Professional Documents
Culture Documents
FREE
• WTUL Marathon Schedule and 24 Hour DJ Weekend
• Is RIGHT WRONG? by Tom Connor
• Interviews with Statutory Triangle and Fisher Cat Winter/Spring 2010
• Jail Time: Written from Behind Bars by Karl Lootens
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Letter from the General Manager PEOPLE
Hey Loyal Listeners, community, and getting ready for another
exciting Marathon! I’ll keep this message
Sponsors
Its Patrick the GM again, introducing your short since I know its time (har har) for you Andrew Bizer, Attorney at Law
favorite VOX periodical. As you may notice, to read the rest of the Vox.
The Mushroom
this issue’s theme is “Time”. Aside from the
corny jokes (“it’s Time for you to donate Sincerely, Skully’z Recordz
to WTUL!”), the theme really is central to
whats happening at the radio station you Patrick Townsend Contributors
know and love. We’re on the cusp of digitiz- General Manager
ing our music, changing our programming WTUL New Orleans 91.5 Tom Connor
schedule, getting more involved in the
Deborah Dixon
Myrna L. Enamorado
Chris Holdgraf
Karl Lootens
Brian Zeigler
Corrections Address
Our featured poet lasst issue was credited
WTUL New Orleans, 91.5 FM
as Stacy Balkun, whereas it should have
Tulane University
been Stacey Balkun. Sorry Stacey!
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Is Right Wrong?: Struggling with Mardi Gras Etiquette in a Hot New Orleans Summer
by Tom Connor
I reached the second floor of the bar, and as was usual for ing me, but I wanted to rectify the situation as gracefully as or Hildegard, but hey, you can’t have everything. As I stood
this time of night on a Saturday, it was packed. I paused at the possible. there with the fact that, by some definitions, the name was
top of the stairs and scanned around for my friend, Leigh, and The normal remedy would have been to clear the air, or in the second most personal piece of information I knew about
in the process I took in the whole scene. My lungs hated the this case bring it up to the girl and repay the beads, but I would this person, I felt a bump on my shoulder and turned around.
smoke, but the rest of me loved the place. Not only was it one have to make sure to do so in as casual and un-creepy a way Amanda and her half of the table were heading off to another
of the less pretentious bars on Magazine Street, it was also a as possible. Maybe lead with a compliment? I pictured myself bar and were saying their goodbyes.
great place to drink when in warm weather. The prices could walking up to her one day, maybe on a quiet Sunday afternoon, With blood full of liquid courage and taurine, I saw an op-
have been better, but I could forgive them for that. and introducing myself. “Hi, my name is Tom. I saw your left portunity and decided to break the ice once and for all. Review-
I had only reflected on this for a moment when I saw the boob last Mardi Gras, and I just thought I’d let you know I ing my previous options, from completing the collection to
group I was there to meet, clustered as they usually were thought it was top notch. Oh, I also owe you this,” I’d say, and expressing aesthetic appreciation to simply upholding tradition,
around a table in the corner. I started walking over, winding as I produced a string of beads from my pocket I’d continue, I decided to again utilize my original strategy and pretend the
and twisting around people as I went, but after about ten steps “anyway, so, what’s that, Faulkner you’re reading there?” whole thing never happened.
I froze, my eyes locked on one of the girls standing with my It was a decent plan, except that even in my head it usu- “Did we meet?” Amanda asked as if seeing me for the first
friend. The night had taken a turn. ally ended with me attempting to explain social niceties to a time, and I could tell right away she was even drunker than I
Standing roughly five-ten (plus heels) she was hard to miss uniformed police officer, so I decided that probably wouldn’t be thought she was. Either her eyes weren’t focusing on me, or
to begin with, and her curly hair, made gigantic by the August the best approach. Facebook, with its lack of any actual interac- each had suddenly become interested in a different one of my
humidity, only increased her visibility. Still, even without those tion, was an even worse option, and stymied at an impasse I ears.
markers, my eerily-good memory for faces had set off the decided to simply do nothing and pretend it hadn’t happened. “We actually met before, awhile ago,” I said, grabbing her arm
first alarm and I briefly considered a full retreat to avoid the Sure, I was bucking tradition and still hiding what I knew, but to steady her as she started to list dangerously to one side.
awkwardness that was sure to come. As I weighed my options, I was also avoiding a restraining order, and that outweighed “We have, where?” she asked, steadying herself and squinting
I reviewed the case in my head. all other considerations. Over time I fell into a habit of just right at me.
