New Orleans to Stockholm

Today we fly from New Orleans to Chicago.
Then a 7 hour layover in the Chicago International Terminal
(which is crap,
by the way,
except for the philly chicken sandwich
at the very sparse food court).

By the way,
in the Chicago airport,
I see a group of Korean boys.
They put me in mind of another group of Korean boys
in a coffee shop
on the campus of George Mason University
in the fall of 1990.
I do a quick 20 year scan of my life

and have a Proustian memory surge.

And then
the 8+ hour SAS flight to Stockholm,
which nearly does my head in.

This is the longest day.
I sleep not one wink.

It is winter in Sweden:

And I like it.
I missed Sweden,
and I think it missed me.

Rune and Ingrid pick us up early in the morning from the airport.
We drop Rune off at work
then go back to their flat and sleep for a bit.
Bad idea, I am sure now
because I am trying to sleep,
and I can't so I am drinking beers.

Today I have time traveled.
Today I have said to myself:
I will walk down my own path.
Today I went to the ICA and bought Filmjölk.

Mechanical Pencil Fetish

Been to Kinko's, Walmart, Walgreens and Family Dollar.
I cannot find .9mm pencil lead for my mechanical pencil from Japan.
Joe...help me.
Can you send me some from Sweden?
I know they have it.
Because you have the same mechanical pencil.

Pool

I had this weird dream, for true.
I was sitting next to the pool
in the courtyard
of my apartment
in the French Quarter.

The next thing I knew
I was awake.

I can no longer distinguish
between dreams
and
reality.

originally published on Joseph Nils Blog

Not really getting over it.

Dogs and Vampires

Last night I dreamed that vampires
chased me all around the French Quarter.
I ran and hid,
hid and ran.
I lost my shoes.
When I woke,
my feet were sore.

Patrick usually never dreams.
But last night
he said he dreamed that Pancho came back.
I mined him for information.
Had he come back from the dead?
How did he look?
Did you hold him?

It had been a mistake,
he said.
My sister had buried the wrong dog...
someone else's dog.
And Pancho had been alive
all along.

He was dirty,
and he smelled,
but Patrick had held him
had petted his little head.

This is how you can change what is real.
This is how you can un-break your heart.
Just close your eyes
And go to sleep
And pray that it's Pancho
and not the Vampires
that enter your dreams.

R.I.P Pancho

I never had a dog that was completely my own.

But, if I had, if  I would, if I could

it would have been Pancho.

Live from the Quarter: Champions League Football

I love my job.

It's 1:30 p.m. on a Wednesday, and I'm in Fritzel's European Jazz Pub on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. I'm nursing an honest-to-god pint of Abita Amber, and Big Daddy can barely contain his excitement: he's bootie-scooting all over the pub. We are here to watch the Semi-Finals of the Champions League Football: Manchester United vs. Arsenal. If we were back in London, the pub would be packed. As it is America (where football is soccer), it's just us and a dude wearing a Brett Favre jersey who may or may not be here for the football.

The other TV plays CNN, where Swine Flu has been confirmed at a Marine Base and reporters are sounding off about the first 100 days. From where I stand in New Orleans, my life is no better and no worse than it was when Obama took office. The only difference is that I am still hopeful that he can effect change. I still believe that.

Word on the street: tax payer gal is really pissed off at the banks. I've heard stories about credit card companies doubling their interest rates in the past few weeks. This after tax payer gal has bailed them out.

Anyway, the game is heating up, so I'm signing off. Tune into ESPN 2 for the game.

Random Thought

Haven't gone to the cinema in over 6 months. I think I might be hallucinating.

What I wrote about this week:

New poetry:
Swimming Pool
Punished
Canal

On the Blogs:

Missing you: Until Waiting Fills: When I was a teenager and living across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans, I couldn't wait to get the hell out of that small town and into the big city.

Read the Rest on Examiner.com.

Location, location: They say that places have memories...a building holds all of the events of the past in ghost-like fashion. Stand in the middle of an empty, gutted out building, close your eyes, and you can get a sense of the people and things that have been before.

Read the Rest on Examiner.com.

Eating at Elizabeth's in the Bywater: Two nights ago, Frank took us to Elizabeth's in the Bywater for dinner (yes, they are now open for dinner). We took two hours to eat our wonderful meal of stuffed mirleton, collard greens and green beans. Patrick had boudin balls for the first time, and I think this is his new favorite food.

Read the Rest on Examiner.com.

A day in the Bywater: With some time in the Bywater, I walked up to Musician's Village to check out the buildings. Much more traditional housing than the architecturally weird Brad Pitt thing.

Read the Rest on Examiner.com.

Stand up for prevention and public health!

Dear Senators and Representatives,

"Abstinence-only" programs don't work: This failed policy has contributed to - not lessened - a public-health crisis in which one in four teenage girls has a sexually transmitted infection.

