The Average Man

Could You Use That In A Sentence?

2008-11-12T12:27:00.006-05:00

Snare drum go...

McSweeney’s posted an amusing blog on Monday in which they broke down famous pop songs into one-sentence summaries. Since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery (and I’m not in the mood to think as much as I usually do), I decided to put together one-sentence summaries for well known rap songs. You can add some of your own on the comment board:

Rap Songs Condensed Into Single Sentences

Jay-Z “What More Can I Say”

I’m better than you.

Smif-N-Wessun “Sound Bway Bureill”

I’ll kill you.

Main Source “Just A Friendly Game Of Baseball”

Cops suck.

Big Pun feat. Black Thought “Super Lyrical’

I’m a better rapper than you.

Little Brother “Nobody Like Me”

I’m better than you.

The Beatnuts “Watch Out Now”

We love to have sex and might shoot those who mess with us.

Slum Village feat. Dirt McGirt (a.k.a Ol’ Dirty Bastard) “Dirty”

We love women of various sexualities and will punch their significant other in the face if they get in the way.

Common feat. Pharrell “Universal Mind Control”

I’m tired of not having my songs played at the club.

2Pac “Toss It Up”

I love to have sex and Dr. Dre might be gay.

Naughty By Nature ‘Craziest”

No matter where you go, there will always be unstable Negroes.

KRS-One “MC’s Act Like They Don’t Know”

I’m better than any rapper who has ever been on Billboard’s Top 10.

Kanye West “Stronger”

Everyone really needs to acknowledge how great I am.

Ja-Rule & Ashanti “Always On Time”

It doesn’t matter when you come home; we’re going to have sex.

Ol’ Dirty Bastard “Brooklyn Zoo”

I’m a great rapper and I’ll beat the hell out of you.

Eminem “Any Man”

I have to say screwed up things to get attention.

Eminem “Kill You”

I really have to say screwed up things to get attention.

Eminem “Cleaning Out My Closet”

The way I grew up caused me to say really screwed up things to get attention.

Devin The Dude “Somebody Else’s Wife”

I just developed a conscious after having sex with someone else’s woman for a long time.

Special Ed “I Got It Made”

I’m a better rapper than you and I have a lot of money that confirms such.

Jay-Z “The Takeover”

Nas sucks and so does Mobb Deep.

Nas “Ether”

Jay-Z sucks just as much if not worse.

Jay-Z & Nas “Black Republican”

We’re friends now and we don’t suck anymore.

Note: This post is now the new opening post on "Snare Drum Go." I will no longer post music-related content here.

The Aftermath - Part II

2008-11-06T11:52:00.010-05:00

Oh the horror! The horror!

While I made mention of the potential sensitivity to political jokes about President-Elect Barack Obama, I had to devote some words to the overreaction of some John McCain supporters to Obama’s victory Tuesday night.

As Senator McCain displayed class in its purest form during his concession speech (whether it was real or feigned is not the issue here), the mere mention of Obama’s name made people boo and scream like they were citizens of Salem discovering a witch. I present you with a few choice excerpts from a story, which appeared in CNN.com:

“Members of the dejected crowd shouted ‘no way!’ when McCain promised to work with Obama.”

First of all this is pretty disgusting. Last time I checked, McCain’s job is to work in Washington with Congress and….the President. I thought we all wanted this country to get better. You know how we get better? By finding some sort of common ground. We’re going to always disagree on HOW we get better and we’ll always have to compromise, but people in the crowd pleading to McCain to not work with the man who’s about to take office is well…stupid. It proves that some people don’t want the country to actually get better; they just want their values to win out.

If that’s what you want, you’ll be disappointed every single time.

Back to the CNN story:

“Kevin Neugebauer of Katy, Texas said ‘I think the Republican Party’s kind of lost some of their identity of who they are. I don’t understand how it could happen.’”

I know how it happened: the Republican Party (a party whose values actually align with mine on several fronts) spent the past eight years in total control of everything and practiced a brand of politics that literally divided this nation in two. Said divisive politics didn’t matter as long as we were willing to trade a few of our freedoms for a false sense of security (No country is EVER secure. We’re not even completely secure when we step outside of our own homes).

The cries from many of socialism on the part of Obama are a little far-fetched and to me that was proven with this clip from of all places The Colbert Report when Stephen Colbert talked to the actual Socialist Party candidate for President:

Now that we’re clear on that one, back to the CNN piece:

“Other McCain voters took their frustration to the Internet, finding solidarity on anti-Obama sites. ‘We have to watch this guy and not give him an inch,’ one McCain supporter wrote. “The same way he criticized every move of President Bush. We have to make things as difficult for him as he did for Bush.’”

Make things difficult for Obama? He’s inheriting a mess, which includes a down on its luck economy; a military either stretched too thin or deployed improperly, real and/or potential issues with Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and North Korea and trade issues with China, Mexico and Canada. Things will already be difficult for Obama.

So why make it even more difficult? Because your candidate didn’t win? Because subconsciously you want to feel some sort of schadenfreude and can’t wait for a monumental screw-up? As a semi-wise man once said: when you’re out on the golf course with clean air and someone else across town is dealing with subpar air from a factory, that doesn’t mean the problem stays near the factory. We don’t exist in a vacuum. The poisoned air will get you too.

In other words, what happens with Obama in office affects us all, not just the people who voted for him. I wanted Bush to work in 2000 (despite him stealing the election) because I knew the agenda that him and his administration decided to pursue would affect me too. That, of course, didn’t work out so well.

To disappointed McCain supporters: I would pull for Obama to succeed if I were you.

One more thing from this delightful CNN sidebar:

“Voters said they cried through the night, declaring Tuesday night a ‘sad day’ for the country. Others encouraged Republicans to “hold your heads up high.’”

Seriously folks? No one died. A candidate you voted for lost in an election. I’d be a little perturbed and disappointed too, but not “sad” or “angry” or “scared.” What are we afraid of exactly and why weren’t we this afraid with other Democratic candidates? It wouldn’t have anything to do with his skin color would it? There, I said it.

Prove me wrong.

The Aftermath - Part 1

2008-11-05T16:05:00.004-05:00

Admit it, this picture is funny

While watching an episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, the comedian/host ended his weekly “New Rules” monologue with a plea to now President-Elect Barack Obama to give his fellow comedians “something to work with.” What Maher meant was that Obama has pretty much been squeaky clean in the public eye. There’s nothing about him that comedy can really parody up to this point.

Maher admitted to hating George W. Bush, but he also admitted to the boon in politically-motivated comedy that his eight years produced. So far Obama’s been Teflon.

There were the possibilities of something with Reverend Jeremiah Wright, but some thought (and rightfully so) that he didn’t seem that much different with his hatred than some white evangelicals (not good logic, but the revenge factor has been high this year among liberals). There was ACORN, but one could easily respond with Florida in 2000. There was his middle name (Hussein), but that seemed childish and petty. Nothing stuck. With the vitriol contained in some of this decade’s best political comedy, what type of laughs will the next four years produce? Will there be any laughs at all? Will we be afraid to laugh? I thought about all of these things and arrived at a bigger question.

Will we be afraid to tell political jokes about Obama in the first place?

I think the color of Obama’s skin plays a huge factor in this situation. While many people understand that most political comedy is an indictment of a particular individual or group of people, will folks be a little more sensitive to comedy directed at Obama in the midst of some crisis or screw-up (every President has at least one)? I hope not.

People might be afraid of being perceived as racist towards Obama if they were to make a joke about the President-Elect. Whenever that happens, the paychecks go away. This could affect the livelihoods of our modern-day philosophers.

I hope the American people continue to produce good political comedy (and good comedy period) in the next few years without fear. We as a people have to be able to use nuance when it comes to determining good political humor from hateful, spiteful attacks. Some comedians will toe the line and I welcome them to do so.

Anything less would be un-American.

So What Do You Want?

2008-11-03T10:32:00.004-05:00

Do you want a president whose running mate declared that parents of children with disabilities now have a friend in the White House when the presidential candidate himself has voted against most bills that would’ve benefited those children over the years?

Or do you want a president that proposes a change in Washington, but seems to be running a campaign right in line with typical politics?

Do you want someone who advocates a freeze on spending even though that would probably screw up our economy more and put us in bigger debt?

Or do you prefer the candidate who’ll break tons of promises simply because there’s no money to fund all of these new programs?

Do you want a once upstanding citizen and loyal soldier, who at times calls himself a “maverick,” even though his maverick status went out of the window when he sold his soul to his party’s base?

Or would you rather have a president whose leftie tendencies have suddenly become moderate?

Would you rather associate yourself with a president whose advocates (some, not all) have displayed blatant racial hatred toward his opponent?

Or would you rather vote for the party (even though their candidate is an ethnic minority) that has rightfully been accused of condescending parentalism over the past four decades for treating ethnic minorities (particularly Black-Americans) as helpless victims?

Do you want to be a prostitute for someone who pimps fear? Or someone who pimps hope?

It doesn’t matter who you pull the lever for tomorrow. You should realize that deep down inside, we’re all being played.

You Just Don't See What I See...

2008-10-20T16:27:00.008-05:00

Much has been made of the aesthetics (or lack thereof) of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. But I bet that when the Tampa Bay Rays clinched the American League pennant Sunday night, no one was thinking of how awful the domed-stadium looked.

While watching the Rays throughout the playoffs, “The Trop” looked completely different from even a month ago. Something seemed to make that place look better and sound better. But I couldn’t put my finger on it. Then it hit me: playoff baseball makes any stadium look great.

When a team is good, no one cares about the digs. Whenever the Minnesota Twins made the playoffs, it was safe to say that the Metrodome wasn’t exactly a place that people were dying to go for a possible World Series experience. But the Twins have won two championships the past 20 seasons and each time their dome worked to the team’s advantage keeping all of the crowd noise inside.

While there were often complaints from non-Mets fans about how Shea Stadium is a dump, no one was calling it a dump during games 6 and 7 of the 1986 World Series…or game 4 of the 1999 National League Divisional Series…or game 5 of the 1999 National League Championship Series…or games 3 and 4 of the 2000 NLDS…or game 5 of the NLCS.

Citizen’s Bank Park is a great ballpark. It’s an even better ballpark now that the Phillies are in the World Series.

In the eyes of Pittsburgh Pirates’ fans, PNC Park sucks.

For Rays fans, the big building at 1 Tropicana Drive is the Vatican right now.

This doesn’t mean that sports/baseball fanatics should squash the discussion of the majesty of just looking at a ballpark. It does mean, however, that your opinion of said ballpark could change a little bit once the team that resides in it starts to win a few games.

(By the way, PNC Park is the best stadium in baseball)

Why People Don't Like Her...

2008-10-09T12:03:00.006-05:00

She's reminds a certain group of people about everything that's wrong with politics today. She appeals to the small-town working class who would rather have someone like them in the White House than someone better than them. She exposes us for the narcissistic nation that we are. She reminds us that despite our status and recognition around the world, we'd rather think locally in an increasingly global atmosphere. She reminds us that after possibly our darkest eight years as a nation, we refuse to change.

She's a symbol of every left-leaning female's hatred towards the right. She's attractive and gets by on charisma (although many would say the same about Mr. Obama). She's pro-gun, anti-abortion and awesome in high heels. She reminds the left that if she were Democrat, her story would be plastered all over the news and pundits would fawn over her for her ability to run a town (and later a state) while dealing with a baby with Down Syndrome and a pregnant teenage daughter. She's a pretty face before anything else and that's what rankles left-leaning women so much. They would love for a woman to be that close to the presidency, but they don't want THIS woman to be that close to the presidency.

She would be the thing that right-wingers could hang over liberals' heads that would stick in the craw of everyone who championed the senator from New York running for president.

That's why people don't like Gov. Sarah Palin.

Enough With The Excuses...

2008-04-21T14:14:00.006-05:00

Tell the truth...

April 15, 2008

The date marked the 61st anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball. The New York Mets held a couple of ceremonies in Robinson’s honor; the first came in the form of a dedication of the Jackie Robinson Rotunda at the new Citi Field. The team then held a night ceremony before a game against the Washington Nationals at Shea Stadium. Players from both teams, and most players around the league, wore the number 42 in honor of Robinson and his achievements. There were many discussions about the ex-Brooklyn Dodgers’ life and how he paved the way for many American baseball players of African descent. Everything about the day seemed right. I appreciated my favorite sport acknowledging the great man that Mr. Robinson was and turning this breakthrough into an annual event.

Those thoughts changed when the discussion of the lack of American born blacks in baseball (only 8% in the major leagues at the beginning of this season) came to the forefront.

