WW2 Field Manual

While in New Orleans, I stumbled across this old Soldier's Handbook lying in the street. It was in horrible condition. I could barely turn the brittle pages without them falling apart. Nevertheless, in the manual are some dated diagrams depicting military tactics, nomenclature, and moral codes. Some of the diagrams had a style that reminded me of Dan Hiller's altered engravings. There were also a number of photographs, my favorite is the diagram detailing the body's pressure points.

Cover: Basic Field Manual | Soldier's Handbook | July 23, 1941

Prepared under the direction of the Chief of Staff | For sale by the Superintendent of Documents Washington, D.C. - Price $.35


From a place of concealment the scout observes position for signs of hostile occupation. Then he approaches it by a covered route.

Chroma-Key

Born in 1937, Peter Campus is an American artist who uses video to manipulate reality. In this video piece entitled "Three Transitions", he uses an effect called Chroma-Key to allow superimposition of multiple video feeds. There are multiple key techniques. This method uses a specific color contrast or shape to "cut out" one video feed allowing the other to be visible. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas

Several companies offer aerial Christmas light tours. I wish I could see this. I remember flying home for Christmas a few years ago and the cities and rural areas seemed brighter. Then I realized it was the Christmas lights. It won't be long before Google Earth is marketing this experience.

R2D2

In 1958 the IBM 7090 was a supercomputer that required a lot of space to set up and  sold for over 2 million dollars.

 "Music From Mathematics was an album of early electronic music, programmed by the boffins at Bell Laboratories way back in the early 1960s, using the then-new IBM 7090 computer"  -Link

 

Here is an mp3 from the album.

Swamp

These are some of my clips from the bayou in Louisiana. Music by Kan Kick


Still_1

Still_2

Depth of Field

Wireframe
Depth of field test.
I've been testing the depth of field in Rhino VRay. Background focus seems easy enough but I'm having trouble setting the camera aperture for foreground focus.

Crane

I was on Magazine St. a few weeks ago and there was this huge crane being setup between two buildings. I wish it was somehow attached to the buildings.

Pink Houses

Yesterday there was a Wind Advisory for south-east Louisiana including the New Orleans metro area. We went to the lower 9th ward to see The Pink Project. There were roofs in the road and pink canopies were beating in the wind. We went to the top of the viewing platform and the wind was fierce I couldn't keep my camera still to take a good night photo but the project is really beautiful with the wind at night. Coming over the canal you see the houses lit, glowing pink.

Trademarks

A spatial drawing of New Orleanian trademarks.

Zoom

Trains

I live one block from the railroad and the Mississippi River. The trains and boats are always in motion. Yesterday the train was carrying car after car of steel pipe. It was nice to see the contents on the train rather than just another train-car.

"Yeah, you rite."

“Where you want this paint Mr. K?” “Ova there by da porch is fine.” So it begins, each morning in my New Orleans home starts with my neighbors chatting. The paper-thin walls of my shotgun house keep me hot in the summer, cold in the fall and in this case, awake in the morning. But sometimes I wait to get up. I lie in bed awhile and enjoy the conversation outside my window. Catching up on the local news, weather, and an unmistakable regional dialect. It is the “Yat” dialect, a melody, with a thick flavor and leisurely tempo. Like an instrument you wish you could play, but upon attempt, the locals will know you’re just a parody. A “Yat” is a stereotype for locals who use this “brand” of English, especially those from the Ninth Ward. I find the dialect attractive and I’m always subconsciously repeating new phrases. I’ll practice phrases like “Benhavin dat a while” over and over. Each time I would change a syllable slightly but the tone of the dialect was never original. The more I practice my newfound language I keep thinking about my home in Kentucky and the perception of a “country” or “redneck” dialect. In Kentucky the education of a “perfect English” is expected. The “perfect English” we associate with The Today Show or 60 Minutes. The “redneck” or “country” variations of dialect sometimes give us impressions of illiteracy or a lack of intelligence. There is something unique about how the “Yat English” operates.
The dialect is used among a variety of people with varying social and economic backgrounds. In the ninth ward these social and economic backgrounds mingle. Shoulder to shoulder, walking in Vaughn’s on a Thursday night, it’s apparent that Intelligence and literacy have no affiliation with one’s acquired tone. In the ninth ward the dialect seems to saturate the environment, everyone is welcome and accounted for. I squeezed through the door as Kermit Ruffins kicked off his set with “palm court strut.” I looked around and everyone began to nod his or her head. The music was now part of our experience just as the beer in hand or smoke in the air. This was a soundtrack and we were part of a film, or so it seemed to me. Yet this was a normal day for a “Yat” in the Ninth Ward. Both the upper and lower Ninth Ward is identified as either middle class or low citizens. The “Yat” Dialect does not escape all stereotypes due to its regional identity and association with the Ninth Ward. Outside of the Ninth Ward however, the local dialect also operates in the marketing and business world. For Example, the local comic Vic n’ Nat ly by Bunny Matthews illustrates the daily encounters and the local dialect between a couple from the Ninth Ward. Zatarain's a New Orleans Cajun produce company uses phrases like” Them Yat’s love their Zat’s”
It was Saturday night on Frenchmen St. and the crowd was local, but a few tourists had found this hideaway street a few blocks from the French Quarter. The muffled sounds of brass instruments circulate in the streets. I was looking for a place to eat when I noticed a food stand on the corner of Chartres and Frenchmen called “Food to Geaux.” I laughed at the name. I understood it as a funny way for a business to market humor but more importantly use language as an indication of authenticity. This kind of play on words is similar to the way some of the business in New Orleans utilize the “Yat” dialect. Sounds and sentence syntax are two key components in the perception of a dialect that cannot be described with proper grammar. Spelling out a dialect as it sounds is a way for the dialect to be revealed and at the same time, when used as a marketing tool, present a local character or authenticity. “Nawlins” is a popular example of how businesses use this to express a locality.
A New Orleanian dialect is often compared to a Brooklyn accent. Both accents tend to shorten or completely alter phrases with”laziness” in the tone or pronunciation. Phrases like, “you know what I mean?” become “ya’ heard me?” or when agreeing: “yeah, you rite.” The perceptions of “laziness” in the “Yat” dialect occur with subtle changes in words like “this” where the “th” becomes “dis”. Or the end of words like “locker” loose the “er” and are replaced with “a”. The sounds of these subtleties are hard to convey on paper, saying “Locka” without using a nasal tone in the “L” changes the dialect completely. Just this tone shift makes the pronunciation of “Locka” sound closer to a Brooklyn accent. Dialects associated with areas such as Lafayette, Louisiana, or even in Eastern parts of Kentucky, are often associated with a “redneck” or “hillbilly” lifestyle; whereas, a New Orleanian accent has been associated with it’s international heritage as a blend of Creole, French and English. Every language has its stereotypes and New Orleans dialect, at first sounds like a softer “Brooklynese” but, subtleties make a distinction between the two as clear as day and night. The Brooklyn accent has a more aggressive tone than the rich New Orleanian accent. 

My first notion of understanding the dialect of the region is to understand a visitor’s perception of the associations with it. After talking to two locals who were not natives of New Orleans, I noticed that I was not the only one finding it difficult to imitate and understand the “Yat” dialect. Waiting in line at Café Du Monde one Tuesday, I met Tim, a local originally from California. I asked how long he had lived in New Orleans and he told me he’d lived here for six years. We discussed how difficult it was for a visitor to imitate the accent of a New Orleanian. He told me that when he first moved here worked at the Veterinary Hospital on Prytania for about three months and worked with a Creole woman who also spoke French. Tim told me, “ I thought she was foreign when I met her. She sounded like she just learned English.” I asked him if she was good example for representing the majority of New Orleanian accents. He told me that nobody was a good example, “I still hear new things everyday, and find myself sayin’ it later. ” I laughed because I find myself in a similar situation constantly trying to mimic local phrases that I’ve heard. It’s interesting to see New Orleans’s conscious awareness of their dialect. It is present throughout their everyday lives in ways other cities might not market a dialect. The weekly entertainment paper, “Where Y’at” is an example of the use of dialect to describe a regional magazine native to New Orleans. 

Lisa is another local who I met at Markey’s bar in Bywater. She is originally from New Jersey and speaks with hints of the New Orleanian accent. We spoke about architecture, for a while and eventually after she noticed my Kentucky accent, we discussed her New Jersey background and accent. She described how she had lived with her mother in New Orleans and developed her accent. Her father would question her grammar, she quoted him saying, “I don’t understand how you and your mother describe things.” Upon moving to New Orleans the accent of the locals can create preconceived notions about the person. Lisa told me, “Coming here, hearing people talk. It took me a while to realize that a someone’s dialect is not necessarily related to his or her level of intelligence.” I felt that this was a very important factor in understanding how people first receive one another. Often times we have the tendency to see a correlation between a “southern” accent and a lack of education. Moving past that tendency we can see cultural values that are present in the dialect. Asking someone, “Where Y’at’” in New Orleans really means wanting to know how they are doing.
On nice sunny days I ride my bike west from the Ninth Ward down Royal St. through the French Quarter, under the Interstate and out St. Charles to Uptown. I pass by several other bike riders along the way and I feel a more personal connection with them somehow. Riding past my neighbors in a vehicle compared passing them on a bicycle is similar to having a conversation on the phone versus having one in person. The bicycle experience is an immediate encounter and the car is detached from the person. The immediacy of an encounter with another biker seems universal. There is an innate tendency to acknowledge the other biker even if it’s a wave or nod. The language of New Orleanians is well suited for these encounters. Every day I ride home or leave home passing by a church a block from my house. There on the corner sits a friendly man, legs crossed on a metal chair. Twelve o’ clock in the afternoon or nine o’ clock at night, he’s always there. A friendly wave and nod is the usual greeting. Until one day I stopped to introduce myself. “How you doin’ today?” I asked. “Aiight, seein as the Saints be aiight ya’ heard me?” he replied. I laughed, realizing that the New Orleans Saints NFL team has had a spot in the hearts of many residents, especially after Katrina.
“Who dat say they gonna beat dem Saints, Who dat say they gonna beat dem Saints!” surrounded by thousands of fans just outside the Superdome on the mezzanine and I can feel the floor shaking. It’s minutes before the game starts and the fans are screaming. Today is Sunday and it’s New Orleans Saints versus the North Carolina Panthers. Black and gold everywhere with a few specks of blue, the fans line up at the doors to funnel into the Superdome. “Twenty-Five ta Eighteen Believe Dat.” In the crowd I hear the dialect surrounding me, everyone predicting an outcome and getting into the spirit of what the Saints might represent to each fan. Once inside, we navigate through three floors of escalators. The animated fans together created a collective diversity that surrounded us. The perception and judgment of character through the dialect is lost in this allied event; however, the dialect is not lost at all. The dialect is more than just the language now. At the game it becomes part of a character, a mentality that everyone is experiencing. When the odds are up, the fans are allied, when the team takes a lost the fans collectively motivate and reassure one another. The actions of the crowd led me to understand dialect in relation to one’s character. Not a relation of intellectual character, a relation of sociability and community.
The difference in dialect is apparent across the city. St. Claude Avenue divides the Upper Ninth Ward. The St. Claude community sits to the north of St. Claude and the Bywater community to the south. Two different communities and socioeconomic backgrounds share McDonalds, Rally’s, Domino’s, and Church’s, all the common staples of the American diet that rest along the St. Claude Avenue. At Rally’s on a weekday the sun beats down on the white concrete and blinds me as I wait for my order to be called. The service is slow and the heat is miserable, but the woman working has a dialect that seems to assure my doubt. She ends statements with “ok, bay-by” and “yea” in a “Yat” dialect that has a different sound from a Bywater “Yat” dialect the subtleties are apparent in the emphasis of “ye” before the consonant "a" in “yea”. The subtleties in pronunciation have major effects in distinction of difference among one dialect. It becomes easier to identify a dialect type when heard rather than read. Across the city in Uptown at the same food chain on St. Charles Ave, was where I found myself the second week I had been in New Orleans. The service at this location was quicker however the employee’s tone expressed irritation when served; I was asked “ Whatchu need?” I wasn’t upset, but looking back in comparison has led me to realize influence of dialect and how I recall a particular memory as good or bad.
There are a few key locations in New Orleans where the “Yat” dialect is heavy and the environment is usually a reflection this. Interestingly these places are not clustered into one locale of the Ninth Ward, but spread across the city. On a few Saturdays I find myself with friends at Rock n’ Bowl, a bowling alley located Uptown with live music and a full bar. Approaching the site the neon lights of the bowling pin and letters seem conventional but behind the doors sit a piece of 1950 frozen in time. The lady greets you at the steps while reading a newspaper, “up the stairs dawlin’” she says, stamping your hand and pointing up the endless staircase. At the top John Angel and the Swingin’ Demons are playing “Saturday Night Saloon”. This place was never changed, from the lanes and ball carriers to the paint on the walls, the entire room feels like a movie set for “Happy Days” and the crowd is vibrant and those who aren’t on the dance floor are at the bar or on the lanes. At the front desk is a lady with longer grey hair in a ponytail. She’s anxiously chewing her gum and waiting for our request. “What can I getcha honey?” she asks. We got our shoes and scorecards then she told us, “ya’ll on lane 4, awrite." I’ll pass by ya lane lata if ya need somethin’” Phrases like “I’ll pass by ya.” are common over in Bywater community between neighbors and friends. But in Bywater or Ninth Ward the tone or pronunciation of these phrases evoke a slower tempo and lifestyle than the tone perceived in Uptown.
