Bo Inspects Christmas 2012 White House

Gorgeous -- and adorable!

Michelle Obama White House Christmas 2012

The First Lady and her staff have provided another splendid White House Christmas look.

As usual there are many re-purposed and resurrected items, including tree decorations from each administration's First Ladies since the Kennedy White House. There is much use of re-cycled materials. Yet everything looks ample, festive and elegant, while providing all the warmth, cheer and comfort that we wish for the Christmas season. I am impressed. First Lady Michelle Obama, as hostess to the party for military personnel's children that officials presents the Christmas White House to the public wore another lovely outfit that she's worn more than once before (as this coverage is in the WaPo's Style section, the reporters always mention what she wears and always tells us when she's worn it before -- evidently they can remember these things!)

This year, what is different is the use of tropical colors in some parts of the decorations -- bright and tropical and clear: citrus yellows. oranges, and greesn, fuschia (one of my favorite colors) and blues. It's gorgeous.

This Washington Post coverage provides a photograph slide show, and a video, on which we hear the FLOTUS describe White House Christmas traditions to the children. As usual she tells us all that this is "our house," and projects the real pleasure she and her family have living there. The party is so arranged that at some point the children can go running through about 11 rooms looking for Bo the White House Dog snowflake Christmas tree ornaments. It looks and feels like a real party, and the FLOTUS looks, as usual, as if she's enjoying it as much as anyone. Then there is the photo slide show.

Yes, she said, last week when the Tree arrived (there are 54 lesser trees inside the White House): "We can have Christmas now."

After the Storm - Your Garden, Your Flowerbeds, Your Yard, Your Park

The surge with salt, e-coli bacteria sewage and other sludge filled with heavy metals and other toxic residue -- how do you deal with your soil in the aftermath? Especially if you grow vegetables and fruits, and if your kids play on that soil.

Other questions and problems: so many bulb plants were put in the ground, on their growing schedule, right before the Storm at the end of October.  Washed away, covered with toxic sludge even.  What shall we do? Can we replant bulbs now? People asking questions about what to do with their plants that spend the warmer weather on their patios -- if the apartment has one, or the fire escapes. And so on.

We have a monthly radio program about growing things in our city.  The regular expert is the  director of Open Space Greeing in NYC.  But there are many others who come in as special guests, such as those in charge of the trees in Central Park, those who deal with the turf of the shoreline parks, the botanical gardens and other of our very many green areas. It's always really interesting. This month's is particularly so, in the wake of the Storm, the clean-up from which is barely begun.

From Da List -- Artist, Houngan

From Da List -- the photos that go with the interview are fairly spectacular, beginning where Michael started in Buffalo, into his loft and studio -- and his work:

[ " If you know me well, you know I'm a big fan of the work of my artist friend Michael Zwack. A while back (quite a while back), I interviewed him for freundevonfreunden.com, a website that does photo shoots of artists in their studios and neighborhoods. The interview has finally been published here. If you scroll down there are images of his djevo (altars -- Michael is a houngan asogwe, or ritual expert in vodou), as well as of his paintings-in-progress . . .

Thanks to those who have checked out HIP DEEP ANGOLA, PART THREE: A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY TO MBANZA-KONGO. I can't be objective about it, because I'm too close to it, but the experience that I'm reporting on was one of the most important things I've ever done. I'm grinding away on the fourth and final episode now. For those just tuning in, the first two HIP DEEP ANGOLAs are here and here.

In other news: I'm going to NOLA next week for events connected with One Book One New Orleans, which has chosen The World That Made New Orleans as its book this year. While I'm there, I'll be doing my first-ever performance in a New Orleans nightclub, to debut my new CD there. Attached (and appended) is the flyer . . .

The Official New Orleans Kiss You Down South Record Party and Live Concert.

Friday, Dec. 7, starts at 7, ends at 9, at Siberia, 2227 St. Claude. Tell your friends." ]

For New York City's Sins We Got Mayor Mitch Landrieu & Recovery Czar Blakely

This makes me so pissing angry that I've not even been able to speak - write about it until today.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu sang one of the signature songs of HBO Treme at a New Orleans  benefit concert for the victims of Storm Sandy, "This City" (Will Never Drown).  (Written by Steve Earle, for Treme.)  Only people who live in New Orleans and went through and continue to go through the consequences of Katrina and the Failure of the Levees will understand my rather quirked eyebrow here.  They will also know the quirking isn't aimed at the wonderful people who paying it forward, helping the  tens and tens and tens of thousands who need help now, and will continue to need help for  long time to come. And for which we are profoundly grateful.

