So, last weekend, as I'm oft to do, I spent Sunday in the parking lot at Met Life stadium where both the Giants and the Jets pretend to play American Football. As the Giants lose in spectacular fashion, even the cry of "but I've lived through 4 Superbowl wins" gets stale and boring. Instead, I'll focus on the fantasy play-offs where I'll be praying for a different outcome.
But, back to the lot. This weekend I decided that I was going to (again) make duck-breast on the grill. This is no easy feat. Due to the skin and layer of fat (read: extra flavor), and the inability to regulate a charcoal grill's constant temperature, I had to plan things out so that a) I don't overcook the duck but get a nice sear, and b) I don't dry it out because of the amount of time needed to cook the bird.
Duck isn't like other foul though, and in the U.S., while it's uncharacteristic to eat undercooked chicken and turkey, the prevailing theory on duck is that you cook it like you would a fine steak, with varying levels of "done." I prefer mine from medium to medium rare. And, any and all instructions for cooking an expensive piece of meat typically call for an internal temperature reading. Bah. I don't need that. I'm a man with meat. Roar.
Truth be told, cooking the duck on a grill or a flat top is actually fairly easy. Follow the instructions below and you too can enjoy delicious marinated duck breast at home.
Ingredients:
1 thawed Duck Breast (I like D'Artagnan ducks, which in the NY area are fairly readily available at both butchers and supermarkets)
1/4 cup of hoisin sauce
1/4 cup of soy sauce
1 heaping tbsp of ground ginger
3 tbsp of sesame oil
Trader Joe's Everything Seasonings (all the stuff you would find on an everything bagel, in a jar)
fresh ground pepper to taste
First order of business is to marinate that duck. Take all of the ingredients, except for the Everything seasonings, and mix them together and then pour over the duck in a bowl. Place in the fridge over night. Place the uncooked duck, skin side down into a "cold" cast iron skillet, saving the residual sauce for use later. Place the skillet on the stove or grill at a medium to medium high heat. This is important, because that layer of fat is difficult to chew if it's undercooked and unrendered. One must render the fat of a duck. You'll let that come up to temperature and get a good sizzle going. Also, you'll notice a little smoke when your sauce starts burning a bit around the duck. I let that thing get good and cooked, about 10 minutes without moving it. Really let it sizzle. Once the skin has browned nicely, turn it over and give it about 5 minutes on the other side. At this point, pour the rest of the sauce over the top. I also like to cook it on its ends to brown those up as well, about 3-5 minutes on each. This gets you to medium rare. Let the duck rest for about 5 minutes, and then slice. If it's still a bit rare, you can throw those pieces back onto the skillet for seconds, just to toast them up on each side. And you're done.
Now, serving it in the parking lot is as simple as cutting it up. But, if you're trying this at home, I like to place the whole breast on slightly wilted mustard greens (lightly wilt first either on the grill or skillet, but cook really fast; you don't want to "cook" it past crisp), and then slice and serve. As the flavors are more Asian in nature, serve with bok choy and some sticky rice to complete the meal.
That's it. I don't know why our society has gotten away from duck where it's a bit more extravagant, however, it's really not that hard to cook. Roasting a whole turkey is definitely more complicated. And, it's frigging delicious. This wraps up 3 consecutive posts about Asian ducks. I promise to write about something else in the next post. Until then, I hope you're having a great holiday season. Me, I'm off to Wegman's to get another duck breast for New Year's! So good!
Wednesday, December 19, 2018
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
The Duck, part deux...
The natural companion for my previous post would be pictures of the ducks I did wind up seeing. So, if a picture is worth 1,000 words, here's a quick 4,000 words or so on both that day, and the day when my son and I returned to NYC and found the Central Park mandarin, now nicknamed the Mandarin Patinkin (hello, my name is Indigo Montoya...). All photos are by me. If you're interested in purchasing one, let me know.
Hooded Merganser at the Reservoir
Bufflehead at the Reservoir
Wood Duck at The Pond of Central Park
The Mandarin, also at The Pond
It's incredible what you can see if you just look.
Cheers.
Monday, November 19, 2018
The Duck
It's been a long time since I've last blogged, but I thought, with the approaching holiday season, some informal well-wishing on my part might be welcomed. And, an anecdote, always an anecdote.
