O'Reilly Culture Spawn

Did they actually show this little boy the original taping? This is way too good.

Thinking Outside the Cookie Jar

I found these in the holiday tents surrounding the Union Square Farmer's Market last weekend. Rubyzaar Cookies are little out of the ordinary. My favorites are Kashimir which has earl grey, smoked almonds and dark chocolate and Ambrosia which has figs, pear, sage and roast walnut creamed honey. Heh?? I don't know! But they are so good I went back for more today since they're only in the tents until tomorrow. I just had to have some more. I just really enjoy the surprising taste of such an interesting combination of flavors.

Don't Eat Acid

I read into chapter 2 of "Wishful Drinking" during my lunch break at Barnes and Noble this week and I cannot wait to buy it! I love the brilliant cover and I love the way the author name and title run up the cover like the opening credits of Star Wars. That bitch is craaaazy! And I love her but she also scares me a bit. As much as she leaves on the table I have a feeling we still don't know the half of it and thank to ECT, we may never know. Neither will she! LOL!

Once a Bookseller, Never Again

I wanted to work in the fiction section but I was placed in Performing Arts which I soon realized was the best place for me because there was tons of diversity in the books there. But here's how I remember the breakdown of those genres of books, in terms of space, demand and general order and personal interest. There were sections that I was always curious about but which I never explored because in my mind I had placed myself in box of interests which did not include these categories. Having enrolled in the Urban Studies program where I work this semester, I realize now that these interests were much more than just a passing fancy.

Cultural Studies and Women's Studies were sections I was always curious about as well as Anthropology a study I was so poisoned against because of a horrible intro class I took at Bard College. But now I see that Anthropology is much more than just some anemic white people spying on the daily practices of native peoples. Doing and ethnography of whites for my final project in Urban Cultural Diversity has helped me to see that.

Thankfully I remember that the African American Studies section was quite large and constantly being updated with new titles. It was a section that was always way too overcrowded. It took a great deal of effort to pull a single book off of that shelf on most days. The Native American section was a sad, pathetic section with the opposite problem. There were never enough books to fill that shelf. Often books were faced out end to end just to keep books with the spines out from falling over. And I swear to you that I could count on one hand the amount of times a customer asked me to look up a book in the Native American section. There were never many people standing around that section either. The most famous sections for people to hang out in were Art, Photo Essays, Film, Self Help, The Occult and Sexuality for the obvious reasons.

Self Help was one of the largest, most ridiculous and most annoying sections to shelve. I found books in that section that I could not believe existed! The Chicken Soup for The Soul Books had their own section! That section convinced me that Self Help is at least 90% racket. I mean the same things were said over and over by different people that's all and depending on whether there was an Oprah Book Club sticker on it it would rise in sales or go virtually unnoticed. I think most of it is a crock personally but I do see what draws people to self help books like an addiction. It's like anything else: a choice of a variety of ways to be told the same thing over and over again but never apply it. That's America. The illusion of choice will always trump resolution through realistic application.

Then there was Film and Music and celebrity biographies which I loved. I used to hide in the isles often flipping through large format photography books of film studies or musician bios that intrigued me. I also loved reading through some of the screenplays of my favorite movies. I eventually bought the screenplay for Noah Baumbach's "The Squid and the Whale" which for me is one the best modern screenplays I've ever read. When I read it, I can see everything in the movie which I love. It's very accessible and irreverent and conveys a great deal of emotion without being over the top or condescending to the audience.

The Art and Photo Essay section is pretty self explanatory. Everyone likes to stand around or sit around on the floor looking at coffee table books of their favorite artists and photographers or just something that catches the eye. Often, many of the suggestive or plain raunchy photos of nudity served the purpose of providing entertainment or offense to customers. Art & Design was another one of my favorite sections. I got a lot of ideas for design, font websites (I became a fan of font when I interned at Harper Collins one summer)page layout and fashion drawing there.

And last but not least is the business section. Yes, even as turned off as I am by the negative bi-products of commerce and advertising, I totally appreciate the genius behind it. One book in particular called "Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands" really held my attention while I did my time at that information desk. It has a great explanation of the way the brands that make the most money are the ones that inspire people to invest a deep emotional association with the product. These products are staples, parts of the family, and represent the fabric of life itself. Anyone of us can see examples of this in our own daily relationships with products. Johnson&Johnson, Kodak, G&E, Vasoline are just a few old favorites. There's also a book I had to read once for a presentation I did while interning at Simon&Schuster called "Trading Up" which also talks about more modern companies like Victoria Secret, Panera Bread and Starbucks and how their marketing of European based products have begun to be associated with "A new luxury" for many Americans.

When I think about working at B&N I realize that essentially, it is my relationship with these books that I missed the most when I left. Working there was fucking insane. I will never work retail again if I have anything to do with it. But at the time, I told myself that if I was going to do retail one last time, it might as well have to do with selling a product I love. I do love the book.

Banana Go Shopping

I just bought those Kenneth Cole Reaction Sandals today. I know I won't get to wear them until Summer but I just couldn't let them get away. ShopStyle is like crack for me, but I think I've been restraining myself reasonably well...so far. Now I can started my Christmas shopping for people other than me.

RACE - The Power of an Illusion

Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Race

Our eyes tell us that people look different. No one has trouble distinguishing a Czech from a Chinese, but what do those differences mean? Are they biological? Has race always been with us? How does race affect people today? There’s less – and more – to race than meets the eye:

1. Race is a modern idea. Ancient societies, like the Greeks, did not divide people according to physical distinctions, but according to religion, status, class, even language. The English language didn’t even have the word ‘race’ until it turns up in 1508 in a poem by William Dunbar referring to a line of kings.

2. Race has no genetic basis. Not one characteristic, trait or even one gene distinguishes all the members of one so-called race from all the members of another so-called race.

3. Human subspecies don’t exist. Unlike many animals, modern humans simply haven’t been around long enough or isolated enough to evolve into separate subspecies or races. Despite surface appearances, we are one of the most similar of all species.

4. Skin color really is only skin deep. Most traits are inherited independently from one another. The genes influencing skin color have nothing to do with the genes influencing hair form, eye shape, blood type, musical talent, athletic ability or forms of intelligence. Knowing someone’s skin color doesn’t necessarily tell you anything else about him or her.

5. Most variation is within, not between, "races." Of the small amount of total human variation, 85% exists within any local population, be they Italians, Kurds, Koreans or Cherokees. About 94% can be found within any continent. That means two random Koreans may be as genetically different as a Korean and an Italian.

6. Slavery predates race. Throughout much of human history, societies have enslaved others, often as a result of conquest or war, even debt, but not because of physical characteristics or a belief in natural inferiority. Due to a unique set of historical circumstances, ours was the first slave system where all the slaves shared similar physical characteristics.

