Independent Nix

Obama Wins.

2008-11-12T15:24:00.001-08:00

Wazzzaaaaahhhhhh!?!? Great Campaign Commercial.

2008-10-26T23:24:00.001-07:00

Thanks to haney for this one.

One Kickass Architect - Lebbeus Woods

2008-08-25T01:23:00.000-07:00

Just saw this on the NYTimes site at 3am on a Sunday. Usually they'll put up off-the-major-radar stuff around this hour and time of week before hitting the American pop-news circuit around 8am. Always good material. Best part of his highly conceptual work is the fact a lot of it is "more theoretical than practical, has no assigned purpose."

Michael Phelps: The Ending You Didn't See

2008-08-22T14:48:00.001-07:00

Hope in Denver

2008-07-08T19:49:00.001-07:00

I wasn't sure I'd be too excited about this year's Democratic National Convention when it was first given to Denver a year or so ago, especially because I am and always will be an indepenendent (look at the blog name, bro) as are my parents. But this year as I fully support the democratic nominee for the 2008 presidency, I am so freakin tempted to fly to my hometown to witness his speech. The cover of his site today had a beautiful illustration of Mile High Stadium (ahem... Invesco Field at Mile High) with the Obama logo on the front of it, as he's chosen not to do it in the traditional venue of a convention center, but out in front of 75,000 people. 2009 keeps getting closer and closer so let's hope like he does.

Bulls No. 1 Pick... ROSE

2008-06-26T21:08:00.000-07:00

When I heard the Bulls won the lottery for the #1 pick this year, a small glimmer of hope filled my heart. That glimmer has turned into a 6-foot-3, 196 Chicagoan named Derrick Rose. At Memphis, he shot .477 from the floor, .337 from behind the arc and .712 from the line and is only the 3rd guard in 30 years of the NBA draft to be picked #1.

I highly doubted buying another 11-game package this season with the Bulls for me and my lady, but it looks like I might stick it out another year.

ESPN's homepage actually had the Bulls as the cover story. AMAZING if you know the Bulls as of the last few years:

Traveler's Insurance Commercial

2008-05-08T19:53:00.000-07:00

I rarely post commercials on here, if ever, especially for an insurance company, but this one's gotta be in the top ten best commercials I've ever seen. Talk about branding... I not only want their umbrella, I may want their insurance and I don't even know what they do.

Wanderlust by Björk

2008-04-20T22:26:00.000-07:00

Lollipop by Lil Wayne

2008-03-11T14:53:00.000-07:00

Lil Weezy has blown up bigger than the rest of his New Orleans crew and can now afford this gigantic vehicle. I thought the girl in the beginning was a hot midget at first, but that's how big this thing is...

Greatest Kids Book Ever Made

2008-01-25T14:42:00.000-08:00

And it apparently had a sequel too:

Cloverfield : Blair Witch meets Godzilla, NYC style

2007-11-21T04:42:00.001-08:00

Brenda's good friend and old roommate Michael Stahl-David is starring in an upcoming major motion picture clouded in secrecy, with previews in theaters only showing the opening date as the title, up until recently "1-18-08". The title is finally here as well as the official name of the movie and it looks SICK. I believe the whole thing is shot similarly to Blair Witch using amateur, handheld cameras but the production value is obviously top-notch and put out by Paramount Pictures. It's also produced by the director of Mission Impossible III and several episodes of Lost, J.J. Abrams.

Michael should have been given a bigger role in the NBC short-lived series "The Black Donnellys" in which he played one of several bad ass Irish-American brothers, so it looks like this time around he has a much bigger, more valuable role.

Anyway, check out the trailer. It gives me the chillz.

Why huge telecom companies (i.e. COMCAST) are the Devil.

2007-11-01T00:47:00.000-07:00

Here's yet another one-in-a-million blog post by an angry American on the state of customer service and overall product delivery by gigantic corporate America. It is 3am on a Thursday morning, and I am often up at these hours cranking out work for my design business. The last thing I need is halfway through coding and template research online for my internet connection to just go bunk. I have software installed that refuses any software updates, I haven't put any new hardware in my computer, yet the customer service guy Robert ends up talking to me on the phone for 45 minutes and decides to simply suggest I call Apple.

When I inquire as to why he's asking me questions about words within my Network Preferences that I simply don't see anywhere, I decide to ask him where he is getting his knowledge from. He tells me he's using an online site for Mac tutorials and simply going down the list. He also tells me Comcast in all of their billions of dollars of profits, charging me over $140 a month for TV and Internet, that they're not responsible for problems on my end as long as they can detect a signal coming to my computer. When I ask him why he's walked me through this Apple tutorial yet is not responsible for my computer, he tells me it was only advice.

When I finally ask him what the next solution is, he tells me he can send a tech out but it will cost me. I'm thinking "Fine, do it, as long as I can send him back to their offices if I fix it between now and then..." When I ask him if I'll get charged for him just showing up, he says "He assumes (blah blah blah)." So I get his ID# and hang up left to either call Apple (God Forbid) or take care of it myself.

Take care of it myself I did after realizing this guy, or rather his online tutorial's method's most likely just skipped a step or two, and fix it about 10 minutes later on my own. When I go to Comcast's site, their entire layout has changed saying that Firefox, Safari, and ANYTHING Mac related, is not good enough to view their site. Firefox 2.0 apparently is no longer "standards-compliant" in their terms and "It's Time to Upgrade" in huge Comcast Helvetica letters. They have a disclaimer then saying "Comcast Customer Care Account Executives are unable to answer questions or provide support for these browsers."

When I finally click the tiny little "Contact Us" at the bottom and click on Internet (because there is no usual Customer Service feedback), the only options I get are these:

Other companies I've used who offer massive technological services with customer service reps of either GED level educations, if that, or can barely speak English and end up disconnecting or pointing me to non-existent or completely unaffiliated companies:

- Apple
- Cox Communications
- T-Mobile
- Verizon
- Memorial Hospital (most hospitals and insurance companies)
- Entergy
- ComEd
- Mazda
- (Any other company you'd like to add, I'm sure)

Granted, I rely on these companies, but somehow the profits they make is obviously not going to training their employees. If I didn't run a tech business myself, I'd consider moving to a cave to become a hermit to escape it all.

...Friggin Robert ID ##8312745

Rockies vs. Red Sox - Nix Preview #1

2007-10-22T03:58:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I'm actually posting about BASEBALL. But as much of a fan I am for football and basketball, the fact that my hometown's team is in the World Series I am forced to pay attention to this ridiculousness. So expect the next couple posts about the Colorado Rockies and the Cinderella story they are currently writing.

The Boston Red Sox tonight beat the Cleveland Indians to enter the 2007 World Series and will match up against the Rockies on Wednesday night. While the Red Sox were the one team so far I didn't want the Rockies to have to face, it really is a lot more dramatic and significant than the Indians.

In June, the Rockies beat the Red Sox 2 out of 3 games at Fenway, so we'll see what happens now. Boston can suck it. That's my only point.

2007 Nobel Peace Prize: Al Gore

2007-10-12T02:25:00.000-07:00

From NYTimes:

"Former Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to spread awareness of man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures needed to counteract it."

Congratulations to both Mr. Gore and the UN's Climate Change team. The prize is not easily awarded so I do believe I may have a little more faith in the both of them.

F#$! Columbus... Work on Monday.

2007-10-04T04:21:00.000-07:00

"...so anxious to please the King that he committed irreparable crimes against the Indians."

I apologize for using such profanity in the title of one of my posts. I also feel somewhat apprehensive, being an addict of HBO's Sopranos who have an entire episode about defending the Italian "hero" of Christopher Columbus, indicating how much he means to the Italian culture.

However, anybody of any solid education should know that Columbus came here as a forcefull, greedy leader hungry for gold regardless of the cost of human life.

The following excerpt from Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States" explains the exact reason why Columbus not only doesn't deserve a holiday, he deserves a moment of silence similar to Holocaust Awareness.

IT IS VERY LONG, BUT PLEASE, PLEASE READ IT.

Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the island's beaches and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food, water, gifts.2 He later wrote of this in his log:

"They... brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells. They willingly traded everything they owned.... They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features.... They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane.... They would make fine servants.... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want."

These Arawaks of the Bahama Islands were much like Indians on the mainland, who were remarkable (European observers were to say again and again) for their hospitality, their belief in sharing. These traits did not stand out in the Europe of the Renaissance, dominated as it was by the religion of popes, the government of kings, the frenzy for money that marked Western civilization and its first messenger to the Americas, Christopher Columbus.

Columbus wrote:

"As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts." The information that Columbus wanted most was: Where is the gold?

The Indians, Columbus reported, "are so naive and so free with their possessions that no one who has not witnessed them would believe it. When you ask for something they have, they never say no. To the contrary, they offer to share with anyone...." He concluded his report by asking for a little help from their Majesties, and in return he would bring them from his next voyage "as much gold as they need . . . and as many slaves as they ask." He was full of religious talk: "Thus the eternal God, our Lord, gives victory to those who follow His way over apparent impossibilities."

Because of Columbus's exaggerated report and promises, his second expedition was given seventeen ships and more than twelve hundred men. The aim was clear: slaves and gold. They went from island to island in the Caribbean, taking Indians as captives. But as word spread of the Europeans' intent they found more and more empty villages. On Haiti, they found that the sailors left behind at Fort Navidad had been killed in a battle with the Indians, after they had roamed the island in gangs looking for gold, taking women and children as slaves for sex and labor.