Firstly, whether you celebrate American Thanksgiving (yes there are other Thanksgivings; thanks Canada), or not, whether you eat turkey or something else, before I get too too busy with the Holiday season, let me first wish you a Happy Holidays. This isn't a war on Christmas, in fact, if Christmas is your holiday of choice, then I wish you a happy one. And, if not, then you get to pick what holiday I'm pleased as punch that you celebrate, whether that's Hanukkah or Saturnalia, the recently passed Diwali or Kwanzaa, I wish you a happy and a healthy end of the calendar year, and to borrow and paraphrase from an Irish blessing, may the best day of this year be your worst day of next year.
Especially in this political climate.
So, there's this duck (I told you there would be an anecdote) in Central Park right now. I'm sure you've heard of it: the Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata) that lives in the heart of New York City. How'd it get there? No one knows, but it's banded, and if ever caught, that might shed some light on its origins. We know a couple of things for certain, one: it's originally from eastern China or Japan (or maybe the UK where it was introduced in the 18th century, but escaped captivity and started breeding in the wild in the 1930's); two: that it's been a Manhattan resident for nearly a month now, with periodic sightings; and three: it would certainly be the arch nemesis of Iron Duck (thanks Stan Lee, we'll miss you). One thing is for sure, due to its bright coloration, it's gorgeous and quite unusual, which is why, after thanking my Veterans, I went to Central Park to find this duck.
There's a number of different ways to find this proverbial Asian needle in the haystack. The first is to canvass the entire park (pun: evoking images of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, but I digress). Not likely possible in my one day in the city. Enter Twitter, knower of all things. Mr. David Barrett maintains the @birdcentralpark Twitter feed where he announces the locations of birds of interest in Central Park, based, likely, on the hive mind of New York City's birders. The day I went was the second or third day that a Barred Owl decided to rest in the Ramble section of the park (north of the Lake, but South of Turtle Pond and Belvedere Castle). Off I went. Sure enough, perched high above the paths, was the Barred Owl, in a tree on the south west corner of Azalia Pond, and not caring that 5 or 6 of us at 12:30p were staring up at it.
It was there I met Ben and several other birders including D. Bruce Yolton who runs the Urban Hawks blog. A few of us tried to see if we could get a better viewing angle as it was facing away from us. No dice. There's only so many pictures of an owl's butt you can take before it gets tiresome. Ben was headed up to the reservoir, would I like to go? He had never seen a hooded merganser and there was rumor some were along the edges near the paths. Of course I said yes and we went.
Along the way we stopped at Turtle Pond, one of the sites where the Mandarin had been spotted days before. No luck on the mandarin, but there were northern shovelers, males and a female, heads down in the water, swimming in a circle and (likely) digging up invertebrates to eat from the bottom of the pond. There were more birders there, each with binoculars dangling from their necks, each asking the others "Did you see him?" and the response "he's been missing since last Friday." [he's since resurfaced].
From there as we walked, we saw brown creepers, wrens, red-bellied woodpeckers, nuthatches, titmice, all manner of sparrows, loads of blue-jays, ruby-crowned kinglets and a pair of red-tailed hawks, circling above the north meadow (I suspect). When we got to the reservoir, there were several other enthusiasts with their gear, taking shots of the couple hundred ducks swimming right next to the path. No mandarin, but there were loads of ruddy ducks, more shovelers, buffleheads (a personal favorite) and, yes, Ben got to see his hooded mergansers, male and female, about a dozen all in a group. Finding these birds was the perfect meld of technology and nature. Twitter had us at absolutely the right spot at the right time.
After a while, Ben had his fill of the mergs (the female is the Tina Turner of ducks) and we bid each other goodbye as he was headed north, and I wanted another look at the barred owl I retraced my steps the way I came to see if the Mandarin surfaced at any of the places I had already looked. No luck on that, but I did notice something else: this community I stumbled into, it was like a secret society of birders, and we were all in on the hunt. From the rollerblading dude at the Turtle Pond to the old lady with the brand new Nikon spy-glasses he was talking to, we were all speaking the same language, discussing what we had seen recently that was cool and what we'd like to have seen (in addition to the mandarin). There was no discussion of race or economic class. There was no argument about liberal and conservative values (though I'm sure everyone had an opinion about global warming, it's a thing, look it up), there was just the birds. While I had just arrived to see what I could see on my own personal mission, I was immediately accepted and looked upon as an equal, and spoken to with respect and dignity without prejudice. It got to the point where, as I crossed from one area to another within the park, the other birders, recognizing that I was packing some serious birding gear, waved to me as if to say "I know why you're here, you're part of my tribe and I hope you find what you're looking for. Best wishes!"
