Big Sole Blog (BSB)

I did not watch the CNN report on the n-word versus cracker. I'm too old to waste my time with fruitless discussions; however, this clip from that show with LeVar Burton, Wynton Marsalis, Don Lemon, and Tim Wise came to my attention, and I thought it was worth posting. In the clip Burton tells how he, as a black man, behaves when stopped in his car by police officers. Then Don Lemon talks about

Latest Update, August 16: Negligible alcohol and no drugs found in Terrilynn Monette's system, says coroner's toxicology report. Read at WWLTV site. Formerly missing Terrilynn Monette On Monday, I wrote about the Terrilynn Monette case and how I felt about it as a New Orleans resident and mother of an adult daughter. I spent some of that post obsessing over my belief that criminal justice

Latest Update, August 16: Negligible alcohol and no drugs found in Terrilynn Monette's system, says coroner's toxicology report. Read at WWLTV site. Monette's car with her body was found in Bayou St. John. Mourners have left flowers in her memory. NOLA.com Terrilynn Monette's death may have been ruled a drowning with no foul play, but what I remember most about

Front page of the New Orleans Times Picayune, Mother's Day 2013, featuring mothers who've lost children to gun violence. On Mother's Day morning, I found the Sunday edition of the New Orleans Times Picayune on my lawn. The picture here shows that day's front page. The headline of the feature story on the left reads, "Mothers talk about losing a child to violence." For many readers this is

This post supplements a longer post at BlogHer.com. I received an email on Monday (May 13) from BlogHer's News and Politics Editor Grace Hwang Lynch looking for people willing to write about the Mother's Day shooting. When I saw it, I was annoyed. No. I was angry in a way I couldn't understand. I figured that people not from here thought the incident was another "mass shooting story" like

Look at this picture. Does that look like a small child running alone from the shooter? So young, so small, and already he's had to learn to escape a bullet. The man in the photo aims at the scattering crowd attending the New Orleans Mother's Day Second Line Parade. Police are currently searching for the suspect, allegedly Akein Scott. But did you notice that small child? Yesterday, I didn't

Apropos posting given yesterday's shooting at the Mothers' Day second line parade in New Orleans. From the film's website. New Orleans, Louisiana is the murder capital of the United States. For the last decade, statistics have shown murder rates four to six times higher than the national average. Eighty percent of the victims are black males, mostly in their teenage years. This is the city's

This month the Barman's Fund of New Orleans will give a boost to the city's only street paper, the New Orleans Street Exchange. According to the newspaper's newsletter, "the Barman’s Fund is a motley assortment of bartenders who pledge all earnings from one shift a month for charitable organizations." The N.O. Street Exchange is a street newspaper benefiting the city's homeless community and

One look at this video showing how officers of the New Orleans Police Department killed a likely suicidal man and you may doubt the competence of the NOPD. One look and you may understand why Mayor Landrieu should not be allowed to let the city escape its consent decree with the Department of Justice in place to reform the city's police department. The video below shows a listless 39-year-old

In the video above, a cute little girl follows the dance moves of one of NOLA's Calypso Tumblers who perform across the street from Jackson Square in the French Quarter.

Endymion's Pontchartrain Beach float is soooo long that it couldn't make a corner turn. The Krewe of Endymion debuted its massive Pontchartrain Beach float at its 2013 parade, three days before Mardi Gras. The float has multiple cars, is 375 feet long, and holds at least 230 riders, and it pays tribute to a local amusement park that closed in 1983. The cars represent different attractions and

This video was filmed yesterday in the New Orleans French Quarter. We were caught in small second line parade and 49ers fans assumed I was a Ravens fan, but it was an all good Super Bowl 47 weekend experience.Unfortunately I have to drive back down there tonight around 10:30 when the party will be insane. I anticipates official and unofficial roadblocks. I got a taste of that earlier today when

I did not plan to be in the French Quarter on Super Bowl weekend, but I'm glad that I was forced down there.

Yes, I'm tired of this story, too, about Beyonce lip-syncing the "Star-Spangled Banner" at President Obama's second inauguration ceremony, but since the superstar's in my city, New Orleans, for Super Bowl XLVII, and since she handled the controversy so well, I think it's fitting to post this video. In the video above from her press conference today at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center,

I attended a women's group meeting today where I learned that human trafficking of young girls plagues New Orleans because the city is a major port and tourism destination. I may have heard this before, but this is the first time the news really hit me as "of course this horrible fact must be true," and that realization rattled me. So, I came home and researched the

If you're looking for the March 9, 2013, episode with Justin Timberlake, try this link. The following post shows video featuring the Jamie Foxx episode of December 2012. For six months this year, Jamie Foxx worked in New Orleans starring in Quentin Tarantino's slave film Django Unchained. Perhaps it was then that he noticed all the different accents and craziness that goes on down here. On

I remember seeing on Facebook the picture of the NYPD police officer who gave the homeless man a pair of boots. The story moved me, and I learned more watching this video at CNN with story. Officer Lawrence DePrimo, who's received lots of attention for helping the man, said it was very cold; he saw Jeffrey Hillman's blistered feet and wanted to help him. He asked about buying him socks, and

Throw a rock in New Orleans and you're likely to hit a singer/musician, and apparently that's true even if the rock taps the city's mayor, Mitch Landrieu. He did his part Tuesday night at the city's Pay It Forward benefit for survivors of Hurricane Sandy. The Times Picayune reports: During the first of three hours of music at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts on Tuesday,

Cinéma Vérité By Nordette N. Adams A mother creeps through the streets of New Orleans. Her dress has the hue of fresh blood because her children are dead. She clangs an old cowbell,      shouting: "You thought it was a movie, but the Zombie Apocalypse is here. People fear leaving their homes because the dead-eyed swarm. "I have seen the walking dead. Their teeth gleam as bullets, seeking

If you're from New Orleans, you know what this post indicates. It suggests that I am about to do something and what you see now is preparation for whatever it is that I'm about to do. In this case, I mean that I'm getting ready not for a post at this blog, but something more organized with a little more thought, perhaps, that I will post and another Internet publishing location. Procrastinators