I had first met the girl that stood before me, a friend of another avoiding eye contact, and after some time I stopped seeing her “Well, like I said, it was awhile ago. Sorry, I’ve got a weird
friend, several years prior, at one of the uptown parades during altogether. In a triumph that would give hope to sloths every- memory for faces,” I said, and continued on to name our other
Mardi Gras. I should clarify that I use the term “met” loosely; where, lack of action had solved my problem. mutual friend, but I decided to leave it at that. After a moment’s
what actually happened was that I happened to be looking in That was all undone that Saturday night, standing there in conversation, it turned out neither of us really talked to that
the right direction as, beset with a drunken bloodlust for beads, that smoky, crowded bar, looking at that same girl standing particular person anymore, though we were both pretty sure
she pulled the left side of her shirt and bra halfway to the bot- there talking to my friend. To make matters worse, since I was that she still lived in New Orleans. These realizations together
tom of her ribcage, exposing a part of her anatomy I’d normally already a little drunk, I didn’t fully trust myself to handle the amounted to a set of facts that neither Amanda nor I found
have to pay for dinner to have access to. Not that I was com- situation without saying something stupid, so I decided to exit particularly interesting, and when her friends were ready to go,
plaining - at the time I was pretty happy with the situation and as quietly as possible. As my leg muscles began to shuffle my so was she.
mentally high-fived myself in celebration, then went on with feet backward , my friend Leigh saw me and started to wave “Well, we’re leaving now,” Amanda said, swaying toward her
my night and forgot about it. me over. With retreat impossible, I brushed my hair off of my friends, “nice to have… met you… again.” She blinked at me,
It was the following weeks and months took the situation into forehead and started walking over with a casual smile on my then turned around and walked away with short, choppy steps.
the weird category. As it turned out, this particular flasher was face. The issue had been forced. “You too,” I said to the back of her head, and turned back
not only a Tulane student, but apparently had the superpower of Or so I thought, as fate decided to go easy on me. As it turned around. Years in the making, the conversation was short,
booking all of her classes in the same buildings and at the same out, the girl I was ready to run screaming from the room to pointless, and entirely uninteresting, the type that is replicated
times as mine. I was literally seeing her four and five times a avoid was so completely plastered that she could barely stand, millions of times every day by those waiting for their friends
week, and it began to feel like I was being haunted by the ghost and was largely being baby-sat by the others around her. to find their purses and close their tabs before moving on to the
of titty past. The strangest part was that the more I saw her Conversation seemed as if it would have been a miracle since next venue. Still, I was grateful for the anticlimax, and for the
around, the more I began to feel guilty. At the time I couldn’t standing up straight seemed to be enough of a challenge, so I fact that I had finally broken ice that only I was aware of and
explain it, but it amplified a small amount every time I passed decided to play it cool. We stood facing perpendicular direc- only I even cared about. Having a personal piece of informa-
her in a hall, even though I was about 99% sure she had no idea tions, and two red-bull-and-vodkas later, I had reinstituted my tion about Amanda had created a very strange and involuntary
who I was. It was the type of quietly nagging shame that comes strategy of ignore and evade, but the humor of the situation was intimacy, and I was happy to have mentally dismissed it. To
from getting away with something, like cheating on a test and too delicious not to bring up. have done so without being arrested made me pretty proud of
then setting the curve. I couldn’t understand why, but the whole Once I was sure the girl behind me wasn’t listening, I leaned myself, and I ordered another round.
