The Outer Rings

Biked out from the downtown and the river into the old neighborhoods of North Baton Rouge,
late Friday afternoon. There was no shortage of reminders of how incredibly downtrodden the inner city -- plenty of abandoned businesses and houses, and signs of poverty everywhere. I spoke too soon about the ruins being gone. They've just been pushed beyond the casual tourists' eyes.

It has come to my attention that nothing I can write will ever be free of errors. The only hope I have for putting out perfect copy rests in my dream of finding a beautiful young lady with impeccable English language skills to one day enter my life. Maybe she will take pity on my stupid ass, editing and correcting what I write so as not to be embarrassed that she knows me. We all have dreams.

Remodeling a house that's almost a hundred years old without lights or water demonstrates to me just how much fun it was before modern utilities entered the picture. The worst part is that it takes until 3 a.m. to cool off. The plan this week is to swallow my pride and do whatever physical labor I can find for money so utilities can be hooked up. All the education, manners and good intentions in the world won't provide a good job on a moment's notice, and the need for water is dire.

After beginning the remodeling I discovered there was enough hard wood used in the construction of the house to floor another three houses. Nobody ever built houses like the ones I'm working on (one of which I'm toughing it out in). The biggest obstacle is lack of a giant dumpster to fill up as I take out all of the acoustic ceilings, fiber walls and damaged sheet rock. It already looks better though. It's very rewarding making the appearance of your home change so drastically through hard work and caring. [Another commercial for goody-goody BS.]

On a side note, I perhaps spoke out of line concerning some events in Clinton, Louisiana last year. A few people made it clear (yelled, to be precise) that the involved parties may be upset about the discussion of that weekend. It was never my attention to shame anyone with the information. I considered it a law enforcement travesty, and still fail to see how that reflects poorly on the victims. It will never be discussed again here though.

A platoon of soldiers jogged down St. Phillip Street singing a cadence Friday afternoon after I posted at the State Library. Part of the cadence was "Country's still here, doing fine." That was good to hear. It's also looking at reality without thinking analytically. The derailing of the Fourth Amendment continues with massive public surveillance programs, and that was never a part of the United States that I am still fighting to keep alive (or revive, for that matter). I would still fight to the death for this place, but the Supreme Court needs about 3 appointments back toward civil liberties and middle left.

Incidentally, Twitter has been impossible for me to get into. It's just as well. I wonder if I said something people didn't understand. The reverse condemnation tac-nuke spell I used that day may have troubled some folks. It was just an outpouring of my total rejection of a lifetime of hearing school marm cackling about my occult fantasies. "And on that day the God said, 'Speak, and people will hear.' The mouse squeaked and the lion roared, and the crowd, quiet for only the briefest of moments, looked on deeply puzzled before returning to their slow march into the dust to which we all return." Book of J-Shannon 969:12-oh-yes-12.

I'm sure this is full of things that will bother me later. I probably got a dangling participle pregnant with a half-gerund somewhere. When will the travesties end?

Have a nice Sunday.