Update: Hurricane Irene

Just an update for everyone back in Louisiana:

Heather, Jayden, and I are fine. RVA lost power in a lot of places (including my apartment) We’re at my boyfriend’s house charging our computers and checking emails. There’s no damage to my place, or anywhere near, so hopefully we’ll have power soon.

Richmond lost power (supposedly more customer without than Norfolk) due to trees down everywhere. There were trees down on houses, cars, and powerlines across downtown RVA, but again we are fine. No damage to my car or apartment.

Norfolk has major damage (trees down and flooding) everywhere so we’re not sure the status of Orry and Heather’s house. We should know how things are down there when Orry gets back – hopefully in the next couple of days. The Navy is doing a survey of damage at the base before they can return. I’ll post another update once we get back to Norfolk to check on their house. Email with any questions y’all may have!

If you want to contact Heather or me, my email is aaronjcoriell@gmail.com and my phone# is 985-320-3544.

Love you all! And thank you all for thinking of us as we weathered the storm!

 

**Update**

Everything is back to normal. Power came back for me the same day I brought Heather and Jayden back to Norfolk. Orry has made it home, and their house is fine! (Now… Katia, stay away!)

Movie Review: For the Bible Tells Me So

I am always on the lookout for a great documentary. Those having to do with the Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender [LGBT] community are easy to come by, but not necessarily a good representation of both sides of the ongoing argument between the Christian Church and the LGBT community. This one is in every way a great representation of how we should, as humanity, be accepting of one another instead of constantly trying to fight our differences.

The film portrays multiple, highly distinguished families (Including former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt’s family)

Did You know?

[Don't you love little facts that make you go, ‘ohh cool’ …? I certainly do! So I've decided I'll start writing a few posts every now-and-then to 1) keep me writing and 2) make some one out there say, "ohh cool." Hope you enjoy!]

On the topic of my last post about my new home in Richmond, I thought I’d tie it back in with my native state, Louisiana. Anyone who has been to NOLA has probably ridden the streetcars, a staple of the city that has been through some tough and recently good times. Some residents say the only people who use them are the tourists, but we know that’s not 100% true; especially considering the NOLA RTA is expanding their lines to add service to the French Quarter and eastward, and the Warehouse District. But where did New

Richmond: My New Home

[So I’ve been meaning to put together this post for quite some time, but I wanted to make sure I did the city justice. Richmond deserves that. Considering I’ve lived here 3 months now, I think I’ve educated myself on enough points to do it some justice, but not enough. This post will be about my first few months here and what I’ve been introduced to through research, classes, and just exploring my own neighborhood. That said - I realize there is much more to learn and say about this amazing city. So I’ll continue to post blogs on Richmond, my time at VCU, and my new home in Virginia.]

I’ve never once heard someone say, “Yeah, let’s go to Richmond for vacation!” Unless you’re a Civil War enthusiast or from some state along the central-east coast, you may not even be able to locate Richmond on a mental map of the U.S. Nonetheless; this city has big history, big culture, and big business.

Richmond is a bustling city with a metropolitan area of over 1,200,000 people. It is the third largest metropolitan area in Virginia (Virginia Beach and Norfolk take the lead) and the capital city of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Virginia is the 12th most populous state in the country with a population of just over 8,000,000 people. That’s almost double the population of my home state, Louisiana. The city was formally founded in 1737, but has settlement histories dating back to 1609 in English history, and even earlier by Native Americans. This is one of my favorite aspects of Richmond, the history. I live on the border between two neighborhoods, Shockoe Slip and Shockoe Bottom. The Bottom is the location of the original city grid laid out during the founding of the city, and is home to some of the best and worst histories, all of which shaped American history on whole.

The Story Behind JAC

I’ve decided to write. I am constantly posting my opinions on articles, photos, links, et cetera, et cetera to Facebook and Twitter. So I decided I’d vent through a more elaborate source – a weblog.

I have quite a few friends and professors who blog. I enjoy keeping up with their lives through other means than short postings on Facebook and Twitter. Many of my Facebook friends complain I put too much on Facebook, maybe they won’t read this, but I came upon a quote by John Dewey that reads:

“Education is a social process. Education is growth. Education is, not a preparation for life; education is life itself.”

Education truly is all of that. Quite a few of my elders complain about how much time younger people spend on the computer. If time spent on the computer is used for writing, no matter the topic, that’s education! If some research was done, which I would hope anyone who blogs does some research before posting their opinion on a topic, then I consider that time well spent!

I would say my friend Cynthia is my inspiration, or at least my go-to girl, for creating Modern JAC. Cynthia and I have been friends for almost four years now. We met while working at Starbucks in Ruston. The first night we worked together I was pretty excited – we’ll just leave it at excited – over a new Michael Buble CD. She says, “After that night, I knew we’d be good friends.” Sure enough, we’ve been friends ever since.

Finding a name for my blog started with a list of my favorite things. While pairing words together I decided to try the word modern and my first name Aaron. Once Cynthia was up to speed on my intentions to create a personal blog, she suggested I look up the meanings for each of my names. So the process of finding definitions that seemed inadequate, and coming up with titles such as Modern Holds the Heel (Yes, a search for the name James had a listed meaning “Holds the Heel”) began and quickly took a downward spiral. My research eventually lead me to learn that James, my middle name, was derived from Jacob. I’m not a huge fan of the name Jacob, for personal reasons, so I decided I’d switch my initials, AJC, around to spell JAC. Thus, my love for anything modern and an alternate use of my initials, formed…

…Modern JAC.