tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51227959338053600832024-03-13T04:22:46.868-07:00[seconds and decades]"Anyone who believes that a second is shorter than a decade did not live my life."
- JSFCPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.comBlogger1064125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122795933805360083.post-18245430887549482022015-12-18T18:49:00.001-08:002015-12-18T18:49:08.434-08:00Then we came to the endAfter eight years of sharing stories, photos and videos here, I have decided to close the blog. I started Seconds and Decades in a different generation of journalism. I was in my mid-20s with nothing but time. These days, every minute is spoken for. I started because I wanted to be better, because I wanted to produce work that was meaningful to me. Back then, I was deep in small town city council coverage. These days, I am writing the stories that matter to me. Work can be a tough slog, but it's fulfilling. <br />
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Thanks to all who let me photograph their things or video them talking about chin hair, baking or coming home from war. I have a new website now! It's light on bloggage, but I'll be posting my favorite songs and albums there soon. Check it out. <br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="http://www.caseyparks.com/" title="website"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/707/23542141830_48f7861bb5_k.jpg" width="600" height="330" alt="website"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>CPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122795933805360083.post-26161452556213551582015-11-02T16:18:00.004-08:002015-11-02T16:18:39.004-08:00I want to be good to myself (continued)A second slate of Trouble teasers, inspired by the Matthew Dickman poem.<br />
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<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/144302677" width="580" height="326" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="https://vimeo.com/144302677">Good to myself: Manu De La Torre</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/caseymparks">Casey Parks</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p><br />
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/144304712" width="580" height="326" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="https://vimeo.com/144304712">Good to myself: Sully Alataar</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/caseymparks">Casey Parks</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p><br />
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/144305049" width="580" height="326" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="https://vimeo.com/144305049">Good to myself: Barbara Kinzle</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/caseymparks">Casey Parks</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>CPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122795933805360083.post-19015317595044807112015-11-01T14:56:00.000-08:002015-11-01T14:56:13.156-08:00I want to be good to myself.We're working on a few-years delay here, but Ryan Kost and I are releasing a short film inspired by a Matthew Dickman poem. As a preview, here are three character sketches based on the poem's final stanzas. <br />
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<i>"In the morning I get out of bed, I brush<br />
my teeth, I wash my face, I get dressed in the clothes I like best.<br />
I want to be good to myself." - Matthew Dickman</i><br />
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<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/143817576" width="580" height="326" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/143817576">Good to myself: Nancy Wong</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/caseymparks">Casey Parks</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p><br />
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/143818593" width="580" height="326" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/143818593">Good to myself: Bonden Lyons</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/caseymparks">Casey Parks</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p><br />
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<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/143820631" width="580" height="326" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/143820631">Good to myself: Luc Smith</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/caseymparks">Casey Parks</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>CPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122795933805360083.post-52216761571430126522015-05-10T06:00:00.000-07:002015-05-10T06:00:06.945-07:00Pray the gay away? <b><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/caseymparks/17277576459" title="Portland Fellowship by Casey Parks, on Flickr"><img src="https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7727/17277576459_473345ddc5_z.jpg" width="580" height="387" alt="Portland Fellowship"></a></b><br />
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<i>"My continuing passion is to part a curtain, that invisible veil of indifference that falls between us and that blinds us to each other's presence, each other's wonder, each other's human plight.” - Eudora Welty</i><br />
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My role as a journalist is to introduce readers to people they may not see. Usually that means 'parting the curtain' on marginalized communities, but occasionally it also means delving into the lives of those on the other end of the fringe. Right now, Oregon and other states are considering a ban on conversion therapy for young people. As people in Oregon testified, they frequently spoke of one local group, Portland Fellowship. I called them up, and they were very open to having a story done. They shared their workbooks and personal stories. The result is a story that's a different focus for me. Check it out:<br />
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<i><br />
The world has changed since Portland Fellowship, a nonprofit that aims to deliver people from homosexual desire, first opened a quarter century ago.<br />
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Gays and lesbians are more widely accepted across the country. Other "ex gay" leaders have given up the fight -- and in some cases apologized for their earlier work. President Barack Obama has called for an end to conversion therapy for children.<br />
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And Oregon lawmakers are poised to ban the practice. Although the bill they're considering wouldn't impact Portland Fellowship, much of the testimony in favor of it has focused on the Southeast Portland organization.<br />
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Executive Director Jason Thompson does not care. Business remains steady, he said, and the need is still there.<br />
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"Even if the world goes completely pro-gay and gay marriage is the law of the land, people will still come here because they live according to a different system, a different faith, a different priority, worldview than the world," Thompson said.<br />
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Portland Fellowship doesn't promote hate, he said. It promotes love.</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2015/05/portland_gay_conversion_christ.html"><br />
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READ THE REST ON OREGONLIVE</a>CPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122795933805360083.post-43037134021344190732015-05-09T13:27:00.000-07:002015-05-09T13:27:20.466-07:00Team of Dreams<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/caseymparks/17463758805" title="East African All Stars 16 by Casey Parks, on Flickr"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8852/17463758805_7455a30dfe_z.jpg" width="580" height="387" alt="East African All Stars 16"></a><br />
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I spent six months following a group of Somali teenagers around. They've been fighting to build a community, to do good even as bad stalks their neighborhoods. Of course, choosing the right path isn't one decision. It's a daily commitment. Sometimes they falter. The story ran a few weeks ago in the Oregonian. Here's a preview:<br />
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<i><br />
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Mohamed Juma stormed away, memories of sand and civil war still burning inside him.<br />
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Back in Kenya, where the Somali teenager lived in refugee camps for 16 years, other boys used to huddle around a cellphone watching YouTube videos of LeBron James. They told Juma, who towered over them at 6-foot-5, that he should go to America and play basketball.<br />
