b.rox

Donna comes and cleans my office every day. Her son was killed last Mardi Gras. We talk about Manny frequently. She’s strong, but the pain and distress in her life are evident. She was looking for some grief counseling resources. With the help of Howie and his lovely wife I think she’s got a line [...]

Xy and I always enjoy a good hearty squash soup in the winter. Unfortunately, winter seems to have ended here before we could use the squash we’d picked up at the grocery. The weather has been positively springlike and lovely since Lundi Gras, and I even heard a weather guy on TV say the “meteorological [...]

Two articles grabbed my attention this morning: New Orleans since the storm: An American travesty by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor Feeding 18,000 Families Each Month in One Neighborhood in New Orleans: The Right to Return Eighteen Months after Katrina by Bill Quigley Reading these makes me sad and angry. The mainstream media is bleak enough, but these [...]

This is New Orleans. This is how we live. This is how we die. Not everyone gets a jazz funeral. You have to be special. Yesterday’s mournful and joyous procession through the streets of the city was a testimony to an extraordinary woman, an extraordinary life. We will never forget Helen Hill. Helen’s funeral had [...]

Helen Hill had lots of friends here, and most of us couldn’t make it to her funeral in South Carolina. So I think tomorrow’s event is gonna be huge. There will be brass bands. There will be pig costumes. There will be vegan cupcakes. Ernie K-Doe’s hearse will be there. And check the cool poster. [...]

I have a picture on the op-ed page of the Times-Picayune today, in honor of Black History Month.

I hope my dad doesn’t mind me sharing this update he sent via e-mail yesterday: A few years back, Ruth and I visited the Munch museum in Oslo, Norway dedicated to the artist of a famous work called The Scream. It showed a little man screaming. I was reminded of that painting yesterday when I [...]

Is it possible for one day of festivity to change everything? I woke up Mardi Gras morning wondering if I had a friend left in the world. Turns out I’ve got hundreds. If not thousands. We saw many old friends. We met many new friends. Some were almost a little too friendly, like the guy [...]

For the last 364 days, life here may have sucked for most of us, but on this one day (at least) there’s no place I’d rather be than New Orleans. We got up early, we had a good breakfast, we’re rocking out, we’re getting into costume, we’re hitting the streets. Happy Mardi Gras.

Just a few days before my father’s operation, two of my closest friends received news that their own fathers were coming, abruptly, to the end of life. Michael went to Nebraska to be with his father. He passed away yesterday. My other friend’s father has stomach cancer and I gather the prognosis is not good. [...]

Xy and I went to see the Knights of Chaos last night. Schroeder’s posted a couple of pictures. It was a good satirical parade that made fun of all our so-called leaders. Last year, I wasn’t really feeling the Carnival spirit until I saw Chaos and Muses. This year, not so much. For one thing, [...]

A while back I was contacted by someone who wanted to use a picture I’d taken and posted online. I’ll call her RJ. Here’s the picture that caught her eye: It’s an oyster po boy from Domilise’s. It seems that RJ was working for an advertising firm doing a campaign for Mastercard. They’re building a [...]

My dad recently discovered he had prostate cancer. It was “low grade” and slow-growing. More men die with this sort of thing than of it. Among his choices: watch and wait, or get radiation treatment, or just cut the whole thing out. He chose the latter, and on Monday afternoon, he had his prostate removed. [...]

Last night’s warnings about severe weather proved all too true. A tornado tore through New Orleans in the wee hours of the morning. The swath of damage seems to go all the way from Westwego on the west bank of the Mississippi, across the river and through east back neighborhoods: Riverbend, Carrollton, Mid-City, Gentilly, Pontchartrain [...]

The neighbors across the street had a birthday party for their three-year old daughter yesterday. It brought a touch of color and festivity to our neighborhood which remains about 75% uninhabited. We gave the little girl a fiver. Later in the day they sent over some plates full of good home-cooked food: pork chops, jambalaya, [...]

I was just talking to a lady who works a janitorial detail here at the University. Her son, Jermaine Wise, was murdered last Mardi Gras by none other than B Stupid, aka Ivory Harris. Remember him? He was public enemy #1 until he got arrested March 20th. She pointed out he’s being charged with second [...]

Black and white kids playing together at the statue of Jose Marti on Jefferson Davis Parkway.

Welcome art.rox to the “dot rox” family of blogs. They’ll be writing about “art journalism outside the big media centers of New York City and Los Angeles.”

Two nights ago, as I lay in bed just drifting off to sleep, I heard a noise which sounded for all the world like someone trying the knob of the door directly beneath our bedroom. I sprang from bed, turned on the light in back of the house, grabbed a flashlight which didn’t work, turned [...]

I was heartened to read a positive story on the front of today’s paper about Dr. Jeff Wiese, who drove around the country for months after Katrina and pretty much saved the residency program at the Tulane School of Medicine. Now the residents are trying to fill in the gap left by the closure of [...]