When I was a large child we would hear concerts at the Palace of Music. We would see people like Paco Ibañez sing, and we would make fun of them later the same night for being too serious. But we would only do this in private because we knew all too well that people could … More “The Truth Is Bitter, I Want To Spit It Out”
The Times-Picayune reported the catastrophic flooding is expected to worsen over the next few days after rainfall from the hurricane flows into Lake Pontchartain from upstream rivers and streams. With the levees broken, the water will keep rising in the city of New Orleans until it is at same level as the lake and Mississippi … More On August 31, 2005…
This weekend we are singing in victory, so we invoke the Cid. Listen to the precise clashing of swords in the Poem of the Cid as transcribed at UT-Austin. Here we have a much cuter version of the Cid — perhaps the very cutest ever. The best kind of background music for the Cid’s activities … More Dios, que buen vassallo, si oviese buen señore!
On August 27, 2005, I talked to all my New Orleans people, and on August 28 they came here. Some stayed; others went on to Houston and Austin after lunch. Traffic was really heavy that morning. The people and the storm were inevitably coming, and I was concerned to see how long we might be … More For August 29: The ‘I’ of the Storm
Light breaks where no sun shines; Where no sea runs, the waters of the heart Push in their tides; And, broken ghosts with glow-worms in their heads, The things of light File through the flesh where no flesh decks the bones. A candle in the thighs Warms youth and seed and burns the seeds of … More Reading for Pleasure Wednesday: Light Breaks
All graduate advisors and dissertation directors may want to let their students know that Friday at midnight is not a good time to call your senior colleagues at home to complain about your class schedule. “I am or was asleep, please talk to me at work on Monday” is a hint all, but especially untenured … More The “Backboard Call”
It is the weekend, so despite missing Rising Tide, we must sing. Here is a new cantaor, an archangel, singing a toná. He is really brilliant. Axé.
It is the weekend and I am singing that I hoped to be at Rising Tide and to see you there! I promise I will go next year! Axé.
In Spain, Swedish crime fiction is all the rage. I read Åsa Larsson‘s first novel Sun Storm and it was fascinating, as are most things Nordic. Now I want to see the film and to read recent books as yet untranslated. I would like to find out about Åsa Larsson’s possible preacher father. You, too, … More Reading for Pleasure Wednesday: Åsa Larsson
The summer is not actually gone, but for bureaucratic purposes it is, and I am thinking of the next one. My plan is never to spend June and July here again — in New Orleans perhaps, but not in Maringouin, it is too hot and desolate and we have no Andalusian fountains. All speculations about … More Des Chemins
coldhearted scientist وداد 