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He did. Juma and his family moved to Portland in 2013, and he was soon discovered by the East African All Stars, a makeshift team of teenage boys who played on an elementary school court with rusted rims and tattered nets. Juma's new teammates bought him hamburgers and tennis shoes. Together, they won a city championship and earned support from nonprofit and civic leaders, adults who understood how easy it was for African immigrants to feel adrift in their new homeland and how disappointment can lead boys down dangerous paths. The All Stars, Portland's mayor and police believed, were an answer to the threats facing Juma and other young men.<br />
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Yet for Juma, every victory seemed to bring new frustrations. The desert should have been a distant dream, but the good fell away so easily.<br />
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This winter, after a squabble about respect and possession time, Juma decided he’d had enough. Later, none of the boys could explain precisely why they had been fighting. All Juma knew for sure was that his best friends had disrespected him.<br />
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“If this team doesn’t need me, I quit,” he said.<br />
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He trudged home to the crowded East Portland apartment he shares with his mother and seven siblings. He washed and folded the uniform Nike had donated to the team at the mayor’s request.<br />
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In the end, adults can do only so much. A boy’s friends define him and his future path. They’re the only choice a young man such as Juma gets to make.</i> <br />
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<a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/portland-somalis/">READ THE REST ON OREGONLIVE</a>CPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122795933805360083.post-72777483861984434572015-04-07T11:27:00.003-07:002015-04-07T11:27:28.305-07:00If I am lost, it's only for a little while<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/caseymparks/16751899989" title="Portland Mercado by Casey Parks, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8691/16751899989_2cc9bd7619_z.jpg" width="580" height="384" alt="Portland Mercado"></a><br />
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She started at Taco Bell, her hands shaking every time an order came in. In El Salvador, her mother had taught her to use the hands to shape masa into little discs called pupusas. In the United States, the hands had to work quickly, stuffing hard tacos with meat and lettuce, sticking those tacos into bags then out windows -- all under a minute.<br />
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She worked at the fast food chain long enough to fix a rhythm. But the job never felt right. Her hands were meant for pupusas. Finally, she took a shot and opened a food cart. The trucks were supposed to be the great equalizer, merging an immigrant's dreams with a hipster's appetite. But she didn't know how to run a business. It closed after six months.<br />
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Now, Maria Lizama is trying again. This time, the 48-year-old has an entire community behind her. This time, she has gone through business classes and run drills with her employees. The pupusas -- 2 for 1 on opening day -- will come out fast and hot.<br />
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As opening day nears, Lizama worries if her hands will shake again. Or will they remember what her mother taught them? <br />
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<a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2015/03/portland_mercado_opens_providi.html">Read Lizama's story on Oregonlive</a>.CPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122795933805360083.post-11120813646038873892015-02-23T14:10:00.004-08:002015-02-23T14:10:55.022-08:00Lights will guide you home and ignite your bones. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/caseymparks/16440831278" title="Start Fire by Casey Parks, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8651/16440831278_fc6d7b376f_z.jpg" width="580" height="387" alt="Start Fire"></a><br />
<i><br />
Start, Louisiana</i>CPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122795933805360083.post-19768801736658002702015-01-04T12:52:00.001-08:002015-01-04T12:52:22.933-08:00Books I read in 2014I read some great short stories at the beginning of 2014, but most of the full-length novels I read were forgettable. Two books loomed large over the year for me: Donna Tartt's "Goldfinch" and Phil Klay's book of short stories "Redployment." After I read "Goldfinch," no other book could compare. Reading actually felt less fun. I fell into a slump, feeling like no other book would ever compare again, until I read "Redeployment." I can't wait to read it again. Other super props to "Lonesome Dove," "The Tender Bar" and the two Sherman Alexie books I read. <br />
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1. <b>Sherman Alexie - War Dances (****)</b><br />
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2. <b>Barry Hannah - Ray (***)</b><br />
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I could have used more of an anchor at times reading this book. It's all over the place. But holy cow the sentences. <br />
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3. <b>Eudora Welty - A Curtain of Green and other storise (*****)</b><br />
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Welty is so skilled at describing people. Every story has a new way of rendering characters physically. They are all so sharp and original. These stories cracked me up, even as some have a sinister lining.<br />
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4. <b>Antonya Nelson - Nothing Right (****)</b><br />
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This is a rough lot of characters. Nearly every story has an adulterer. But Nelson made each one feel real. This collection showed me the expanses short stories can hold. But a few of the tales dragged on. I grew tired of some of the repeated tensions (so many car accidents). I also wish they had stayed in one geography. Because so many of the stories happened in Kansas, I felt confused in the handful that moved to Texas, Montana or Arizona. <br />
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5. <b>Wells Tower - Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned (****)</b><br />
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Junot Diaz said the difference between a novel and a short story is a short story can be perfect. In this collection, Wells Tower has a quite a few pieces of perfection. There were a few that didn't thrill me, but overall, I loved this book. I love his voice. His sentences show new ways of seeing and feeling the world.<br />
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6. <b>Amy Hempel - Reasons to Live (*****)<br />
</b><br />
This collection is so funny and surprising. I hadn't had so much fun in reading in years. This book especially works because the humor comes with grave emotions. "<a href="http://fictionaut.com/stories/amy-hempel/in-the-cemetery-where-al-jolson-is-buried">In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried</a>" is so sublime. I was laughing until I was sobbing. <br />
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7. <b>Rainbow Rowell - Eleanor & Park (**)</b><br />
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This just was not my thing. I don't usually read young adult novels, but reviews made me think this was the kind that crossed barriers. But it's definitely a young adult novel. The voice really annoyed me.<br />
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8. <b>Donna Tartt - The Goldfinch (*****)</b><br />
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I would have read another 800 pages of this book. Tartt takes no shortcuts. Life is lived at its actual pace. I love the breadth of knowledge showcased here. Tartt always knows just the right reference for the time, the place, the character. I got lost inside these pages. <br />
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<b>9. Adelle Waldman - The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P (*)</b><br />
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This reminded me of the young adult book I had just read. The sentences and the character lacked sophistication. It's hard to delineate what makes good writing and what makes amateur writing, but it's easy to recognize in the reading. In this case, I might have liked the book more if Waldman had spent less time laboring over how awful Nate is. She needed a "save the cat" scene early on to make me like him. Instead, she wrote him as a one-dimensional character. It made me feel like she had issues with some guy out there and couldn't see any humanity through her own hurt. This was not fun to read. <br />
