Thursday, December 13, 2007
Incomplete Thoughts on the Closing of Craig Elementary
Posted by admin on Thu, Dec 13, 2007 at 6:08 PM
Until recently I taught in the Treme, beside Armstrong Park, at Craig Elementary. I’m not certified, just an artist who, after-school, teaches a writing course that’s disguised as a rap music class, to trick New Orleans kid into writing, an act they generally hate. I don’t know much about Craig, beyond what I observed between 2:30 and 5p.m., Monday through Thursday for a year. I do know it was an historic school, and had recently been part of the Recovery School District, and that people I briefly encountered there – most of them leaving for the day just as I arrived – blamed every misstep on RSD. Though the Craig kids I worked with possessed remarkably positive attitudes (their high-pitched joi de vive got them in trouble more than any negativity), the majority read and wrote at a kindergarten or pre-kindergarten level. This, though most were smart as hell. Of the many illiterate kids I’ve met in New Orleans, very few seemed to suffer any learning disability. Usually it’s just obvious that the adults in their lives let them down.
We Are Number One
Posted by David Winkler-Schmit on Thu, Dec 13, 2007 at 3:48 PM
When the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) board approved the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority’s (NORA) “Parish Redevelopment and Disposition Plan,” Orleans Parish became, along with Jefferson Parish, one of only two parishes statewide to receive this approval. The plan refers to those properties that homeowners decided to sell back to the state as part of the Road Home program. It’s not often that Orleans, especially in terms of recovering from the levee failures, is first in anything.
It’s not always the parish’s fault — the amount of damage and loss, both human and property, dwarfs most of the other parishes — but still, it is nice surprise when we come in first. No one expected the plan to be ready, and, according to Joe Williams, the executive director of NORA, that included the LRA.
Who's Afraid of Lindsay Lohan?
Posted by admin on Thu, Dec 13, 2007 at 3:19 AM
Remember back in 1998, when Disney released the remake of The Parent Trap starring a button cute redhead named Lindsay Lohan? She was one of those Disney kids, who was so cute and talented (she can do a British accent), that we all were just dying for her to grow into all of her many promising roles to come. Little did we know that Hollywood would become a cesspool of gossip and mayhem among young starlets, with Ms. Lohan leading the pack. Boyfriend swapping, narcotics abuse and finally a couple of stints in rehab have finally created the Lindsay Lohan who would star in a vehicle such as, I Know Who Killed Me. Which incidentally, is an untruth, because if she did “know who killed her (career),” she might not have read the script or taken the part.
