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Auburn / I do not know what is happening. / journalism / links / photo / Samford / swimming / things to read / Twitter / video / Wednesday — Comments Off on Spring finally sprung, and it’ll last for at least several days
23
Apr 14

Spring finally sprung, and it’ll last for at least several days

Walking from here to there on the Samford campus. Specifically from my office to the pool, which is inside this building. It looks a bit like autumn in this shot, doesn’t it? It still has had that slight coolness in the air, too.

SUcampus

It has felt cook like that for some time, at least until this week, which is a late arrival here. It finally feels as if spring has arrived. And that’ll just be a brief pause before summer weather, I’m sure.

Anyway, swam 2,000 yards this evening, which is 1.14 miles. I’m a bit pleased with how the swimming has come along. I’m still not going to go anywhere fast, but I’m becoming perhaps a slightly more technical proficient swimmer and my cardio is improving.

I do not know what is happening.

Things to read … because some things you do need to know about in life.

The American Middle Class Is No Longer the World’s Richest

Mobile Continues to Steal Share of US Adults’ Daily Time Spent with Media

NIH expert to address Alabama’s rising infant mortality rate in lecture at Alabama State University

Veterans languish and die on a VA hospital’s secret list

NATO jets scrambled after Russian planes fly into airspace: Reports

AP: Spell out names of states in stories

Gus Malzahn talking smack at a bingo event. I’m starting to like this.

His post-bingo interview is very coach-like, of course. Sounds like he was coming off the practice field.

Auburn / baseball / cycling / football / friends / photo / video / weekend — Comments Off on A Saturday outside
19
Apr 14

A Saturday outside

I so rarely see cyclists on the road. They’re almost always, always going the other direction. And, without fail, I am struggling up some tiny incline when they go by. They’ll just be breezing along happily and I’m obviously struggling to turn over the pedals. It is uncanny.

I think I’ve passed maybe four or five cyclists on the road in a casual day’s ride because they are always going the other way. But I saw this guy, and that was pretty great:

cyclist

Right through this area, recently, my CatEye said I touched 40.5 miles per hour. I can be a little faster through here, I know:

road

Around midday, on a cool, overcast, windy, rainy day, a spring day that featured a public football practice, thousands of people were crawling over campus. And this was hours before the actual festivities. Auburn folks are ready for some football:

A-Day

We went to the baseball doubleheader instead. In the first game we listened to the crowd and the audio from the big screen. We could hear a tailgating band and the marching band each vying for attention. It was a wonderful day to be on campus with friends, a group which keeps growing each time we get together.

This guy’s been in the group for a long while. He was born just after the Georgia game two years ago. (His mom was at the tailgate right at her due date. Where were you?) He’s a cool dude:

kid

A year ago, now, some of us were listening to scanners in Boston again. This is what we heard:

I loved that one call: “America.”

Friday / friends / history / photo / video — Comments Off on A Doolittle anniversary
18
Apr 14

A Doolittle anniversary

Today marks the 72nd anniversary of the Doolittle Raid. I wrote a story about Dean Hallmark, who piloted The Green Hornet, the sixth B-25 to take off from an aircraft carrier.

That story led to me befriending Adam Hallmark, one of the finest men I know, and his beautiful wife Jessica, some of his friends and a handful of the soldiers with whom Adam has served.

Adam gave me a print of Dean’s plane, which I hang proudly on my office wall:

DoolittleRaider

That little profile taught me more about a particular tale of courage and atrocity. Because of it Lauren and I took the opportunity to visit Dean’s grave at Arlington.

DoolittleRaider

I had the distinct honor and privilege to meet one of the Raiders, 98-year-old Lt. Col. Richard “Dick” Cole:

It all solidified my respect for what a group of 80 bold, audacious volunteers set out to do.

It is important that we remember, so that others may never forget, brave men live by the motto “Toujours Au Danger.”

adventures / music / video / weekend — Comments Off on New Orleans videos
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.

adventures / history / music / photo / Tuesday / video — Comments Off on Travel day
1
Apr 14

Travel day

In New Orleans, this is the Cathedral of St. Louis King of France (a minor basilica).

StLouisCathedral

The first church on this site was built in 1727. In the 60 years that church stood, parishioners saw colonial children and the children of slaves baptized inside. At least a dozen people were buried inside. Change came after a fire ravaged the neighborhood in 1788. The “new” church was finally finished in 1794, and a quarter of a century later the central spire and the clock face went in. The bell still rings today. Restored in 1844 at the order of the Baroness Pontalba, the church had already seen two presidents, Andrew Jackson and Zachary Taylor. It was restored and rededicated in April of 1976 for the bicentennial. The church still considers “the greatest moment in the history of the St. Louis Cathedral was the visit of Pope John Paul II in September, 1987.” He celebrated an outdoor Mass for over 200,000 on the New Orleans lakefront.

I think the night shot was better:

StLouisCathedral

The building next to the Cathedral is the Cabildo. It was the seat of colonial government and is now a museum. The original building was destroyed in the same fire, of course, and this one was built just before the down of the 19th century. Among other things, the Cabildo was the site of the Louisiana Purchase transfer ceremonies in 1803. It was also the home of the state’s Supreme Court during much of Reconstruction.

Across the square, in our foreground, is a statue of Andrew Jackson, who looks wild and crazed on his horse. It fits.

Here’s a shot from the Tremé Brass Band.

TremeBrassBand

But you really need a video of the Tremé Brass Band:

We walked five miles. We had gumbo and red beans and rice and a po’boy. We met some people from Atlanta. We saw amazing musicians on almost every street corner. It was a fine evening.

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