More seriously, this is really bad, and we have our state's Governor Cuomo to thank for this.  He's appointed former so-called 'recovery czar' to rebuild develop NYC's damaged areas.  What in hell is he thinking???????  This is an evil, ignorant, out-of-touch man, who did great harm, that all New Orleanians know.  Evidently Governor Cuomo thinks fracking upstate New York is a good thing also.  All this has is deja vu to New Orleanians.

“It’s incredible. I didn’t realize water had that kind of force,” he said, describing the damage to New York and New Jersey.

You present yourself as an expert in disasters and you don't know that flood waters have force and velocity to move entire buildings?

Former Mayor Ray Nagin, who like Blakely has attempted to make speaking and consulting on disaster recovery a career after leaving office in New Orleans, appointed Blakely as recovery director the year after Hurricane Katrina. He resigned from the post in 2009, criticized for calling the city “a third world country” and its residents “buffoons” in various interviews. In a 2009 interview, he said New Orleanians were lazy and virulently racist. He often said his comments were misquoted or misinterpreted but also acknowledged he had done little to advance the area’s recovery.

Tonight is the finale of David Simon's HBO Treme, season 3. So soon. Damn it's weird watching this season. It began before Storm Sandy, but we didn't get to see any of the episodes until after Sandy had her way with us. Treme already was a story we knew. Now, damn. Just -- damn

Michelle Obama Says We Can Have Christmas Now!

I love the style and the manner in which our FLOTUS does Christmas at the White House.

The 2012 White House Christmas tree arrives. Bo does not like the horses who pull the wagon with the tree.

There is no Christmas tree this year it seems in Washington Square Park. There are no light of any kind either. Spooky walking through it today at 4:45 when the sun had already set.

Many street lights around the park and NYU are still out.

It reminds me so much of New Orleans. You think, "Well, around this part at least, everything's pretty much back to normal," and then you see, well, what's missing. Still missing, even these many years later, in New Orleans.

How Do These Things Happen?

Too sick, too busy, I did not make a Thanksgiving dinner.

Yet our refrigerator and shelves seem to have accumulated all sorts of holiday food goodies, from wines to biscotti to cheese cake, a slice of pumpkin pie, some turkey and garlic sausage dressing.  Not to mention breads of various kinds. And cheese.  And beer.

Partly it's because el V went out to get milk and brown rice yesterday morning.  I thought I'd make a black bean and wine and pork stew with rice and salad so he'd have a good lunch or something, since we wouldn't have dinner at the le Bistro until after nine PM. Sending el V to the stores alone is a classic man shopping for groceries routine.  The things he comes home with.

The other part was all day neighbors dropped by to drop off a little something.

And then I brought home most of my dinner from the Bistro because I remain without appetite still. This cough and drainage leaves me sleepless which makes for further appetite suppression.

What a strange Thanksgiving this one was.  It wasn't bad, not by any measure, just kinda -- strange.

Contributing to the dislocation of it all,  le Bistro was mobbed.  Not by the people who'd booked the prime time dinner period solid long ago.  But crowds of couples and groups begging to get in, all day, and past midnight!  Nothing remotely like this has happened before.  Who were these people?  The Bistro had no idea, other than "Tourists from all over the place."  El V asked some of the people seated around us where they were from -- everywhere: a guy from Long Island with a young woman from Australia.  Two lesbians from New Jersey.  Germany.  And Asians -- packs and packs of young Asians, mostly Japanese and Chinese, but Japanese by far the largest number.  You have never seen Asian people in le Bistro, at least not before.

"We wanted to go somewhere nice, and this looked nice."

The staff was dead by 9 PM, and yet, it went on and on.

OK, quite a few of the restaurants in our neighborhood weren't open yesterday at all, but a lot of them were.  Yet, there were no crowds for them, and there were empty tables.  What was up?  Nobody seems to know.


I wish we'd skipped this meal, but el V was determined that we had to have Thanksgiving dinner and that I not make it, even though because of work deadlines we couldn't join our friends. It was so crazy, so factory-line (they managed it so efficiently, in spite of everything) it wasn't in the least bit civilized -- and civilized is why we so prize le Bistro. It couldn't be enjoyed for anything beyond anthropology.



What sent so many people out to eat this year instead of cooking at home? Were they gearing up for the Black Thursday-Friday Madness that shows our nation at its most unmasked hideousness or what? I understand that NYC was filled with tourists and destination visitors -- and they too may well have been gearing for the Madness of late last night and today. Also so many aunts and grandparents and so on in LI, Queens, Staten Island and New Jersey were wiped out and / or in other ways not able to host a Thanksgiving meal this year. But these people seemed almost entirely from other parts of the country, so -- I don't know!