28 May 2015 Ken says “Let’s go to the Westbank and eat báhn mì.” So we drive over the mighty Mississippi in his Honda Pilot, which is kind of like a spaceship. We make it there before the storm hits and order what we call around here a “Vietnamese Po’boy” even though I’m pretty sure that the báhn mì came first. The first crack of thunder shakes the building, and the rain comes pouring down Louisiana style. We watch smaller cars get washed away by the flash floods. By the time we get the sandwiches, hail has opened up the ceiling, and we hunker down and chow down in the dry corner with everyone else. The hail stops, and we check the spaceship for damage. The hull has suffered thousands of direct hits. Pockmarked everywhere. Ken says it was worth it. 0
27 May 2015 It's almost ritual now. Whenever we visit the kids, we take a run down to the canal at the end of the road. One time we found some boys catching turtles. Another time we saw the alligator slip into the water. When the kids were young, we found aliens and monsters and ghosts. We walked along landscapes of our boundless collective imagination. Now they are entering high school, and it becomes increasingly difficult to spin a tale that they believe. But sometimes now, one of them will take up the story and send it in a new direction. That is how I know we are passing on the gift of narrative. The gift of telling beautiful lies. #fiction #beautifulLies #family 0
27 May 2015 It’s almost ritual now. Whenever we visit the kids, we take a run down to the canal at the end of the road. One time we found some boys catching turtles. Another time we saw the alligator slip into the water. When the kids were young, we found aliens and monsters and ghosts. We walked along landscapes of our boundless collective imagination. Now they are entering high school, and it becomes increasingly difficult to spin a tale that they believe. But sometimes now, one of them will take up the story and send it in a new direction. That is how I know we are passing on the gift of narrative. The gift of telling beautiful lies. #fiction #beautifulLies #family 0
22 May 2015 "I guess that's what you might call a drag queen." We're at a bowling alley in the far reaches of Kenner, Louisiana shooting Derek for an industrial. He wears striking but not particularly drag queen-y makeup. Of course he wants to look his best, and even Bradley Cooper wears makeup in the movies. Derek's black tunic is slit up both sides and swishes around his shins. Black skinny jeans underneath. He looks more like a rock star than a drag queen. The same good old boy asks if we're making a movie. I tell him no. It takes all kinds to make the world go round, he says. There is tenderness and curiosity in his tone. This good old boy has a nephew that's gay. He's proud of him, he says. He's in awe that one so young can walk the road less traveled and not be afraid. Derek says "I'm a man first and gay second." #bowling #acceptance #gaypride 0
22 May 2015 “I guess that’s what you might call a drag queen.” We’re at a bowling alley in the far reaches of Kenner, Louisiana shooting Derek for an industrial. He wears striking but not particularly drag queen-y makeup. Of course he wants to look his best, and even Bradley Cooper wears makeup in the movies. Derek’s black tunic is slit up both sides and swishes around his shins. Black skinny jeans underneath. He looks more like a rock star than a drag queen. The same good old boy asks if we’re making a movie. I tell him no. It takes all kinds to make the world go round, he says. There is tenderness and curiosity in his tone. This good old boy has a nephew that’s gay. He’s proud of him, he says. He’s in awe that one so young can walk the road less traveled and not be afraid. Derek says “I’m a man first and gay second.” #bowling #acceptance #gaypride 0
19 May 2015 Back to this fascination with Merissa. She was a part of our tribe for a short bittersweet time in 2008. She was brave and fierce and full of imagination. We went on many adventures together. One night in the dark of winter, her family packed up and moved on. Such is the way of the nomadic. Now we sing songs of her valor. We write poems exalting her kindness. We may be old before we see her again, and she will have grown into a great warrior for justice. #Merissa #Chalmatia #lsutigers 0
