Wednesday, August 10, 2005
More postcards from Michigan
Here are a few more snaps from my week at the parents' place. Weather has been beautiful: high 80s and low 90s, but breezier and dryer than New York. My ribs still hurt from the waterskiing fall -- like someone punched me just above the gut -- but I'm planning to give it another shot this afternoon. If I really injure myself, there are worse fates than being stuck here while recuperating from broken bones.
Sept. 11 was not a good thing
I remember watching the Republican National Convention here in New York and wanting to vomit with rage on a daily basis. The events of Sept. 11 were invoked daily. And after watching for a while, it occurred to me that there was this idea out there that Sept. 11 was actually a good thing, because it united the country in patriotism. Of course, said unity has since been pissed away by our president, most likely on purpose. But nevertheless, people still like to cite the positive effects of Sept. 11.
I don't get it. But I also think I really don't need to explain why this is an appalling notion to me. I was incredibly lucky that day. Everyone I cared for, including friends who worked downtown and who lived near the Pentagon, was accounted for by mid-afternoon. I still consider it one of the worst days of my life.
Apparently, I'm in the minority.
I suppose after four years, all the Jeanketeers out there who are ready to move on and use it to celebrate. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to be the wet blanket here and say that this day sucked, and I don't feel like celebrating.
And then of course, there's the irony of celebrating freedom to mark a day that has directly contributed to a rather appalling erosion of liberty in our country. I remember talking to my mom again later that night. (She had called me immediately after the second tower was hit, as well.) She said she was glad not to be so young, that a whole lot of terrible things are going to happen. I asked her what she meant. And I haven't been able to get that conversation out of my head since. The Patriot Act. Hate crimes. Guantanamo. The invation of Iraq. Calls for concentration camps.
And of course, there's the thousands dead and thousands more they left behind. So yes, by all means, celebrate.
Me, I still remember that dusty smell of burnt plastic and scorched metal that hung over the city for months afterward. I'll be thinking about it next month, but I won't be celebrating.
I don't get it. But I also think I really don't need to explain why this is an appalling notion to me. I was incredibly lucky that day. Everyone I cared for, including friends who worked downtown and who lived near the Pentagon, was accounted for by mid-afternoon. I still consider it one of the worst days of my life.
Apparently, I'm in the minority.
I suppose after four years, all the Jeanketeers out there who are ready to move on and use it to celebrate. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to be the wet blanket here and say that this day sucked, and I don't feel like celebrating.
And then of course, there's the irony of celebrating freedom to mark a day that has directly contributed to a rather appalling erosion of liberty in our country. I remember talking to my mom again later that night. (She had called me immediately after the second tower was hit, as well.) She said she was glad not to be so young, that a whole lot of terrible things are going to happen. I asked her what she meant. And I haven't been able to get that conversation out of my head since. The Patriot Act. Hate crimes. Guantanamo. The invation of Iraq. Calls for concentration camps.
And of course, there's the thousands dead and thousands more they left behind. So yes, by all means, celebrate.
Me, I still remember that dusty smell of burnt plastic and scorched metal that hung over the city for months afterward. I'll be thinking about it next month, but I won't be celebrating.
Monday, August 08, 2005
Greetings from Michigan
I'm away on a 10-day vacation to a lake in Michigan, where I'm doing a lot of reading, some writing, and a little napping. In the past 48 hours, I've managed to give myself a bad sunburn and mash up my ribs in a waterskiing spill. Could a car crash be next? We'll see.
In the interim, I don't plan to be doing much Cole Slaw blogging. Having just read Warren St. John's very entertaining book Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer, I learned some insights on the contrast between SEC and Big 10 football fans. I'm also anxious to write about The Hold Steady's recent performance at Bowery Ballroom and my ongoing fascination with that band. Alas, these and other posts will wait until later in the week, or for else my return to sweaty, sweltering lower Manhattan.
In the interim, here is a postcard.
In the interim, I don't plan to be doing much Cole Slaw blogging. Having just read Warren St. John's very entertaining book Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer, I learned some insights on the contrast between SEC and Big 10 football fans. I'm also anxious to write about The Hold Steady's recent performance at Bowery Ballroom and my ongoing fascination with that band. Alas, these and other posts will wait until later in the week, or for else my return to sweaty, sweltering lower Manhattan.