Under the radar is Dorgniac’s is another “New Orleens” luxury. Just off of Veteran’s Blvd. Dorgniac's. This grocery store is an antique, and an easy spot to find colloquial dialects. I found myself here a few days after Thanksgiving, after all the overindulgence had worn off. Walking into Dorgniac’s it’s hard to avoid walking straight to the bakery. The sweet smell of fritters, pies and other baked treats fills the air. Through the liquor department and to the seafood and meat area the butchers are constantly adding more gumbo shrimp to the display. In their white coats they speak using “Yat” phrases such as “anywayz” and “f’shure”. These phrases keep the pace of the conversation and set an informal tone. The dialect between these two men was much less pronounced than the dialect you’ll hear at Frady’s Food Store in the Bywater. Just walk in on a weekday at Frady’s and order any po-boy you’ll probably hear “ you want it dressed?” If you ask for directions and you’ll probably hear someone say, “ova here” or “ova there” instead of “over here or there.” Even the dialect within the city is apparent based on what part of New Orleans you might find yourself.
It was Saturday night at La Chat Noir, and we were searching for comic relief with local flavor. We decided to start our night here for the Red Light District Variety Show. Moments before the show began local playwright Jim Fitzmorris was preparing to go on stage, greeting his guests. The show started with music by Alan Payne on piano. It was a parody to welcome the newly elected Louisiana, Governor Bobby Jindal. Jindal’s impersonator was surrounded by belly dancers of “Bollywood” who began to strip him of his political outfit. The show is known for it’s hilarious political mockery; however, in the mix is a careful use of New Orleans vernacular. There was one particular skit where two news anchors sarcastically presented the local news. During this skit New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was motioned for some of his most infamous quotes. Mayor Nagin seems to play an interesting role in the perception of New Orleanian dialect. With his efforts after Hurricane Katrina, he has become a popular figure in American media. For many Americans he represents New Orleans with his voice. Some of the quotes are so popular that a keychain titled “ Da Mayor in your pocket” can be purchased at local stores. Some of the sayings include “ This is a national disasta”, “You gotta be kiddin me.” or my favorite, “Excuse my French, everybody in America, but I am pissed.”
At the comedy show, actor Farrar Hudkins played the male news anchor and his imitation of Mayor Nagin’s dialect was very accurate. The role of the dialect in entertainment is an interesting issue. How should the dialect be portrayed? When imitating a dialect should we be careful to not to support false stereotypes? All of these questions are issues for playwrights like Jim Fitzmorris and anyone working in public media. A few weeks earlier at Southern Rep Theater, I had just seen the play “The Breach” written by three playwrights, Catherine Filloux, Tarell Mccraney and Joe Sutton. The play displayed the story of life immediately after the Katrina’s flood through the eyes of a family, a journalist and a local bartender. Most actors in the play had to play multiple parts as different characters. The dialect for each character was also slightly varied. The difference in dialect was apparent and the actors successfully achieved each individual. I noticed however, that the actors who assumed one identity were able to play a more compelling character. It was then apparent to me that the physical characteristics of a character play just as an important role as dialect in forming a distinct identity. If the perceptions of colloquial dialects are products of sound, sentence structure and words, the physical body language of an individual plays a role in the perception of their identity. Together they influence our perceptions of everyone around us. Through dialect smallest differences can result in totally new perceptions. It’s simple and stupid things like how do to talk you say mayo, “Mayonnaise” or “Mynez”. On paper, these variations become indistinguishable unless we break the rules of grammar to aid representation of the dialect. Some linguistics professionals fear that the education of a Standard English will homogenize the American dialects. This seems unlikely when you experience the massive variety of New Orleanian accents. Every time a language meets another, or an individual introduces a new phrase the language and dialect slowly evolve. The same way one can trace words to their Latin origin, The “Yat” dialect has a variation within itself that is constantly being developed.
The “Yat” dialect you’ll here in New Orleans is a variation of Standard English rather than a mispronunciation of Standard English. The locals seem to understand their language as a unique variation of English rather than an inaccurate interpretation. The variations within the “Yat” dialect are very subtle and vary according to your location in the city. In New Orleans, the streets or canals that surround a community can describe its neighborhood boundary, but there are also indications of boundaries, which shape the communities. These indicative boundaries can be as simple as a fenced yard or the bikes outside of a coffee shop. The slate sidewalks and ground entry buildings of the French Quarter are refined to accommodate a tourist economy. In Marigny, the separation of sidewalks from the entry or raised entries accommodate individual privacy for members of a community. Just as subtle architectural queues can hint at the differences in community the subtle sound interactions of consonants and vowels in a New Orleanian’s voice will be clearly perceived as local. There is a pride in locality for New Orleanians, their accents, their heritage and history are all valued highly. At a local scale, community pride is present as well. The development of New Orleans wards in the eighteenth century was a way for voting precincts to be established based on neighborhoods. Saying "I live in Bywater." and saying "I live in the Ninth Ward." are different by degree. Saying “Bywater” means being geographically more specific, saying “Ninth Ward” carrying a wealth of social connotations. The residents of New Orleans still recognize the wards as in cultural sense rather than a political one. Diversity is celebrated among the locals, and dialect only addresses one layer of New Orleans’ cultural intricacy.

