“Today’s reader will simply not accept the baton being passed. If something is unclear, the author must expand; if something offends, the author must account and atone.”
I was drawn to fashion articles this week, including this WSJ story about ‘kid core.’ I love the hero image of a man at Paris fashion week looking like every member of the Cosby Kids at once. Dressing like a tween is not for me at this big age, but some of the sneakers I’ve been purchasing and eyeing have a distinct hint of playfulness. Also, black people look great in bold colors!
Chinese names are incredibly purposeful. […] First up is the family name, known as the last name in many Western cultures and similarly taken from the father’s side. This is followed by a name that is shared with your generation, often paternal cousins. Finally, there is the person’s individual name. These names literally show not only our ties to family and history, but how we put them first.
We arrived in New Orleans on Christmas Day, after a two-hour layover in Atlanta’s Hartsfield Airport. My mother-in-law joined us for the journey. She doesn’t like air travel but seemed to have few challenges on this trip.
The single best thing I did for myself in 2017 beyond writing a regular series of posts expressing gratitude is to acquire TSA pre-check. If you’ve got 85 dollars and aren’t wanted by The Man, it pays for itself in your first eligible flight. Keep your shoes on! Take the short line! Reclaim your time!
On the second day, we visited Cochon Butcher, probably my favorite place to eat in NOLA. It’s still great. We walked but seriously considered registering for the city’s bike-share program. We walked back to the hotel via Lee Circle and marveled at the statue that’s no longer on its perch. We talked with a man who was homeless and spending his day in the Circle. He gave us a lot to think about regarding the cost of removing the Confederate monuments, the people who clamored to bring them down (and who didn’t), and what he would have rathered them spend the money on (i.e., helping people like him who by necessity consider these public spaces home).
“I think some of us may have different definitions of what ‘Make America Great Again’ means. I imagine America was greatest in 1492, the day before Columbus showed up!”
I love New Orleans.
The best meal of the week was at Peche. Go there. Order all the snacks. Don’t be scared of the whole fish.
Melle suggested we visit the #StudioBE exhibit. She’s a real one for that. It was the experience of the trip that will most stick with me.
“Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.” – Fannie Lou Hamer
On our last day in the city, we hit up the Southern Food and Beverage Museum. We also had brunch at Atchafalaya. My mom has fond memories of this place from our wedding week. My dad and sister don’t seem to remember it at all. I imagine my family will debate these conflicting recollections to our graves. I had a Po’Boy here that more than made up for my previous disappointment.
I still didn’t get to Domilise’s. Or Parkway. More reasons to return.
Shout-out to Lyft drivers in the Crescent City. Y’all all drive great cars, have the best conversations, and were delightful. Five Stars.
On the plane ride back, I watched Bright. It’s not good. In fact, it’s ridiculous, has an inconsistent tone, and never explains anything satisfactorily. But, I found it watchable. I am a sucker, though, for an LA cop story even if it involves fairies, elves, and orcs.
I watched the pilot of Ozark which was good but also seems very much like someone at Netflix said, “we need our own Breaking Bad,” and this is what they got. I’m not sure yet if the quality of that first episode will get me past how derivative it feels to consume more.
I’m home now, and I’m still dreaming about N’awlins.
In August, my mom stated that she wanted to take a family trip this year. We were actively considering Puerto Rico, but then there was Maria and my mother’s broken leg (now healed), and so contiguous options seemed the best choice. Tiffany and I had visited NOLA over the holidays before and enjoyed what had, at the time, been a relatively sleepy week in the city.
Sleepy is not the way I would describe Crescent City this time. There was Christmas Fest and the Sugar Bowl. The Pelicans and Xscape. And a more substantial international tourist body than in 2009. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. First, we went to Greensboro, North Carolina to visit with and my mother-in-law.
Birds love it here
Greensboro has a very fancy Whole Foods with an excellent hot bar. We went there the first night. A couple of days later, I made biscuits from scratch to my MIL’s delight. Mostly, though, I sat in her sunroom and caught up on my media consumption. Hulu has all the non-Netflix Marvel shows so I binged Legion and caught up on Runaways and continued to sample The Gifted. I feel a kind of way about Bryan Singer‘s attachment to two of the three but Legion, in particular, was worth the time.
I read Goldie Vance, Volume 1 (very fun!) and A Wrinkle in Time. I stopped reading Wrinkle just before the final action occurs. I didn’t love it. Many elements feel very of the 50s, and I’m curious to see how Ava Duvernay will translate them in her film. I like the bones of the story, though, and think it will likely make a much better movie.
I went through the best end-of-year music lists I could find to see what I was missing. Complex. NPR. NY Times. Pitchfork. KCRW.
KCRW’s DJ lists were the plug in this excursion. Jeremy Sole had the most similar chart to my best-of, and several of the albums from his list fit right in with my sensibilities.
We did leave the house to take in a G-League basketball game. The game was mostly trash until late in the fourth quarter, as were the concessions, but we had great seats.
Then, on Christmas Day, we got on a plane and headed to N’awlins, baby.
The one thing I find I have trouble sharing to my circle these days are podcast episodes. Episodes are hard to share from within most apps. The context in which I am usually listening isn’t conducive to sharing.
Hey! I have a woefully underutilized blog.
Here are some podcast episodes I rather enjoyed this week:
Sampler Show is such a great concept: a podcast about podcasts. This edition examines a space of the podcast world I’m never in, comedy. More than that, I always enjoy hearing Reply All’s Alex and PJ banter as friends and colleagues. I don’t think I’ll be trying any of the shows mentioned but I was entertained.
This is the one series of The Real Housewives Tiffany isn’t watching (I don’t think) but this brief Pop Culture Happy Hour conversation kinda makes me wanna binge watch some weekend soon. It also features Sampler Show’s host Brittany Luse so, you know, synergy.
I’m obsessed with Tripod. It is fascinating and infuriating and is the kind of history storytelling I wish we got in our education system. The reminder that one million people were bought and sold all over New Orleans—my second favorite city in the country—and that we rarely reckon or remind ourselves of this fact is the core of this episode. I will not forget the next time I walk by or into the Omni Hotel. And I just might sneak into the hotel pool. For the ancestors.
Your turn. What podcast episodes did you love this week?
