Wednesday, April 30, 2008

God doesn't have email?

Great interview with Anne Lamott and Colbert.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Best album title ever...

Taking the title away from "I'm not afraid of you and I will beat your ass" by Yo La Tengo:


"When life gives you lemons, you paint that shit gold" by hip-hop duo Atmosphere.

Hells yeah!

Razzing the Newseum...

My latest Four Story article is up and running about the Newseum Residences.
Check it out.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

The finish line haunts me again...

In everything I have done since I had any comprehension of projects, I have struggled the most in finishing well.

I just lost a job (a hell of a job in a very tight market after making it into the final 3 out of 80 applicants) because I didn't hit the 9th-inning grand slam. I find myself back at square one and seriously panicking because I can't close the deal.

Part of it is superstitious. In my upbringing, there have been a few instances where both of my parents were in the running for fantastic jobs that would have lifted us out of the quasi-poverty that I grew up in. Yet every time, they made it to the final round, only not to get it. It has hindered our family and in a sense, it has hindered me.

My biggest strength is that I can catch the vision, bright and clear. Once I envision it, I'm going full-tilt. In classes in high school, I would start great, then teeter off in the end. Even articles I write, even blogs: I have the vision, but the implementation is very different and often, heart-breaking.

I even had a psychic tell me this. (I did it on a whim to support Gigi and Inside/Out and I gotta say, she was pretty good.)

So, here it is again. My great strength leads to my biggest weakness. I don't pace myself well and can't find the final push to finish as I started. What is most disheartening isn't that I didn't get a job or finish a project or didn't come through on a relationship. I know I'm good and capable, it's that this fully is something that I know about myself and yet, still let me down again.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Sound bite Papacy...

Daily Show did a great interview with Peter Steinfels, religion columnist for the New York Times.

100 posts!

Wow, it's only 100? Huh.

Well, thanks to those that read this, whoever you are. I wish I had happier news, but I got hit with identity fraud and still don't have a job and I'm robustly freaking out at the moment.

The most profound part of growing up and struggling on your own is how you do with obstacles. I wonder how I do it at times. Oh hell, I worry every single day. Experience in taking risks can lead to a better perspective and a calmer spirit, yet every new risk brings about new uncertainties of which you really have no backing to fall upon. That's why I laugh about jobs and schools and whomever wanting experience: Experience is the interaction of one context. It gives wisdom, if you seek it and understand, if you want it. Yet, the only thing that's prevalent is that each new thing is truly new and it starts over, all over again.

Extensive interviews and little context on whether you're doing a good job. Trying to gauge money and time and commitments and making sure you don't fall farther than you can pick yourself up. Making decisions, casting visions and praying for enough sun to burn off the daily fog.

These past 100 posts and whatever amount will be written reflects the tight rope that is becoming your own person and living your own life. A Middle Aged Young Adult is one who is right smack in the middle of the line: When I was a child, I thought and spoke and reasoned like one. When I became a man, I put away childish things. This time is about chucking the childishness. And finding a job or else I'll have to go back to the newsroom, which is what I don't want to do. Or file.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Are the primaries REALLY going until June?

OK, so I'm watching Senator Clinton give her victory speech in Pennsylvania right now.
She just said the tide is turning.
Well, yes and no.

Let's put aside that she had at least a 20-point lead in Obama about a month ago and how she's just brought up him outspending her 3 to 1 and just gave a subtle jab at the joke of a debate last week.

After all this time and with her husband and all the Democratic machinations behind her, you would think she could give a little vocal diversity.
Eh. The campaigns continue and will probably go on until June. Yet, I love BBC America, who doesn't have to offend anybody and can tell the truth, say that this election really doesn't change much and with this vote, Obama has officially won the elected delegate count.