Old Cajun English Accent

Yeah, you rite.

A New Orleanian dialect is often compared to a Brooklyn accent. Both accents tend to shorten or completely alter phrases with an almost “laziness” in the pronunciation. Phrases like, “you know what I mean?” become “ya’ heard me?” or when agreeing: “yeah, you rite.” Dialects associated with areas such as Lafayette, Louisiana or even in Eastern parts of Kentucky often associated with a “redneck” or “hillbilly” lifestyle; whereas, a New Orleanian accent has been associated with it’s international heritage as a blend of Creole, French and English. Every language has its stereotypes and New Orleans dialect, at first sounds like a softer “Brooklynese” but, subtleties make a distinction between the two as clear as day and night. The Brooklyn accent has a more aggressive tone than the lazy New Orleanian accent.
My first notion of understanding the dialect of the region is to understand a visitor’s perception of the associations with it. After talking to two locals who were not natives of New Orleans I noticed that I was not the only one finding it difficult to imitate and understand that “Yat” dialect. Waiting in line at Café Du Monde last week I met Tim, a local originally from California. I asked how long he had lived in New Orleans and he told me he’d lived here for six years we discussed how difficult it was for a visitor to imitate the accent of a New Orleanian. He told me that when he first moved here worked at the Veterinary Hospital on Prytania for about three months and worked with a Creole woman who also spoke French. Tim told me, “ I thought she was foreign when I met her. She sounded like she just learned English.” I asked him if she was good example for representing the majority of New Orleanian accents. He told me that nobody was a good example, “I still hear new shit everyday, and find myself sayin’ it later. ” I laughed because I find myself in a similar situation constantly trying to mimic local phrases that I’ve heard. It’s an interesting to see New Orleans’s conscious awareness of their dialect. For example the weekly entertainment paper, Where Y’at. There is also the local cartoon “Vic n’ Nat’ly” which expresses the tone of the local dialogue between two ninth ward locals.
Lisa is another local who I met at Markey’s bar in bywater. She is originally from New Jersey and speaks with hints of the New Orleanian accent. We spoke about architecture, for a while and eventually after she noticed my Kentucky accent, we discussed her New Jersey background and accent. She described how she had lived with her mother in New Orleans and developed her accent. Her father would question her grammar, she quoted him saying “I don’t understand how you and your mother describe things.” Upon moving to New Orleans the accent of the locals can create preconceived notions about the person. Lisa told me, “Coming here, hearing people talk. It took me a while to realize that a someone’s dialect is not necessarily related to his or her level of intelligence.” I felt that this was a very important factor in understanding how people first receive one another. Often times we have the tendency to see a correlation between a “southern” accent and a lack of education. Moving past that tendency we can see cultural values that are present in the dialect. Asking someone, “Where Y’at’” in New Orleans really means wanting to know how they are doing.