And that's what I wish all of you this holiday season. Friends and families can be stressful, but we're all part of the same club. I wish that you all can find the same acceptance that I was able to find, regardless of politics and preconceived notions. At the end of this fairly stressful part of the year, I hope you can appreciate someone who you know is going through the same event, with similar intentions, and that you can wave at that person with the attitude that we're all in this together. In this culture of divisive arguments, I hope you have a calm and understanding approach to the holidays where most people's intent is good.
So, Happy Holidays, and I know why you're here, you're part of my tribe, and I hope you find what you're looking for this Thanksgiving. Best wishes!
Firstly, whether you celebrate American Thanksgiving (yes there are other Thanksgivings; thanks Canada), or not, whether you eat turkey or something else, before I get too too busy with the Holiday season, let me first wish you a Happy Holidays. This isn't a war on Christmas, in fact, if Christmas is your holiday of choice, then I wish you a happy one. And, if not, then you get to pick what holiday I'm pleased as punch that you celebrate, whether that's Hanukkah or Saturnalia, the recently passed Diwali or Kwanzaa, I wish you a happy and a healthy end of the calendar year, and to borrow and paraphrase from an Irish blessing, may the best day of this year be your worst day of next year.
Especially in this political climate.
There's a number of different ways to find this proverbial Asian needle in the haystack. The first is to canvass the entire park (pun: evoking images of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, but I digress). Not likely possible in my one day in the city. Enter Twitter, knower of all things. Mr. David Barrett maintains the @birdcentralpark Twitter feed where he announces the locations of birds of interest in Central Park, based, likely, on the hive mind of New York City's birders. The day I went was the second or third day that a Barred Owl decided to rest in the Ramble section of the park (north of the Lake, but South of Turtle Pond and Belvedere Castle). Off I went. Sure enough, perched high above the paths, was the Barred Owl, in a tree on the south west corner of Azalia Pond, and not caring that 5 or 6 of us at 12:30p were staring up at it.
It was there I met Ben and several other birders including D. Bruce Yolton who runs the Urban Hawks blog. A few of us tried to see if we could get a better viewing angle as it was facing away from us. No dice. There's only so many pictures of an owl's butt you can take before it gets tiresome. Ben was headed up to the reservoir, would I like to go? He had never seen a hooded merganser and there was rumor some were along the edges near the paths. Of course I said yes and we went.
Along the way we stopped at Turtle Pond, one of the sites where the Mandarin had been spotted days before. No luck on the mandarin, but there were northern shovelers, males and a female, heads down in the water, swimming in a circle and (likely) digging up invertebrates to eat from the bottom of the pond. There were more birders there, each with binoculars dangling from their necks, each asking the others "Did you see him?" and the response "he's been missing since last Friday." [he's since resurfaced].
From there as we walked, we saw brown creepers, wrens, red-bellied woodpeckers, nuthatches, titmice, all manner of sparrows, loads of blue-jays, ruby-crowned kinglets and a pair of red-tailed hawks, circling above the north meadow (I suspect). When we got to the reservoir, there were several other enthusiasts with their gear, taking shots of the couple hundred ducks swimming right next to the path. No mandarin, but there were loads of ruddy ducks, more shovelers, buffleheads (a personal favorite) and, yes, Ben got to see his hooded mergansers, male and female, about a dozen all in a group. Finding these birds was the perfect meld of technology and nature. Twitter had us at absolutely the right spot at the right time.
After a while, Ben had his fill of the mergs (the female is the Tina Turner of ducks) and we bid each other goodbye as he was headed north, and I wanted another look at the barred owl I retraced my steps the way I came to see if the Mandarin surfaced at any of the places I had already looked. No luck on that, but I did notice something else: this community I stumbled into, it was like a secret society of birders, and we were all in on the hunt. From the rollerblading dude at the Turtle Pond to the old lady with the brand new Nikon spy-glasses he was talking to, we were all speaking the same language, discussing what we had seen recently that was cool and what we'd like to have seen (in addition to the mandarin). There was no discussion of race or economic class. There was no argument about liberal and conservative values (though I'm sure everyone had an opinion about global warming, it's a thing, look it up), there was just the birds. While I had just arrived to see what I could see on my own personal mission, I was immediately accepted and looked upon as an equal, and spoken to with respect and dignity without prejudice. It got to the point where, as I crossed from one area to another within the park, the other birders, recognizing that I was packing some serious birding gear, waved to me as if to say "I know why you're here, you're part of my tribe and I hope you find what you're looking for. Best wishes!"
