Category Archives: Design of Decade

speaking of real talk…

by

Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy

While it seems like ages ago (as we’re all transfixed on natural disasters and the revolutions in the Middle East) I haven’t stopped thinking about the State of the Union Address:

What’s more, we are the first nation to be founded for the sake of an idea -– the idea that each of us deserves the chance to shape our own destiny… The future is ours to win. But to get there, we can’t just stand still. As Robert Kennedy told us, “The future is not a gift. It is an achievement.” Sustaining the American Dream has never been about standing pat. It has required each generation to sacrifice, and struggle, and meet the demands of a new age. And now it’s our turn. We know what it takes to compete for the jobs and industries of our time. We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world. We have to make America the best place on Earth to do business. We need to take responsibility for our deficit and reform our government. That’s how our people will prosper. That’s how we’ll win the future. And tonight, I’d like to talk about how we get there. The first step in winning the future is encouraging American innovation. None of us can predict with certainty what the next big industry will be or where the new jobs will come from. Thirty years ago, we couldn’t know that something called the Internet would lead to an economic revolution. What we can do — what America does better than anyone else — is spark the creativity and imagination of our people. We’re the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers; of Google and Facebook. In America, innovation doesn’t just change our lives. It is how we make our living.

The tone of the speech was mature, thoughtful, absent of detailed description of policy initiatives, but a clear lecture of Real Talk. In many ways, I felt like this conversation is about two years late. Sure, better late than never…

And not to sound too arrogant or self promoting, but some of the themes Obama covered reminded me of a blog post I wrote nearly two years ago. Some background: I used to work in one industry and now I am doggedly trying to secure sound employment in another. This is a personal choice, privileged in some ways yet, dare I say, brutally difficult.

I also feel it’s premature to declare the recession over. Yes, the Dow is trading at 12,000, a high we last saw in June 2008, but job growth/creation has not matched that enthusiasm. 9.4% unemployment still holds, and if we count the ‘underemployed’, those with a smattering of temporary, part time and freelance jobs, more than likely uninsured, that rate doubles. If you’re a woman or man of color, god help you. The private sector may be hiring, but it remains unclear what those jobs are. There are some of us in this economy grinding to find work in our respective fields with nil to marginal success. Some of those jobs were eliminated and if we’re to be honest here, those jobs aren’t going to come back. Some of us will have to retrain, learn new skills to be competitive with a generation of new jobs that are hyper-specific to trade and skill. Continue reading →

holding us back.

by

I don’t watch a lot of television. In fact, most of my television consumption these days is completely over the internet.  However, I have five shows that I’ve deemed essential: House, Community, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Mad Men. Private Practice is a residual holdover because of my love for Grey’s.  I watch Grey’s regularly and at the conclusion of Season 6, Writer/Producer Shonda Rhimes took the show to a devastating turn. In last year’s double episode season finale, Rhimes unleashes a gunman on the staff of fictional Seattle Grace/Mercy West Hospital, opening with the shooting of one the key characters (Dr. Reid at point blank range in the head) leading to a day of mayhem and domestic terror.

Yes, it makes for great sensational drama, and while some of the extremes in the crisis and dialogue were a bit much, I can’t ignore that conversation that Rhimes and fellow Grey writers are facilitating about terrorism, trauma, gun violence, grief and recovery.

Clark: Five days ago when I bought this gun… Did you know you could buy a gun at a superstore?

I did not. In most states, one can acquire a firearm from a superstore like Wal-Mart, and wait five days for a license. A fact that I often take for granted living in the Republic of Brooklyn.

The 14 episodes between the conclusion of Season 6 through the mid point of Season 7 are deceptively complex. I’m fascinated that one of the most popular dramas on network television is exploring these themes. I had been watching Grey’s for so long, so familiar with the slow unfolding of the character’s personalities that I took the shooting personally. The writers researched gun ownership/control, and while it seems like gun rights and laws are political wedge issues, GA offers it’s viewers the opportunity to experience, if you will, through the lives of their characters the reality of gun ownership, regulation and use. They also present another face of terrorism that we take for granted.

The September 11th parallel is not lost on me. Some may scoff, but the show opens with a series of vignettes, a perfect normal, sunny day in Seattle, not unlike a perfect September day in New York, or perfect July day in London 2005. Katie Herzig’s sweet and haunting soundtrack juxtapose against the brutal images of another main character (McDreamy) shot in the chest at close range.  Additionally, I think about April 19, 1995 in Oklahoma City. It was a beautiful day in New York City then. I can’t remember if it was a beautiful day April 20, 1999 when two teenage boys shot up their classmates outside Boulder, Colorado. I do remember it was a Tuesday. Continue reading →

1.1.11

by

One.

This year is a prime number. And according to this guy, the sum of 11 consecutive prime numbers:

The prime-ness of this year suggest one should do something momentous. So I went to Coney Island with my friends to watch a few hundred giddy people of all shades and shapes jump into the 38 degree waters of the Atlantic Ocean. I even got my feet wet. Not bad 1.1.11.  Bring it.

 

 

what narcissism means to me… a mixtape.

by

1.
Clip from taped interview with George W. Bush for Matt Lauer Reports:

MATT LAUER:
Well, what he said, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH:
That’s – “he’s a racist.” And I didn’t appreciate it then. I don’t appreciate it now. It’s one thing to say, “I don’t appreciate the way he’s handled his business.” It’s another thing to say, “This man’s a racist.” I resent it, it’s not true, and it was one of the most disgusting moments in my Presidency.

