Departing the Sensory

There’s a whole lot of music, and even though most of it’s somewhere between uninspiring and “turn it off now please”, there’s a ton of amazing art given the volume. Filtering through the mass of autotuned garbage is tough though, and over the last few years I’ve come to rely almost exclusively on word of mouth recommendations for a variety of reasons: I’m not too down with mainstream reviewers like Pitchfork or Rolling Stone, the radio is worse than useless, and Google Play’s premium “radio”-like playlists are mostly crap because good algorithms do not good taste make. Here's what I've been listening to this fall. The Record Company Give it Back to You  (2016) This debut from a new LA-based power trio is pure rock and roll. In a modernized original sense of the term. I guess they are making a few waves here and there, one of their singles going to the top of one of the alternative charts and all. And I can see why it did. I hear simple arrangements layered in compelli...

Dear Governor LePage, Maine Law Board of Directors, and others: I recently had an interesting experience when dealing with the state University.  Before I relate said experience, however, I would like to take just a moment to mention a couple of small things. Throughout the recent gubernatorial race, and regularly in the political discourse, a main issue of focus has been on the educational system in the (sometimes) Great State of Maine.  Tied in with the educational system, inexorably linked you might say, are the cousin issues of employment prospect and desirability.  The recent census reveals Maine to be the oldest state in the nation .  Older even than Florida, which is where all the old people go to die.  Quite frankly, it is embarrassing. Politicians argue that young people are leaving the state because they can't find work here -- and therefore our business climate must change.  I have made the argument that it is not so much the lack of work ...

I was checking my email the other day.  Lo! And behold; Drexel has a law school, and they want me to apply! Below is what they sent me (italics mine), and then my response thereto. Dear John, The Earle Mack School Law at Drexel University is forging a new model for 21st-century legal education. In addition to a rigorous curriculum, our unique co-op program gives you the experience of actually working in law before completing your JD. And Drexel  waives the application fee for online applications, so we hope you take a moment to visit our web site to learn more about our  programs, including our: integrated co-operative education program providing students with in-depth real world experience outstanding, engaged faculty dedicated to preparing our students for the rigors of law school and the practice of law location in exciting downtown Philadelphia , one of the nation's largest and most sophistica...

Charles E. Gayarre Elementary The architecture in New Orleans is much like I expected. Gorgeous, depraved, gaudy, shabby, atrocious. The French Quarter, most of the city is not. An industrial wasteland? A little closer.  The shotgun-style homes are a trip, some are 12 feet wide and 80 feet long. City Hall looks like a cruel joke, as if some giant child played around with enormous cement legos and the government said what the hell? and put some offices in there. On the other hand, some of the coolest architecture around is found at the schools. Note the elementary school above. It stands out.  It's an impressive structure, southwestern influence, terracotta roof, and lots of other flair that this picture doesn't do justice. It's boarded up, crumbling apart. I've noted two other schools around town, equally impressive, both fading as well. Observe the reason: The last thing that happened at this place was student registration, three weeks before Katrin...

Pauline St., Upper Ninth Ward. (2 in 5 houses look similar)

Stencil art at The Country Club (Nola)

The whole volunteer house shakes when a loaded dump truck drives by. A few blocks from here, tucked on the corner of two residential side streets, is the home of a gentleman of considerable experience.  He was born and then raised in the Lower 9th Ward, on the same plot of family land that I stood on earlier today.  He lives there now, after a considerable hiatus, in a home (re)built in part by Common Ground Relief.   Smitty has invited a group of us into his living room.  I have no idea what his given name is.  It doesn't matter.  Or even where we were exactly, I didn't bother to look at the address.  That doesn't matter either.  We are here to talk about the history of his home.  Which has nothing to do with his house.  That's a different story. I'm told the city water in New Orleans is potable.  It doesn't taste like it. At one point I surveyed the scene, arranged around the living room.  Twenty humans present.  S...

A houselot in the Lower Ninth Ward. All that's missing is everything.

First days with Common Ground were a pretty good sample of what's to come I think.  Make It Right is just next door to us.  Literally.  That's Brad Pitt's organization. They are well funded from the look of it. They are definitely building some houses, but the word on the street is that they can be  a bit out of touch with the reality on the ground.  Make It Right builds architecturally interesting homes with odd (for the Northeast) roof styles and angles, solar panels, and on stilts.  The houses on posts are a common sight here now, an effective way of dealing with flooding problems.  As for the other aspects it seems to drive the price out of reach for the typical lower 9th Ward would-be residents.  Houses here used to cost say 20 grand.  Pitt's homes cost over 200k.  Now, to be fair, it's not a direct comparison - a new / modern house clearly costs more (and should) than some 80 year old shack.  But the barriers to ownership are...

I watched the sun rise over the Atlanta skyline not long back.  I guess I rather would have been sleeping, but a few hours were all I could steal on this Amtrak.  We stopped for a while, having arrived at the Atlanta station a bit ahead of schedule.  And by station I mean a 10-ft wide strip of concrete not wide enough for the luggage trolley and a passenger to stand abreast.  Oh, and there's a carport-style roof.  Very classy.  It's cloudy here, quite cold as well.  Hotlanta my ass. Amtrak coffee is really not good at all.  It says Green Mountain on the side, but it tastes of thinly veiled extortion.  See my earlier statement about the lack of train station slash no other option.  Some guy from Flickr thinks that it is a step up from airplane coffee.  He might be right, but I don't care.  Between junk and less worse junk I do not care to differentiate. We just passed by the site of a freight train derailment.  I happe...