Thumpety Thump Thump

Wednesday, snow day:

Today I have a follow-up story about the shooting. The club reopened for the first time last night. Here's my take on it.

Chinese New Year

Ev bought us all dinner! Catie loved the scallion pancakes:

A year ago, Rob Finch and I worked on a story about Portland-area Krumpers . On Saturday night, one of those teenage dancers was shot in what was the biggest mass shooting spree in Portland's history. He's okay -- a bullet blew through his right ankle, breaking two bones -- but he's not sure if he'll be able to dance the same way again.

Today, I had a front-page story on him.

Jalontae, 16, and Dominique, 19:

We Looked Like Giants

Seriously, I got paid to work here the other day:







These are taken with the office point-and-shoot, no zoom

Boots Boy [outtake]

Here's a part that didn't make the podcast. I asked my mom about a time her grandpa dressed up as Boots Boy. Her response is, well, funny:



Or, download it, here

Boots Boy

This is a podcast I made, featuring my grandma and mom, about "Boots Boy." He was an elderly black man that absolutely horrified my mother growing up. In this episode, they recount old horror stories of boots boy, and my mom figures out why he scares her. I made the music for it in Garage Band:




Or, download it HERE (right click / save as)

The view from Q's window

Recent food endeavors

Ev and I made homemade pizza!



We wanted to go all the way in perfecting, but every store was out of pizza stones!

I also made miso soup, but I wouldn't say it was completely delicious.

Remnants IV

taken by Q:

A letter to Cutter Buck

Dear good people of Cutter Buck,
Once upon a time (we're talking half a decade ago), I purchased a nice golfy jacket for my dad from your company. Since then, I have lived in seven different addresses. Still, you find me. I never asked to be on your mailing list. I didn't update you when I moved from Mississippi to Missouri to Kansas to Washington then finally to Oregon. Still, your catalogs come every two weeks. Absent is a yellow "forwarded address" sticker. Oh no, Cutter Buck, you just find me.

See what's funny, Cutter Buck, is the federal government couldn't find me. Again, long ago, they sent me a letter saying my loans were deferred as I went to graduate school. Little did I know, I had a second loan. The feds insist they tried to reach me, tried to send me bills, but I was *unfindable.* Moving so often does that. Those loans defaulted. After a year of 19.5 percent interest rates (getting out of default is hard), I'm wondering if you, Cutter Buck, could try running the federal government for a bit.

While you're at it, I'm wondering if you could quit sending me catalogs. While I'm sure they're worthwhile for thousands of people, I, Cutter Buck, will never ever (seriously -- as long as I live) buy something from you again. I'm a petite 20something, more likely to buy skinny jeans and striped sweaters than a golf pullover. And I don't buy the same gift twice, so my dad's not getting another Cutter Buck product. I'm not the most environmentally conscious person in the world, but I'm also not the worst. And I feel guilty when I pull your thick catalogs out of my tiny mailbox and deposit them directly into my recycling. I imagine it's hard on my mailman, too, fitting them in there biweekly.

So, to sum up, I have two requests: Please quit mailing me catalogs and please help the federal government learn how to find people so their loans don't default.

Respectfully,
Casey Parks


PS: Oops, I just realized you have an ampersand in your name.

First person: Lauren

Lauren talks about being an exotic dancer, a fisherman, a celloist and a bird preservationist.


First person: Lauren from Casey Parks on Vimeo.

"I like doing pole tricks ... It's a lot more than giving some nasty old man a private dance in the back room."

Kuma, defying the law

Washington Park in Winter, January 09:

Ra Ra Riot

I love this song, Can You Tell:



Or, download The Song .

I grow old, I grow old

T.S. Eliot wrote that at 23. At 25.6, I'm besting him. Catie took this photo last night. That's me as a little girl in the picture, and me as a big girl in the horizon.

Remnants III

New Years Eve, fast-forwarded [part I]

New Years Eve began with friends at a dinner party and portraits. Pictures fast-forwarded:


New Year's Eve 2008 from Casey Parks on Vimeo.

First person: Louise

My grandmother talks about life on Frog Island in Franklin Parish, Louisiana -- from seeing UFOS to her first box of cornflakes to quicksand.


First person: Louise Carter from Casey Parks on Vimeo.