Try your best at these few:
BAT'TROOM - A room in the house where one doesn't find bats, but where one bathes, attends to the elimination of bodily waste, or locks oneself in and cries until one gets one's way.
ERSTERS, ERSTAS - Oysters.
PODNA - A form of address for men, usually for ones with whom one is not acquainted. Frequently used in the emphatic statement, "I tell you what, podna ..."
UP DA ROAD - Same as down da road, only now you are traveling in the opposite direction heading "up da road" to either Chalmette or Arabi.
YEAH YOU RITE - An emphatic statement of agreement and affirmation, sometimes used as a general exclamation of happiness. The accent is on the first word, and it's spoken as one word.
ZINK - A receptacle for water with a drain and faucets. Where ya wrench off ya dishes or ya hands.

Civic Boudaries

Living in a city of districts that were set in place by a previous political action I'm starting to notice the long term effects of those decisions. The development of New Orleans wards in the eighteenth century was a way for voting precincts to be established based on neighboorhoods. Although the wards have not been operating as this "political subdivision" for some time, Saying "I live in the Bywater." and saying "I live in the Ninth Ward." are different by degree. The former statement being geographically more specific, the latter carrying a wealth of social connotations. The residents of New Orleans still recognize the wards as in cultural sense rather than a political one.
These borders exist at all scales whether a difference in road widths or divisions by wards our public space is constantly divided. Do civic boundaries create diversity in New Orleans or do they support unequal spaces? It is obvious to me, that there is a cultural diversity in New Orleans that separates it from the rest of "The South". Likewise, I also see inequalities in the way public space is used like Uptown verses areas of the Bywater. For example In uptown, The grassy streetcar line along St. Charles has become a public domain for activities like jogging and walking dogs. Seeing that I felt, that the collective actions of the residents in that area had overtime created an area of adaptive re-use that required no bureaucratic decision making. In the Bywater the issues of security have hampered the public use of outdoor space like parks into operating during the daytime. In this case I experienced the movement from the outdoor to the indoor especially at night where the collective decisions of the residents still find a way to accommodate a public domain. In both cases architectural implications for these divisions are presented.

From a bike.