thing was bothering me. in close to Leigh and told the story, in its entirety, directly into As I leaned against the table playing with the ice in my drink,
Then one day, out of nowhere, it came to me. I didn’t feel bad her ear, as quietly as possible. I was about halfway through I was suddenly sure that though I probably wasn’t the first per-
about the flash itself, but rather I felt incredibly awkward that when I started to realize again how strange I sounded for hav- son to have been in a situation like that, I was almost certainly
there had been zero acknowledgement of the situation on my ing paid as much attention as I had to the whole thing, but after the first to have put that much effort into it. I took a sip, looked
part, so the whole thing felt like a secret I had to avoid bringing I finished Leigh looked at me, looked at her friend, and started around, and realized that I had answered my original question
up. To make matters worse, I had also failed to hold up my end laughing. I took the fact that a well-adjusted adult female also (the correct answer was to do nothing), but I was troubled by
of the showing-your-tits-contract, which dictated that I give her found it funny as a good sign. the implications that it carried. To do nothing meant that sim-
some beads, and in some ways that made the situation worse. “So, what are you going to do?” Leigh asked me. ply ignoring a flash would release one from any expectation,
Before me was an etiquette problem unique to New Orleans: “I don’t know, I’m not really sure how to bring it up. Probably including throwing beads, and I realized that my trek had lead
what, if anything, should you do when you’ve seen the breast nothing.” I took a sip of my drink and had an idea: “Maybe me to a conclusion that could tear at the heart of Mardi Gras
(not both, just the one) of someone loosely connected to your ask her to see the right one? It seems like such a shame to only itself. I pictured legions of beadless women and disinterested
social circle and did not provide the requisite beads, if that have half the collection.” men wandering aimlessly around Bourbon Street like zombies,
person has no idea who you are or that you have that kind of We laughed together and I was reminded of why I love hav- while frightened and confused police stood dumbstruck and
knowledge? ing Leigh as a friend – as someone who could be a little weird called for backup. It was a terrible reality, one that I didn’t want
I was sure this had to be something others had experienced, or herself, she always seems not just to understand, but to appreci- to live in, and I was at a loss for a way out.
at least that’s what I started telling myself in an attempt to mask ate odd situations, which I tend to have an abundance of. Her Of course, it was equally possible that I had learned nothing,
the fact that I was vastly over-thinking the issue. Still, seeing advice isn’t always sage, but it is always practical: “Yeah, if was overthinking again, and would be in another situation like
as how New Orleans, and Uptown in particular, is such a small you had the full set, the eBay value would probably go up,” she it before too long. Either way. I took another sip of my drink,
community that you’re bound to run into the same person again replied. mentally high-fived myself in celebration, then went on with
and again to begin with, it did make sense that there should be Out of curiosity, I asked Leigh what the girl’s name was, and my night and forgot about it.
a right and wrong way to handle this kind of thing. I felt better found out it was Amanda, which I thought was disappointingly
having finally been able to put my finger on what was bother- common. After all that buildup I had been hoping for a Dagmar
Interview with Statutory Triangle
ME - So I saw you at your debut show at the Spell- ME - You changed your name from Statutory Tri-
by Myrna Enamorado
Rhodes - Devo, Magas, and Juvenile.
caster and you made quite an entrance. There was angle to Statutory
fog everywhere and you came down from the ceiling Pancake. Is that a reference to Voodoo? ME - What is the best thing that happened to you in
while the papparazzi took pictures with big mechani- the last decade?
cal lenses. Stevie - We changed our name to Statutory Pancake?
Did you feel that something historic was happening That’s also news to me. We are changing our name, Stevie - Let’s see…trashing posh hotels in the CBD
like you were being born? but haven’t settled on anything yet. Everything is a with aging celebrities, dining at Red Lobster, and
reference to Voodoo. Voodoo Fest 2006...I can’t elaborate upon that one.
Stevie - I felt like drinking a tall glass of milk. Rhodes - No it’s a reference to breakfast. Sorry.
Rhodes - Yeah, i felt like i was dropping out of Rhodes - Graduated High School, ‘09. Katrina.
Lady Gaga’s birth canal. ME - Are you religious or just suicidal? Discovered pharmaceuticals. I got a furby one year. I
don’t know, a lot of great stuff happened, its hard to
ME - Do you ever get fazed by fame? Stevie - Yes, I’m suicidal...somebody get me a shot- pin point just one.
gun and I’ll blow my fucking brains out for the me-
Stevie - I’m famous? That’s news to me...I paid my dia to lap up like a sick dog. Isn’t everybody suicidal ME - Geographically speaking your identity is very
water bill in change last month. at some point? Bottom line is this: if today I feel like tied to the South and New Orleans specifically. Do
Rhodes - Yeah but then i just leave the you feel mystically tied to this place?
