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Unfathomable City

Unfathomable City: A New Orleans AtlasUnfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas by Rebecca Solnit

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I wrote an earlier review of this book ( I keep busy) and have now decided to update it since receiving the actual published book as I used the advanced reader copy for the previous review and now after reading more of it in a different location than the last time and viewing all of the maps that weren’t in the ARC and let me share that I did all of that new stuff all on All Saints Day, no less. Told you: multitudes.

I decided to do it without the cranky insertion of MY New Orleans up front that was in the previous review and to simply state that it’s a well designed, well-edited and at times beautifully written and illustrated homage to our mysterious city.
This book gives credit where credit is due. To the city’s geography, to its outlandish robber barons of bananas and oil, to the nameless and named that have brought us and bring us music, food, and public displays and joy and sorrow and pain and punishment. It neatly shows a number of juxtapositions that may be uncomfortable for some to view and others that are certainly unfathomable, but it does show them. There. credit given.
Now, back to me:
If you look through my reviews, you can spot a certain fondness for maps. I love them and love poring over them before, during or in spite of actually traveling to the place depicted.
If you read my reviews, you will no doubt spot a serious fondness for essayists. I admire what seems to me to be honest human bravery in extending a point or a purpose to a new end. Taking a walk with an author is how I visualize an essay, and yes there are times that I turn back before getting to the end, but I still appreciate the offer. So maps and essays seem like two sides of one coin and when put together well can alter or color each other’s point and purpose.

So that this is a book of illusory and real maps combined with odd and delightful essays, edited by two sensitive writers is enough for me to tell you.

Let me let the writers and artists tell you themselves in essays and maps such as:

Civil rights and Lemon Ice

Hot and Steamy: Selling Seafood and Selling Sex

Ebb and Flow: Migrations of the Houma, Erosions of the Coast

Juju and Cuckoo: Taking Care of Crazy

Stationary Revelations: Sites of Contemplation and Delight

The first essays introducing this book are alone worth poring over and sharing; how often is that true? That should tell you about the care and thought put into this entire work and offer the best reason to plunk down your money, open it and thumb through while having a Pimm’s or a coffee in front of you, tucked away in a shady corner of our shared city. Enjoy it all.

View all my reviews

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Krewe of Boo tonight

Parade’s formation location: Elysian Fields and Decatur St Formation time: 5:00pm
Starting time: 6:00pm
The parade will form on Elysian Fields Avenue and North Peters Street. It will
turn right onto North Peters Street in an uptown direction on North Peters Street (against traffic against the flood wall). Upon reaching Dumaine Street the parade will continue in an uptown direction with the normal flow of traffic on Decatur to N. Peters, to Canal Street, where the parade will turn right onto Canal Street to Dauphine Street where it will u-turn to the opposite side of Canal Street to Tchoupitoulas Street where it will turn right on Tchoupitoulas Street to St. Joseph Street turn left onto St. Joseph Street to Convention Center Boulevard, and make a right turn against traffic onto Convention Center onto Henderson., and proceed to Mardi Gras World for disband.
NO PARKING ZONES:
On the river bound side of Elysian Fields Avenue between N. Peters and Royal Streets from 12:00pm, until 8:00pm.
On both sides of N. Peters Street between Esplanade Avenue and Conti Street from 4:00pm until 8:00pm.

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American Horror Story: Coven Location Guide

Great overview of the locations for this series and, really, just some great houses and sites around New Orleans to visit for any reason.

American Horror Story: Coven Location Guide | Deep South Magazine – Southern Food, Travel & Lit.

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Jackson Square zones

I was sent these diagrams by the city of New Orleans and I will also be uploading the corresponding regulation text. This came about because there was a heavy handed idea by the city to “close” the square overnight, seemingly in a feeble attempt to reduce the small bad element found there 24 hours a day among the many good elements also there 24 hours a day. I wrote in protest and was invited to one meeting and sent this months later. The other attendees at the meeting were the folks who work in the Square- readers, musicians and artists. No one from the JS businesses, the museums or church were there, nor were any other residents. I wrote about the meeting in an earlier post:
JS meeting notes

This is the overview of all of the zones in the Square as of October 2013

This is the overview of all of the zones in the Square as of October 2013

This is the noise buffer zone for the cathedral

This is the noise buffer zone for the cathedral

This is the artist "A" zone for setting up along the fence.

This is the artist “A” zone for setting up along the fence.

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H&M to open first N.O. location in French Quarter on Oct. 31

“It is a significant achievement for H&M to open our first location in a city known for its deep routed culture and triumphant spirit”

Really? Seems like you wanted to sell high-end to tourists.Listen-it’s understandable, just say it, okay?

H&M to open first N.O. location in French Quarter on Oct. 31 | wwltv.com New Orleans.

here is a piece I found when searching the internet about this store:

“Our business idea is to offer fashion and quality at the best price,” Håcan Andersson, a spokesman for the company, tells Ecouterre, before referring us to information listed on the company’s website. But company mission aside, at a time when the apparel industry is getting thrashed by price hikes, H&M’s move remains an audacious one. $4.95 dresses? $20 trench coats? What universe does the Swedish retailer live in? And more important, how is H&M getting away with it?

“It just means they are squeezing the stakeholders in their supply chain to pull this off,” says Howard Brown, co-founder of Stewart + Brown, a Los Angeles-based pioneer in sustainable fashion. “Their copycat competitors will do the same. If this trend has any staying power then we might as well kiss the American apparel manufacturing sector, and those hundred thousand are so jobs that are still left, goodbye.”

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A serious renovation begins on Royal Street house

(original post from 2013)
This is a nice little house in the 1000 block of Royal Street between Ursuline and St. Philip. The family that owned for the last 80 years sold it after using it as rental property for much of that time. The new owner is reportedly from New Orleans and is moving back to live in this house, once renovated.
Literally, the house has been taken down to its front and side outside walls and will be expanded over the next year or more. That back house has been empty forever and they will deal with it after the front house is done.

Stay tuned for more pictures over the next few months….

The front of the house as of 10-18-2013

The front of the house as of 10-18-2013

looking into the house from the back.

looking into the house from the courtyard

 

The long abandoned house at the back of the property in the courtyard.

The long abandoned house at the back of the property in the courtyard.