The general consensus opinion says the MLB needs to do more to bring young Black-Americans into the sport. The league needs to set up programs (like the RBI program) in the inner-city to get kids to embrace baseball as another possible athletic choice along with basketball and football. Even former front office personnel like Steve Phillips (former general manager of the New York Mets) parroted the aforementioned statements to Michael Kay on 1050 ESPN Radio in New York City. He, along with everyone else is wrong.

Baseball doesn’t need to do anything. Black-Americans should be able to embrace baseball without any help. The problem is that the majority of black culture sees baseball as a “white man’s game.”

Some people, like CNNMoney.com writer Chris Isidore, believe that socioeconomic factors play a role in the decline of baseball’s popularity in the American black community.

“The draft,” said Isidore in a column last April, unintentionally created a greater supply of foreign-born players and white American born players.”

I believe that the NBA draft also puts foreign-born players (from Europe) at an advantage, but with the game so entrenched in contemporary black culture, it doesn’t seem like as big a deal. A good chunk of the black community associates baseball with mainstream culture and the concept of upward mobility. Although the number of middle-class blacks and blacks who we can comfortably call mainstream have increased the past four decades, upward mobility, since the 1960’s, isn’t considered cool or something to aspire to.

In football and basketball you can maintain your so-called black identity while coming off as contrarian, opposed to the mainstream and therefore more palatable to the average Black-American who sees themselves as outsiders in America.

What exactly have the NFL and the NBA done to endear themselves to the “inner-city” (other than exist)? Why then should baseball have to take such a leap?

Speaking of inner-cities, isn’t there anyone out there who finds this concept insulting and condescending? Although a higher proportion of black people live below the poverty line in the United States, most black people are not poor. When you consider that the highest number of black people in Major League Baseball at one time was 27% in 1974, when the welfare state was beginning to take shape in the poorer parts of the black community, the economic argument doesn’t hold up. Somehow, someway blacks were able to find bats, gloves, a ball and a field to play in. In my hometown of The Bronx, most blacks and Latino-Americans live in the same neighborhoods and our Spanish-speaking brethren still find a way to play baseball when the weather is warm.

The style of baseball, the pastoral nature of the game, doesn’t mix well with the so-called hip-hop element. Black people have assisted in marginalizing themselves with limited views on music, culture, politics and race relations. Baseball is too much of an individualist sport for a culture that’s focused on the collective. Don’t be fooled by the faux “me-me” antics of some athletes. They know that they’re supposed to represent where they’re from more than themselves. In the black community, if you don’t toe the company line, one of the first insults you’ll hear is “white-boy” or “sell-out.” Just ask John McWhorter and Joseph C. Phillips.

Many Black-Americans see baseball as soft and align black culture with “aggressiveness” and “swagger,” which ironically are the same things used to stereotype black males. The limited worldview of “black people do this and white people do that” has contributed more to the decline of blacks in baseball than anything else.

It’s great that the MLB is bringing programs like RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) to lower-income neighborhoods as a community service. Boston Red Sox centerfielder Coca Crisp, a graduate of the RBI program, is proof of the fruits of giving back to the community. But blacks are the ones who need to embrace baseball or just leave it alone. Don’t attribute it to money, just tell the truth and say that it’s “too white” for you.

Dance Like Everyone's Watching

2008-04-19T13:00:00.008-05:00

Just Plain Ol' Fun...

Friday night at Union Square in NYC people gathered for a silent rave. Yes you read that correctly...a silent rave. Apparently this type of thing is enormously popular in Europe and particularly London where they've held this event on more than several occassions. It consists of people bringing their iPods, Zunes or any sort of portable device (with head or earphones) that plays music. Then they all begin to dance to their own music at the same time. To onlookers it seems like a bunch of young people dancing with no music playing, but the music is literally in their heads.

It sounds incredibly lame to those who are overly cynical (I thought this was incredibly stupid at first), but I went to Union Square to witness the spectacle and I thought it was pretty cool. Does that make me lame? Probably, but to see a scene of young people genuinely having a good time with no extracirricular activities involved made me smile. Sometimes we're afraid of looking like fools in front of people (or in my case...all the time), but it helps to have a little nonsense in your life. Although I think it would have been better if they somehow got the ravers to listen to the same DJ mix at the same time, the value of a communal experience with music can never be denied.

I left after a half-hour to watch the Mets/Phillies game, but the "silent ravers" stayed until about 11 pm. My hat goes off to them. I know I sound old saying this (I'm only 25), but if I were 5 years younger, I probably would've joined them. Kudos.

Hiding Virtues in the Eyes of Monsters...

2008-04-17T11:21:00.006-05:00

Jose Reyes said after the New York Mets’ 5-2 victory over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday that he’s going be the person he’s been his whole life.

“I’m going to be the old Jose Reyes,” he said. “I’m going to enjoy my game.

Reyes attempted to go serious this year after widespread criticism of his performance following last season’s collapse. Outside of his horrible September numbers (.205 batting average, .279 on-base percentage and five stolen bases), critics said that his jubilant, vibrant and outgoing personality made their opponents want to beat them more.

If you’re motivated to beat a team more because they do crazy handshakes and enjoy playing the game, you don’t deserve to be in the major leagues. And you haven’t grown up.

During the past two years, the Mets have not exactly endeared themselves to their National League counterparts. Some saw their actions as arrogant and classless. In reality, they were healthy, fun and celebratory. Nevertheless, players like Reyes made the St. Louis Cardinals mock the “Jose! Jose! Jose!” chants in the locker room after game 7 of the 2006 National League Championship Series. Some say the Florida Marlins had extra motivation that last Sunday of the season after the previous day’s brawls. For a league that prides itself on the happy go lucky/wacky nature of the sport, there sure seems to be a desire to stifle anything that resembles happiness.

Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado pleaded with Reyes to be his old self. “I didn’t think he was happy,” Beltran said. “I told him I wanted you to be the Jose Reyes you have always been.

“Forget about what other teams think. Just be you.”

The handshakes, the dances and the smile make Jose Reyes who he is. He’s a player who thrives on emotion. When he’s allowed to be himself and express himself, it shows in a 4-for-5 night in the first game against the Nationals and a 2-for-4 night with a home run the next night. When he’s not happy, it showed during last season’s collapse and the (very) early stages of this season.

“I have to enjoy myself and be who I am,” said Reyes. “I can’t worry if other teams get mad.”

Having read all of the above, here’s the next question: When was the last time you hid some positive quality that you had or positive ability about yourself in order to assuage the fragile egos of family, friends or mere acquaintances? You probably do it every day of your life and don’t realize it. It could be something small like having a little more knowledge than someone on a subject and not voicing your more-informed opinion. It could be having more success in certain areas of life whether it be work, romance, finances or other things.

Remember, success is different for everybody. So if you’re jealous of someone or angry at someone else’s circumstances, it usually means you haven’t defined success for yourself.

I am a victim of this also. I have hid my virtues/positive traits on a consistent basis for a number of years to keep people around me happy. It’s something that I need to work on and I’m slowly improving. It might be a personal problem, but I think it's more widespread than we like to admit. Embrace all that’s good about you, but don’t be arrogant about it. It’s something many people say, but infrequently practice.

“We don’t care if other teams get offended,” said Beltran. “He’s got to play the game like that. Other teams can do what they want.”

That’s the way it should be.

It's That Time Of The Year Again...

2008-03-28T14:07:00.004-05:00

And the talk about race goes round and round. Round and round. Round and round….

Lebron James and Gisele Bundchen appear on the cover of this month’s Vogue magazine. Lebron is the third male ever to appear on the cover of the publication and the first black male, which says a lot about his status as a celebrity athlete. He’s inching closer and closer to achieving his “world icon” status (something he said he wanted to attain in an interview last year).

But the talk surrounding the cover of Vogue has trumped any idea of celebration.

On the cover, the beautiful Bundchen is wearing a one-piece slim-fitting turquoise dress and she’s leaning into James. James is dressed in basketball gear with as Jemele Hill of ESPN wrote “his muscles flexing, tattoos showing and bared teeth.”

Some people have cried foul and call the cover offensive claiming that it resembles the original movie poster of King Kong with Kong holding his pale-faced companion in his huge right arm.

Now I wouldn’t put it past Vogue to purposely have this type of photo for their cover. Vogue’s in business to sell magazines and could care less about the social implications. Some might think that’s fine and some might think not, but it’s a fact.

Although I agree with Hill on black men (in this case: athletes) being depicted as either angry, sexually insatiable, overly aggressive or completely emasculated , I also agree with James when he said that people are going to find something wrong with everything. To tell you the truth, I didn’t even think of King Kong until someone mentioned it. Now I can see the resemblance to the original movie poster…after it was pointed out to me.

I also believe that people don’t have to go out of their way to portray a “positive” image of someone to assuage the minds of a group of people. It should be enough that a magazine would want to present something in a specific way. If you don’t agree with it, speak with the dollar. Don’t buy it.

You also have to remember that certain sects of society have to change their racist views over time in order to assuage their egos. In the early days of the NBA, when it was dominated by Jewish people of Eastern European descent, the racist view was that Jews were good at basketball because it required being “crafty” and an ability to be “cunning.” That view of the league changed over time once it became majority black. In the days of Jack Johnson, blacks were considered subhuman. With the rise of blacks in certain athletic competitions today, you can say that they became superhuman.

All of this is true and yet I believe that we have to allow people to be people. Some jackass is always going to have a view that is ridiculous and try to inflict their thoughts on the minds of others.
It’s easier said than done, since our parents and relatives are human. They possess faults and nonsensical views like everyone else. They are the people we learn from and are the backbone of our worldview as something to embrace or rebel against (i.e. Tucker Carlson grew up around liberals his whole life).

Hill wants James to grab a history book to remind him of the images of black men (particularly athletes) presented since the late 19th century. While knowing your history should be a must for anyone, regardless of culture, it should also be noted that the presentation of the history is just as important. The presentation is what causes people to ask if we can just “move on” from the issue of race (Considering that race is a socially constructed phenomenon and lie, I would like that too)? However, we’re in the real world and we’re unfortunately stuck with it.

I guess the fact that many people didn’t notice the King Kong resemblance until people pointed it out should make us happy. Those of us just saw a great athlete and a beautiful model gracing the cover of a fashion publication.

That, I believe, should be celebrated.

Hookers & Johns: Championship Editon

2008-03-22T14:51:00.007-05:00

Fun Way To Spend A Laid-Back Friday Night...

On an ABC special Friday night titled “Prostitution in America: Working Girls Speak,” Diane Sawyer said, “85,000 women who worked on the street as prostitutes were arrested last year.”

The johns who solicited them? No one keeps any statistics on that.

I always just assumed that numbers were kept on the people (mostly men) who solicited these prostitutes (mostly women). In a time where not much shocks me, but disturbs me, this shocks and disturbs me. It shows how much these women are treated as disposable and also showcases gender bias.

While we are willing to help women who succumb to abusive boyfriends, husbands and fathers, we are unwilling to accept the results of said circumstances. According to the special, between 60 to 90 percent of prostitutes were sexually abused. In many circumstances this causes people to feel less than human and eliminates any sense of self-esteem. Not all the abused end up going to extremes like prostitution, but many do. Like victims of rape, they go to extremes to either avoid sex altogether or become very promiscuous (I personally know victims of rape and sexual abuse…it’s not a pretty picture and it takes a while to regain any sense of a “normal” life).

Yet, we don’t see this as a problem. We say that they all have a choice and they could easily get out if they wanted to. Why don’t they get in contact with family members or call the police?

As history has shown throughout the years, fear is the best weapon in order to control. Fear makes you feel like you don’t have a choice. Fear makes you feel stuck. Women are afraid of going to the police for help out of fear of being arrested for prostitution. They won’t go to family members out of fear of being ostracized. They fear their customers because anyone could be their last. They fear their pimp due to beatings, verbal abuse and the possibility of murder if they attempted to leave.

Johns are less likely to pay any price other than public humiliation. Depending on your social and/or economic status, you can recover from that. You can look no further than the recent news involving the former governor of New York. Despite the embarrassment suffered by Elliot Spitzer, we have focused more on Ashley Alexandra Dupre (I am a culprit in this too…anyone who saw my Facebook profile picture last week knows that). Spitzer seems like a waste of time because he is a man with money and privilege (and unfortunately I have to mention this: a white man with money and privilege). We all know that things will boil over for him eventually if he plays his cards right.

Plus, if we pursued johns as much as we pursued the prostitutes, we might end up arresting our own fathers, grandfathers, bosses etc. Customers of streetwalkers are husbands, civil service employees, health service employees and leaders of major organizations and corporations. At a “Johns’ School,” that the NYPD conducts in Brooklyn for recent offenders, Sawyer narrated that there were men in “Sweatpants, Suits, Yarmulkes and Yankee hats.”
Many times, the reason for the johns isn’t always sex. Many men, despite our exteriors, are insecure and unsure of themselves when it comes to relationships with the opposite sex. When men involve themselves in a “transaction” with a prostitute, they don’t feel judged, mocked or ridiculed. This explains why there are so many jokes about the woman controlling a marriage or a relationship. Men really feel that way (although no one should have control over anything other than themselves in relationship ideally).

