So the other update that seems necessary is the joy of dorm apartment. Although, living in a building where I am in charge of 540 college freshmen is probably not exactly the same thing as living by myself it is really nice to have a lot of privacy. The students don’t officially move in until the 19th of August. Until then it is a little like living in a ghost house. I am enjoying the quiet and am equally confident I will enjoy the liveliness once the term gets started. The students are already starting to make their selves known via facebook. I am sure the term will be a blast.
One of the coolest things about my apartment is the air conditioning that I don’t have to pay for. I am keeping it set at about 68 or 70 pretty consistently. It is nice to be cool in the Louisiana heat and to be able to sleep under my down comforter at night. Although down comforters are pretty consistently better when shared life goes on. The apartment is a pretty good-sized living room that I will probably not use very frequently. I small tiny kitchen – that is even smaller than my kitchen in my last apartment. The bedroom is huge compared to what I expected and that bathroom isn’t too bad. The walls are cement and the bedroom has two large frame windows that look out over the lake. The view is amazing during the day and at night. It is hard for me to keep the blinds closed at all. Take a look in the pictures over on my myspace - www.myspace.com/culturequeerboi - and you will see a quick snapshot of it.
Last night, I went along with Sybil (Haitian Graduate Student friend from Purdue who came to LSU as well), Nina (My advisor), and Molly (LSU graduate who teaches at Teacher’s College in New York) to a White Satin arts festival in New Orleans. The drive from Baton Rouge to New Orleans is really pretty and I can’t help but think about Hurricane Katrina and the experiences of the folks trying to get out of the city. The drive takes only about an hour so we had some spirited conversation about the academy and New Orleans. Finding parking was not difficult.
We were soon enough lost in masses of white linen and straw hat wearing Southerners. We all got cocktails. Nina and I both got White Cosmopolitans. Although, I was not dressed for the occasion I felt fabulously Southern walking through the art galleries. It is easy to forget in throngs of white affluent and middle class New Orleanians that the destruction of Katrina still lingers for many of the black and white working class residents years after the storm. The racial and class divisions are so built into the everyday way that both Baton Rouge and New Orleans work that it is easy to lose yourself in the air of aristocracy that the white folks put off down here.
The art was pretty diverse. Two particular galleries are probably worth mentioning. The first had modern art that also included collages and the artist was a very tall very handsome forty something year old man who spent a lot of time talking with Molly and I about his art and his life. We each thought he was flirting with the other and we both thought that was great. Eventually, with deep blue eyes and a soft spoken voice he mentioned his wife who lives in Washington D.C. while he lives in Florida. Deflated but entertained both Molly and I moved on and finished that gallery up laughing. The other noteworthy gallery is called the River Gallery. It was a little bit off the main street that the other galleries so it wasn’t as crowded. The art was nice but not super impressive but the space was huge and totally airy. The ceilings were high and lofted, columns were spread throughout the room, and the walls were still brick. It was the type of place I would love to eventually live in if I were to stay in Louisiana.
After we finally got tired of walking around in the masses of people we turned toward walking around the rest of New Orleans. People say that if you were familiar with the city prior to Katrina you can tell the difference in the energy and the people. Having only been one time at 19 for Mardi Gras and spending a significant amount of that time drunk doesn’t really give me much of a comparison. I did notice that the population was a lot of white folks, which is a big change apparently from the way New Orleans was before. Racial issues here are so much more present and sometimes so solid you can almost reach out and touch them. The walk was nice it gave Sybil and I some time to reflect on the week that we have been here and what our hopes/fears are for the future. It was good to visit with her and to interact with Nina in a different environment.
Eventually, we walked along Bourbon Street where all the bars and drinking occurs. It was a lot of fun. The energy was contagious and I found myself wanting to be there with old friends who are more partiers than me. We kept walking and I noticed that sex was so present and totally on display in a way that I think would potentially make me feel uncomfortable to be in that environment with Nina or other folks who are supposed to be my supervisors. The night ended with us with us sitting at a little coffee shop having expresso and fried French donuts and talking about the day.
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