7. Race and freedom evolved together. The U.S. was founded on the radical new principle that "All men are created equal." But our early economy was based largely on slavery. How could this anomaly be rationalized? The new idea of race helped explain why some people could be denied the rights and freedoms that others took for granted.

8. Race justified social inequalities as natural. As the race idea evolved, white superiority became "common sense" in America. It justified not only slavery but also the extermination of Indians, exclusion of Asian immigrants, and the taking of Mexican lands by a nation that professed a belief in democracy. Racial practices were institutionalized within American government, laws, and society.

9. Race isn’t biological, but racism is still real. Race is a powerful social idea that gives people different access to opportunities and resources. Our government and social institutions have created advantages that disproportionately channel wealth, power, and resources to white people. This affects everyone, whether we are aware of it or not.

10. Colorblindness will not end racism. Pretending race doesn’t exist is not the same as creating equality. Race is more than stereotypes and individual prejudice. To combat racism, we need to identify and remedy social policies and institutional practices that advantage some groups at the expense of others.

Copyright (c) California Newsreel, 2003

Journal Wierdness

Ever read your old journals? I mean written journals. I have about three boxes worth of journals I kept in high school and college. Lemme tell you, reading that shit is tripped out! I mean there are some details that I don't even remember. I realize that like many teenagers I thought I knew more than I did. I was some kind of scatterbrain man. I was just all over the place. Not too much different than I am now, but now I'm a bit more practical and not such a brat. Not only did I journal write like a maniac. I had friends who would write in my journals, like it was like a special guest appearance or something. We would write all these quotes in the margins that only we knew the relevance of. I think I took over one my friends journals to write my own stuff in and to this day when I open it I think it's his because he still has a bunch of entries in there, poems and stuff. Then there's my entries, lists and observations and math work! I was always getting over someone, messing with somebody else, trying to figure myself out. I was craaazy! I hardly ever wrote about schoolwork or teachers. It was all about relationships. I even wrote down some conversations that I recalled verbatim. That always cracks me up.

The Last Anti-Racist Interview

I had to sneak into the office where I work on my day off on the stealth tip to get this interview. It was the best place for us to meet actually. This is where they normally meet in the evenings for their reading group. We both made good time. I showed up just a few minutes before he did and found a classroom nearby where we could sit. I have to say, I've been learning a lot, both about my research topic and about myself and this whole process of interviewing. I hate the sound of my own voice for instance when I'm mmhhmming and uhhuhing and basically making the usual sounds of confirmation that I am indeed listening and or I understand. Hate that. I often wish I could either just sit there and take notes (actually I uses a digital recorder because I suck at notes and don't wanna miss anything) or interject and make it more conversational, but I hate to think that anything I say might be affecting the subject's response although I imagine it would be impossible not to. The subject was really forthcoming and shared a lot of his very honest, critical and thought provoking experiences with being white and how that related to his experiences as an activist and hs relationships with people of color. At my site visit, when I observed him in the group, I recognized in him, what I felt to be the closest thing to the voice a person of color might have. What I mean is that he seemed to raise the kind of issues that were hard to intellectually skirt around. He pointed out things that might make some white people uncomfortable the kind of things that would force a white person to confront certain contributory aspects of their conditioned personality to racism. That's one of the main reasons why I picked him. And when he told me about his background, growing up in rural Pennsylvania and his own unique take on that, his resistance to a kind of learned racist environment, I was even more fascinated. We went over the alloted 20 minutes that I have been limiting all my interviews to and I think we made it just under an hour. He and I both had a lot to say.

So anyway, now I am faced with the daunting task of somehow shaping all this data into something cohesive and compelling: a basic ethnographic write up. This is what I will be doing for the holidays. That and stuffing my face, and getting drunk. But I'll also be thinking about race and how, even though essentially I think race means very little, save the skin pigment we are born with, we are obsessed with it. And how important it is for white people to interrupt the lazy, dangerously subtle color blind racism that has become pervasive in this country. Luck to me.

True Blood Season Finale: New Suspects!

Okay so what an amazing episode! I have to say though that I'm not really that surprised that there's a new killer on the loose. I mean Bon Temps is just one big freak show. I think their troubles are only just beginning. Here's my list of possible suspects for the person who killed the leg which fell out of Belflur's car. : )

- ex war soldier: He's been planted as an obvious choice as a killer because he's a war vet with flashbacks and bad feelings about what he's seen in the war. But I love him and I hope he's not because whenever he compliments the red haired chick I totally melt! He has such a way with words. Awkward, inappropriate but always profound or sweet.
-that cute young guy who hangs out with Jason and Renee: He sometimes comes off as just a little too good to be true. I dunno. I just think there has to be more to him than what's on the surface. I like him but you never know.
-demon lady with the pig: Hey, she just showed up with a pig and a great car to save Tara from herself and literally put her in the Big House! We know she's bad news. She could easily be the one.

What do you guys think?

We are the ones we have been waiting for

Nov. 5, 2008

Dear Brother Obama,

You have no idea, really, of how profound this moment is for us. Us being the black people of the Southern United States. You think you know, because you are thoughtful, and you have studied our history. But seeing you deliver the torch so many others before you carried, year after year, decade after decade, century after century, only to be struck down before igniting the flame of justice and of law, is almost more than the heart can bear. And yet, this observation is not intended to burden you, for you are of a different time, and, indeed, because of all the relay runners before you, North America is a different place. It is really only to say: Well done. We knew, through all the generations, that you were with us, in us, the best of the spirit of Africa and of the Americas. Knowing this, that you would actually appear, someday, was part of our strength. Seeing you take your rightful place, based solely on your wisdom, stamina and character, is a balm for the weary warriors of hope, previously only sung about.

I would advise you to remember that you did not create the disaster that the world is experiencing, and you alone are not responsible for bringing the world back to balance. A primary responsibility that you do have, however, is to cultivate happiness in your own life. To make a schedule that permits sufficient time of rest and play with your gorgeous wife and lovely daughters. And so on. One gathers that your family is large. We are used to seeing men in the White House soon become juiceless and as white-haired as the building; we notice their wives and children looking strained and stressed. They soon have smiles so lacking in joy that they remind us of scissors. This is no way to lead. Nor does your family deserve this fate. One way of thinking about all this is: It is so bad now that there is no excuse not to relax. From your happy, relaxed state, you can model real success, which is all that so many people in the world really want. They may buy endless cars and houses and furs and gobble up all the attention and space they can manage, or barely manage, but this is because it is not yet clear to them that success is truly an inside job. That it is within the reach of almost everyone.