Of course you have your share of sickos. One woman reported that a customer wanted her to spit as many times as she could in a jar and would pay her a certain amount per gob of spit. The reason: he wanted to drink the spit in the jar once she was done. Another woman tearfully recounted a story in which a man wanted her to step on a baby kitten for him while he masturbated. (My Theory: These johns are making the prostitutes feel as humiliated as they are in their everyday life)

The prostitutes aren’t just a “product” of the poor and underprivileged either.

The special showed women from the ages of 19 to women in their early 50s. From women who were theater majors (and sang opera) to former nurses to college graduates with emotional issues. This life could touch anyone when hit with the right series of events.

It’s about time we put an end to the hatred directed at the women who feel prostitution’s the last resort. They need compassion and intervention to show them a better way of life. A more honorable way of life. The huge scars may not heal, but it might not be as big.

Redirect your anger towards the johns. They’re the ones who make this industry go. They’re the ones who are breaking up marriages, relationships and lives. Let go of the gender bias that makes you think the “temptress” is responsible for the man’s behavior. It’s funny what situations we allow ourselves to not have minds of our own. The abused women feel the brunt of their unfortunate circumstances from all sides. The pimps, traffickers, clients (the people who hold the control) get away free. The police do nothing.

Boys being boys. Right?

March Blandness...

2008-03-20T13:04:00.008-05:00

One Shining Moment...To Watch The Boston Celtics

(Note: The following, although very truthful, is an exercise in the typical hatred a fan of college basketball directs to the NBA. This time, the shoe's on the other foot. Enjoy)

Hello March Madness fan. I've been waiting for you.

I've been waiting for this time of year, so you can talk about "Cinderellas" and "Buzzer Beaters." I hope that you enjoy your little tournament and the three weeks of exploitation of college athletes that keeps you coming for more.

I hope that you listen to all of the commentators on sports networks. They couldn't in their right mind have seen games featuring all 64 participants during the regular season or conference tournaments.

I look forward to you ignoring the absymal graduation rates of your favorite teams. I hope you realize how ridiculous it is to have a favorite team that's not your school and not a professional team. I can accept that from kids pre-college age, but not from you.

I look forward to the anger directed at the athletes for all of the attention they recieve. You might say, "They only play basketball." I might say, "That's the reason you have your new research facility on campus." You would then keep your mouth shut.

I look forward to listening to you treat these athletes like animals rather than people. Yes, I know that happens in the pros too, but at least those athletes can get away when they go home. These guys have to live in the same dorm as you dorks.

I look forward to you ignoring the players once they leave school. They might be down in the dumps for the rest of their life, but man they made you feel great when they blocked a potential game-winning layup duirng the Sweet Sixteen.

I hope you realize that if it weren't for gambling then no one would care except for the alumni of tournament schools (which is how it should be). You'll continue to enjoy the games and I'll continue to wonder why you forget that a prominent college coach once said that athletics and academics "Never have gone together and never will go together." You'll say, "But I played lacrosse/soccer/baseball/water polo and..." Then I'll retort with, "Were your games on CBS and sponsored by State Farm Insurance?" You would then keep your mouth shut.

Well it seems as if first round tip-off is here. I must go now and focus on the NBA and the start of the 2008 MLB season. You know...professionals who get paid to do what they do?

Until next March...

The Giants, the Grammys and Other Things

2008-02-11T14:10:00.002-05:00

I dig you dude, but those shades...

If I had more money, I would’ve thrown an all-out bash centered on Bob Knight retiring from coaching. The man that epitomized everything I hate about college basketball quit on his kids after preaching not quitting for most of his “storied” career. Finish the season Mr. Knight THEN retire. Being tired never worked for your players and it shouldn’t work for you. But then again, isn’t hypocrisy the essence of college basketball? The sports world seemed a little brighter after hearing that. (more on Knight in the near future)

Everyone please stop talking about Tiki Barber. (Wait…I had to take a couple of minutes to watch Alicia Keys and Carrie Underwood open the Grammys…I think I need a cigarette).What was I saying again?

Oh yeah, stop talking about Tiki Barber. I’m sure that he misses the glory of winning the Super Bowl, but that’s about it. He’s happy with the choices that he made; I had no problem with ANY of the things he said (since at the time he was right on all counts) and people must realize that this would’ve been a different Giants team if he was here. Even though he’s the best offensive talent in the history of the franchise, who says they reach the Super Bowl with him? Who says Brandon Jacobs and Derrick Ward become important factors? By the way, who says the Giants reach the Super Bowl if Jeremy Shockey didn’t get hurt? I’m just planting seeds here.

I just saw Morris Day & The Time perform with Rhianna at the Grammys. Did that just happen? OMG! LOL! WTF?! (By the way, I LOVE Morris Day and The Time)

I still don’t know what to think of the Shaq trade. I initially thought it made absolutely NO sense, but now I’m on the fence. I don’t think we’ll know for sure until the western conference playoffs. One thing is certain; even the Suns realized that their style of play wasn’t going to win championships. Now they have a big man on the low post as a weapon. We’ll see about the results.

I think I’ve finally accepted the Kanye shades (we all know those shades from the “Stronger” video) and have actually begun to like them. I also love his Grammy performance with Daft Punk on Stronger/Hey Mama. Nice tribute to Donda. The standing ovation was well deserved.

I have to give it up to Beyoncé performing with Tina Turner. That was cool. What’s going on here? Despite the fact that the Grammys are irrelevant, they have put on a great show this year. Does it have to do with the fact that it’s their 50th anniversary? I hope not. Even their lifetime achievements awards made sense and were on point (The Band, Burt Bacharach, Berry Gordy as an Industry Icon).
So “Rehab” won song of the year. Boy the Grammys love ‘em some baby boomer-era soul music.

I love the Foo Fighters, but them winning the Grammy for best rock album shows you the state of mainstream rock. Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace barely made a dent in the national consciousness. Speaking of all things Foo, I knew Dave Grohl could be a softie at times, but seeing him act all sentimental during his acceptance speech was weird. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in public in a non-ironic pose. I like it.

Herbie Hancock’s Joni Mitchell tribute album won album of the year. I take everything back about the Grammy’s putting on a good show. WHAT?!

Pitchers and Catchers for the New York Mets report on February 16, 2008. Can you tell that I’m excited? I’ve been waiting for this day all winter. Spring training is here. Baseball is here.

Go pick up Devastations’ latest album “Yes, U.” Pretty good stuff. I said so in this review

Giggity, giggity

POP MUSIC NO LONGER SHARED LEADS TO ERRONEOUS CONCLUSIONS

2008-02-04T16:36:00.016-05:00

Do You Know This Man?

Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem.

Wild Mountain Nation by Blitzen Trapper.

Mirrored by Battles.

You probably saw some of these albums topping critics’ year-end polls. These albums are on my list of personal favorites/best of the year. It’s something that music nerds are predisposed to: obsessing over the creation of lists and having an irrational need to classify everything. But beyond my discursive banter lies another problem with the artists mentioned above.

Even though they all made great music and really do belong on the list of top albums of 2007, I bet that about 90 percent of the people reading this haven’t heard any of these artists or albums.

In some ways it’s a good thing because it speaks to the decentralization of the music industry. There the big few no longer determine what the majority listens to. It also makes stumbling upon an artist that much more fun. Every musician on that list above I’ve found via an interview, a sampling of their music or an internet radio station. No matter how much people want to know about an artist, there’s always an inherit joy in finding out about an artist on your own rather than through friends.

Now for the bad part.

Due to the decentralization of said industry, we no longer have a shared experience with popular culture or popular music. Over the past few years, networks like VH1 have rode the nostalgia train to great success by using people’s longing for the days of yore as a foundation to build their brand of television Think of specials like 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders, I Love the 80s or the most recent countdown: 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s. I mentioned that title last because starting with the release of Rhino Records’ Whatever: The 90s Pop & Culture Box in 2005, 90s nostalgia has kicked into third gear.

It’s easy to understand why when judged in the context of attitude and politics. Whether liberal or conservative, you have to agree that the 90s were some of the most peaceful times in the history of America (at least peaceful according to our standards). Most of the people reading this (and the person writing this) had the 90s as a background for their formative years and we’ll always hold our formative years on a pedestal compared to the rest of our lives.

It’s also natural to say that the music we grew up on is better than the music of today. It’s necessary for us to process that as true because it keeps the music of our younger years relevant. But the fact is since the rise of rock-n-roll as the dominant pop art form in the 1960s, that statement hasn’t been true. I’d argue with anyone that the same amount of great music comes out every year on a consistent basis give or take a few records. But herein lays the difference between this decade and previous decades. It’s easier for people of our generation to believe that the music of the 90s, when compared to this decade, is better because the 90s marked the last time we had a shared pop culture and pop music experience (and it’ll probably be the last one for a long while).

We can’t have something like Thriller-era Michael Jackson or Nirvana or even Puff Daddy circa 1997 in this new culture of pop music. We can’t have trends and musical styles like disco that envelope the country, force artists to step outside of their comfort zone in order to stay on the charts, swallow everything in its path and then die a fast, but still painful death. We can’t have landmark albums for good or bad like The Marshall Mathers LP or (insert N’SYNC related LP here) where a huge amount of people go out and buy an album on the release date like it isn’t going to be there on the shelf a month from now. That’s why the whole Kanye vs. Fiddy nonsense became a big deal. That use to happen at least three to four times a year with the old music industry. That was before this decade came along and shook things up.

We can’t have any of these things anymore because EVERYTHING has become a niche market. Rhianna’s Umbrella was one of the most played songs of the 2007 and fans and critics alike have named it one of the best if not the best pop song of 2007. But I know a few people (like myself) who didn’t even hear the song until the end of the summer when it had already been a smash on the charts. We’re no longer able to share a where-were-you-when-you-first-heard-an-artist conversation like we could about the 1990s or previous generations. There is no longer a real, true mainstream.

In order to have mass appeal in today’s music industry, with a few exceptions, one has to take no musical chances whatsoever, be as uninteresting as possible and have lyrics that are vague but sound like they really mean something (i.e. Daughtry). Not to knock what the former American Idol contestant has done, he’s does what he does very well, but the mainstream use to be more interesting than that.

That’s what people really mean when they say that music was “better” in a certain era. What they meant to say was that the music of the mainstream was better.

I’m saddened by the idea that some of my favorite records aren’t known to the general public. I’m not one of those fanboys that wants to keep their favorite artists in a box and hope that they don’t “sell out.” I want people to know about the artists I like. I want the groups I like to be wildly successful. But while the music industry self-destructs and figures out how adjust to the present day, all I’ll have is the occasional moment when an artist that I’ve had in iPod rotation ends up with a song featured in a commercial (CSS, Feist) in a television drama (TV On The Radio) or in a movie (Brandi Carlile).

In other words: Music has not gotten worse (every era has its share of hacks). Great music can be found every single year guaranteed, especially since it’s easier to find a rap/art-rock/metal/spoken word/comedian on some random website. But the difference between now and the time when we were in high school is that it was more VISIBLE. These days a fan has to work to find the good stuff. They shouldn’t have to.

When Beckham Attacks...

2007-12-23T01:51:00.000-05:00

(This is something I wrote back in August (8/17 to be exact) for the New York Amsterdam News regarding David Beckham making an appearance in Harlem. It's short, but sweet. I hope you enjoy it. More new material on the way...)

“Today’s been one of the best days I’ve had since I arrived in America,” said David Beckham.

On a humid August afternoon in west Harlem, the most recognizable athlete in the world arrived at Jacob Shiff Field in a black Cadillac Escalade with a police escort. Beckham, along with Los Angeles Galaxy teammate Ty Harden and New York Red Bulls players Juan Pablo Angel and Jozy Altidore, conducted a youth soccer clinic with 30 youth players from FC Harlem, a community-based organization, sponsored by Major League Soccer.

Fans lined up outside of the fences surrounding the park to get a glimpse of Beckham and received a special treat when he walked over without warning and signed someone’s hat and baseball.

“David! Dominicans love you!” screamed one spectator.

Beckham went to each of the four fields, designated by cones, and played a couple of short scrimmages. He showed the kids a few moves, awed the crowd with some of his fancy footwork on the pitch and posed for photos while a swarm of cameras captured his every move. During the question and answer session Beckham carefully chose his words while giving advice to the young athletes.

“You have to have dedication, belief and most of all you have to enjoy playing,” he said when asked about how kids should approach the game.