And that's what I wish all of you this holiday season. Friends and families can be stressful, but we're all part of the same club. I wish that you all can find the same acceptance that I was able to find, regardless of politics and preconceived notions. At the end of this fairly stressful part of the year, I hope you can appreciate someone who you know is going through the same event, with similar intentions, and that you can wave at that person with the attitude that we're all in this together. In this culture of divisive arguments, I hope you have a calm and understanding approach to the holidays where most people's intent is good.
So, Happy Holidays, and I know why you're here, you're part of my tribe, and I hope you find what you're looking for this Thanksgiving. Best wishes!
Monday, October 29, 2018
It's Time to Support Facts
After the terrorist shooting in Pittsburgh where only religious minorities were killed, the far right, and our President gave the event a shoulder shrug and then twisted the knife in his relentless attack on the media. Yeah, killing sucks, but the media, am I right people?
However, how off is he?
First, let's get out of the way that this President has called for violence against his political opponents. He refused and continue to refuse to condemn hate groups, mostly because then it would be against a large swath of people who voted for him and actively campaign for him (and because he kinda agrees with them). He's demonstrated that in addition to religion (anti-Islam/Judaism) he's also anti-environment, anti-women, anti-Native American, and anti-poor. WORDS HAVE MEANING AND CONSEQUENCES!
But, he's right about a slanted media. "Headlines," and I use the term loosely, have been sensational and alarmist and accusatory against this administration, or at least, presenting facts and drawing conclusions that the administration doesn't either want to admit or believes to be false, hence, fake news. So, why submit misleading headlines? Blame FaceBook.
The Pew Research Center has been gathering information on newspaper and periodical distribution since the 1940s, and, according to this report the news industry is in a death spiral: "A Pew Research Center analysis of data from AAM shows that total weekday circulation for U.S. daily newspapers – both print and digital – fell 8% in 2016, marking the 28th consecutive year of declines." Not only that, but the L.A. Times reported on September 25 that TV network news ratings are also slipping. "Broadcast network news continued to fight a rear guard attack as audience levels slipped again in the 2017-18 television season, which ended last week. Only one daily program, 'ABC World News Tonight With David Muir,' showed year-to-year growth, according to data released Tuesday by Nielsen." Fewer people paying attention equals a drop in advertising revenue and makes it harder for these organizations to staff experienced journalists and editors to get the real news out there.
So, if the populace isn't getting their news from papers or TV networks, where are they getting their news from? Well, that's the FaceBook link. In a report that the Pew Research Center released back in 2014, it was estimated that roughly 2/3rds of Americans used FaceBook, and 30% of those got their news from headlines posted on the site. That's tremendously ominous as we know that much of what is posted or shared on FB are opinions, not researched news. We also know that in the last 4 years, FaceBook and Twitter influence has grown substantially globally, i.e. the numbers aren't likely to be less if that same study was updated today. And, finally, the most troubling fact is what the Washington Post reported on in 2016 is that "According to a new study by computer scientists at Columbia University and the French National Institute, 59 percent of links shared on social media have never actually been clicked: In other words, most people appear to retweet news without ever reading it."
That's right, no one actually reads an article which makes our collective information problem less click-bait and more share-bait, which is healthy and strong, regardless if it's from a trusted news source or not. Many of us are guilty of doing it, including and especially the President who has the intellect of a white-tailed deer: "ooooh, look at all of those lights getting brighter, I'll just stand here and watch the show!"
So, what can we do about it? First, we must all resist that dreaded "share" button for opinion pieces that aren't vetted. Second, we need to focus on actual news sources that aren't just writing headlines for us to push around. Forbes, which I believe is a bit right-of-center when it comes to political leanings, has a list of news institutions where the journalists are held to a higher standard. The full list of their 2017 recommended sites is here, but you already know that the Huffington Post is not, nor should it be, on this list. Next, pay for your news. I'm not saying that you need to have a paper delivered every morning, but absolutely subscribe to a real news agency and help support the distribution of verifiable content. And, finally, vote. We're in the final week before mid-term elections, and there are so many politicians who are the ones circulating poor data and bad science. We need people making policy who believe in both social science and environmental science, or at least have staffers who are digesting that information for the candidates allowing them to make informed decisions based on undisputed scientific fact!
