stay tuned...

rethinking, re-strategizing, re-conceptualizing...
back soon!

junebug & junie

i'm still mad about new orleans; don't think i've forgotten...

on another note, as i've said before, my high school reunion is fast approaching. i'm kind of excited about going even though my enthusiasm fluctuates from day to day.

my buddy charles told me to go check out "junebug," a southern charmer now in indie movie theaters across the country. charles is from surry county, one county up and over from my hometown in north carolina. i love seeing indie films shot in north carolina, like the quietly haunting "george washington," some of which was filmed at the park down the street from my grandmother's house where we used to go to as kids.

i was looking up information online about "junebug" when i saw that it was directed by phil morrison. waaaaait, you mean the same prodigious phil morrison who beat me out for the presidency of the key club when we were seniors in high school and went on to nyu and to live the new york glam life and came back to our 10th year reunion with an mtv veejay as a date and stuff? *that* phil morrison?

i was instantly engulfed by waves of hot green flames ('cause what else does envy look like?). i decided that the last ten years of my life have been a waste 'cause phil morrison has made a feature film.

fortunately for us all, i got over that mini-mid-life crisis this morning and saw the film today. it's great! i sat there all proud to know phil (and production designer david doernberg, a fellow key club member), and was especially pleased to see how the cast nailed some of the subtleties of a southern accent and of white southerners. they're not *all* rednecks, ya know. i've always been frustrated by non-southern actors who absolutely cannot replicate the accent without sounding like generic hillbillies who lapse in and out of twang. "junebug" is complex, doesn't give any clear answers, and is reflective, tense, and funny. it reminds me of home (although my home had many more black folk and much more noise in it).

a quick digression from the post-katrina storm

i've been meaning to say this for a while and need to get it off my chest: does anyone else wish that the williams sisters would cut out all these other shenanigans and just PLAY TENNIS (at least for the time being...)???

sheez.

hardest times in the big easy

for the past few days i've been depressed and frustrated about the horrible situation in new orleans. while i feel for all the folks in the gulf coast who were affected by katrina, i'm most sympathetic (and upset) for the people who were stuck in new orleans to face an aftermath arguably worse than the wind and rain itself. no one in the world should have to live like that, without suitable shelter and food, let alone in the so-called richest nation on earth. simply unacceptable and unforgiveable. i hope the current administration gets its a** dragged through the fire for the lackadasical response.

my elders taught me that sometimes a bad omen is rooted in nothing more concrete than an uneasy feeling. when i saw that most of the folks using the superdome for shelter were black and poor, i knew there would be no good end to it. and soon thereafter emerged the first reports of looting and violence. uh, DUH! people hadn't EATEN! i'll refrain from a full rant here since this is a public space, but why is it that poor folks, especially black ones, are expected to be noble in times of scarcity (rather than steal and swindle, like their rich counterparts are used to doing). kanye west has hit it on the head again (i'm already impressed by his remarks against homophobia ), saying america helps "the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible."

i am relieved to report that my three friends in new orleans are all safe and staying with friends/family out of the area. godspeed to their louisiana counterparts; my thoughts and best wishes are with them.

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