With many trophies in Beckham’s possession, and stints with two of the most famous clubs in the world in Manchester United and Real Madrid, what’s the proudest moment of his career?

“Opening my kids’ academy that I have in London and one in Los Angeles,” he said.

Shortly after Beckham departed ominous clouds came over New York City. It’s as if the weather knew better than to rain on the parade across from City College on 138th St. and Amsterdam Avenue.

...If You Hear Me???

2007-12-17T11:26:00.000-05:00

“I do believe that the reason so many black people identify so deeply with music so nihilistic and so abusive toward females is the place of therapeutic alienation in the black American soul. In my opinion, to hear that music as a reflection of oneself in any way means that something deep inside of you feels inadequate, so assuaged by a notion of black identity based on not being white as opposed to being something else that it feels natural to let the guns and sexism pass.”
- John McWhorter

Truer words were never spoken. It's something that I have wrestled with for the past several years in regards to a lot of rap music. I finally figured out where it started.

Sometime during the fall of 2003...I kept staring at it and I wondered why?

There it was right next to my door in my dorm room. On the left side of my dresser where I kept my 16-inch television. I sat and stared at it from my couch for a while with my legs crossed and my feet on top of my coffee table. While taking another sip from my Coors Light bottle, a question popped into my head like the frying egg that almost left me blind as a toddler (that’s what I get for sticking my head over the stove). A question that I had not even bothered to consider at any point in my young life. On the bottom of the poster it read in black letters: 1971-1996. A bald, dark-skinned young man staring at me with his stage name shining above him.

2Pac.

Why the hell did I have a poster of this man? Even though I didn’t idolize him, why was I acting like a myrmidon? Did it make sense to have a picture of a man who embodied everything that was wrong with the thought process of young black males who were members of the underprivileged? A picture of a man who had talent and ability and relegated himself to a gangsta cartoon? It boggles the mind that I took him seriously at all.

Let it be known, I am not bashing Tupac. I am not trying to denigrate this man who died too young like so many people in my age demographic. I am trying to make a point here. When you have a poster of a rapper who, let’s be honest, glorified the thug life and died in a hail of gunfire then you are endorsing that life as acceptable behavior. It’s very hard for me to write this considering that I grew up in the birthplace of hip-hop (The Bronx) and grew up around poor black and brown people. My family didn’t have much money themselves, but I can honestly say that I enjoyed my childhood, received lots of love and attention and never went without a meal. I also grew up in a house where there were so many sounds coming from our speakers that my head spun trying to get around it all. Everything from Led Zeppelin to the sweet sounds of the Stylistics to the street-tough Run DMC to the alienated-white-suburban-youth-soundtrack of the Smashing Pumpkins (my favorite band of all time) all got play in my house. In other words: I challenge anyone to call me out of touch with the so-called black community.

It’s saddens and angers me that I am considered part of the “hip-hop generation” or even more ridiculous the “crack generation.” For some reason most black people in my generation, regardless of economic background and social status have been lumped into one of these categories. It’s affected me in various ways.

One incident in high school involved a couple of acquaintances and I. I had been on a month-long binge where I was listening to Foo Fighters and Rage Against the Machine nonstop and during one lunch period when I decided to switch over to Korn’s most recent album, a black friend of mine said: “Do you listen to any rap at all?”

I found myself having to defend something that didn’t need any defense. But for some reason as a young black teen, to say or even imply that you weren’t listening to rap at any period could be grounds for exile from the community and accusations of treason. This also works for people who aren’t black.

During my freshman year at St. Bonaventure University, I had a white female friend of mine who really loved rap music. It didn’t help her case that her favorite artists were artists that I loathed at the time. Nelly, Diddy (or was it P. Diddy back then) and Snoop Dogg. One day, while in her dorm room, “E.I.” came blasting out of her speakers and I started my usual complaint about how Nelly sucks.

“Do you listen to ANY rap?” Once again this, in my eyes, was meant as a put down. Here I had a white woman claiming that I wasn’t black enough simply because I didn’t listen to rap. Never mind that she never asked me what do I like, she just assumed that since I didn’t like those particular artists that I wasn’t a fan of rap music. In her eyes: shouldn’t all black people stick together and like the same things? She was taking away my "black card."

Back to high school: I remember one day vividly when I was at a meeting for the black student organization on campus (I usually don’t go to these things, but I gave it a shot that day). I’m not sure how the discussion started, but it somehow morphed into the topic of music. An acquaintance I’ll call “Mike” was sitting next to me and mentioned that he wasn’t a fan of rap music. The looks on the other black faces in the room suggested that he just cursed out Jesus and smacked Mary. How can a black teen not like rap music? Was this possible? Oh the horror!Mike then proceeded to explain that while he acknowledges it as a part of him in one way or another, he doesn’t have to like it (and he’s right). The rest of the group started to argue with him as to why he should like rap. I sat back in silence, shock and admiration of this display of groupthink.Do all Irish people like Celtic-influenced music? No. Do all Latin-Americans like Salsa, Meringue and Reggaeton? No. So why do Black-Americans have to like rap?

While growing up, my mother was one of the few young women of color in the South Bronx with Kiss and Zeppelin posters in her bedroom. Thus, I grew up listening to a cacophony of sounds. Michael Jackson, Prince, Nirvana, Soundgarden, (my first favorite band), A Tribe Called Quest, Tool (second favorite band), Pink Floyd, The Isley Brothers and lots of other great rock, rap, R&B and shamelessly-pop music. I am very lucky in this sense. Anyone can have a conversation with me about the popular music they grew up on and I will always be able to relate to them.Last time I checked we live in America where, whether people like it or not, we mix and adopt elements of each others cultures on a daily basis. This affects everything we do: how we talk, walk, dance, laugh, love, hate and relate to each other. It should be no surprise that there are young Black-Americans who don’t like rap. There are probably some people in the American heartland that could care less about country music. Yet somehow this isn’t a bad reflection on them as members of the Caucasian group of Americans.

Now I do listen to a very good amount of rap music, but lately I’ve shied away from a huge chunk because it doesn’t sit well with me to listen to certain things being said that are pretty inappropriate (although context is very important). Rock and R&B have been more of a soundtrack to my life and I refuse to hear something like “Ain’t No Nigga” by Jay-Z and opine for the days of my youth. I refuse to be defined by a culture that doesn’t share my values. I still listen to it, but it’s now from more of a distance. Some people might say just live your life and you’ll never have a problem with being defined by anything but your actions. But if that were true, (and this is particularly for my fellow people of color) you wouldn’t look at your friend that way if he happened to blast The Killers instead of Killer Mike.

By the way, I like Jay-Z.

Go Beyond The Surface

2007-09-05T12:15:00.000-05:00

That's actually how the front cover looks in the store...

Name.

Everything is recognizable by its name. People, places, things. Names sometimes give something prestige. Half of the time it’s not deserved. Most of the time those situations occur when it comes to college.

I remember having a conversation with a friend of mine back in high school. We were talking about the names and types of colleges we were checking out when my friend told me that he wanted to attend a two-year college first. “Four-year schools cost way too much money,” he said. “I want to get my associates (degree) first and then move on to another school.” Little did I realize eight years ago that his thought process was way ahead of its time.

I remember overhearing a conversation during that same year where someone demonstrated to me the power of the name when it came to college admissions.

“I don’t want to go to a CUNY (City University of New York) or and SUNY (State University of New York),” this person said. “I don’t want to go to anything that ends in UNY.” It those two short sentences, this person demonstrated how the name of a school can have such an effect on superficial people and of course teenagers are very superficial people. But adults aren’t safe either. Adults love talking about their children who went to an Ivy League or another easily recognizable big-time college. It inflates their undeserved egos and it helps them win competitions against other parents.

Why am I thinking about this? Well, I'm reading the book Generation Debt: Why Now Is a Terrible Time To Be Young by Anya Kamenetz. It’s a very well-researched, well-written and well-conceived book. It’s very informative without being overbearing with the information. But the one thing that I focused on came early in the book: a confession made by the author based on the stats she learned.

“Two years ago, I didn’t have the foggiest idea that only one out of four people in my age group have a four-year degree-among my friends and acquaintances the figure is more like 95 percent,” Kamenetz wrote. “Nor did I realize that nearly half of the nation’s college students were enrolled in community colleges, while barely one in ten resembled me as a student- a teenager, dependent on my parents, living on the campus of a private university,” the Yale graduate continued.

I think about things like this all the time considering that I’m the only person in my immediate family to graduate from a four-year school (let alone a private institution). It’s very hard for many people to consider the fact that many folks do not go to college or finish college. You can see it in our popular culture. College movies have become a separate genre and most situational comedies focus on people who were friends in college or highly educated in the academic sense. The creators of this form of entertainment immediately alienate the majority of the audience based on show premises alone. I equate this to watching ESPN.

How? Many of the people who work for ESPN (from the network to the radio stations and the magazine) see golf as a major sport. In reality, it’s not that major. It’s hard for some to believe that because when you travel the country you always run into friends and acquaintances that pay attention to the sport. Therein lays the problem. You’re traveling all over the country, but you’re surrounding yourself with the same type of people everywhere you go. You lose some perspective. So while I have many friends who people would consider to be the intellectually elite, I also have acquaintances that are considered the bottom of the barrel of society. I don’t know what that says about me, but I do know that it helps me gain proper perspective of the world I live in.

While I agree that college is a privilege and we shouldn’t just allow anyone to go through the gates, the people who deserve to go aren’t getting a fair shot. That’s what frustrates me. I could care less about physical diversity on campus; I care more about intellectual diversity. But community colleges and more low-cost schools should get the recognition they deserve for providing an education to the intellectually able, but not economically able.

My chemistry teacher in high school once said “It doesn’t matter what college you go to. It’s what you do once you get there.” He’s right. Stop focusing on the name brand and focus on finding the best school at the best cost (even if it means going the community college route).

It's Over...

2007-08-28T17:55:00.000-05:00

The southbound side of River Avenue and 161st Street had been blocked to trucks so there wouldn’t be as much traffic for the group of people to walk through. Japanese fans lined up in front of the McDonalds across the street from Yankee Stadium before making the trek to the house that Ruth built. Several fans wear “Boston Sucks” and “Cowboy Up” t-shirts, which is par for the course. On one of the television screens in the press box, the YES network begins the pre-game show with a black screen and these words in white “The Rivalry Continues…”

Has anyone told all parties involved that there is no longer a rivalry? At least not the one that we’ve all grown to know for most of our lives.

The rivalry ended on October 27, 2004 when Keith Foulke underhanded the ball to Doug Mientkiewicz at first base in Busch Stadium. Am I the only one who realizes this? Yankee fans now have shirts that compare the numbers of championships the two organizations have won. Did anyone not realize that the focal point of the rivalry centered on the Red Sox NOT winning? They’ve won. It’s over. No “curse.” Sorry.

Did we not witness the single biggest collapse in the history of baseball in the 2004 ALCS? Have we not forgotten that the Yankees, the mighty Yankees, played some of the worst postseason baseball during a four-game stretch? (crickets, crickets)

Yes the Yankees still win divisions. But that hasn’t mattered much since the institution of the Wild Card in 1995. Yankees fans and Sox fans are in denial that the rivalry is over. They believe that the competition is fiercer than ever now that the Sox broke the “curse.” It’s not. It’s just another divisional match up like any other divisional match up in baseball. It might have a little more history, but it’s just not the same.

The rivalry is over.

Everybody Get Random

2007-08-05T14:37:00.000-05:00

So he finally did it. Barry Bonds tied Hank Aaron on the all-time home run list. Like him or not, he is the best player of our generation (until A-Rod's career is over). Bonds was the best player of our generation before he allegedly started rubbing the "flaxseed oil" and he beat everyone else using the oil at their own game. For those who claim that you can't stand Bonds, why do you watch him? Don't watch games he's participating in unless it's your team and don't go to the stadiums to boo him. Doing any of those things means that you want the show, you want the spectacle and you're completely stupid. You gave your hard-earned money to support something you don't even like. Ain't that America for you?

Common's new album Finding Forever doesn't deserve the criticism it's getting at all. What did you expect from someone who got undeservedly criticized before for making an avant-garde rap album (which was pretty good) just a few years ago? He claims to be a man of the people, so he's giving the people what they want. And it isn't that bad.

The Smashing Pumpkins have a new album out, Garbage just released a greatest hits record and there's a 10th anniversary edition of The Colour and The Shape. Apparently my high school years are NOT over.

The Derrick Comedy guys are awesome, but this is just beyond ridiculous and hilarious. My goodness.