What happened in Pittsburgh is atrocious. None of us wants to be a target of extreme hate and violence. However, if we aren't able to enact common-sense legislation based on facts because our representatives are kowtowing to a neanderthal minority with deep pockets, then we need to vote them out.
However, how off is he?
First, let's get out of the way that this President has called for violence against his political opponents. He refused and continue to refuse to condemn hate groups, mostly because then it would be against a large swath of people who voted for him and actively campaign for him (and because he kinda agrees with them). He's demonstrated that in addition to religion (anti-Islam/Judaism) he's also anti-environment, anti-women, anti-Native American, and anti-poor. WORDS HAVE MEANING AND CONSEQUENCES!
But, he's right about a slanted media. "Headlines," and I use the term loosely, have been sensational and alarmist and accusatory against this administration, or at least, presenting facts and drawing conclusions that the administration doesn't either want to admit or believes to be false, hence, fake news. So, why submit misleading headlines? Blame FaceBook.
The Pew Research Center has been gathering information on newspaper and periodical distribution since the 1940s, and, according to this report the news industry is in a death spiral: "A Pew Research Center analysis of data from AAM shows that total weekday circulation for U.S. daily newspapers – both print and digital – fell 8% in 2016, marking the 28th consecutive year of declines." Not only that, but the L.A. Times reported on September 25 that TV network news ratings are also slipping. "Broadcast network news continued to fight a rear guard attack as audience levels slipped again in the 2017-18 television season, which ended last week. Only one daily program, 'ABC World News Tonight With David Muir,' showed year-to-year growth, according to data released Tuesday by Nielsen." Fewer people paying attention equals a drop in advertising revenue and makes it harder for these organizations to staff experienced journalists and editors to get the real news out there.
So, if the populace isn't getting their news from papers or TV networks, where are they getting their news from? Well, that's the FaceBook link. In a report that the Pew Research Center released back in 2014, it was estimated that roughly 2/3rds of Americans used FaceBook, and 30% of those got their news from headlines posted on the site. That's tremendously ominous as we know that much of what is posted or shared on FB are opinions, not researched news. We also know that in the last 4 years, FaceBook and Twitter influence has grown substantially globally, i.e. the numbers aren't likely to be less if that same study was updated today. And, finally, the most troubling fact is what the Washington Post reported on in 2016 is that "According to a new study by computer scientists at Columbia University and the French National Institute, 59 percent of links shared on social media have never actually been clicked: In other words, most people appear to retweet news without ever reading it."
That's right, no one actually reads an article which makes our collective information problem less click-bait and more share-bait, which is healthy and strong, regardless if it's from a trusted news source or not. Many of us are guilty of doing it, including and especially the President who has the intellect of a white-tailed deer: "ooooh, look at all of those lights getting brighter, I'll just stand here and watch the show!"
So, what can we do about it? First, we must all resist that dreaded "share" button for opinion pieces that aren't vetted. Second, we need to focus on actual news sources that aren't just writing headlines for us to push around. Forbes, which I believe is a bit right-of-center when it comes to political leanings, has a list of news institutions where the journalists are held to a higher standard. The full list of their 2017 recommended sites is here, but you already know that the Huffington Post is not, nor should it be, on this list. Next, pay for your news. I'm not saying that you need to have a paper delivered every morning, but absolutely subscribe to a real news agency and help support the distribution of verifiable content. And, finally, vote. We're in the final week before mid-term elections, and there are so many politicians who are the ones circulating poor data and bad science. We need people making policy who believe in both social science and environmental science, or at least have staffers who are digesting that information for the candidates allowing them to make informed decisions based on undisputed scientific fact!
What happened in Pittsburgh is atrocious. None of us wants to be a target of extreme hate and violence. However, if we aren't able to enact common-sense legislation based on facts because our representatives are kowtowing to a neanderthal minority with deep pockets, then we need to vote them out.
