b.rox

Our first plan was to reprise last year’s costumes which we didn’t really get to employ last year. But then it became clear that this Mardi Gras would be unseasonably cool, and perhaps downright cold. Costuming as Olympian deities seemed like it would be uncomfortable, and so I scrambled at the last possible minute to [...]

New Orleans Saints Fans High-Five Each Other by Aisha Turner/PBS Newshour / CC BY-NC 2.0
Today I’m offering a rare guest post by my friend David. Take it away, man.

B, I agree with all your points, but as someone who grew up here, the win means even more.
We all know that historically the Saints were [...]

I recently got word that Helen Hill’s film Scratch and Crow has been named to the National Film Registry.

Each year the Librarian of Congress names 25 films to the registry that are “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant to be preserved for all time. These films are selected as works of enduring importance to American culture.

We [...]

Friday night my daughter stabbed me in the eye. Not intentionally — she was just waving her arm around. Her little finger somehow got past my glasses, and her nail sliced right across my cornea. When she realized I was in pain she gave me a kiss. Very sweet.
It was pretty painful, but I thought [...]

Imagine my surprise when I discovered my nursery school photo is being used by Cory Frickin’ Doctorow for an article on Boing Boing.

The subject? Counter-terrorism, natch.

England’s West Midlands counter-terrorism unit is putting nursery schools on notice to check out their four-year-olds to make sure that they’re not being “brainwashed” into “Islamic extremism.”

It should be noted [...]

With help from over twenty friends and neighbors we knocked our move out in just over four and a half hours. I’m still totally amazed by that. It must be a new world record.
Many thanks to everyone who lent a hand.
So now we are in our new house unpacking. And unpacking. And unpacking… I have [...]

I found and scanned an old photo from my files. Here’s Brian Jones and I getting into a serious subterranean study session.

I’m not sure who took this photo. Possibly Shelley Richmond aka Michelle Richmond Vallejo. Circa 1988? Anyway it’s at Greene Hall, Collins Living Learning Center, Indiana University, Bloomington.
Naturally there is some music for underground [...]

Just in case you thought we were getting too sappy around here. Twelve anti-love songs by B.B. King, The Plastic Cheeses, Moon Cakes, and others. About 40 minutes of fun.

Actually we had a fun anniversary celebration last night. Our old friend Amanda was in town with her husband Michael (whom we’d never met before) and [...]

Last night for the first time ever we left our daughter with a babysitter and had a fun night out on the town.
Actually it was a double date. We went over to Sue and Steve’s house just as the babysitter Althea arrived. (Not to be confused with my former co-worker, this Althea has done a [...]

Lots of stuff going on lately, and so little time to write. The days slip away uncounted. I can’t stand that. So here are some things that have gone down over the last five days or more.

Xy made a trip to the north shore with Persephone and Daisy and Lavender to visit the splash park [...]

I’m not exactly sure how it happened, but we’ve got a rabbit in the house.

I’ve been able to piece together a few clues. Apparently somebody we don’t even know got a rabbit for their kid but then the kid wasn’t interested in it. This someone is apparently on the board of a local charter school. [...]

Here’s my new desktop wallpaper, courtesy of Brother O’Mara:

This photo was taken on Iberville in Mid-City, up near N. Telemachus. I’ve passed by this drainpipe many a time and thought it would make a great picture. I finally snapped a crappy shot with my phone, which led to Brother O’Mara to visit the location and [...]

I’ve been feeling the pull of the past. If memory is a drug, then journals are the paraphernalia true addicts need to get that extra kick. Which is why I’ve gone to extraordinary lengths to preserve my handwritten journals even after they sat under water for two weeks after Katrina.
Lately I’ve been revisiting the ’80s, [...]

Facebook continues to amaze as I connect again and again to people with whom I haven’t communicated for up to a quarter century. So what do you say to someone after such an interval? Sometimes, not much. But the fact is, sometimes it doesn’t take much to trigger old forgotten memories.
For example, my friend Vic [...]

Parties are strange affairs. People gathering together for no other purpose than to celebrate life and enjoy each other’s company. What an ephemeral proposition! And also how wonderful. It’s almost enough to make one suspect that gross material possessions are not the most important things in life. Hmm.
We had a great party here yesterday. I [...]

A friend of mine quit Facebook earlier this week. Said he wanted to spend more time reading. Someone else suggested he needed a Bookbook application, which I thought was pretty funny. (But, come to think of it, maybe that’s a better name than GoodReads or LibraryThing.) (Though I don’t think Facebook is dominating my mental [...]

Version 2.7.1 of WordPress, the software that powers this blog, was released a couple days ago. I’d been looking forward to this release, even though it’s just a minor maintenance deal with no big new features. I was looking forward to it because this is the first release since 2.7, which implemented the ability to [...]

After a month of cajoling on my part, I’m happy to report my co-worker Nancy Hampton has finally launched the Xavier Library Blog. Please check it out and leave her a comment.

It was two years ago today that Helen’s life came to an end, in circumstances too terrible to contemplate calmly. So we are spending a little time this morning remembering her life, and the light she brought to the lives of others.
People often ask me if her killer was ever found. As far as I [...]

Three cheers for Steve Volan. He’s blogging again. He’s writing about a hot topic in New Orleans. And he’s the only person on the City Council that I look up to.
I mean that last part literally. They call him “Tall Steve,” and there’s a reason for that. Did I mention he’s on the City Council? [...]