Cao!

Posted on December 7, 2008 by Varg

img hot linked from WWL

Like or don’t like it, it’s another interesting chapter in local politics. A hurricane, a historic presidential election, a lame Saturday in December, it was a perfect storm.

I voted for Cao. And in doing so can revel in his victory or, let’s be honest, the defeat of William Jefferson. And as it has been said before, anti-corruption should be every voter’s first priority, particularly in the case of Jefferson. One can say that his ouster will harness incoming recovery funds but, after hearing him specifically referenced many times as a reason funds shouldn’t be allocated (along with his extinguished status in Congress recently), it probably won’t be the case.

I am happy to have a Vietnamese philosophy grad in office rather than a 10-time crook who stole from school children. I am happy the people in New Orleans East have a representative in Congress.

Added: Whoa! National news! hey!

3 thoughts on “Cao!”

Tim says:

December 8, 2008 at 10:44 pm

I hope you’re right. I hope Cao is a model citizen and a true friend of New Orleans.

However, his strong religious convictions and the favors he owes to the Republican Party power brokers who helped him win election will be hard to resist.

I’ll be keeping an eye on him.

Peace,

Tim
mominem says:

December 9, 2008 at 3:04 am

I hope everyone keeps an eye on him. I think we may be in for a rude awakening, a public servant who is forthright and honest.

We may never recover.
Varg says:

December 9, 2008 at 8:57 am

Yea but then he’s just a freshman, some are corrupt when they decide to seek office, for others, it’s a slow creeping thing…

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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.