Blast from the past January 7, 2009
Posted by Sarah in Humor, New Orleans.Tags: Humor, New Orleans
3 comments
As I was cleaning, I discovered a bundle of letters dating back to my 8th grade year. To celebrate the lost art of letter writing, I’ll share one of the more amusing excerpts from a twelve page hand written missive from my delightfully grouchy college boyfriend. Step back into the summer of ’94 with me and reminisce about the joys of communal living in the Deep South:
“I’m gonna have to have a sit-down with these two Yankee fuckers about How To Deal with Roaches. I’ve had far too many peaceful evenings shattered by sudden cries of ‘AIIIIIGH! BIG ROACH!!! BIG ROACH!!!’ Matt has just now soaked the bathroom floor with Country Fresh Raid. Grab a shoe and swat? Nay! What folly this? Throw toxic chemicals all over the fucking house and chase the bastard into Paul’s previously roach-free room! Yeah, that’s what you do! And throw in primal combat screams for effect!”
After living happily roach free for the last decade, I’ve developed a bit of empathy for those Yankee boys. Roaches, sadly, were a fact of life in New Orleans, and Southerners had no patience for roach induced histrionics. The glossy university pamphlets never mentioned the six legged plague, so students migrating from cooler climes had quite the rude awakening – timed to occur well after they sent in their acceptance letters and deposits.
WD40 December 30, 2008
Posted by Sarah in Humor, New Orleans.Tags: Humor, New Orleans
add a comment
Click the ad for a larger version.This WD40 ad gives me serious flashbacks to one of the more embarrassing moments of my college freshman year. I was just settling into a dorm room with a squeaky door and a roommate who was a very light sleeper. On one of my first trips to the Winn Dixie, I searched the aisles for WD40 with little success, so I finally asked a guy who was stocking for shelves for help. I was a little taken aback when he didn’t know what WD40 was. I mean, it was used so often by my grandpa that I practically considered the smell equivalent to cologne.
After casting about for a way to describe WD40 as something other than, “You know, WD40!” I settled on “a lubricant.” Clearly, this had different connotations in an urban environment than in small town Texas. The stocker got a weird look on his face and referred me to aisle 11.
When I arrived on aisle 11, my little 17yo self looked around at all the feminine hygiene items and just about DIED of embarrassment. I mean, seriously. How can you get through life without knowing what WD40 is?!
I shudder to think of what might happen if that Winn Dixie employee ever stumbles across the above ad.
Pics from New Orleans March 10, 2008
Posted by Sarah in New Orleans.add a comment
A bit of New Orleans in my bags March 8, 2008
Posted by Sarah in Food, New Orleans.add a comment
My fitness level and appetite track fairly closely, although I suspect there’s an exponential in the appetite term. I’ve been struggling a bit to get enough food lately, and my trip to New Orleans lit a giant light bulb as to why – when you’re eating as much as I am, bland just won’t cut it. Every one of my meals in New Orleans was fantastic, from K Paul’s and Stella’s all the way down to little hole in the wall restaurants. Turtle soup, fried shrimp, pan fried and stuffed trout, crawfish omelettes, red beans and rice, steak, pizza -
If you’re smart, you’ll wrangle an invitation to dinner at my place.
So long, New Orleans. March 6, 2008
Posted by Sarah in New Orleans.add a comment
I fly home tomorrow, but right now I’m sitting with the blues across the street, the rain on my window, and New Orleans itself very much on my mind. There’s always been something magical about this town, this first love of mine. My life here was about the good and the bad, but also – especially? – about the improbable. New Orleans was my Never Never Land – a place that shaped my dreams and explorations as I made my way towards adulthood.
I left town as a newly minted college grad in ’98, and the city and I have both changed enormously since then. It’s been long enough that turning a certain corner, riding the streetcar, and sitting in a favorite coffee shop, bar or restaurant no longer bring up sharp images and memories, but waves of familiarity and associations. It’s clear that New Orleans is no longer my home, and just as clear that it will always be a part of me.
New Orleans March 4, 2008
Posted by Sarah in Food, New Orleans.add a comment
I’m in New Orleans for PittCon this week, and I can say that the food is excellent, but damn, 8:30am central is an early start when you factor in the time you need for the leisurely pace of life down here…
A group of us met at Stella! last night for dinner. The entire meal was fantastic, but the squash puree with a bit of savory chocolate reminded me of my love of cooking. I so need to pick up some cookbooks while I’m down here, and it’s not the healthy recipes that I have an eye out for.
After dinner, we stopped by Molly’s at the Market for a drink and to wait out a fast moving thunderstorm. Nothing exciting to those of you who don’t live in California, but we simply don’t get thunder, lightening, and heavy rains in San Francisco, so it was a nice treat.
The New Orleans Levee March 3, 2008
Posted by Sarah in My 2 cents, New Orleans, Politics.add a comment
I’m in New Orleans for a conference and went out last night with a few friends. I picked up a copy of the New Orleans Levee, a free satirical paper with the tagline, “We don’t hold anything back.” Promising, right? But even though I don’t easily shock, the blatant racism in an article entitled Jindal’s Grand Plan Unveiled about Louisiana’s Governor Jindal did it. The article is not clever, and it is not funny. Really good satire can change the world for the better by bringing the truth to the light of day. This is just embarassing.
Just amazing.
Flashback – the college years January 15, 2008
Posted by Sarah in New Orleans, Rugby.add a comment
This get up was for the rugby formal…I panicked because I had no dresses, so my date Jason took me shopping and did my hair and make up. I borrowed the boots from a friend who did drag. I assure you that nobody recognized me.
This was my 19th birthday at Cooter Browns. Louisiana raised the drinking age to 21 the year I turned 20, so I spent my 20th in the dorm, bitter as all hell.
Generally harassing Kristine.
Generally harassing anyone in view.Streetcars roll again! November 11, 2007
Posted by Sarah in New Orleans.add a comment
I can’t even begin to tell you how much streetcars are part of New Orleans…the rumble rumble rumble as they roll on by is as much a part of New Orleans as the humidity, the gumbo, the jazz…it’s just not quite New Orleans without them. I’m so glad to hear that the St. Charles line started running again today!
Two years later… August 29, 2007
Posted by Sarah in New Orleans.add a comment
Two years ago today, I woke up to news that the levies had not held. Nobody knew if their homes were safe, if their friends and neighbors had made it out, and if so, where they had gone. The news about those stuck in New Orleans was horrifying.
New Orleans, almost by definition, is community and fierce loyalty to the city. But community and loyalty could not bring its citizens home – housing prices skyrocketed, firm upon firm closed and withdrew from New Orleans, and entire swaths of the city stand empty and abandoned even today.
What struck me when I visited New Orleans last May is the contrast of how desperately New Orleanians wanted to rebuild versus the choke hold that red tape, corruption, and an astounding lack of vision and leadership held on the city.
New Orleans will be something, but it will never be the same.
