Minor Wisdom

Inside the footprint

Inside the Footprint is a new blog by law students Brad V (of Letters in Bottles) and Curtis P (of Creole Tomatoes). The guys’ goal is to document the Mid-City neighborhood that would be destroyed if the proposed LSU-VA hospital is built there. Here’s an excerpt from their mission statement:

We believe locating the hospital(s) in other downtown locations, such as the vacant Charity Hospital, represents a better plan for moving forward—one that does not involve the eviction of numerous individuals and families who returned after Hurricane Katrina, the destruction of viable businesses, and the elimination of many historic structures.

While much of the footprint is in tough shape by a number of measurements, we hope to focus on the many aspects that nonetheless show that the neighborhood's wholesale elimination to make way for vast swaths of parking lots, for example, is unwise and should be avoided.

Our masters and patrons

Today is the feast of St. Vincent de Paul. Here is a bit of Vincent’s teaching:

Even though the poor are often rough and unrefined, we must not judge them from external appearances nor from the mental gifts they seem to have received. On the contrary, if you consider the poor in the light of faith, then you will observe that they are taking the place of the Son of God who chose to be poor. Although in his passion he almost lost the appearance of a man and was considered a fool by the Gentiles and a stumbling block by the Jews, he showed them that his mission was to preach to the poor: “He sent me to preach the good news to the poor.” We also ought to have this same spirit and imitate Christ’s actions, that is, we must take care of the poor, console them, help them, support their cause.

Since Christ willed to be born poor, he chose for himself disciples who were poor. He made himself the servant of the poor and shared their poverty. He went so far as to say that he would consider every deed which either helps or harms the poor as done for or against himself....

It is our duty to prefer the service of the poor to everything else and to offer such service as quickly as possible. Charity is certainly greater than any rule. Moreover, all rules must lead to charity. With renewed devotion, then, we must serve the poor, especially outcasts and beggars. They have been given to us as our masters and patrons.

Red beans, courtesy of Snooks Eaglin and George Porter Jr.

I made two good decisions during the 2008 Jazz Fest: to see Eddie Bo, and to see Snooks Eaglin. Both passed away before the 2009 Fest, so if I had missed them in 2008, I would have missed them forever.

Next week, I’ll look for a video of Eddie Bo. Today I’m proud to present Snooks, with George Porter Jr. on bass, performing Red Beans. You guitarists out there: pay attention to Snooks’s crazy right hand.

Completing the circle: North Mississippi Allstars and Otha Turner’s family

On Labor Day, we saw Otha Turner play his cane fife and sing “Sitting on Top of the World” (a.k.a. “Station Blues”) with Corey Harris. Last week, we saw the North Mississippi Allstars prove that the blues is not a museum piece, but a living, breathing thing. Today, we complete the circle. Luther and Cody Dickinson, guitarist and drummer respectively for the NMA, grew up near Otha Turner’s farm. They learned a lot about music and life by hanging around with Otha, before Otha’s death in 2003.

Which brings us to this week’s video: the North Mississippi Allstars with Otha Turner’s Rising Star Fife and Drum (a.k.a. Otha’s grandchildren) performing “Station Blues” at Bonnaroo. If you like the video, you can buy your own DVD copy; it’s part of the package included in the NMA’s Do It Like We Used To (a bonus track on the DVD).

Orleanians, mark your calendars.

And non-Orleanians, eat your hearts out. The Crescent City Blues & BBQ Fest happens October 17-18, 2009 at Lafayette Square. The October 17 lineup includes Buddy Guy, Sonny Landreth, Robert Belfour, and many others. The October 18 lineup includes Grammy winner Irma Thomas, T-Model Ford (self-proclaimed boss of the Mississippi hill-country blues), and many others.

The admission price: Free. Gratis. Costless. Without charge. A freebie (but be a good sport and buy some food and beer on site). And if you want to know what the weather in New Orleans is like in October, the only word that comes to my mind is “perfect.” So why would anyone want to live anywhere else? Okay, other than the crime and the occasional hurricane, why would anyone want to live anywhere else?

73% of doctors are extremist, left-wing, socialist, communist, ....

Yesterday I had the misfortune of being forced to overhear a well-known propagandist (initials R.L.) attach pejorative labels to people and ideas he disagrees with, and repeat the attachment ad nauseam. (As I said, he’s a propagandist.) The subject happened to be health-care reform. I pity people who have surrendered their critical thinking to people like him.

But never mind that propagandist. Here’s an NPR item saying that 73% of doctors like the idea of a public option. This includes 63% who like availability of both public and private options, and 10% who want a public-only option (I think that means “single payer”). So who’s mainstream here, and who’s on the fringe?

At last, the North Mississippi Allstars

During the 2005 exile from New Orleans, one rare source of joy was Electric Blue Watermelon, a then-new CD by the North Mississippi Allstars, which I often listened to while driving. Later, when I started posting blues videos here on Saturdays, I kept watch for a good one by the NMA. But not until this week did I find some videos that do them justice. Here are two songs from a more recent album, Hernando. First up, a live performance of Shake:

Next, a music video of Keep the Devil Down. (It starts slow, but be patient; the ass-kicking part starts around 1:06).

Check your widgets

As many of you know, I have two blogs: this one and The (New) Legal Writer. Until today, I had a widget on each blog that was a mini-RSS reader tracking the other blog. The idea was to integrate the content of the two blogs while keeping the blogs themselves separate.

Today the widgets are gone. Why? Because I noticed that they started carrying little pop-up advertisements—for which I was getting paid zilch. I’m not against advertising on blogs, but I resent having advertisements smuggled onto my blogs without my knowing about it or getting paid.

I don’t make money from blogging; instead I pay TypePad for the web space. As long as that state of affairs exists, these blogs shall be ad-free.

p.s. In place of the mini-RSS-reader widget, I’ve installed a less fancy feature, listing only the headlines of the other blog’s last five posts. It’s not as fancy as the widget, but at least it’s ad-free.

9-11 remembrance by Jon Stewart

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
September 11, 2001
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

Hat tip: ledygrey at Southern Appeal.

Stop living a lie.

Read this instead.