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adventures / history / photo / Thursday — Comments Off
10
Apr 14

We just wandered by this square in New Orleans

This is a part of the Louisiana Supreme Court, which sits in Judge Fred Cassibry Square.

The square is more interesting, as it is named after Fred James Cassibry, who served as a judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana from 1966 until 1987. The Mississippi native attended Tulane during World War II and was a star athlete there before law school. He cruised on a destroyer in the Pacific during the war. When he came home he got a job with the NLRB and then created a private law practice. He served as a city councilman in the 1950s. His obit says:

With little support from his colleagues, Mr. Cassibry fought Morrison for an investigation of the scandal-ridden Police Department, which was later found to have an organized system of payoffs from illegal lottery operators, horse-racing bookies and houses of prostitution.

In a recent interview, Mr. Cassibry recalled how he was criticized at the time for discussing what he called the police chief’s “intimate relationship” with whorehouse madams. “He sued me,” Mr. Cassibry said. “But when I called him for a deposition, he dropped the suit.”

He was a district judge, too:

After he was elected to a Civil District Court judgeship in 1960, Mr. Cassibry continued to make waves, warning lawyers who tried to talk with him about cases they had in his court. “When they called me, I told them if they mentioned the name of the suit, I was going to go over and beat hell out of them,” he said. “They stopped calling.”

President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated Cassibry to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. He sat there from 1966 until 1987. He returned to private practice and was appointed to the Louisiana gaming commission “where his outspoken style saw him clash repeatedly with the rising gaming interests.

Given what you’ve already learned about him from those three paragraphs of his obituary, what do you think has to happen for people to make note of your outspoken style in Louisiana?

The historic marker on the square reads:

Fred J. Cassibry (1918-1996), U.S. Navy WWII veteran, served on the New Orleans City Council, Orleans Civil District Court, U.S. District Court, E.D. La., and the Louisiana Economic Development and Gaming Corporation. Throughout his 40 years of public life, Judge Cassibry personified the definition of a dedicated public official. He never forgot he was a servant of the people. Square dedicated by 1999 La. Acts 708.

adventures / photo / Wednesday — Comments Off
9
Apr 14

A few pictures from Mobile

About this time last week we were passing through Mobile on our way to New Orleans. As promised, we’re just going to be getting by for a few days here with pictures from that trip.

This is the General W.K. Wilson Jr. Bridge on I-65 across the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta just outside of Mobile. Built during the Carter administration, the bridge marks 6.08 miles of your travels over the delta, which apparently makes it the 10th longest bridge in the nation. Wilson was with the United States Army Corps of Engineers after several distinguished WWII postings and was a Mobile resident. He was said to be one of the first people arguing for a high-level bridge that would not impede waterway development. Wilson died in 1985 and is buried at Arlington. His father, who retired a major general, is also buried there. His son, who retired a Colonel, was placed there in 2008 as well.

This is apparently a Mexican restaurant and margarita bar. So the sign is the best thing going on here on Dauphin Street.

Two cargo loaders at the state docks on the Tensaw River. You can see them on Google, right here.

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5
Apr 14

New Orleans videos

Another busy day of conferencing. I chaired a panel that included papers on President Johnson’s 1965 Howard University commencement address, President Obama’s commitment to women, Rep. George Henry White’s farewell address to Congress.

I listened to other panels, including a brilliant paper The Yankee did. Later I listened as she critiqued a paper by the man who was our master’s advisor. As I said at the time, it would have been awkward if he weren’t so cool.

At the evening’s reception there was a buffet of beignets. They weren’t the best you’ve ever had, but they were beignets in a buffet. I had some.

I did a nice 10K, with three eight-minute miles, which hasn’t happened since college or high school. That has never happened at that distance. So, truly, I do not know what is happening. None of this bothered me until my evening walk taking pictures.

Here are a few clips I’ve shot this weekend.

This first one is of a Bananas Foster, made fresh at your table by the nice people at Palace Cafe. I recorded juuuuust in case something happened …

Only fire happened. And an entire table full of tourists recording the thing. Oh, sure, we all said we were doing this to show the kids later, or for social media, or for our websites. That’s what we said. I’m sure a few people were hoping they’d get to yell “Worldstar!”

