{"id":1057,"date":"2006-07-30T19:15:07","date_gmt":"2006-07-31T00:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/bush-saves-new-orleans\/"},"modified":"2006-07-30T19:15:07","modified_gmt":"2006-07-31T00:15:07","slug":"bush-saves-new-orleans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/bush-saves-new-orleans","title":{"rendered":"Bush Saves New Orleans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last night, we had CMT’s Hee Haw Weekend Marathon on while Amy worked up a dose of Emeril’s spicy tomato glaze. My parents didn’t watch Hee Haw much when I was a kid, although my dad developed an unhealthy attachment to Willie Nelson in the 1980s (unhealthy inasmuch as he really loved that duet with Julio Iglesias). My in-laws asked if I listened to Buck Owens<\/a>. I told them I never did, but that Amy was pretty broken up when Owens died this year.<\/p>\n

I made my first visit to a Wal-Mart yesterday. Where I live (northern NJ) it’s not a huge feat to avoid them; my grocery needs aren’t extensive and the only store I know of nearby is up in Western Samaria (aka Rt. 59 in NY state). Down here, it’s more of a necessity, especially post-Katrina. I took one step inside and Got It: huge, well-lit venue, cleaner than any of the local markets, good selection of food products. And then there’s all the other stuff: a family passed us with a shopping cart filled with food, back-to-school clothing, and a color inkjet printer. Wal-Mart doesn’t carry every<\/a><\/em>thing, of course.<\/p>\n

In the “efnic food” aisle, we bumped into Amy’s cousin Wade<\/a>, whom I last saw during his visit to NYC with his wife. He pines to retun to the city.<\/p>\n

I always wonder about how different regions see each other. It reminds me of that scene in Annie Hall<\/a>, when Woody Allen tells Tony Roberts, “Don’t you see? The rest of the country looks upon New York like we’re left-wing, Communist, Jewish, homosexual, pornographers. I think of us that way, sometimes, and I live here!” But Wade really liked visiting, and no one down here’s given me any crap for, um, being who I am. Even if the housepet<\/a> is a little judgemental.<\/p>\n

The news here is focused on yesterday’s six murders — the murder rate is skyrocketing this year<\/a> — but the top story is that Reggie Bush signed his rookie contract with the Saints. In the Times-Pic, it takes top billling over a misguided idea to build a “Jazz Park” to replicate Chicago’s Millennium Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tonight, we’re staying in New Orleans at the same hotel we stayed in leading up to our wedding. I’m flooded with memories of last March, and so is Amy. We had a little snack (if that’s possible) at Caf\u00c3\u0192\u00c2\u00a9 Du Monde<\/a>, and reminisced about the end of our wedding evening<\/a>. I love being in this city, but I have a hard time imagining how it’s going to recover from the disaster last year. I’m glad we did what we could to boost the economy via our friends’ alcohol consumption.<\/p>\n

It’s a Sunday afternoon in mid-summer, so it’s kind of dead outside. I was hoping to get some good pictures, but there really isn’t much to see that I haven’t snapped in past trips<\/a>. We’ll be dining at NOLA<\/a> tonight, then getting up earlyish to fly home. If I do manage any good pix tonight, you’ll be the first to know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last night, we had CMT’s Hee Haw Weekend Marathon on while Amy worked up a dose of Emeril’s spicy tomato glaze. My parents didn’t watch Hee Haw much when I was a kid, although my dad developed an unhealthy attachment to Willie Nelson in the 1980s (unhealthy inasmuch as he really loved that duet with … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Bush Saves New Orleans”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-orleans","category-urban-issues"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-h3","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1123,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/big-easy","url_meta":{"origin":1057,"position":0},"title":"Big Easy","author":"Gil","date":"September 25, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"In honor of the Saints' return to New Orleans, I made a dirty martini for Amy with some \"Cajun infused olives\" that we picked up this weekend (Amy accented it with a little Tony Chachere's). If I didn't have this crazy work schedule this week -- big issue, our conference,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Orleans"","block_context":{"text":"New Orleans","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/travel\/new-orleans"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1055,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/dog-hair-etc","url_meta":{"origin":1057,"position":1},"title":"Dog, hair, etc.","author":"Gil","date":"July 29, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Surprise, dear readers! Amy & I are down in Louisiana, having surprised the official VM mother-in-law for her brithday yesterday! While we did keep it a secret from almost everyone, I'm starting to think we could've told them all we were coming, since no one would believe that people would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Orleans"","block_context":{"text":"New Orleans","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/travel\/new-orleans"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1522,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/you-cant-build-a-house-on-anger","url_meta":{"origin":1057,"position":2},"title":"You can’t build a house on anger","author":"Gil","date":"May 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Jonathan Capehart of the WaPost visited New Orleans expecting to find anger and resentment: And then I got my feet on the ground in New Orleans. The anger I was ready to embrace never materialized, because the people I met were moving beyond it. He found people trying to build\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Orleans"","block_context":{"text":"New Orleans","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/travel\/new-orleans"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1839,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/happy-new-year-5","url_meta":{"origin":1057,"position":3},"title":"Happy New Year!","author":"Gil","date":"January 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Have a great 2008, dear readers! We'll be spending today recovering from Amy's dad's last holiday gift to us from our Louisiana visit last week: a headcold. Meanwhile, here are my two photosets from that trip: New Orleans and Oak Alley Plantation. Oh, and Amy wrote pretty extensively (with more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Orleans"","block_context":{"text":"New Orleans","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/travel\/new-orleans"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1257,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/who-dat","url_meta":{"origin":1057,"position":4},"title":"Who dat?","author":"Gil","date":"December 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Amy & I are heading to Louisiana tomorrow for the holidays. Even though I'm a \"New York\" Giants fan, and they need a win to keep their playoff hopes alive, I'm going to be cheering for the Saints on Sunday. I'm hooked on America's Team (well, that's what they were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Orleans"","block_context":{"text":"New Orleans","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/travel\/new-orleans"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":773,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/new-orleans-proud-to-swim-home","url_meta":{"origin":1057,"position":5},"title":"New Orleans: Proud to Swim Home","author":"Gil","date":"December 24, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Here we are in New Orleans! While the official VM fiancee was getting her test-run on hair and makeup, the official VM father-in-law-to-be & I took the official VM nephew-to-be to Lakeside Mall to pass the time. While there, we saw \"Katrina Ridge,\" a holiday train-set display based on post-Katrina\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Orleans"","block_context":{"text":"New Orleans","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/travel\/new-orleans"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}