updates, a few

I'll update in a few days with an extensive posting on what I did in Montréal. Until then, hold onto your uh, seats.



Today is a national day of remembrance--I have probably lost my PNY 128mb USB jump drive (likely left in a computer in the on-campus lab after logging off.) To all the good times, USB; you will be missed.

Oh, I got the acceptance e-mail from CET the other day; Việt Nam this summer!

a cafeteria conversation

An aged African American man sits across the table. A simple 'hello' is all it takes to learn more about him. There are two of us who speak to him. I ask him how long has he lived in these parts. This is all it takes; he replies, "all of my life, though I had been places in my youth. This is my home." He says that people worked their whole lives for this structure, but lost everything within one night. He said people lost families, and their homes. His house, once down the street, is gone now. Many homes, he said, are left ungutted.

He spoke of governmental inefficiency, of having nothing left. In a few days, he said, he'd go visit the neighboring town to visit friends he hasn't seen in a year. They are all he has left, he says. All I can do in the meanwhile is nod, provide my attention, and let him continue his words. He appears upset, his facial expression changes, and he speaks of governmental funds to encourage people to return--but what can two hundred to three hundred dollars a month do? After his rhetoric question, he abruptly leaves the table. I cannot finish what I am eating.

the lower ninth ward

Shattered lives lie in ruin--these homes no longer on stable ground.
Numbers name the dead; sometimes none, other times more.




TFW, DDA, and FW, what have you found?
Once vibrant though neglected; the attention has come too late.



Material life, tatter cloth, broken glass.
Some have returned, others not.




"Bulldoze this house," "No trespassing."
To examine the aftermath, filming crews have posted signs.




"R U Back Yet?" on a car. When will you return, if ever?
Empty plots of land where homes once stood.



A blue bridge on the horizon, what was this for?
A patched wall; is this enough?