In the interim, here is a postcard.
Thursday, August 04, 2005
College Football Countdown: Party Up
It's just 29 days before college football season starts again. And people all over are abuzz with excitement. This includes this blog, which has found an extensive list of analogues between different college football teams and rappers that best represent them. I thought it was dead-on accurate, but then again, my knowledge of college football far outstrips my knowledge of rap. So caveat lector. I should also note that, quite appropriately, I was tipped off about this by frequent commenter and fashion adviser Crunk Raconteur.
I found the best of the comparisons tended to reach the kind of sublime ambiguity normally limited to a McSweeney's List. Reading it, you suddenly realize that the comparison fits both team and rapper equally.
One of my favorites was the Wisconsin entry. The blog's author, Ian, shows enough savvy to avoid the easy choice (House of Pain) and go with the fun, yet mostly inconsequential DMX. Most readers will rightly anticipate the SMU entry as well. It's all excellent fun, and perfect for a slow summer Friday.
But, as the great LeVar Burton used to say, you don't have to take my word for it.
I found the best of the comparisons tended to reach the kind of sublime ambiguity normally limited to a McSweeney's List. Reading it, you suddenly realize that the comparison fits both team and rapper equally.
One of my favorites was the Wisconsin entry. The blog's author, Ian, shows enough savvy to avoid the easy choice (House of Pain) and go with the fun, yet mostly inconsequential DMX. Most readers will rightly anticipate the SMU entry as well. It's all excellent fun, and perfect for a slow summer Friday.
But, as the great LeVar Burton used to say, you don't have to take my word for it.
Even more Ohio issues
Man, is Ohio getting shit on left and right these days.
Leaving aside the whole special election fiasco, which despite the moral victory, is still, like all moral victories, an actual loss. Look, moral victories are certainly encouraging, but that shit's for Princeton in the NCAA tournament. We should demand better. So congratulations to Paul Hackett, who should definitely run for the Senate. But no laurels should be rest upon, Ohio Democrats.
Why? Because there's too much undoing of Republican fuckery to be done. For example, the Toledo Blade has yet another story today on Ohio's modern-day Teapot Dome scandal. To wit, the mess made by GOP crony Tom Noe is such that three grand juries are now working on it. The DA's from Lucas (Toledo) and Franklin (Columbus) Counties are supervising one, while the other two are federal grand juries, requiring the attentions of both U.S. Attorneys in the state. (A nod and a free ramekin of our special sedition slaw goes to the mighty Atrios, whose blog is on top of all matters Coingate.)
Much like my co-blogger, I do recommend reflexively checking Eschaton like 20 times a day.
And then there's this.
Obviously, not just an Ohio issue, but this attack was particularly devastating, and hit Ohioans hard. There's not much more to say except that this all could have been avoided and we'd be in no less danger.
Connie Schultz, whose Pulitzer was the genesis of one of my very first blog posts here, penned a particularly heartbreaking account.
Leaving aside the whole special election fiasco, which despite the moral victory, is still, like all moral victories, an actual loss. Look, moral victories are certainly encouraging, but that shit's for Princeton in the NCAA tournament. We should demand better. So congratulations to Paul Hackett, who should definitely run for the Senate. But no laurels should be rest upon, Ohio Democrats.
Why? Because there's too much undoing of Republican fuckery to be done. For example, the Toledo Blade has yet another story today on Ohio's modern-day Teapot Dome scandal. To wit, the mess made by GOP crony Tom Noe is such that three grand juries are now working on it. The DA's from Lucas (Toledo) and Franklin (Columbus) Counties are supervising one, while the other two are federal grand juries, requiring the attentions of both U.S. Attorneys in the state. (A nod and a free ramekin of our special sedition slaw goes to the mighty Atrios, whose blog is on top of all matters Coingate.)
Much like my co-blogger, I do recommend reflexively checking Eschaton like 20 times a day.
And then there's this.
Obviously, not just an Ohio issue, but this attack was particularly devastating, and hit Ohioans hard. There's not much more to say except that this all could have been avoided and we'd be in no less danger.