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<b>10. Ben Marcus - Leaving the Sea (**)</b><br />
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Experimental pieces aren't for me. I need an anchor. I loved the first section, though.<br />
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<b>11. Edwidge Danticat - Claire of the Sealight (****)</b><br />
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All of the stories don't tie up neatly in the end. They form the lives - the losses, the disappointments -- that becomes the air around Claire. We need those other stories for the reader to know in the end what world waits her. I loved each of the chapters as if they were short stories. The way each revealed more about he last was a special treat. Great characters and great writing. <br />
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<b>12. Raymond Carver - What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (****)</b><br />
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Initially, I admired this book more than I enjoyed it. The minimalist tone just didn't draw me in. But halfway through, I think I learned how to read them and liked them much more. I still don't think the tone is exactly for me, but it is so impressive what he can do with just a few words. Each sentence does a lot of work conveying information. The stories all feel real and funny and human and alive.<br />
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<b>13. Lorrie Moore - Bark (***)</b><br />
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Maybe my hopes were too high for this collection, but I just didn't feel very excited reading it. There were nice sentences here and there, good plots and great first lines. But the stories lacked some magic. I left a few feeling confused about what actually happen and others unsure if there was much meaning in the final words. Every piece has run before in a magazine, and I think I might have enjoyed any of them in that context. But they never quite worked together to make a satisfying book.<br />
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<b>14. Sherman Alexie - The Loneranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (*****)<br />
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15. Ishmael Beah - Radiance of Tomorrow (***)</b><br />
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I admire the details and the intimate look this novel offers readers jot a world they may never know. But I wish it had more focus. The scope is too large. It's hard to keep all the characters straight. There are many micro plots. Years pass. If it had been more closely focused on Bockarie, I think I could have settled in better. Still, I felt like the book taught me a lot, and the language is new and interesting. <br />
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<b>16. Kiese Laymon - Long Division (***)</b><br />
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There is a lot to love in Kiese Laymon's debut. The characters are fresh, vivid. The sentences are special. The plot is original. <br />
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But the novel also felt overly didactic. It has some important messages, but I think Laymon could have imparted them better without having his characters repeat them over and over again. This could have used a show-don't-tell edit. The time traveling aspect also felt too heavy handed. But it was fun to read, and there are a few phrases in here I absolutely love (see: getting nice with myself). I love the book's perspective, and I would definitely buy his work in the future.<br />
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<b>17. Gary Shteyngart - Little Failure (***)</b><br />
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The jumpy narrative prevented me from ever settling down for a compulsive reading session. It's just too clever and too bouncy to feel like a genuine story. But he does have considerable talents. And certain scenes were fun to ready, but I prefer a story with slightly fewer winks.<br />
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<b>18. Phil Klay - Redployment (*****)</b><br />
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No review I could write would do justice to just how good this collection is. It is the best book I have read all year. So moving and beautiful and real. <br />
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<b>19. Siri Hustvedt - The Blazing World (***)</b><br />
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I loved the structure -- and many sections -- of this book. I am particularly impressed by Hustvedt's ability to render so many different kinds of voices. And I love the story -- the initial plot, the characters, the twists. But the novel as a whole just wasn't consistent enough for me to rate it higher. Harriet's notebooks are difficult to read. They are boring and too jumpy, and whole that may be the point, it did not make for good reading. I didn't get anything from them so I started skipping them somewhere in the 200s. I initially also liked the academic references but they began to slow the story down. Finally: the barometer. He made Harriet seem cooky, I guess, which is useful, but overall he again just slowed down my reading and did not add enough. All great ideas that should have been more closely edited down to what matters.<br />
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<b>20. James Salter - A Sport and a Pasttime (***)</b><br />
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Great sentences, great descriptions. The only problem is I never felt like reading it. It was easy enough once I got in -- again, he writes such dreamy lines -- but the book never beckoned me back. I am not too wild on the perspective and treating of sexuality, either.<br />
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<b>21. Chris Kraus - I Love Dick (**)</b><br />
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Very inventive and interesting, but it droned on too long. I felt like it was often saying the same thing.<br />
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<b>22. Jeffrey Renard Allen (***)</b><br />
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The writing is beautiful but also incredibly difficult to follow. I am reading this at the tenth of the pace I normally read. It's slow-going and dense, at times confusing but always beautifully rendered. <br />
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<b>23. John Green - The Fault in Our Stars (****)</b><br />
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A few months ago, I read Eleanor and Park. It was one of those YA books that newspapers promise adult adults will love, too. I hated it. It felt very much like a young adult book to me.<br />
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The Fault in Our Stars is very much a YA book, too, but the writing is so much better then E&P was. It is the book I would have loved to have read as a teenager. Yes, the language is a bit too much at times. No, regular teens don't talk this way. But that's why we read books sometimes. To disappear. To remember how big life once felt. For my part, I got totally lost in the story. It was a welcome break from the business of adult reading.<br />
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<b>24. Larry McMurtry - Lonesome Dove (*****)<br />
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25. Dinaw Mengestu - All Our Names (***)</b><br />
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I really liked reading this book. The plot moves forward nicely. The mystery keeps you hanging on. But I only gave it two stars because I just felt some distance the entire time I read it. I never felt like I really knew the characters. Because of that, I never really believed or felt moved by their love (neither the romantic nor the platonic). The last line is pretty but it did not resonate with me at all because I just did not emotionally believe it. <br />
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26. John Jeremiah Sullivan - Pulphead (****)</b><br />
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I had more fun reading this than I've had reading anything all year. And on the strength of more than half the essays (On This Rock, Mr. Lytle, The Final Comeback of Axl Rose, Peyton's Place, Unknown Bards, the Last Wailer), I want to give it five stars. The work is so impressively original. No one else thinks up the connections he makes. But there were just too many duds for this to be a perfect book. That's fine. I fully support his trying everything he wants to try because sometimes it is just so awesome. But I personally never want to read him writing about government or the environment again. And I want to forget I ever read Violence of the Lambs.<br />
