Jul 20 2012
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Urban scene

The legacy of 27 April, 2011

Thursday 19th July 2012, 6.55pm (day 329)

Tornado legacy, 19/7/12

This is not a particularly ‘good’ photo in aesthetic or technical terms but it is the most meaningful picture I took today.

I said a few days ago that Tuscaloosa is not a very eventful place, and this is true generally, but an exception to the rule came on 27th April 2011 when it was hit by an utterly devastating tornado. 47 people died in the early evening of that day. I remember when I heard about it on the news, and the fact I had visited here previously and knew Angela (my research colleague) gave the disaster a personal dimension that it might not otherwise have had for many people. Angela, her husband, and their house, were all fine, but therein lies the scary nature of this particular natural phenomenon. Less than a third of a mile from her place – and we drove through these districts today as I went to dinner at her house – there were these scenes of total destruction, and I mean total. The narrow line that the storm took remains completely visible on the ground fifteen months later, marked by shattered trees and empty lots (like this one), even where houses literally on the other side of the street are OK.

What with my visit to New Orleans (still with visible signs of damage from Hurricane Katrina in 2005) and the Hebden Bridge floods I know I am developing a recurring ‘natural disaster’ theme here: but believe me, I don’t want to. I just have a sudden sense of the arbitrary power of these things. You can’t protest against it, can’t vote against it, can’t cancel it; it just happens, and it’s a terrible thing when it does. I’m not a particularly religious man but I guess this is why people sometimes feel the only response is just to pray.

Tagged , , , ,
Jul 19 2012
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Interior

Working in Phil’s pub

Wednesday 18th July 2012, 2.35pm (day 328)

Phil's pub, 18/7/12

Free wi-fi. You gotta love it. A proper working lunch.

Had planned to get a photo of a fraternity house today, this being ‘Idiosyncracy part 2’ (see yesterday) but Tuscaloosa was having a dull and rainy day and the pictures I got were not very interesting. So I stopped myself from feeling constrained by my own plans and got this different side to campus life here at the University of Alabama. Phil is not a person, incidentally – apparently it is short for ‘Philibuster’s’.

Tagged , , , , , ,
Jul 18 2012
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Urban scene

Idiosyncracies of the US university system, part 1

Tuesday 17th July 2012, 3.20pm (day 327)

Bryant-Denny stadium, 17/7/12

There have been significant developments at home in Hebden Bridge today but here is not the place to discuss them. You will doubtless hear more about it after I am back in the UK on Saturday.

Anyway, here in Tuscaloosa, I had to include a photo of the Bryant-Denny stadium, home of the Crimson Tide, the University of Alabama (American) football team. Those of us who are not from the US have this vague idea that college sports is somehow important here in a way it is not in most other countries, but largely we do not recognise the astonishing scale of it. To put it in perspective, the population of Tuscaloosa, AL, is about 90,000. The capacity of this stadium is over 101,000. If it were in the UK – or most other countries in the world – it would be the largest stadium in the country. The whole state of Alabama treats the Tide (national champions many times, and most recently in 2009 and 2011) as if they were not only their favoured sports team, but were part of their whole cultural identity, in a similar way to Barcelona for Catalans or Celtic for Irish/Scots Catholics. At times it feels as if the college were just something that existed to support the team, rather than the other way around. The coach is the single best-paid employee of the whole university, at around $7m/year. I understand why it happens, but the scale of it continues to amaze me, even after several years of visiting US campuses to work.

And yes, I do intend to do a ‘part 2’ to this post: tomorrow or Thursday, hopefully…

Tagged , , , , , , , ,
Jul 17 2012
2 Comments
Daily Post, Urban scene

Main quadrangle, University of Alabama

Monday 16th July 2012, 1.30pm (day 326)

University of Alabama, 16/7/12

Like many US universities, at least, those called ‘The University of X’ where X is the name of a state, the University of Alabama is located in a relatively small town, that being, Tuscaloosa. Tuscaloosa is not the most exciting place in the world (even compared to Hebden Bridge, let alone New Orleans), so expect to see a few shots of picturesque Southern architecture over the next few days, as there’s not a great deal to capture. This is the Denny Chimes tower, a bell-tower on the southern end of the main quadrangle. Although the university has been here since 1820, only four buildings on the campus are older than 1865, because in that year the campus was burnt to the ground by Unionist troops during the War Between the States (aka the American Civil War, but I’m in the South so let’s use their term for it).

I’m here to work with my colleague Angela Benson, whose position here, as a black female academic, is more impressive than one might initially think: astonishingly, segregation on the campus was only ended in 1963 – just six years before I was born! – and was achieved despite the personal opposition of George Wallace, the state governor at the time, who literally stood ‘in the schoolhouse door’ to protest the enrolment of the first two black students.

So now you know. But I do quite like it here even if it is not a very eventful place. At least it’s warm and sunny.