Sex is a very natural and human thing, and teaching youngsters that sex should not happen until marriage is outdated, unnatural and dogmatic in this our free society. In addition, sex is going to happen among teens whether the religious right wants it to or not. The only way we can avoid teenage pregnancies and the spread of STDs is to educate our youth on safe sex practices. Not providing realistic, medically accurate, age-appropriate sex-education programs is paramount to child neglect

As you work over the next weeks and months to get our country's economy back on track and reverse course on the outrageous failures of the last eight years, I hope you will support our teens with the facts they need to protect themselves.

Yours,

Daneeta Loretta Jackson

Sunday Roundup

What I wrote about this week:

New poetry:
Circle Food Store
AutoZone

On the Blogs:

Location Scouting: We've been doing a lot of work on the music video, and this is serving us very well for the script. In a strange way, the two are tied together.

Read the Rest on Down in the Parish Blog.

Ode to Tabasco: In my world travels, I found the Louisiana product of Tabasco everywhere. From the farthest reaches in Asia to the dirty streets of London. Here's a little love letter I wrote about Tabasco whilst still in London.

Read the Rest on Examiner.com.

Missing You: Seafood City: Seafood City is a-mighty pretty: 1826 North Broad. I came down with a fit of nostalgia last night.

Read the Rest on Examiner.com.

Mrs. Carmella Rebuilds: Mrs. Carmella is 85 years old. She's living in a FEMA trailer in Chalmette, LA. St. Bernard Parish was one of the worst hit during Hurricane Katrina. It was here that one of the Levees broke, flooding 90% of the community.

Read the Rest on Examiner.com.

Phone Pic Aniversary

It's the 14 month anniversary of "Phone Pics." I missed the one-year anniversary by two months. Sorry. I've been busy, busy, busy.

Sunday Roundup

What I wrote about this week:

New poetry:
TV Light at Mr. Joe's
World Class City
Derek is Bunny Boy

On the Blogs:

Discipline: It takes discipline to write every day. I do it, but not necessarily on the script. There are the blogs, my poetry, stuff for Examiner.com, which is my bread and butter*. There's my journal (to be edited by Jennifer Traina and published after my death and the profits divided equally among my husband, my mother, my sister and her children).

Read the Rest on Down in the Parish Blog.

4-H cook-off heats up in St. Bernard Parish : 4-H has sure changed a lot since 30 years ago when I was in Jr. High. Before going to the St. Bernard chapter annual cook-off yesterday to see my nephew, Daniel, take 3rd place with his Migliore's Mirleton-Shrimp stuffing, I did some research.

Read the Rest on Examiner.com.

Useful website: Louisiana Rebuilds: I want to give a shout out to the good folks over at Louisiana Rebuilds. It is one of those quiet post-Katrina websites that is jam-packed with useful info to help Louisianians find resources on a variety of topics including housing, education and health care.

Read the Rest on Examiner.com.

Social Media Advertising:

Derek says: "Go to the New Orleans Insectarium."

2009 Goals

1. Stop smoking cigarettes
2. Get a regular income from my art
3. Stop eating sugar and processed foods
4. Finish the script
5. Get funding for the movie
6. Establish the Elektrik Zoo as a respected and sought-after brand
7. Ensure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity
8. Become a socially responsible citizen of the United States of America and the city of New Orleans
9. Rent an apartment in the French Quarter
10. Pay it forward

Hey Vonda,

Just wondering how everything is going.

We are staying at my sister's this week working on the music video. Lots of night shooting, and I'm sick with a cold. Took some American over the counter medication today and got high as a kite. Hmmmm.

Hugs,

Daneeta

Sunday Roundup

What I wrote about this week:

New poetry: Texting, Howie is a Grumpy Old Man, Poncho is Having a Bath and Crescent City Connection.

The Writing Continues...: I haven't been blogging much lately, which is mostly due to the fact that we've been working on the music video, looking for day jobs, sorting Patrick's visa and, well, writing on the script.

Read the Rest on Down in the Parish Blog.

Headwaters Relief offers free counseling: Having returned to America after 15 years abroad living in social democracies, one of the hardest things for me to wrap my head around is the fact that we do not have a centralized free health care system with, what my friend Henry calls "dental and mental."

Read the Rest on Examiner.com.

Sunday Roundup

James M. Singleton Charter School prepares at-risk students for a better future: I recently visited the James M. Singleton Middle School, which is housed in the Dryades Street YMCA in the heart of Central City. The school is a technology charter school and focuses on getting at-risk mostly African American students back on track for a brighter future.

Read the Rest here.

Six reasons to love the downtown public library: Being homeless and jobless in America's third world can be a real drag. Finding a place that can help you feel normal and provide much needed resources is important to keeping up morale. The New Orleans Public Library downtown branch is one such place.

Read the Rest here.

December Phone Pics

are here.

Sample

Dream Big

Patrick and Jose are gracing the Day for Night Films festive card this year.

November Phone Pics

Are here.

Sample: