Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Mostly quiet on the southern front

After accepting the position at Louisville, I fell into a bit of a funk. I guess, when it comes down to it, I was weighing how "worth it" it was to remain invested in my final month or so here. I have oodles of free time now and there's so much on the domestic front to do to prepare to leave. But, this is the time of year, too, when people come out of their hibernations and start having fun. For a week or so, I just hid out. Bought some boxes, did some packing, destroying the apartment in the process. But then I realized I had two options, I could stay in hiding and quietly slink out of town, or I could go out, be with people, and take the risk of making and/or cementing friendships that it will make me incredibly sad to leave.

So, in the past few days I've tried the social thing. I went to the aquarium with a friend from work. She's a science teacher. We walked from her house, a few blocks away, to La Boulangerie (french bakery) Sunday morning and then took the bus from there. The aquarium had just opened on Friday, and it was crowded, but it wasn't bad. I'd been planning on going anyway, but I was so happy to have gone with her. It made it seem not so weird that I was all weepy and choked up because she was too. We made a bee-line for the penguins. I can't tell you how happy it made me to see them. And a little sad, too. A little sad to be there knowing what devastation the aquarium had seen just nine months ago. Actually more than “a little,” but you just have to try to push beyond that and be happy that its back. But even though it looks basically “normal” again, there’s no real way to totally get rid of the fact that I know what happened there, and what happened was horror.

I imagine it will always be the same way with the Superdome and the Convention Center too. I can’t drive by the Convention Center without a chill of the willies.

Then the science teacher and I had lunch at Fiorella’s in the Quarter and headed back home. It was such a nice day. She’s such a nice person. And she reads this blog, so it’s strange to write about her, so I won’t. I’ll just say that it was one of the nicest afternoons I’ve had in a really long time. Perfect way to spend a Sunday.

And then that evening I met an emerging friend from the MFA program for drinks. (I know, two social events in a single day, what’s the world coming to?). It was a night that could have gone either way. We’ve only talked in twenty minute spurts before class or during the breaks in class. But he was, hands down, the best writer in the class, and we have lots of things in common. And I’ll be damned if we didn’t spend four hours drinking beer and chatting. And he’s exactly the kind of person I was thinking about when I worried about making new friends I’d be sad to leave. Absolutely one of the most fascinating people I’ve met in a long time.

Now that I think about it, it’s strange to write about anybody else in this blog. I’d love to be specific, talk about what makes this guy so unusual… and people do it all the time, don’t they? Talk openly about their lives (which I do) and the people in their lives on their blogs? Isn’t that what blogs are for? I guess I talk a little about Jason, but not in specific ways. And he lives with me. It’s kind of hard not to.

Anyway, I forgot how nice it can be to meet a new person. The MFA program has yielded at least three, maybe four or five, new friends. It’s been a long time since I really got to know a new person. And in the past four months or so, I’ve had around three unforgettable, long conversations. That’s precious. Those multiple-hour getting-to-know-you conversations. On the upside, hopefully the move to Louisville will give me more opportunity for those.

Monday night I met a bunch of the MFA-ers for drinks. We used to meet after Fiction class at the Parkview Tavern, and we’ve continued the tradition since classes ended. I got there late, around 1030p or so, and the crowd was already in full form. Within an hour or so of me getting there, someone had broken out a set of bocce balls and started a game on the neutral ground. Apparently this happens frequently, but I’ve always had to leave early to teach. I didn’t participate, but it made me happy knowing that after midnight there were people lawn bowling on the neutral ground.

At the Parkview, I finally met Josh Clark (see, I feel like I can mention his name because he’s already a “public figure”). Turns out he used to work at Flanagan’s, the bar downstairs from where Blake used to run his guesthouse. He actually knew Blake and reminded me of this crazy story from when we first started dating. There was a guy who rented a room for an entire summer (at least I think it was a summer) and the guy turned out to be a hit man from Canada in hiding. Anyway, it’s about time I met Josh. He knows Jas, he published French Quarter Fiction in which my friend Lorin has a story, and he used to date the mom of a student of mine who I was particularly close to. And, of course, I’m sure I saw him at Flanagan’s. (In case you aren’t familiar with the name, he’s a local publisher/writer type. Wrote a particularly scandalous piece for Salon.com from the trenches right after Katrina. Basically your run-of-the-mill local literary celebrities. But if you haven’t bought French Quarter Fiction yet, it’s damned good. And his introduction is really damned good.)

Other than that, have had some long talks with school folks. Seems like most of them are shocked that I’ve been so gracious considering the circumstances. Even my close friends. And it’s made me realize a couple of things. First of all, I’ve always known that I have a bit of reputation for being a “rabble rouser.” It’s never bothered me. I’m a convicted person and I stand behind my convictions, and I think that’s okay. So I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that people thought I would raise holy hell over being basically laid off. But the little demon on my shoulder tells me that if I am such a convicted person, why didn’t I raise a bit more of a ruckus? I can’t remember who I said this to, but I recently compared it to being in a bad relationship. Why fight to stay in a relationship when the other person clearly doesn’t care about YOU? (I’ve done that before, so the question isn’t entirely rhetorical.) I’ve heard the same thing from too many people: “You should be more pissed off than you are.”

And in retrospect, I suppose the one thing that really does piss me off was that the fate of my employment seems to have been decided by one or maybe two people who have consistently shown poor judgment in other aspects as well. I mean, if this were “Survivor” and the faculty had gotten to vote someone off the island, I’m sure I wouldn’t be going. But it wasn’t democratic, and that’s the way businesses work.

That being said, those one or two people are in charge, and they continue to make what I feel are really bad choices. Some of the school folk have said, “It may just be that you’re getting out before the shit really hits the fan.” And I lean toward believing them. But even in my most bitter moments, I don’t want that to happen. I still love the school (just like I’ve still loved some crappy boyfriends). And I want the school to see a post-Katrina renaissance. The girls deserve that, and so do the fantastic faculty. (Although, I wouldn’t mind seeing a bloodless coup evolve)

Speaking of coups, I’m just digging Al Gore these days. I heard part of an interview with him on Fresh Air today. Terry Gross asked him, basically, why he relatively gracefully accepted defeat after the Supreme Court ruling in 2000, and he said, (I’m paraphrasing), “I decided to accept the rule of law. Once you take it to the judiciaries, and they rule against you, your only option after that is a coup.” Man, I would have liked to have seen that. I would have been out there with my pitchfork.

I don’t know. I just don’t think I’m a Hillary Clinton kind of gal. Joe Biden knocked my socks off on some interview or another, but I don’t know enough about the guy. I think I’d be behind a second-coming of Gore. Seems to me he’s developed both a mission and a sense of humor since 2000. The two things noticeably absent from his campaign. Kerry? What was I thinking? I’ll tell you what I was thinking: Get Bush the hell out of here. Seriously though, Kerry wasn’t all bad. And I do honestly believe that this city would be in far better shape now, and would have been in far, far, far better shape on August 30, if Kerry had been in office. How do I know? It couldn’t BE worse. He HAD to have done better. Even if he’d spent August 28-September 10 on his yacht in Nantucket. Seriously. He would have done less harm by windsurfing.

How bad is it? Well, hurricane season is less than 48hours away. And although I live in one of the best neighborhoods in the city, one of the dry areas, the “sliver on the river” as it were, if you turn the corner from my house and walk a block, there is still a two story house, flattened. The roof is on the ground, and you can still see the kitchen cabinets. The front porch of the house still leans against the house next door. It’s been nine months. And outside the bar that we go to every week, you can still play bocce ball on the neutral ground at midnight. Because there’s no traffic, no street cars, and few people home. It’s charming in some ways, and horrifying in others.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Current Events

Apparently, I'm blogging again.

Big doin's today in the ChipSitz household. Not all good, unfortunately. We'll start with the bad news.

Today as I was digging up documents to apply for a loan, I checked my bank account balance online and discovered that some knucklehead has kidnapped my debit card number and charged over $3500. All in the past two days. Around $750 in pre-paid phone cars and online subscriptions (read: porn) and the rest in-- get this-- gemstones! So maybe he's (perhaps I shouldn't assume it is a "he") is dialing up the online ladies and then buying them jewelry?

I'm not in panic mode yet. Brien at my local branch of my bank was aghast and immediately freezed my account. He swears that the bank will have the funds back in my account on Thursday and then investigate from there. Ah... credit card fraud. I just have to trust that things will work out. Otherwise, I'd be hurling my dinner right now.

A warning to any of my NOLA friends who may still be reading my blog: Do NOT keep your SBA loan $ in your debit card account. Thank GOODNESS, I transferred $4000 of it to my savings account and used another $4000 to pay down some credit cards. Otherwise, Mr. Lucky Bling-Bling might have drained me of $8000 more.

That being said, the good news is that I've been preapproved for a home loan of $120K with a 5% down payment. I had NO idea that all this could happen so quickly! I've been emailing back & forth with a real estate agent, and she seems to be "getting" my taste (slowly). It may very well be that I won't have to find temporary housing while I look for a place. If things slow down, Jas & I can live with his family for a wee bit while we close on something.

This will be my house, though. At least for now. If I'd needed help securing a loan, Jas would have gone in with me, but seeing that I can get one myself, it seems like a better idea to not make this investment together. Should we permanent-ize the relationship some day, we can change stuff as need be.

Discovered today that Louisville is #7 on America's Most Livable Large Cities. That makes me happy. Any city that produced Maker's Mark, Muhammad Ali, Hunter S. Thompson, Bob Edwards, Diane Sawyers, Johnny Depp, Ned Beatty, and WC Handy can't be all bad. Okay, it produced Tom Cruise, too... I'll just have to believe that that's a hiccough.

If anyone has any advice about buying a home, let me know. I know NOTHING, and I have to admit I don't even know what questions to ask this mortgage guy. He just seems so nice... I'm afraid I'm being a sucker. But the interest seems good, and the fees are acceptable... Anyway, let me know.

I've had too much coffee and it's 9:30pm. I should go home and decompress.

Monday, May 22, 2006

Patience!


I know, I know... suddenly I've become "blog girl" again. I don't know what comes over me sometimes. But I just got an email from the Audubon Aquarium. Today Patience (the world's cutest and tamest penguin), her 18 penguin friends, and the gigantic sea otters Buck & Emma are headed back home from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Via Fedex! And you can track them like packages!

If you don't think that's one of the sweetest things you've ever heard, there's something wrong with you. Have a nice day!

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Clowns and Cows and Gandhi


After listening to talk radio today, I realize that my previous post may be confusing. Sigh. There's some among us now who are griping about Nagin's win (understandable) and feel as though his Gandhi statement implied that he was "comparing himself" to Gandhi. Sigh. He was not. Lord. It was just a good quote. Really.

So, for the record, everyone in my household voted for Nagin. In fact, I'm pleased to say that my household was nearly 100% in accord with the election results (I voted for Councilwoman Renee Gill Pratt; Jas voted for Stacey Head. Head won.).

As far as I'm concerned, some random guy-on-the-street on the evening news explained best why one would vote for Nagin. He said, "I kind of like the fact that he puts his foot in his mouth every once in a while. It just goes to show you that he's not all talking points." Nagin is the most honest politician this city (or state) has seen since I've lived here, and I'm sure the old timers could go back decades before they could find another honest man or woman.