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<b>27. Alice Goffman - On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City (***)</b><br />
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The level of research in "Fugitive" is astounding. It really reminds me of a more data-driven "Random Family." <br />
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But this is not a book of journalism. It may be more readable than an average ethnography, but it's less readable than an average book. There are definitely sections to devour. And it's most always interesting and well written. There is so much poetry in the quotes. But it was also often repetitive. And I found it difficult to keep the characters straight by the third chapter. There are stories here and there, but they don't all piece together one after the other. There is no plain arc.<br />
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To that end, I actually most enjoyed reading the final methodology note. It was written like an actual whole story -- with a beginning, middle and end -- rather than in chunks of narrative.<br />
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Of course, I may be asking the book to be something it never intended to be. It was billed as scholarship, not narrative nonfiction. Still, with all the press it's getting, I thought this might be helpful for potential readers to know ahead of time.<br />
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<b>28. JR Moehringer - The Tender Bar (*****)</b><br />
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Wow. I have loved Moehringer's journalism, so I expected this to be good. Still, it really exceeded my hopes. All the note-taking he did in bars really paid off. I have never read a memoir that felt more real. The sentences are great; the themes potent. This book blew me away. Definitely going into my top 10 favorite books of all time.<br />
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<b>29. Jeff Hobbs - The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace (***)</b><br />
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I loved the beginning of this book. But the book's tone takes a sharp turn when the author appears 125 pages in. The childhood portions were so well reported. It feels strange that the Yale portions of this book rely so much more heavily on the author's own experiences. It becomes too much about Jeff Hobbs. I wouldn't mind some details about Hobbs to understand the juxtaposition of Rob's being his roommate, but I don't need to know all about Hobb's track issues and the first time he smoked marijuana. Which gets to my bigger issue with this book: Hobbs includes too much -- too many characters, too many details. This is a story about Robert -- not Raquel. I get that he did the reporting. And I don't mind his recreating scenes. But I don't understand why some of the scenes are in here. They don't really propel the narrative. They just feel like a tedious re telling of Rob's life. By the end, I had trouble feeling like this life was "short" at all. I had read every single conversation he had ever had. <br />
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Overall, I enjoyed it, though. I loved reading the first section and the rest of the book was quite instructive, if no longer exciting to read.<br />
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<b>30. Don DeLillo - Pafko at the Wall (****)<br />
</b><br />
Pretty lines and some times - many times - brilliant. At other times I felt like there were too many words and not enough meaning. I think this may be my own failing as a reader or as someone who doesn't really know baseball. But there was plenty to underline, especially in the novellas beginning.<br />
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<b>31. Susan Orlean - Saturday Night</b><br />
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I read this a few years ago, when I was a younger journalist, and I thought it was so quirky and fun. Reading it now I see how well she builds context in many of the pieces. The details are fun and often funny, but the reason they work is the set-up. That said, the idea is better than the sum here. Some of the essays are brilliant: some are just too-long Talk of the Towns. I lost steam. There was little to distinguish them after a while. I needed more (and by that I mean different) Big Thoughts to keep the momentum going.<br />
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32. Lena Dunham - Not That Kind of Girl (***)<br />
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33. Anne Lamott - Bird By Bird (*****)<br />
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34. Hilary Mantel - The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher (****)<br />
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</b><br />
CPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122795933805360083.post-75461151805555331022015-01-01T10:17:00.001-08:002015-01-01T12:41:59.116-08:00Best songs of 2014This is no music critic's list, no higher thought allotted into the making of it. I picked the songs I liked best, the ones I played more than others. You might find some embarrassing (Yes, Coldplay and Nick Jonas), but when I look back on this year, this will be what I played and played. Some are stand-ins for others (Like I nearly always listened to Taylor Swift, Too Many Zooz, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Sinkane, Beyonce as albums. And some have deplorable lyrics ("Try Me"), but this is what was in my headphones as I rode the bus home. <br />
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<iframe src="https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:user:12148025084:playlist:4GteRVhNP4oZy6KiC9mcb1" width="300" height="380" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true"></iframe><br />
1. Spoon - "Inside Out"<br />
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2. I LOVE MAKONNEN f/ Drake - "Tuesday"<br />
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3. Beyoncé - "Drunk In Love" (See: nearly any other song on this album. This was just the most ubiquitous)<br />
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4. Coldplay - "Magic" <br />
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5. FKA Twigs - "Two Weeks"<br />
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6. Future Islands - "Seasons (Waiting on You)"<br />
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7. The War on Drugs - "Red Eyes"<br />
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8. Sharon Van Etten - "Your Love is Killing Me"<br />
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9. Taylor Swift - "Out of the Woods"<br />
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10. Sinkane - "Mean Love"<br />
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11. Too Many Zooz - "To The Top" / "F.W.S."<br />
<br />
12. Rae Sremmurd - "No Flex Zone"<br />
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13. Todd Terje f/ Bryan Ferry - "Johnny and Mary"<br />
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14. Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment - "Sunday Candy"<br />
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15. Vic Mensa - "Down On My Luck"<br />
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16. Jamie XX - "Sleep Sound"<br />
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17. Rick Ross - "Sanctified"<br />
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18. White Sea - "They Don't Know"<br />
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19. Beyoncé - "Mine"<br />
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20. Boots f/ Beyonce - "Dreams"<br />
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21. Sinkane - "Young Trouble"<br />
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22. Rae Sremmurd - "No Type"<br />
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23. Beck - "Blue Moon"<br />
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24. Bleachers f/ Grimes - "Take Me Away"<br />
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25. How to Dress Well - "Words I Don't Remember"<br />
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26. JJ - "All White Everything"<br />
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27. Ages and Ages - "Calamity is Overrated"<br />
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28. Ought - "Today More Than Any Other Day"<br />
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29. Party Next Door - "West District"<br />
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30. Dej Loaf - "Try Me"<br />
