b.rox

I wanted to record before I forget that as Xy and I were coming home from an errand Friday, we saw there were lots of firetrucks clustered around Lindy Boggs Medical Center (aka Mercy). Later we learned that someone had broken in and started a small fire. [WWL has video.]
I further learned (through discussion with [...]

I couldn’t afford a genuine Punic Persephone coin but I did find a cool pewter pendant. The face of the goddess is surrounded by a sheaf of wheat, representing Demeter, her mother. The perfect gift for Persephone’s mother on her first Mother’s day.
Xy calls it an amulet.

Also, my Mom and Dad are visiting from Indiana. [...]

I came outside today to find Johnny and some other kids throwing rocks at our next door neighbor’s house. Our next door neighbor (Craig) decided to stay in Texas after his Katrina evacuation. The weeds in his yard are now eight feet tall. I have some issues with Craig, obviously, but I didn’t think Johnny [...]

An ad just played on TV for an upcoming news report on the decline of baseball as a popular sport amongst African-Americans.
Just a couple minutes later, there are three kids (all African-American) playing catch on the street in front of our house, each with a mitt.
What makes this even weirder is that the kids around [...]

My parents are coming down for a visit, so we are frantically preparing the household for their arrival. Time to put away the illegal drugs and semi-automatic weapons, the seditious literature and satanic rock music — at least for a while.

photo by gurke
We also have to conceal the extensive subterranean dungeon we installed during our [...]

A couple years ago, I promised myself that when my MP3 collection hit 10,000 I’d pause for reflection. But that pause never happened.
Now I’ve hit 20,000 tracks in my iTunes library, and I’m drawing a line in the sand. At least temporarily. No more! At least not today.
For me it’s become like a sickness, a [...]

I’ve never noticed lovebugs around New Orleans before, though they’re supposed to be common all along the Gulf Coast during certain times of the year. Then again, New Orleans isn’t really on the coast — though the coast is getting closer every day.
Anyway, I’ve been seeing the lovebugs here for the first time over this [...]

Xy and I were getting lunch at Minnie’s Catfish Corner (highly recommended) when we heard the news about the hurricane in Myanmar. Apparently the geography there is very similar to Louisiana. The reports are at least 10,000 dead with thousands more missing. This reminded us of the worst predictions immediately after Hurricane Katrina and the [...]

We took Persephone in to Xy’s school to visit some of Xy’s students. As she predicted, it was a mob scene.

I’ve posted the pix as a set on Flickr. I recommend viewing it as a slideshow.
Dwight D. Eisenhower Elementary School, 3700 Tall Pines Drive, New Orleans, Louisiana 70131

Something about Jazzfest (presented by Shell) inspires me to stay up all night. Even when I don’t actually go to the Jazzfest. Especially when I don’t actually go.
(For the record, we never go, unless someone gives us free tix, and this year no one has, so we’ve been celebrating our own private Jazzfest at home [...]

Workers of the World Unite!
You have nothing to lose but your chains!
On this May Day I salute my father-in-law Michael Paxson. He is retiring today after I don’t know how many years of bondage to the state as a civil servant.
Here’s the only picture of Mike I have handy:

Let me also add that in the [...]