second line

it's a tradition here that when an established musician dies the
members of his band lead a parade in his honor and the crowd follows
behind.

i'm fairly certain when my mom told me not to ruin my dinner she
meant, "do not eat a pint of cherry garcia in a 10 minute span." i
will confirm this when dinner is served.

my favorite slasher porno

morning brought a meeting with theo, a woman heading up an organization called replant new orleans, which is doing exactly what the name describes--planting trees and creating a system of compost remediation to help clean up the city's soil. another common grounder and i will help her out for an earth day event that will involve planting up to 525 trees. winn dixie, the regional super market chain, is sponsoring the event and we'll get all the publicity that goes along with it as they try and establish themselves and an environmentally friendly corporation.

after lunch i got sent on an emergency mission to an alternative media convention, the theory being that it would be about media trends and strategies for independent media outlets. while it was an alternative media convention, it was alternative in the dyed-hair and nose-piercing sense and the media included comics, films, and arts and crafts. there was a showing of goregasm, a slasher porn movie featuring everyone's favorite serial murderer, penis-face. the two of us who went there bailed and headed to cafe du monde for some free beignets and coffee (free if you table them).

tomorrow may bring some soil testing.

keepin' it weird.

onwards, to austin!

"This is the most magnificent discarded living room set I have ever seen"

Sunday is an idle day here at Common Ground, which I believe is welcomed by many after a week of some strenuous manual labor and some psychological battles (some of which are ongoing--and it should be noted that these are not my battles), and of course, Mardi Gras, that day of overblown hedonistic festivity that couldn't possibly live up to its reputation and yet somehow in the lack of recollection of so many, can't not be as amazing it's supposed to be. Work did stop for Mardi Gras, and virtually everyone at Common Ground went out to the parades--the Zulu parade seemed to be the biggest draw, featuring not just your standard beads and plastic cups being artlessly strewn about, but also coconuts. What made the parade truly memorable to me was that about half of the participants were in black face. All that revelry with a legacy of racism staring us in the face. These were black people in black face too. I'm unsure what to make of it all.

My past two days were largely spent working on a powerpoint presentation for VIP-types who came for the grand opening of 1800 Deslonde Street (what will be offices for Common Ground's legal, tech, and bioremediation services) and then also helping break soil in preparation for a rose garden outside of 1800. The whole event was put together in two days, which is a remarkably short time considering it featured multiple musical acts and free food for a crowd of about 100. It was minor miracle. I was approached to create a flyer for it on Wednesday evening, we had it printed and ready to be distributed by late Thursday morning. Until I started work on the flyer the administrative director didn't know the party was happening. Organizational troubles persist.

To keep things light, games of chess are abundant and there were a couple evening viewings of Ratatouille and Juno.

you're shorter than you think you are

lined up for the zulu parade

foxy throws rocks at the cameraman

sunset obscured

where deslonde street runs into the north claiborne bridge

NOLA photos

Walgreens, Canal Street

Absinthe poster by Ron English

Café Du Monde serves up the beignets

eviscerated shops support Georges for Gov'na!

Claiborne Avenue Bridge, Day

Keith Calhoun


the neighborhood


Claiborne Avenue Bridge, Sunset


Levee, Lower 9th Ward

after the tornado warnings

today the sun was shining and the wind was blowing down on deslonde street. woken by a fellow bunker's early morning calisthenics, i lazed about on the mattress (luxury!) in the top bunk of a bed in a house that will eventually hold offices for common ground's bioremediation project, free legal advice for residents dicked over by contractors, and other useful community programs. after about a half hour, i managed to peel myself out of bed and jogged down to the kitchen house to get started on my dish washing duties for the morning. around 8:30 we had our morning meeting and then split off into our different work groups. today i was with zeke and nutmeg doing some gardening work. we prepped a spot for for the pink project to come in and plant some roses next to 1800 deslonde and then headed off to meg's garden where we set up some beds and planted some broccoli, carrots, leeks, turnips, and sunflowers among a couple other plant-y items.

the afternoon was less busy, but i managed to drop a bunch of doughnuts off at lowernine.org. some woman apparently brings a large box full of sugary baked goods to common ground every few days. our capacity to consume them is outweighed by their numbers. maybe one day lowernine will bring common ground something.