notes on daily mass
1. Udeal, the receptionist at the office, waves to me as I leave at 11:45.
2. The porter at the Lafitte Hotel on Poydras looks like Dominique Wilkins.
3. I start to hear the kids on the playground at Good Shepherd School from a block away. They sound like the beginning of the Belle and Sebastian song, "If You're Feeling Sinister."
4. I wave to my housemate Ashley (the little children scream "Miss Ashley!" to her) as I pass Good Shepherd. She's out with her kids every day at 11:50. Sometimes she sees me, and sometimes she waves back.
5. When I get to Immaculate Conception, they're usually in the middle of the Angelus. (Immaculate Conception is the only church I know that starts noon mass at 11:50.)
6. I sit in the same spot only because my favorite person at daily mass is nearby. He is my favorite person simply because he looks just like Woody Allen.
7. Woody and I exchange the handshake of peace, which here lasts about enough time for one and a half exchanges.
8. 12:21. Mass ends, and as I leave I rub the foot of St. Peter's statue, near the entrance. I tell Peter thanks for looking after me in Rome.
9. Walking up Baronne Street, away from the Quarter, the mass crowd disperses about the New Orleans downtown streets. At Good Shepherd, three blocks away, Ashley's 2nd grade class is now in class, off the playground. Dominique is busy as always with a carload of tourists.
10. Udeal waves back to me as I return. I smile and shift my magnet on the board from "out" to "in." "Awrite," he says.
2. The porter at the Lafitte Hotel on Poydras looks like Dominique Wilkins.
3. I start to hear the kids on the playground at Good Shepherd School from a block away. They sound like the beginning of the Belle and Sebastian song, "If You're Feeling Sinister."
4. I wave to my housemate Ashley (the little children scream "Miss Ashley!" to her) as I pass Good Shepherd. She's out with her kids every day at 11:50. Sometimes she sees me, and sometimes she waves back.
5. When I get to Immaculate Conception, they're usually in the middle of the Angelus. (Immaculate Conception is the only church I know that starts noon mass at 11:50.)
6. I sit in the same spot only because my favorite person at daily mass is nearby. He is my favorite person simply because he looks just like Woody Allen.
7. Woody and I exchange the handshake of peace, which here lasts about enough time for one and a half exchanges.
8. 12:21. Mass ends, and as I leave I rub the foot of St. Peter's statue, near the entrance. I tell Peter thanks for looking after me in Rome.
9. Walking up Baronne Street, away from the Quarter, the mass crowd disperses about the New Orleans downtown streets. At Good Shepherd, three blocks away, Ashley's 2nd grade class is now in class, off the playground. Dominique is busy as always with a carload of tourists.
10. Udeal waves back to me as I return. I smile and shift my magnet on the board from "out" to "in." "Awrite," he says.