Totally

seems to be the utterance of choice here in Portland. Said long, like they might say it in Lake Woebegon. Tohhh...tally.

Alex has even taken it up. It can mean: for real! Or, seriously. Also, cool. And especially: I'm in complete agreement.

Whether this is a Portland peculiarity, an Oregonian or American thing, I have no idea. For all I know Austin Powers said it and now everybody's doing it. If it was used a lot in New Orleans I didn't notice it.

Portlanders supposedly have have an accent, but to us from yat-land it sounds like no accent. Regarding Totally, I've noticed the utterer sounds unusually smart, perky, and earnest. That automatically rules us New Orleanians out from demonstrating it properly.

Come to think of it, everything they say up here sounds that way. Is it the accent? Or that "sure, I'm up for it" Oregon-ness that came out here on the wagon trail?

Who can say?

Bitter sweet

We went back to N.O. for 10 days over Mardi Gras. Mostly visited friends and family and caught a few parades. Even stayed in a bona fide FEMA trailer for 3 of those days.

I thought this poignant rendering summed it all up perfectly:

The picture was an ill-fated New Yorker cover illustration, literally blown away by Dick Cheney. See Shreveport creator Bill Joyce's account of the inspiration behind the art, why he thought the cover was so important, and how he vehemently fought the bumping of the picture that says it all at a glance.

Alas, Cheney shooting his buddy in the face won the day. A much worthier tale, don't you think?

A lot of projectile vomiting going around last week - no kidding. Alex got it and so did just about everyone else except me and Carlos. Is 'Katrina ralph' a freaky mutation of 'Katrina cough'?

The Big Easy has a long and dubious road ahead. With each trip home I find the finish line taunting from yet a few more years in the distance.