Month: November 2014

The kids were staring in the sky. As I made my way towards the playground where the after school kids were gathered I turned my head towards the sky to see what they were looking at.

Dots.

It looked like 100+ white dots or aliens. I tried the alien angle with the kids (who didn’t know what that was) then the adults who giggled appropriately before reminding me of all the odd stuff we see coming from the local airbase. Nobody knew where the balloons came from. There was some speculation that they were launched from a nearby school or neighborhood, but nothing speculated made any sense. A brief moment that happened on a Monday.

Some Thoughts:

1. Something else that happened: I’ve started to notice a proliferation of homogenized black women on tv shows spending time with white men. This is a good thing in some ways. This makes black women more mainstream and thus eases the strain of being an outcast on that particular set.
2. On the other hand, that sort of thing is painfully stupid. So for a group to be accepted they have to show a willing partnership or subservience to the dominant group?
3. Or I could just be drained on a monday.

Jon Stewart recently poked fun at the media for acting like the democratic party is, well, dead and buried. He noted that the media used language identical to the language used two years ago when the democrats were the big winners and the republicans were, well, dead and buried. This “either or” binary media philosophy is really great for selling commercial space, but does little to explain the nuance and intricacies of life. Worse still, it creates an environment that victimizes people by pulling their situations out of context and placing those people into reference groups that also destroy the context of whatever acts/events the individual is being persecuted for.

I’m speaking about the infamous Vikings RB now.

AP plead out to a lesser crime over a situation that many deemed to be child abuse, but everyone questioned from that cultural area (Texas) believed was not child abuse. Contextually, I don’t see what happened as child abuse. That’s just my opinion. Legally, it was deemed not to be a child abuse charge–at least not one that the prosecutors thought they could win. Still, Peterson has not been reinstated. Why? The team isn’t sure how it will look.

In reality the team isn’t sure what story the media will tell. Now I can tell you from watching these types of binary stories that the media will say whatever they think the audience is tipped towards. Case and point, at the beginning of the Jets game I am watching as I type, the Jets were a broken team with no hope or desire to win in the locker room. As the J-E-T-S jumped out to an early 10 point lead and suddenly forced a turnover deep in PIT territory, the same announcer had the gaul to say that in the production meetings he felt the excitement building among the Jets in expectation of a win and a turnaround.

The media is a lie. The media is the lie they think you want to hear.

This is another one of those days where I don’t have a coherent message to share. In truth I have nothing at all to say, but with ten minutes on the clock I am going to have to ramble at the very least. So, avid readers of good blogs: Turn back now before you re lost to the wiles of senseless writing.

Are they gone? Good.

I’m watching ‘Sex Sent Me to the ER’ and I reminded of just how much bad TV still exists in our present reality. Days like this I wanna jam down hard on the reset button, release the zombie hoard, and try to find some lasting meaning in surviving the plague. Since I can’t do that I’m going to turn off my brain. Seriously, I’m not sure if the commercials or the show is more interesting, and that isn’t saying much.

At this point you are probably wondering why I continue to watch. Well, we do some of the things we do with our partners out of respect for our partners. Sometimes our partners do what they do out of a deep sense of boredom and disinterest–which is the way I tend to feel about most TV in general lately.

Books haven’t been that much better lately. I recognize that it is about what/who you read. My last read was In the Tall Grss by Stephen King and his son. The short was, well, short. It didn’t tell enough of the story (character or otherwise) to carry my interest. In this modern society the mainstream attention span is short and maybe that helped birth such a story, but it wasn’t enough…

 

 

Some Thoughts:

1. Motivation isn’t a static thing. It ebbs and flows in concert with your environment and situation. I need to find a better environment for motivation.
2. The myth that black men love plus sized white women is seeming less like a myth and more like regularly scheduled programming. What’s up with that?

 

Good friday. A lot of it has to do with the fact that we went to see Big Hero 6. I won’t plot bomb here, but I will say that the film is the best kids film I’ve seen since Frozen. I’ve let that go (sorry, had to drop a hint of corny) for now, but I’m sure it’ll be back in the house by x-mas. If I can find a good bootleg I’d like to get Big Hero 6 in here too. I’d like to have the game, make the super hero and do all the wicked science stuff leading up to it.

One surprising takeaway from the movie is the song ‘Immortals’ by Fallout Boy. Now I’m not much of a fan of the group–at least I wasn’t. I’m of the mindset that tastes and sounds and movements change. Right now Fallout Boy is the new Linkin Park in terms of being those soundtrack guys.

The film reminded me that movies can be fun and creative even while growing off the framework of pre existing stories. Its the characters, stupid.

Dear White People:

If you elect to go to a movie named ‘Dear White People’ make sure you have a black person in tow. Any sitings of Caucasian Americans in the theater alone will be met with snorts of derision and, just maybe, a modicum of stereotyping. Now watching the movie is highly recommended. In fact, I teach a course on Afro-American lit that would’ve benefited greatly from not only including the film but theming the class around the main construct of the film: An exploration of audience, perception, reception, tropes, and stereotyping.

The film is colorful ride into a private college that is dealing with intense racial awareness and stereotyping issues–not only between races but within races as well. The film opens with the construct of a college radio show called ‘Dear White People’ in which the DJ offers advice to white people between songs. ‘Dear White people, the number of black friends required to not seem like a racist has gone from 1 to 2’

Most of the early stereotypes and tropes being displayed are standard. As the film progresses so do the stereotypes. In time the film attempts to deconstruct tropes and stereotypes (at least the black ones) from all possible angles, working to expose the motivations beneath.

