Louisville 4C's contd.

Well, like I said I didn't get pictures enough to really illustrate the story-- I have the awkward habit of forgetting my camera or feeling too awkward to whip it out and take a picture, like when I am talking to someone. I am not sure how to photograph life as-it-happens and not make people feel odd. Top photo is the view out my hotel room window. Then, side by side are two shots of  our 4Cs bash on Friday night, a beloved Cs tradition. I noticed that when the DJ played Lady GaGa all the youngest members of the assembled crowd poured onto the dance floor for some wild gyrations. Directly above is the opening session--at 8:00 AM. Waiting for it to start...

More Louisville: Statues (all men) and fancy horses, etc.--evocative of this city's self-identification as Friend of Arts

LIVE from Texas

This is one of my Golden-cheeks from today. He's in the middle of the photo but my camera is too slow, otherwise it would have been a lot closer-up picture--- he was so close to me I could have reached out and touched him. They are very nervy little birds and people don't really seem to phase them.





Below are some buildings that the soldiers play fight in and around.


I was in Golden-cheek hell today, or at least hell for the poor person (me) who had to figure out which singing bird was which, follow him around and start mapping his territory. I ended up mapping 10 birds; I had to give up on a few because they were so tightly packed I could no longer tell who was who, and which way was up. I ran in so many circles today that with the sun being behind clouds all morning, I finally had to use my compass to figure out where to go; I got so turned around! (Shocking fact--- I don't get turned around that often! I can navigate better in the middle of nowhere than in the middle of a city).

But to finish off our morning---- driving out of C4 (the study site we were in today) we saw these bits of pink flagging tape in the middle of our "road" (more like a really bad trail)and finally realized that they were markers for the soldiers who were up ahead of us working on disarming explosives (some of which we drove past while trying to figure out what the hell was going on.The words "oh shit it's a bomb" unfortunately are not to unusual on an actively training military base.) But, I did get to see my cute red- headed soldier boy from yesterday who remembered me and ended up walking our truck through their training area. They had a pretty sweet robot and lots of cool-looking toys!!!!

Always kept on our toes when dealing with the Army, I must say that every one of the Military personnel that I have had direct contact with have been really nice people.

Oh and random comment for anyone suffering from motion sickness: Bioband is the answer! I have really bad motion sickness issues and C4 is about an hour of 5 mile an hour bumps, dips, jolts-- pretty much hell on earth for someone like me. Today was the first time I have ever made the trip without my head hanging out the window, and wishing that one of the nice soldier boys would shoot me and end my misery! It works by applying pressure to a pressure point in your wrist.

Louisville, Kentucky: Conference on College Composition and Communication

For 6 days, from Tuesday, March 16th to Sunday, March 21st , I was in Louisville attending this conference. It was fascinating and educational and fun. Here are some pix I snapped randomly, when I remembered to dig out my camera. Unfortunately I am not the best photo-documenter and most of these are taken whilst walking around the downtown, leaving out most of what I saw and participated in.

Shown is the giant (about 30 feet high) neon guitar heralding one's entrance into  "Fourth Street Live", flagship of Louisville's downtown re-vitalization project  consisting of a few blocks of cobbled street inside the financial/hotel district that have been amped up, so to speak, with the aim of drawing tourists to what is arguably not an 18 hour downtown, but rather a 9 1/2 hour downtown, despite hundreds of captive convention attendees, marooned there, like myself, if unwilling to pay exorbitant taxi rates to go elsewhere. The area has restaurants and bars, and for special occasions they block off Fourth Street here and erect a stage, such as this past Wednesday, for St. Patrick's Day celebrations when, oddly, it seemed to me, a band of skinny white kids in large Afro wigs rendered 70's disco tunes at high volume to the apparent delight of drunken spectators. I would have thought they might have located some fiddles and tamburs for the event, but not. Still, it was lively.
Some of these photos were taken at night; the "nightlife" was only three blocks from my hotel, and some were snapped at 7:45 AM while I waited for the CVS (the only such emporium that I found within walking distance) to open up at 8:00 AM--and on a weekday, I might add--  not open 24 hours as could be expected. The only 24 hour businesses in the neighborhood are the Love Shop, where one can presumably purchase certain genres of videos and/or goods and services of a particular type-- and the White Castle (home of the Slider)... (to be continued!) I will write more later...