Now, from his base on Haiti, Columbus sent expedition after expedition into the interior. They found no gold fields, but had to fill up the ships returning to Spain with some kind of dividend. In the year 1495, they went on a great slave raid, rounded up fifteen hundred Arawak men, women, and children, put them in pens guarded by Spaniards and dogs, then picked the five hundred best specimens to load onto ships. Of those five hundred, two hundred died en route. The rest arrived alive in Spain and were put up for sale by the archdeacon of the town, who reported that, although the slaves were "naked as the day they were born," they showed "no more embarrassment than animals." Columbus later wrote: "Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that can be sold."

But too many of the slaves died in captivity. And so Columbus, desperate to pay back dividends to those who had invested, had to make good his promise to fill the ships with gold. In the province of Cicao on Haiti, where he and his men imagined huge gold fields to exist, they ordered all persons fourteen years or older to collect a certain quantity of gold every three months. When they brought it, they were given copper tokens to hang around their necks. Indians found without a copper token had their hands cut off and bled to death.

The Indians had been given an impossible task. The only gold around was bits of dust garnered from the streams. So they fled, were hunted down with dogs, and were killed.

Trying to put together an army of resistance, the Arawaks faced Spaniards who had armor, muskets, swords, horses. When the Spaniards took prisoners they hanged them or burned them to death. Among the Arawaks, mass suicides began, with cassava poison. Infants were killed to save them from the Spaniards. In two years, through murder, mutilation, or suicide, half of the 250,000 Indians on Haiti were dead.

When it became clear that there was no gold left, the Indians were taken as slave labor on huge estates, known later as encomiendas. They were worked at a ferocious pace, and died by the thousands. By the year 1515, there were perhaps fifty thousand Indians left. By 1550, there were five hundred. A report of the year 1650 shows none of the original Arawaks or their descendants left on the island.

The chief source-and, on many matters the only source of information about what happened on the islands after Columbus came is Bartolome de las Casas, who, as a young priest, participated in the conquest of Cuba. For a time he owned a plantation on which Indian slaves worked, but he gave that up and became a vehement critic of Spanish cruelty. In Book Two of his History of the Indies, Las Casas (who at first urged replacing Indians by black slaves, thinking they were stronger and would survive, but later relented when he saw the effects on blacks) tells about the treatment of the Indians by the Spaniards. It is a unique account and deserves to be quoted at length:

"Endless testimonies . . . prove the mild and pacific temperament of the natives.... But our work was to exasperate, ravage, kill, mangle and destroy; small wonder, then, if they tried to kill one of us now and then.... The admiral, it is true, was blind as those who came after him, and he was so anxious to please the King that he committed irreparable crimes against the Indians..."

Las Casas tells how the Spaniards "grew more conceited every day" and after a while refused to walk any distance. They "rode the backs of Indians if they were in a hurry" or were carried on hammocks by Indians running in relays. "In this case they also had Indians carry large leaves to shade them from the sun and others to fan them with goose wings."

Total control led to total cruelty. The Spaniards "thought nothing of knifing Indians by tens and twenties and of cutting slices off them to test the sharpness of their blades." Las Casas tells how "two of these so-called Christians met two Indian boys one day, each carrying a parrot; they took the parrots and for fun beheaded the boys."

The Indians' attempts to defend themselves failed. And when they ran off into the hills they were found and killed. So, Las Casas reports. "they suffered and died in the mines and other labors in desperate silence, knowing not a soul in the world to whom they could tun for help." He describes their work in the mines:

"... mountains are stripped from top to bottom and bottom to top a thousand times; they dig, split rocks, move stones, and carry dirt on their backs to wash it in the rivers, while those who wash gold stay in the water all the time with their backs bent so constantly it breaks them; and when water invades the mines, the most arduous task of all is to dry the mines by scooping up pansful of water and throwing it up outside....

After each six or eight months' work in the mines, which was the time required of each crew to dig enough gold for melting, up to a third of the men died. While the men were sent many miles away to the mines, the wives remained to work the soil, forced into the excruciating job of digging and making thousands of hills for cassava plants.

Thus husbands and wives were together only once every eight or ten months and when they met they were so exhausted and depressed on both sides . . . they ceased to procreate. As for the newly born, they died early because their mothers, overworked and famished, had no milk to nurse them, and for this reason, while I was in Cuba, 7000 children died in three months. Some mothers even drowned their babies from sheer desperation.... In this way, husbands died in the mines, wives died at work, and children died from lack of milk . . . and in a short time this land which was so great, so powerful and fertile ... was depopulated.... My eyes have seen these acts so foreign to human nature, and now I tremble as I write...."

When he arrived on Hispaniola in 1508, Las Casas says, "there were 60,000 people living on this island, including the Indians; so that from 1494 to 1508, over three million people had perished from war, slavery, and the mines. Who in future generations will believe this? I myself writing it as a knowledgeable eyewitness can hardly believe it...."

Thus began the history, five hundred years ago, of the European invasion of the Indian settlements in the Americas. That beginning, when you read Las Casas--even if his figures are exaggerations (were there 3 million Indians to begin with, as he says, or less than a million, as some historians have calculated, or 8 million as others now believe?) is conquest, slavery, death. When we read the history books given to children in the United States, it all starts with heroic adventure--there is no bloodshed-and Columbus Day is a celebration.

The treatment of heroes (Columbus) and their victims (the Arawaks) the quiet acceptance of conquest and murder in the name of progress-is only one aspect of a certain approach to history, in which the past is told from the point of view of governments, conquerors, diplomats, leaders. It is as if they, like Columbus, deserve universal acceptance, as if they-the Founding Fathers, Jackson, Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt, Kennedy, the leading members of Congress, the famous Justices of the Supreme Court-represent the nation as a whole. The pretense is that there really is such a thing as "the United States," subject to occasional conflicts and quarrels, but fundamentally a community of people with common interests. It is as if there really is a "national interest" represented in the Constitution, in territorial expansion, in the laws passed by Congress, the decisions of the courts, the development of capitalism, the culture of education and the mass media.

Iran's Ahmadinejad at Ground Zero?!?

2007-09-20T03:22:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that most things I read on CNN, NYTimes.com, Fox, the CBC, Al-Jazeera, etc. I don't really assume as truthful reporting. However, this morning's cover story on CNN.com of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's request to visit NYC's Ground Zero to "pay his respects" is ridiculously on-point. What a slap in the face and attempt to appear globally competent.

While many people believe that both the Democratic and Republican parties are mostly rich white people calling the shots in our nation, there is a truth outside of all our homeland politics - my personal friends fighting in Iraq shouldn't have to deal with the fact that the IEDs and other highly powerful devices blowing them and their brothers up are being supplied by a country led by this dirt bag. I'm sorry if that sounds like typical right-winged nonsense, but this is coming from a sound liberal Chicagoan.

I don't support the invasion of Iran nor did I support the invasion of Iraq, but come on... Ahmadinejad is picking a fight and putting his fingers where they don't belong.

Here's the whole story on CNN.com -
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/19/ahmadinejad.ground.zero/index.html

I hope the good people of Iran can realize the lunacy of this horrible leader.

Strawberry Letter 23

2007-09-16T05:40:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the greatest soul song ever written was originally done by Shuggie Otis, but perfected by The Brothers Johnson. It made American pop culture through Tarantino's Jackie Brown film and in doing so, respect for a soundtrack first brought to my attention by my friend Neenan. Wow that was horrible grammar, but LISTEN TO THE SONG AND MAYBE YOU'LL UNDERSTAND .

One Vote Under God - interactive matrix

2007-08-31T13:49:00.000-07:00

My company just launched a massive, interactive web site examining all of the 2008 presidential candidates and their stance on all of the big issues and how their faith plays a part in their decisions. It dynamically shows their take on things like Abortion, Gay Rights, Environmentalism, The Death Penalty, etc. Our client, Northwestern University and Harvard University, did all of the research as part of a grant through the Carnegie Foundation. I hope you'll spend sometime finding out more about all of these crazy candidates and return to the site as the race continues.

Click here or on the image to get to the launch page for the interactive application.

Two years after Katrina, New Orleans kickin' (by Megan Nix)

2007-08-28T13:57:00.000-07:00

This article first appeared in the Denver Post newspaper, Opinion section on August 26, 2007. (Congrats Megan.)

Recently, I finally persuaded Anne, my hypochondriac Colorado friend, to visit New Orleans for the first time. Most people I talk to think that the entirety of New Orleans is either underwater or totally destroyed. I figured if I could change the mind of my most skeptical friend about the city then it still has a fighting chance of not being battered into the ground by politics and hearsay.

I also wanted to see how much a little pure-hearted normalcy could shock someone who has been conditioned to associate New Orleans with little more than helpless misery. What the city needs, and what has always kept it afloat, is tourists, not pity.

I grew up in Denver, but have been a New Orleans transplant for the last seven years. I lost my house there to 5 feet of water, I was hospitalized for black-mold inhalation, and I teach in a failing public school. You can pick any sphere of life-failing education, rising crime rate, a lack of environmentalism, and New Orleans is struggling in that arena in some way. But while the place is far from perfect, it is wholly thriving.

When I say I live in New Orleans, I just want people to see for themselves, to not stare at me, open- mouthed, uttering, "What's it like down there?" This is what it's like:

Anne arrived in the humid soup of Southern heat. In the warm midnight breeze, we skirted the crescent of the river and arrived at the Bulldog, a Christmas-lit patio bar that lets you snag as many pint glasses as you want for keeps on Wednesday nights. We pushed our way through the packed bar of twenty- and thirtysomethings to the patio where water pours uniformly out of 50 brightly colored keg taps. As she eased into her second beer, I could see her forgetting the sympathy-packed stigma that we were in post-Katrina New Orleans. We could have been at any crowded American bar.

In the morning, we hit Surrey's early for its signature coffee and Caribbean egg and avocado breakfasts. Surrey's, a café that opened right after the storm (and supplied my roommate and me with to-go coffee and oatmeal for weeks before the fridge arrived), still doesn't have a credit card machine. It's still stubborn, still New Orleans, still alive, and unaware that it should be anything else.

Soon I realized how focused I was on showing Anne that the city was all right. About halfway through day two, I stopped the I-have-something- to-prove New Orleans propaganda. Anne's eyes were silently registering scenes that show New Orleans outside of the 9th Ward - a part of the city that should be remembered, but should not be the defining picture of New Orleans if we are ever to fully rebuild.

Under the canopy of oak branches, while passing quiet columned hotels and bustling eclectic coffee shops, I thought: Shouldn't status quo be more of a silent state than a put-on effort?

We got our bikes and I gave Anne the once-over of immediately accessible New Orleans. We rode through the charmingly dilapidated Marigny and Bywater districts, slowed for plywood and debris in the streets, and lingered at long porches covered in azaleas and confederate jasmine. We took Royal Street through the French Quarter and peered into galleries packed with new art, advertising "White Linen Night" in August - a very clean, hey-look- we're-more-than-thriving-arts-festival, that to outsiders, like most post-K things in New Orleans, has become an ironic, self-proclamatory testimony to normalcy.

We slipped by Bourbon Street as quickly as possible because anyone who really loves New Orleans for all its art and culture only goes to Bourbon when friends are in town, when it's Mardi Gras, or when it's just really late and there's nothing else to do.

On the way out of the quarter, we glided down St. Charles as the sky began to darken and big magnolia petals ominously swirled around our tires. Tulane University and Loyola New Orleans stood majestic against their cypress backdrop. Audubon Park teemed with dog walkers, raucous barbequers, and parents playing with their kids. As the warm rain painted our backs, we raced past old men hauling antiques in from their shops on Magazine Street to a soundtrack of jazz spilling out open doors.

By the time Anne left, she had stomped her soles off to the bumping brass of the Soul Rebels in Le Bon Temps Roule bar, while drinking Abita beer and refueling with crawfish pies at the encore. We had twirled on our tiptoes to the delicately powerful violinists, keyboardists and bassists of Vavavoom in the cozy couch cavern of the Spotted Cat on Frenchman Street. We had somberly driven through the 9th Ward, Lakeview, New Orleans East, and the more devastated areas of New Orleans Uptown in total silence.

I realized, in the presence of Anne's gradual tranquility, that most Americans have heard New Orleans' steadfast rhythm. There is only so much you can say about devastation and how to go about rebuilding something that was never ideal. Everyone has their opinions about the Army Corps, the 9th Ward, or the racism and inequality that continue to widen their scars across the nation. But sometimes, it just helps to be where you're talking about, to soak up the slow mundane routines that still guide New Orleans' everyday existence. Culture is not always clean, and a cleanup never is. Sometimes, you just have to eat, drink and dance to appreciate the true, undebatable state of simply being, and this is what New Orleanians still do best.

Max Roach 1924 - 2007

2007-08-16T13:39:00.000-07:00

Max Roach was one of the greatest drummers to grace our planet and nation. He died today at the age of 83. I can only dream of being such an influential drummer. Here is "Haitian Fight Song," an mp3 off an album he did with Charles Mingus.

"He's got some baked beans..."

2007-08-11T15:49:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, I do find Mr. George W Bush childishly amusing and so down-home that I like him at times. An article today on NYTimes.com covered his conversation with the President of France and the type of food they were going to eat today:

“He’s got some baked beans,” Mr. Bush said. “If he likes baked beans he can have that as well.” (“Native Maine corn,” Mrs. Bush interjected.) “There’s corn on the cob, real fresh this time of year,” he continued. (“Salad, fresh tomatoes,” the first lady added.) “If he feels like it, he can have him a piece of blueberry pie, fresh blueberries up here in Maine.”

..he can have him a piece of blueberry pie.

Indeed, Mr. Bush. He can.

We have 46 years left on Earth

2007-07-17T11:41:00.001-07:00

I haven't posted anything in over four months! I've been both busy, lazy, and the world is changing so quickly I simply don't know what to write about these days. So when this article popped up by a Princeton astrophysicist saying humans only have 46 years left to colonize Mars before Earth is no longer an option, I took the opportunity to post it since it so goofy and lighthearted, regardless of whether or not it's true. I hope you read it and enjoy it, because everything else in the news is extremely sad or violent.

A Survival Imperative for Space Colonization

See you soon,
Nix

Lori Nix Photography

2007-03-15T10:38:00.000-07:00

How to Nail an Interview (By James Panepinto)

2007-03-02T22:12:00.001-08:00

1) Watch in horror as a nickel sized bright red pimple appears on the tip of your big Italian nose on Sunday. By Tuesday this blemish is glowing and you basically look like Rudolph. Try to hide the massive imperfection by

2) Not shaving your 13 year old facial hair growth. Not that I could grow a full beard if I wanted, but the decision to leave the fuzz on the cheeks and mustache may hide the legion-like pimple on my nose. In reality this makes me look like a zilch, emphasized by the fact that

3) I was at the dentist only a few hours earlier, and in a moment of brilliance, had requested extra Novocaine. No one wants to feel the drill gnawing away at their teeth, but did I realize that during my interview I would be left with a giant, swollen, and chapped upper lip that gave me a lisp and the propensity to drool and try and slurp to keep the drool from escaping my dumb stupid mouth? Add to this by

4) Sweating extensively during the interview. I was wearing my giant winter coat because temps were in the teens but I decided to run a few blocks from the subway to the office to stay warm. Once I get to the interview, I had run up three flights off stairs and was a little out of breath and warm as hell. I could feel beads of sweat rolling down my chest and back while discussing my work history with the two interviewers. If they didn't notice this it was likely because

5) I had decided to forgo the traditional formal or business casual attire that levelheaded people wear to interviews in favor of "who I really am," so I was in a pair of jeans that I'd been wearing everyday for 4 weeks and a wool sweater (that I hoped would hide the sweat but I am still not sure) Top this off by

6) Having no hot water for three days due to a problem with the water heater in my apartment. This means I didn't shower for two days and this particular morning I was forced to wash my head and hair in a pot of hot water I heated on the stove. Compounded with the fact that I had not had a hair cut in 2+ months this left for a very motley scene on my dome. Realize that these people probably assumed they were interviewing\n

7) A junkie.

Look Who's Back

2007-03-01T13:22:00.000-08:00

Wow. Good work Mr. President. It's 2007 and the Hurricane happened in 2005. Who wouldn't take this as a joke? Surely New York Times put it on the front of their web site just to show the stupidity of this man.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/01/us/01cnd-bush.html?hp

WE OWN SPACE!!!!! MORE FREEDOM

2007-01-18T22:38:00.000-08:00

Anybody else find the story recently of China shooting down a satellite not actually that big of deal, seeing as how we've been able to do it for years? And why is Bush stepping forward acting like China has no right when our very own new space policy asserts a right to "freedom of action in space" saying it will "deter others from either impeding those rights or developing capabilities intended to do so" BUT including the U.S. right to "deny, if necessary, adversaries the use of space capabilities hostile to U.S. national interests."

So, space is free, but we have the rights to it if we say so?

Grand Canyon Skywalk

2007-01-10T14:16:00.000-08:00

This is so dope. To be built on the Hualapai Indian Reservation in hopes to boost tourism, this floating walkway will hold up to 120 people and you'll be able to look ALLLL THE WAAAY DOWN. Check out the construction page for its current status.

AixSponza!

2006-12-05T14:08:00.000-08:00

Kick ass motion graphics. ...CG and Audio design at its best.

"Rumsfeld's Out."... "Who's Rumsfeld?"

2006-11-10T09:47:00.000-08:00

"Whatever Mr. Rumsfeld’s resignation might eventually mean, it did not matter here yet, and it would not keep them alive tonight."

From New York Times, 9 November 2006 - Marines Get the News From an Iraqi Host: Rumsfeld’s Out. ‘Who’s Rumsfeld?’

I KNEW IT. Not liking math = SUCCESS.

2006-10-18T19:02:00.000-07:00

"Kids who are turned off by math often say they don't enjoy it, they aren't good at it and they see little point in it. Who knew that could be a formula for success?" says a study posted on CNN by Brookings Institution's Brown Center on Education Policy.*

I'm 26 and I still hate math. The last time I took math was in precalculus, junior year of high school. I remember telling my best friends, an entire family of accountants, that math...is...worthless. They let into me to say the least. But now I find this confirmation that math is actually worthless.*....for me...and the very successful.

*read the article. I refuse to accept the underlying message.

Friends and Family Affected One Year Ago.

