NOLA got a bansky

Originally uploaded by toaminorplace

and I am jealous.

This one looks like its a response to the grafftti painter over guy Dubbed "The Grey Ghost."

I saw not too long ago that the Australian graffitti got taken down by a "Red Ghost." (or operation brightside)

I'm not gonna lie, though - I don't think it did what it could've done with the canvas. Not all that imaginative. I was expecting more. I don't want to be a hater - I know there's better art inside people's brains in this town, and it would've been nice to see that out of the brains and on a wall. Hopefully a different wall, a different day. Soon!
ht humidhaney

STL Magazine has blogs!

Neato, and it's pretty, too.

I am not bored

My sister's at the DNC!!!! Follow her every move if you're cool at twitter.com/meredithtwhite .

So, I've been out and about lately. I went to Chicago in the beginning of August for a wedding of a girl I can't remember not knowing (our mom's are BFFs).


...and I rode a "seg-way" on a lovely tour of downtown.

As I tell everyone who asks -- it was not at all embarassing.
not even a little! I felt cool! Everyone at the music festival (lollapalooza? I forgot which one it was already) was like, high fiving me and really encouraging our whole be-helmetted party. It wasn't surreal at all. (full disclosure, it was somewhat fun)

I went to a look at a house.


Went to a music festival.


found some funny pictures (was then reminded I was going to try to think more visually -- b/c its pretty fun/useful, actually -- especially when you're playing JUMBO NINTENDO - but also for work, i guesssss) .... went to a cool coffee shop,the stone spiral , visited the shopcat at the firecracker press, went rollerskating , where I saw some crazy acrobatics .
I broke (temporarily) my batman rollerskates, but it was worth it.

I went on the moonlight ramble.
My job had some crazy intern activities .

I went on a little adventure across the river with friends, , one being Miss Kelsey, who's started writing for the rft event blog (!), and she's doing an amazing job. :) I saw a kick-ass open mic end its days at one place --(now it's moved a block down the road) - cool.

I saw a hilarious license plate, and found some old pictures from the summer after my junior year at penn () and halloween senior year . So random, and taken on REAL FILM.

I scanned in some kooky/classic old pictures of myself and others! (it needed to be done!)
and my grandma in Tijuanna.
and last but not least, check out the beginning of my brilliant artist-mom (who's busy crafting costumes for the music man at Stages! amazing), and her masterful pumpkin carving hobby.

Using the words "carving" and "hobby" seems to make it less of a big deal that those are the EXACT images of the Beatles there in orange and "pumpkin rind."


My favorite is Paul. There, I've said it! Ask me why, I've given it plenty of thought.


Also in work-news, we're launching the project I've been working on all summer in less than a month.

And the Olympics!

Conclusion? I am not bored. So much more ahead, too!

(sub conclusion -- i need to blog more, this all-in-one digest business is for the birds!)

That frickin' header

It took me FOREVER to get that header up there to work. For real. ForEVER.

The picture was taken in Hannibal, MO on the Mississippi river, and I like the colors. It occurs to me that I might want to use a picture taken in St. Louis, but at this point, that will just do b/c its cool and its got the river lookin' all pretty in it AND my eyes are crossing from trying to learn CSS by trial and error.

I guess there's no other way to learn it.

West End Word is a lil' grouchy!

This article (Naked bike ride reveals a city 'born to be mild' - West End Word) -- is ridiculous.

"I’m talking about sending a political message with verve and nerve, dressing up or undressing for the occasion, with the sense of theater people have in more spirited cities.

Of course, theatricality comes easily to New Yorkers and San Franciscans. They know the eyes of the world are on them. But St. Louisans feel that the world has turned its back.

Ironically, our city looked great on the bike ride."

Why St. Louisans (namely, grouchy west end word opinion writers)? If you don't respect your city, no one is going to do it for you.

I don't get it.

And for the record, I've been on some bike rides through town before, and they've been pretty great. and pretty. and crazy. Wild, even.

not a shock to me.

Time to go to work

I got up early (for me) today and went to check out stone spiral coffeehouse on Sutton behind the Shop-n-Save in Maplewood.



Adorable! And open 'till 9pm (and opens its doors at 6am, perfect!), so I have a place nearby where I can do post-work work and pre-work whatever -- of which I have plenty to do. One project being this blog, of course. I was reading through the local interest section of the "book collective" (oh pretentious coffeehouse pseudonyms, i really do love them) and there's a section on local interest. Reading through some of the books, it occurs to me (and plenty of others) that st. louis needs to re-find its identity. We used to be a "city of gabriels" as one book was titled (it was about jazz), full of weird history, r&b, street culture and of course beer. It's not all high schools - lord knows how that all started (though I still ask, guilty).

NOLA's really harnessing its need for (re)development (code word for HELP) by forming an identity around it (even though it's taking our bricks, wtf) -- and is becoming a center of social entrepreneurship, aided by the awesome websites of the Canary collective. (all of which is inspiring me to revisit web development, whoa lofty goal)

Not that "center of social entreprenership" is necessarily taken, but I gotta wonder - what could be an identity for St. Louis' that would encompass what's already happening and what needs to happen? The way NOLA seems to be doing?

Oh no, I used the word encompass. Euw.

So, there are more than a few things I'd like to talk about and more than a few projects I'd like to see come together in the next couple months. October, as usual, will be exciting if all goes as planned. I'll keep you posted.

Also, the inter:play interactive festival is coming up in conjunction with play:stl festival -- this could be fun. I hope to see details soon!

Oh man, I love it when what began as a few sentence "i'll just write something" post turns into a journey into my thoughts. Promises of more congealed posts may sound empty, but I make them just the same!

in other news of note, I finally went to a Get Born poetry reading at Duffs not long ago...and it was more amazing than I thought it would be.

My dream? Cafe Soul and Get Born co-show at casa loma (the cafe soul draws a BIG crowd, as does get born). Oh man! that would be so cool.

(i just noticed how i titled this post, "time to go to work" - true on a couple levels looking at it from the end of the post, and about a half hour later. ha.)

Pirated Bricks from St. Louis paving renovatoin on the far south side - New Orleans

MyFox St. Louis | FOX Files: Burning Bricks For New Orleans:

this is crazy.
I've always thought that there's a way for our cities, Nola and St. Louis to grow out of whatever blight we've endured together (or separately), and its just wacky to see this black market brick trade undermining that. It's crazy!

props to Matt at StL Dotage for the heads up.

drawings of the mississippi river valley

drawings of the mississippi river valley
Originally uploaded by lolololori

this picture is funny.

Having to explain where I was from for a year was sortof awesome.

I can draw the US divided by Louisiana Purchased/already owned land in less than 5 seconds.

I miss my extreme moleskine usage of the academic year of 06-07!

Perceptions

"Lori is nothing like her character, " Willmann said. "Guinevere talks about running around naked, controlling men, and she falls in love with multiple guys. Her character does some questionable things in the play, and Lori is nice in real life."



Nothing lets you know how you're perceived like your old high school newspaper! I already knew I was nice though. I have no memory of ever having read this article. 7 years later, it's funny to look at.

Also in: just found out that Colin will be on Broadway (again) soon - only this time, his name's gonna be in the very first lights that go up. He'll play Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice on Broadway. Exciting. As I always say, when Kirkwood people decide to be interesting, they become awesomely interesting. Go Pioneers.