I woke up uncharacteristically early this morning, so even after fussing around for a couple of hours, I managed to catch much of the morning session of the Danziger Bridge case. I hopped on my bike and headed down to the courthouse, locking up to the Where Ya’ Rack bike rack in Lafayette Square–thanks, YLC! The last witness before lunch was Ignatius Hill, a cop who was on the Budget rental truck that carried the cops and their guns to the bridge that morning of August 6, 2005.
I didn’t plan to go back to the courthouse for more testimony in the Danziger Bridge case this afternoon, but after reading about the case and watching that Frontline episode this morning–I’m on vacation–I felt the pull of the courtroom. I hopped on my bike, leaving camera and cell phone at home (hence, no picture), and headed downtown. Continue reading
My excellent summer roomie E. invited me to join her to sit in on the Danziger Bridge trial that started Monday at the federal court building downtown on Poydras. I don’t know if you are following this trial against police officers charged with shooting and killing two people, injuring four more, and executing the most brazen cover up since the Henry Glover case, but if you’re not, I advise you read up. It is such an important case, about the extent of the police state, its limits or lack thereof during disaster (and if you haven’t had a disaster in your community yet, just wait–we do things by “disaster” now), and what justice will look like in a city that is, as J. often says, at war with its people. I had the day off, so I decided to hop on the bike and ride down to check out today’s witness. Yep, our trials take place in open court. I locked up on a street sign and headed in for two chilling hours of slow, tedious testimony about a seven page report, a seventeen page report, a thirty four page report, a forty six page report, and a fifty four page report (though the defense says that wasn’t a thirty four page report–those were notes) that taken together, painted a picture of a most elaborate conspiracy to obstruct justice. Michael Lohman, the NOPD lieutenant testifying today, when asked why he did it, said he didn’t want to get in trouble, or get his friends in trouble. His biggest regret is for the people who were killed, injured, and whose lives are forever scarred by these murders. They didn’t deserve it, he said. It is deep, this part where staying out of trouble was worth so much more than the lives and blood of others, a stark example of what happens when deep down, we don’t recognize that other people are real, and lead full, complicated, messy lives, just like we do . People are complicated. I stayed for part of the cross examination–Lohman acted alone, those were pages, not a report, and preparing a report means you wrote it all alone–before calling it a day and heading out for a bike ride. I snapped this picture out on Tulane Avenue. Relocation assistance is available for those affected by the new hospital project. Not hiring, though. This city, man, this flippin’ city.
My sister’s a librarian, and so are some of my favorite people I’ve never met (thank you, interwebz!), so when I found out the American Library Association was holding their national convention in little old New Orleans, I was pretty excited, hoping everybody would show up; then budgets and schedules and my surprise loss of my apartment conspired to keep quite a few folks away. But that’s no reason for me to stay home! After riding around doing this errand and that, I ended up at the Morial Convention Center with thousands of librarians, all with their badges and red tote bags and 300 page program books. I don’t have the $200 to get in to the thing, but I can roam the halls and see librarians in their Annual habitat. After New Orleans flooded after Katrina, ALA was the first convention to honor their contract and come here. ALA has been on the front lines of protecting us against the prying eyes of the Homeland Security state. Librarians are the guardians of one of our last shared public resources. I mean, they get a copy and then let us all read it, one at a time? That’s pretty flipping radical in this moment where everybody needs their very own one of everything. Yeah, I can’t afford to go to their show, but I’m happy to sit here and watch them march along, figuring out how to help the rest of us find what we want to find, read what we want to read, and ask questions we didn’t know we wanted to ask. I hope they all have a wonderful time this weekend. And that the Convention Center gets some damn bicycle racks.
I spent my morning grading, writing, laundering and cooking before it was time to bike through the haze to campus for my night class. It was one of those classes that went fine–even better than fine–where students talked to each other instead of just me and the conversation appeared to run by itself. But it was also one of those classes where there’s some real violence. That’s the flip side of teaching about race, gender, and sexuality: I have to listen to and turn into learning moments some incredibly racist, sexist, and homophobic stuff. That’s my job, and I love it–it is work worth doing, and for that I am grateful. But sometimes it gets to me in spite of how hard I am to what I talk about every day, and tonight it did, though I didn’t show it–hey, we’re learning, and I get that, and I’m genuinely glad I can create an environment where students say that stuff out loud so we can actually talk about it. But sometimes it gets to me. When that car laid on the horn as it sped past me on a street more than wide enough for the both of us, it came out, and I was pedaling through tears, saying to myself over and over again, “I belong, I belong, I belong.” Because I do, on my bike, in my body, regardless of my gender or sexuality, and so do you, and we are all here, so let’s figure out how to share this space without asking some of us to shut up and quit whining. I kept on pedaling until I got to Slice where I knew they would sell me pizza with bacon on it, red wine, and leave me alone. Riding your bike on the street is activism, people. Come out, come out, wherever you are.
I woke up this morning to gray skies and the tease of rain, so I stayed in bed with my book for a couple of hours. The rain never turned into much more than spit, so I took the bike instead of the car (phew) when it was time to head over to R.’s for her housewarming party. Continue reading
I spent most of my day at home packing, breaking only for a walk to the gelateria for a whole lot of gelato. I taped up one last box in the evening and then headed out on the bike to ArtEgg Studios under the expressway on Broad for the opening party for BreakOUT!‘s new space that will serve as their headquarters for youth organizing against the criminalization of GLBTQ youth . Continue reading
Today was the last day of the Patois Film Fest, so I hopped on my bike early and headed to Zeitgeist for a full afternoon of movies. It was a ridiculously pretty day, and it was a bit hard to swallow to go into the dark, but it was totally worth it. My favorite was the last film, Cafeteria Man, a movie about Tony Geraci and his fight to change the Baltimore city school system’s cafeterias. Continue reading
I worked from home today, doing a little of this, reading a little of that, until I had to hit the dentist–I had a pocket that needed excavating; you don’t want to know more. I hopped on the bike this evening to head over to the Women With a Vision offices for a book release party/fundraiser. I had one of those rides where you barely notice you’re pedaling because you feel like you’re just flying. What a perfect way to end a productive day. Anyway. Continue reading
The sun was back out today, so after working from home most of the morning, I hopped on my bike and headed to the Bywater for a late lunch and a grading jamboree. I was in a bouncy sort of mood, so I decided to take a new route, and went down Tchoupitoulas. The traffic was fast, but so was I, and it felt great. After finishing up my work I took the bike on the Chartres-St. Claude bike lane loop–I love some bike infrastructure, that’s for sure. I took a right on St. Roch to get a little more time on the bike. Continue reading
What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today 