bobby Long" was based on.
21. Chita: A Memory of Last Island by Lafcadio Hearn. More Louisiana than New Orleans, but it captures antebellum Louisiana nicely.
also these suggestions:
Anything by Patty Friedmann, but particularly Eleanor Rushing, Side Effects, and A Little Bit Ruined (her post-K novel).
Anything by Sheila Bosworth, but particularly Almost Innocent.
Anything by Christine Wiltz.
For mystery fans: J.M. Redmann's Micky Knight series.
And I've managed to put my finger on it. I'd seen a boobtoob like that big-ass boobtoob recently, and it was at the fishing camp down da bayou where we took the Boy Scout troop camping last month. The dads love this place, because the boys can fish in the bayou and they can watch LSU. It's a happy trade-off.
Thing is, there's a reason that big-ass boobtoob is down in a fishing camp. It's old. It's the sort of thing someone who is into large screen boobtoobs bought several years ago, and has now tossed out to make room for their plasma, high-def, big-ass boobtoob.
That does one do with a perfectly good, albeit old, big-ass boobtoob? Some folks put it in a fishing camp. Others might give it to someone who doesn't have a boobtoob.
In any case, dangerblond is right. It's none of our fukkin' business.
Shame on Da Paper for trying to make this woman into St. Ronald of California's apocryphal "welfare queen."
Tomb of Edward Pilsbury (d. 1882) in St. Louis Cemetery Number Three, on Esplanade Avenue in Faubourg St. John.
Pilsbury was the 38th Mayor of New Orleans, holding the office from November of 1878 to December of 1880.
The tomb is unique for a number of reasons. It's on the end of a row of tombs, so the plot is larger than most. It's almost large enough to be a coping, but the tomb built there is just a "single." The obelisk is typical of late 19th century cemetery architecture. Egyptian themes were very popular at that time.
wouldn't this look good on display at NOMA?
A rare copy of the Magna Carta has been sold for £10.6m ($21.3m) in an auction at Sotheby's in New York.
The 1297 copy, which is one of only 17 of the document still in existence, went to an unknown bidder.
The auction item had been owned by American billionaire Ross Perot's Perot Foundation since 1984 and was on view at the National Archives in Washington.
better yet, a traveling road show, to remind people that today's Democrats aren't the only ones who object to tyranny. Let's start by renting out a hall in Crawford, TX, to show it off.
While this thought is from a post on immigration, it's really a broader indictment of the Democratic estabilshment:
The Democrats are advised by people whose imaginations stalled back in 1980 when they woke up one morning and discovered that a lot of angry white guys wouldn't vote for a party that allowed black people in it. The highly successful Democratic politics they've run over the past 25 years have been devoted to getting them back. (And it's worked out very well, you must admit. Why fix what ain't broke, eh?)
And, of course, the political candidates themselves have signed on to the "don't make trouble" strategy so they'll be happy to ape even the most heinous GOP talking points if it will keep them from having to take even the slightest risk. (That's what the Democratic consultants term "winning a mandate.")
Beyond a doubt, these are the people who are managing such exciting candidates such as Mary Landrieu and Hillary Clinton, and both Edwards and Obama have their share of this winning attitude in their organizations as well.
There's a line from "The West Wing," where, when meeting with a less-liberal Democratic Party consultant, the consultant turns to Communications Director Toby Ziegler and says, "Do you think I'm Satan?"
Toby replies, "No, you're the guy who goes in to the 7-Eleven to get Satan a pack of cigarettes."
It's time we rid ourselves of Satan's errand boys and the candidates who emply them.
I don't know if I would want another trying to capture Middle Earth now that Jackson has done such a good job of it. Although, if he's producing, that still means someone else will probably direct.
Jackson to produce Hobbit moviesEven better news from this article is that Ian McKellen wants to be Gandalf again!
Peter Jackson, Oscar-winning director of the Lord of the Rings movies, has signed a deal to produce two films based on JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit.
The filmmaker had been in dispute with New Line Cinema over income generated by the first film in the Rings trilogy.