I would further advise you not to take on other people's enemies. Most damage that others do to us is out of fear, humiliation and pain. Those feelings occur in all of us, not just in those of us who profess a certain religious or racial devotion. We must learn actually not to have enemies, but only confused adversaries who are ourselves in disguise. It is understood by all that you are commander in chief of the United States and are sworn to protect our beloved country; this we understand, completely. However, as my mother used to say, quoting a Bible with which I often fought, "hate the sin, but love the sinner." There must be no more crushing of whole communities, no more torture, no more dehumanizing as a means of ruling a people's spirit. This has already happened to people of color, poor people, women, children. We see where this leads, where it has led.

A good model of how to "work with the enemy" internally is presented by the Dalai Lama, in his endless caretaking of his soul as he confronts the Chinese government that invaded Tibet. Because, finally, it is the soul that must be preserved, if one is to remain a credible leader. All else might be lost; but when the soul dies, the connection to earth, to peoples, to animals, to rivers, to mountain ranges, purple and majestic, also dies. And your smile, with which we watch you do gracious battle with unjust characterizations, distortions and lies, is that expression of healthy self-worth, spirit and soul, that, kept happy and free and relaxed, can find an answering smile in all of us, lighting our way, and brightening the world.

We are the ones we have been waiting for.

In Peace and Joy,
Alice Walker

from The Root

Anti-Racist Reading Group

I really really kept on top of the contact person for this group in order to be able to gain collective permission to observe this group which meets in my building and met last night from 8:00 until 11:00.

My Urban Cultural Diversity Professor would not have minded of I had not been able to do the site visit for my mini-ethnography project but I was so psyched to observe this group and have the most detailed and thorough write up possible to support my research question and theories. In that regard, I can't really go into detail here about everything that took place until I have completed all my interviews.

This group is comprised intentionally of whites only in their 20s and 30s. The all white space is intended to be a safe place to express and discuss issues and experiences with racism including ways in which they have perpetuated racism without feeling uncomfortable or judged. And to a degree I understand this but I do believe now that I have had the chance to sit in on this group that whatever progress they feel they have been making will slowly begin to deteriorate if they don't open the group to people of color.I think it is really important that whites take responsibility for the huge role they have played in oppressing and continuing to passively oppress people of color but when you have white people alone educating other white people about these things an issue of unrealistic social reflection emerges. It just starts to sound like that safe space is about remaining safe and deluded. That's dangerous. The truth is that undertaking something like this can't be made easy because it simple is not! And it's not painless either, but I do think there must be a way to facilitate this kind of organization in a manner that draws the best out of everyone so long as everyone has similar goals in mind. And it's those goals that I need to study. I'm sure it's different for everyone involved.

Eat Drink Sleep Obama

Last night I fell asleep watching an Obama podcast on my laptop that I’d downloaded from iTunes. It was one where his sister talked about him. In the next two he spoke about his mother, about fatherhood and then there’s “Dinner with Barack” where he has dinner with four grassroots donors. I watched that one and the one about his experience so far as a father this morning. They’re both really good. You feel like he’s somebody you’d love to know, to sit down and have a casual chat with. He’s warm, candid (although safely so) and accessible.

Today is Saturday and although I would rather have stayed in bed all day I had to get out to the Union Square to do some food shopping. I picked up tickets for Quantum Solace this Sunday in Chelsea and then strolled across town to the Farmer’s Market. Slowly the wet rainy day was beginning to subside. The high winds were rolling the dark clouds back to reveal the bright sunshine. I was so happy suddenly to have a nice day to walk in. It was hard getting out bed when I looked out the window at that gray sky. I bought some falafel at the place on 17th street and decided I wanted to sit down at Barnes and Nobles with a stack of magazines for a while. So once I hit the Farmers Market and secured my Ronny Brook yogurt drinks (my crack juice) for the week, I went across the street to B&N, grabbed an US weekly with Barack and his family on the cover and a People with Barack on the cover, an Elle, an Essence (Will and Jada but I never got to it), an Entertainment Weekly (Robert Downey Jr. is on the cover. I kind of love him) and what looked like a new photo essay of Clint Eastwood, “A Life in Pictures.” I adore Eastwood, even if he did tell Spike to shut his face.

I sat on the upper level where they have the chairs set up for author events and where you can almost always guarantee there will someplace to sit. I ate my falafel and read about Obama and his family, what his girls are like, what they want to change when the move in the white house, what they will do to make sure the girls lives remain relatively normal. I looked at pictures of Obama spending time with his daughters, some I’ve already seen dozens of times. I had that feeling inside that I once had when I was a girl on Christmas Eve. I was so excited I got sick and had to go lie down. It’s just that no matter what’s going on with me, this phenomenon this amazing thing that is about to take place, this unfathomably joyous occasion is always going to be able to put a smile on my face. At any point in time in the next few months to come I will be able to pull a magazine off of the shelf in a bookstore or in a newsstand and read about a family in the White House that I would be honored to hang out with any day of the week! That’s craaaazy! And I love it.

Straight Out of Brooklyn

Studying the transnational migration of Puerto Ricans back and forth from P.R. to Chicago in my Urban Cultural Diversity class has got me thinking about my own mini migrations from borough to borough in New York City. I was born in Brooklyn which I love with all my heart and then when I was about eight, we moved to the Bronx to live in a house for the first time because my parents wanted my brother and I to have space to run around and play and have our own rooms and things like that, While all that was wonderful, I never liked the Bronx. I hesitate to say I hated it but I never really liked it. I went to High School in Manhattan and spent at least 65 percent of my time there when I wasn't in the house in the Bronx. Brooklyn had my library, Prospect Park, the museum, the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens (I lived for that Garden) and the Bronx had...bodegas, elevated trains, bodegas, late night gunfire...lemme see, hmmmm, I guess I liked the quiet semi-suburban area I lived in. The Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center was right across the street from my house. I took art and drama classes there and also attended went to day camp there one summer. I also worked there as the assistant to the director for one of the cultural youth programs. But always, I was looking down my nose at the Bronx. It wasn't me. Now I live in Harlem. I never wanted to but circumstances have seen fit to place me there in the same way that many circumstances force Puerto Ricans to move back and forth from the mainland to Chicago. Some love P.R. and remain closely tied to it even as they live in their own cultural enclaves in Chicago. Eventually, when they earn enough money they return to P.R. to retire in an environment which many claim to be more nurturing of child rearing and more safe to live. Others have a different experience, and prefer the isolation and privacy that Chicago city life provides to the claustrophobic closeness of family networks in Puerto Rico or the lack of mobility and nearby resources.

I'm not going to say that I love Harlem just yet. But I do love my neighborhood. I love living right across the street from a large park, adjacent to a small library, five minutes away from my gym and no more than a half hour on the train to my job or any other place I need to go in Manhattan. Once in awhile I miss the long rides commuting to Manhattan from the Bronx is because I got a lot of reading done in those days. Nowadays I have to do a lot of my reading during lunch or whenever I find the time.

