esther and the dirty brown towel

WHEN I SAT DOWN to write the screenplay for the commercial one afternoon in late June, the little gravel road that crosses over the levee near Red’s sprang to mind. It’s the area of Catahoula that struck me as having the most cinematic potential. It’s the only elevated landscape in Catahoula, and in the right light, I imagined, with a vehicle driving down it, the little gravel road would generate a cool cloud of glittering dust. I could see it so clearly in my mind’s eye — an old pickup truck driving on the levee road. I wrote The Golden Age of Catahoula at the top of a blank page.

psychic laser beams

haven't got time for the pain

WHEN MY NECK got kind of crampy on the long flight home today, I reached into my backpack for the naproxen I bought yesterday — scratch that — for the FEMINAX I bought yesterday, and I have to say, my first impulse was to be embarrassed, what with FEMINAX FEMINAX FEMINAX written like a hundred times across the back of the blister pack. I reached in for naproxen. That’s what I take when my joints ache. So when I pulled out FEMINAX it caught me by surprise, even though FEMINAX is just another name for naproxen.

about the archive

PICTURE CATAHOULA is an on-line archive of photographs taken in Catahoula during its golden age — 1928-1978. Thirty-six Catahoula families have contributed to the archive so far, and as of September 2015 I’ve scanned almost 4000 photographs.

nun with apple breath

NUN WITH APPLE breath, fast asleep beside me, collapsed on a folded-out tray in dreamland on an airplane bound for Denver, how appalled you would be to learn that in the sweet amnesia of your slumber, you nudged my laptop sideways with your elbow as you sprawled onto my workspace, your brown habit spilling around you.