6 block radius of the bywater where
nobody knows who i am. Stevie - No, no, no. I don’t feel attached to
any particular place, save for Michigan or
ME - How far would you go to protect Chicago (in a fucked up way), much less
your privacy? ‘mystically tied’....but yes, I am partial to
the South.
Stevie - Pretty fucking far. Rhodes - Yeah, I feel pretty “mystic”. I re-
Rhodes - Missouri. cently discovered how hard it is to live any-
where that drinking in the street is illegal.
ME - Today is your 83rd birthday and I lived in Missouri for a year and had an
you are still going strong. identity crisis. I don’t want to be in a place
Can you share some words of wisdom that doesnt have drive thru daiquiri stands.
with your audience that looks up to So yeah, I always end up being pulled back
you with blood smeared eyes? into the swamp.
(18+ show) WTUL DJs spin live at Rocco’s on Maple St. from
11pm-close. March 27; Whiskey Dix –Songs
from the Basement Vol. 8 CD
March 19-22; 24 Hour DJs
Release Party –
(See profiles on page opposite.)
We Landed on the Moon, Jak
Come to Pocket Park, nestled in between the Lavin-Bernick
Center and McAllister Auditorium, where three DJs will post 24
Locke, Sick Like Sinatra
hour live-sets back-to-back and will be asking non-stop, over the Release party for WTUL’s annual compilation CD featuring lo-
air and to passersby, for donations for WTUL. cal artists. To procure this CD just flip back a couple of pages
and send in the form with $25 or go to wtul.fm to donate.
Please come out and support them.
. Or...just show up to the party. Whiskey Dix (1753 Saint Charles
March 19; Flying Dutchman Avenue b/w felicity and polymnia)
–Hootenanny
The Howdies, Luke Winslow King, The High Ground Drifters.
WTUL Marathon 24 Hour DJ Schedule
Your 24 HOUR DJS
Each year in an attempt to raise funds for the station three WTUL DJs are elected
by popular vote to serve as WTUL’s sole on-air representatives 24 hours straight.
24-hour shifts begin Friday March 19 at noon with Rachel Wenzel. Listen at 91.5
FM or on our webstrem at wtulneworleans.com.
You can see this issue of the VOX and past issues on our website at wtul.fm
Beautiful Freak: New Orleans City Park by Chris Holdgraf
Beautiful Freak a cereal bowl), even walking paths have swelled and burst as you see fit. Within its vast boundaries lies a plethora of
In terms of dollars and cents, New Orleans’ City open to reveal steadfast roots of mighty southern oaks. lush green and thriving wildlife that serve as an hom-
Park is expendable. It is not essential to the streets and Such reclamations possess an eerily powerful beauty and age to the muggy swamps and snaking bayous that once
houses that skirt its boundaries. The Park’s borders aren’t reminds us that if we think we can do whatever we please covered all of Southern Louisiana. With wide-open fields
characterized by towering walls inscribed with the names without a thought for what we have displaced, we’d better of thick grass, perfect for an afternoon football game
of multitudinous companies and benefactors that con- think again. or a family picnic, the park seems to invite everyone to
tribute to its commercial success. It isn’t a giant revenue One begins to question whether this plot of land come and enjoy the natural beauty it has to offer. Passing
machine, nor a tourist trap that will bring in customers is really City Park, or if it’s actually the Park’s City, a through the grandiose front driveway lined on either side
from all over the world. To someone who would judge sprawling landscape that surpasses the gray in a defiant with newly-planted saplings and ending in the famous
the prosperity of a city by the amount of cash it is able to testament to the once natural landscape of New Orleans. New Orleans Museum of Art, the front drive immediately
generate, City Park isn’t much of anything, really. And A half day’s work of fifty people may result in a barely- branches into a multitude of possibilities. Take a left to
yet, to anyone who’s seen its expansive territory, this gi- recognizable alteration of the land, and as if such indis- the tennis complex, the single largest group of public
ant plot of land elicits a strange compulsion to ensure its cernible progress wasn’t enough to deter the ambition of courts in the city and host to events and training for both
future, to fortify a prosperous and generously long life for the workers’ daily grooming and upkeep, it is an altera- inexperienced and seasoned players. Take a right, and you
its green and oftentimes chaotic wander into a cleared field that
tenants. The Park stands for doubles as a cross-country
a commitment to something circuit and on to the green-
that has deliberately avoided house dedicated to growing
the “progressive” and lucra- plants for distribution to New
tive path towards tourism and Orleans schools and other
modernity that the rest of the locations that don’t have the
city has adopted. green participation that City
The heart of City Park Park enjoys. These examples
feels like making your way are only a small sampling of
through a battle between two what is available, plenty more
distinct enemies. The crisp, opportunities for leisure and
clean, well-groomed beauty utility can be found in these
of the face of City Park versus areas near the most accessible
the aberrant vibrancy of an southern edge. However, if
unchecked Southern wilder- you’re looking for something
ness. The casualties of this more adventurous, more ambi-
continuous struggle can be seen tious, more “wild,” venture
all over the park – one-time straight ahead into the heart of
picnic areas are now overrun City Park.