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31. Mac DeMarco - "Brother"<br />
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32. J. Cole - "G.O.M.D."<br />
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33. Darkside - "Gone Too Soon"<br />
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34. Angel Olsen - "Hi-Five"<br />
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35. Childish Gambino - "Sober"<br />
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36. Grimes - "Go"<br />
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37. Nick Jonas - "Jealous" <br />
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38. St. Paul & The Broken Bones - "I'm Torn Up"<br />
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39. Milosh - "Right Never Comes"<br />
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40. P. Reign f/ Drake - "DnF"CPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122795933805360083.post-80609051439617673652014-12-31T09:21:00.000-08:002014-12-31T09:32:00.814-08:00Best albums 2014<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/caseymparks/15961055770" title="Best Albums 2014 by Casey Parks, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8599/15961055770_4c382708a4_z.jpg" width="580" height="428" alt="Best Albums 2014"></a><br />
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1. <b>BEYONCÉ - BEYONCÉ</b><br />
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I am cheating because this is my barely-updated blog, and I make the rules here. No, Beyonce's album didn't come out in 2014. It slipped in too close to the end of 2013 to be counted then, but I can't let it go unnoted. It defined my year. We did the "Drunk in Love" dance. We mimicked the way she said "surfbort." We pretended to rollerskate, careening along as she sang "Blow." <br />
<br />
The older I get, the less abashed I feel. I love pop music. However manufactured it was, Beyonce's album always felt new and rule-breaking. The songs (particularly "Partition," "Mine" and "***Flawless") broke down and reassembled in new configurations. But they weren't disjointed. Like the Madonna and Michael Jackson records of the 1980s, these were pop hits that weren't just singles but part of a bigger album narrative. <br />
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These songs were the soundtrack to the few nights I stayed up past 11 p.m., and they were the sounds that anchored me back to some version of myself that felt young. 2013 was a year of big let-downs and big decisions -- all of which left me feeling rooted and regulated. "BEYONCÉ" was all bounce and thud, cusswords and catchphrases (I woke up like this!), and when we danced around this tiny house together, I felt back on the brink of a limitless future. <br />
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2. <b>TOO MANY ZOOZ - F NOTE</b><br />
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Years ago, a friend and I danced dizzy around his Missouri home to old jazz records. We did the Peanuts. We did some version of the swing. We were a decade younger than everyone around us, and we drank enough beer to prove it. But our movements dissolved in the dramas of being 23 and on to the next thing. We reconnected this year, and he sent me this video near the beginning of our talking. This wasn't the jazz we listened to in Missouri. But it felt familiar. We wrote and listened, trying to close the gaps years leave. These bursts of brass were the perfect notes for regaining a friendship. I listened to these songs exclusively for weeks, thinking nothing is lost. In our 30s we can get back what we had. <br />
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As with the Beyonce album, I can't disconnect this one from the visuals -- a young baritone sax player grinding his way through the scales. By the time I saw that sax player grooving on a Portland stage this fall, the old friend had already retreated away again. The songs were so good I didn't even notice - I was dancing alone this time. <br />
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3. <b>TAYLOR SWIFT - 1989</b><br />
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The post-30 metabolism is slow and droning. I can't eat ice cream the way I once could. I took up running this year, hoping to edge my way back down the scale. It's a miserable venture at first. My lungs hurt. My legs hurt. And worst of all: I was bored. That changed when "Serial" and this Taylor Swift album came out. I could stay on the treadmill for 45 minutes, listening to the murder mystery unwind or Taylor tell the story of the boy she lost. The drums and choruses here have the right kind of rhythm for powering through the miles. <br />
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Swift repeats themes, too. Her elusive boy is always driving reckless, crashing or recovering. She is wearing red lipstick, hoping he won't forget. The repetitions stick out because Swift is so good at painting a scene. Every song paints a tidy little portrait. Here they are moving the furniture to dance. Here they are somewhere before or after a breakup, terrified of monsters that turn out to be trees. They lyrics are all so specific yet universal enough that you can fill in your own stories. (I've got a blank space baby, and I'll write your name). <br />
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Best of all: This is an album made my someone super self aware of every criticism that has ever been lobbed her way. (Shake it off!) And she owns them all here. It's the kind of confidence you need to hear when taking up running for the first time at 31. <br />
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4. Sinkane - Mean Love<br />
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5. The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream<br />
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6. Spoon - They Want My Soul<br />
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7. Ages and Ages - Divisionary<br />
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8. Mac DeMarco - Salad Days<br />
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9. CunninLynguists - Strange Journey Vol. 3<br />
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10. J. Cole - 2014 Forest Hills Drive <br />
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11. St. Paul & The Broken Bones - Half the City<br />
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12. Hundred Waters - Morning Rang Like a Bell<br />
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13. Kindness - Otherness<br />
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14. Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire For No Witness<br />
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15. Beck - Morning Phase<br />
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* I'm not including D'Angelo here, even though it is the perfect album I have waited all of the 2000s for, because it didn't come out until so late in the year. I reserve the right to name it the best album of 2015. <br />
CPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122795933805360083.post-11132387344340558292014-12-30T08:39:00.001-08:002014-12-30T08:39:51.992-08:00December and everything after<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/caseymparks/16055379106" title="Michelle Garfias in dorm 4 by Casey Parks, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8650/16055379106_61df373ec3.jpg" width="580" height="387" alt="Michelle Garfias in dorm 4"></a><br />
<br />
<br />
Michelle Garfias left Lewis & Clark College last December assuming she'd be back.<br />
<br />
She packed one suitcase. She deep-cleaned her dorm room so it would look nice when she returned. Then she headed home for a Southern California Christmas.<br />
<br />
She knew as soon as she saw her father that something wasn't right. Juventino Garfias' muscular frame had withered to that of a featherweight. His skin had gone yellow.<br />
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Doctors said it was kidney failure, eerily reminiscent of the kidney infection that had killed Garfias' mother a few years earlier. Her father would live, the doctor said, but he would need years of dialysis. He wouldn't be able to work or watch after Garfias' 13-year-old brother Cesar.<br />
<br />
Someone needed to earn money for the family. Someone needed to cook dinners and take Cesar to school. That someone, Garfias thought, had to be her.<br />
<br />