2006-08-29T15:02:00.000-07:00

Many people whether by phone, email, or blog are telling their stories about how Katrina affected them one year ago today. I'd just like to get down in writing all of my friends and family who were affected by Katrina and all who evacuated with me. Many of these people helped rebuilding and do so on a daily basis by still living in New Orleans. To all of these following people I dedicate today to. I'll never forget being a part of your life in New Orleans:

(I apologize if I misspelled or forgot your last name):

Adam Campagna
Alison Rodriguez
Anne Balart
Becca Rapp
Benny Dominach
Bethany and Johann Bultman
Billy Wohl
Blair Gimma
Blake Haney
Brenda Boelter
Carie Fischer
Charles
Chris
Chris Courville
Christian Smith
Dana Bartelt
Daniela Marx
David Carrielo
Dixie
Erin Brent
Facial
Greg Heaney
Hans Haveman
Jannie Tusson
Jason Berry
Jason Melancon
Jay Crutti
Jenny
Jimmy Ronner
John Galeros
Jonah Langenbeck
Jorge Daruna
Jose Posas
Joseph Levitt
Kate
Keith
Kenneth Robin
Kit Wohl
Lauren Nicotera
Matt Martin
Megan Nix
Melissa Soul Sister
Mitch Paone
Nikoli
Nina
Oscar
Patrick Strange
Peaches
Pierce, Chris, Vince
Quincy
Rami Sharky
Ross
Rowley
Ryan Scully
Scarlet Feinberg
Sean "Delta"
Susan
Susan Woods
Tom Varisco
Zack Smith

I love you all.

One Year Ago.

2006-08-28T18:10:00.000-07:00

Modeling New Orleans after Denver?

2006-08-26T10:23:00.000-07:00

Slate Magazine yesterday published online an article written by architect and critic Witold Rybczynksi on how the residential and commercial sector of New Orleans could be rebuilt successfully by following the model Denver has used in several reconstructive efforts there.

I'm not necessarily a huge fan of the architecture in Denver, but it is refreshing to see there are visionaries out there still, almost 1-year since the disaster, offering advice on the city I loved and lived in until the storm, based on the city I was born and raised in.

Previously, several architecture firms came up with the Katrina Cottage to replace FEMA trailers, which in my opinion look like garbage and an insult to those forced to live in them.

Here is the full Slate article. Thanks Heather O, another Denver/Nola kid, for sending this one my way.

M&M Art, Hype, and Poo

2006-08-04T19:33:00.000-07:00

Guaranteed hype over this guys art, for the following reasons:

1. Donny Johnson, the artist, is a convicted killer in solitary confinement

2. He doesn't have access to any art supplies so he's used his own hair as a brush, coffee and kool aid for a thinner, and melted M&Ms for paint.

3. He's already in a swanky gallery in Mexico, on CNN, and in New York Times, having sold some of these postcard-sized paintings totalling several thousand dollars.

Is it good art? Its hard to tell, but why does that even matter anymore? You could poo on a canvas and end up in MoMa if you had hype like this guy (or the guy who actually did use poo on a canvas and get huge)

Best of Katrina Fraud:

2006-06-27T10:30:00.000-07:00

3. Mitchell Kendrix of Memphis and Paul Nelson of Lisbon, Me., have pleaded guilty in connection with a scheme in Mississippi in which Mr. Kendrix, a representative for the Army Corps of Engineers, took $100 bribes in exchange for approving phantom loads of hurricane debris from Mr. Nelson.

2. In New Orleans, two FEMA officials, Andrew Rose and Loyd Holliman, both of Colorado, have pleaded guilty to taking $20,000 in bribes in exchange for inflating the count on the number of meals a contractor was serving disaster workers. And a councilman in St. Tammany Parish, La., Joseph Impastato, has also been charged with trying to extort $100,000 from a debris removal contractor.

1. (my favorite)... Tina M. Winston of Belleville, Ill., was charged this month with claiming that her two daughters had died in the flooding in New Orleans. But prosecutors said that the children never existed and that Ms. Winston was living in Illinois at the time of the storm.

Click here to read the full New York Times article

God Bless America (but not these seven)

2006-06-23T09:03:00.000-07:00

What is wrong with people (or more specifically Mr. Batiste, Abraham, Phanor, Herrera, Augustin, Augustine, and Lemorin)?!? These seven Americans have been arrested after seeking out work with al Queda with solid plans to take out the Sears Tower, intending such an attack to be "as good or greater than 9/11."

Unreal.

Oh, and stop complaining about the Patriot Act if you have nothing to worry about. It just saved your ass.

Arnaud Frich Photographie

2006-06-21T20:30:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I thought these photos were taken by the photographer Sato that I linked to in the last post, because they're so ridiculous and so similar. But it's his French counterpart, Arnaud Frich.

Check out his la Défense photography series.

Shintaro Sato Photography

2006-06-21T20:14:00.000-07:00

This artist's urban photography is some of the most astounding work I've ever seen. He had to Photoshop the hell out if it and if he didn't, I would love to know how he captured these colors. A wide open lens wouldn't be enough.

One defining feature is his subject matter - the lesser-known outskirts of Tokyo, places normal tourists would not be found. The setting, often lacking in the over saturated signage of downtown areas, provides the original surfaces of buildings and shows the real structure of Tokyo's architecture

Here's the full series of Tokyo shots.

M&D Wedding Website

2006-06-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

Morgan and Danielle .com

I just launched this wedding website through my design company Michael Nix Design for my friends Morgan and Danielle, who are getting married in a few months.

I'm pretty excited about the site which they'll print on their invitations for people to RSVP online.... the site is designed using web standards and will soon feature a Content Management System that I'm configuring now for them to allow weekly updates in a news / blog section.

Visit it again in a few weeks for that and a couple other features.

An Event Apart

2006-06-02T20:33:00.000-07:00

I just attended "An Event Apart," a national web conference here in Chicago (tour in Atlanta, New York, and Phily) from the authors of web standards, CSS, and overall just good web design. It was awesome.

So much better than an entire weekend at South by Southwest (SXSW).

I setup an entire blog with notes pretty close to the entire presentation by Meyer, Zeldman, Coudal, and Santa Maria, but I think they requested I don't give that out. If this changes, I'll send it to you or email me and I'll give you the best stuff they said. The web is going to be like nothing you've ever seen. Wow I'm a geek.

The Day I Made The New York Times

2006-05-22T18:47:00.000-07:00

...along with Dixie, Brenda, Jimmy, and James. They say its 15 minutes of fame, I say more like 3 seconds, but it was awesome to watch Dixie chasing after a ball for millions of people worldwide to see. Today, this was the first video on the frontpage of nytimes.com!

Click here to view the May 22, 2006 New York Times Video

Canine Evolution

2006-05-10T08:08:00.000-07:00

It has begun. Click here to view full movie.

Jazzfest 2006

2006-05-07T18:16:00.000-07:00

Its been awhile since I wrote anything on IndieNix, but now its time. Its been a crazy past few months, having started my new job for a giant non-profit as their corporate web designer, drumming for my band Division Armory, hittin up JazzFest of course (Bruce Springsteen drove everyone to tears), and now about to start a hot, hot Chicago summertime. Here's a few photos from recent months around New Orleans and Chicago.

IF YOU CLICK HERE, YOU CAN SEE 10 OTHER PHOTOS I TOOK DURING JAZZFEST. THE DESCRIPTIONS ARE BELOW:

1 - Wrigley Field before going to Jazzfest
2 - Kevin's New Way of Drinking Beer
3 - Morning 40 Federation
4 - Bruce on the big screen at Fest
5 - JazzFest
6 - Me & B
7 - Herbsaint Restaurant (Lydia Schnepel)
8 - Megan's Apt (Dixie)
9 - B by the pool in the quarter
10 - Lower Ninth Ward, 30 April 2006

Prayer for Imette

2006-03-04T00:58:00.000-08:00

May the atrocious monster in NYC that raped and murdered the girl close to some of my best friends burn in hell if he is not caught. I apologize for this horrible posting, but the details of this crime that has hit too close to home are too gruesome to explain and too much to bear and cope with, in a decent manner. I pray you are with God now, Imette.

What Can I Say?

2006-02-23T11:11:00.000-08:00

No explanation needed. Thanks for the pic, James.

The Death Penalty – Beginnings to an End.

2006-02-22T00:53:00.000-08:00

Some of the best news in American ethics in a decade – the state of California today postponed indefinitely the execution of a San Quentin State Prison death row inmate, because no doctors, nurses, or licensed medical professionals allowed to give a lethal injection would come forward with the federal ruling that the state's execution methods were cruel and unusual punishment.

"“We are unable to have a licensed medical professional come forward to inject the medication intravenously, causing the life to end,” (the spokesman for the prison said).

Glory Alleluia. Long live Michael Morales and may he pay fully for his sins while he rots in a cold cell, a much worse, realized punishment than the easy-out of lethal injection that has no solid proof of deterring other criminals.

Sue Gunawardena-Vaughn, Director of Amnesty International USA's Program to Abolish the Death Penalty, said regarding the execution:

"The lethal injection issues surrounding Michael Morales' impending execution further reinforce the fact that there is no humane way to take a life. Amnesty International commends the anesthesiologists and other medical personnel who took a principled stand, abided by their ethical obligations and refused to participate in this macabre protocol. The fact that the state of California would carry out this execution regardless flies in the face of human decency..."

Why Mardi Gras Must Go On:

2006-02-20T03:52:00.000-08:00

1966 – Just after Hurricane Betsy, another horribly deadly hurricane took many lives, Bourbon Street was reported "topping all previous records."