with weeds and vines, resting Making one’s way North
areas have been distorted and through the inner core of the
unevenly thrust towards the park, one can walk the wind-
sky by the constantly shift- ing hiking trails through dense
ing Louisiana soil, buildings forest, search for unique and
show their age prematurely dazzling insects and animals
as they continue to fight back native to the park’s grounds,
the encroachment of creeping relax by one of the serene
vines and steadfast roots. For lagoons skirted by stretching
instance, City Park Botanical bushes and creeping vines,
Gardens was constructed in the even bring the binoculars and
1930s as one step in a multi-faceted approach to beau- tion that will be lost to the growth of plantlife in just a scout out what is still called “the best birding spot in New
tify City Park and create much-needed jobs, the Botani- few weeks. This imbalance of power is disconcerting to Orleans.” All of this doesn’t come close to uncovering the
cal Gardens initially served as a testament to the city’s humans (and certainly to a city planner). We’re supposed vibrant life to which the park serves as home. The mas-
ability to keep the overgrowth of nature to a minimum. to be dominant. We’ve got the concrete, chisels, chain- sive expanse of land is riddled with beautiful explosions
Straight and narrow paths were lined from one end to saws, trucks. Hell, we’ve even got dynamite, but we find of sprawling southern live oaks that serve as a symbol
another, blotches of trees and shrubbery were confined ourselves in a stalemate with the flora and fauna of City for New Orleans and its dazzlingly erratic beauty. Reach-
to the garden’s exterior, even natural water formations Park. Why not just end this everlasting battle in one fell ing far past the base of their sturdy brown trunks, their
were harnessed into a pristine rectangular pond, under- swoop and be through with it? Such questions constitute branches dart to and fro, zigzagging along the ground
scoring the ordered logic of the new gardens. However, another battle that is going on in the communal mind, in as if on a mission to explore, to seek out an unattainable
such picturesque formality was naive in its ambition to lawbooks, and in business contracts. It’s a simple ques- goal that is forever destined to lie just outside of the tree’s
change the Southern Louisiana natural landscape. Now, tion. Why not just raze City Park, clear off the land, and perimeter.
it is difficult to tell which areas of the park are for people build a nice combination of housing and business, create For those that wish to get to know the city of
and which are for wildlife. Park benches swell with the jobs, encourage commerce? Sounds great, sounds like New Orleans without being required to give anything
extra pressure of vines and flowers creeping through their progress, but then you stop and a little voice in the back in exchange, City Park offers a beautiful alternative to
wrought-iron sides, stone man-made ponds show the wear of your head quietly protests. Look at the magnificent and the frenzied consumerism of the New Orleans you see
of being subject to countless floodings over the years fragile creature with which you are dealing. in tourist brochures. Hidden away in the back alleys and
(commonplace for a city located in nature’s equivalent of City Park is the perfect place to enjoy your day shadowy doorways of our disheveled city streets lies a
side of the city that exhibits a different personality than With all of the benefit that makes the park open, usefulness, current condition, faults, or frailties, it is still,
that of the national icon that is “The Big Easy.” It is a it also shoulders a heavy burden. The park’s position in at its core, a vital organ of New Orleans.
