Archive for August 2nd, 2008
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It’s nice to see that Kim made it out to the on family day today and she looked good despite the ridiculous heat. She was also all most of the (male) media contingent could talk about while we waited for Sean Payton to do his press conference.
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Reggie Bush, though, was not impressed. OK, I don’t know that for sure, but Kim did try to get Reggie’s attention several times, even waving at him once, but the Saints running back did not acknowledge her. Either he just thought random fans were calling his name or he was just that focused his tasks or (COMPLETELY UNSUBSTANTIATED CLAIM ALERT!!!) their relationship is on the rocks and he’s not speaking to her.
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Kim did acknowledge some fans, however, signing an autograph for one (using his back for support) and taking a picture with several.
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Oh, and there was a scrimmage of some sort, but I’m not sure. I was too busy dying of heat stroke.
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 I’m late to the table on this one, but I finally got around to reading the last issue of the Oxford American, which always has some of the best writing and essays in the country, all from a Southern perspective. This one was the “Home Sweet Home” issue, and it had a fantastic essay by New Orleans native Sarah M. Broom, called “A Yellow House in New Orleans” — in which Ms. Broom contemplates the destruction of her childhood home (4121 Wilson Ave., in New Orleans East) and compares its near-explosion in the aftermath of Katrina to the explosion of family secrets (“The yellow house always kept its dilapidation secret, lest the Broom clan’s business be all over the streets”).
This section really got to me, in which Sarah, now a New Yorker, finally goes home after the storm to take in what happened to her childhood house:
The front door was wide open; a skinny tree had angled its way inside. I entered the living room and took baby steps forward, afraid the weight of me might collapse it. The farthest I went was into the middle of the living room. It was all dust, wood chips, waterlines, but then also the light switch by the front door. Cream-colored with gold script around the edges. Pretty.
Somehow the house just looked more like itself. It was really so small. And sitting there all curvy-looking. I knew right then that it had fallen so that something in me could open up.
For so long, I have held that yellow house inside me. I have been at times shaken when it came to letting people near me because it would mean letting them near the unadulterated one, the real yellow house. I was a kid raised well (with class and hope but little money) and who grew up in a raggedy house. I never did need to be one or the other. I mean, who does not know that they are more than just a single adjective? But back then when I was eight, twelve, fifteen, I had no idea about the stupefying nature of dichotomy.
“The stupefying nature of dichotomy.” I know what she means in my bones; I know what she means whenever I leave the house or drive the streets in New Orleans. Sarah M. Broom has produced a brilliant piece of writing. I hope you read it.
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This topic was sort of glanced over during yesterday’s meeting with NFL officials (which this female official did not attend), but it is significant nonetheless. The woman above is Sarah Thomas and she’s already made history as being the first woman to officiate a top-tier NCAA football game. The “lady official,” as one media member said, turned a few heads at practice yesterday, and is sure to do the same today during the Saints intersquad scrimmage.
NFL referee Gene Steratore said that the NFL regularly brings in college coaches to help officiate training camp practices and that they’re usually officials that come highly recommended and are being looked at by the league. He would not say whether or not Thomas is being considered for a position in the NFL.
“I know that she’s very qualified and very good at what she does,” he said.
Thomas was unavailable for comment after yesterday’s practice — aside from the offseason and the one media breifing during training camp, college and NFL officials are not made available for comment —but a quick Google search revealed that the NFL was looking at her even before she officiated her first C-USA game:
“She came highly recommended by two NFL scouts,” said Gerry Austin, a longtime NFL referee and the conference’s coordinator of officials. “She has a good presence and demeanor. I feel like she has the ability and courage to make a call, and the guts to not make one, too.”
Austin said there will be a lot of pressure on Thomas to succeed.
“I think it’s like any other time you are the first one,” Austin said. “If she does a good job, I think she will have a very positive effect. If she messes up, some people might say females aren’t ready.”
By all accounts, she did not “mess up” and went on to officiate other games as well. Thomas, who works as a pharmeceutical saleswoman during the week, has already broken a lot of barriers to get where she is today. She has a few more to overcome if she were to make it to the NFL, not the least of which being pseudo-sexist headlines.
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(The following is by Gambit guest blogger and New Orleans East resident Clifton Harris, who maintains his own blog, Cliff’s Crib. You can read more of his writing there.)
I loved New Orleans enough to come back home after losing my grandmother, all my possessions and my pet in Hurricane Katrina. I have been able to live through every misrepresentation and stressful process on the way to rebuilding. Nothing has made me more skeptical about my future in this city and more aggravated about coming back than trying to register a child for school. I have had more tirades about this situation than anything else because it involves my baby. I have written about this from the parent’s perspective of trying to find a school. My blog friends Leigh and G have tons of other information on this if you want the nuts and bolts. This story is my experience. Judging by the stories I hear from people I know personally, there are probably thousands of stories just like this. This is a recap of what happened so far and where we are today….
Read the rest of this entry »
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 And that’s a good thing.
I awoke this morning to the sounds of local farmers setting up their tables and tents on 12th Street just off Broadway Avenue in Red Lodge, Montana, as if it were just another Saturday. As if there weren’t 10,000 acres of national forest burning less than 6 miles West of here. When I opened my bedroom window — I’m staying in town for the first time, in a beautiful 19th-century, second-story apartment above that same corner — I could barely smell the soot and smoke from the Cascade Fire. Or maybe I’m just getting used to it.
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I heard about this from one of the lawyers involved a few days ago, but bad Internet connections here in Red Lodge prohibited me from following up. I can’t add much to the analysis beyond what Randall Hayes offers on The Bald Cypress, so go check it out — short and to the point. Nice job as always, Randall.
I can add that Fahrenholtz is definitely planning to take this to federal court. I spoke to him this morning (Saturday) and he is close to retaining a very competent attorney to take this forward. I also have heard from Duke Williams, the attorney who filed the challenge in state court, who emailed me saying that he is out of the case if it goes to federal court. That’s not because Williams is giving up; rather, it’s because Fahrenholtz at that point will be suing the state of Louisiana through the Secretary of State (and possibly others) to get his name reinstated on the ballot on federal constitutional grounds.
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RED LODGE, MT — The continuing downward spiral of state Sen. Derrick Shepherd has not caused a ripple out here in Red Lodge, except among the small contingent of former south Louisiana residents who have moved here in the past 20 years. That’s only fair, I suppose. The nearly 10,000 acres of national forest that are burning a mere 6 miles west of this cozy mountain town have not grabbed any headlines in New Orleans.
The Cascade Fire, as this blaze has been dubbed (investigators suspect it was started by an unknown camper near a campground known as Cascade), has hit Red Lodge much the same way that a hurricane in the middle Gulf affects New Orleanians. Everybody hangs on every word from the people in the know, hoping for good news. Folks here, however, much more so than those in New Orleans, have a healthy respect for nature … in ways too numerous to count.
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