I asked the escorting officers about the purpose of the festivities. Mardi Gras was long over. Was this a wedding? “Just a parade,” he said tiredly, the voice of a motorcycle cop who has probably done hundreds of these. This group, which was swelling with the addition of passersby as it marched, was just crossing Decatur Avenue.

“Iko Iko” tells the story of a parade collision between two “tribes” of Mardi Gras Indians. The song, under the original title “Jock-A-Mo,” was written in 1953 by James “Sugar Boy” Crawford in New Orleans. The spy boy, a lookout, confronts the flag boy of the other tribe and threatens to set the flag on fire.

Tomorrow we head back home. But there will be pictures to see. I took a lot of pictures and the site may just live on them for the next several days.

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4
Apr 14

Where I pretend to say smart things among smart people

I had the good fortune to take part in two panels today, the first one was titled The Ethics and Political Implications of the Edward Snowden Document Leaks. The description in the conference program was:

This panel will explore the ethical and political implications of the classified United States documents made public by Edward Snowden. Many of the released documents indicate that government agencies have spied on Americans and foreigners, and the revelations have sparked sharp criticism and anger from several foreign leaders. Reflecting the conference them, panelists will discuss the ethical considerations of Snowden’s and the government’s actions and envision how these revelations might impact both future domestic and foreign affairs.

For my part I recalled what Lenin said about useful idiots. That’s pretty much where we are with Snowden at this point, I think. I talked about how all of this is going over with the American public in surveys, including one I found just this morning about how the security revelations are apparently changing people’s online habits.

Here’s the scene from the second panel, which featured some of the region’s finest political scholars — and me!

The title of the panel was Envisioning the Future: A Roundtable on Themes of the 2014 U.S. Midterm Elections. The description read

Panelists will discuss emerging themes of the 2014 U.S. midterm elections. Among the topics that will be addressed are: political issues facing the electorate this election cycle, political communication strategies in light of changes in campaign-finance regulation, and technological shifts in campaigning. Reflecting the conference theme, panelists will look forward to the upcoming elections based on analyses of recent campaigns and issues.

The word of the day was “Obamacare.” No one will run on anything else in the midterms. We talked about Scott Brown, since he was topical today. It was also important to bring up the Supreme Court’s finding on aggregate limits.

We had a late lunch at a place called Red Gravy, a high end Italian joint nearby. It was tasty. We had dinner at the House of Blues, which was a continuation of last year’s Hard Rock Cafe misadventures. I’m not sure I’ve ever laughed more than at those two tables. This is always a fun conference, no matter the city. It is the people, not the restaurants or the burgers or the panels and papers, but the fun and funny folks we get to visit with for a few days.

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3
Apr 14

A day at the conference

Took part in a panel this morning. It was titled The Future of Campus Journalism. The description:

What are we teaching our journalism students? What should we be teaching our journalism students? Given the prolonged state of flux of the journalism industry, it is more important than ever for educators to be conscious of the ever-changing nature of the skills that our students will need to be able to adapt in today’s job market. Panelists will share their experiences with and suggestions for journalism education, both in the classroom and in the newsroom.

I talked about entrepreneurship, partnering with other entities on campus — Samford’s JMC teams with the business school and the law school for combined degrees — and initiative.

Other conference things took place. We attended sessions and other sessions. We visited the welcome mixer and then had dinner across the street at the Palace Cafe:

It was one of those places that was widely suggested to us by friends. (Tell people you are going to New Orleans and everyone has a restaurant list.) I had the braised pork shank:

It only needed to be bigger. And there was banana’s foster, which was prepared and fired in front of us. All the people infatuated by fire recorded the moment. The maitre d made a note of it and called the fire marshal, I’m sure. There was also cheesecake:

Tomorrow I’ll get to take part in two panels at the conference. Also, Wrestlemania is being held in New Orleans. The fans are starting to filter in. And some of the wrestlers. I think Mark Henry is staying in our hotel. That guy is massive.