face borne out of the collective realization that often- the public sphere brings with it both the good and the One comes away from City Park with an urge to
times the only people you have to count on are those who bad of collective ownership. Just as it does not cater to go out and celebrate what it means to be beautiful, use-
suffer the same slings and arrows that life in a city that’s any one particular type of individual, City Park does not ful, meaningful. It stands as a challenge to the generally
supposed to be submerged will throw at you. It is not have an overreaching protector to ensure its success. In- accepted notion that nature is a nuisance to be put in its
a dependency on business or industry, but on the kind- stead, the longevity of the land and its services is wholly place while the rigid lines of concrete and metal are what
ness of strangers, on those who are situated right next to dependent on the public’s ability to see to its upkeep and really connotes “progress.” After getting to know City
you. This mutual reliance is seen in the openness of City provide support wherever possible. Maintenance such as Park’s delights as well as its shortcomings, after learn-
Park’s borders and its continued insistence on being a groundskeeping and planting of trees is largely depen- ing what it means to fight a battle that you cannot ever
public good that is offered, without charge, to the entire dent on volunteerism and philanthropy, and the continued hope to fully win, one cannot help but feel humbled in
city of New Orleans. Maybe there really is no such thing existence of its many events relies on fund-raising efforts their previously uninformed assumptions about man’s
as a “free lunch,” but City Park can certainly provide a and pledge drives such as the annual “Celebration in the place with nature. It is not above or below (or barreling
fantastic location to enjoy it. Oaks,” a month-long festival in which the park sheds through), but at its side, bumping shoulders, stepping on
Constructed during the depression as a part of the its green and brown exterior for the white and red of one another’s foot without retaliating, but playfully smil-
Works Progress Administration (WPA) project’s attempts Christmas decorations and holiday spirit. Although often ing and returning in kind. It is a special type of oddball
to curb unemployment and a plummeting economy, City resulting in an abundance of creativity that is seen in such pairing you might make a sitcom out of and also beautiful
Park was constructed with the New Orleans’ citizen in festive events, such a precarious balance between survival and infallible and even humorous at times. Possessing the
mind. Serving as a point of convergence at the intersec- and accessibility gives the park a vulnerability that is power to sway our hearts as well as our minds, the combi-
tion of several disparate neighbor- nation stands as a testament
hoods, it is impossible to say the to our roots in this earth.
park belongs to any one neighbor- Unfortunately it is also
hood. It rests as a kind of anchor fleeting, vulnerable, and
between a panoply of communities utterly dependent on man’s
that range from the ornate splendor ability to loosen up the
of Esplanade Avenue to homes that tightly-packed walls of its
are marked with the destitution insular fortress and begin
and decay of poverty. Existing as a to allow natural chaos back
commonality that draws all of Mid in. Walking away from
City together, the park gives off the City Park’s interior the
feeling that it is not the property dire circumstances really
of one neighborhood or one group becomes obvious – how
of people, and that it has no owner close we are to pushing our
unless that owner is all of New green friends out to losing
Orleans. their salient presence in our
The wide-open nature of lives forever.