Thursday, October 18, 2018
Adventures in Asbury Park, NJ
The New York Times (that liberal rag, go figure) ran an article about the life of the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ. If you're from NJ, you're familiar with the Pony: home to Bruce Springsteen...which, if you read this article, you'll realize that he was a johnny-come-lately, just looking to catch a local act, play some music and drink a beer. Regardless, the resilience of Pony after riots in the 70's and depravity in the 80's is definitely due to something magical, something inexplicable, which reminded me of a story...(cue flashback waves a la Wayne's World).
About 8 years ago, in 2010, I had a day off in June (read: forced State furloughs), and my brother-in-law, Jesse was in from Los Angeles, visiting family. He had grown up in and around Freehold, NJ, and like many in that neck of the woods, idolized Bruce Springsteen. Bruce, after all, was the home town hero. Bruce stopped into local businesses like Jersey Freeze right off Route 9. And, Bruce lived nearby too. Jesse had one movie out already (see it on NetFlix), which made him a professional screen writer (and actor), and he had thoughts about writing something about Bruce and Freehold, however, he'd never spent any appreciable time in Asbury Park. Road-trip.
When we got to Asbury, a lot had changed from what it had been in the 80's and 90's. Asbury was a hole. It was seedy and drug-filled, and poor...desperately poor. The late Anthony Bourdain visited with his show in 2005, where the only place Tony was willing to grab a bite was the Howard Johnson's, and he ordered something he thought wouldn't kill him, something safe: a Heineken and a grilled cheese sandwich. "The beauty of the grilled cheese sandwich in its classic form is that neither the shaped carbohydrate slabs nor the processed orange food product have any relationship with a living, organic nutrient system. Being therefore incapable of sustaining life in any form they, presumably, can't make you sick." By 2010 things had gotten way better. My wife and I had been there and visited the Langosta Lounge and loved it. In that, the Lounge's original configuration and eclectic upscale menu, there was plenty to eat that Bourdain would have loved, including sushi, and succulent pieces of beef, and plenty to drink. There was music in the corner, and a bar with many TVs. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Jesse and I got there mid afternoon, and the place was open, but not close to being "lively." We visited the old casino building. We walked up and down the newly renovated boardwalk. And we pointed out the Paramount and walked past the pinball museum. It was fairly uneventful. At about 6pm, we decided it was time to bail and do something else. On the way back to the car, there was a woman playing guitar on the boardwalk and crooning (whining?) a Natalie Merchant tune. This was a long way off from the city's storied history of music. About to cross the street, we see another girl with a guitar slung on her back, and joked, loudly, that we hope that she plays better music than the one we just left. And, with a very thick European accent, she said "You know Bruce?" She took off her gig bag, unpacked the acoustic she was traveling with, and started into "No Surrender." Jesse, someone not unfamiliar with Bruce's entire catalog, immediately joined in singing, and she then lent him her axe to continue/finish the song. It was great! Here we were, with a complete stranger, sharing something bigger than the three of us, on the streets of the city he made famous.
She explained that her name was Calien, she was from Amsterdam, she was 17. She was so obsessed with Bruce Springsteen that she came to New York, and specifically to Asbury Park to see the Stone Pony with her own eyes. She had already gotten kicked off his property in Rumson by the police. She just wanted to be part of the scene. She had taken a hotel right there near the boardwalk, and as the sun went down, it was getting a little cooler. Would we want to go back to her hotel room so she could get a jacket? It would just take a minute.
Get your minds out of the gutter.
That said, Jesse and I looked at each other and, we had no place to go, so, yes, we'll come along for the ride. When in her room, she not only took out her jacket, but also an orange crown, with the Netherlands coat of arms on it, and a soccer ball. She made us each pose wearing the crown as, the world was in the middle of the 2010 World Cup. National pride and all that. Then, she pulled out a XX Large Stone Pony bouncer's jacket, handed it to me, and asked if I wanted it. It was the same make and material of the light jackets students wear in High Schools when they're part of the tennis team or band. What? How'd she get it? Well, her obsession with Bruce brought her to the Paramount Theater in AP at 2am after a day of being in New York. She snuck into an open door at the back of the theater and immediately got wrangled by the guard there. She explained she just wanted to see the stage where Bruce performed. The guard took pity, let her walk on the stage, and then, handed her his jacket he wore as a bouncer at the Pony as a souvenir, one that was at least 5 sizes too big. Would I want it? Sure! I put it on.