But there is a major change and it was everything to do with Richard Florida. Go two posts down and click on the Four Story link to my article (I'd do it here, but I feel lazy right now). Florida posits the mega-regions in his book "Who's Your City?" and I'm confident that once the county-by-county votes are tallied, it'll be clear that Obama won all the major cities decisively. This is because Pittsburgh-Philadelphia-Cleveland region has undergone a substantial urban boom. Meanwhile, the rural areas are falling behind. I venture to say that many, many people all throughout the nation voted for the Clinton brand than Clinton. Stuff was decent in the 90s and brand positioning is all about placing the experience at a point where individuals can fully engage. For those in mega-regions and in non-manufacturing jobs, the experience is just getting started. For others, it passed.

OK, Clinton needs a better speechwriter. She can really do a lot better with what she wants to communicate. What's with these last questions? And did she just say "Yes we will?" Oh, that's just sad.

P.S. They're playing John Mellencamp's "This is Our Country." Last time I heard, he's supporting Obama. That's sad too...how about playing "I'm still standing" by Elton John?

P.P.S. This isn't a partisan blog, I just wanna read something else during the insane amount of time I'm online.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Man in Space...

I read this poem today, while the D.C. rain decided to stop spitting and start pouring.


Man in Space
by Billy Collins

All you have to do is listen to the way a man
sometimes talks to his wife at a table of people
and notice how intent he is on making his point
even though her lower lip is beginning to quiver,

and you will know why the women in science
fiction movies who inhabit a planet of their own
are not pictured making a salad or reading a magazine
when the men from earth arrive in their rocket,

why they are always standing in a semicircle
with their arms folded, their bare legs set apart,
their breasts protected by hard metal disks.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Shameless plug once again...

My latest Four Story article on "Who's Your City?" by Dr. Richard Florida is now up.
Word.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

On behalf of Charlie Gibson and ABC...

I offer my most sincere apologies for the complete disgrace that just occurred in the Democratic debate. It's not even an issue if Sen. Clinton did better or if Sen. Obama was tired. If anything, it proves that the mainstream media (and this coming from someone who worked in the media) are the ones that are truly elitist. Not well-educated elitist, but the "I don't give a rat's ass about the common folks so I'm going to assume they care about issues that were dead a month ago and talk about capital gains taxes in a faux-outrage voice because it would only affect me and the less than 15% of Americans that make more than $97,000 a year, which is what the tax gap is now and Sen. Obama rightly wants to raise because we need new revenue to shore up Social Security and pay down the debt because of this lame-ass war that ABC/NBC/CBS didn't do their job covering because they are only focused with media consolidation and trying to conquer the online terrain, not understanding that it is content that dictates everything, not cheesy headlines, but I'm not paying attention to what's really happening because I'm still in New York pretending to be a journalist but co-hosting debates for the wife of the former President of whom I ran his first Presidential campaign and was a senior advisor and have no business doing a debate with because it's the first rule to be upfront with disclosures, but since I'm not a real journalist, I don't have to sign the pledge from the Society of Professional Journalists, but hey, I'm just happy that there are two decent candidates and they're willing to let all the states vote because it means I can have cheesy boxing music before hand and say 'Obama v. Clinton' as if this is sports, which is isn't because there's TOO MUCH AT STAKE, but I don't care because I've been phoning it in for quite a long time because no one watches the Evening News because they either work 10 hour jobs because of stagnant wages, or they get news elsewhere I nor my colleagues really aren't trustworthy and really aren't presenting the news in a credible fashion and that we're really just pissing on Murrow's grave but that's OK because no one from Pennsylvania knows who Murrow is but thanks to us, they know about the Weather Underground, yet while knowing this, they just lost their job and have no benefits" elite.

PLEASE, no more political debates with MSM types. How about a debate with Talking Points Memo or Columbia Journalism Review? Like a real substantial issues debate. Wow, what a concept!