The Boston Celtics are not winning the championship this year. Relax folks. Yes, they have KG, Jesus Shuttlesworth and Paul Pierce. But between them and the rest of the team is one of the biggest dropoffs in talent on any NBA roster. And to make it worse, they're young, inexperienced and still don't know what their roles in the league are yet. Boston matters again, but that's all it is at this point.

That's all for now. Short and sweet.

The #1 Song From My Teenage Years

2007-06-14T12:17:00.000-05:00

PopMatters.com, along with the musical Spring Awakening, is sponsoring a contest where they’re asking readers to tell them their #1 song from their teenage years. The number one song that spoke to every dramatic, contradicting and confusing emotion of ages 13-19. Although it’s nice to go down memory lane with music (something that I do very often) the number one song from my teenage years “spoke” to me, but not in that everything’s-gonna-be-alright or I-feel-your-pain-and-know-what-you’re-going-through type of way.

The number one song that reminds me of and personified my teenage years:

6 Underground (Nellee Hooper Edit) by the Sneaker Pimps

Last week’s issue of the Village Voice wrote that the music that was known as trip-hop “:should win an award for having the shortest lifespan in mainstream music history.” For those folks who were born in 1985 and after (since popular music and culture move so fast that a generation gap can exist between people that are separated by only three years now) here’s a definition of what the music was according the great allmusic.com:

“Trip-Hop was coined by the English music press in an attempt to characterize a new style of downtempo, jazz-, funk-, and soul-inflected experimental breakbeat music which began to emerge around in 1993 in association with labels such as Mo'Wax, Ninja Tune, Cup of Tea, and Wall of Sound. Similar to (though largely vocal-less) American hip-hop in its use of sampled drum breaks, typically more experimental, and infused with a high index of ambient-leaning and apparently psychotropic atmospherics (hence "trip"), the term quickly caught on to describe everything from Portishead and Tricky, to DJ Shadow and U.N.K.L.E., to Coldcut, Wagon Christ, and Depth Charge — much to the chagrin of many of these musicians, who saw their music largely as an extension of hip-hop proper, not a gimmicky offshoot.”

I first saw the video for 6 Underground one Saturday night on the now defunct music network The Box during the first month of my freshman year in high school (Late Summer/Early Fall of 1996)). I immediately noticed some of the drum samples (that they slowed down dramatically) and the “a one two, a one two” vocal loops. It came from Posdnuos of De La Soul on the group’s track Breakadawn (one of my favorite De La Soul and rap tracks ever…which sampled Michael Jackson’s “I Can’t Help It” one of my favorite MJ tracks ever). I also noticed the cute lead singer Kelli Ali, but that’s another story.

The song with her chilled out vocals, backed by hip-hop drums, sporadic keyboards, a sliding/grooving bass, an acoustic guitar, and faux string & brass sounds, evoked a detached coolness.

“Take me down/6 Underground/The ground beneath your feet”

“I can see like nothing else/In me, you’re better than I wanna be”

“I fake my life like I bleed…too much/I take whatever you’re giving…not enough”

“Don’t think cause I understand…I care/Don’t think cause I’m talking…we’re friends”

“Over ground/Watch this space/I’m open to falling from grace”

I felt like I was the coolest SOB in the room and that life wasn’t all that bad whenever I heard it. In a weird way, it made me feel like I could conquer the world. I was slowly getting adjusted to life in high school at the time and was very confused about a lot of things. In many ways, I needed it. The lyrics above don’t really make too much sense, but they made perfect sense to me. It was about not giving a damn and going through the day knowing you’re the best. I still feel that way when I hear this song. It calmed me down in a way that no other song could ever do to me.

It also reminds me of the power of hip-hop influenced music. Hip-Hop has helped push along or create entire genres such as the majority of what was dubbed Electronica along with Trip-Hop, Dance, Trance, House, Techno, Drum N Bass and some Europop. It was at that particular moment in the mid to late 90s when the rest of the globe starting talking back to America and showed off everything they learned from rap music and hip-hop culture.

I still feel like I haven’t fully explained myself as to why I love this song so much. But that’s the power of music. Sometimes you don’t have a clue why you love something and it takes some deep thought processes to figure it out. The PopMatters.com contest forced me to think about it. To them I say: Thank You.

Share your favorite song from your teenage years on the comment board if you want.

(In)coherent Rants #1

2007-06-09T14:18:00.000-05:00

As much as I love Gary Sheffield, he is an idiot for the comments he made in GQ. Not because of what he said about Latino baseball players, but what he said about Black-Americans. According to him, blacks are uncontrollable and don’t like to follow rules. Thanks for erasing the stereotype Gary. I appreciate it. By the way, if dudes like you and I don’t like to be told what to do, then why are 69 % of the players in the NFL Black? You want to talk about the most demeaning sport of all major sports? In the words of Molly Shannon on SNL: “Don’t get me started, don’t even get me started.”

On Bob Valvano’s “The V Show” Friday night on ESPN Radio, he said that the NBA had to “think outside of the box” in order to get people to start watching again. He thought one way to get the casual fan to watch again would be to have the top 16 teams in the league seeded and put in brackets like the NCAA Tournament. The minute someone tries to turn the league into college b-ball, I won’t watch the NBA. He also said that nobody watches because there’s no emotional investment in the players because some are European and didn’t play college basketball and some are Americans who skipped college altogether. Several things about this way of thinking about the NBA frustrate me:

1. You’re telling a league that was the first to truly go global (having just Latin America and the Far East doesn’t count baseball) to “think outside the box.” They’ve already outsmarted most sports.

2. You emotionally invest when you watch the sport. If you need a buffer or some background information to emotionally invest in something, you’re LAZY. Why the hell do you watch baseball then? You don’t know about most of these players until they reach the majors. You might hear one or two things about them in the minors, but until they come up to the big club, do you have any emotional investment in them?

3. No one wants to admit it, but many people consider the NBA a “black (which equals “thug”) league and feel like it’s not for them. These are the same people who think UFC is taking away fans from Boxing. If you’re that easily swayed by anything, you weren’t a fan in the first place. Everyone claimed to be upset a few years back when the great Larry Bird said that the NBA will rise to prominence again once a great Caucasian-American player emerges. He’s right and I wish more people would admit that. Right now, the NBA is more talented than it’s ever been in its history. If you’re not watching it now, that’s a “you” problem.

Am I the only one who thinks that Isaiah Washington and Tim Hardaway need to do a talk show together? First guest…Mario Cantone. A funny, but sad (and true) article in the recent issue of The Onion had me thinking…wasn’t the tragedy at Virginia Tech supposed to change all of our lives? We were never going to be the same again correct? And now we’re talking about this (even though I think it’s real funny)

I’ve only watched The Tube music network for one day and it’s already one of my favorite TV stations. A music channel that only focuses on music and music videos? Are you kidding me? What a concept! The fact that MTV and VH1 have relegated music videos (new and old) to networks like MTV Jams, MTV Hits, MTV Rock, VH1 Soul, etc. angers me to no end. You mean in order for me to see videos I have to get my cable through Adelphia? No thanks.

By the way check this out: I know this is old, but it's still awesome

You Deserved What Happened In The Suns/Spurs Series

2007-05-24T11:36:00.002-05:00

You asked for it.

By you, I mean members of the sports media. What did they ask for? The suspensions that were handed down by NBA Commissioner David Stern and Stu Jackson after game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals between the Phoenix Suns and the San Antonio Spurs.

During the last seconds of the game, Spurs forward Robert Horry hip checked Suns guard Steve Nash into the scorer’s table and a small scuffle ensued that quickly ended. But Suns players Amare Stoudamire and Boris Diaw left the bench during the altercation and were suspended for a crucial game 5 at Phoenix. Horry received two games for his actions.

There were cries all over the country by members of the sports media, who called the ruling unfair towards the Suns and thought that Stern and Jackson should have used the spirit of the rule instead of the letter of the rule in their judgment.

It’s funny how people want the rule open to interpretation when it has to do with the biggest media darlings in the NBA since the 2004 Detroit Pistons.

Now in terms of who benefited from the suspensions, the ruling was definitely unfair to the Suns since they lost a first team All-NBA power forward and a very good bench player. But if you leave the bench you get an automatic one-game suspension. No questions asked.

This goes back to the brawl at The Palace in Auburn Hills three years ago. Yes this rule's claim to fame came with the Knicks and Heat series 10 years ago, but Ron Artest is still fresh in the minds of the most sports fans.

Many screamed about how the brawl between the Pacers and the Pistons embodied the “thug mentality” of the NBA and asked for Stern to fix this “image problem.” This has led to things like the dress code, rule changes to help the offense and rules to deter players from talking back to officials.

This season saw Stern handing out suspension after suspension and fine after fine. People accused him of being drunk with power. You gave him the power. You kept telling him that the “public” wanted him to right this ship called the NBA. You wanted him to be as strict as possible in order to reel in these “outlaws” and “thugs.” Now when it has to do with a team you like it’s a travesty?

Sorry, you asked for it.

Jason Whitlock vs. "The Rest Of" The Black-American Community

2007-05-15T15:40:00.000-05:00

The stir created and the hatred directed recently at columnist Jason Whitlock has left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not a Jason Whitlock apologist. I happen to read his work when I get a chance to but I don’t usually look for it. He’s has his faults, he has his virtues, but it’s his faults that have gotten many in the Black-American community for lack of a better term…pissed off.

But before I spew any of my mental vomit, let’s get the background information on Mr. Whitlock:

Whitlock, who has written for the Kansas City Star since 1994, has recently been under fire for his columns regarding Rutgers women’s basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer. After radio jock Don Imus’ comments regarding the team, Stringer held a news conference regarding the media eruption surrounding the mess. The Rutgers’ players introduced themselves and Stringer gave a speech that lasted over 30 minutes. In Whitlock’s columns following the conference he alleged that Stringer used this as a rally/recruiting opportunity for the team and in by having the conference in the first place it gave Imus too much power.

This was the last straw for prominent members of the Black-American community. Whitlock was recently attacked for comments he made after the NBA All-Star Game in Las Vegas referring to a “Black KKK” and calling for a “new civil rights movement” to weed out so-called “black idiots.” Heads collided last week at Morehouse College, the historical black college in Atlanta, at the State of the Black Athlete forum which featured on the panel such prominent members of the sports media like Stephen A. Smith and William C. Rhoden, NBA players Etan Thomas and Alonzo Mourning and NFL great Jim Brown.

Oh yeah, the panel also included Whitlock and Stringer.

Stringer went on the attack calling out Whitlock and questioning his reasoning for his thoughts. She delivered passionate speeches that were allegedly followed by lots of “amen’s” from the crowd resembling the atmosphere or a Baptist church. Whitlock stuck to his guns and stood by what he said. Both parties didn’t budge on the issue, but Stringer definitely won the audience over and other members of the panel.

Whitlock has been called an “Uncle Tom” for many of his remarks concerning Black-Americans and has been compared by members of the community to Clarence Thomas and Ward Connerly. In other words, a traitor to his race. This resulted in an open letter written to Whitlock by Etan Thomas and countless other things written or said about him.

Let’s make no mistake, even though I think that Whitlock genuinely believes in what he says, his remarks come across as a person of color “doing the white man’s work” and expressing things that many whites couch their race-based views on. But at the same time, the interview that Whitlock had with Tucker Carlson on MSNBC showed a man who made many valid points and has no agenda whatsoever…on this particular issue.

The comparisons to Ward Connerly make me cringe also. For those of you who do not know about Connerly: he is a man of color who is a former University of California Regent, businessman, political activist and founder of the American Civil Rights Institute. He is considered to be the man behind Proposition 209 in the state of California that banned race and gender-based preferences in state hiring and state university admissions.

In plain English, he banned affirmative action.

Although I believe that Connerly had genuine motives and believes like I do, that everyone should compete on the same level (despite the fact that Connerly, myself and many people of color regardless of qualifications benefited from race-based initiatives). He saw banning affirmative action as a fire to light under the behinds of all ethnic minorities in America to call for better resources in grade schools, junior highs and high schools and demand better teachers. He saw this as a way to prove that people of color belong on the same playing field (it shouldn’t be a question, but in the hatred of American society it is). Black people saw this as hypocrisy and saw Connerly as another man who made it to the top and is now pulling the ladder up from everyone else.

This is what many people think of Jason Whitlock. With all of this mess that’s been created, I know this much:

Something smells and it’s coming from both sides.

I believe that Whitlock, despite his good points, has some pent up issues considering that he himself was an athlete in college. According to Thomas’ open letter, Whitlock didn’t think that Thomas would know his writing because he’s “only a basketball player.” You would think that someone with that background would be a little more sympathetic or at least illuminate us civilians on what it’s like to be in that type of environment. Instead, he treats the athletes like any other writer without a drop of athleticism in their body would and that’s sad. But it also sheds light on his hatred of successful athletes and the fact that he didn’t hit the jackpot and make it to the professional level.

