by Dr. David Fialkoff, Editor / Publisher
Jon Schooler art

My friend, local artist, Jon Schooler messaged me a day or two ago on WhatsApp:

I wrote back:

I added "now in SMA" because the last time we messaged, I was in New Orleans visiting my daughter. Some years ago, on a previous visit to the Crescent City, while I was walking from one place to another on Tulane University's campus Jon called out from the driver's seat of a black SUV stopped for students to cross along the very mellow road that cuts through Tulane. Seeing his SMA face there under the huge live oak trees was a discontinuity. We spoke for 15-20 seconds, learning before the traffic started to flow that we each have daughters who live in New Orleans and work for Tulane.

Jon is a hipster who moved to San Miguel in 1967. But he has been strongly associated with New Orleans for decades, having a house and ex-wife there, as well as his art hanging in the New Orleans Museum of Art. Publisher that I am, on a later visit up there, a friend of my daughter brought me to meet, Karen Gadbois, the publisher of the NOLA Lens, a local online news site. An artist in her own right (textiles), I was surprised to see, there in her house hanging on the wall, a large painting of Jon's of our Parroquia. (His style is quite distinct.) It turns out she was, or is, his ex-wife with her own history of living in SMA.

I grew up casually exposed to black culture; my parents grew up exposed to black culture. New Orleans, a unique city in many ways, very Caribbean and very black, has unique racial relations. Jazz, which New Orleans is famous for is strongly influenced by African "call and response", especially in its improvisation; I improvise some music on my instrument and then it's your turn to respond on yours.

Black people often talk this way, at least to each other. The first person says something, and the second person responds, and so it goes back and forth. Of course, like a virtuosic musical improvisation, saying something clever is applauded. But, in any case, there needs to be a response. It's a rhythmic thing. It might just be some nonsense syllables, some skat. It's like kicking a ball; if you don't kick it back, then you're not playing the game.

Jon's opening message to me, "Where you at?", was deliberately ambiguous, open to various interpretations, offering me an assortment of ways to kick the ball back. I'm used to ambiguity; I was regularly exposed to it as a kid. Eventually, in my adolescence I came to understand that most of the time when I couldn't understand what my father was saying he also didn't know what he was saying. Without a fixed opinion, or just to mix things up, he was being deliberately ambiguous. Frequently, he said the opposite of what he meant with a sarcasm that was often not apparent. It kept us on our toes, sometimes, perhaps, a bit too much.

"Where you at?" of course is most commonly taken to mean "How's by you?" which was part of my response to Jon's call. When greeted by the query, "How are you?" my father sometimes responded with his own question, "Compared to what?" (which just so happens to be the title of a powerful jazz composition). Keeping along musical lines, on the same subject, Bob Dylan, feeling sorry for himself, sang, "When you asked me how I'm doing, was that some kind of joke?"

Thanksgiving, at its best, should elicit a positive response to the salutation "How are you doing?" This should be a time of gratitude, of counting blessings. Unfortunately, it's easy to lose track of how good things are. Health is not the only blessing that we don't think of when we have it.

For years I suffered with an itchy, prickly patch of skin down where the sun doesn't shine. After returning from New Orleans a month ago, I thought to expose the region to some ultraviolet light (a treatment for eczema), and so I did some naked sunbathing. The problem resolved immediately. But, as no one wants to remember bad things, I have to periodically remind myself how grateful I am not to have an itchy butt. How many other difficulties, which I have suffered for years, might be resolved just as easily by new thinking and a little greater light?

The same phenomenon occurred while I was visiting New Orleans. In the intense heat and humidity prevalent during my first week there, I was reminded how wonderful it is to live in San Miguel where you barely have to consider the weather. How many other reasons to be grateful are escaping me?

Jon had a reason for writing, beyond saying hello. He is heavily plugged into the music scene at New Orleans' Maple Leaf Bar where guitarist Dave Malone often performs with The Radiators. So he is excited that Dave will be the special guest guitarist Sunday, November 30th at 1:00 o'clock at Zandunga. He's inviting everyone he knows. And I'm inviting you. We hope that you will gratefully attend.

Happy Thanksgiving.

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Dr. David Fialkoff presents Lokkal, public internet, building community, strengthening the local economy. If you can, please do contribute content, or your hard-earned cash, to support Lokkal, SMA's Voice. Use the orange, Paypal donate button below. Thank you.

Jon Schooler: With decades of experience undertaking commissions for clients, Jon Schooler's color theory and unique approach to mixing oil paints has positioned him at the forefront of his field, inventing a new approach to mixing and applying the medium onto canvas. Possessing an enduring ability to entice, delight, and uplift, Schooler's work highlights the extraordinary intricacies of color and provides a glimpse into his personal relationship with his favorite medium.

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