Sunday, May 31, 2009

1Q84



Saturday, May 30, 2009

Spooky Voltage


[Sparky The Ghost]



"That's Electrifying"

Friday, May 29, 2009

The Elliott Bay Book Company


http://www.elliottbaybook.com/about/history.jsp





Thursday, May 28, 2009

The Portraits Of The Stick Figure, #204, #371, #318 [Morning, Evening, Night Time]


The Portrait Of The Stick Figure, Circa Morning #204



The Portrait Of The Stick Figure, Evening By The Sea #371



The Portrait Of The Stick Figure, This Was Taken Around Night Time #318



Prices are semi-negotiable (but will not go lower than the costs listed below):

The Portrait Of The Stick Figure, Circa Morning #204....$7,000.53* (This is the price because there wasn't any time to get any breakfast--kept pressing the Sleep button on the alarm clock {for 2 hours} The hungrier I became, the greater the price)

The Portrait Of The Stick Figure, Evening By The Sea #371....$8,011.25** (Being repeatedly pecked by a pelican while photographing raises the cost of this piece {Should have taken some bread crumbs})

The Portrait Of The Stick Figure, This Was Taken Around Night Time #318....$7,000.58*** (Slightly more than The Portrait Of The Stick Figure, Circa Morning #204 because I tripped over an oak tree root in the dark and scraped the lower portion of my right knee {Need to purchase Neosporin})

* I probably wouldn't buy it for that price.

** I probably wouldn't buy it for that price.

*** I probably wouldn't buy it for that price.^

^If there ends up being a bruise on my knee, the cost is subject to change.'""




"""Meaning that it will go up a bit more [possibly up to $7,004.99].




Wednesday, May 27, 2009

[LBL: Box Scores]




BOX SCORES (Local Basketball League)

                Quarter 1   Quarter 2   Quarter 3   Quarter 4   Final Score
Team A   2                   2                   2                   4                   10

Team B   2                   2                   2                   2                   8



BOX SCORES-RECAP:

It was a tight game throughout--each team scoring 2 points in the first 3 quarters. Team A scored, then Team B scored, then Team A held the ball until the next quarter. In the second quarter, Team B scored, then Team A scored, then Team B held the ball until halftime. In the third quarter, Team A scored, then Team B scored and then Team A held the ball until the fourth quarter. The final 12 minutes of playing time embodied the essence of excitement in sports, perhaps going down as one of the most climactic quarters in the history of LBL. Team B scored first, then Team A scored, then with 4 seconds left on the clock, Box stole the ball from Team B and drove to the lane, shooting a lay-up to win the game. "Box scores, box scores," was repeatedly yelled by the announcer reminding the crowd about the time Havlicek stole the ball.




Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Acadiana Shell & Limestone


"Acadiana Shell & Limestone offers many different types of material, our biggest seller is Limestone, as told in our company name, but we also handle Greystone, Gravel, Sand, and Dirt."


http://www.acadianashell.com/material.htm



Monday, May 25, 2009

KRVS 88.7 [Frequency Modulation]

"Broadcasting from the heart of French Louisiana, KRVS is committed to artists and performances unique to the language, culture and music of south Louisiana. We also air programs synonymous with public radio such as Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Fresh Air, Car Talk, World Café, Thistle & Shamrock, American Routes and This American Life."

http://www.krvs.org/about.htm






Sunday, May 24, 2009

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Southern Artistry






http://www.southernartistry.org/browse_state.cfm?what=Louisiana

Friday, May 22, 2009

Quote From Get Shorty



Harry Zimm:

I once asked this literary agent what kind of writing paid the best and he said, "Ransom notes."






Thursday, May 21, 2009

Rick Stoeckel's "Email From Your Facilities Department"

Read it a million times since it had been posted a couple of days ago--laugh every time:

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2009/5/19stoeckel.html

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

-, --


En and Em:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Jefferson Street Market

Jefferson Street Market:

http://jeffersonstmarket.com/cms/





Monday, May 18, 2009

John Troutman: Indian Blues

John W. Troutman
Indian Blues: American Indians And The Politics Of Music, 1879-1934
University Of Oklahoma Press

http://www.oupress.com/bookdetail.asp?isbn=978-0-8061-4019-3





I remember doing some kind of play in grade school having to do with American Indians and Colonialists--I was one of the American Indians, wearing some kind of brown felt material around my body, and a headband. The parents were crying, of course, seeing their children on stage--I had no clue what it was all really about; I was just happy that there were cupcakes after the performance. That was my first introduction to American Indians, and that was all I knew for a while. 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue and happily ever after.