As for the black community, many of the things that have been written and said about him from this camp, (once again) despite SOME good points, seems more like anger directed at someone not toeing the company line of groupthink more than anything else. When I hear anyone on the radio (like Stephen A. Smith) or on the television (like Stuart Scott) or anyone around me for that matter say that “black people don’t this…” or “black people do this…” I want to rip my own eyes out. You don’t speak for me or for anyone else. Of course we all have things that are cultural regardless of economic and social status. That is just the nature of the beast when people group themselves together. But when you say that an entire group doesn’t do or does do something, take out the “We” and insert the “I.”

Now someone reading this might think “Well, that’s obvious. No one who speaks for a group of people really speaks for that group at all. They speak for the people that will have the biggest impact/influence on them.” True, then why the hell do we constantly talk about leadership in the black community?

The only leadership I ever needed came from my mother and my grandmother (even when I fought with them every step of the way in their teachings). That should be the only leaders anyone will ever need. So while I don’t go as far as Mr. Whitlock and call Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton terrorists, I do believe that despite the good work they’ve done in the past, they need to keep their mouths shut. Or maybe perhaps people in the black community can just not listen to them and ignore anything that these men have to say.

The next thing people might think now is “So you want people to stop listening to Jackson and Sharpton…and instead listen to you?” To those people I say, “Keep up the good work grasshopper. You’re thinking for yourself. That was step one.”

This Is A Call...

2007-05-14T12:42:00.000-05:00

Must we be so out of shape in front of them?

By “we” I don’t necessarily mean me. I mean other members of the sports media. It’s something that I have secretly wondered about growing up in this city listening to WFAN, 1050 ESPN Radio and watching MSG, Fox Sports New York and ESPN.

I’m a writer. I cover many things, but I tend to lean towards sports, music and socio-political stuff (as evidenced by readers of this blog). I cover Yankee games every now and then for The Amsterdam News. I have had the "luxury" of going into players’ locker rooms and absorbing the atmosphere. I also had a chance to look around at my fellow members of the media.

These athletes have to keep themselves in tip-top shape every single day of their lives so they can perform and provide us with mountains of entertainment. We, as members of the sports media, are asked to provide analysis, present stories and point out things that are not easily noticed by the naked eye. A lot of the stories tend to be on the negative side of things (especially in this city). But I always had one main problem.

I wish that the members of the media do themselves a favor and get in shape so they won’t look like total tools in front of athletes. How can someone talk about how a player should’ve caught a baseball when the person asking the question looks like they just swallowed the food court in Manhattan Mall?

So many men with their stomachs hanging at least 2 inches past their belt buckles. Disgusting men who look like they would pass out just by looking at a treadmill. With the exception of some very attractive females, I felt ashamed of being a writer.

I make this pledge to you. From now on I’m going to make sure that I stay in shape (I’m only 24 so it won’t be so hard). And I hope that the next person who criticizes someone for not running out a ground ball looks like they could run the 60 feet from home plate to the first base without passing out.

Top Favorite Albums of 2007 & This Decade

2007-05-12T14:09:00.000-05:00

This is my type of religion....

Because I'm bored and I feel like putting something up here, I figured I share some of my favorite albums of the year so far and of this decade ( A decade that produced some great music). Enjoy and share some of your favorite in the comment section if you want.

Top Five Favorite Albums of 2007 (so far...)

El-P- “I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead”

LCD Soundsystem- “Sound Of Silver”

Feist- “The Reminder”

Brandi Carlile- “The Story”

Tracey Thorn “Out Of The Woods”

Runners Up: Jill Cunniff “City Beach”, Nine Inch Nails “Year Zero”, Evidence “The Weatherman LP”

Top Ten Favorite Albums of the ‘00s

Kanye West- “The College Dropout”
Outkast- “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
Tool “Lateralus”
El-P- “Fantastic Damage”
Remy Shand- “The Way I Feel”
Slum Village- “Fantastic Vol. 2”
A Perfect Circle- “Thirteenth Step”
Cee-Lo- “Cee-Lo Green…Is The Soul Machine”
TV On The Radio- “Return To Cookie Mountain”
The Roots- “Phrenology”

Runners Up: The Foreign Exchange “Connected”, Broken Social Scene “Broken Social Scene”, Common “Like Water For Chocolate”, Deftones “White Pony”, Pete Rock “Lost And Found”

The Mid-90s Knicks Should Be Celebrated

2007-05-10T09:50:00.002-05:00

The mid 90s were an interesting time for basketball. With the obvious exception of Jordan’s Chicago Bulls the most dominant team, and most divisive among fans, in the eastern conference were the New York Knicks. Patrick Ewing, John Starks, Anthony Mason and company won the hearts of New York City. But they didn’t win the hearts of anyone else in America.

Critics said that this team, led by Coach Pat Riley, embodied everything that was wrong with basketball at the time. They claim the Knicks’ lack of offensive talent, defense that bordered on hockey-style gooning and arrogance summed up everything wrong with basketball in the 1990's.

Right now I’m staring at the back cover my copy of The Complete History of the New York Knicks on DVD as part of the NBA Dynasty Series. I always catch my eyes darting towards the bonus features section where they have game 2 of the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals and game 7 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals in its entirety as it originally aired on MSG and NBC respectively.

I began junior high school during this period so for obvious reasons I hold these two Knick squads dear to my heart. I remember playing as the Knicks on NBA Showdown ‘94 and NBA Live ’95 on my Sega Genesis. I remember playing pickup basketball with my friends and emulating John Starks during one of his hot shooting streaks or Charles Oakley when he dove for loose balls all over the court. It got me thinking: When was the last time you saw young people emulating the hustle of a role player? I don’t know about the rest of the country, but that type of play was celebrated by many kids like me in the city that never sleeps. Allow me to commit basketball blasphemy if you will.

The mid-90s New York Knicks were good for basketball and they are exactly the type of team that the NBA needs right now.

Name me another team that played with so much passion, heart and desire to make up for their mediocre talent the past 10+ years in the NBA? We claim to love the hustle and hard work of players in sports but we always gravitate towards the talented superstar or the personality. I wish sports fans would give up the façade of appreciating hustle and admit that they rather see people with talent perform (well…everyone except for college basketball fans who don’t watch the NBA). A couple of key factors contributed to the Knicks being hated.

1) They were not particularly easy to watch. They consistently played in games where the winner barely reached the 90-point mark. Their style of defense, as quoted by Patrick Ewing, adopted the philosophy of “no layups, put you on your butt.” I enjoyed that style of play because I saw that on the playgrounds of NYC all the time. Anyone who managed to score a ton of points in the parks had earned every one of them. Today’s NBA players (despite this group being the most talented crop to ever be in the league at once) don’t have to work as hard to score points. Some of that is due to the lack of defense played and some of that can be attributed to David Stern’s rule changes where you can’t even say hi to an opposing player without getting a foul called on you.

By the way, when you get a chance go check the scores of the Bulls/Jazz NBA Finals games from 1997 & 1998. Those games are still discussed every now and then even though the scoring wasn’t up to snuff. Why? Because the talent displayed on those two teams was fun to watch even if it didn’t result in much.

2) They’re a New York City team. And as much as we talk about a NYC/East Coast bias in the media, the same amount of bias in the media is directed back at NYC in a negative way. Think of the Detroit Pistons in 2004. They kept games in the 70-point range during the playoffs. Sometimes their games were even in the 60s! For some reason we’re suppose to love that team and hate the Knicks. Several reasons why: Larry Brown coached the team and no one will stop riding his jock until the day he passes away. The Pistons were going against the mighty Lakers who were declared champions the minute they acquired Karl Malone and Gary Payton. And also…people always always irrationally root against any Kobe Bryant affiliated team.

The Knicks, like any other New York affiliated team, will have their highs and lows blown up simply because it happened in New York. For example, look at the hoopla that surrounded Roger Clemens’ “family clause” in his contract with the New York Yankees in 2007. He had the same thing in Houston for the past three seasons and no one made a big deal of it. Now he’s in New York and the sky is falling.

I’m starting to think that we may not see a team that hustled as much as the mid-90s Knicks celebrated ever again. We’re in the era of offense, but look at the teams that keep winning championships: The Lakers earlier this decade. They were a team that had a tremendous amount of talent on the offensive side of the ball, but they played good defense. Plus, it always helps to have Shaquille O’Neal in the middle.

The Miami Heat in 2006 last year were really a 90s NBA team in disguise. They had an all-star center (Shaq again), several good role players, high-priced (but serviceable) veterans coming off of the bench and played good defense. Not to mention Dwayne Wade.

The San Antonio Spurs’ defense is self explanatory, which is why I still pick them as the favorites this year and the Suns will NEVER win a championship. Speaking of the Suns, (pre-Shaq) you want to talk about a team that’s nothing but a glorified version of the early 90s Golden State Warriors? You put that Warriors team (with Chris Webber, Tim “I hate gay people” Hardaway, Latrell “I have to feed my family” Sprewell, Chris Mullin and Billy Owens) in today’s NBA and they would rule the West.

What I’m trying to say is that the Knicks of the mid-90s embodied the blue-collar work ethic that everybody claims to love more than any team in the past 20 years in sports. We like the thought of blue-collar, but we don’t want it in the flesh. In the end, we want the glitz, the glamour and the stars.

I think the NBA secretly wants a team like that Knick crew to exist, but due to the fallout from the brawl at The Palace we won’t have that type of team in the NBA ever again.

A team with very little offensive talent, with the exception of one of the greatest centers in the history of the league (Patrick Ewing), somehow managed to remain a consistent contender for a significant amount of time. We overrate the Ben Wallaces of the world because I think we miss players like Charles Oakley.

The mid-90s Knicks were the result of hard work and great defense. We need that kind of team back in the league.

Clemens Is Back!!! (Yeah...And...So...What?)

2007-05-07T14:58:00.000-05:00

Wait? Is that the sound of the New York Yankees STILL not making the playoffs?

Oh yes it is.

It happened. Yesterday at Yankee Stadium during the 7th-inning stretch, Roger Clemens made a surprise announcement that he will come back this season as a Yankee. There was much rejoicing. Susan Waldman lost her mind and it led every local television station’s news at 11:00 pm (in front of more soldiers killed in Iraq and a 12-year-old girl being hit by a stray bullet in the Bronx).

With the news of Carl Pavano most likely being done for the year and possibly needing Tommy John surgery, this news could not have come at a better time for an injury-riddled Yankee starting rotation. It’s just too bad that it’s all for not.

Clemens turns 45 this season. He had problems with his hamstrings and groin the past few years and injuries take longer to recover from when you’re older. He’s coming to a Yankee team that is 5 ½ games behind the not-slowing-down-anytime-soon Boston Red Sox.

Clemens returns to the American League. Unlike National League lineups, there are no pushovers batting in the 8th or 9th spot. Clemens will have to work his tail off to get through five innings. This will surely add at least a run and a half to his era…maybe more.

Speaking of five innings, that won’t help the overworked bullpen. They will still have to come in and throw a few innings a night. They might end up costing Clemens a couple of wins.

The starting rotation that Clemens joins, contrary to public opinion, isn’t too much to write home about either. Andy Pettitte is solid and reliable, but he’s past his prime. Mussina just got off the DL and pitched well in his first start although he tends to get himself caught in a cat and mouse game with his own mind. From what Kei Igawa showed so far this early season he’s a fifth starter at best and (this is where pure irrationality comes in) I’m not sold on Cy Young runner-up Chien-Ming Wang (and this is after the almost perfect start). We’ll know the verdict on him by mid June.

The Yankee offense will put up more runs than we can count, but I don’t see them getting past Boston, Cleveland, Detroit or L.A. Ironically if the season ended today, those teams would be in the playoffs. I don’t see it changing anytime soon.

Good luck, Bronx Bombers.

What Do I Make of Virginia Tech & Cho-Seung Hui

2007-04-19T14:24:00.000-05:00

The tragedy that took place on the campus of Virginia Tech this Monday made everyone look for answers, problems and solutions. We looked for signs (which there were many). We looked for answers (which there are none). That hasn’t stopped us from trying to answer why anyway.

The student who committed this barbaric act, Cho Seung-Hui, mailed a package in the middle of his bloodbath, which contained photographs of him posing with knives, a hammer and the guns that he used to commit his atrocities. The look in his eyes is one that I’ve seen before. It's the look of a person that feels society has let them down and put hate in their heart. In reality, it’s all in their head. The smallest wrong doing unto people like this is representative of a bigger plan by others to put them down. They feel like people are constantly underestimating them.

I know this because I was that kid for a short period of time.

