It took us 16.5 hours, but we finally rolled into D.C. Saturday night after having left New Orleans right at 4 a.m. I’m traveling with a New Orleans group consisting of my younger brother, cousin and a friend of my brother’s who lived about eight years in D.C. We were all invited to stay with my older brother who lives right around Logan Circle not far from Capitol Hill. So far, we’ve walked everywhere and managed to get around the city with relative ease, although there is this prevalent paranoia that the city will soon be going into lockdown mode as some 2 million people are expected to descend on the nation’s capital for tomorrow’s Presidential Inauguration. I’ll be blogging on my experience here; I also know there are several other Lafayette and Louisiana folks in D.C. and welcome them to post their observations along with anyone else who wants to comment. I’ve already taken a number of interesting pictures since I’ve been here and will be posting several of them along with notes throughout the next few days.
Today seems somewhat calm in the city after yesterday’s huge crowd. Right now I’m sitting on the 7th floor of an office building on the 1300 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, across from the International Trade Center and between the Warner Theater and the National Theater. Occasional snow flurries are blowing around outside. Tour buses regularly roll by on the street. The office building catty-corner to where we are has two big banners hanging outside that read, “Welcome Mr. President!” and “Thank you Mr. President!” – a nice gesture to both the outgoing and incoming president.
Right now, everybody is in prep mode. Tomorrow the big parade will pass by right outside, and the elevator of this building is jammed with people trying to bring in supplies for all the inauguration office parties. There are lines running outside some of the nearby convenience stores. I just heard horns and a crowd of people yelling and looked out the window to see a group of people atop a float-like bus passing by. I keep expecting to see beads flying around. My cousin Jac has already dubbed this Obama Gras.
There will soon be a whole lot of shakin’ going on at Benny’s Sportshack Supplement Depot, a new concept by Opelousas native Benny Nele. Located at 2002 Johnston St., the supplement shop, smoothie bar and café, featuring hot off the press paninis and wraps, plans to open in late May.
Philip deMahy Sr., a once respected New Iberia ad exec, was sentenced May 2 to spend the next two years (he faced up to 100 years) in a state penitentiary after state and federal investigators found dozens of images depicting children engaged in lewd sexual acts on his personal computer.
This year’s Cool Town issue is all about people who are not native to South Louisiana but made a conscious decision to be here, to be among us, to participate in our culture and contribute to it.
A shelved ordinance transferring $200,000 from a northside drainage project to a south Lafayette development may not break any laws, but it stinks to high heaven.
An effort to restore a shuttered dancehall and document other vacant or razed honky-tonks could serve as a model for saving an endangered species of entertainment.
Lafayette’s gene pool has been host to a long line of eccentric characters who have blurred the lines between crazy, genius, disturbed and curiously entertaining.
It took us 16.5 hours, but we finally rolled into D.C. Saturday night after having left New Orleans right at 4 a.m. I’m traveling with a New Orleans group consisting of my younger brother, cousin and a friend of my brother’s who lived about eight years in D.C. We were all invited to stay with my older brother who lives right around Logan Circle not far from Capitol Hill. So far, we’ve walked everywhere and managed to get around the city with relative ease, although there is this prevalent paranoia that the city will soon be going into lockdown mode as some 2 million people are expected to descend on the nation’s capital for tomorrow’s Presidential Inauguration. I’ll be blogging on my experience here; I also know there are several other Lafayette and Louisiana folks in D.C. and welcome them to post their observations along with anyone else who wants to comment. I’ve already taken a number of interesting pictures since I’ve been here and will be posting several of them along with notes throughout the next few days. 
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