Connie Schultz, whose Pulitzer was the genesis of one of my very first blog posts here, penned a particularly heartbreaking account.
You don't know John
You know all of that stuff about John Roberts being a rabid right-winger and a Scalia clone?
Stick this in your pipe and smoke it: He was instrumental in the victory of a major gay rights case in 1996, Romer v. Colorado. As reported in today's L.A. Times (in an article available here) Roberts did pro bono work on behalf of the plaintiffs in that case, which resulting in a ruling vacating the results an anti-gay rights initiative in Colorado. Says the lead attorney from that argument, "John Roberts ... was just terrifically helpful in meeting with me and spending some time on the issue. He seemed to be very fair-minded and very astute."
Keep in mind that in a pro bono case, a lawyer is not working for a paying client or acting within the confines of his or her job. The pro bono cases litigated by a lawyer of Roberts's caliber are usually taken because the lawyer has some philosophical allegiance to the outcome.
Note: I didn't lift this from Daily Kos, but reading the Kos post reconfirms my gripe that the laypeople opposing Roberts are totally ignorant about the legal profession.
Stick this in your pipe and smoke it: He was instrumental in the victory of a major gay rights case in 1996, Romer v. Colorado. As reported in today's L.A. Times (in an article available here) Roberts did pro bono work on behalf of the plaintiffs in that case, which resulting in a ruling vacating the results an anti-gay rights initiative in Colorado. Says the lead attorney from that argument, "John Roberts ... was just terrifically helpful in meeting with me and spending some time on the issue. He seemed to be very fair-minded and very astute."
Keep in mind that in a pro bono case, a lawyer is not working for a paying client or acting within the confines of his or her job. The pro bono cases litigated by a lawyer of Roberts's caliber are usually taken because the lawyer has some philosophical allegiance to the outcome.
Note: I didn't lift this from Daily Kos, but reading the Kos post reconfirms my gripe that the laypeople opposing Roberts are totally ignorant about the legal profession.
Sunday Stylin': There but for the grace of God, goes Alex
In the lastest iteration of the Critical Shopper, we find Alex Kuczynski tasked with a visit to Jacob and Company, the jeweler we are meant to know is a "purveyor of chunky rap-style diamond jewelry."
While visiting Jacob the jeweler, as the establishment is apparently known, A-Kucz manages to hit all the usual notes. She ropes in innocent bystanders, but doesn't quote them by name (a basic journalism no-no, but this whole section is basically one giant middle finger to journalism). She name-drops rappers, making sure to inlcude someone outside the penumbra of parental knowledge, possibly because such a move provides her with a bizarre, Stylin' section street cred. And, of course, she never, ever lets us forget that she is a woman of taste and refinement.
Trying on some of the store's wares, she gets some of her Hamptons-gilded arm hairs yanked out by a particularly chunky piece. But it's a small sacrifice for the perfect anecdote.
But the Edith Wharton of advertorial content has employed a journalistical device! Those of you with the morbid curiosity to actually read the story will be note that our correspondent's tale begins with the mention of two preppy girls from Connecticut. Well, she mentioned them for a reason, and not just to make herself feel better about being in such a place when Harry Winston and Tiffany (never Tiffany's) are just around the corner.
She spends the last six paragraphs or so on them, and I do recommend you read for yourself what transpires at the end of this lurid tale of mass-appeal, high-end retail.
As for the rest of the Stylin' section, I'll keep things mercifully brief. But I'd be remiss if I didn't clue you in to some off the rest of this week's twaddle. Namely, the Ball Park Franks of the Stylin' world, and one of the most awkward headlines I've ever seen. I wonder if this poor copy editor had to try out words like "Irish" and "Dander" before deciding on "Hackles." Apparently, it's not enough to kick around journalism, but now the Styles Section must abuse the language, too?
While visiting Jacob the jeweler, as the establishment is apparently known, A-Kucz manages to hit all the usual notes. She ropes in innocent bystanders, but doesn't quote them by name (a basic journalism no-no, but this whole section is basically one giant middle finger to journalism). She name-drops rappers, making sure to inlcude someone outside the penumbra of parental knowledge, possibly because such a move provides her with a bizarre, Stylin' section street cred. And, of course, she never, ever lets us forget that she is a woman of taste and refinement.