I hate playing armchair-psychiatrist, but I saw some of my young self in Cho-Seung-Hui. At the time, around late junior high/early high school, I felt like I had all of these thoughts in my head that people didn’t understand. I tried to express them, but people would never get what I was thinking. I always wondered if there was something wrong with me. All of those feelings turned my heart black and filled my mind with anger and hate directed at people who were trying to figure out life just like me.

Last night on Nightline, one of Cho’s suitemates said that when he saw the video, it was the first time he saw Cho look directly at anything. He always kept his head down and didn’t say much. He saved all of his thoughts for the world in his head. I know that feeling all too well.

Grant it, my mind wasn’t as twisted and dark as this young man’s, but it was close. The difference between him and I is that I saved my feelings for art (writing). He did some of that, but it wasn’t enough. That's what separates the sane from the insane. Whether we like it or not, we all have the kind of evil in us. It’s our ability to control and realize the difference between right and wrong that saves us from committing the kind of evil, horrific and despicable act that scarred the occupants of a 2500-acre piece of land in Blacksburg, Va.

One of Cho’s English professors said that his writing disturbed them so much that they had to contact university officials. Some people want to use that as a sign of something to come, but shouldn’t Wes Craven and the creators of other horror movies be in custody if that were the case?

Disturbing thoughts don’t necessarily equal disturbing actions.

It’s very clear, by the videos that NBC aired yesterday, that Cho’s anger was aimed in no particular direction. He lashed out at society, like many angry young people, but didn’t give specifics. Yes he did mention “rich kids,” “the elite” and the “debauchery” of people, but there was no singling out anyone. He looked liked a kid who wanted to blame his problems on something other than himself.

I eventually got that hate, anger, resentment, envy, jealousy and pain out of my heart while still in high school. I don’t know what did it for me. I might have thought about all of the things that I could accomplish in this life. I might have thought about all of the people I could come in contact with. How I’m going to meet people who will could my life for the better. How I’m going to miss out on the life stories of friends I would never have a chance to meet. How I would not be able to realize my dreams.

I might have thought about not being able to experience love, joy and happiness. I might have thought about all of the good music, books and movies that I might miss.

I might have thought about what essentially is the greatest thing of all: being alive.

My heart goes out to the 32 victims of this heinous act. My heart goes out to the families and friends of these casualties. My heart also goes out to the family of Cho Seung-Hui.

They tried to make a better life for their son in America and now….

Nigganometry

2007-04-16T12:44:00.000-05:00

That’s it. I’ve had it I’m done. I’m no longer going to utter that word again unless I have to.

Nigga…or Nigger.

That’s right. You can scratch me off of the list of young black men who use it as a term of “endearment.” I have wrestled with this for some time. Every time I thought I was making progress, I reverted right back to it and lost my way. I know what you’re thinking. Is this going to be another self-righteous rant about how we shouldn’t use the word at all since it reminds us of times when that word was (and still is) hurtful?

Yes and then some.

That word is still hurtful and I believe that the black community’s last barrier in progression is eliminating the use of the word nigger…or nigga. No other ethnic group in this country (or world) uses a word that was derogatory and flips the use of it into something “positive.” Imagine if you walked down the street and overheard two men of Chinese decent calling each other “chinks”? Wouldn’t you look twice? Wouldn’t that stop you in your tracks?

When you stop the use of a word it slowly dissipates and it’s hardly ever used again. Spic, chink, kike, towelhead, and dago are words that have disappeared from the public consciousness for the most part…or just used in secret. The words are used so little that when they’re uttered in public, they actually hurt people. Black-Americans are so use to calling each other niggas (or niggers) due to the immunity built from hearing that word in music, television and films. I feel sorry for some of my white counterparts who love the music and culture of hip-hop, but sometimes can’t even purchase a CD (if they’re not already downloading it) unless they say the word out loud.

Therein lies my dilemma. I am an avid fan of hip-hop (as I am of rock, pop, R&B….good music), but I’m going to have to hear that word almost every time I listen to a non-white emcee. I’ve noticed that as I’ve gotten older (well, I’m only 24 but I feel like an old fogey already) the word makes me flinch. Imagine if I were listening to Straight Outta Compton? I would look like I was having a seizure. Does still listening to a lot of hip-hop make me a hypocrite? In a way it does, but being a hip-hop fan is itself a contradiction. Would you want someone tagging up your house? Would you want someone break dancing in front of your building? Also, even though I don’t believe it’s stealing, how would you feel as a musician if someone sampled your music WITHOUT your permission?

Back to the issue at hand: we make a huge stink out Michael Richards’ rant and then we call our boys and say “Nigga, did you see that shit? What a racist!”

Two things in regard to Mr. Richards:

One: What he said is par for the course when it comes to race and America. Why are we under the impression that relations have improved? Seinfeld DVD sales spiked after the fallout from this. That should tell you something.

Two: (And I credit this to a writer on hiphopdx.com) Isn’t it more disturbing that he made a reference to lynching? Considering that Richards is Jewish, he should be a little more careful about making light of a group of people’s oppressive past.

Music & Race: A Match Made In Hell

2007-04-13T11:42:00.000-05:00

A lot has been said in the blogosphere lately about recently-released book, Other People’s Property: A Shadow History of Hip-Hop in White America by Jason Tanz, which chronicles the relationship between white people and hip hop. It’s a topic that has been discussed ad nauseam and most folks have chosen one of two sides: white people who love hip hop are just fetishizing black culture and are cultural tourists or they are confused. Needless to say it’s never anything positive.

Also, over the past year more people are focusing on the so-called rise of blacks in the rock world. Afro-Punk, a documentary by James Spooner, centers on interviews with black fans of punk and members of black punk bands. It deals with their experiences as a punk fan where, most of time, they are the only black face at rock shows. A recent New York Times article coined the segregated term “blipster.”

I am glad that these events are occurring at the same time. Maybe some black folks will realize that even though this is an art form created by poor black and brown people (and some white people), anyone with a story to tell has a right to the microphone as long as you have the talent. I also hope that some white people can see that blacks (as inventors of the art form) have as much claim to rock as anyone else. But here’s another thing that no one seems to ask concerning these topics: why do we have to defend our musical choices?

Some appreciate the process behind creating the art of certain genres, some like the attitude and philosophy and some like how certain genres of music articulate their feelings and personalities when they themselves aren’t able to. In other words, people have many different reasons for connecting to certain genres, instruments, people and sounds in music.

It’s another matter when the concept of race is involved.

For some reason, instead of praising (or just welcoming) the fact that someone from the “outside” wants to be a part of something, we question their motives for wanting to do so. The white kid who loves hip hop is a clueless suburban (as if all white people are from the suburbs) wigger. The black kid who loves rock wants to be white and is a sell out to his race. Never mind the fact that the concept of race is a lie, but that’s for another day.
I understand the history of the appropriation of many Black-American innovations by the mainstream (read: white) society, but we have to be able to decipher who’s genuine and who’s not. Not paint everyone with a broad brush.

I remember vividly in high school when I was at a meeting for the black student organization on campus (I usually don’t go to these things, but I gave it a shot that day). I’m not sure how the discussion started, but it did morph into the topic of music. An acquaintance named Mike was sitting next to me and mentioned that he wasn’t a fan of rap music. The looks on the other black faces in the room suggested that he just cursed out Jesus and raped Mary. How can a black teen not like rap music? Was this possible? Oh the horror!

Mike then proceeded to explain that while he acknowledges it as a part of him in one way or another, he doesn’t have to like it (and he’s right). The rest of the group started to argue with him as to why he should like rap. I sat back in silence, shock and admiration of this display of groupthink.

Do all Irish people like Celtic-influenced music? No. Do all Latin-Americans like Salsa, Meringue and Reggaeton? No. So why do Black-Americans have to like rap?

While growing up, my mother was one of the few young women of color in the South Bronx with Kiss and Zeppelin posters in her bedroom. Thus, I grew up listening to a cacophony of sounds. Michael Jackson, Prince, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins (my first favorite band), 2Pac, A Tribe Called Quest (my first favorite rappers), Tool, Pink Floyd, The Isley Brothers and lots of other great rock, rap, R&B and shamelessly-pop music. I am very lucky in this sense. Anyone can have a conversation with me about the music they grew up on or the music they like and I will always be able to relate to them.

Last time I checked we live in America where, whether people like it or not, we mix and adopt elements of each others cultures on a daily basis. This affects everything we do: how we talk, walk, dance, laugh, love, hate and relate to each other. It should be no surprise that there are Black-Americans who don’t like rap. There are probably some people in the heartland that could care less about mainstream or alternative country music. Blacks in rock and whites in hip-hop should no longer be an oddity.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by something like this when we live in a society that defines itself by what it’s against rather than what it’s for.

Attack Of The Thought Police

2007-04-13T11:39:00.000-05:00

I want to be offended.

This may sound like a weird thing to say, but I really want to be offended. I want to be offended so badly.

I want to live in a society where it’s ok for someone to say something I might not like. I want to live in a place where the most despicable thoughts are presented for public consumption.

I have faith in the population to make an intelligent, well thought out decision. The people that make up this country betrayed me yesterday.

Don Imus should not have been fired.

If you haven’t lived in Madagascar for the past week, you already know about the remarks Imus made on his nationally syndicated radio program Imus in the Morning regarding the Rutgers University women’s basketball team. He referred to the majority Black-American team as “nappy-headed hoes.” He tried to say this in the spirit of a joke and it was not funny, not well-thought out, in very bad taste and hurtful.

It still doesn’t warrant him losing his job.\

For people who know me, being a man of color in America, this would seem a little shocking since I’m not toeing the party line. But I feel that in order to for this nation to progress we have to stop the thought police from taking over.

Now some people would say that the airwaves are owned by our government and they lease it out to other people. They would say that they don’t want to have the public pay for somebody’s platform to spew nonsense. In a way, I understand that, but in another way I don’t. I don’t really like the thought of our government regulating airwaves anyway, but that’s another story. The real problem that I have is the inability of some people to see what the core problem is with what Imus said.

In the history of race relations in America white equals right and black equals base © Cornel West. When Imus, in the spirit of a stupid joke, said “nappy-headed hoes” the term “nappy-headed” equals “unattractive.” Where could he have gotten that idea? Go to a newsstand or checkout line at any supermarket/convenience store in this country. What do you see? Disgustingly skinny, often anorexic, women largely of European descent (if they’re not straight up European) on almost every magazine front cover. They’re telling us that this is the standard of beauty. That offends me more than anything that Imus can say and has said about various other ethnic groups.

I thought the reason we liked America so much was the concept of being able to say whatever you want. Now does this excuse Imus for what he said? No. Does this excuse what people have said in the past? No. Does this mean that he shouldn’t suffer any consequences? No. Suspend him without pay. Make him issue a public apology on air and in front of the women he made these insensitive remarks about.

Do anything, but don’t fire him. We’re setting a really bad precedent here.

Troi “Star” Torain lost his syndicated-morning-show job last year after making remarks regarding DJ Envy and his wife and kid, who are of Asian descent. He made references to singer R.Kelly’s statutory rape case in regards to want he wanted to do to DJ Envy’s kid.

Ludicrous? Yes. Offensive? Completely. Stupid? Absolutely.

People, I guess understandably so, were so stuck on the fact that he was talking about a kid (as if being a child makes you inherently more special than the rest of us…it doesn’t) that it clouded their rational thought process.

We have opened up a huge can of worms for anyone to get pulled off of the air because you offended X, Y and Z. When you present ideas to the population, someone will always be offended by what you say. To the people that wanted Imus fired: you have given the government, religious groups and the rest of the American people a reference point they can use to do whatever they want with media.

Imus’s remarks were asinine, hurtful and atrocious. It just shouldn’t cost him his job.

Post 9/11 (Early 21st Century) America Reflected Through Music

2007-04-12T12:24:00.000-05:00

Many people from Tom Morello to Lou Reed to some music critics have voiced an opinion about the lack of social protest in this decade’s popular music. I believe that there have been a good amount of albums that have voiced some sort of distaste with the direction of America (or at least embody what America is right now). The social protest isn’t blatant, but if you look closely, you’ll realize that it’s right in your face.

Rapper El-P released Fantastic Damage in 2002 right as his hometown (and mine) of New York City was dealing with the events of September 11th. If there was ever a soundtrack to that year, it would be this. Although this album is meant to be listened to on an intellectual level, anyone in tune with the feelings of that time can relate to the bizarre shards of noise, the abstract rhythms and the nearly impenetrable lyrical delivery of Mr. Jamie Meline. Many critics have compared this album to a hip-hop version of a Philip K. Dick novel, but I believe it’s just the sound of a city that didn’t know what else to do but be afraid. The tracks Accidents Don’t Happen, Deep Space 9mm and The Nang, The Front, The Bush and The Shit reflect paranoia so deep that you felt like cameras were in the room watching you while the songs played. Like you were being given the truth and the government wanted to make sure that they kept a note of every single person who got it. The power of this album is undeniable.

