It was a long day, and I'm tired and going to bed

...is what I would say if I didn't give a shit, and didn't like to talk.  That being said, I'm going to keep this brief, because I am legit sore and tired, and have another early start to a day of funnnntastic learning =)  We did the history tour today, and I was a big fan of it.  One of the first things I took notice of was our tour guide before the tour even started.  He seemed an obvious offspring of New Orleans' culture, not just in experience and knowledge, but in physical attributes.  He had lighter skin tone, bright, intriguing eyes, and somewhat straight hair, despite his African-American heritage.  A perfect person to speak on the city and how it came to be.  The graveyard at St. Louis #1 was beautiful, morbid, and beautifully morbid.  I am often someone who could be described as being irreverent, and am quick with humor (appropriate or not) in all situations, but I caught myself being very silent, and staying more to myself on our stroll through this city of the dead.  The exception to this was passing Nicholas Cage's future grave; screw that guy.  I enjoyed that people had left combs, as I'm assuming they are referencing his tremendously awful head of hair made famous by the internet.  When learning of the VooDoo queen of New Orleans, I couldn't help but think of the song "Dark Lady" by Cher, which is a good song, by the way.  She sings of the "fortune queen of New Orleans".  Probably not related, but so many people think I'm gay already, why not shoehorn Cher in somewhere.  Anyway, back to the tour.  Congo square was awesome.  Not because of what it is, but what it was, what it represents, and what it evokes in my imagination.  I love music, and I have a special appreciation for African and African American culture within this country.  This isn't because of the typical middle-class-wants-to-be-black cliche (though I went through that phase as a kid, though no pictures exist of me and my African medallion necklace), but because of the dirty prism through which African-American culture is viewed in this country because of our history of oppression, neglect, and minimization when it comes to the magnitude of the African-American impact on this country and its culture, and the fact that so many of my heroes and influences have been African-American.  So, standing in that square, picturing this massive gathering of the oppressed enjoying themselves, and for those hours, thriving, and creating in the shadow of established power is beautiful and inspiring.  It reminds me of the modern interpretation of this tale, one that I'm more familiar and personally connected to; the birth of the OTHER true, American music, which is hip-hop.  Congo Square and then Storyville birthed jazz, and the South Bronx and then the other boroughs birthed hip-hop.  Jazz from slaves and free people of color, hip-hop from the black and brown kids from the burnt out and forsaken Bronx and the resulting gang culture.  Both were born of need for expression and fun in situations that should be devoid of both, given the circumstances.  Necessity is the mother of invention, especially when that necessity is maintaining ones humanity and spirit.

My other favorite part of the history tour was the neighborhoods adjacent to Congo Square, where we saw the smaller homes compared to the parts of the French Quarter we had previously explored.  They were so colorful and quaint.

The food tour, I feel, was probably a little more enjoyable for others, given my self-imposed dietary restrictions.  Still, the history aspect of the tour was very enjoyable, learning about the origins of the foods and their cultural etiology.  The food was pretty good, though, I must say.  It ended on a little bit of a down note, as I realized the red beans and rice has some meat in it after I had already began eating.  So, I inadvertently broke my beliefs, and didn't get to finish my red beans and rice, a double whammy.

Frenchman street was smaller than I expected, but still enjoyable and delivered on the promise of nearly wall-to-wall music.  Unfortunately, by that time of the night my feet were really starting to hurt, and I was getting a little low on energy, and my anxiety started kicking in a little bit more.  On the positive side, I made a "new friend", as a classmate and I who didn't know each other prior to this trip ended up pairing off and getting to know each other.

Well, I didn't do very well keeping this brief, but it's a relative term.  Time to call this morning a night, and hopefully get a nice, long 3:45 minutes of sleep.  Shutting up and shutting my eyes.  I'm out!