The number of families seeking emergency food and shelter is rising around the country. Right now, the Rude Pundit is listening to the petulant, pissy fucktard President rant about how the Congress wants to destroy the jim-fuckin' dandy economy he's given us all, like he's St. Nick and every day is goddamn Christmas. Meanwhile, everywhere, people are being crushed by debt and stupid financial decisions, tempted by the promise of cheap and easy lives. As the President screeches about the Democrats raising taxes and how it will murder us all, the Rude Pundit can't remember a moment when Bush faced Americans and said, "You know what? Shit's expensive. And you may need to sacrifice." Nope, it's always, "As long as you give me everything I want, you can go about your business." Except that lie is becoming more and more pronounced, as with every tinpot dictator and petty emperor in history.Profound as this is, I really wanted to quote Rude because he called Bush a "pissy fucktard." Still, it's important to keep in mind that this idiot and his cronies are screwing up more than the housing projects in the city.
As soon as one makes a life transition, we invariably start comparing what we did at that stage in our lives with the way the current occupants of that stage in life are doing. Sophomores look down with disdain at freshmen, remarking how they'd never act that goofy, for example. The older we get, the more stages we have to look back on and more people to look down upon.
I was reflecting on this as I was driving my goofy kid to school this morning, because the last thing I did on the computer before leaving the house was watch this:
(h/t Lisa for this one)
and after spitting with laughter at the line "I see the nuns are gay," I couldn't help but wonder, were we so goofy in college that we'd do this?
Of course, the answer is a resounding YES. The difference is that YouTube and such give the current crop of goofs a worldwide outlet to document their craziness.
It's a wonderful world...
What is your idea of a perfect romantic evening?
Dinner at Antoine's, at a table in "The Dungeon," then a walk around the Quarter, ending up on the Moonwalk, then either cocktails at the Royal Orleans and head upstairs, or dessert at Cafe du Monde. Draw your own conclusions why there are two possible endings.
Imagine you had to take part in the winter Olympics. What sport would you do? (Here's a link to the official sports, in case you need help.)Bobsled! I wanna go fast!
What's something that people do in traffic that really bothers you?
Text messaging...the ones that talk on the phone don't bother me, but the ones who are looking down to text make me nervous.
(Hey, Charlotte, I like this one! :-))
A while back, someone (apologies that I can't remember who, but feel free to remind me) suggested that I do a list of New Orleans-related books. I liked the idea, so here we go:
New Orleans Basics (non-fiction)
1. Frenchman, Desire, Good Children, and Other Streets of New Orleans by John Churchill Chase
Buy. This. Book. First.
There's no better introduction to the history of New Orleans than Chase's classic. John Chase was the editorial cartoonist for the Times Picayune, the States Item before that, and the Item before that. He also plied his trade on WDSU-TV for years as well. Additionally, he was extremely knowledgable about the city and wrote a number of books and essays. Had I taught Louisiana History rather than American History, I would have assigned this book as the first thing the students would read.
2. Lonely Planet - New Orleans
I don't own this one personally, but the LP guides for Singapore, Tokyo, London, and Amsterdam got me around those cities, so I'm sure the one for New Orleans would help a non-New Orleanian as much.
3. The Joy of Y'at Catholicism by Earl Higgins
How locals see the Catholic Church. This book is a fantastic overview of how New Orleanians think.
4. Mardi Gras New Orleans by Henri Schindler
Mr. Schindler is a float designer and Carnival historian. He's done the floats for several of the "old line" krewes for years, and is a treasure trove of Carnival and New Orleans knowledge.
5. 1 Dead in Attic: After Katrina by Chris Rose
This is the only book about the storm I've listed, because too much of a bad thing is too much of a bad thing. Rose captures the feel of the entire surreal experience.
6. Huey Long by T. Harry Williams
Dr. Williams was the consummate expert on Governor Huey Pierce Long. To understand New Orleans' relationship with the rest of the state, you have to understand Huey Long.
7. Managing Ignatius: The Lunacy of Lucky Dogs and Life in New Orleans by Jerry Strahan
This is the real-life "Confederacy of Dunces," the stories of the Lucky Dog hot dog vendors of the Quarter. One of the best tales of what life in the Quarter is all about.
