It is clementine season, my peach

This song came on my ipod at work yesterday

and I was immediately taken back

to early morning in the Plex in New Orleans:

mate brewing, schoolbooks and the 

most wonderful porch ever constructed. 

Its funny, I like me best with a broken heart.

Doux, doux, doux

La nouvelle valse du samedi au soir

Jean Arceneaux

Laissez le bon temps rouler, 
« Those people really know how to have a good time ! » ; 
Une race idyllique, sans souci, 
Des écrevisses, des patates et des culs de chaoui, 
Comme si on était toujours in the forest primeval
Après se promener avec Mlle Bellefontaine
En Acadie, home of the happy, 
Doux, doux, doux, 
Content, heureux, fout-pas-mal. 
Asteur, les Ragin' Cajuns
Dépensent leur passion sur un billet d'entrée
Pour voir une partie de football. 
Il nous restera bientôt
Que l'imitation grotesque
D'un peuple autrefois vivace, 
Avec juste assez de traditions
Pour remplir les pages d'un tourist brochure. 
Le buddha de Basile avait raison : 
The good times are killing us all. 

Août 1978






translation and more here

day dream

I would love to be sitting in the autumn breeze snacking on the ceviche platter at RioMar in New Orleans with my dinner party gals. I can't think of anything better! 

August 29

Five years ago...

I was not a New Orleanienne when Hurricane Katrina struck, but for me and scores of other young, shiftless folk, that storm and its aftermath put the city on the map. New Orleans certainly didn't need us to get on the road to recovery, but after sucking up two and a half years of her soul, cracked sidewalks, stranger smiles, and gallows humor, I need her more than ever. We came from all over to be a part of something; every day I find out that more of my friends have decided to stay past the three-year stint they thought they were in for.

New Orleans doesn't need us, she's too stubborn for that, but that must be part of her seduction. Tonight, I'll be eating and drinking and toasting and singing in honor of my friends, near and far, who know what it's like to love this place.