So Garfias had a choice: Go back to college and finish her degree, or stay and take care of her father. Friends told her a college degree would change her life forever. But what if her family needed her now? <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/12/the_struggle_to_stay_lewis_cla.html">READ THE REST ON OREGONLIVE</a>.CPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122795933805360083.post-57511203742989715462014-11-07T09:43:00.000-08:002014-11-07T09:43:13.637-08:00always treated my city like some shoulder pads<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/caseymparks/15547298309" title="Meta barbershop shots by Casey Parks, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3956/15547298309_76491b3d78.jpg" width="580" height="387" alt="Meta barbershop shots"></a>CPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122795933805360083.post-27852692132586975092014-11-04T10:48:00.001-08:002014-11-04T10:48:37.227-08:00two new good legs on a breeze -bent limbI'm following around a group of Somali teens for the next month or so as they work to get their basketball team off the ground. They held an invitational for their parents last weekend. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/caseymparks/15511217207" title="East African All Stars by Casey Parks, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5612/15511217207_59dffa62ff.jpg" width="580" height="387" alt="East African All Stars Himo Osman 5"></a><br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/caseymparks/15077064123" title="East African All Stars Himo Osman 3 by Casey Parks, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3942/15077064123_26bd5e808e.jpg" width="580" height="387" alt="East African All Stars Himo Osman 3"></a><br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/caseymparks/15511614450" title="East African All Stars 2 by Casey Parks, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7508/15511614450_083965db88.jpg" width="580" height="387" alt="East African All Stars 2"></a><br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/caseymparks/15696411665" title="East African All Stars 4 by Casey Parks, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5601/15696411665_0e0094a5de.jpg" width="580" height="387" alt="East African All Stars 4"></a>CPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122795933805360083.post-72764404272014994692014-09-12T09:00:00.000-07:002014-09-12T09:00:03.226-07:00Today, more than any other day<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/caseymparks/15022401257" title="Alex by Casey Parks, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3850/15022401257_d4e6233803.jpg" width="580" height="387" alt="Alex"></a><br />
<br />
Because stories begat stories ...<br />
<br />
I've been working on a news piece about the local ice skating rink. Dallas developers are remodeling the model and sizing down the rink in the process. It's a fun story -- every one I have met has a Tonya Harding story -- but I found an even better one while watching the ice one day. This is Alex, age 13. I'll be following him over the next three months or so. CPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122795933805360083.post-42794115367729185302014-09-11T09:50:00.000-07:002014-09-11T09:50:05.125-07:00There's intense gravity. I'm just your satellite. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/caseymparks/15149255471" title="Tongans _ Semise moves to PSU 4 by Casey Parks, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5551/15149255471_c9e9fce251.jpg" width="580" height="387" alt="Tongans _ Semise moves to PSU 4"></a><br />
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I've spent the past two years following two Tongan best friends in their last year of high school. "<a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/09/the-pact-roosevelt-semise-kofe-sione-taumoeanga.html">The Pact</a>" ran in Sunday's Oregonian. Semise Kofe and Sione Taumoe'anga thought faith, football and friendship could lead them out of poverty. But what would they sacrifice along the way?<br />
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<i>The first thing Semise Kofe and Sione Taumoe'anga did together was fight.<br />
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It was a Sunday afternoon in 2007, just after services at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Rose City 1st Ward. The 11-year-old boys knew of each other. Both their families had come to Portland from Tonga, a tiny Polynesian archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. They lived in the same neighborhood of ranch houses at the city's edge. They both had something to prove.<br />
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Later, neither could remember why they fought that day. Boys growing up on the blocks just off North Columbia Boulevard, an especially poor, rough part of eternally downtrodden North Portland, didn't need a reason. They earned power and respect just for swinging.<br />
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Taumoe'anga, lanky with the first shade of a mustache, punched Kofe in the mouth. Kofe, neckless and wide, grabbed Taumoe'anga and slammed him against a car.<br />
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Other boys from the neighborhood were joining the Crips. Kofe and Taumoe'anga had already lost a few friends to juvenile detention centers. As onlookers pulled the boys apart that morning, Kofe and Taumoe'anga shared the same scary thought: We could be next.<br />
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"We gotta do something different, bro," Kofe remembers saying.<br />
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A friendship was formed. A deal was made.<br />
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Taumoe'anga's uncle ran a makeshift gym in a detached garage near Pier Park. Maybe, Taumoe'anga suggested, he could train them for something more productive. For football.<br />
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They showed up for the first session wearing school uniforms and no shoes. Both their fathers worked in concrete, an industry that slowed to a near-halt during Portland's wet winters. They had dress shoes for school, but no sneakers.<br />
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Kofe suggested they steal a pair. Taumoe'anga had a better idea: "What about the wires?"<br />
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People often threw perfectly fine sneakers -- the laces knotted together -- over telephone pole wires. Several pairs hung in the sky near their homes. They knocked a few sets down before finding a pair of baby blue size 9 knockoffs, then took turns wearing them. Kofe ran laps around the park while Taumoe'anga stood barefoot on the sidewalk. Then Taumoe'anga ran while Kofe waited and watched.<br />
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"We're gonna get this done," Taumoe'anga said between laps. "Get better. Prove everybody wrong."<br />
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They slapped hands and prayed: "Heavenly father, help us get out of here."<br />
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It was a contract made by boys, no more binding than a spit-shake. Later, they took to calling it their pact.</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/09/the-pact-roosevelt-semise-kofe-sione-taumoeanga.html">READ THE REST OF THE STORY ON OREGONLIVE</a>. CPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122795933805360083.post-64529507563388457842014-08-16T10:26:00.001-07:002014-08-16T10:26:26.859-07:00'All we wanna do is take the chains off'Cities across the country held a National Moment of Silence for Mike Brown and Ferguson, Mo. on Thursday night. Portland had two. The one I attended -- outside a Portland Police Precinct -- grew louder as the night wore on. Here are some photos I made for The Oregonian.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/caseymparks/14934337461" title="Portland protest for Ferguson by Casey Parks, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5566/14934337461_2746925570.jpg" width="580" height="387" alt="Portland protest for Ferguson"></a> <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/caseymparks/14923075785" title="Portland protests for Ferguson 15 by Casey Parks, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5554/14923075785_0996b37308.jpg" width="580" height="387" alt="Portland protests for Ferguson 15"></a><br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/caseymparks/14922998645" title="Portland protests for Ferguson 30 by Casey Parks, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5554/14922998645_8c4c5bd823.jpg" width="580" height="387" alt="Portland protests for Ferguson 30"></a><br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/caseymparks/14736432617" title="Portland protests for Ferguson 3 by Casey Parks, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3843/14736432617_a10baac546.jpg" width="580" height="387" alt="Portland protests for Ferguson 3"></a><br />
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and an excerpt of <a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/08/ferguson_protests_portland_sym.html">the story</a>:<br />
