February 2012
1 post
1 tag
Learning to Love New Orleans (though I still won't...
Early on in this blog I pointed out that I try not to say “I miss you” because that statement implies that I am not happy about my current state in life. That general sentiment goes beyond just people. It applies to places as well. For a large part of my time in New Orleans I’ve had a general sense of New York longing, and don’t get me wrong, there are still things about New York that I wish...
December 2011
2 posts
Note to Self
I can do so much more when motivated by foolish reasons. I should get that under control at some point. The irony of that circular logic is almost too much. Perhaps someday though…
1 tag
Missing Children Report
“Back yo ass up man. How you tryna tell me we weren’t ten yards from the touchdown line?” This was the first sign of success that I found as I went out to observe young people in the Milneburg neighborhood. Milneburg is in the northern section of New Orleans, near Lake Pontchartrain, and it is bounded by Leon C. Simon Boulevard, Elysian Fields Avenue, Filmore Avenue, and Peoples Avenue. I had been...
November 2011
1 post
Running Log, November 20th
Ran at about 11 am. It was hot and humid (in November! Yes!). And enjoyable. I first kept thinking about Quality since I read the first half of Lila by Robert Pirsig last night and this morning. The idea of being “plains-spoken” in my personal statement to grad school was an alluring, recurring theme in the beginning of the run.
The middle of the run is, of course, a forgotten haze: the elusive...
August 2011
1 post
Those Who Can Focus and Those Who Cannot
“Concentration is the secret of strength in politics, in war, in trade, in short, in all the management of human affairs.” —-Ralph Waldo Emerson
For six weeks this past summer vacation, I worked as a tutor for twelve 7th grade children who all wanted to attend my alma mater: Brooklyn Tech. They were spending their summer learning the requisite math and...
April 2010
2 posts
No Art for Art's Sake
“[T]here is no such thing as ‘art for art’s sake.’ […] For if the artist created only for himself and not for others, he would lock himself up somewhere and paint or write or play just for himself. But he does not do that. On the contrary, he invites us over, even insists that we come to hear him or to see his work; in a word, he expresses a need for our evaluation and/or appreciation […]”
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Def Comedy Vitalis
If there’s one veritable fact of life, it’s that life has a sense of humor. A kind of disgusting, all-permeating, inopportune irony that’s just waiting to be noticed. For instance, the whole “when it rains, it pours” thing and if you really want to say something then it’s probably a bad time to say it thing and vice versa. Funny enough, the physical laws that...
March 2010
1 post
Clouds in the Sky
It seems like the days float by, quick as the clouds in the sky, and the year just rolled in, but it’s gone with the wind. Cross winds, to-and-fro winds blow me each and every way Switching paths every day, swiftest track to nowhere; sailing without delay So feel the boat sway and feel the boat rock Watch the time go by and hear the clock tick-tock. Now extra food is running out; I have enough to...
February 2010
1 post
Every Day Thoughts
Every day you come through the green door that leads to the fiber glass room known as my life. You check in at nine and leave at one, or three, or five-thirty, or whenever. Everyday like clockwork you enter and subsequently exit my consciousness as if it were a dysfunctional ant trap: There’s always a procession of people like you visiting, but no one ever stays… Every day you wrap me up in...
January 2010
2 posts
Pardon the Intermission
School has set about ravaging my free time, so pardon me as I attempt to handle this burdensome schoolwork. I’ll be back once I’ve completed my class assignments. *sigh* however long that may take…
Dethroning the Romantic Relationship
“Jay-Z: All I need in this life of sin is me and my girlfriend
Beyonce: Down to ride till the very end, it’s me and my boyfriend” – ‘03 Bonnie and Clyde
“Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” –Genesis 2:24 King James Version
It is no great secret that the romantic relationship, especially between a man and woman,...
December 2009
1 post
Not Missing “I Miss You”
Through a mixture of addiction and temporary boredom, I periodically find myself reading people’s walls on facebook. On many of these sightseeing trips I come across the same ubiquitous phrase: “I miss you.” These words are frequently uttered by friends and family who have not seen one another recently, heard from each other in a long time, or hung out together as frequently as they once did or...