Natchitoches: December Light

Banner of the Altar Society of Saint Thérèse: Natchitoches, Louisiana (Basilica of the Immaculate Conception).

Stained glass: Saint Anthony of Padua with Baby Jesus, Natchitoches (Basilica of the Immaculate Conception).  This one's strange in that 1) it almost has the feel of a jukebox and 2) because of the camera's aperture, it looks as if surrounded by a black void, whereas the naked eye could see white. Not to mention the slight Leaning Tower of Pisa angle.

Today's Rune: Joy.  

Natchitoches, Louisiana

Natchitoches, Louisiana, Festival of Lights 2012. A neon fleur-de-lis and its reflection in the Cane River Lake (derived from the Red River). 

Natchitoches sounds like nakk-it-tesh, or nak-it-tush, or nak-ih-tash, depending on the regional speaker and one's regional hearing. Not to be confused with Nacogdoches, Texas, or Natchez, Mississippi (or Natchez, Louisiana, for that matter), though all of these places retain the name stamps of their First Nation inhabitants.

The Catholic basilica in Natchitoches (Immaculate Conception). 

This was my third jaunt to this historic locale; first time was in the 1980s.

Today's Rune: Journey.

Saints and Oranges

A skull, gilded seashells and a leatherbound book. A wreath of roses in December. A Catholic saint with contemplative look.
    

An orange in December. Actually it's a Meyer Lemon, a cross between a lemon and orange with a tart taste, on convent grounds.

Today's Rune: Wholeness.  

One Year Later: Lightnin' Hopkins Redux

I thoroughly enjoyed Alan Govenar's Lightnin' Hopkins: His Life and Blues (Chicago Review Press, 2010). Govenar scoured city and country to find every bit of information he could; he dug through company records, conducted numerous interviews and sifted through a mountain of liner notes and articles.

Combined with an extended engagement with Hopkins' recorded output -- even a reasonable sampling -- this biographical study will give anyone interested a good feel for the iconic bluesman. 

One also glimpses how the music show business worked from the 1940s into the 1980s, in the studio and on the road. Some keen observations by Ed Pearl, owner of Ash Grove, a West Coast oasis for live performances at 8162 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles that ran from 1958 to 1973: "He [Hopkins] knew his limitations . . . and he was happy to be part of his community, but he knew there was a bigger world out there. He thought people should be equal and he thought . . . poor people should have more. And everyone is a child of God. He was against the Vietnam war" (page 194, from 2008 Govenar interview). 

Another noteworthy aspect of Lightnin' Hopkins' life: his thirty-five year relationship, until his death, with Antoinette Charles. She was a love of his life, and strong, if not the only one; given that she was married to someone else for the same duration, with kids, it was the same for her.

 














As Govenar points out emphatically, not all of the bluesman's recorded output is of equal quality. Delving into his discography (and there's a comprehensive one included), it's a good idea to choose carefully. The most recent collection I've been listening to features him on electric guitar (Hopkins' preferred style): Lightnin' Hopkins, Rainy Day In Houston (2000), recordings from 1955, 1961 and 1968. This one has three of my favorite of his topical tracks: "War Is Starting Again," "The World's In A Tangle" and "Vietnam War."

Today's Rune: Wholeness.

Flashback: The Notorious Jumping Frog of Wall Street

How did Bernard L. Madoff bilk upwards of 50 billion bucks out of thousands of dupes? How could investors really believe he could deliver and sustain a 10-17% return annually? Isn't it common sense, a truism, that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is?

2012: In the last four years, Tea Party adherents have dug in their heels on just about everything, making me wonder how they came to such numbers. The US has always endured its fair share of "the paranoid style," but the most recent manifestation is just pitiful. John Birch society fringe fifty years ago, Tea Party fringe now, injecting poison into political and philosophical discourse.  Tea Party ideology sickens me. I salute moderate Republicans, those who can battle it out with the loony "right wing."

In the 1770s, a major slogan in pre-US North America was "no taxation without representation." Now that everyone has representation, the 21st century Tea Party shouts, "No Taxation" period. End of story.

How does one contain and effectively marginalize such fanaticism?    

Today's Rune: Growth.

Town Squares as Social Spaces

Usually when traveling, I'll aim for the old downtown squares or similar social spaces. Savannah, Georgia, has a beautiful system of small town squares with a village green atmosphere. Philadelphia also has a lush square system. Rittenhouse Square is one of my favorites. I'll take Manhattan's parks and squares, too.



In the Southwest, traces of Spanish and Mexican rule are very much in evidence. The scale of the Spanish squares is excellent. As in Santa Fe, and San Antonio, there's a relatively small provincial governor's palace, a Catholic church, eateries, general stores, and friendly central park space in the middle; sometimes with attached presidio that garrisoned a company of soldiers in lieu of modern police. You can see it in the French (and Spanish) Quarter of New Orleans, also. Contrast this with mono-Anglo rule, whereby a courthouse squats right in the middle of the old town square: those on the peripheries cannot see across to the other side, but the courthouse judge can see all sides of the square from his seat of power. I prefer the Spanish style for its greater openness and versatility as a social space. Add a fountain and trees, and you have a friendly, comfortable social space in daytime.

Today's Rune: Partnership.

Villains and Antiheroes

In a lot of the more alluring teleseries since the 1990s, the protagonist is an antihero. In watching one like Dexter, figuring out antagonists, antiheroes and villains is sort of like looking through a kaleidoscope -- it may shift depending on one's point of view. Is Dexter's half-sister Deb a fallen hero? Remembering that all heroes are flawed, is Angel a hero? Isaak Sirko is an anagonist, but seems too cool to be a true villain. How would they rate relative to each other within the universe of the story itself?  

How about Ray Drecker in HBO's Hung?  I'd say hero (however unconventional). And one of the great characters of recent times, Tony Soprano? Antihero. Nurse Jackie as character? Hero? (Again, all heroes are flawed)?

What think ye?  Any favorites?  Any hated protagonists or antagonists in recent years?

Today's Rune: Wholeness.