In New Orleans, the streets or canals that surround a community can describe its neighborhood boundary, but there are also indications of boundaries, which shape the communities. These indicative boundaries can be as simple as a fenced yard or the bikes outside of a coffee shop. To understand my neighborhood boundary I took a bike ride through two neighboring communities. I started at the edge of the French Quarter on Esplanade Avenue and rode through Marigny, Bywater (my community) and St. Claude neighborhood districts.
Esplanade Avenue is a major road with a neutral ground that physically divides Marigny from the French Quarter. Crossing Esplanade I noticed a distinct change in the pavement and sidewalks. The slate sidewalks and ground entry buildings of the French Quarter are refined to accommodate a tourist economy. In Marigny the separation of sidewalks from the entry or raised entries accommodate individual privacy for members of a community. Houses that are setback from the sidewalk to introduce a private concrete yard are also common. These were indications of an existing community through the nature of the built environment. There were also social indications. Passing by a causal conversation between two neighbors across the street from one another, I noticed a sense of satisfaction that each of the two had by standing in their own yard and communicating across the street. The intimate value of ownership is evident when entering the community of Marigny, but the question is where that community begins. The technical boundaries of Marigny form a trapezoid from the river, north to Claiborne Avenue. The commercial area of Marigny lies along Frenchmen street where the ground level entry and balconies are conditions that accommodate tourism. This linear stretch of bars and cafes really seems to have bled over from the Quarter; however the division created by Esplanade Avenue keeps the condition of the locality. The scale and economy of Frenchmen street does not attempt to compete with similar streets of the French Quarter, its value lies in the intimacy of the neighborhood. It is interesting to mention that those looking to toss beads at drunken bar patrons in overcrowded streets would be very close to their desired address but out of context on Frenchmen street. Passing Frenchmen street, the edge of Elysian Fields is approached in a similar way to Esplanade Avenue. The physical division by a major road is the case in both Esplanade and Elysian Fields; however the trees lining Esplanade create a “public canopy” that makes the traverse less obtrusive. The open-air neutral grounds of Elysian Fields create a expansive physical boundary between two parts of Marigny. When approaching Elysian Fields on bike your momentum increases and crossing the road becomes a focused task.
After crossing Elysian Fields the momentum slows and the sense of community is renewed. Residents emerge from their houses to grab the paper. Contractor’s circular saws buzz as renovations to houses are being completed, and coffee shops open their doors to the community.
Moving across my third boundary Franklin Avenue on Chartres the technical boundary for the Bywater begins. Franklin Avenue presents less magnitude as a physical boundary than both Esplanade Avenue and Elysian Fields. The shift of the city’s grid is evident but the locality has not altogether been transformed just as in Marigny, the shotgun house sits at the sidewalk’s edge with its entry raised and the first hand conversations between residents still persist. Continuing on Chartres St. the smell of pralines and coffee in the air is like a public asset that is the byproduct of PJ’s coffee processing, and Aunt Sally’s Praline factory. The light industry that sits at the river seems to pose minimal disadvantages to the integrity of the Bywater’s spirit. In fact in this edge of the Bywater there is a small green space that sits in Marigny on Decatur and Spain. The green square is surrounded by light industry on all four sides; however, I’ve passed people enjoying the space as a dog park on numerous occasions. Ahead of Aunt Sally’s on Chartres is Press Street the fourth boundary in route through the Bywater. This boundary is a railroad crossing that I have personally created a hostility toward. The rail line extends pass the Bywater’s northern boundary of St. Claude and frequently stops for extended periods of time blocking both pedestrians and vehicles. The inconsistency of the trains make traveling unpredictable but the temporary boundary that it creates often secludes the anxious traveler. This temporary boundary of the train sometimes tempts the traveler to find alternative ways around, of which I have yet to find. The advantage of the Press Street boundary is the two-way road that makes movement from the top part of the neighborhood to the bottom easier. Press street’s boundary seems to only accommodate the Bywater as an infrastructural component. Beginning on Montegut as I rode east the Bywater neighborhood became prominently embedded in its symbols of local significance. Over half of the residents live in a shotgun house that meets the street, most often without obstruction of fence or trees. Making way past houses on bike observing the one notices the gates that connect each house to the next. Some gates have barbwire, some beads, and some are a collage of materials to hold back intruders. These personal boundaries seem like the only boundaries that keep the community from being intimately open. This intimate closure is only a security issue. Passing Markey’s Bar at the intersection of Lousia street and Royal street I was presented with symbols of the neighborhood’s true open quality, the bicycle. If the SUV is a symbol of suburban lifestyle, the bicycle is the symbol of the Bywater lifestyle. The bicycle would be a priceless asset to a suburban lifestyle in an economy where fuel has become inefficient; but the typical suburb’s location in relation to personal destinations has a quality of being “Too far to walk. Too far to bike” giving the bicycle temporary value. Passing your neighbors in a vehicle compared passing them on a bicycle is similar to having a conversation on the phone versus having one in person. One experience is immediate the latter is separate. The immediacy of an encounter with another biker seems universal. There is an innate tendency to acknowledge the other biker even if it’s a wave or nod. This same notion in a vehicle has probably been lost due to a large amount of drivers.

Barrie Greenbie states “I will consider the formation of cultural groups as the human social expression of the universal tendency of things in nature to form clusters of like entities, which are thereby distinguishable from different entities.”

These symbols of the Bywater are also seen across New Orleans but the timeless nature of the Bywater neighborhood addresses an origin or authenticity to the symbols.
As I cross St. Claude into the St. Claude neighborhood the sidewalks began to break apart or disappear altogether. There was an obvious issue of security as barred windows and doors were regular on most houses. The streets were lined with cars but there were not as many people outside. Passing a man on Congress street I waved and he waved back in reply asking, “how ya been.” “Good,” I replied as I rode by. I didn’t understand the why he would ask how I’ve been when he had just met me, but it is becoming clear to me how vital that intimate level of communication really is to establishing a sense of community or homogeneity.

Where's the river?