We decided that, because we were all there due to Bruce, maybe we should check out the Pony for ourselves. It was literally across the street. Off we went, and, because I was wearing the right apparel, we walked right in, told the other bouncers that Jesse and Calien were with me, and marched into the club. The band taking the stage wasn't our cup of tea, some metal band, but that's OK, we just wanted to see the inside for Jesse's research and Calien's holiday. While I was standing there, I got a tap on my shoulder. Worried that it was time to get thrown out, I turned around, and there's a dude, standing there, arms above his head, waiting for me to frisk him on his way into the venue. I quickly pointed him to someone who actually worked there, found Jesse and Cal, and got out.
Lots of laughing happened later as we headed to the Langosta Lounge for a drink with a 17 year old from Amsterdam, and watch the Mets and the Yankees duke it out for supremacy in the Big Apple.
There's really nothing more. I'm not sure where the movie is on Jesse's list, whether he's shelved it for other things. I do know that Calien has made it BIG in Amsterdam. We knew she was talented, and after she finished school, she formed her own band: Cal and the Leavin' Train, yes, a direct reference to a track officially released on Bruce's 1998 Box Set. You can catch some of her stuff here on the band's FaceBook page. There are a couple videos to check out.
Also, Asbury Park has since exploded with restaurants and the artist community that was there is thriving. The beaches are fun in the summer. And the Mogo Taco, next to Langosta Lounge, is worth the trip alone. Bourdain made a second trip (probably more) for his more recent show "Parts Unknown" that was on CNN in 2015. "Asbury Park has taken the long, hard but smart road back,"It's very unusual to have a place with this kind of tradition of live music," Bourdain said in an interview with the Asbury Park Press. "It's such a powerful tradition and that it's managed to survive at all, that's very unusual." That's because the music of Asbury Park, and the epicenter, The Stone Pony, has the magic to bring people together. Certainly, it worked for the city, Bruce, Cal, Jesse and me.
About 8 years ago, in 2010, I had a day off in June (read: forced State furloughs), and my brother-in-law, Jesse was in from Los Angeles, visiting family. He had grown up in and around Freehold, NJ, and like many in that neck of the woods, idolized Bruce Springsteen. Bruce, after all, was the home town hero. Bruce stopped into local businesses like Jersey Freeze right off Route 9. And, Bruce lived nearby too. Jesse had one movie out already (see it on NetFlix), which made him a professional screen writer (and actor), and he had thoughts about writing something about Bruce and Freehold, however, he'd never spent any appreciable time in Asbury Park. Road-trip.
When we got to Asbury, a lot had changed from what it had been in the 80's and 90's. Asbury was a hole. It was seedy and drug-filled, and poor...desperately poor. The late Anthony Bourdain visited with his show in 2005, where the only place Tony was willing to grab a bite was the Howard Johnson's, and he ordered something he thought wouldn't kill him, something safe: a Heineken and a grilled cheese sandwich. "The beauty of the grilled cheese sandwich in its classic form is that neither the shaped carbohydrate slabs nor the processed orange food product have any relationship with a living, organic nutrient system. Being therefore incapable of sustaining life in any form they, presumably, can't make you sick." By 2010 things had gotten way better. My wife and I had been there and visited the Langosta Lounge and loved it. In that, the Lounge's original configuration and eclectic upscale menu, there was plenty to eat that Bourdain would have loved, including sushi, and succulent pieces of beef, and plenty to drink. There was music in the corner, and a bar with many TVs. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Jesse and I got there mid afternoon, and the place was open, but not close to being "lively." We visited the old casino building. We walked up and down the newly renovated boardwalk. And we pointed out the Paramount and walked past the pinball museum. It was fairly uneventful. At about 6pm, we decided it was time to bail and do something else. On the way back to the car, there was a woman playing guitar on the boardwalk and crooning (whining?) a Natalie Merchant tune. This was a long way off from the city's storied history of music. About to cross the street, we see another girl with a guitar slung on her back, and joked, loudly, that we hope that she plays better music than the one we just left. And, with a very thick European accent, she said "You know Bruce?" She took off her gig bag, unpacked the acoustic she was traveling with, and started into "No Surrender." Jesse, someone not unfamiliar with Bruce's entire catalog, immediately joined in singing, and she then lent him her axe to continue/finish the song. It was great! Here we were, with a complete stranger, sharing something bigger than the three of us, on the streets of the city he made famous.
