Still Playing

Derek Playing His Nintendo DS at 12.15 AM

Punished

I tell Nick he has to sit on the naughty chair...
for trying to pull out a permanent tooth.
I lecture him for half an hour...
on the subject of consequences
while I do the dishes.
"I'm cold," he whines.
So, I wrap him in Mimi's hand-embroidered blanket.

The Circle Food Store, Saint Bernard Ave and N Claiborne Ave

Circle Food Store, 1938
No more uniforms for sale.
No more produce.
Old broken down girl.
Like the city itself.

Maybe you will rise up.
Restore your former glory.
Maybe you will make us believe
In a once a future brilliant story.

Ghost

Shooting Music Video with Destiny

Canal by Florida Ave.

Patrick and I stand on the bank of the canal.

"Keep an eye out for 'gators," I say.
He believes me that an aligator might climb right out of the canal.

But...
who knows what lurks under its smelly, dark surface?
Gators?
Vampires?
Bodies?

This is not New Orleans.
This is Chalmette.
But, still, I am a little bit afraid.

TV Light at Mr. Joe's

Mr. Joe wonders: "What the hell are these people doin'?" He has agreed to let us take his picture. It's a slow shutter speed. One snap = 10 - 30 seconds. I am tired. But, Mr. Joe? He's a trooper at 96 years. He can sit still and not move throughout the whole photo shoot. He is a professional. Mr. Joe tries to remember a time when he moved too fast for the camera to capture his image. But everything's the same as it ever was. And time has collapsed into a single snap.

The Crescent City at Night from Algiers

This is how we want them to see us. This is how we want to see ourselves: as a World Class City.

Destiny in Village Square, Chalmette

Derek is Bunny Boy

Derek is home sick today, and he is totally bummed. Tomorrow, his second grade class is going to the Insectarium, and he surely does not want to miss that on account of a Tummy Ache.

Destiny in the Lower 9th Ward

N. Claiborne and Reynes

Baronne and Calliope

Nick in Dreamy Land

Judge Perez, Chalmette

Otto, My Best Friend In New Orleans

Crescent City Connection

Three motorcades drive by with police escorts,
and I hope we don't get arrested...
Then I realize it's New Orleans.
The cops have more important things to do.

Standing under the Crescent City Connection,
I hear the cars roll on by.
It's a slow shutter speed that keeps time for us:
click...wait ten seconds...click...wait ten seconds,
and so on.

Howie Is a Grumpy Old Man

Howie is sick, so we have to keep a poo diary. Here is Howie's poo diary:

Thursday Morning - 3 X Nugget Log + 1 Nugget (slightly mushy)
Thursday Afternoon - 1 Nugget (mushy)
Thursday Evening - 2 X Nugget Log (slightly mushy)
Friday Morning - 4 X tiny Nuggets (hard)
Friday Afternoon - Small Log (mushy)
Friday Evening - 2 X Small logs (slightly mushy)
Saturday Morning - 1 X Nugget & 3 X small pellets (slightly mushy)
Saturday Evening - Small Log (crumbly)
Sunday Morning - Small Log with orange bits in it (crumbly)

Walking Howie: Cleveland Ave. and S. Telemachus St.

Pancho Is Having a Bath

Derek says: "Pancho stinks."
So I give him a bath.
Pancho. Not Derek.
"Now you can play with him," I say.
"Now you can love him."
Derek says: "He still stinks."

AutoZone, Our Bus Stop in Chalmette

It's Nick's birthday, and we take the bus into Chalmette for the celebrations. We wait at the AutoZone for Gerard to pick us up. Big Daddy's hungry, so he hot-foots it over to Rally's next door for a burger and some fries.

At the party, there are meatballs and finger sandwiches and Sponge Bob Square Pants cake. Big Daddy has filled up on Rally's, so he only eats cake. There is pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey and hula hooping and dodge ball, which is, by far, Big Daddy's favorite game.

Later that night...back at the bus stop, we give thanks for nieces and nephews and birthday parties and my sister and Gerard.

Texting

She is loud most times,
but this time she is quiet.
In the way back of her mother's van,
my sister's van,
she is texting.
I am three times her age.
But, I think:
those eyes have seen more than mine.
That heart has wept more than mine.
Viloence, drugs, death and more.
Hurricane Katrina was almost a respite...
for her.

Night Falls Over St. Bernard Parish

Miss. Dussy is Losing Her Mind

Derek's Toys

Pancho Is a Crazy Dog

1st Street, Chalmette, LA

Hula Hoop Girl

Ace

G-Money and Jr.

My Wife's a Genius

Miller Time

Too Close?

Riding

Waiting

Refreshing