Where is the river? Geographically, we can see that the river sits in New Orleans but I didn’t see it until about a week after I’d been here. It wasn’t hidden; it was two blocks from my home. Sitting behind levees and wharfs the river has been entertaining and transporting every second since I’ve been here. For me, going to the River-walk is hardly a serene moment in conjunction with nature. Seeing the riverbanks lined with barges, and foreign boats in line to port, only confuses my sense of geographic location. However, it is a disjunction in which I feel confronted to enjoy.
The river has an intrinsic quality that is difficult to pinpoint. Anyone who glances at the river from a distance is intrigued to find what lies at its edge. Here in New Orleans industry and infrastructure lies at the edge. Cargo ships, steamboats, and ferries constantly pacing the river. The ferry as a system of public transportation, expresses a dependency of a city on its river. In New Orleans this public service bridges the gap between New Orleans Parrish and the West Bank. Just last week my friend Jordan and I took our bikes across the river, on the ferry to Algiers Point. The town is a historic community neighboring New Orleans. Once off the Ferry we ventured into the community briefly, only to later find ourselves riding our bikes along the river’s edge, following its banks with curiosity. We were going deeper into areas where Wharfs, boat repair stations, a gas plant, marina, and levee walls were part of an endless industrial landscape. We were continuously disappointed, expecting to see something to break the mundane. Eventually riding until we reached the base of the Crescent City connection bridge, which leads traffic to the West Bank. It was here that I realized why we had biked for so long. The sound of the traffic, a hundred or so feet above you creates an experience in synchrony with the passing traffic on the river where you feel incredibly small.
So what brings me to the river’s edge here in New Orleans? When leaving the density of the French Quarter to come to the banks of the river opens my eye to the scale change that occurs along the river. The environment shifts from the overwhelming micro sensory experience of the French Quarter to the massive scale of the river. The cranes, boats, barges, structural supports of docks and the river itself demand a presence. When at the river your senses are enhanced and your scale physically felt.
In New Orleans the two conditions of the micro and macro experience only contribute to my appreciation of the city. The river introduces diversity, as a dense network of possibilities, that I’ve come to learn, isn’t exactly evident at first glance or on the surface.

So far so good.

So far I’ve been here in New Orleans for almost three weeks now, driving here from Kentucky was boring and nothing worth commenting about, however upon arrival in New Orleans the weather and people were noticeably different. Different in a good way? No. Different in a bad way? No. While the heat here is miserable at times the night and mornings are good. The people though, at least who I’ve encountered have been pretty interesting, for example, take this guy who hangs outside a small grocery called Frady’s. He is shirtless Monday through Saturday (I haven’t seen him on Sundays), drinking a Busch and chain smoking. So far I’ve overheard this guy talking about how he’s always being arrested and can’t get a job. Why is this guy different? Cause he doesn’t give a damn. Now he’s not obnoxious and has been very friendly, once offering to watch my bike while I went inside, and no, he didn’t steal it. The laid-back attitude and hospitality of these people has really become a luxury for me since living in Kentucky it wasn’t uncommon to experience this attitude. So what’s so different about Kentuckians and New Orleanians? A lot. Obvious things like accents, but there are certain things that can’t be described through physical characteristics. Arts and culture are practiced in New Orleans. Arts and culture are celebrated in Kentucky. In Kentucky our jobs determine our lifestyle pace. In New Orleans you decide your lifestyle pace. There is this informal lifestyle in New Orleans where it seems primary needs and personal happiness come foremost. This could be classified as a condition of “The South”, but even between Tennessee and New Orleans the gradient is extremely weighted. While a lot of country music stars in Nashville live in suburban mansions, a majority of the musicians from New Orleans reside in their hometowns. One of the most respected jazz musicians Fats Domino still lives in the lower 9th ward, in of the most hurricane devastated areas. It became obvious to me over these past weeks that people here have an honest love for their city. The people here are proud to say: “I’ve lived here all my life.” For me, I’m still trying to find what I love about New Orleans. Yeah, the food’s good, music’s good, and most people are good which is part of this city but without the average citizens, New Orleans would be like Disney World for adults. So what about New Orleans is so “New Orleans?” It’s people first but I think it also has something to do with these horribly maintained streets, buildings that are falling apart, held together with paint. (Markey’s Bar, Vaughn’s), and humidity that hits you like a wall. Yeah that’s in Tijuana too but here it’s profitable.
At a local scale my new home on Pauline St. in the Bywater (9th Ward) of New Orleans, is like living a paradox. The environment is old and stale in a way that is fresh and inviting. Service, quality and prices in the small stores are competitive with those in the upscale parts of town (French Quarter, Garden District etc.) and my neighbors are friendly, like Jeff who lives behind us lets us use his pool anytime. It’s like a smaller French Quarter that hasn’t been discovered by tourists. There is definitely a small community environment in the Bywater. In the short amount of time I’ve been here I still wonder how different my experience might be if I was living in another part of New Orleans. Going to another part of New Orleans for me has been like visiting another town and coming back to the 9th ward feels like returning home. I feel like experiencing another area of New Orleans really requires waking up there.