Trying on some of the store's wares, she gets some of her Hamptons-gilded arm hairs yanked out by a particularly chunky piece. But it's a small sacrifice for the perfect anecdote.
The men's watches - the simple ones, with no diamonds - are rather ugly, with white faces and intersecting geometric figures. At $5,900, they look to me like something you might pick up in a duty-free store in Southeast Asia for $80. The most expensive item on display is a watch: the Royal, which is covered in D-flawless diamonds and costs a publicity-ready $1 million. I tried it on. It was heavy. The hairs on my arm got caught in the band. I just didn't get it.
But the Edith Wharton of advertorial content has employed a journalistical device! Those of you with the morbid curiosity to actually read the story will be note that our correspondent's tale begins with the mention of two preppy girls from Connecticut. Well, she mentioned them for a reason, and not just to make herself feel better about being in such a place when Harry Winston and Tiffany (never Tiffany's) are just around the corner.
She spends the last six paragraphs or so on them, and I do recommend you read for yourself what transpires at the end of this lurid tale of mass-appeal, high-end retail.
As for the rest of the Stylin' section, I'll keep things mercifully brief. But I'd be remiss if I didn't clue you in to some off the rest of this week's twaddle. Namely, the Ball Park Franks of the Stylin' world, and one of the most awkward headlines I've ever seen. I wonder if this poor copy editor had to try out words like "Irish" and "Dander" before deciding on "Hackles." Apparently, it's not enough to kick around journalism, but now the Styles Section must abuse the language, too?
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Yet another post on Ohio politics
Flop isn't the only person preoccupied with Ohio's electoral politics this week. Today, in Ohio's Second Congressional District, an Iraqi War veteran who anchored his campaign on intense opposition to the war and blistering criticism of the President came within four points of winning a special election against a traditional right-wing, pro-Bush candidate.
This was a near-miss, but considering that 65 percent of this same district backed Bush nine months ago, it's a reason for hope. Maybe it's hard to read too much into this (I'll defer to Flop for his knowledge of Ohio's congressional districts) but it made for a happy evening nonetheless. I also view this as a partial vindication of Howard Dean's 2004 candidacy and his leadership of the Democratic Party. Dean's message was ahead of its time.
This election has been extensively covered by the major left-wing blogs like Atrios and Daily Kos. Not everyone checks those sites 20 times a day like I do, but everybody should.
This was a near-miss, but considering that 65 percent of this same district backed Bush nine months ago, it's a reason for hope. Maybe it's hard to read too much into this (I'll defer to Flop for his knowledge of Ohio's congressional districts) but it made for a happy evening nonetheless. I also view this as a partial vindication of Howard Dean's 2004 candidacy and his leadership of the Democratic Party. Dean's message was ahead of its time.
This election has been extensively covered by the major left-wing blogs like Atrios and Daily Kos. Not everyone checks those sites 20 times a day like I do, but everybody should.
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Royal birthday wishes
A couple years back, when Her Majesty the Queen of 2005 ("HMQ2K5") began dating blog pin-up Brian, she did not realize that he used to be a roommate of a weird dude (Flop) who, in turn, used to hit on one of her own former roommates.
She had no reason to expect that she would endure such behavior again. And she didn't realize that, just before the stroke of midnight on December 31, 2004, she should be crowned New Year's royalty. She didn't realize that she would later be named one of the 10 Greatest Americans, and with that title gain a permanent place in history.
For her endless patience, her enthusiasm for football, her contempt for Governor Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) and her royal status, the proprietors of Cole Slaw Blog wish a happy birthday to HMQ2K5.
Fancy some jicama tea and gooseberry crumpets? Yes, please.
She had no reason to expect that she would endure such behavior again. And she didn't realize that, just before the stroke of midnight on December 31, 2004, she should be crowned New Year's royalty. She didn't realize that she would later be named one of the 10 Greatest Americans, and with that title gain a permanent place in history.
For her endless patience, her enthusiasm for football, her contempt for Governor Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) and her royal status, the proprietors of Cole Slaw Blog wish a happy birthday to HMQ2K5.
Fancy some jicama tea and gooseberry crumpets? Yes, please.
Monday, August 01, 2005
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