I don't get down to Brooklyn very often unless I happen to be visiting a friend who lives there like I did last week. And then I remember how I much I love it all over again, how it feels like I never left, how all my favorite areas, Bergen Street, Flatbush, Park Slope, Grand Army Plaza and Eastern Parkway are like extensions of myself. No matter where I live in the world I will always consider myself a Brooklynite.

Tim Wise

Ummm, SleptOn is one of my my new favorite websites. Holy Shit! This white man laid it down! I don't know too much about him. I've only heard his name about a million times since the election began and also in reference to my anti-racist mini-ethnography project at school. So I finally read an article he wrote post election this afternoon and I am blown away.

CHECK IT OUT!!!

Imagine

I was just looking through Barack Obama's Flickr account which I've been doing every week since Election day and I came across this picture. Can you imagine what it would be like being a child of color at a time like this. I mean my God! What promise! What hope! For these children, the election of Obama as the President is living proof of what is possible for them! Young black boys! What! I mean honestly, just imagine, if you are a person of color, being like 9 or 10 or eleven right now. Maybe you don't really know all the details about our horrible economy, or the millions dying in a war far from here or all the reasons, but you don't need to. You can feel the change in the adults around you, in the way the media covers this occasion, in the covers of the papers and magazines and the conversations in school. Someone who looks like you has recently become the President of The United States. He has two daughters around the same age as you and they will make there new home in the White House. Their mother is a woman with style and grace who does the fist bump with her husband, is strong, brave, intelligent and her own unique sense of style! Imagine being a child right now. My best friend in Philly was telling me how her daughter (she's around about 9 or 10 now?) on overhearing a reporter on television say that next time we could have a female president, responded by saying that maybe next time it could be a black woman and then she asked her mom, how old you have to be to be the president. This was in an email she wrote me and I just started crying at this point. I'm a little emotional right now just remembering it.

Obama Votes

God, I don't know man! If I keep crying every time I see Obama I may be dehydrated by the time inauguration roles around.

Victory Sex

Oh Yeah!

I Will Never Forget

The guy who sells papers at the newsstand at the 125th station where I commute to work said that all the major papers were sold out in an HOUR! He said "When Bush win, I don't sell anything!" I laughed as I handed him some money for The Post which was the only paper left.

YES WE CAN!

1. I can breath again like Toni Braxton!
2. Inauguration here I come.
3. Party aaaaall week!!!!

More to come. I'm busy listening to Harlem cheer.
: )

Love This Black Man!

Please let him be my president.

Sunday Morning Classics

This might run a bit long. I apologize, but it’s my blog and I’ll run long if I want to.

So I got rolled out of bed this morning, threw on jeans and a hoody to go watch the NYC Marathon that goes past my apt around Marcus Garvey Park but not before I had a literal 5 minute melt down because I thought I lost a digital audio recorder that I borrowed from my office to conduct a 20 minute interview for my mini-ethnography on white anti-racist groups. I knew I had it somewhere but I had a freak out for a few minutes before I forced myself to calm down and finally find it. It was ridiculous. Even while I muttered and cursed to myself and paced frantically I kept going to the window to watch the runners outside my window. It’s always weird to me when I do that, when I do stuff I need to be doing in the middle of a nervous breakdown. It tells me somehow that this is all a symptom of something else and not that serious. Or I’m just nuts. That’s fine. I’m fine with that. Lord knows it’s not news to me. So anyway, after I put the recorder in someplace safer than my shoulder bag, (I finally discovered it there. That bag has way too many pockets!) I ran downstairs with my camera to take some pics of the Marathon, which as I said is literally in front of my apartment. I love living here!

A bunch of people, including some of my elder neighbors were out already, cheering and clapping. The sun was out and it’s been a perfect day weather wise. I loved feeling the sun on me as I watched the Marathon go by, all the different ethnicities and colors, sizes and abilities. It was beautiful. Plus I just rolled out of bed here! My messed up hair covered by my hoody and my sleepy eyes covered by my dark sunglasses; I was in bed like ten minutes ago! I love it! Then to top it all off I realized that the broadcast of WBLS I was listening to was live across the street from me in the WBLS tent! And there in the tent was the man my family has listened to since I was a girl. Gary friggin Byrd! I walked across the street like a moth to a light. That smooth voice was real and right there! I shyly snapped a few shots and then stood next to the tent for a bit watching the marathon and listening to Gary talk about Obama and the presidential election. Man! It was amazing!

I went back into my apt for a bit to upload up my pictures when my mom called. We were on the phone for a while. I even went back out to watch the marathon again while I was on the phone with her. As I got down the bottom of the stairwell I saw my dad outside on the sidewalk watching the action as well. I know he was on his way to see me because I had spoken with him earlier when I first came out. He brought me some veggie patties from Brooklyn that I really love. So for a while I was on the phone with my mom while standing and watching the race with my dad. That meant a lot to me. When I got off the phone me and my dad stood and had a good talk for a while as well. I saw this lady in red who I’m guessing was apart of the marathon because she was ringing a bell run behind a parked car just a few yards behind us to squat and pee! I shit you not! I think I’m the only person who noticed.

Anyway, here I am downloading my second set of pics from the marathon to my flickr account after talking to my mom for another hour or so. It’s like 4:38. Gary has inspired to me to listen to WBLS and I have been all day, which is saying a lot because I HATE RADIO. I have had such a full day and I never even left my block! This is why I love New York man. I just wanted to share that.
Thanks!

November 5th Etiquette

From my colleague.

After watching the final debate last week it dawned on me that Obama could actually win this thing! If that happens there will be a lot of people (some of our co-workers included) who will be afraid that an Obama presidency will usher in the end of days. They'll be watching us on November 5th (the day after the election) for "signs of the end" times. To keep the peace and keep a lot of folks from getting nervous, I think we should develop a list of acceptable celebrations and behaviors we should probably avoid - at least for the first few days:



1) No crying, hugging or shouting "Thank you, Lord" – at least not in public.

2) No high-fives - at least not unless the area is clear and there are no witnesses.

3) No laughing at the McCain/Palin supporters.

4) No calling in sick on November 5th. They'll get nervous if too many of us don't show up.

5) We're allowed to give each other knowing winks or nods in passing. Just try to keep from grinning too hard.

6) No singing loudly, "We've Come This Far By Faith" (it WILL be acceptable to hum softly).

7) No bringing barbeque ribs or fried chicken for lunch in the company lunchroom for at least a week (no chitterlings AT ALL! This may make us seem too ethnic.)