The Roots sound weary, beaten and frustrated throughout 2006’s Game Theory. In any country, but especially in America, the disenfranchised and low-income people always have it bad. However, it usually gets worse during certain moments in history like war, economic inflation and the dominance of “conservative” politics. Needless to say the 2000’s haven’t been good to the ghettoes and rural areas of America. Once again, the dominant theme is anger, paranoia and a longing for a time before this. The latter is reflected on the track Long Time featuring Malik B and Peedi. The song includes a hook from Philly soul legend Bunny Sigler that conjures up more sadness than happiness, but you can still dance to it…you’ll just have tears in your eyes while you do it. “Oil for food/but they still hungry,” says Wadud Ahmad on Take It There. And I’ll let him finish it off, “They say one vote equals one voice/But he already said if he can’t work to make it…he’ll rob to take it/Another hot summer yo/they about the flood the prisons/this ain’t no do diddle/it’s a do somethin’.”

You can’t argue with that.

Chuck Klosterman once wrote that Radiohead’s Kid A predicted 9/11. I beg to differ. Now I understand that I am cheating a little bit since this is dedicated to albums that reflect POST 9/11 America. However, I believe that Tool’s epic Lateralus predicted 9/11…or at least foreshadowed the emotional toll of the aftermath. “And I’m still here/giving blood, keeping faith,” says lead singer Maynard James Keenan on The Patient. It pretty much summed up the feelings of America at the time and particularly New York City. The feelings of denial, pain and disillusionment even seep through the albums more inspirational moments. On Parabola Keenan cries “Embrace this moment/Remember, we are eternal/All this pain is an illusion.” The quiet section of Ticks and Leeches reminds me of the days following 9/11. Somber and bewildered by what you just saw. When Danny Carey goes into his triple-time freak out on the drums and Keenan screams “Suck me dry!” you know that his energy is spent. So was New York’s.

Now this is where some people may stop reading. For those folks, please continue because you might agree with me after you read this. Creed released Weathered in November of 2001 and by that time the band had officially become the most successful and most hated musical act in America. The utter lack of irony or humor in their music ticked off many, but it was the crypto-Christian stance in many of their lyrics (penned by lead singer Scott Stapp) that USA Today once wrote was “a little too holier than thou for rock’s liberal-minded cognoscenti.” Then they committed the sin of sounding exactly like Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden with a 70s arena rock twist. In other words they took the music that many critics and artists loved and diluted it for the masses. Whether or not you think their music is still good is a matter of opinion (I happened to enjoy their music), but their lyrics, which dealt with falling back on faith in hard times was symbolic of how America found faith after 9/11. The problem was that America went to the extreme with their faith and the silent dominance of the Christian right in politics became loud and clear. Creed took the sound of the 90s and used it to reflect what many people hate about this decade.

Social protest doesn’t always mean going AGAINST the status quo.

Living Colour’s Collideoscope, released in 2003, was filled with shots directed at the government, the Orwellian dystopian nature of early 21st century America, the aftermath of 9/11, the media, mind control and cultural complacency. But I’ll devote this section to the song Flying. What is Flying about? It was written from the perspective of a man jumping out one of the top floor windows of the Twin Towers. “I jumped out the window/To get to the parking lot, “says Corey Glover. “I’m writing this little song…on my way down.” This lovely mental-picture-conjuring moment is backed by a sliding and popping bass line from Doug Wimbish and guitars from the great Vernon Reid (who was an obvious influence on Tom Morello’s style), which suggest a laid back chill out groove.

That’s what we call a paradox © Jack Nicholson in The Departed.

“Such a lovely day…to go flying,” goes the chorus. And the song hasn’t even reached its most disturbing moment (and they’re several throughout the song’s 4 minutes). That comes during the quiet section when Glover repeats the window jumping/parking lot line. But when he says, “I’m writing this little song on my way down,” it’s followed by something that sounds like a plane overhead with Will Calhoun’s drumming signaling the crash. It’s one of the creepiest moments ever in music. I welcome anyone to challenge me on that.

The sound of surrender, loss, pain, denial, anger and suffering. That’s the best way to describe A Perfect Circle’s 2003 release Thirteenth Step. The atmospheric and ethereal nature of most of the album (with the exceptions of the straight up hard rock of The Outsider and Pet) doesn’t take away from the power of the lyrics. Even if you don’t understand the entire lyrical theme of Maynard James Keenan and guitarist/co-writer Billy Howerdel, you can always stitch together the theme of any album they’re involved with by picking out lines from each track. Also, the best thing about Howerdel and Keenan’s songwriting is that even if you understand the lyrics, they are still very open to interpretation. It might have the same meaning to all involved, but it also means something different to each person at the same time. Without further ado let’s go through some tracks and put some lines together:

The Package: “Take just what I came for/Then I’m out the door again”

Weak and Powerless: “Hello angel go away/Come again some other day/The devil’s got my ear today/I’ll never hear a word you say

The Noose: “With heaven’s help/you cast your demons out…I’m more than just a little curious/How’re you planning to go about making your amends…To the dead”

Blue: “Call it aftermath/She’s turning blue/Such a lovely color for you”

A Stranger: “And I listen for the whisper of your sweet insanity/While I formulate denials of your affect on me/You’re a stranger so what do I care/You vanish today/Not the first time I hear all the lies/What am I to do with all this silence?”

The Outsider: “You’re lying to yourself again/Suicidal imbecile/Think about it/Put it on the fault line”

Pet: “Lay your head down child/I won’t let the boogeyman come/Count the bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drums”

Gravity: “Catch me/Heal me/Lift me back up to the sun/I choose to live”

When one usually hears those last four words, it’s said in an affirmative nature. When Keenan says it, it sounds like someone who isn’t sure whether or not they really want to keep going. They just decide to anyway, because they don’t know anything else. They’ve given up.

Those are some of the albums that reflect the good (and in some cases the bad) of the 00’s. A special shout out goes to TV On The Radio’s Return To Cookie Mountain: another album whose sound and lyrics ask, “What the hell is going on here?” These albums should disprove the argument of the lack of social protest in today’s music. Sometimes the protest isn’t as blatant as it has been in the past.

Usually, the pure humanity reflected in the music serves as the best protest of all.

The Sports Machine Says Goodbye on March 26, 2007

2007-04-10T15:13:00.000-05:00

27 Years

For as long as I can remember, George Michael’s Sports Machine has been on television. I would disobey my mom every late Sunday night and stay up to watch the program with my father when I was little. It was my first introduction to bull-riding, motor cross, NASCAR and Formula 1 racing. Sports I had never seen before. In short, it was Sportscenter before Sportscenter became SPORTSCENTER.

The theme song for the show is the sound of my youth more than any song by any recording artist. It signaled that I was going to watch all of the great sports highlights that I didn’t get to see that week. I didn’t have cable until 1994 (I was 12 at the time) so I needed this just as much as I needed This Week In Baseball.

For the tail end of the last episode, George decided to show bloopers and highlights that dominated the Sports Machine during its run. He then finished off the show with a quick farewell and thank you to all of the people who watched him and worked with him over the years. He walked off the set, the light went off and it was over.

No special ceremony and no special tributes. Even the bloopers and highlights montage was short. Michael treated his final show like any other show in the style of Everybody Loves Raymond. I loved it.

ESPN’s Sportscenter took the torch that Michael held for so long and left him in the cold. It’s amazing that he managed to keep plowing along after Sportscenter weaved itself into the American consciousness. It speaks to the loyalty of his viewers, his personality and the fact that many people in America still can’t afford cable.

I don’t think I’m alone when I say that I wish Mr. Michael all the best and thank him for providing us with so much entertainment and enjoyment. I also like to thank him for making me late to school almost every Monday because I couldn’t wake up the following morning. You see why you should listen to your mom kids?

George Michael, we salute you.

Sterioids (Yawwwwwwn...)

2007-03-26T12:07:00.002-05:00

Many people don’t care and neither do I.

The Times Union of Albany reported that an illicit steroid distribution network led authorities to raid two pharmacies in Florida, including Signature Pharmacy, and arrest four company officials. Unidentified sources said that Los Angeles Angels outfielder Gary Matthews Jr. and former major league baseball pitcher Jason Grimsley were customers. The source also identified former heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield as a customer.

So I guess now we’re suppose to stand up and scream about how these allegations taint Holyfield’s boxing career. We have to pretend to gripe about another baseball player linked to steroids and how this will impact the sport. We’re supposed to have yet another conversation about Barry Bonds and his chase for the all-time home run record. We have to feign outrage and anger and offense.

But we don’t care.

We have to shake our head in disgust as we hear about links to college athletes, high school coaches, a former Mr. Olympia and other former MLB and NFL players, including a team physician for the Pittsburgh Steelers. We have to be saddened by the effect that this is having on our children (because they are OUR future) and what this means for the many impressionable minds out there. I mean where are our kids going to learn morals and values? We all know the answer to that, but using logic doesn’t make sense these days so let’s put the onus on the athletes instead.

(Isn’t it funny that we don’t put this much pressure on coke-sniffing rock stars, gun-toting gangsta rappers or overly-promiscuous actors? After all, they reflect more of the human condition than most professional athletes.)

So the sports writers continue to tackle this issue with aplomb and yet all people can talk about are March Madness, spring training, the NBA season, the NHL season and what latest NFL player impregnated an inhumanly skinny model. It’s obvious that many sports fans have accepted the topic of steroids as another part of the sports landscape. The cocaine-fueled adventures of baseball players in the 80s didn’t stop people from watching the sport. Sometimes, they were even celebrated (for further proof, read “The Bad Boys Won!” a book about the ’86 Mets my favorite sports team ever not named the mid-90s New York Knicks)

America will have to put up with this all summer when Mr. Bonds continues his onslaught on Hank Aaron’s record. We will hear about how baseball will never be the same and how awkward it’s going to be if he breaks the record on the road.

Many of us could care less. Many of us actually see that inevitable moment as the biggest source for unintentional comedy in 2007. Many of us will continue to follow sports and even baseball after all of the investigations and accusations.

Many of us will continue to watch because we don’t care.

For those who actually feel strongly about this and are not happy with where things are headed, I commend you. But unfortunately I have to let you know that you’re the minority, not the majority.

Keep It To Yourself

2007-03-26T12:07:00.001-05:00

It’s 7:00 on a Sunday night. I’m in the Bronx riding the number 2-Train back to my grandmother’s house. There are a couple of teenage boys sitting around me talking about rapping and “spittin’ 16” and all of that mess. Apparently, these guys are aspiring rappers. Of course that doesn’t concern me. What does concern me however is that one of the teens sitting across from me is talking so loud that I can’t concentrate on what I’m reading. Although the same kid (this hip-hop Donald Duck looking dude) gets louder and louder, which pisses me off, I eventually manage to block out the noise and continue reading The Virtue of Selfishness. Little did I know that this situation would pale in comparison to what I would experience next.

A man, whom I perceive to be in his mid 30s, enters the train at the West Farms Square stop. He seems innocent enough. He has a backpack on him and he’s whistling a tune to himself. But he wasn’t sitting down. Given the abundance of seats in the train car, I was puzzled. This man proceeds to walk down the car and hand out booklets to everybody. The title of the booklet: BEHOLD HE COMETH. Of course it is a booklet of Christian propaganda that discusses such things like “The Value of Bible Study” and the “Power of God’s Word.” This man apparently has discovered the way to the unknown and wants to tell everyone the answer. Now my day is ruined.

Look, if you believe that the way to salvation is through Jesus Christ, fine. Although I do think you have to explain why your way is the right way to other religions (as they would to everyone else). This is why people consider religion to be the bane of human kind’s existence. This man is walking up and down the train car handing out these pamphlets and never took the time to ask if anyone even subscribes to the idea of an “afterlife” or a way to the unknown. He infringed on my right to enjoy my book and not be bothered. He infringed on other’s beliefs by subtly and passively telling them that they are wrong is he is right.

No one is wrong. No one is right, NO ONE KNOWS.

We are so concerned with what happens after we cease to exist that we don’t focus on what to do WHILE WE’RE EXISTING. Life is here for us to love, enjoy and live to the fullest. We have the ability to accomplish some great things and have done so in the past. We (meaning human beings) can do anything as long as we put in the effort, apply the intelligence and have the will the do so.

We have a sun, we have an earth, and we have a solar system. We have rain, snow, sleet, hail, volcanoes, mountains, valleys, rivers, oceans, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, and everything in between. As long as we’re on this earth, let’s deal with absolutes. Not what you THINK is absolute. I mean things you can actually see.