Riding our bikes to the Muses parade last week, some friends and I passed one of the parking lot attendants waiving a flag to attract customers. He looked at us, smiled, and yelled Who Dat! Of course we laughed and yelled Who Dat! back at him and continued on our way. It didn’t matter that football season was already over.

That spontaneous but somewhat ritualized exchange with someone we didn’t know suddenly threw me back to the fall of 2005. At that point, we were all rushing, stumbling, or drifting back into our badly damaged city. We didn’t know who was back and who was lost. When you did see a friend or neighbor or familiar face, you didn’t know what they had been through. Had they lost their house? Had they lost relatives? Were they living somewhere else and just back visiting or taking care of business?

In that environment, everyone developed another spontaneous but also ritualized exchange. Upon seeing a friend or neighbor for the first time — or just standing with strangers in a long line at the one open bank branch — we would ask each other: How’d you do? That was it. Everyone knew the reference.

It gave us a safe way to break through to the potentially unspeakable or to the happy news that lay on the other side of the question. You never knew if the response would be “we lost my mom”, “we lost our house and my sisters house”, or “we made out ok”.

But asking the question let the other person know that you were a part of the community. You weren’t an outsider who might not be ready for the answer. They knew you weren’t asking in the same way people all over the country ask ‘How are you today?’ — not really wanting to know. They knew that you cared. Even if you hadn’t known them before the flood, you genuinely cared about what they had been through and how they were putting things back together.

Now, four and a half years later, there is another, much happier way we are letting people know we are part of the community. A simple Who Dat! and a smile. To my mind there couldn’t be a more beautiful echo. The closing bookend to a shared tragedy and a testament to the rebirth of a vibrant community.

This guy is a moron on so many levels it just boggles the mind.

I wonder if he sends mail merge thank you notes to his hookers?

Below is some video of a trade show booth we designed for one of our clients. It was a cool project. We got to do everything from the design of the cabinetry to the selection of the furniture to the production of the video content to the design of the printed materials.

Mostly, I’m just testing out Vimeo for video publishing but I figured why not leave this here? Can’t hurt can it?

From the 2008 Breakbulk convention in New Orleans, Louisiana.

I’ve wanted to post something recently about the Monday night pickin’ party at the Hi Ho Lounge. We’ve been doing it every Monday now for well over two years. I’ve met and played with some great people and it has created its own little community of players and regulars. It has helped me hone my skill as a player but more importantly it is just a fun and comfortable place to play music and shoot the shit with friends.

Each week it happens and each week I’m still surprised that people show up. Who would have thought? Bluegrass and Country music on St. Claude Ave?

But each time I think about writing about it, I feel as though I can’t quite capture the feel. So I was pretty happy when Ian McNulty wrote this piece about it. I think he captured the quirky improbability of the whole adventure.

Thanks Ian!

Am I missing something?

Crossing St. Claude Ave. on my bike the other day I noticed something new and shinny. A brand-spankin’ new School Zone sign complete with flashing light and solar panel. ‘Hail Progress! Some recovery work has arrived on St. Claude’, I thought.

Well, sort of.

See, while the school zone sign is in fact brand new and is in many ways impressive, if I’m not mistaken the school that it marks is no longer a school. The school zone sign sure seems to be marking the approach to what used to be Colton School but which has become the Studio At Colton. And it doesn’t appear slated to revert to being a school any time soon.

From what I can tell, Colton is slated to return to use as a school in Phase 2 of the Recovery School District Master Plan. And since Phase 1 of the Recovery School District Master Plan appears to be continuing until 2014, I don’t see Colton being a school again before 2015 at the earliest.

So by the time Colton is a school again, I suspect it will be about time for another city contractor to get another deal to install some new school zone signs.

And what exactly would be the deal with getting ticketed for speeding through a school zone with the flashing lights if their is no school there? Good thing I ride a bike.