8. New Orleans - a Pictorial History by Leonard V. Huber
Mr. Huber's book is a great overview of the city's history post-Civil War.9. New Orleans Architecture Volume VI: Faubourg Treme and the Bayou Road : North Rampart Street to North Broad Street Canal Street to St. Benard Avenue (New Orleans Architecture)
and
10. New Orleans Architecture Volume III: The Cemeteries
The two best of a multi-volume series. Treme is a fascinating neighborhood to study, and the cemeteries have distinct architectural styles all their own.
11. The Streetcars of New Orleans by Louis C. Hennick and Harper Charton
A comprehensive history of street railways in New Orleans from their inception in the 1830s to 1965.
12. Who's Your Mama, Are You Catholic, and Can You Make a Roux? by Marcelle Bienvenu
The only cookbook on this list, because it's where you should start. The three questions that make up the title are the questions that a mother of a young man would ask his girlfriend when he brought her home. This cookbook covers all the basics of New Orleans cooking.
now three "Images of America" books:13. New Orleans: The Canal Streetcar Line by Edward J. Branley
Did you really think I wouldn't pimp my own book? :-) Our streetcars and the main street of the city, Canal Street, are inseparable, and here are photos to show that synergy.
14. New Orleans Cemeteries by Eric J. Brock
Probably the easiest cemetery overview out there, at least until I sit down and write a better one.
15. Lake Pontchartrain by Catherine Campanella
The lakefront is an integral part of life in the city, and these photos really bring it to life.
This list is just my two cents. Feel free to chime in with your favorites that I didn't list. There are a lot of books on New Orleans, and I'm very picky about stuff I read about my home town. I'm always looking for another good one, unless it's about the storm, then I'll pass, thanks. :-)
I'll do fiction on Thursday or Friday, so let's keep comments limited to non-fiction today, por favor.
UPDATE I16. New Orleans: The Making of an Urban Landscape by Peirce Lewis.
Great work on historical geography. I can't believe I forgot this, it's on my shelf, assigned by Prof. Logsdon at UNO all those years ago.
clicky image for a larger version
Perley A. Thomas streetcar 922, departing Beauregard Terminal.
New Orleans streetcars in operation today are "double-ended" cars. When they reach the end of the line and are ready to go back, the front becomes the back and vice-versa. At the end of the line, like Beauregard Circle near City Park in this photo, the operator will pull the streetcar into the terminal, stop it, and then change the trolley pole from which the streetcar gets power. The one in what was the rear of the car coming into the terminal is pulled down so it doesn't make contact with the electrical wire overhead. The pole at what was the front of the streetcar is released, so it makes contact with the wire. The poles are wired to the motors on the streetcar such that the motor will turn one way or the other depending on which pole is active. When the switch is made, the streetcar is powered back on, and the operator will leave at the scheduled departure time.
Beauregard Circle is where City Park Avenue, Wisner Blvd., and Esplanade Avenue come together. The circle also feeds into City Park, to the New Orleans Museum of Art. The streetcar terminal at this location was constructed in 2002-2003. In the early part of the 20th century, streetcars ran on the short stretch of City Park Avenue seen above, when the Canal and Esplanade lines ran as belt service.
Riding the streetcar to Beauregard Terminal is one of the best ways to get from downtown to City Park to see the lights of "Celebration in the Oaks," or in the spring, to get over to the Fair Grounds racetrack for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
I watch the Food Network pretty often, as cooking is one of my hobbies. I decided to look around at opensecrets.org, which chronicles political donations, to see if any of the prominent TV chefs are into political giving. Mario Batali gave $1,000 to John Edwards this year. Grazie, Mario! Rachel Ray gave $2,000 in 2006 to Mark Warner's Forward Together PAC. Cool. Bobby Flay evidently is another good guy, having contributed to Mark Green's campaign in 1998. Ina Garten gave to John Kerry in 2004 and the DNC in 1998, bless her heart. Michael Chiarello contributed to Democratic Congressman Mike Thompson in 1998. I also was pleased to find that Julia Child donated to John Kerry when she was alive. (I could tell she was a classy lady.) Alice Waters gave to Hillary this year, so props to her as well. Some of the chefs with very common last names (Lee, Miller, Goldman, and the like) were hard to search for, but I was pleased not to find any evidence of treason readily apparent at the Food Network.h/t dKos diarist bluehawaii, who posted this information as a comment to a diary written by boofdah.