Liens du Moment: 12/10

Posted on December 10, 2007 by Varg

A story on business in New Orleans relocating out of state. the final paragraphs of the article state that in most cities, big business calls the shots while the city government has a more diminished role. Tulane’s Peter Ricchiuti, is quoted a saying it is odd that big business doesn’t run New Orleans like it does every other major city.
Businesses find it easy to leave New Orleans
Houston Chronicle

Along the same lines is this AP report that states South Louisiana Parishes compete for economic development rather than approaching it from a regional perspective. not surprising considering your average upper-middle class family from Mandeville probably doesn’t want to share the wealth with a single mom on welfare in the 7th Ward.
New Orleans Study Has Familiar Ring
AP

There are lots of scream-inducing parts of this story but none more than the part where 25 percent of those polled think New Orleans is still partly underwater…
Poll suggests mixed feelings in US about New Orleans post-Katrina
Herald-Tribune

4 thoughts on “Liens du Moment: 12/10”

Charlotte says:

December 10, 2007 at 7:28 pm

25% polled apparently have their heads up their asses. Jeezzzz………..
Alex says:

December 11, 2007 at 1:02 am

Or

25% of those polled have never been to New Orleans and/or, like most americans, rely on inaccurate information sources–like history books, newspapers, network news,etc… .
jeffrey says:

December 11, 2007 at 1:16 pm

That poll is exhibit A in why I hate traveling out of state these days. Every time I get multiple idiotic questions about the state of things here.

It’s always a losing proposition to simultaneously disabuse people of these nutty notions while still emphasizing the many ways in which we are still fucked around here.
jeffrey says:

December 11, 2007 at 1:20 pm

Exhibit B, of course, has to do with my valve… which I should tell you about….

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

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.