b.rox

We lost electrical service to our house for 98 hours. That’s just over four days. And during these four days I discovered something odd. I sort of liked it. It feels wrong, saying that when over a hundred thousand of my fellow citizens are still without power. The constant question around the city these days [...]

Back in August when Persephone started school my morning routine changed severely. Instead of being responsible for bundling a toddler off to daycare, suddenly I was seeing wife and daughter on their way. I waved goodbye and then they were gone. And there I was, with the house to myself, and at least an hour [...]

Here I am on my 20th birthday, with my mother and sister. My hair was thicker then. That was 25 years ago today. For as long as I can remember, I’ve contemplated my mortality on an almost daily basis, yet I’ve often behaved as if I think I’m immortal. I’ve frequently envisioned myself as an [...]

I promised to write about my three regular practices: meditation, baking, and writing. The last topic should be the easiest to address. I’ve been doing it the longest, and I feel as if I understand it somewhat. And yet: Surely it’s foolish to write about writing. Hasn’t it all been said, or written, before? Come [...]

I touched on the idea of dialog as a practice which I hope to cultivate. Here are some other practices which I’m, um, practicing, with some regularity. Mindfulness meditation. Writing. Baking bread. I took yoga classes for about three months, but cut them as an austerity measure; now that our finances have stabilized I should [...]

A Good Juicy Paradox Since the birth of my daughter Persephone, life has been very interesting to say the least. That comes as no surprise, and yet it’s a huge surprise at the same time. Contradict myself much? I do love a good juicy paradox. It’s no surprise because, after all, it’s blindingly obvious that [...]

Back when I lived in Bloomington, Indiana, I availed myself of counseling services at the Center for Human Growth twice. The first time was when I was an undergraduate living in the Collins LLC. The Center for Human Growth was nearby at that time, and at some point I became aware of them and decided [...]

I got Persephone up at dawn to see the sunrise on our last morning at Vero. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite as dramatic as on the morning of the solstice. But it was still beautiful. Unfortunately I neglected to tell Xy I was getting our daughter up so early. I also neglected to inform her that [...]

Posting has been a little thin here lately, for good reason: I’ve been on vacation. My plan now is to back up in time and recreate these ten days in excruciating detail. So here we go. My in-laws rolled into town on Wednesday, June 15, but my vacation officially began the next day, when I [...]

A couple days ago Xy reported she had trouble with the car starting, and sure enough the next morning it was dead. We packed Xy off in a cab. (When she got to her school on the West Bank, she discovered the cab wasn’t equipped to take credit cards (although the dispatcher had assured me [...]

It really pains me to write it, but this situation in Japan seems horribly familiar. It’s like the Japanese people are getting hit with a combination of Katrina and the flooding of New Orleans and the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster — all at the same time, and quite clearly worse. I don’t see a lot [...]

I thought it might be interesting to collect all the stuff that caught my attention on the net today but it proved impossible. There’s just way too much. What follows is only a smattering.

I’m not much for resolutions but I do have some goals for this year. Finish ROX #96. Really need to wrap this one up. It’s been four years since our last episode. Where has the time gone? Prepare a presentation on “The Role of Blogs in the Rebuilding of New Orleans” for the AERA 2011 [...]

I just unearthed an old post, incomplete and never published, about going to church with Xy. I dusted it off, fleshed it out to the best of my memory, and it’s now available in the archives under March 18, 2007, which is probably wrong but it’s my best guess.

When I was a teenager, I used to read the comics section of the newspaper on a fairly regular basis. For some reason I’ve gotten into the habit again over the last couple months. The comics have gotten smaller and my eyes have gotten worse. Some of the strips are mildly amusing, while others seem [...]

Although I started this blog in 2004, I’ve added bits and pieces to extend the story back to May of 1999, when Xy and I first moved to New Orleans. I recently rediscovered a write-up from way back when, so in lieu of the present, I invite you to cast your mind back to August [...]

I’m still a little “down in the mouth” from getting a temporary crown last week. In the meantime, please check out this link: The Hypothetical Development Organization I’m not really sure what this is all about. As near as I can figure, these folks aim to propose bizarre and fanciful re-developments of existing urban buildings [...]

I’ve been reflecting lately on how happy I am, and this makes me nervous. I love my daughter and my wife, my health is fairly good, at work I’m pursuing a line of inquiry which is fresh and exciting to me, I’ve been reading some good books, we’re finally seeing some progress on the greenway, [...]

I woke around dawn to the sound of heavy downpouring rain. After it kept up for a while, I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed, put on a pair of boxers, some sandals, and a baseball hat, and ran out to move the car up to the driveway. Xy tried to tell me it wasn’t [...]

For the last week Xy and Persephone have been out in the proverbial boonies, hanging with some friends at a remote cabin way out in the woods. It was originally going to be a three day trip, but they were enjoying themselves so much they extended their stay. Meanwhile I’ve been “batchin’ it” here at [...]