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Making it more than a dream

Last Friday, America commemorated the 40th anniversary of Dr. King's assassination. There were the speeches, the platitudes, the words. Lots of words. Too many words, honestly.
Columnist E.J. Dionne write in this column that the death of Dr. King, along with RFK's assassination, began the end of the progressive movement that was gaining powerful momentum in our country. It's too bad: From Nixon on, we have de-evolved, dehumanized and de-communitized this country into "I got mine, so go screw yourself" cloaked under some very corrupted tense of conservatism. On a side note, I really doubt that the reality we find ourselves in is what Ronald Reagan or Milton Friedman had in mind. But no matter.

Then there were these kids. On a typical Spring night in the nation's capitol, tourists stream from the respective quadrants to converge upon the National Mall. Usually, they go see the Washington Monument and then head over to the Lincoln Memorial. I know that was the first thing I did when I first came here. On the steps leading up to honest Abe is a placard notating where King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech. These group of students were reciting that speech.
No TV cameras, no journalists that I could see. Just a group of students and teachers egging them on. It was nice in a way to see students read the entire thing.

Yet, as the tourists passed them by to check out Illuminated Abe, I have to wonder: How far are we really? While we might be on the cusp of electing the first African-American President (if the first viable female candidate doesn't destroy him first), the deviation is pronounced in D.C. I mean, it's really obvious. Yet, another development and another law change pushes low-income further and further out.

For me, race relations is an odd one. Technically, I'm half-Latino. Venezuelan, to be exact. My biological father is from Caracas, yet I have no identification or connection with the Venezuelan culture. None. I can't even speak Spanish. How bad is that? My maternal grandfather is part Choctaw, but I have no connection with that either.
Even coming from a very diverse part of this country, issues of race are still difficult to come to a pervading sense of awareness. I was 12 when the L.A. riots occured. I still remember my white friend being beat up by some black guys, while two black girls saw me and said "you better leave or else you're next." I was robbed by a black man when I was 17. I was on a walk and he asked to speak to me. He pulled a knife and told me he was going to kill me if I didn't give him my CD player. It was a stupid Walkman and I was going to die for that. Even now, it is difficult to acknowledge a black man who crosses me on the street.
These are my experiences, but I know many white individuals that can identify. In high school, a great teacher of mine told me that I was going to have a hard time getting scholarships because I had zero ethnicity. The truth was, I did have a great and grand ethnicity on my biological father's side, as well as being partially Choctaw Indian, plus various Euro-ethnicity's. Yet, I was white.

What encouraged me about Obama's speech on race and some cogent talk about race relations is that we as a country aren't directly addressing a major shift concerning race, but that we might be coming to a point where we can. In about 25 years, maybe less, "white" won't be a majority. There won't be a majority. When it comes to race, everyone will officially be a minority. There will be more of one group than another, but no one can claim majority rules. I respectfully offer that freaks a lot of white people out. It's no surprise that the loudest detractors of Rev. Wright were white men, probably Catholic and definitely part of the "Conservative" movement that stems from Nixon and William F. Buckley.
If we were honest with ourselves for just a second, I think we as "white people" could agree to two things. First, cultural assimilation has done the most harm to white people in America. What is a white person in America? Either it's WASP or white trash. The middle is suburbia, but even that falls along trash or treasure lines. There is no appreciation for native culture, be it German or Scandinavian or whatnot. The creation of "American" was a continuing process of accepting majority norms while taking from the novel and uniqueness of minority cultures. Yet, it has created two choices, white and off-white. So, we have come to this very odd paradox: The answer of what it means to be white is often the same as what it means to be American. This isn't reality, yet the perception is what is reported on Fox.
Second, we as a nation haven't been honest with ourselves that supply-side economics doesn't work for us. It might work for some other country, but not here. Limits are a good thing and the government (especially if it's a representative government like we say it is) is meant to be provide a social infrastructure. That hasn't happened and really, hasn't happened for quite some time. No one is honestly talking about stagnant wages. Why is the gap between expenses and wages so big? It's because we dismantled parts of the regulatory mechanisms of government in favor of the Free Market the Friendly Ghost. This has affected everybody, but when it affects white people, it does create resentment and yes, bitterness.

