The ‘so-what?’ of Black and White and PC – Part One
In the spirit of the wet parrot squawking, the next few posts centre on race. When I look back to MLK and the Civil Rights Movement, Rock Against Racism and the hope and optimism of...Continue reading→
New Orleans – Birdmen on Rampart – Part One
Most days, I would walk down Burgundy or Rampart to the air-conditioned paradise that is the New Orleans Athletic Club. From time to time, on Rampart, I’d see perhaps the most handicapped R.V. in the...Continue reading→
New Orleans – Birdmen on Rampart – Part Two
I ask the R.V. owner about the ramshackle frame on wheels, the strategic cans chained to its parking meter. “I’m the birdman,” he cackles. “Come take a look” and he knocks on the R.V....Continue reading→
New Orleans – Rockets, Glory and Little Jimmie. I. Rockets
(I’ve fictionalized places and names in the next three columns, for obvious reasons.) The first time I walked into Rockets it was a Sunday evening. It’s easy to miss – barely more than a house...Continue reading→
The ‘so-what?’ of Black and White and PC – Part Two
Colombians tell me that I look at their multi-ethnicity through rose lenses and that prejudice is rife; that if you lined up the richest to the poorest, the richest are the whitest and the poorest...Continue reading→
New Orleans – Rockets, Glory and Little Jimmie. II. Glory
Glory is one of the most expensive restaurants in the French Quarter. No longer in my financial pomp, I was taken there by new friends, a wonderful and generous couple who give the lie to...Continue reading→
The ‘so-what?’ of Black and White and PC – Part Three
We can pretty much give up on the hope that questions of race – or any social change for that matter – will be resolved by science or technology. Even where science and technology has...
New Orleans – Rockets, Glory and Little Jimmy. III. Jimmy
Little Jimmie played his 75th birthday at another of those ramshackle clubs which any other city’s fire department, police department or other bureaucratic nanny would close down. Little Jimmie’s a compelling blues guitarist and singer....Continue reading→
The ‘so-what?’ of Black and White and PC – Part Four
I wrote the first three posts in an attempt to straighten out some of my own views and I thought long and hard before sharing them. I was intimidated, perhaps; not so much by the...Continue reading→
The Dogs – Peros y perritos
I’ve been visiting Colombia for more than twenty years. I don’t ever remember seeing so many dogs as there are here today, particularly on the coast. They’re everywhere. Probably because huge numbers of Colombians bought...Continue reading→