8) No leaving Kool-aid packages at the water fountain.

9) No Cupid Shuffle during breaks (this could indicate a little too much excitement.)

10) Please no Moving On Up music (we are going to try to remain humble.)

Palin Pranked!

God bless them!



Messed up.

Ronald Regan for Obama

What a smart, simple, powerful and straight to the point message.

Ghost Parade

Me Jeanette and Vernon ventured into the hellish mob of the Halloween Parade. We were pinned against the Barnes & Noble display window while we watched this among many other things.

HERE'S HOPING HOPE WINS

SOMEBODY IS ON THEIR JOB FOR THIS MAN! LOOK AT THAT GRAPHIC! THE VISUAL DIRECTION OF OBAMA'S CAMPAIGN HAS BEEN COMPELLING, NARRATIVE AND CLIMATIC FROM DAY ONE!

Schely a Fake

I found this comment by blogspot blogger, True Harlemite in response to Craig Schely on Harlem World. Pretty informative in light of my last blog. I Guess I shouldn't feel so good after all. Shame on you Schely! You're still cute though. Dink!



First this must be said. Craig Schley came out of nowhere less than one year ago at a 125th Street Rezoning meeting. He does not really know Harlem. He uses the ideas and work of others who know Harlem to get over. He used the 125th Street Rezoning as a way for him to get a lot of media face time that he felt would help “position” him to run against Rangel.

Charlie Rangel needs to go but a seasoned Harlemite who really knows the Village of Harlem should replace him. Not an opportunistic and manipulative Harlem “newbie” who is trying to get a name for himself while attempting to “get over” on Harlemites.

This Wilhelmina Model man is attempting to hook on to the discontent of Harlem Residents with the present crop of sorry Harlem Politicians. He is also hoping that the Harlem Community does not carefully examine him and his past/present deeds too closely. In other words, as mentioned above, he sees this as an opportunity to “get over” on Harlemites because of their anger towards Rangel.

Harlemites should definitely be angry with Rangel but not so angry as to allow Craig Schley’s fake concern for Harlem and the 125th Street Rezoning to blind them to his (Craig Schley’s) manipulation of the present painful state of politics in Harlem.

This guy is slick because along with banking on the Harlem Community’s massive dissatisfaction with Charlie Rangel he is also attempting to “hook on” to Obama’s call for change. As indicated above he will use the ideas and work of others to push through his own (real) agenda. And also, as previously indicated, Charlie needs to go but this “Model of Distraction” should not be the one to replace him. Mr. Slick Schley has attempted to use the email of other groups to get himself known, piggy backed on other groups’ rallies to give a false impression that he is leading these groups, is the executive director of vote people that has abused human rights (although it claims to be for human rights) and has yet (it is believed) to stop using a web site to which it has not been given rights to.

Last this must be said, Craig Schley came out of nowhere and he needs to go back there for the good of the Village of Harlem.

TH
TrueHarlemite.blogspot.com

Craig for Congress

So I was walking home one day this week after the usual boring workday. I was dragging my tired ass along just glad to be one block from my apartment in Harlem when I heard the amplified sound of a voice behind a bullhorn campaigning for a political office in a slowly moving vehicle. It was Craig Schley. I remember someone handing me a few leaflets about his bid for congress a few weeks ago. I actually read them and held on to them for a bit before trashing them a few days ago. But, and I'm sorry for being superficial one of the things I noticed first was how fine he was and how good he looked for being in his forties. Same as Obama. Black people age so well.
So there he was riding around in his car at the opposite end of the block where I live. I was only a few feet away. I watched a white gentlemen approach him in the passenger side of the vehicle and shake his hand. Craig continued on announcing his run for Congress to the block and just as I turned the corner he called out to me on his bullhorn. "How are you today M'am?" I waved at him as I walked passed and up the block towards home. I really liked that. That made me feel good for a moment.

Diddy Twins For Obama

Something tells me that Diddy's relationships with grown women are not much different.

Obama and Nadja

Leave it to Obama (with his fine ass) to show up in a photo in Bazaar Magazine with one of my favorite long lost long legged models, Nadja Auerman, the ice princess.

He's got my vote 2 times!
YOU BETTA WERK!!!!

Human After All (Murakami Madness)

I recently received a French edition of Murakami’s “A Wild Sheep Chase” published by Points which I requested through my Bookmooch account several weeks ago. It came from someone in Finland so it took a while to get here. I don’t speak French but I’m kind of a Murakami fan and I love the variety of book cover design in the international publications of his novels.
On the back of the French paperback is a picture of a younger Murakami (looks like he’s in his thirties) which I have never seen before. The author photo they usually provide for Murakami’s novels in America is of a black and white portrait of a man well into his forties maybe even fifties. I’m always staring at the photo trying to link something of the incredible depth, complexity, darkness, beauty and unorthodox narrative of his books to any similar light in his eyes. But there’s no giveaway, nothing remotely special. His face is not so much sad or stern as it is closed off and resigned. But in this photo of him in his thirties I see for the first time that light which may have been steadily fading at the time. I see vulnerability and a kind of fragility which is a bit of a relief for me. Murakami’s discipline is intimidating but the irreverent humility of his protagonists is profound. I never fail to find something in his writing that connects me to myself.

I've been reading his latest book which is more of a memoir at Kinokuniya Books during lunch. I have ordered it of course, but sitting in Zaiya Cafe, I've already gotten up to chapter three so it's quite likely I'll be done with it before my copy actually arrives. I pick it up when I walk in and I don't put it down until my lunch hour is over.

What Makes Me White?

Ahem...
So tonight in my Inequality Privilege class which is growing more and more disappointing every week, our professor whom I will not mention by name showed a video entitled "What Makes Me White" and when the whole awkward thing was done talked about how this had to be presented to white people in a "non threatening way in order that they didn't shut down when confronted with their own racism. I told her that the whole notion that this had to be presented in a non-threatening way said a lot about the fucked up way in which we deal with race in this country and that that is something that needs to be addressed as well. When the lights came on and she looked up down at us with her arms crossed, I could see in her eyes that she was looking, not for our honest response but for a specific response that she had already in her mind. The general response as far as I could gather was like what's the big surprise? Listening to white people talk about white privilege may be a big revelation for them but we've known this shit all our fucking lives!!!! What am I supposed to do now feel sorry for some white woman who didn't realize that her black nanny was a human being until she attended her funereal and heard all her friends talk about all the contributions she made to her community. Oh give me a fucking break! Go cry to your fucking shrink! This is just going take me a while to get used do. I'm actually conducting a ethnographic project on the subject of Anti-racist white groups for my other class n Urban Cultural Diversity. I don't suppose this will be good attitude to go on in with. I'm just blowing off steam here because honestly, this was just the wrong approach in my opinion. I am just truly fucking shocked at how deluded some white people are! Man! Wow! I mean really! I'm gonna need a moment. I've been waaaaaay too sheltered.