MATT LAUER:
This from the book. “Five years later I can barely write those words without feeling disgust.” You go on. “I faced a lot of criticism as President. I didn’t like hearing people claim that I lied about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction or cut taxes to benefit the rich. But the suggestion that I was racist because of the response to Katrina represented an all time low.”

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH:
Yeah. I still feel that way as you read those words. I felt ‘em when I heard ‘em, felt ‘em when I wrote ‘em and I felt ‘em when I’m listening to ‘em.

MATT LAUER:
You say you told Laura at the time it was the worst moment of your Presidency?

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH:
Yes. My record was strong I felt when it came to race relations and giving people a chance. And– it was a disgusting moment.

MATT LAUER:
I wonder if some people are going to read that, now that you’ve written it, and they might give you some heat for that. And the reason is this–

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH:
Don’t care.

MATT LAUER:
Well, here’s the reason. You’re not saying that the worst moment in your Presidency was watching the misery in Louisiana. You’re saying it was when someone insulted you because of that.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH:
No – that– and I also make it clear that the misery in Louisiana affected me deeply as well. There’s a lot of tough moments in the book. And it was a disgusting moment, pure and simple.

(emphasis is mine.)

2.
Later, Kanye West on 97.9FM Houston:

I definitely can understand the way he feels, to be accused of being a racist in any way, because the same thing happened to me, you know, I got accused of being a racist. For both situations, it was basically a lack of compassion that America saw in that situation.

With him, it was a lack of compassion of him not rushing, him not taking the time to rush down to New Orleans.For me, it was a lack of compassion of cutting someone off in their moment. But nonetheless, I think we’re all quick to pull a race card in America. And now I’m more open, and the poetic justice that I feel, to have went through the same thing that he went [through]-and now I really more connect with him on just a humanitarian level.”

(emphasis, again, is also mine.)

h/t Gawker.

scattered thoughts on moderation and restoring sanity.

by

I had every intention of going to DC for the Rally to Restore Sanity. The spectacle and clarion call, the gathering of moderates was seductive. However, in typical moderate fashion, I didn’t figure out a plan to get there. By the time I realized I should have booked a bus ticket on MegaBus or Bolt, they were already sold out.

So instead, I spent my Saturday restoring sanity on the home front. I cleaned my bedroom. I cleaned the bathroom. I vacuumed. I groomed my cat. I folded laundry. I organized the stack of ungraded papers for my review. I took a walk around the neighborhood. I bought a latte. I did most of this in relative silence. I refrained from checking my twitterfeed for updates of value and snark regarding the day’s events. I peaked once. Kid Rock performed? (Dude, like seriously?)

There were shows I’m missing. A happy hour I would’ve liked to have gone to. At the very least, I would’ve loved to rub elbows with the young progressives and shared in their sideways glance, witty banter and commentary about a comedian who’s righteous indignation against the tide of batshit crazy in our political discourse has manifested itself in a not so cleverly disguised get out the vote rally on the Washington Mall. Instead, I’m here in Brooklyn. Unable to check into foursquare to unlock uber swarm badges to acknowledge that I exist among the crowd of young(ish) moderate voices in American politics. I’m fine with this. Continue reading →

the beautiful game…

by

I’m trying to be a better world citizen.

One of the blessings of living in a city like New York are the small reminders that I do live in an international city. There are shared cultural moments that bring us all together, even in competition. So for day one of World Cup, I wandered to Madiba, the South African restaurant in my neighbood and walked into a standing room only mixed crowd of South African expats, Mexicans, Americans of all shades and ages. The game brings out the whole range of humanity –joy, agony, ecstasy– or in a word, ebuillience. So here are some scenes from World Cup watchers and revellers for day one and day two. I’ll likely try to get more scenes from around the city as we near the finals. Continue reading →

the art of storytelling part 1.

by

Confession: I love Auditorium.

Here’s the thing: I’m not really a hip-hop head. I don’t have a vast encyclopedia of knowledge of beats, rhymes and tracks of everything produce over the past 30 years. I know certain songs from memory because the beat was so sick it moved me, or the lyricism was so ill I couldn’t possibly ignore it. So I know some rhymes that are part of the basic lexicon of hip hop (Paid In Full, Rappers Delight, The Message, The Show, Children’s Story) as well as some recent classics from MCs like Black Thought, Eminem, Jay-Z, Biggie… I like what I like and I listen to it religiously.

For instance, I understood the importance of learning every single word to Lose Yourself and Lost Ones.  And I was so far from being a teenager but when the shit’s hot, you got act like you know, right?  But I’m really a girl from the Midwest and we love beats.  I like to believe this is a universal known about our creed. If the beat isn’t dope, I’m not really paying attention to it. Seduce my ear with a pulsing bass line that I can feel in my chest, and you got me. Lyricism is icing on the fucking cake. On the real, why I’ve listened to Mos Def’s Auditorium from his album, The Ecstactic, an embarrassing number of times simply stem from nostalgia for brilliant lyricism juxtaposed against melodic tones and break beats.

I geeked out about this with a couple of friends after brunch a while ago (What up Mara and Elon?) Have you heard Slick Rick’s (aka The Ruler) rhyme on this track (2:35)? Seriously, check it: Continue reading →