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Saturday, April 16, 2016

N IS FOR ... NO, NOT NOOKIE!

“The weakling and the neurotic attached to his neurosis are not anxious to turn a powerful searchlight upon the dark corners of their psychology.”
 - Sigmund Freud

I was beginning to think that the ghost of Mark Twain was turning Freud's ghost permanently grey.

Freud leaned back in his chair, sighing, 

"We now will see what first occurs to you, Roland, when you hear the Letter N."

Mark leaned towards me and loudly whispered, "Say Nookie.'"

Freud shot bolt upright in his leather chair.  

"No, not Nookie, you jack daw!"

He closed his eyes and muttered to himself, 

"The weakling or the neurotic attached to his neurosis is not anxious 

 to turn such a powerful searchlight as free association upon the dark corners of his psychology.” 

Mark snorted, 

"Just because no one understands what you say doesn't mean you're a genius, Saw-Brains."

Mark winked at me.  "When we get to S, say Schlomo."

Freud flinched and Mark chuckled, 

"That's Saw-Brains' real middle name.  In fact, his true first name is ...."

I shook my head sadly, 

"Is his own affair, right?  You're too good a man to hurt another for a laugh."

Mark frowned, "You talking about the same man I used to see in the mirror?"

"New Orleans," I said quickly.  "That's what I thought of first when you said N, Doctor."

{Steamboat at New Orleans circa 1890}

 Mark chuckled, acting as if he were the subject  of the Free Association.

"I remember New Orleans well.  Beautiful city.  But the people cannot have wells, and so they take rain-water.

 Neither can they conveniently have cellars or graves, the town being built upon 'made ground'; 

so they do without both, and few of the living complain, and none of the others."

He stroked his mustache. 

 "Ah, yes, I remember that lovely cabaret singer.  I told her: 

'We can’t be lovers, my dear, because we both have mustaches. But since you’re a lady, and I’m a gentleman, I’ll shave mine off.'”

Mark gazed off into the shadows.

"It has been said that a Scotchman has not seen the world until he has seen Edinburgh;

 and I think that I may say that an American has not seen the United States until he has seen Mardi Gras in New Orleans."

Freud said between clenched teeth, 

"I am not interested in the least in your puerile recollections!"

He turned to me.  "What occurs to you in thinking of New Orleans?"

"Memories of its streets right after Katrina when the power went down, civilization died, and the predators came out.  

Hugging a rocking mother holding her dead child as the ambulance failed to come ... it never came."

Neither Freud or Twain had any words for that nor did I have any more myself.

33 comments:

  1. That comment was a show-stopper, Roland. That's when we saw that 'all' are not created equal are they?

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    1. It is a story older than Caligula: those without power are destined to be abused by those with it.

      "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did," Rep. Richard H. Baker, a Republican from Baton Rouge, was quoted as saying in the Wall Street Journal in the aftermath of Katrina.

      Sigh.

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  2. Memories of Katrina was devastating. In fact it was more remembered for what went wrong following the disaster. The shortcomings apparently led to many subsequent improvements in the management of the administration

    Hank

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    1. Hank, if only that were so. But ass the inept release of the waters from the Sabine proved last month that flooded many small Texas towns, swamped the interstate between Louisiana and Texas, and devastated hundreds -- big government has no regard fro the little people. :-(

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  3. Katrina affected the world and it should have, but not as it did those who lived it. Your last quote which left F and T speechless is profound and correct. ALWAYS when the lights go out (literally and figuratively) the predators come out.

    (Look at me, posting. I wonder if my comment days are back.)

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    1. I am so happy that you can comment easily here again! Yes, Katrina showed the rest of the world that the American government responds poorly and ineptly. :-(

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  4. We all remember where we were, it effects all... NICE POST!

    Welcome in the letter "N"... thank you!
    Jeremy [Retro]
    AtoZ Challenge Co-Host [2016]

    Stop over and find a free "SIX STRINGS: BLOGGING AtoZ CHALLENGE" Here: http://www.jmhdigital.com/

    HOLLYWOOD NUTS!
    You know you want to know if me or Hollywood... is Nuts?

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    1. Yes, it was like 9-11 in that regard. Thanks for having me in your latest issue of SIX STRINGS!

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  5. Laughter and tears, both in one post. Well done, Roland!

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    1. Thanks -- as Mark Twain wrote: "The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter." :-)

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  6. I have not been back to New Orleans since Katrina--I think I want it to stay as it was in my memory. Twain is keeping Freud on his toes.

