Liens du Moment: 4/22

Posted on April 22, 2007 by Varg

Reference this next time someone says everybody here is looking for a hand out.
New website customizes post-Katrina volunteerism in New Orleans
The Louisiana Weekly

Reference this next time someone uses the “below sea level” remark.
HIGHER GROUND: A study finds that New Orleans has plenty of real estate above sea level that is being underutilized
Nola.com

Reference this next time someone suggests bulldozing the city.
Port of New Orleans
Wikipedia

7 thoughts on “Liens du Moment: 4/22”

bayoustjohndavid says:

April 22, 2007 at 7:55 pm

Actually, the Picayune was about a year behind Third Battle on the sea level thing. He followed it up with more detailed posts.
TM says:

April 22, 2007 at 8:37 pm

You go, baby!
Varg says:

April 22, 2007 at 9:34 pm

We’ve all known it, but jerkys need it spelled out for them.
celcus says:

April 23, 2007 at 7:50 am

I hear Halliburton is lobbying for the contract to relocate the port to Oklahoma. 😉
Marco says:

April 23, 2007 at 6:50 pm

Fuck sea level. All ports are below sea level. This is a fact. We have to protect long established ports below sea level. New Orleans is a port some of which is below sea level and some of which is above sea level. What people in the North have to realize is that the port of New Orleans is unique in the history, culture and topography of the USA. For this reason alone, money should be pouring in. What the hell are people thinking, if they they think at all? A sea change is in the wind, my friends. Don’t despair, don’t give it up. It’s easy for me to spout, but you know it in your hearts and soul and feet. Rock steady.
Varg says:

April 23, 2007 at 6:59 pm

I see you are a fan of French Bulldogs…me too.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vargvargas/470648359/
Marco says:

April 24, 2007 at 6:24 am

Cool, Varg. They’re quirky, very friendly little creatures, Frenchies!

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Rejoice!

I say that a lot. I sign many pieces with it. I do this because I believe our lives are a true happenstance. A brilliant occurence from nothingness. We are so rare. We are so unlikely. And simply being born isn’t enough. From there we must survive, endure. So each morning, after our Sun departs and is reborn again. Please, for the sake of your ancestors and the Universe in general, hoist that cup of joe up and say, “Rejoice.”

Ours is a soulful existence. No matter how many McMansions, polyester fabrics, auto-tunes, modified foods and social networks we surround ourselves with, we are all still native, passionate beings made of ancient matter. We are organic and we have soul.

Wood also has a warm, soulful quality. Wood has a memory. It retains smells, traumas, events. It even has a calendar. This is why I have chosen it as my medium, for its old soul. I like to think the wood in my work is in its third incarnation. First a tree, then a home and now art. If you have a room that needs a little soul, get a piece. A room can never have enough soul.

My inspiration and subject matter comes from many sources, among them: Humanism, old ballads, trickster tales, flora and fauna, science, myths and folklore, stringed instruments, brass bands, amber spirits, lady vocalists, general relativity and quantum mechanics. Some of my pieces are there just to make a short, simple statement about what’s important in life. Some are more diffuse and abstract in meaning. A personal drama, an enduring line from a poem or novel, a poignant song lyric, the legacy of an important person, a fleeting thought … these are the subjects of my art.

I use hearts often because they are a very abstract way of depicting the human soul without also employing the very subjective human form. The symbolic heart is an apt representation for a person’s experience and essence. A body can immediatly conjure happiness, sorrow, youth, age, anger, bliss. These emotions can get in the way. Sometimes it’s simply about the experience.

I am the son of a sailor and a social worker, the grandson of a gypsy, a dancer and a nurse. I spent my youth moving from port city to port city, watching a lot of road go by and reading World Book Encyclopedia. After my parents settled down on the Gulf Coast, I was a miscreant youth, destroying cars and taking the wrongs things too seriously and the right things not serious enough. Eventually I began replacing my imagination with experience.

I will use any salvaged wood but prefer swamp cypress and longleaf heartwood pine.

I despise waste. Particularly the waste of organic matter. Trees are magnificent. They were here before we arrived and they’ll be around after we are gone. I’m making an effort to save as much wood as possible. Creating art is fun too. But beyond communicating with folks, but beyond making money ad providing for myself, beyond rescuing flooded parts, beyond reveling in the ethereal aroma of heartpine that hasn’t seen the light of day in 400 years, beyond all that, I am trying to make a simple comment on waste.