Me-ness

Linnea Ashley on October 11th, 2007

“everybody is talking to themselves,” i muttered. and at that moment i realized i was now among that everybody. something about the city i guess, something about looking at all the contradictions and dichotomies. the opulence of city hall and all the homeless that gather just beyond its shadow. i find myself experiencing the bay […]

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Linnea Ashley on April 24th, 2007

ever since the imus comments and the tirades and pseudo conversations that followed, there has been serious discussion about words. more accurately, about censorship. the reasoning in these otherwise thinking individuals is that words have power. true. if words didn’t have power poets wouldn’t string them together to describe love and non fiction writers wouldn’t […]

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Linnea Ashley on April 15th, 2007

my first stint in NO was less than spectacular. in retrospect i blame myself. in recent years i’ve discovered that when i travel out of the country i live bigger than when i’m home. more than that, i plan to live just as big when i return home… but usually i return home to habit […]

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Linnea Ashley on April 14th, 2007

i don’t know how often it changes…or what would make it change but…do me a favor, go to google and put in “black women” then click images. … i need a moment to grope for words because of all the beautiful black women i know, of all the artwork and images i’ve seen in my […]

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gas

Linnea Ashley on April 12th, 2007

scary thing…yesterday the weather changed, but in denial i sat with the door open (despite the heat) to try to encourage an imaginary breeze. finally around 10 pm i asked my roomie if the a/c was acceptable. it was – but it was also almost the death of us. i went to put our food […]

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Linnea Ashley on April 5th, 2007

It is so easy to forget just how small the world is. Within the 6 billion people milling around I do believe there are networks…chains that link bodies and personalities to each other. I don’t believe 6 degrees of separation is just for kevin bacon. Completely unscientific proof of this was illustrated for me on […]

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Linnea Ashley on March 22nd, 2007

so today’s excursion was to the “evil empire”. they are down the street from me and i needed a few things so i figured i’d take a little stroll. five minutes in and i was waving casually to folks perched on their porches carrying on conversations with their neighbors – in true southern style – […]

Continue reading about walking part II

Linnea Ashley on March 21st, 2007

i’m a creature of habit. i go where i need to go and only venture out when the plan changes. i had never been to the 9th ward – even pre-katrina, until recently when i went to an elementary school to help clean up. recently i’ve ventured out to st. bernards parish to volunteer with […]

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Linnea Ashley on March 15th, 2007

silly me, i forgot i’m brown. tonight a friend and i went out to eat…or rather, that was the plan. a place was recommended to us and so we arrived eagerly anticipating the good food we’d heard about. we were met with a wait…understandable, it is the warehouse district down by the civic center. 15 […]

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Linnea Ashley on March 15th, 2007

my wandering ways are not new. as a military brat we moved a fair bit. i said hello and goodbye enough to get used to the taste – even to like it. as much as saying goodbye sucks, saying hello is scary and interesting and full of potential. mistakes made get to be learned from […]

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