It wasn't until some 10 years later, when I opened up Howard Zinn's A People's History Of United States, did I gain a better understanding of the history of American Indians. It wasn't until some 10 years later when I realized that what I knew about American Indian History was based on a 15 minute performance done in grade school. Zinn's book opened up a new world to me--a world where American Indians lost their land or were killed or enslaved, or forced to convert their beliefs. It was a history I had never known--it was a hidden history which schools tend to not teach. What drew to me to Zinn's book was his uncovering of all these kinds of histories that we never learn about, including the history of American Indians. In John Troutman's Indian Blues, the author plunges into the struggles of American Indians from the 1870s to the 1930s, and like Zinn, he uncovers a hidden history hidden within a hidden history--it's like finding an underground cave within an underground world.

Like Zinn, Troutman made me think about a history in a way I had never thought about before. I had known about the struggles of the American Indians; however, it was only a general view. Troutman goes into the specifics--he goes deeper into this realm, and one can immediately notice the passion behind these pages. This passion is blended with reason and research and this helps to fortify the truths behind this subject. Singing and dancing--it seems so simple; however, it becomes quite complicated when two cultures collide or when fear meets creativity.

Music, for me and my friends, for people I don't know, for people I do know, play a huge role in our lives. It makes us dance or sing or ponder; it makes us laugh or cry; we'll have it playing in the background, or we'll have it playing in the foreground trying to forget everything in the background. Music can play both an active or passive role, and Troutman specifically discusses its active role, as it helped American Indians to maintain its identity despite facing policies that were trying to regulate American Indian music and dance. This text reminds us about the importance of music through history and it reminds us about the importance of history through music--it reignites the hidden past and continues to push for the future--providing hope.

Indian Blues is for both admirers of history and music enthusiasts. It's scholarly in nature, but it should also be read by anyone who is willing to read--it's for anyone who is in search of knowledge. The prose isn't complicated--it's understandable and precise and clear, but it also asks you to take time with each sentence, because of the inherent significance that travels with each phrase.

The book tells a sad and true story of American Indians as they have struggled and fought to maintain their heritage, specifically, their culture of music. Indian Blues is quite a fitting title as the book connects American Indian music and its role in American domestic policy between the 1870s and 1930s. Blues--that style of music, representing the blues of a culture trying to keep its identity. Troutman's book embodies both the soul of music and American Indian History, showing the importance of both fields as Indian Blues pursues liberation and truth and inspiration.

About John W. Troutman:
http://www.history.louisiana.edu/Troutman%20page.htm

Soundtrack:
http://www.warparty.ca/

Sunday, May 17, 2009

John Amen: At The Threshold Of Alchemy

John Amen
At The Threshold Of Alchemy
Presa Press

http://www.johnamen.com/

http://www.presapress.com/
Poetry calls for readers to reflect upon the words they have before them--it doesn't so much ask readers, but it leads readers to meditate. John Amen's At The Threshold Of Alchemy is the perfect example of guiding readers to think about worlds they haven't thought about before. It's a consistent blend of light and dark, and these flashes of images, these ins and outs of a spectrum of worlds, flicker throughout this collection of poetry.

In "Gnostic," the author presents to the reader an excerpt into "you's" life: "you were converted in the parking lot after the hearing. you stood beside a hotdog stand. you sold rifles for your wealthy uncle. a one-legged prostitute taught you to play a violin…you made peace with salt and frankincense and seaweed. lambs appeared on your patio. you scribbled platitudes on the wall beside the smoking shed. you wanted to dance." It's in this dark prose, readers have the opportunity to be taken out of their own galaxy and into another universe. Perhaps, we have all seen "clocks," "bristles," and "bedsprings," before; however, Amen presents these images in a way we haven't seen them--he gives new angles to everyday objects and experiences as "you wrote songs on your father's guitar. you learned to smile while remembering your mother's voice."

Amen has molded a surreal world and in this textual setting, these environments leave the pages and floats into the reader's brain. In "All Night," the author creates a world where time has been confused with itself or perhaps where time exists in parallel layers where (or when?) "Strom Thurmond drinks chai in the courthouse cafeteria, as Gandhi mingles, offering free batteries to the enlightened," or "Ben Franklin phones Howard Stern, seeking counsel regarding the infamous Chicken Soiree." It seems so simple and believable, and the reader must realize that, wait, this isn't really happening.

In "Salient Matter," the narrator mirrors this idea of being lead to reflect about the worlds presented before the reader, as the narrator states, "There are moments, usually before dawn while silence still cradles the house, when I reflect upon my days as one might a bizarre but masterful abstract, when I know that at least a few of the strokes were rendered by my own steady hand." This is exactly what Amen does--he leads readers to think about the oddities, the beauty, the confusion, and the tragic which are found in this world, or rather, this painting, and in this world, we all have a hand in painting the picture, whether we know it or not.

