September 8, 2010

Horn tootin'

street view of hokus pokus liquor
I just got a picture published (I guess that's the right word) in the current print issue of The Oxford American. The Oxford American is a quarterly literary magazine that features writing and art from Southerners or about the South. Their tagline is "The Southern Magazine of Good Writing." They used my picture of the Hokus Pokus Liquor neon sign in Alexandria, Louisiana. It accompanies an article in the Race column titled "Adaption: The biology of shame," by Solon Timothy Woodward, author of Cadillac Orpheus: A Novel. They sent me two copies of the edition in which my picture was used, as well as a subscription(!).

Here is part the opening paragraph:

I had chosen to work as a public-health doctor in Alexandria (pro-nounced "ellic"). As my family and I enter the city, we drive down Jackson Street. A neon ghost sign floats alongside Hokus Pokus Liquors, one of the few businesses that seems to have survived the decades.

oxford american

6 comments:

iCurious Media said...

That's pretty cool, how did you get your photos published? Did you need to send it anywhere?

Chris said...

In this case, someone at The Oxford American must have done a search for "Hokus Pokus Liquor" and was then led to my flickr photo. Fortunately, they went about getting permission to use it. Nice when that happens!

Anonymous said...

Chris,

Well done! As you know, I grew up in Alexandria and "back in the day" one of the most cool things this kid had ever seen was the Hocus Pokus sign at night. In those days, it was a thriving street filled with mom and pop's. And, it was actually a great place to be a kid.
Ed

Amy said...

Very cool neon and congrats on your photo credit!

Chris said...

Ed, I've seen pics of another Hokus Pokus neon sign in Louisiana that still lights up, so I can imagine how neat this one would have looked. I need to get back to Alexandria and scour the street more intensely.

Thanks, Amy!

Unknown said...

Well done sir! Congratulations!