1906 – Yellow Fever killed 437 people, the first epidemic of its kind in 25 years, Carnival continued, floats, balls, and marching military bands.

1862 – Soldiers of the Confederacy from New Orleans, both black and white, threw a Mardi Gras party during its campaign in Virginia, with young soldiers dressed as tranies.

1950 – With the onset of the Korean War, instead of honoring Rex as the king of Carnival, it was "King Patria" a Korean War Marine vet and his queen, a corporal in the Women's Army Corps Reserve.

"It's had floods, it's had hurricanes, yellow fever, fires, hot summers. But by the time you get to Mardi Gras, everything has calmed down and eased off. It's time to party." – John Magill, curator of the Historic New Orleans Collection.

[ GRANTED - I do personally believe (not to get you unmotivated for this glorious time) it must be noted that only 14 years ago, 1992, "two of the oldest and most revered Carnival organizations stopped parading... after a city ordinance forced them to open membership up to minorities." –this phenomenon does continue, but primarily only in the "balls" and highly exclusive dinner parties of a select few. ]

Source.

Islam

2006-02-20T02:49:00.000-08:00

Muslim leaders have condemned the use of violence across the world over the cartoon a Denmark paper, Jyllands-Posten, published in January – the Muslim people do not care. More blood must be shed.

The most infamous cartoon, one of 12, is shown here, and just yesterday resulted in the deaths of 16 people and 11 churches in Nigeria. Protests have been continuing across the world, almost all violently, including Turkey, Libya, and Pakistan.

While the other two major religions of this planet don't have the greatest record either, I can't help but bring up even further proof of this deadly, dark religion of Islam - if you have a chance: Look up the two following words on google:

1. Ashoura

2. FGM

Two more reasons another major religion is causing severe pain, suffering, and in my humble opinion, evil.

The Clayton Brothers

2006-02-17T12:33:00.000-08:00

These two brothers do some of the best illustration and fine art in the world. Weird, freaky details, been in many magazines like Rolling Stones.

Dude, Where's My City

2006-02-17T11:56:00.000-08:00

Most average Februarys find me in a slump somewhere between Christmastime and spring, at which point I can either wear sandals or snowboard boots with summer just on the cusp. This February I find myself in Chicago, the first real freeze settling in this weekend around 15 degrees for a high.

The past few months, I’ve been traveling, back to New Orleans in October, Denver for the holidays, Florida last weekend to visit my girlfriend’s mom, and next weekend for Mardi Gras. I guess I mention all of this, because I’ve come to grips with life as a regular drifter, since being displaced from New Orleans. Several friends have returned, including my sister, who all live in that now increasingly eccentric place. I’ve tried to “setup shop” here in Chicago, a town I’ve come to love since I was 5, landed another fulltime job today as a designer for a non-profit company, but I still can’t help but wonder how long I’ll last here. I suppose I’ll push for the full year or two, because I don’t see anywhere else I SHOULD be.

… And that’s my problem, I guess. I only live in cities now and hold jobs I SHOULD have. I took a job I SHOULD have taken, I signed a lease on a nice place far from any hurricane zone, I’ll keep this job and live here because I SHOULD. And that’s the difference between now and my days before August 28, 2005 when I left the place I CHOSE and WANTED to be. I’m not complaining – if anything, I have it luckier than most Katrina Kids. FEMA provided plenty of support to me personally and I’ve landed 2 jobs since I’ve been here. But I knew I could do this, bring in the benjamins in any huge place like Chicago, NYC, or LA, before I even graduated from school in the dirty dirty.

The difference now is that I can’t personally find a solid reason as to why I SHOULD return to New Orleans … Sure, there’s that ceaseless request to help rebuild and I am on a daily basis checking job postings, but ultimately I don’t feel as though I can contribute like I had before the Storm. I played music in venues now destroyed, I had art in galleries that are now shut down, I did community service around southern Louisiana, and I worked for an ad agency that survived, but its clients have close to no need for promotion.

And I know there are hundreds of elitists still in that city cursing people like me for not giving the place an immediate chance, but those people don’t realize I need to feed myself, pay my bills, and hopefully one day have my own business and family. Kudos to my sister who just graduated and CAN just waitress while her boyfriend goes to grad school as an environmental engineer.

I am not saying I’ve abandoned New Orleans. All I am saying is that I doubt anybody except those who have been displaced truly understand the gray feeling of being a nomad of sorts, no matter how solid their situation may be, be it in LA, Chicago, New York, Dallas, Denver, or a FEMA trailer in their front lawn of Lakeview.

Finally, I just hope nobody reading this feels any pity for me; I am simply explaining myself and why I may drift from place to place and never quite seem content. It is not “the grass is greener syndrome.” I found the greenest grass in 1999, lost it August 29, 2005, and hope it one day returns so I may too.

The Dutch & The Dough

2006-02-16T16:20:00.000-08:00

THE DUTCH
Newer Orleans - Shared Space Symposium took place today in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It was an architectural conference between six American and Dutch architecture firms on the rebuilding of New Orleans as a port city, focusing on the levees and water management issues post-Katrina. The picture shown above is a solution by Dutch firm MVRDV for a school built within a hill.

At the same time in all modesty, professionals in the Netherlands can possibly contribute to some of the Water Management and Urban Planning Issues in New Orleans. Our country in terms of Flood Risk Management is rediscovered recently as several American visits were paid to our country (US Army Corps of Engineers; Louisiana State representatives). How can we, Dutch professionals and experts, support our colleagues in New Orleans to develop both sustainable technical solutions and ideas of spatial planning. How can we achieve urban quality in New Orleans? How can we give the city both old and new identities? Rebuilding New Orleans has to happen fast. Many people can not return to their homes yet, because all kinds of city facilities are not in use or connected. The ruins of destroyed houses, schools, offices and other buildings still need to be cleaned in many areas of the city. Can urbanism also help to solve the major social disaster after Katrina, which is a black exodus from the poorest areas of New Orleans?

THE DOUGH
$4.2 billion more federal money will hopefully be flowing into Louisiana thanks to G-Dubya Bush's request to Congress today. Perhaps the people are finally getting noticed, the millions of Nola-lovers pushing for attention that the problem is not over and is unlikely to be fixed without the much needed support of the feds. Looks like vacation time's up for W. Keep it comin.

SEE YOU SOON NOLA… NINE DAYS AND COUNTING. BEST GRAS EVER, I CAN SEE IT NOW.

Mayor Ray Nagin's Chocolate City

2006-01-16T22:18:00.000-08:00

I love New Orleans and hope it fully recovers, the levees receive the attention they require (for a category 5, not a 3).

HOWEVER, I lost all respect today for New Orleans' mayor Ray Nagin. In a speech today, Martin Luther King, Jr., day this is what he said. Via Times-Picayune:

“It’s time for us to rebuild a New Orleans, the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans,” he said. “And I don’t care what people are saying in Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day.”

Nagin also said that last year’s devastating hurricanes were signs of God’s wrath.

“Surely God is mad at America,” he said.

(continued)

Besides respecting one another, Nagin said his listeners need to pay attention to God, who, Nagin said, expressed his anger at America last year by sending hurricane after hurricane over the land.

“Surely he’s not approving of us being in Iraq under false pretense,” Nagin said. “But surely he’s upset at black America also. We’re not taking care of ourselves, we’re not taking care of our women, and we’re not taking care of our children . . .”

PURE STUPIDITY.

Click here for full article.

My favorite picture

2005-12-15T13:11:00.000-08:00

a major American city will die

2005-12-14T08:16:00.000-08:00

From New York Times, December 11, 2005:

We are about to lose New Orleans. Whether it is a conscious plan to let the city rot until no one is willing to move back or honest paralysis over difficult questions, the moment is upon us when a major American city will die, leaving nothing but a few shells for tourists to visit like a museum.

We said this wouldn't happen. President Bush said it wouldn't happen. He stood in Jackson Square and said, "There is no way to imagine America without New Orleans." But it has been over three months since Hurricane Katrina struck and the city is in complete shambles.

There are many unanswered questions that will take years to work out, but one is make-or-break and needs to be dealt with immediately. It all boils down to the levee system. People will clear garbage, live in tents, work their fingers to the bone to reclaim homes and lives, but not if they don't believe they will be protected by more than patches to the same old system that failed during the deadly storm. Homeowners, businesses and insurance companies all need a commitment before they will stake their futures on the city.

At this moment the reconstruction is a rudderless ship. There is no effective leadership that we can identify. How many people could even name the president's liaison for the reconstruction effort, Donald Powell? Lawmakers need to understand that for New Orleans the words "pending in Congress" are a death warrant requiring no signature.

The rumbling from Washington that the proposed cost of better levees is too much has grown louder. Pretending we are going to do the necessary work eventually, while stalling until the next hurricane season is upon us, is dishonest and cowardly. Unless some clear, quick commitments are made, the displaced will have no choice but to sink roots in the alien communities where they landed.

The price tag for protection against a Category 5 hurricane, which would involve not just stronger and higher levees but also new drainage canals and environmental restoration, would very likely run to well over $32 billion. That is a lot of money. But that starting point represents just 1.2 percent of this year's estimated $2.6 trillion in federal spending, which actually overstates the case, since the cost would be spread over many years. And it is barely one-third the cost of the $95 billion in tax cuts passed just last week by the House of Representatives.