....Shit.

Election Debate 2008 Twitter Style

Once again, my favorite Twitters on the last Presidential debate at Hofstra.
GOD BLESS AMERICA!

sarahsmf21 Cindy McCain looks like a candy corn 10:32 PM Oct 15th from TweetDeck


Davida Fernandez
divafern Tina Fey On Sarah Palin: "If She Wins...I'm Leaving Earth" 10:28 PM Oct 15th from TweetDeck


The Turtle 
the_turtle What the hell is that thing in McCain's left cheek, Mail Pouch chewing tobacco, or a tumor??? 10:16 PM Oct 15th from NatsuLion


Ron Hogan
RonHogan OMG, McCain is so angry he's breathing into the mike. 10:16 PM Oct 15th from twitterrific


ourmaninchicago
ourmaninchicago McCain needs to stop talking about Joe the Plumber. He's starting to sound like John's imaginary friend. 10:04 PM Oct 15th from web


nolageek
nolageek Whenever obama is talking, McCain looks like he pooped himself. 9:56 PM Oct 15th from txt


Brandi
lollipopcrush You can almost see smoke coming from McCain's ears. 9:56 PM Oct 15th from txt


t_chrisburns
t_chrisburns mccain looks like he's on uppers 9:55 PM Oct 15th from Election 2008


alexaflotsam
alexaflotsam I think McCain is flirting with someone. Stop batting your damn eyes, sir. 9:55 PM Oct 15th from web


ingopixel
ingopixel Obama mustbe a racist because he's never been to columbia. Whereas mccain of course runs his own drug cartel and visits often. 9:54 PM Oct 15th from txt

New Black Mammy to the Rescue

So as you know I am a truly addicted fan of HBO's True Blood. I think, that aside from my romantic notions about vampires I also really like Sookie Stackhouse's character. Her ability to hear people's thoughts makes her a bit of a freak in a way that I think many women can relate to, especially in terms of their constant violation by a patriarchal society. And on a personal level, we can all relate to having a quality that makes us somewhat self conscious around others and wanting or finding someone who accepts them and let's us feel "normal."

But enter the token black woman, Tara (ha!) and we have again that familiar old stereotypical Mammy character who plays both best friend, guardian and bouncer to Sookie while also dealing with her alcoholic mother. She's tough and argumentative, loud and challenging and in love with Sookie's older brother. Sometimes I just get so sick of seeing this woman pop up in white media fantasies over and over again! I mean, it's not a character without nobility and strength, dignity and intelligence but it's also not the only one that black women can play! The white world would say that provision of roles like this for black actresses is proof that there are roles available for them but when they continue to be of a marginal, sidekick nature then it's just a new form of racism isn't it?

True Blood Episode 6 (SPOILER!)

So Sookie finally gives in to the inevitable, the proverbial grief fuck with Bill "The Vampire" Compton after her Grandmother is murdered in their home. All I wanna know is, are we to believe that she experiences sexual intercourse with the vampire or is it all just blood sucking or to put it another way: was it good for her?

The Union

Most Obama supporters have probably seen this footage before, Myself, I've seen it a couple of times. This morning though, I watched it for the first time and noticed a small detail that meant a lot to me. While he watches his wife Michelle give her speech about him at the DNC Barack sort of rolls his wedding ring between his fingers, like it's his unconscious way of connecting with her while she speaks. I don't know if he did that out of nerves or whether it was a strategic move for the camera or whether the camera man really caught a real moment without Barack's knowledge of it. All I know is I was moved to tears watching it. It's sad that we have to question so moments like this when seen through the eyes of the media but I try not ever question my feelings too much. When Biden got choked up speaking about the death of his family during his debate with Palin, there was the slightest doubt in my mind that his pause may have been strategic but the one thing I don't doubt is his deepest regret. And I don't for a minute doubt the love the Obamas have for one another. It's pretty plain. I can feel it.

OHOHOHOOOOOOOOOooooo YESSSS!!!!

Beautiful! Just Beautifully done. Thank you Anthony!

American Myth

“There is an illusion about America, a myth to which we are clinging which has nothing to do with the lives we lead and I don’t believe that anybody in this country who has really thought about it or really almost anybody who has been brought up against it—and almost all of us have one way or another—this collision between one’s image of one’s self and what one actually is is always very painful and there are two things you can do about it, you can meet the collision head on and try to become what you really are or you can retreat and try to remain what you though you were, which is fantasy, in which you will certainly perish.”
-James Baldwin
From “Notes for a Hypothetical Novel”
In “Nobody Knows My Name

Reading James Baldwin always makes me feel better. Because the issues he dealt with and discussed so eloquently and in such a relative way then are still being echoed right now everyday. His language was so nuanced and so inclusive of something which I believe sought to transcend the boundaries of labels we know so well and seem to be so comfortable settling for that it helps me to feel less alone in feeling that there must be so much more to me than what society would seek to define based on mere relational and occupational roles, more than gender, race and class constructs can begin to tell the story of.

Here is a great article in the New York Times on the collection of essays "Nobody Knows My Name" by Irving Howe

Biden/Palin SNL

Womanly VS Sexy

This weekend I was in bed with my laptop in the morning watching “Witness” one of my favorite movies. I bought the special edition DVD last week so that I could see the documentary on the making of. The director, Peter Wier spoke about the difficulty of casting the Amish female lead part. He said that he screened several young girls who were attractive enough but too hip for the part and who were quote “Sexy but not womanly.” That really impressed me. He said that when he thought of the word womanly, Italian women came to mind. And so they sent the casting director to Italy to find someone. By then Kelly McGillis had already arrived on the set and nailed it. The differentiation between womanly and sexy really grabbed me and I guess I was just also pleased to hear that a man really appreciated that or even noticed the difference. It was one of the many appealing aspects of Kelly McGillis’ portrayal of an Amish woman. Everything that women usually add to themselves in order to complete the image of “woman” in their mind is stripped away in Amish culture. It lets you see a woman as she is. The sexy part, which I believe is a social construction parlayed into a pervasive marketing tool to which I claim no considerable resistance is like the additives and preservatives found in pure food. Sensuality which I believe is natural is not exactly the same as sexiness. And womanliness is something else again. Apparently, according to Weir not all women are womanly just by default of being female. I began to wonder about the women I know who I feel are womanly and what that might mean to me.