city park creates a mixmatch of Nearing the edge of the
economic, cultural, and ethnic park requires a second
backgrounds. As a city that prides glance at the run-down
itself on its blend of Cajun, French, nature of man’s once proud
Spanish, and African culture, the constructions. Strangely
daily interaction of people from enough, it may begin to
completely different backgrounds look different. Not old
is an integral part of life in New and dilapidated and use-
Orleans. Littered amongst the less, but with a kind of
towering mansions of uptown’s subtle resilience to it, that
fanciest districts lie the dilapidated, regardless of its ostensible
run down remnants of public hous- weaknesses and frailty,
ing projects and low-income homes. Passing through often glossed over by the city. In this delicate position, it it possesses a unique liveliness that speaks to the heart
the busy night air of the French Quarter floats the smells possesses a gritty beauty and unique ability to exist in a and the soul. This quiet vibrancy is nothing new, not a
and sounds of the blues, jazz, reggae, salsa, even punk national culture that places so much emphasis on paying product of time or work, but simply the same view from
culture, all existing side by side. Just as these cultures for what you get. Unfortunately, this also brings with it a different perspective. To love City Park is to celebrate a
meet and play off of one another in the dazzling lights the weakness of dependence on a populace that undoubt- different outlook on life from the activity of downtown or
of the quarter and Frenchman street, the open grounds edly has significant problems of its own. the French Quarter, to rethink your priorities and to take
of City Park allow a place where all walks of life come Such is the ultimate problem with which City part in the intrinsically New Orleanian practice of seeing
and enjoy all it has to offer. This combination of diverse Park is confronted. Our city is riddled with increasing beauty where it is least expected. Next time you are there,
backgrounds serves not only to humanize those whom crime, extreme poverty, and a continuous cleanup act. give it a try. Take a look at the still ponds now teeming
we see less often than we should, but also to foster the What is the place of freely accessible, but ultimately un- with insects and foliage, the overgrown and unkempt live
feeling of unity among the patrons of City Park. Regal- necessary entities like City Park? There are many per- oaks showing their oddly natural kind of order, the scores
ing in the lush grandeur of the majestic southern oaks, spectives to take when considering City Park’s usefulness of land that could be used for a thousand different profit-
peacefully relaxing by the serene lagoons, stewing gumbo to the community and to New Orleans at large. Should seeking ventures, but are instead dedicated to a celebra-
in the warm fall air, such experiences at City Park are not it be an untended wilderness? A corporate village? An tion of life and nature. Look at those mangled old stone
simply enjoyable, but also represent dispelling the differ- idyllic theme-park? Such questions permeate the debate buildings and see the arms of vibrant green encircling the
ences of your income or your family name or your neigh- surrounding City Park’s uncertain future. However, one crumbling stone walls in an embrace of partnership and
borhood and feeling, above all else, a New Orleanian. simple fact cannot be forgotten: regardless of the Park’s natural flux. You may feel the urge to smile.
Hole by Myrna Enamorado Words of Wisdom
Whole in my heart
Where my love leaks
Flooding
Suffocating me
He who would heal
The shamen
Valentine
Sullenly
Staring
While rapid clouds
Sheathe to unclothe
The moon
Over blue balconies
This surreptitious stolen soiree
We held to the awnings
Grasping at cat’s claws
You like my tits
You like my ass
Grasping at cat’s claws
Swaying to wind pavement
Almost falling
Succumbing to the street
Smashed smusshing
One wheel follows the others
Shedding vitriolic spit
Oh honey.
With snot dripping on my arm as
We roll over
I taste your blood
Be with me in this silent
Pity shame
O can never say it again
I have cotton on my moth
The VOX is seeking contributions for the Summer/Spring issue, due out April
2010. We publish submissions from aspiring writers and artists throughout the city, as well as frequent
contributions from WTUL staff and DJs. The VOX is looking for writing interesting enough to be
memorable. Although we mainly serve as a conduit for relaying the voice of WTUL, anything works:
misconnexions, show reviews, interviews, album reviews. And any other views including “My Best
MixCD,” photographs, feature articles, anecdotes, jokes, poems, short stories, creative non-fiction,
short plays, political and cultural satire, comics, photos, art slides, etc. Really anything that can be
viewed 2-D or smashed under the hood of a scanner or photocopier to
make it 2-D. Anyway, when you find out what it is that you want to do send it to:
voxwtul@gmail.com.
Bitter Ink by Ray “Moose” Jackson & Brian Zeigler
Bitter Ink is born of an aber-
rant gene shared by two cousins,
both exiled from Detroit. One
went to the land of good gro-
ceries in Vermont and the other
to New Orleans. Mostly Brian
draws the pictures, mails them
to Moose and he comes up with
the goofy aphorisms. Except
when they’re together, downing
pints and passing notes back and
forth and giggling like school-
bus drivers on acid. A recent
compilation of Bitter Ink has
recently been released by local
publisher Press Street. The book
can be purchased on their web-
site:
press-street.com
contact us @ voxwtul@gmail.com