Total allocations for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on terror have topped $300 billion. All that money has been appropriated as the cost of protecting the nation from terrorist attacks. But what was the worst possible case we fought to prevent?

Losing a major American city.

"We'll not just rebuild, we'll build higher and better," President Bush said that night in September. Our feeling, strongly, is that he was right and should keep to his word. We in New York remember well what it was like for the country to rally around our city in a desperate hour. New York survived and has flourished. New Orleans can too.

Of course, New Orleans's local and state officials must do their part as well, and demonstrate the political and practical will to rebuild the city efficiently and responsibly. They must, as quickly as possible, produce a comprehensive plan for putting New Orleans back together. Which schools will be rebuilt and which will be absorbed? Which neighborhoods will be shored up? Where will the roads go? What about electricity and water lines? So far, local and state officials have been derelict at producing anything that comes close to a coherent plan. That is unacceptable.

The city must rise to the occasion. But it will not have that opportunity without the levees, and only the office of the president is strong enough to goad Congress to take swift action. Only his voice is loud enough to call people home and convince them that commitments will be met.

Maybe America does not want to rebuild New Orleans. Maybe we have decided that the deficits are too large and the money too scarce, and that it is better just to look the other way until the city withers and disappears. If that is truly the case, then it is incumbent on President Bush and Congress to admit it, and organize a real plan to help the dislocated residents resettle into new homes. The communities that opened their hearts to the Katrina refugees need to know that their short-term act of charity has turned into a permanent commitment.

If the rest of the nation has decided it is too expensive to give the people of New Orleans a chance at renewal, we have to tell them so. We must tell them we spent our rainy-day fund on a costly stalemate in Iraq, that we gave it away in tax cuts for wealthy families and shareholders. We must tell them America is too broke and too weak to rebuild one of its great cities.

Our nation would then look like a feeble giant indeed. But whether we admit it or not, this is our choice to make. We decide whether New Orleans lives or dies.

Click here for full article

American Failure.

2005-12-13T23:11:00.000-08:00

I have no more faith in this administration. I cannot throw anymore jokes or insults their way, because they are no longer a joke. Their preparation and response to our own domestic disasters has left more than a black-eye in the face of our great nation. The current government of the United States has turned its head to the bullet speeding, more accurately - creeping, towards us, of impending emergencies, with a mere "nervous tick motion of the head to the left."

And I see no hope in the future for any other administration of our current so-called democracy. Capitol Hill, whether democrat or republican, has become the equivalent of two rich fraternities, solely based on extremist views. There is a rift that has left a vast group of Americans who mean well, do well, and know well, with nobody to represent. With hundreds of people dead in the water, literally, in the Gulf of Mexico. With thousdans of loyal service men and women blown to pieces in the desert. I have no solution to offer. I would serve this country should my way of life for those around me come into jeopardy, but why can our own executive branch not do so now, already under oath? I will push on to make end's meet for myself, my family, my friends, and those in need when I can.

That is my only purpose as an American.

Chicago at 25.

2005-10-27T11:42:00.000-07:00

With the last few posts being the darkside of 2005, I can happily announce a new stage of my life with my move to Chicago and the landing of a new job at a web development firm, creators of sites for Atlanta Falcons, Notre Dame, The Field Museum, GE, and more. The picture above shows our offices, and its view over the northside and El train, eye-level to my design station. Its Thursday, almost Halloween, a few days away from seeing Wilco, and the White Sox just won the world series. Not a bad October so far.

Return to the Aftermath

2005-10-17T21:18:00.000-07:00

I documented the following photos and writing upon my return to New Orleans, October 8-14, 2005:

click here for Katrina Aftermath Photos

New Orleans... One Last Time

Back in the South, the capitol of the laid back, back-breakin lower United States, so close now to the lower ninth ward (one of fourteen or more), it’s hard to not step outside in the debris covered streets and ride it down into the Marigny where just a month ago I was listening to smoke-filtered brass bands mixed with the overflowing of spun hip-hop records, sirening in locals from all walks of life.

Meanwhile the other side of this auxiliary life which I briefly follow, I can’t help but stay inside, paying attention not only to the mold that hangs down from my ceiling like vines for Donkey Kong to swing from, forcing me to squat at Friend A to Friend B’s home, but once I’ve found an acceptable shelter, avoid going outside for fear of the federal military currently present.

Entering my old home, I must admit a sense of excitement – the same energy both me and my friends have felt upon each evacuation over the past many years. Yet now when the shit has actually hit the fan, I initially run, and have now returned to a pile of shit. I can’t believe how much I have, under my breath, asked for this to happen for the pure purpose of drama, national drama, that affects me. Now, as post-traumatic stress sets in while national guardsmen threaten to imprison me, M16s in-hand, the air strickens my breathing, I push those closest to me away, I can’t help but feel I brought this upon myself and those around me- more symptoms of P.T.S. I suppose.

Nonetheless, I cherish the people who are here, because not only are they under that fan that cast shit all over our lives, but they are here because they put faith in a city that is in the crosshairs of nature, a struggling economy, and a racist government that will hopefully in the near future receive deserved retribution and recognition.

The National Guard, the Army Corps of Engineers putting rooftops on people’s businesses and homes, the firemen, the doctors and nurses, the teachers, the construction workers, the entertainers, the service industry – to them I offer more respect than anyone here. However, this city will only thrive in the direction it was heading as of August 2005 if the people that make the local or small businesses stay or move back actually put their full effort into the great city of New Orleans. And for that reason, among all the rest, we should not ever again be considered “The Big Easy.” We were too easy with the situation in the levees, the coastline, and our way of life. It is time for an active, intelligent push for the big recovery.

That said, I am a horrible hypocrite. I have returned to this ravaged city in which I offer so much hope for one week only to help clean up what I can, get my instruments, and go north of the Mason-Dixon line. I have finally landed a job that provides me with enough substance to see a doctor, dentist, and pay my Loyola New Orleans loans off. And so, I weakly use this as my excuse to relocate to Chicago. With three days left in the greatest place in our country, I write now purely in hope that I can document what has happened here, what damage has occurred, what beautifully optimistic operations are in effect to fix this place, and what New Orleans is, was, and will still rise to become.

click here for Katrina Aftermath Photos

Even Vitter (R-Metairie) agrees

2005-09-02T13:58:00.000-07:00

Even David Vitter, a notoriously far right-winged Republican, is condemning our federal government and its horrible response to the past and present situation in New Orleans:

"I think FEMA has been completely dysfunctional and is completely overwhelmed, and I don't know why. This situation was utterly predictable," said Vitter, R-Metairie. "It seems like there was no coherent plan, which I don't understand because this precise scenario has been predicted for 20 years," he said.

Obviously the situation is potentially worse than ever imagined. The only answer now for people is to give to the Red Cross by donating money, volunteer time, or your blood. Everyone that would donate blood in the Big Easy is gone. They need your help. Thank you.

Au revoir ma maison.

2005-08-30T12:38:00.000-07:00

Nola's Weather Forum shows the homelessness, at best, for all of these refugee. This will be the last post on this blog for awhile while I drive to Atlanta, then Chicago, where I'll wait and think about things.

Love,
Nix

Katrina al-Qaeda

2005-08-29T15:45:00.000-07:00

My friend Adam just called Katrina a terrorist. I agree. Pure Al-Qaeda.

I'm comfortably chillin in a coffeeshop in Auburn, Alabama while a bunch of morons next to us joke about New Orleans being underwater. They're not too far off for parts of the city, but luckily the eye did not hit directly. Here's what we've found via people's blogs, local New Orleans news, etc. just on New Orleans:

• A whole brick building about 2 blocks from my house has supposedly collapsed with people in it. Although it doesnt seem much flooding occurred uptown, wind seems to have hit it pretty hard.

• Governor Blanco and a homeland security director have indicated the necessity to not return to our homes until further notice. This notice could come as late as a month from now according to them and the director of our electric services, Entergy, meaning we will wander this country until then.

• My friend Jose Posas' home is most likely underwater. The 9th Ward is under 5-10 feet of water after the industrial canal flooded via a 20-foot storm surge that also shut down 4 pumping stations to reverse any flooding.

• St. Bernard Parish has over 150 people stranded on their rooftops after flooding. Residents were told just prior to evac to bring axes to their attics for such a situation.

• Residents have been told not to drink any water, as it is contaminated.

I'll keep y'all posted. Thanks and pray for all the poor people that stayed.

Nix

Hurricane Katrina

2005-08-27T15:14:00.000-07:00

Katrina is coming to visit my home. I wish she wasn't, but I'll be staying to say hi, along with the things most important to me:

• my girlfriend
• my dog
• a boat
• my sword

90% of the people here should leave, but I am certain of my safety in my company's place (see a post below about the third floor penthouse). Stay tuned to my blog and I'll post pictures as I take them.

Click here to view the most updated, reliable (in my opinion) tracking of the storm, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Wohl Studio

2005-06-03T16:50:00.000-07:00

Josephine Penthouse
Originally uploaded by mnix21.

This the penthouse that holds my new design studio, owned by the Wohls. Email me if you want more pics, including some cool closeups of antique artwork.

Stupid Bird & Stupid Movie

2005-04-11T10:31:00.000-07:00

This weekend i went to the tip of Louisiana at Grand Isle. We caught some
crabs, catfish, bonfired, it was great. The best part was just as we arrived
I had to run straight to the ocean to grab a bird. Joe's fishing line had
wrapped around a seagull midair and I had to carry it back to shore while it
tried to peck my fingers off all the while my dog Dixie and Megan's dog Quincy were taking bites at it. It was hilarious. When we finally let it shake its
feathers and tossed it into the air, it flew for about 15 feet and then sank
back into the water from exhaustion. never saw it again after that.