OK, enough with my treatise. For those that stumble upon this and want to send nasty anonymous notes to me, do so on this phrase. Race matters. Racism is the great sin of America and race is the great testament to America. I feel that Dr. King's true realization of his dream was that we can seek race as difference and diversity, not the catalyst for inequality. Those things that make us who we are: Race, gender, religion, sexuality are what creates difference. Difference is good. We don't want to get to a point where race doesn't matter. I want race to matter. Otherwise, humanity will be dull and boring. I want people to be judged on their character so they can achieve a dream. I want a government that has a safety net so that people don't declare bankruptcy because of medical bills or will struggle because of obscene profit margins and lack of sustainable wage growth.

I leave you with a segment of the last speech of King.

A-friggin-Men!!!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

"She Knows Better"

This isn't a partisan blog, but I must say that I'm excited to live in D.C. and be around at the Inaugural when Obama is sworn in as our next President.

Cherry Blossoms!



You can find more at my flickr photostream.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Calling for manly stuff....

I'm working on a writing project dealing with masculinity and manhood in this day and age. I'm on the prowl for books, articles and the like (i.e., no Porn sites, no ESPN) that deal with any of these topics:
Male Spirituality/Men and religion
Mythopoetics
Analysis on the effect of the Men's Movement, such as Promise Keepers, the Million Man March, etc.
Men's Studies
Male appeasement/approval
Why there aren't legitimate men's shampoo products available.


Or anything else that you think might be of use. Leave a comment and the Management thanks you.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Prince is playing Coachella?!?

And Roger Waters is doing Dark Side of the Moon? It's not fair. For those interested, see here.
Sigh.

Quote of the Day...

"When you ask a man to describe his 'perfect woman,' you usually wind up with a glorified golden retriever, or Mother Teresa in a thong."

From Shannonstamey.blogspot.com, quoted in today's Express.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Stopping for the violinist...

Washington Post Columnist Gene Weingarten's superb article on famed violinist Joshua Bell playing for about an hour in the L'Enfant Metro stop was award the Pulitzer. This article was fantastically written and brought about a lot of guilt to me in that I go through L'Enfant every so often, but more so, I'm at the point where I'm recycling my iPod music. Judging by conversations on the Metro today, I need to leave the iPod at home and tune in to the beauty that is everyone. Check out the story (and make sure to view the video!) here.

Yet another sign that I'm getting old...



My sisters are now 22 and 21 years old.
Wow.
Happy Birthday Danna and Amanda. I love you both greatly.

Monday, April 07, 2008

I guess the ring by spring exists outside the APU bubble...

Today, I found out that three of my friends are engaged. In addition to Sarah T becoming Sarah M and a couple of upcoming weddings, it must be spring.
So, congrats to Alexis and Lores for and their respective significant others and a big M.A.Y.A. Years congrats to Leeanne (Linterella) for her and Paul's engagement. Leeanne was a founding contributor, former Clauser and all-around fantastic woman. She has a great heart and so much going for her. You're loved by the M.A.Y.A. Years, Lint (write something soon!)

Sunday, April 06, 2008

YAWN.

It's raining again this Sunday.
Nothing major to report.
Will be back up to full strength later this week.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

A Call to Action

I usually don't like to do this, but I feel this is important.
Congress is debating the reauthorization of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The original plan allocated $15 billion to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa and worldwide. It has done wonders in getting people medicine and treatment, as well as go far in the fight against Global Poverty.
The new authorization would be for $50 billion, spread out until 2013. This is one of the things that President Bush has done quite well on and it's important that we keep a good thing coming.
Also, this is a great chance to advocate a change in a current injustice. The U.S. is one of the remaining countries that requires a special visa wavier to HIV-positive individuals that want to reside in the country. This was enacted by the late Jesse Helms two decades in the midst of AIDS paranoia and it's something that needs to be changed. The House is debate a proposition to include this into their debate of PEPFAR and it's important that we make right what has been done wrong.
ONE.org has more information, plus a list of your Congressional Representative if you're interested.
Thanks.