Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Supreme Court Note.
Since when was "I have no recollection of being a member" an excuse? Especially for a lawyer? Isn't that what the guilty say?

This guy is brilliant.

I am sure you have heard of the Arabic Assassin, a wanna-be rapper with no record deal that worked as a baggage screener. Until he was found out and fired. What a great way to get publicity- his name is now nationwide and it won't even matter if his rhymes are as junior-league as M.I.A.'s, the people pissed at life, Dubya, and the rest will be on the lookout for his single.

AA- I bet you can find his album online.

Happy not to Smear Santorum

PA senator Rickie Santorum says he's leaning towards not running for the presidency in 2008. Fingers crossed.

New Yorker = Behind the Bitter Sea

New Yorker's article on Diplo. I was at that show, you lazy, month-lag-time suckass writer. God, I am so very cool. Anyone feeling hot today? Bask in my chill glow.

Friday, July 22, 2005

Search Me Where It Smells Funny

Another hot ass day in New York City. But we have a new wrinkle—bag searches on the subways! Is the city/ police administration in DC instituting this change if not, why not? All I know is that I’m glad I have been keeping my concealed weapon at home… I wonder if the cops will report this weekend about how many brass knuckles, plastic + metal unregistered weapons, liquor bottles from teenagers, and porn they collect? And how many bitter privacy lovers and conveniently brown people (the police department claims there will be no profiling) they will arrest?

Is there better ways for their time to be spent? Here are some reactions.

p.s.: this story is covered in the ny times by some fine reporters, Sewell Chan and Jennifer 8 Lee.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

camp. 7.13.05

camp was awesome. rewarding. almost inspiring. this time, you could feel the african heroes theme. the kids liked it even though we made some hasty rain-date plans on friday; all the locations we were supposed to have at the college seemed to be taken over by the other camp groups. i understand we have to share the space... but i did think we had those assigned to us.

small potatoes. we had workshops on history and stress reduction and identity and storytelling/ african songs. and they all seemed to work- a fairly rapt audience, and good commentary. i think. i don't know because i was running around all weekend making sure the next thing on the schedule would happen like it should.

in fact, that was the strangest thing about the camp weekend. unlike putting on WILD back in the wu days, i never had a chance to stop and look out among the crowd and grab my nuts and say, "yeah, i did that." nonetheless, camp was tight.
i had the arroz rice-a-home and dirty jersey sammy and my sibling aqua dulce in the house to help things out.

the last day left a little to be desired, though. the kids' portion of the talent show climaxed with a half funny, half gripping retelling of the amistad story, where some slavejacked sierra leoneans took over the ship, landed on american shores, and found allies to help them legally fight for freedom. if you happen to be in connecticut you should check out the amistad exhibit in new haven and look for a fellow named donald who will tell you great tales. after the talent show the gift and thanks ceremony took forever. and ever. i missed my gift, chasing after little ones.

on the same subject, i was cleaning out the last of our stuff- later than we should have- and i knew i was late. i did not, however, expect the bus to pick up and leave my ass. i was running behind a yellow school bus, cussin' with all the creativity a weekend of interrupted sleep and harnessing adolescent energy will leave.

there were some people still on campus; i caught a ride with one and caught up to my bag, already put on the bus by someone else. though i might have lost my gift, which was a badass candle holder.

p.s. i forgot to mention about jury duty. my ass got tagged. today. hopefully, not much more; i am fixin' to see shakespeare in the park's production of "as you like it." i might even skip out on something thurs or fri to see it.

p.p.s. i can't seem to stop saying ass.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

East River Waterfront?

I didn't know the city was working on the East River Waterfront. Is this going to get in the way of Black Top Street Hockey? Though I think the proposal stops short of the East River Park where today's hip heroes bang, scrape, and sprain their way to street hockey glory.
In My Time of Slacking 7.6.05

I have been working towards camp. And reading a lot. A trio of highlights:

She’s Just Not That Into You is interesting, but I really hope my female friends can figure out when a fella is jerking them around. I also realized that I have been “not that into” a number of women I’ve dated. Hm.

Read Fall River Dreams, in part because I am ingesting more basketball books and also in part because I wanted to see if the book made reference to a fella named Justin McDonald. I thought most of my friends had met him but that was not true; Eben met him a while back when he worked for my sales unit at the failed dot-com. Justin was a star for his high school team, playing in all-star games and winning a state championship in Massachussetts; he played at a Div II school and a little bit in Europe and when we met him, he was figuring out what to do with himself. When he got drunk, he would show us his “shake-and-bake” headfake. And in the book there he is, Juddy McDonald, a specter over the next year’s team, the upholder of basketball skill and virtue, the outsider who becomes a Fall River hero.

Also reading Jeff Chang’s Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, which is amazing. It’s a history of hip hop that goes back to the sound system DJ’s of Kingston, Jamaica, to the gang warfare and bankruptcy of NYC’s 70’s, to the graffiti art scene. It’s a reminder that while New York was a tad scary even when I was growing up, it had some fire and some tension. I think in 10 years, all the fire and the tension will be in the Poconos and White Plains and whichever Connecticut city is the most bankrupt. And we’ll have an Eckerd/ CVS/ Starbucks/ Applebee’s on every corner, indie movie theaters to remind us what it looked like living in a place where bad things could happen to you (and you adapted by being tough and careful), and our music will sell us more Western-like fantasies of gunplay and deals that barely exist.
Explanations of Post-Autistic Economics 7.6.05

From True Cost Economics:

[Economist Bernard Guerrien addressed the] disconnect between mainstream neoclassical economics instruction and reality. Economics has an ideological function, he told them, to put forth the idea that the markets will resolve everything. In fact, he added, economic theory absolutely doesn’t show that.

But why “post-autistic?” Is Rain Man involved?

From Wikipedia:

The term autistic is used in an informal way, synonymous to "closed-minded" or "self-absorbed". It has been criticized for using the term in this way, which could offend people suffering from disorders in the autistic spectrum, for example Asperger syndrome.

The movement is best seen as a forum of different groups critical of the current mainstream: from behavioral and heterodox to feminist, green economics and econo-physics.