Sunday, saw Friday Night Lights. Is that really how hardcore high school
football is in Tehas? Do they really put "For Sale" signs on your coaches lawn
when you'd lose? After a loss, did your daddy kick out the windows of your car to get fresh air because he was sick to the stomach like the times his daddy beat him with a bullwhip? Go Mojo Panthers. WHAT?!? overrated.

JPII Goin Home

2005-04-02T18:51:00.000-08:00

Today Pope John Paul II, previously named Karol Wojtyla, died.

As a primarily non-practicing Catholic I still felt a connection and sorrow to this news. I disagree with the Church on many issues and am not a good Catholic, so I wonder tonight why this news still hits home. I suppose partly because my family members are all devout Irish and German Catholics, my brother's studying to be a priest, and I was raised within such a culture.

Regardless, I realize a great man of peace has died, aside from religion and the institutional position he held. Here are the reasons you should care:

• A man who tried to break the factions of millions of Muslims, Jews, and Christians, focusing much of his career on the simple idea of peace. He has fought for peace between Palestine and Israel, both calling Jews "older brothers" and meeting with Yasser Arafat to stop civil war. B'nai B'rith and other Jewish organizations testify that he helped Jews find refuge from the Nazis.

•John Paul was intent on improving relations with Muslims. On a trip to Damascus, Syria, in May 2001, he became the first pope to step into a mosque.

• As Victor Simpson writes, "(He was) a man who had lived under both the Nazis and the Soviets, (loathing) totalitarianism, which he called 'substitute religion.'" He influenced Eastern Europe away from a faulty communism, while also condemning capitalist callousness.

"The Holy Father was a beacon of light not just for Catholics, but for all people."
- Former President Bill Clinton

Jetpack Lobbying

2005-01-07T14:05:00.000-08:00

Year after year I find another reason why scientists need to turn their focus to jetpacks. Seriously. I just got in a discussion with my friends about how animals knew the tsunami was coming and fled, but we're blind to it cuz of technology. But I say technology coulda helped... like with Jetpacks. For everyone.

BIGGEST DIGITAL PIC EVER

2004-11-19T07:57:00.000-08:00

This is the bomb . . . . a 2.5 Gigapixel image, its an extremely zoomed out shot of part of a city in Netherlands, allows you to zoom into single feet of buildlings. They took it using hundreds of high-res images, put it together over a duration of a few days using high-powered PCs. Here are the links, the bottom one is the actual image:

BBC NEWS SITE:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4022149.stm

First Gigapixel image:
http://www.tawbaware.com/maxlyons/gigapixel.htm

Biggest Gigapixel Image
Company SITE:
http://www.tpd.tno.nl/smartsite600.html

Actual SITE:
http://www.tpd.tno.nl/Pics/DII/gigazoom/Delft2.htm

Dead Iraqi children

2004-09-30T10:05:00.000-07:00

41 people today were killed in an insurgent attack in Baghdad today, including 35 children who were being given candy by American soldiers during their summer vacation. Bush and Kerry have their first face-to-face debate tonight, so I hope to God they mention or discuss these horrible specifics . . . . What did we get ourselves into?!?

Want to Fight?!?

2004-09-27T13:38:00.000-07:00

Hey,

My friend Ana just brought this to my attention: Congress is about to vote
on a bill that would REQUIRE every man and woman between the age of 18 and
26 to serve at least TWO YEARS of military service as part of homeland
security, to make sure we can all fight, shoot the horrible invaders, or
invade other countries that might have monsters in them. SOOOO, if you want
to read the actual bill go to http://thomas.loc.gov/ and type in "HR 163".
If you feel so inclined to do something about it, go to
http://www.congress.org and put in your zip code and then a form will come
up which you can email your senators and reps. asking them to make a bigger
deal about it in the newspapers, oppose it if you think they might, etc.
This all takes about 5 minutes.

I did and I hope you will too. I don't want to go into nine-weeks of boot
camp followed by ninety-five weeks of military service. Thanks!

Private Nix

P.S. If Kerry wins, Edwards has promised no draft. If Bush wins, he can
extend the service terms well past two years.

My friend in the Army

2004-09-23T01:31:00.000-07:00

So, here I am drinkin a few beers with Dave, a roomate with one of my roomates in college, Leith Edgar. Last time I checked, Leith was one of the most intellectual, but subversive to-the-point-of-anarchy friends I've had. The books I last remember on his bookshelf mostly consisted of anything from Mafia accounts to Howard Zinn.

Another friend, Lydia McCoy, who barely knows Leith calls me up about two weeks ago to inform me that Leith has left our hometown of Denver for Fort Jackson, South Carolina as a new soldier for the United States Army in nine-weeks of basic training.

While I'm not too sure what this post is about, I will say this: Having visited Fort Jackson's website, army.com, navy and air force's websites, and finally, GOARMY.com, I've come to realize how much our government has recently fought to turn us into the giant we currently are . . . and there will be no other direction than this. From higher rankings via college degrees to a section titled "Careers & Jobs" with a category titled "Arts & Media," under which civilians might notice the job "Guitar Player." This job, as well as my forte, graphic design, still requires the nine-week training camp, including sections called "Nuclear biological gas chamber training." Hmmmmmm.... Now when a GUITAR PLAYER's main goal is to keep up musical tradition for this fine armed force and general morale, what does the potential gas bombing drill have to do with it?

THEY WILL ALL GO TO WAR, KILL, OR DIE THEMSELVES, if our leaders decide so. "Multimedia Illustrator" means nothing if we go to another country, nor "Percussionist."

I trust in my friend Leith's choice to join the Army, I just hope he wasn't among the thousands of other Americans duped into this violence masked in cotton candy.

NIX

IndieNix Hurricane Blog

2004-09-15T01:05:00.000-07:00

Hello all... all zero of you that read my blog.

It's 1:40 AM on Wednesday, September 15, about 18 hours away from Hurricane Ivan crossing over my beautiful home of New Orleans. The hurricane about to rail the living beejesus out of Mobile and Gulfport is still for some reason reading in national headline news as a potential million-person disaster in this city. Here are some of the headlines:

DIRECT HURRICANE COULD SINK NEW ORLEANS - Apple and Netscape TOP NEWS story
BIG EASY BECOMES BIG QUEASY as ""The Big Easy became The Big Queasy as the usually laid-back party town worried about deadly Hurricane Ivan..." - CNN
NEW ORLEANS EMPTIES AHEAD OF IVAN - ABC News, mentioning the 1.2 million evacuees

Once you check the following link, is it possible that these experts paid by these media giants are simply asked to focus on the absolute worst, the absolute negative, when it is obviously much more likely (75%+ more) that this hurricane will not directly hit New Orleans? Make the judgment yourself based on these charts (updated every four to six hours), and if they're not-up-to-date, refresh or click back to their main link. Here it is:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_astorm9+shtml/150318.shtml?

The only solid source of information I can currently find is this National Hurricane Center info which offers straight-up, unbiased information via military aircraft and satellite imagery of approaching storms. Educated meteriologists at CNN, ABC, FOX, and anyone at the Associated Press have the right to their own interpretation, but I urge you to take your own to see why I specifically stayed here.

Funny that no news station offers this direct informational link. Either way, keep track of this monster, because if it doesn't hit New Orleans, it will hit other victims regardless of population, AND it could make some chaotic turn and this be my last email . . . for a few days while I rescue children and tiny baby kittens I may end up having to barbecue. :)

Thanks,
Mike Nix

Becca's Palestine Letter (pt. 2)

2004-08-05T12:13:00.000-07:00

I received another letter today from my friend in Palestine, who seems to be witnessing the beauty and actual truth of that part of the world that we're only shown the horrible atrocities and misrepresented actions... Here is her second letter:

Hello all!

Sorry it's
been a while since I've written in detail. Things are always so hectic and it's
hard to organize thoughts inbetween the ruckus the Israelis like to cause. Fortunately,
I haven't had to face another tragic incident like the one on July 19th when
Hussam was killed, but the threat is there every night. A few evenings ago five
vehicles arrived 1 Hummer, the rest Jeeps. The boys in the Hummer jumped out
several times as we were sandwiched with children between them atop the hill
and a Jeep below and shot a few "warning" shots (live fire) at the
neighboring homes. They only hesitated shooting at the kids when we all shouted
at the top of our longs to stop. Amazingly so, I never personally feel threatened--I'm
more concerned with having to carry off anotherdead child. That's why we spent
several hours yesterday making three banners with the message "Stop Killing
Balata's Children" in Arabic, English, and Hebrew. We'll use these as makeshift
roadblocks like the ones the boys set up at the end of the road preventing the
vehicles from leaving that way the other night.

Overall things
are quieting down--AND BY THE WAY please do not pay any attention to that "kidnapping"
that happened in Nablus. It's completely bogus and most likely framed by certain
politicians who are upset that they are no longer have certain authorities over
the security in Palestine. We still haven't received a clear story of what happened
and neither have the local Palestinians who are just as baffled as the rest
of the world. But we did receive a letter from Al Aqsa encouraging internationals
to stay in Nablus because these events are overstated and insignificant. I agree
and don't feel ANY threat from the community at all. We are looked after by
our coordinators and connections very well.