    #AtoZchallenge
    Meet My Imaginary Friends

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    1. New Orleans has not been the same since Katrina -- too many who held its spirits and its tales close in their hearts are no more. :-(

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  7. I have not been back to New Orleans since Katrina--I think I want it to stay as it was in my memory. Twain is keeping Freud on his toes.

    #AtoZchallenge
    Meet My Imaginary Friends

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  8. Katrina was a horror to watch.
    Nookie? Now I have that Limp Bizkit song in my head.

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    1. It was a horror to endure on the streets for the short time I was stranded upon them after Katrina. :-(

      Blame Mark Twain for that "Nookie" comment! He was trying to rattle poor Freud. :-)

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  9. That Twain is one hell of a trouble maker.

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  10. Replies
    1. Mark says it off and on to get poor Freud's goat! :-)

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  11. New Orleans will forever conjure images of the horrors after Katrina now - so sad.

    Susan A Eames from
    Travel, Fiction and Photos

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    1. On the streets, the heroes were the regular citizen who was there for those in need. Sadly, there were more predators than those few. :-(

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  12. Quite an interesting read. Sad, but enjoyable somehow.

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    1. It was the triumph of the human spirit of the survivors over the predatory nature of their neighbors that was the true epic. Thanks for visiting. :-)

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  13. As basic structures around the country continue to deteriorate due to governments lack of attention, more will pay the price for that negligence. Things have not changed, and apathy seems to have replaced concern, yet again.
    Would love to have heard Freud's thinking in regards to nookie! Not something I'd have expected him to brush aside. :)

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    1. Freud was upset at Twain for invading his free association exercise with me! :-) And governments' lack of empathy for those without political clout will be the end of us I am afraid. :-(

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  14. I was enjoying the conversation between Freud, Twain and the narrator . . . and then Katrina. Being newly retired, we stayed a month in New Orleans to 'help out' about 8 months after Katrina. I remember unpacking boxes of moldy books in the basement of the library that had flooded -- and the neighborhoods that were so slow to recover. Your post says we have no words. I agree. Even the memory is painful.

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    1. Join us Monday and there will be only laughter I promise. :-)

      Yes, Katrina was a sobering experience for me. My novel, FRENCH QUARTER NOCTURNE, was born of my time in New Orleans right after Katrina.

      Good for you for volunteering to help out. :-)

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  15. Katrina was more than a black eye, while the world watched. One Month later, Rita was the knockout punch, there in Roland's town of Lake Charles. A City under siege with a 28 day stay away order evacuation for its non medical field inhabitants. The Seaside small town of Cameron was blown off the map. As with Katrina, however the very next morn, not 3 days latter, General Honoree arrived, instilling Emergency responses. B/T both, (most forgot or overlooked Rita); which ruined as much if not more Wild Marshlands, Agriculture Fields, Livestock, and Wildlife; Neighbor Gators too. Their habitat of water ways, bayous, had to be chemically "shocked", due to contamination of disease, spread from dead livestock. Sorry to be visceral.

    For those who stayed on, it was a living Hell. Working off of Generators, what few even Fema brought in was just enough to run the Fridge or Air Conditioner, which is a matter of life and death, others scramble to keep emergency equipment for Life Health needs. Roland has more stories to tell, than any one I've ever met.

    Roland, you've stared darkness and death in the face, smiled back, and never waivered in your duties as a Human Being, Ambassador Extraordinaire to the Human Race. Thank You for coming to the Planet. It's comforting knowing you inhabit this Earth, making it a better place for it....! ;-)

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    1. Thanks for thinking so, Robert. But you have stared more than your share of darkness in the face, too, and have never stopped believing in the best of others and helping others. I am proud to call you friend. Have a beautiful Sunday. :-)

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  16. I think that Katrina was, in a very sad way, a turning point in our country's history...well done, sir.

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    1. The Sabine fiasco that flooded several cities just last month because of inept releasing of levee waters and the subsequent mild "Oops" from the state lets me know the same uncaring attitude still exists in the halls of power.

      But you are right: it was a turning point in our country's checkered history. Thanks for visiting and staying to talk awhile. :-)

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  17. The last paragraph made me so sad and I'm not sure it changed much. You know we have relatives there who suffered so much. And I read Zeitung, which really tells it like it was. Before that and once again, I so enjoyed your brilliant idea of Twain and Freud sparring with each other.

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    1. The ghost of Mark Twain is enjoying himself -- Freud not so much! :-)

      Yes, New Orleans is but a shadow of what it once was. :-(

      Thanks for visiting and staying to chat. I am glad your relatives survived, though I am sure it was at a painful cost.

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