Tagged , , , , ,
Jul 16 2012
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Landscape, Transport

Crossing Lake Pontchartrain

Sunday 15th July 2012, 7.45am (day 325)

Lake Pontchartrain, 15/7/12

This is a bit out-of-focus, but it was taken from a moving train. Specifically, a train that was crossing what Wikipedia, at least, defines as the longest railroad bridge in the USA and, at 9.3km, ‘likely to be’ the world’s longest rail bridge over water. It crosses the south-eastern end of Lake Pontchartrain and took me and a couple of hundred other passengers out of New Orleans this Sunday morning.

I got off after a six-hour journey at Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where I am staying for the next five nights: some others were going as far as New Jersey and weren’t going to arrive until tomorrow lunchtime. And the train guards work all but 4 hours of the full 32-hour journey! Now there’s a group in need of a better union. Remember also that the UK government look to the US for best practice in its labour laws.

Tagged , , , , , ,
Jul 15 2012
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Swamp monster

Saturday 14th July 2012, 3.45pm (day 324)

Aliigator, 14-7-12

On no other day so far have I wanted more to put two photos up here instead of just one, because I had two quite distinct but equally memorable events to document today. However, I took the decision that the Running of the Bulls event, while funny and highly photogenic, just repeated the general ‘portrait’ theme that has so far dominated this visit to New Orleans – which I have decided is definitely the best place I have been to in the USA. Those who want to see pictures from it (and it’s worth seeing) could visit my Facebook album.

This, on the other hand, was an almost unrepeatable encounter, out in the Honey Island swamp (tour courtesy of Cajun Encounters, who did a good job). This beast was at least 11 feet (3.5m) long, and was quite awesome to behold: particularly this close. Quite amazing. You suddenly feel you are a member of a quite ephemeral species, really.

Tagged , , , , , , ,
Jul 14 2012
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Portrait, Stranger, Urban scene

The banks of the Mississippi

Friday 13th July 2012, 8.15pm (day 323)

Mississippi, 13/7/12

Tough choice of photo today. I saw most of the city today courtesy of a driving tour in the morning from my friend/colleague Sharon, who works at the University of New Orleans, then I walked round the French Quarter in the evening, along with about twenty thousand other tourists. I took the photos everyone else takes, of St Louis Cathedral, inside a jazz club etc., and some I really liked, doubtless one or possibly more will appear on the ‘best of the rest’ page at some point soon.

However, from the five strong candidates for today’s pic of the day I went with this one. This guy was sat by the river, silently, drinking from his can of beer, as I promenaded along the levee which runs along the south side of Decatur Street. He looked so melancholy, a great contrast to all the revelry going on along Bourbon Street just three blocks away. The lights of the city in this, one of the world’s most famous rivers, set his silhouette off very well, so I’m going for this one.

Tagged , , , , , ,
Jul 13 2012
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Portrait, Stranger

Girl in the art museum

Thursday 12th July 2012, 6.35pm (day 322)

Girl, Ogden museum, 12/7/12

Was invited to the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans this evening at the start of a very pleasant evening out with someone who I met for the first time in Moscow two weeks ago. There were many good people shots that got taken today but this was, for me, the best.

Tagged , , , ,
Jul 12 2012
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Portrait, Stranger

The CEO of Blackboard

Wednesday 11th July 2012, 8.35am (day 321)

Blackboard CEO, 11/7/12

Anyone who’s been to New Orleans knows that its visual attractions are varied and eye-opening. You’ll doubtless be seeing more of the city itself – and its inhabitants and visitors – over the next few days.

But here’s the reason I’m here, the Blackboard World 2012 conference at the truly colossal Ernest N. Morial Convention Center – a building that is literally a mile in length. This is Michael Chasen, the CEO of the company, at his morning keynote. I like the pose I’ve caught him in and also the display on the board behind him, which is a neat way of summarising it. He did have a reason to talk about pee particularly, but I won’t spoil the mystery by telling you what it was.

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,
Jul 11 2012
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Interior

Airport security, MAN T2

Tuesday 10th July 2012, 8.10am (day 320)

Airport security, 10/7/12

Well, I made it out of Hebden Bridge – in fact the train this morning was perfectly punctual. No water left in the town but a lot of debris around.

18 hours and a few thousand miles later, I type this sat in New Orleans, but the photo is of Manchester Airport; I boobed and did not get a window seat for the second flight in from Atlanta, thus missing some great shots of the Mississippi delta, Lake Ponchartrain and the city of NO itself, glimpsed as I craned my neck round my fellow passengers from my position on the aisle. And I’m not heading out into the city tonight – it’s too late (in my head) and I’m here until Sunday anyway, so you’ll see it, never fear. I do quite like this shot however.

Tagged , , , ,
← Older posts
Newer posts →