Today I bought a new laptop. For the first time in years, I'm in charge of my own technology acquisitions. After spending an embarrassingly long time researching, I basically impulse-purchased a Gateway MX 3228 at Best Buy. So far, so good. I've named her "Clarabelle." Because she's a Gateway and that sounds like a cow's name-- in fact, I think there was a cow named Clarabelle on some kid's cartoon or something-- and Lew Anderson who played Clarabelle the Clown (above) ... ah, I don't know why I bother to explain these things.

I've sent some emails out to real estate agents in Louisville. We'll see how that goes. It's a little scary, but I'm just about fed up with being a renter. And in L-ville it's almost ludicrous to rent. The rentals are actually more than most mortgage payments-- at least the payments I'd be looking at.

Other than that, I am patently ignoring the fact that I am leaving this city soon. Jason and I had a nice LONG night out on Thursday, hitting a lot of our favorite French Quarter haunts. Cafe du Monde. Flanagan's. Molly's. Coop's for dinner. Crescent City Brewpub. Harrah's (yes, we're both closet gamblers). We even hit a new place-- an all night diner called Huey's. Well, it was new to us. I successfull blocked out the whole "this could be the last time..." dark and drearies. After all, we generally do a late night in the Quarter just about every month or so. Why should this be different? But still.

It's the physical move itself that has me in knots. We are a shockingly packratty couple. Our home is packed to the rafters with stuff. And while I am the messier of the two, by far, Jason is absolutely married to every gram of stuff that he's accumulated. I would just as soon chuck 90% of my stuff than move it. We still have a gawdawful uglissimo silk flower display that he took from his grandmother's funeral in 2002. Okay, maybe he can keep that one. But trust me, there's some crap...

Anyway, back to a safer topic: politics. Yesterday morning Jason joked that we shouldn't vote now that we knew we were leaving. It was a joke, but still, I can't help but think of all those displaced voters-- more than 24K of them, who may not be returning. I'm so glad those absentee votes were nearly perfectly split (Nagin got around 175 more). Otherwise, we'd be in election-challenge hell right now. As it is, there's enough grumbling and griping to go around, but at least things can move ahead.

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Four More Years!


Nagin quotes Gandhi in acceptance speech: "First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. And then you win."

Thursday, May 18, 2006

My New Kentucky Home

It is with both a heavy heart and a renewed sense of excitment about my future that I report that I have accepted the position in Louisville.

It will take some time to fully sink in, but I am really happy with the decision. In the end, I had to decide between four job offers, none of which would have been a "bad" choice. I do think I made the best choice I could have made.

Thanks to all for the love and support.

I will always be a New Orleanian, though.

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Decision time looms

By this time in three days, I will have made the decision about where I will be spending the next X years of my life. Part of me is really excited. Part of me wants to burrow into a hole somewhere, sleep for days, and hope that in my absence someone makes the decision for me.

The bad news is that none of the possibilities seem Fabulous. The great news is that none of the possibilities seems like a Bad Choice. All have their pros and cons. And as cowardly as this may seem, I am hoping that one of the possibilities comes through with the proverbial “offer that I can’t refuse” so the decision is easy and brainless.

So, here are the top three contestants in the Where’s This All Leading To? Contest. Presented in no specific order. Actual school names obscured because I’ve seen too many news articles about people getting in deep doo for blogging about jobs.

Contestant One: Miss Washington DC
Miss DC is the only wholly known entity in the group. I’ve been offered the job and the financials have been discussed. Miss DC is a very prestigious all-girl’s school (the only all-girl’s school in the lot) in the heart of the city. The job would be teaching 10th and 11th grade English. The money offered represents nearly a 50% increase in my wages. Unfortunately those are in DC dollars and not New Orleans dollars. Regardless, it means a small step up for me financially.

Miss DC’s reputation is as a very competitive, very affluent school. She’s gorgeous and has excellent, impressive facilities. I loved her faculty; they were young, brilliant, and enthusiastic. Her English Department Chair is so sweet that if I do say no, I will feel incredibly sad.