ELection 2008 on Twitter

I'm totally biased so there are no twitters here for Sarah. FUCK THAT! I only Twitter for Barack/Biden! These are a few of my faves from tonight's debate.

chanunu
chanunu I may just have a sex change because of Palin 12 minutes ago from web

jackie
alae93 #vpdebate please tell me i hallucinated sarah palin's crass reference to joe biden's dead wife 13 minutes ago from web

Kelly Richards
ftsKelly If I hear the word Mavrick one more time I am going to punch Sarah Palin in the face. 13 minutes ago from txt

tayloransley
tayloransley Sarah Palin-YOU are a lame attempt at a joke. 23 minutes ago from TwitterBerry

riese
autowin Palin wins cutest debater, biden wins vice president 23 minutes ago from Election 2008

Nick
ImNickArmstrong In short: if McCain dies, Palin will take a momentary and solemn pause before dancing a jig on the American people. 24 minutes ago from Twinkle

whydowork
whydowork Everytime Sarah Palin winks 6 kittens are killed. 24 minutes ago from Election 2008

Mike Davis
IHeartMovies Palin tries so hard to be cutesy. "Gosh Darnitt" and more adorable sayings versus saying anything important. #current 25 minutes ago from twhirl

Jeffery Harrell
jefferyharrell Sarah Palin's winking is making me really uncomfortable. I think I need to speak to an adult. 28 minutes ago from web


Shoq Biden: "If I were to become President, I can promise you, I could spell President" 28 minutes ago from Election 2008

chrysb
chrysb sarah palin sounds like the mom from Bobby's World 32 minutes ago from web


john patrick calvert
jonnyquest45 palin is failin 40 minutes ago from web

Alexandra
aleellis One of these days, Palin's lies are gonna get her killed about 1 hour ago from web

Bradley Steinbacher
bmsteinbacher Palin's brain is a Teleprompter, only she's not writing the script. about 1 hour ago from Twittelator

Jarrett Gossett
jarrettgossett If Palin cries, I will take a screen grab of it and make it my desktop wallpaper. about 1 hour ago from Election 2008

GET YOUR TWITTER ON!

Choked Up (SCENE SPOILER)

Where else you would find a scene in which Colonial Williams burg Historical interpreters, sex addiction and a hand job coincide so succinctly but in a movie based on a Chuck Palahniuk book? "Choke" is by no means a great movie but I usually jump at anything Sam Rockwell is in and I really missed his grungy face and smarmy little smile. I haven't seen him in anything good since "Confessions of Dangerous Mind" which is a fucking great movie. In the "Choke" scene to which I'm referring, which I realize now is one of my favorites, Hank, whom Sam Rockwell plays calls in a favor of Ursula one of his prettier co-workers to give him a hand job in a barn, not because he has any romantic feelings for her but because he's been having some erectile dysfunction issues. In fact, while she's wacking him off, they talk very casually like friends about her deep affection for Charlie, one their other co-workers played by actor and director Clark Gregg. Shortly after she falls asleep on Hank mid wank, Charlie walks in on them. Clearly angry, he admits that he is in love with Ursula but states that his utter disappointment in finding her in this position has ruined all his previous notions about her. Sitting in the hay, penis in Ursula's sleeping hand, Hank actually talks Charlie down from his rage and in so many words convinces him to walk out and forget he ever saw them because the situation is not what he thinks. It's a masterful and at the same time hilarious scene. It would never happen in real life but because it's played so well, you almost believe that it could happen.

More Shameless Self Promotion

Lake Sebago Beach

Summer 2008

By Photograps by Zen...

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This one includes a preview of the first 15 pages.

For Paul

I can’t say enough about how much I like Paul Newman, both as a performer and as a person who has managed to remain incredibly private in his personal life despite being one of the most famous people in the world. But reading an article about him by Patricia Bosworth in Vanity Fair this evening, my regard for him just sky rocketed. Among all his philanthropic acts, such as putting all, not a percentage but all proceeds from his salad dressing to charity and creating the Hole is the Wall Camp for kids with AIDS and HIV, he also retained the respectability of the Actors Studio in the 80s by keeping the “Material Girl” out of it.

“In the late 80s, Newman who served as president until 1994, also clashed with Ellen Burstyn, then the Studio’s artistic director over admitting Madonna, according to insiders. Burstyn had invited the singer, who was appearing on Broadway in the David Mamet play Speed The Plow, to become a member. Newman objected, saying in effect, that nobody, star or unknown, should get preferential treatment—everyone should audition. Madonna was never admitted.”

I love Madonna’s music and I think she’s a genius at what she does best but she should never try to act again. And God knows she has no business being in the Actor’s Studio just because she’s Madonna. While the world has benefited greatly from Gaultier's pointy bras, stage humping and an exploitation of Gay underground dance moves, I think we would survive without it. We need more Paul Newman. There will never be another like him.

Posted on Cine Verd
Saturday, August 8th 2008

Buy My Book!

Our at least flip through it. I can't afford it myself.

NYC NINJA

City Scenes

By Photographs by Ze...

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High School Crush

So my high school crush just added me as friend on Facebook. I hope he doesn't know that he was my high school crush. It was a pretty stupid crush based totally on my personal romantic projections on him of a rebellious bad boy nature. He was a perpetual smart ass who wore black all the time which I loved. And he's white, Irish to be more exact which makes him really white. I thought that was hot. I wouldn't embark on my first interracial relationship until college so I was still in that jungle fever phase of adolescents where the mere otherness of racial difference is often a turn on. I was heavy into James Dean and Richard Grieco. It wasn't a preference, but a curiosity.

To put it briefly, this crush was never requited. I was very shy at the time and I found out through the vine that he liked someone else. God, it's pathetic just remembering it. I was just so awkward and so scared of my own self.

He was in my homeroom my very first year in Junior high. I will never forget what he said one day when our substitute adviser asked us all what we do after we graduated from High School. He said he would go to sleep. I loved that answer. I think that's where it started. I do not still have a crush on him in case you're wondering. I just have a crush on my idealism.

Dear Tim

Tim Westergren
Creator of Pandora Radio


Hi Tim,
I attended the Pandora Radio conference yesterday evening with my fiancee. We really enjoyed it. You have a very laid back and informal approach and it was fascinating hearing you talk about the history of Pandora. I listen to it just about every morning at work and sometimes at home on my laptop. It's essential for me because I stopped listening to broadcast radio years ago. I like all kinds of music and commercial radio is just not broad enough for me, plus I hate commercials. If it wasn't for Pandora I would never be turned on to new artists. "Flaming Lips" "The Postal Service" and "The Clientele" are among only a few artists I've come to love because of Pandora. I have about eight stations on my account so far. They vary from jazz, to rap, to electronica to alternative and so on. Pandora is the only station I know of where you can so seamlessly realize the connection between all forms of music which is something I've always believed it. Thanks for a great creation. I look forward to seeing it grow bigger and better and to quote you "Eat satellite and broadcast for breakfast."