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<i>Portland protesters stayed mostly on the sidewalks near the Portland Police Bureau North Precinct as the first wave of rush hour traffic traveled up and down MLK. But as the crowd grew, so did the tension.<br />
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An offshoot, led by Ionatana Iese of North Portland, formed a barricade in the crosswalk. Business owners from the Vanport Plaza rushed into the street, begging Iese to move out of the sidewalk.<br />
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"Open the street up," he yelled. "You're asking for violence. We ain't asking for them to shoot us."<br />
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Shareef pointed to the precinct.<br />
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"If they come, it's going to get violent, trust me," Shareef said. "It's not us against us. It's us against them."<br />
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"People have been singing and marching for years," Iese said. "Right now, we are undirected chaos. This is old. This is archaic. We need to do something that will affect the money. Sitting in traffic is something different."<br />
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"You can't fight all the time," Shareef said. "Sometimes you have to be smarter than your oppressors." </i>CPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122795933805360083.post-37718441189201123092014-08-04T10:54:00.000-07:002014-08-04T10:54:49.711-07:00The Black Boy SpeechMy coworker Beth Nakamura and I made a series of videos recently featuring mothers whose sons are Black, Latino or biracial. The mothers talked about their family's experiences with police and explained "The Black Boy Speech," a talk they've given their sons about how to interact with police. We made six individual videos, which <a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/07/killing_keaton_otis_mothers_of.html">you can watch on The Oregonian's website</a>. But here's the main video, which includes several of the mothers.<br />
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<iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/102541934" width="580" height="326" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/102541934">The Black Boy Speech: Mothers of color give advice to their sons about interacting with police</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/caseymparks">Casey Parks</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>CPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122795933805360083.post-44677073060425124132014-07-21T08:55:00.001-07:002014-07-21T08:56:50.845-07:00Street names on Whidbey Island<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/caseymparks/14709073462" title="Deception Pass by Casey Parks, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5553/14709073462_b0a516ff1a.jpg" width="580" height="435" alt="Deception Pass"></a><br />
<br />
Fox Spit Road<br />
Brainers Road<br />
Doc Savage Drive<br />
Xanadu Drive<br />
Grimm Drive<br />
Shipping View<br />
Useless Bay Avenue<br />
Silent Cedars Lane<br />
Scenic Heights Lane<br />
Monkey Hill Road<br />
Deception Circle Road<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>photo from Deception Pass, the skinny waterway at the island's northern edge</i>CPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122795933805360083.post-78564493291023159092014-06-17T11:00:00.000-07:002014-06-17T11:00:01.263-07:00I’m wind- rattled. The wood’s splitting.<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/caseymparks/14250349077" title="Augusta, Montana by Casey Parks, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3864/14250349077_17c2bc0730.jpg" width="580" height="387" alt="Augusta, Montana"></a><br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/caseymparks/14413770846" title="Gas station by Casey Parks, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3885/14413770846_1a9dd4682c.jpg" width="580" height="387" alt="Gas station"></a><br />
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Augusta, Montana has just as many cowboy hats as I imagined. Just another day here in Big Sky country.CPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122795933805360083.post-56683133764545026292014-06-16T20:39:00.001-07:002014-06-16T20:39:20.102-07:00Of everyone I ever knew, I've gotten used to you<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/caseymparks/14418121556" title="Beverly Beach by Casey Parks, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5483/14418121556_9cc2e8ab99.jpg" width="580" height="387" alt="Beverly Beach"></a><br />
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May 2014, walks with my main guy Q, steady as ever after seven yearsCPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122795933805360083.post-86752949855763170832014-05-22T08:46:00.001-07:002014-05-22T08:46:41.670-07:00Fabio<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/caseymparks/14242998042" title="Fabio meets and greets by Casey Parks, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5277/14242998042_067ba2fff3.jpg" width="580" height="387" alt="Fabio meets and greets"></a><br />
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<br />
Fabio is in Portland this week, touring the local Whole Foods much to the delight of many women here. I went to the first event and wrote a story. Because: Why not?<br />
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<br />
<br />
Fabio, the Italian heartthrob known for his hunky physique and exquisite mane has parted ways with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, the spread and spray he advertised in the 1990s.<br />
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But he is still catnip to some women, and in the sales world, they call that a sure thing.<br />
<br />
He's on a nationwide tour of Whole Foods markets, selling Healthy Planet Nutrition protein powders. And, perhaps more importantly, he is posing for pictures. His first of several Portland appearances was Wednesday on Northeast Fremont Street. Thursday, he'll be at the grocery chain's Pearl District location. Later in the week, he's at the Tanasbourne, Hollywood and Laurelhurst locations.<br />
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Women once mobbed him. Cops had to break-up fights in the 1990s as fans fought for a piece of Fabio's 6-foot-3-inch frame, the cover image of countless romance novels.<br />
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But heartthrobs come bearded here. Butter is back in style. And the 40 women lining up Wednesday in the gluten free aisle did not seem the mobbing type. They were business women, literary types, and their smiles verged on embarrassed giggles as the clock ticked toward 12.<br />
<br />
"We booked a group meeting in Outlook," Alyson Clair confessed. She and 40 coworkers at the apparel company Amer Sports have spent the last few years working alongside a bare-chested, boot-clad cardboard cutout of Fabio.<br />
<br />
They bought the cutout for a Halloween party. Eight of the Amer Sports workers loved it so much, they cut out of work to meet the real deal.<br />
<br />
"No dudes would come with us," Hart said.<br />
<br />
Fabio was late Wednesday, so they posed for pictures with their replica. It's flat, but the sweat pictured dripping down the chest gives it a lustful, if not lifelike, quality.<br />
<br />
"We're wondering if this is a no shoes, no shirts, no service kind of place," Kristin Normansen said. A passing Whole Foods worker stopped with an official word from on high: The grocery gods would let the 55-year-old Fabio remove his shirt.<br />
<br />
When he did arrive, his tresses still extended to the ends of the earth -- or at least well past his shoulders. But his chest was not bare. Instead, he wore cowboy boots, snug-fitting jeans and a T-shirt tight enough to leave little to the imagination.<br />
<br />
"Oh my god, his hair is flowing," Clair said.<br />
<br />
"He looks good, so luscious," said Jessica Neciuk, a 22-year old on her lunch break. "He's beautiful. Everyone in my office made fun of me: 'He's twice your age.' But I don't care. I'm a sucker for long hair."<br />
<br />
Fabio and an assistant set up in the frozen food aisle, a good 10 yards from the butter and butter substitutes. The assistant blended protein power into almond milk while our hunk talked chemistry.<br />
<br />
"Your body is 60 percent water, 40 percent protein," he said before delving deep into something called the "biological value scale."<br />
<br />
The Italian accent gave everything Fabio said an air of the profound. But after 10 minutes of scientific talk, giggles had sharpened to pursed lips.<br />
<br />
Jocelyn McAuley and Kellie O'Donnell interrupted the lecture. They had raided their friends' costumes closets to assemble outfits befitting the cover of a romance novel and sneaked out of work to see Fabio. This was a bucket-list ambition; Mcauley's mother would be so jealous.<br />