The pros:
1) The school represents a big step up on the prestige ladder. The school’s name is one that is very recognizable.
2) DC is a great city. There are too many pros to list about DC.
3) I would be in the same city as my cousin Sarah and her husband. Instant social life and renewed family life.
4) It’s a 7 hour drive or a long Amtrak ride home or to Boston and my mother and Sarah’s parents could rideshare to visit.

The cons:
1) Though there’s a 50% increase in my pay, my rent would go up 100% easily.
DC traffic and commuting… nightmare to this girl who’s had a 5 minute commute for 5 years.
2) DC IS a great city… but I have my qualms about whether it’s MY city. Lots of suits, lots of yuppies, not very much in the way of bohemia and arts community.

Contestant Two: Miss Louisville, Kentucky.
The dark horse contestant. I’m not exaggerating when I say I was trying to think up an excuse NOT to visit this school from the moment I said that I would. Right up through getting off the plane and checking into the hotel. Hoped I’d get sick. Hoped I’d get in a car accident (minor, no injuries) on the way to the airport.

And yet… Miss KY is a co-ed, Pre-K-12 school. Once an all girl’s school, it went co-ed in the 70’s and celebrated its 90th anniversary this year. Incredible campus with a brand new, high tech upper school building. The job is teaching 11th grade and a Composition elective. A little bigger than my current school. There’s a big “changing of the guard” going on—new headmaster next year and new upper school head. They seem to be heading in good directions. Very much like the high school that I attended—similar vibe all around.

I have not actually received an offer, but I believe one is forthcoming. It will be a blow if they call me on Tuesday and say, “We changed our minds.”

The pros:
1) The real selling point here—hold your hats, folks—is Louisville. I was shocked to find that Louisville is gorgeous (despite the fact that it rained the whole time I was there) and has a thriving arts scene.
2) The cost of living in Louisville is so attractive that I think we ALL should move there. If I moved, I would not be looking to rent, but to buy a house.
3) These folks have pursued me relentlessly and paid every expense that I incurred to visit.
Unless they offer me what I make currently or less, this will be a step up in lifestyle for me.
4) Louisville is 70 miles away from Jason’s family. And Kentucky is really convenient to a lot of neat places.
5) Miss KY offers its faculty very impressive development scholarships. Just about everyone on the faculty that I met had “just gotten back” from studying mythology in Greece or poetry in Tibet or culture in Japan. They’re instituting an exchange program with China in 2006-07 and two of the faculty I was working with were leaving for China on Wednesday.

The cons:
1) It’s still Kentucky, folks.
2) The faculty is amazing, but older and very established. This would not be the same “instant family” that my school was or that Miss DC might be.
3) Um, there’s still the issue that there is not yet an offer on the table for me.

Contestant Three: Miss Local
Miss Local is a co-ed, Pre-K-12 school in the suburbs of New Orleans. Despite the proximity, I knew very little of the school before I went for two days of interviews. It is, I’m afraid, the least impressive of the schools and would represent a lateral move for me. The job is 10th grade and yearbook advisor. It’s a more low-key position than any of the others because yearbook is a class, but with little prep for me. It’s a competitive school with good use of technology and a lovely campus.

There’s no money on the table. I’ll find out their offer tomorrow at 2pm. I doubt that they will offer less than what I am currently making. The problem is that I’d rather not stay where I am, apartmentwise, and rents have increased by 50% in New Orleans. I’m not 100% sure I CAN stay where I am, as my landlord is a nutcase.

The pros:
1) Staying in New Orleans. And while that’s the only major pro, it’s so important to me in so many ways.

The cons:
1) Lateral move.
2) What if, God forbid, there’s another hurricane?
3) It’s a 20 minute commute at least for me right now.

So that's the contest, folks. Feel free to weigh in with your advice between now and Wednesday. As I said, perhaps Miss KY or Miss Local will make an offer that I cannot refuse. Miss DC's offer was good, but I can refuse it.

I'll post my decision shortly after it's made.