Amen covers a variety of cultures and places and people--East and West, and the author portrays these images as their own separate entities, while at the same time blending them together in a magical way to create a world of its own. And as a result, the reader has no choice but to think about the lives of those who are hidden in the pocket of a stranger's pants. And the author, through his poetry, has taken these lives out of the stranger's pocket and put it in the palm of our hands.



Saturday, May 16, 2009

Eat Lafayette: Menus And Restaurants


http://www.eatlafayette.com/restaurants.html

Friday, May 15, 2009

BeauSoleil

BeauSoleil Louisiana Home:

http://www.beausoleilhome.org/content/mission/index.html




[A New Kind Of Photosynthesis]

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Pl-8-O And SoccerTs Are Introduced To The World Of Text Messaging [The Dialogues]

SoccerTs: Good student, Pl-8-O. This is a text message from SoccerTs.
circa 399 B.C.E.

Pl-8-O: Good mentor, SoccerTs, how goes it? (?)
circa 399 B.C.E.

SoccerTs: Would you say that this form of communication is platonic? Our words are all in the air, strange. Feel nostalgic. Miss my pigeon messenger.
circa 399 B.C.E.

Pl-8-0: SoccerTs, good mentor, I am laughing out loud (lol for future text messaging purposes). Perhaps this is platonic. I must assess this situation. (.)
circa 399 B.C.E.

SoccerTs: Lol, I have come across. Have you heard of rotfl?
circa 399 B.C.E.

Pl-8-O: Teach me, good mentor. (.)
circa 399 B.C.E.

SoccerTs: It stands for rolling on the floor laughing. It is quite visual.
circa 399 B.C.E.

Pl-8-O: I am rotfl. Where are you? (?)
circa 399 B.C.E.

SoccerTs: Lower athens. U? U means you.
circa 399 B.C.E.

Pl-8-O: Eye am in east athens, pondering the world outside of east Athens. Pondering the world we cannot see. Eye ponder by the pond and wander without my wand. Eye means i. (.)
circa 399 B.C.E.

SoccerTs: You are 2uu diligent. 2uu lucky to have you as a student. A student who is also my own mentor. 2uu means too.
circa 399 B.C.E.

Pl-8-O: U are 2uu polite. (.)
circa 399 B.C.E.

SoccerTs: Eye am thinking of joining a fraternity. Phi beta kappa.
circa 399 B.C.E.

Pl-8-O: Frat? (?)
circa 399 B.C.E.

SoccerTs: Have you heard that asher roth song? Eye love the part when he goes quote keg stand, keg stand, keg stand, keg stand unquote.
circa 399 B.C.E.

Pl-8-O: Eye am rolling on the floor laughing and laughing out loud. (.)
circa 399 B.C.E.

SoccerTs: Quote chug, chug, chug, chug unquote. Lol/rofl.
circa 399 B.C.E.

Pl-8-O: Decent mentor, eye plan to write a book. Can eye include u in it? U will be talking to my good brother [bro], explaining the allegory of the cave. (.)
circa 399 B.C.E.

SoccerTs: Hades yeah. Eye look forward to reading it. Must go now, to a party. The drinks will be on me. Come if you can. It should last all night until the dew of dawn at least.
circa 399 B.C.E.

Pl-8-O: I will try. Want to get some eyedeas down 1st. Eyedeas mean ideas. Good luck with the fraternity and don't drink anything eye wouldn't drink. (.)
circa 399 B.C.E.

SoccerTs: Farewell pl-8-o.
circa 399 B.C.E.

Pl-8-O: Bye bye. Take care. (.)
circa 399 B.C.E.

SoccerTs: One more thing, pl-8-o. Why did the chicken cross the road?
circa 399 B.C.E.

Pl-8-O Whose chicken? (?)
circa 399 B.C.E.

SoccerTs: My chicken.
circa 399 B.C.E.

Pl-8-O: Did not know you have chickens. Why did it cross the road? (?)
circa 399 B.C.E.

SoccerTs: 2u see butter fly. 2u means to.
circa 399 B.C.E.

Pl-8-O: Ha (ha)
circa 399 B.C.E.

SoccerTs: Ha?
circa 399 B.C.E.

Pl-8-O: Ha is equivalent 2u lol and rotfl. (.)
circa 399 B.C.E.

SoccerTs: Ha
circa 399 B.C.E.

Pl-8-O: Until then, good mentor. (.)
circa 399 B.C.E.