On another
note, I'm happy to say I am able to stay here for an extra three weeks--my new
return date is September 1st. There's much yet to be done here and I'm only
now comfortable and settled enough to do it. For those of you who I haven't
told, I've been directing an art project privately funded by a Belgian and an
established Palestinian architect Naseer Arafat for children ages 8-14. They
were each given a door rescued from demolished homes and mosques in the Old
City and were asked to paint what they feel as Palestinians--of course it wasn't
as simple as it sounds but the product and experience is no small matter. The
exhibition of doors entitled "Homeless Doors Speak" will be received
this Sunday the 8th by the Old City of Nablus and I'm working towards getting
it shown throughout Palestine and eventually abroad. Naseer has also requested
that I participate in future projects, but I'm not sure time will allow. This,
however, is the first project for the gallery he is creating in the building
he owns in the town center. He's been EXTREMELY helpful and wonderful to work
with--I can't wait for you all to see the short film I'll make on the project's
development.

That project
has been the therapy I needed after such an intense introduction to Palestine.
The children are wonderful and one Khetam had me over for lunch and tea at her
home in the mountainside near the university. Her family is rare--only three
children--and they are absolutely amazing. I met her grandmother first when
proposing the door project to the mothers a few weeks ago. And Khetam's mother
was just as wonderful. I get at least 20 invitations a day for tea, lunch, dinner,
a place to sleep. The Palestinian hospitality is RARE and TOUCHING.Everyone
was so excited when I told them of my extended stay. And several begged me to
take them with me wherever I go. I wish I could but I encourage them all to
stay and treasure Palestine because it is exactly that--a treasure. I wish I
could stay! Well, I have to prepare for another action. Please write--I haven't
heard from anyone in quite some time.Take care...I will!

Love,

Rebecca

Again, if at this point I've added to you to this blog and you don't want to be included, please email me and I'll remove you.

Thanks,

Nix

Becca's Palestine Letter (pt. 1)

2004-07-23T16:11:00.000-07:00

The following letter from a good friend in the New Orleans design community, also a fellow graduate from Loyola University, actually sparked my search for a blog site to post this first meaningful message. I must also give a shout out to Paul Cella for pointing me out to the site and whole blog scene. On to the blog:

Becca Rapp is a 22-year old social activist and member of New Orleans Human Rights Delegation to Palestine, where she will be for the next few weeks. Before I offer my take on the whole messy situation in the Holy Land, I hope this letter / journal entry gives you an insight not only into my opinion on the abuse the United States is partially responsible for, but may it also open your eyes to the reality of daily life which no Western media corporation will ever show you:

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Beginning my third day in Nablus was simple enough. We met with a Palestinian
friendship alliance working towards improving international relations,
including assisting Palestinian students with scholarships and foreign exchange
programs. The situation in Balata was unpredictable but turned into a near 24
hour occupation of homes and main entrances into the camp. Through sources in the
camp, we learned of four homes occupied by Israeli soldiers during the night.
Homes have most recently been occupied for two reasons: to survey the
landscape for invasion or to plan assassinations of Palestinian occupants of
neighboring homes. During these secretive operations in the night, the soldiers
use force to invade dwellings usually housing at least two families, forcing the
families into one space for countless hours without food, drink, or fresh air.
They become illegally imprisoned in their own homes.

Our goal as internationals is ultimately to protect the families inside by
offering medical/health attention with the hope of forcing the soldiers to leave
the homes. In many cases, we work closely with the Palestinian Medical Relief
Center in seeking first aid for the Palestinians.

Our first target home housed three families with estimates of 20-25 people
inside including at least 12 children. Five internationals including myself
decided to take action early in the afternoon. It is more risky for Palestinians
to be involved in these situations, so our Palestinian contacts remained in the
background as our support. We began our action by introducing ourselves as
unarmed internationals concerned about the families inside. Shouting out from
different points around the three story house, we tried to get the soldiers
cooperation but they stayed hidden inside behind closed windows and curtains.
The metal double doors securing the home had bits of glasses shattered where the
soldiers apparently broke in and cut the wires that secure the lock. But there
was no way for us to get in.

We tried to "be polite" and use the buzzer, but of course, there was no
success. Our 60 second decision was to make as much noise as possible to get the
soldiers' attention. While one activist rpeatedly buzzed up to the flats, I and
another activist grabbed shoes from piles that lined the alley and began
banging. An armored jeep showed up about fifteen minutes after our initial
arrival and said they will not allow us entry and that we must leave. Meanwhile
Palestinians lined the street opposite the home with much anxiety, but in total
support of our actions. We weren't ready to give up and reassumed our positions
banging and shouting. The jeep returned shortly after and threatened to shoot
everyone on the street if we did not leave and drove off after tossing a sound
bomb into the street. Immediately we phoned media contacts to inform them of
the situation--that soldiers had literally threatened to shoot a crowd
consisting mainly of children if we did not leave the scene of an illegal home
occupation.

The Jeep returned a third time accompanied by another Jeep and a Hummer (used
to load up soldiers), collected their soldiers (the exact number unclear),
and left the scene. We immediately went upstairs with our cameras and found all
the families--25 people ranging from infancy to at least 70 years
old)--terrified with the arms held up in the air coming out of a room in the
second floor flat. The room was windowless and about 8'x 10'. The room temperature was at
least 100 degrees and they were stuck there for 16 hours. Another room in the
house was ransacked, bed broken into pieces, and the father of the family told
us that the soldiers stole 700 shekels, money he had saved for his children.
They were very grateful for our and the community's help in getting them
released. Fortunately, all were unharmed and managed to find enough nourishment
for everyone in the stash of candy they had in one corner of the room.

Our day didn't end there. Jeeps had already been at one of the camp, doing
nothing but antagonizing the people of Balata with their armed presence. As the
day progressed, the people began to show resistance. Stones began to fly, but
one thing I never realized before coming here was that these "stones" were
really not stones at all but bits and pieces of homes that were demolished by
the soldiers themselves. It was sickening to see the Jeeps--as much as three at
one time--circling the streets, only to fired rounds in the air and tear gas
into the small crowd accomplishing nothing but the destruction of their own
vehicles that are paid for by the US dollar. I'm curious to know the turnover
rate of Jeeps in Israel.

In the later evening we received a phone call of another occupied home with a
pregnant woman at full term inside. A new negotiating team approached the
home and after several hours of pleading for their release, the soldiers finally
left. Again, fortunately, no one was harmed.

Throughout the evening, children were pulling on my sleeve yelling, "Jaesh,
jaesh!" (Soldier, soldier!) hoping that I would be able to do something to
force them to leave. But there was nothing more to do than document their
presence and pray that no one would be seriuosly injured. By the end of the evening
one boy was shot in his back with a rubber bullet, but after treatment in the
ambulance awaiting such cases or worse, he was released with minor injuries. The
day was long and stressful for everyone, but the Palestinians expressed their
gratefullness for being present.

ANOTHER DAY:

The following day was no less stressful. Nablus was completely shut down for
those coming and going. For seven+ hours in the sun people waiting at both
Hurawa and Beit Furik checkpoints. The numbers at Hurawa alone amounted to over
500. When we arrived at 6:30 pm to assess the situation, it was complete chaos.
Both soldiers and border police were present, using their vehicles as
baracades, continuously thrusting them into the crowds not caring if a child was
standing in front of them. The soldiers immediately identified a couple
internationals with cameras and went after them--either brought them down to the
ground and kicked them or tried to run over them with their Jeeps.

Babies were crying in their mothers' arms, older women and men were sitting
on the rocks with their canes propped up next to them. And on either side of
the line that was busting out of the concrete walls, men and women were being
pulled aside and beaten for no reason. The entire checkpoint was surrounded by
soldiers and M16's pointed at the heads of Palestinians with no discrimination
or purpose. When were finally able to confront the soldiers with their
reasoning for closing the checkpoint, they could only say, "I can't say. There's
a situation." The only information we were able to gather was that they were
looking for someone. At about 8:00 pm they began to let women and children
through. At that point, two internationals were arrested without cause.

With the cooperation of many Palestinians, several activists worked
tirelessly to see to it that a young man--21 years old--with X-rays and
paperwork in his hands could pass immediately because he was was experiencing severe kidney
problems and infections. An activist with medical training tried to express the
condition to the soldies, but they were not interested and refused saying the
only way he would pass is if he was in an ambulance. The surrounding men even
promised that no one else would ask for special permission if they would let
this man through, but the soldiers still refused.

That was the story for the rest of the night. Ambulances were denied access
to opposite sides of the checkpoint, as well families in cars. We left the
scene at 1:00 am when there were 10 vehicles left for inspection,and just barely
after all of the detainees (amounting to 150)were released to cross. The two
internationals that were arrested were seen at a hearing today where their
release was granted--much to our surprise.

There is much more to discuss from these situations and I know that I have
been very descript, but it is hard to edit such stories, especially knowing that
many of you have not had the opportunity to see this first hand. I will write
more when I have the chance. Please give permission to any media to contact
me at any time. The phone works well in certain areas, and not at all in
others, but it is still a valuable tool.

In solidarity,

Rebecca

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

-M. Nix New Orleans, LA

First Blog EVER!

2004-07-22T16:58:00.000-07:00

Since no one I'm sure will end up reading this for days or weeks, this post will be short and pointless until I inform more people of my new blog. Word.