I picked up the book written by the writer/director and hope it offers just a taste of the positive vibes that can be generated from this film and resultant conversations. At the very least, it offers a very interesting angle from which to approach discussions on race.

I’m deciding to be grateful this week. As a New York (City) franchise fan I’m grateful for the strong play of Vick and Manning this week. I’m grateful that the joint team win total (4) exceeds that of several NFL franchises. Seriously. Semi-clever sarcasm aside, at least I’m not infatuated with pirate-themed franchises. The Buccaneers and the Raiders have combined for one win. So, I have a great deal more to be thankful for. In truth, both my franchises are hobbled by injury and bad O-lines and flush with cash for the next season. They likely both will get high draft picks–well the Giants might, providing they don’t make the playoffs, which is still an amazing possibility. Winning this week is far less of a possibility for either team, but (spoiler) I’m going to go ahead and say they both win.

10 minutes on the clock, here we go!

CLE over CIN
Thursday Night Showdown! I’m expecting this to be a high scoring affair that comes down to the CLE running game and CIN’s reliance on a receiver that will be completely locked down by Joe Haden. I’m starting Sanu at WR. Worked so far.

BAL over TEN
No comment.

MIA over DET
I’m completely surprised by the Dolphins. They play awesome D and have a passable offense. They are who the Jets thought they were.

DAL over JAX
If Dallas gets beat in London the season is over. O.V.E.R.

SF over NO
Even in a tailspin, SF still has a legit run defense. NO has a rusher who suddenly gets 100 yds a game after sucking for years. I see the Niners getting it together.

NYJ over PIT
yeah, I know.

ATL over TB
no need to comment

DEN over OAK
Really?

STL over AZ
Here’s the deal. The Rams are like kryptonite to NFC West teams. I cannot understand it but it is a real thing.

NYG over SEA
Yeah, REALLY. (That’s a brick joke right there.)

GB over CHI
Wait for the locker room rant. It is going to be EPIC.

CAR over PHI
Mark Sanchez really ain’t good. Jeremy Maclin is, and will get a lot of balls thrown his way.

 

Some students (and a prof) got me thinking about mythology today. Specifically we ended up discussing media portrayals of the Greek mythos. This wound around to the story of Hercules in particular but the portrayals through literature of these canonical stories in a modern light. We talked about the ‘Rock’ version of Hercules and the 12 labours, and it got me to thinking about the strange modern confusion of Heracles and Hercules. It reminded me of how much the Romans borrowed from the Greeks in the creation of a pantheon. Moreover, that reminded me of how much Christianity borrowed from the Egyptian mythos in the creation of Jesus.

Everybody borrows and shifts and changes. I suppose the most modern version of that is the work of the Mormon church. I find it interesting that once something is coopted the new entity finds purity and truth in their version but politely defines the older iterations as myth. This is a common symptom of the new and of youth in general. I’m still blown away by how many students fail to recognize British English as the original form of the language we adopted (unofficially) as the American (meaning U.S.) language.

We all borrow and shift and change and remake. We ought to pay respect to where it all came from.

Last year was a pretty good year for me–at least in theory. I think good and bad tend to exist on a sliding scale that is rooted to whatever best and worst experiences, seasons, etc. a person tends to have. Even within the year there are stretches of success and failure, happiness and shadows, etc. I’ve been all over the place with my perceptions of that. I think I’ve reached one fundamental decision: I’m going to stop reading my horoscope. Turns out the universe isn’t always interested in our best interest but instead exists purely for the sake of a larger truth and mission. Me having a good and meaningful day often has little to do with that.

As I rant I think it is especially important to recognize that a lot of good and bad and right and wrong, etc. is based largely on perception. We can see the world as for us or against us without the world even knowing who we are. It is all tied into our ego and the human need to be part of something larger and to matter. What if, in the end, we are no more important than a mayfly?

Sometimes such darkness finds even me.

Nothing in this great big world is perfect. There are shades of acceptance and satisfaction and, with the proper conditioning, we can learn to live in the worst of situations. We can also remember how to want more. I’ve been remembering what my life was like before I came to be in Arizona. At times I drift further back into the past and recall what I wanted and needed out of life. I think it is extremely important to remember what you wanted to be before life got in the way. Perhaps the memory can help you recapture some semblance of that purpose.

I wanted to make a difference. It’s vague, I know. I wanted to matter in some meaningful way. I think that is why when teaching found me I didn’t put up much of a fight. I still mean to make a different, and rewinding into my past often reminds me of all of the important things I wanted to do and be in pursuit of that goal. I’m not too old to live out those dreams.

Not yet.

Any writer will tell you there is a point in every story where you stop writing it and realize that the story is actually writing itself, and you, fearless author, are merely along as a witness. I like to call that moment ‘the turn’. I borrowed the term from master pitch salesman Ron Pupil, who used the term to describe the moment where you go from talking about the product to actually asking for the money. In writing terms the turn is money. There is nothing as glorious as the feeling of letting go; to type the words of the story and know that everything is coming together on its own and even elements of the story that were completely unplanned are breathed into life and made real on the page.

I experienced the turn again today and I’m so pleased with it that the high is driving me right into the next story, and that high should drive me into the story after that. This is probably why drug users do what they do, and it is definitely a reward for what I do. Writers like me live for the turn. It, more than money, makes me want to write every day.