Sunday Morning Blogspotting

Posted on September 14, 2008 by Varg

– Clay offers up some photos of local flood protection points-of-interest during Ike’s storm surge. It is always commendable when a blogger puts their boots on the ground and provides the simplest information not reported in the local coverage. No comments necessary, just the facts here.

– Speaking of boots on the ground, Maitri, Karen, , Ariella Cohen, and Jacob Brancasi traveled down into the doorstep of Acadiana after Gustav and sent back many important photos and reports. It’s assumed that the storm surge from Ike only exacerbated the damage from Gustav. And hopefully as the area recovers, visitors can free to take a day trip into that beautiful yet threatened part of the state.

– Jeffrey’s Saints’ recaps are in full swing, expect delightful recaps from the 600 seats as early as Monday but no later than Friday but sometimes not at all through the rest of the season. There will be much hating on Reggie Bush and Jeremy Shockey, many questioning of Sean Payton’s calls and numerous references to a certain alcoholic breakfast beverage made with tomato juice.

– Speaking of the Saints, now would be a good time to check Italian Sports Guys, Saintseester (who also happens to have a very nice site design and Our Saints.

– Tim’s left brain was in full effect when he comprised a small “evacuation decision matrix.” No matrix needed for me Tim, I’m not depending on no levees! Whoa! Hey!

– Pistolette is knocked up and internet addicted so she’s taking some time off (great Gustav ‘I’m stayin’ coverage over there by the way), meantime Nola Slate is showing signs of life. Ditto for Celcus who seems to have been going at it non-stop since Rising Tide and the storms.

– I’m sure I left some folks out, just go to anyone on the blogroll, they are all good.

5 thoughts on “Sunday Morning Blogspotting”

saintseester says:

September 14, 2008 at 10:45 am

Thanks for the compliment on my (current) blog site design. I appreciate that. Yours is pretty smashing, itself.
Varg says:

September 14, 2008 at 10:56 am

Yea, but this theme is a bimbo, very pretty but high maintenance! Whoa!
Clay says:

September 14, 2008 at 6:12 pm

http://noladishu.blogspot.com/2008/09/floodgates-during-ike.html

That’s the link on my post.
Varg says:

September 14, 2008 at 7:12 pm

Aight fixed. Forgot to link it this morning. Damn Post Hurricane Syndrome.
celcus says:

September 15, 2008 at 6:39 am

Thanks for the shout out!

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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.