: )

Hey, you said you'd reveal the name of your band if we asked you in an email. What is it? Are you solo? I'd love to hear your stuff.

Sarah Hill?

A friend of mine at work just pointed this out. Is this similarity a mere coincidence?




Thanks Simosa!

Drill, Drill, Drill By Eve Ensler

Reading this, I was reminded of the sick churning in my own stomach as I watched and listened to the RNC crowd begin chanting "Drill drill drill!" I couldn't really believe that I was witnessing something so akin to a lynch mob broadcast for millions to see and still have yet to hear from any mass media about how fucking horrifying the implications of that truly were. So reading this piece by Ensler gave me some consolation. Because ladies, it's lights out on our rights if Palin and McCain make it into the White House. Are we really about to let this happen? And what does that mean? What does that say about us as a nation?

Drill, Drill, Drill

“I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club
where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice.
Whatever it is, I need the polar bears.

I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists.

But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to Feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.

I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity.

Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the polar
bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, 'It was a task from God.'

Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they
have their rapist's baby or not.

She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes.

Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next president of the United States. She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.

Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.

Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.

I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It
will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.

If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, 'Drill Drill Drill.' I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.

Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?”

-Eve Ensler
From The Huffington Post

Uuuhhh Boy...

The View's Eye on Politics

While it is surely obvious to most viewers that she expects to vote for Mr. Obama, Ms. Behar noted that it was not exactly out of self-interest.

“I don’t stand to gain as a comedian if Obama wins,” she said. “He’s not that funny. McCain-Palin, they’re a riot.”

-NY Times

In an Evolving Harlem, Newcomers Try to Fit In

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/nyregion/07newcomers.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin

I found this article in the New York Times on one of my favorite sites, Stuff White People Like

I tend to be torn on this issue myself. I live in Harlem, feeling both like an interloper and one who is being intruded upon as well. I was born in Brooklyn which is my favorite borough, but spent most of my life in the Bronx which I can't stand. Harlem, even though it has always been a little bit too ghetto for me has at least in my mind been consistent as the center of Black History and Culture in New York City. There is no mistaking where you are when you're in Harlem or at least there didn't used to be. Now, with commercial business more local to downtown Manhattan like the Mac Store and American Apparel, Harlem is starting to look more like any other place in Manhattan or at least it's well on it's way there. And while that depresses me, I have to be honest: I do hate feeling harassed and uncomfortable whenever I walk through a gauntlet of people who look like me. I'm always prepared to be alert whenever I emerge from the 125th Street station in the evening because I have had really bad experiences there, being harassed and followed in the past. I really hate that because I really like where I live and I wish it didn't have to take an influx of rich white people to change that. I wish we could do it on our own. At the same time, I don't want to see the community fall apart over this integration, don't want to see the drummers taken out of the parks or the vendors pulled of the streets among many other things that make Harlem what it is to me.

Suckers

So I've become hooked recently to HBO's latest series, "True Blood", another creation from Alan Ball of Six Feet Under (my all time favorite) and American Beauty Fame. What I find sort for ridiculous though is how over the top the vampires movements are. I mean like they always make a point of moving at light speed, not from place to place but from like spot to spot. Like one of them will be lying out on the sofa and then sit upright really fast or like the phone will ring and they will reach out and pick it up in a second. That cracks me up. It's like their supernatural speed has been applied to really practical things that any human could achieve in one movement, like flushing the toilet or turning their heads. I'm sure this will improve in future episodes though. I'm only on the third one.

Running Man

I came to watch "The Loneliness of The Long Distance Runner" because the main character in one of my favorite young adult books of all time, "The Handsome Man" by Elissa Haden Guest, mentions it as one of her favorite movies. I looked it up on Netflix recently and decided to see it. I already knew what would happen in the end as the character in the book describes in great detail Colin's ultimate defiance against the headmaster of his reformatory school but that was exactly what made me want to see it.

Tom Courtenay plays Colin Smith, the oldest son of four in a working class British family whose father has just passed away slowly and in great pain. Colin, like many fatherless young men in working class families can't seem to settle down quietly and assimilate himself into the drones of society. Along with his pal, he participates in petty theft like stealing money and cars for joy rides but can't stand the thought of getting a job. This not because he can't handle responsibility but because of how he sees what laboring work has done to his father. These crimes land him in a reformatory where the headmaster, seeing his exceptional talent in sports and in particular running, starts to favor him and train him to win the medal in long distance running against a fancy boys private school.

After his father's death Colin's mother collects his life insurance and goes out and spends it on all kinds of fancy new things for the house and her children. Colin won't take any of it and when his mother finally forces him to take a few quid which she stuffs in his shirt pocket while they watch their brand new television set, he goes into his father's old room and silently burns the money. This is one of the most powerful, most defiant scenes in the film.

Later on you see him spending money on one of the only things which really does matter to him when he and his friend take their girlfriends up to the country and to the beach. They experience that very familiar childlike freedom that comes from vacationing not not only from the usual oppressive surroundings of poor working class life but also from the oppressive thoughts of aimlessness and the inevitable death of the imagination to be traded in for low wages and never enough to go around. There's an obvious dark cloud that looms over them when they have to get ready to return to such a bleak reality.

I won't give away what happens in the end but I will say that watching it and observing the split reactions within myself, I can see why society is the way it is. Not that I was clueless before watching this but film gives us such a great opportunity to be exposed to different perspectives and interpretations of working classes, middle classes and royalty alike. "The Loneliness of The Long Distance Runner" in it's stark grey palette and Tom Courtenay's very human portrayal achieve this to a compelling degree.

Walk the Walk

"Because racism is so ingrained in the fabric of American Institutions, it is easily self-perpetuating. All that is required to maintain it is business as usual.
I sometimes visualize the ongoing cycle of racism as a moving walkway at the airport. Active racist behavior is equivalent to walking fast on the conveyor belt. The person engaged in active racist behavior has identified with the ideology of White supremacy and is moving with it. Passive racist behavior is equivalent to standing still on the walkway. No overt effort is being made, but the conveyor belt moves the bystanders along on the same destination as the White supremacists. But unless they are walking actively in the opposite direction at a speed faster than the conveyor belt—unless they are actively anti-racist—they find themselves carried along with the others."

-Beverly Daniels Tatum
“Defining Racism”

Alec Attack

When I heard the first few times, I cringed. I listened to it today and honestly, I don't really see anything wrong with it. I don't pity Alec at all for his alleged feelings of suicide over the whole matter. I mean come on! It was just unfortunate it got out. He's got anger issues to be sure. But this sort of thing happens all the time in families. It's a recorded moment, not their entire relationship together.



Diane Sawyer interview tonight

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=5832850&page=1