SoccerTs: I will see you on the flip side.
circa 399 B.C.E.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Pump Up The Jam

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Emily Rapp's Poster Child

Emily Rapp's memoir: Poster Child

http://www.emilyrapp.com/index.html




Monday, May 11, 2009

P. Lal's Writers Workshop

Indian Creative Writing in English:

http://www.writersworkshopindia.com/modules/info/index.php?id=7



Sunday, May 10, 2009

Hilliard University Art Museum


Hilliard University Art Museum:

http://museum.louisiana.edu/




Saturday, May 9, 2009

Où Lafayette Arrive: Films Dans Le Parc

Downtown Lafayette:

http://www.lafayettedowntown.org/Events/EventsDisplay.asp?p1=3630&p2=Y&p9=E&E=N



Un Cinéma En Plein Air

Friday, May 8, 2009

15s











Thursday, May 7, 2009

Acadiana Center For The Arts

Acadiana Center For The Arts: http://www.acadianacenterforthearts.org/

"We create, facilitate, nurture, and fund arts and cultural activities to enrich quality of life and place."



Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Willows Wept Review: "Our Skin"

The short prose piece, "Our Skin," can be found in the current Spring issue of Willows Wept Review, an online literary journal edited by Molly Gaudry. Excited to be a part of it.

The current issue can be found here:

http://willowsweptreview.blogspot.com/2009/04/issue-3-spring-2009.html



Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Poetic Voices Without Borders 2

Edited by Robert L. Giron, the anthology, Poetic Voices Without Borders 2 (Gival Press), contains the poem, "The Pond Does Not Ripple". This poem was a response to Millais' painting, Ophelia. The anthology contains contributors from around the world, writing in English, French, and Spanish. For a full list of contributors, check out:

http://216.197.127.196/gp/index.cfm?rsn=369&mn=Books

So glad to be a part of this anthology.



Monday, May 4, 2009

Introduction To The Dirty South:Southern Hip Hop Quiz

Course: Southern Hip Hop 90--Introduction To The Dirty South

Name:
Date:

Directions: Below you will find 20 Southern Hip Hop quotes. Complete the quiz by identifying the Southern Hip Hop Group or Singer related to each quote. This quiz is closed book. For Extra Credit, after completing the quiz, choose one of the songs below and get down to the beat.

1. "People don't dance no mo"

2. "But I get a hundred and fifty thousand dollar check every three months off Santana"

3. "Me I'm in my spaceship"

4. "Show me what you're working with"

5. "Whatcha know about that"

6. "Check out the oil my Cadillac spills"

7. "Automatic, supersonic, hypnotic, funky fresh, work my body, so melodic, this beat flows right through my flesh"

8. "Callin' my peoples all across the world"

9. "You might call us country, but we's only Southern"

10. "Fire meaning breathing like a dragon and it's seeming that I'm falling"

11. "Glamorous with the gangsta twist, Gucci on the hip, Lucci on the wrists, and we off glass, we glistenin', you listenin'"

12. "To make me bow buh buh bow bow Rocky Balboa"

13. "When you paid you got beaucoup places to go"

14. "Give me a cigarette, my nerves bad"

15. "Hahn"

16. "The lake we build houses, but it's the hood we call home"

17. "Back on the scene, freestyle king"

18. "Unggggghh"

19. "It's the Swisha House, the third coast, the state of Texas that's my land"

20. "Lend me some sugar, I am your neighbor"

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Canards du Matin

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Pioneer Trading Post


Pioneer Trading Post--Lafayette, LA





















Friday, May 1, 2009

Shelf Life Magazine #006


The latest issue of Shelf Life Magazine, edited by Ryan Dilbert and Messina, is out--it looks great, especially with the new design and layout. It contains fiction by Elizabeth Ellen, Andrea Pappas, Daniel Gallik, and Chantel Tattoli and there is poetry by King M. Davis, Peter Franks, and John Grey. Sandra Markarian reviews books, and there is also an interview with Walt Whitman. Check out the articles, fiction, and poetry, and enjoy:


http://www.shelflifemagazine.com/

Louisiane [Les Journaux Littéraires Et Les Magazines]

Louisiana Literary Journals And Magazines


Bayou Magazine: http://cola.uno.edu/cww/bayou/

Exquisite Corpse: http://www.corpse.org/

Louisiana Literature: http://www.louisianaliterature.org/press/

Louisiana Review: http://www.lsue.edu/LA-REVIEW/

New Delta Review: http://www.lsu.edu/newdeltareview/

New Orleans Review: http://neworleansreview.org/

Rougarou: http://www.louisiana.edu/Academic/LiberalArts/ENGL/Creative/Rougarou/

Southern Review: http://www.lsu.edu/tsr/