<br />
<br />
Yet as midday stretched into afternoon, they lost patience.<br />
<br />
"I'm sorry, we have to go soon," Mcauley said. "Can we please get a picture?"<br />
<br />
Fabio paused and furrowed his brow -- giving them the sexy stare of a book jacket bodice ripper. The romance cover replicas posed for their picture then rushed out, clutching their skirts in one hand and cell phones in the other.<br />
<br />
"OK, if you come here, I explain you then we take the pictures," Fabio told the rest of the women. "Most of the world is confused right now. All these people, they give you a lot of bologna and very little science."<br />
<br />
He held up a bottle of protein powder: The unpasteurized, sugarless mix is kosher and gluten free. It has high levels of lactoferrin, immunoglobulins and bovine serum albumin. <br />
<br />
And it is delicious.<br />
<br />
Well, at least more delicious than other protein drinks the women said they had tried. It was light and slightly frothy, they said, not too chalky or sweet.<br />
<br />
Men suddenly appeared from the aisles to sip the chocolate and vanilla mixes from tiny paper cups. A lesbian said she was considering switching teams.<br />
<br />
"Everybody thinks beans are such a great protein," Fabio said. "They are not. They are bottom of the scale. Even a potato has more protein. There is a lot of marketing and very little science."<br />
<br />
At $32 for 10 ounces, his mix is expensive. But other protein powders supplement the good stuff with sugar and chemicals, he said. <br />
<br />
"Give the people the right thing, and it will be right forever," he said.<br />
<br />
They bought the powder, but in this case, the right thing turned out to be pictures.<br />
<br />
-- Casey ParksCPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122795933805360083.post-14682531179341892982014-05-18T22:25:00.003-07:002014-05-18T22:25:54.471-07:00There are some things you will never do. It doesn't matter. There is no rush. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/caseymparks/9170735110" title="Me, 30. photo by CW"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5541/9170735110_7530dff238.jpg" width="580" height="387" alt="Me, photo by CW"></a><br />
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<br />
<br />
You said I’d be terrifying at 30. <br />
<br />
A badass version of me was hard to imagine at 24, when I knew I’d stay strutting in my Converse, polite-talking my way through everything forever. But I wanted to believe you could be right, so I waited through those awkward 20s, hoping every turn would turn me there. <br />
<br />
I ticked off “Saturn Return” in 2011. I told myself the cosmos was to blame for the breakup and the death and my every-day-a-new-indecision ways. If that year was my upending, that meant I had smooth sailing, steady sequences waiting for me after. This is just a stop you make, I told myself. Just wait three years. <br />
<br />
But 30 held its own upheavals. Only a month in, The Oregonian laid me off. I don’t think all the crying and gulping for breath held any real brainwaves that night, but I do remember staring out at nothing thinking this is not how 30 goes for me. This is the year I’m supposed to become terrifyingly good. <br />
<br />
The bosses changed their minds, took back the axe and the severance package, too. But it never felt like rewind for me. If I was terrifying, it was because I was hurt and scared that the thing I had spent my whole life becoming would not exist any more. At least not for me. <br />
<br />
I spent most of the year stubborn and mean. The layoffs gave way to musical chairs at work. The polite-talking sneaker wearer I used to be found a desk somewhere away from me. I accused everyone of being out to get me. I scrutinized my paycheck, marked every moment beyond hour 40. <br />
<br />
“I swear all my other year-end reviews said I was a pleasure,” I told my new boss. “I know you haven’t seen me be a pleasure. But I was a pleasure before.” <br />
<br />
I moved out of the apartment where I had spent most of my 20s. I took up with three cats and the most exquisite girl. I wrote the stories I wanted to write. I spent many Saturday nights reading. <br />
<br />
I put one foot in front of the other. I stopped spending every moment thinking of the future. I spent some part of every workday working on the three stories I really cared about. I finally realized that great writing has little to do with being a phenom. It is not divine intervention or being in the mood for the best of clauses. It is hard work, showing up and going through the motions when your brain feels like numbing through a marathon of Bejeweled. <br />
<br />
Eventually everything settled. I stopped waking up in the middle of the night unsure of myself. I took up running. I bought that woman a ring. My Big Speech dissolved to nonsense in the moment (I do believe I said “We had a nice Thanksgiving”), but she said yes. <br />
<br />
That is, as the year wound its way it way to 31, I started to feel -- just slightly -- like an adult. And that’s terrifying. For me, if not for you. <br />
CPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122795933805360083.post-78752000405659613052014-04-07T18:31:00.003-07:002014-04-07T18:31:52.768-07:00just the sort of paper-thin night<iframe src="https://www.flickr.com/photos/caseymparks/13706109093/player/858e6d6e77" height="387" width="580" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<i><br />
sunset in Delhi, La.</i>CPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122795933805360083.post-62881768923521530462014-03-30T11:37:00.000-07:002014-03-30T11:37:04.820-07:00if I stay here, trouble will find meI spent a few months with Dracey as part of my recent <a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/portland-rap/">project documenting rappers</a> from North Portland. The package is a multimedia piece that includes <a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/portland-rap/gwaco.html">sound clips</a>, photographs by Beth Nakamura and these short documentaries I made of each rapper. For the video on Dracey, we went back to the three-bedroom apartment he once shared with 13 other people. We also visited his old high school, where he recorded his first album in a utility closet.<br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/90364604" width="580" height="326" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/90364604">Glenn Waco revisits the places that inform his music</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/caseymparks">Casey Parks</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p><br />
<br />
<br />
To see the stories, check out <a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/portland-rap/">Straight Outta St. Johns</a>. <br />
<br />
CPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122795933805360083.post-73259715344889160932014-03-26T15:34:00.002-07:002014-03-26T15:34:49.852-07:00all I learned was that gravity can be painful<iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/90022988?byline=0&portrait=0" width="580" height="326" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/90022988">Dequante McDowell talks about changes on Hell Street</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/amorphousfilms">Cabin 7</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p><br />
<br />
<br />
Nine hundred is small enough to sense a shift in population. When someone new touches down, the people of Delhi notice.<br />
<br />
When we first got out of the car four years ago, two guys immediately pulled over. Rob and Talkhead wanted to know who we were.<br />
<br />
The next year, I walked into a convenience center at the edge of town. A guy slid over just before the door closed.<br />
<br />
"Where you from?"<br />
<br />
"Oh, my whole family is from here," I said, chipper and trying to belong.<br />
<br />
"No," he said, looking down at my boots, distressed by design, not work. "Where are you from?"<br />
<br />
"Well, my mom grew up here. I grew up in West Monroe."<br />
<br />
He shook his head.<br />
<br />
"I live in Oregon," I finally said.<br />
<br />
We've been stopped by cops twice -- once because they didn't recognize us and once because they remembered us from the year before.<br />
<br />
And best of all, we've been stopped by people with stories to tell. Pam Sykes pulled her jeep over, mid-railroad tracks, to ask what we were doing in town. She hasn't been able to shake us since. And Dequante McDowell, the 19-year-old in today's video, flagged us down last April as we cruised Chatham Street.<br />
<br />
Chatham isn't Hell Street anymore, he told us. It's What the Hell Street. CPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437909241659432585noreply@blogger.com0