She explained that her name was Calien, she was from Amsterdam, she was 17. She was so obsessed with Bruce Springsteen that she came to New York, and specifically to Asbury Park to see the Stone Pony with her own eyes. She had already gotten kicked off his property in Rumson by the police. She just wanted to be part of the scene. She had taken a hotel right there near the boardwalk, and as the sun went down, it was getting a little cooler. Would we want to go back to her hotel room so she could get a jacket? It would just take a minute.
Get your minds out of the gutter.
That said, Jesse and I looked at each other and, we had no place to go, so, yes, we'll come along for the ride. When in her room, she not only took out her jacket, but also an orange crown, with the Netherlands coat of arms on it, and a soccer ball. She made us each pose wearing the crown as, the world was in the middle of the 2010 World Cup. National pride and all that. Then, she pulled out a XX Large Stone Pony bouncer's jacket, handed it to me, and asked if I wanted it. It was the same make and material of the light jackets students wear in High Schools when they're part of the tennis team or band. What? How'd she get it? Well, her obsession with Bruce brought her to the Paramount Theater in AP at 2am after a day of being in New York. She snuck into an open door at the back of the theater and immediately got wrangled by the guard there. She explained she just wanted to see the stage where Bruce performed. The guard took pity, let her walk on the stage, and then, handed her his jacket he wore as a bouncer at the Pony as a souvenir, one that was at least 5 sizes too big. Would I want it? Sure! I put it on.
We decided that, because we were all there due to Bruce, maybe we should check out the Pony for ourselves. It was literally across the street. Off we went, and, because I was wearing the right apparel, we walked right in, told the other bouncers that Jesse and Calien were with me, and marched into the club. The band taking the stage wasn't our cup of tea, some metal band, but that's OK, we just wanted to see the inside for Jesse's research and Calien's holiday. While I was standing there, I got a tap on my shoulder. Worried that it was time to get thrown out, I turned around, and there's a dude, standing there, arms above his head, waiting for me to frisk him on his way into the venue. I quickly pointed him to someone who actually worked there, found Jesse and Cal, and got out.
Lots of laughing happened later as we headed to the Langosta Lounge for a drink with a 17 year old from Amsterdam, and watch the Mets and the Yankees duke it out for supremacy in the Big Apple.
There's really nothing more. I'm not sure where the movie is on Jesse's list, whether he's shelved it for other things. I do know that Calien has made it BIG in Amsterdam. We knew she was talented, and after she finished school, she formed her own band: Cal and the Leavin' Train, yes, a direct reference to a track officially released on Bruce's 1998 Box Set. You can catch some of her stuff here on the band's FaceBook page. There are a couple videos to check out.
Also, Asbury Park has since exploded with restaurants and the artist community that was there is thriving. The beaches are fun in the summer. And the Mogo Taco, next to Langosta Lounge, is worth the trip alone. Bourdain made a second trip (probably more) for his more recent show "Parts Unknown" that was on CNN in 2015. "Asbury Park has taken the long, hard but smart road back,"It's very unusual to have a place with this kind of tradition of live music," Bourdain said in an interview with the Asbury Park Press. "It's such a powerful tradition and that it's managed to survive at all, that's very unusual." That's because the music of Asbury Park, and the epicenter, The Stone Pony, has the magic to bring people together. Certainly, it worked for the city, Bruce, Cal, Jesse and me.
Thursday, October 4, 2018
Wake Up
I had this whole rant thought out about how the religious right are using our sheep politicians to further their goals to subjugate women through restriction of medical treatments (i.e. birth control, abortion, etc.) and the flaunting of patriarchal misogynistic practices by denying women a voice in physical and sexual assault situations.
But, I am seriously burnt out on this whole Kavanaugh thing. I so want the GOP to move on to a better candidate, but I'm terrified that this rich, Roe v. Wade-hating, beer-swilling entitled fraternity douche-bag is going to get his vote and be 100 times more politically charged than Gorsuch whilst attempting to legislate us back into the dark ages.
And while he believes himself to be a child of Jesus, and a righteous Catholic, I think, even the Pope would have issue on this man's past actions, legal decisions, core beliefs and severe lack of a dedication to his fellow man, except for Judge and Squee. Frankly, the Pope would make a far better justice.
But that all being said, I have found myself turning to my music for both confirmation of my feelings and fears as well as a refuge so as to tune the world out.
For fears, I think it's easy. I've recently re-found Rage Against the Machine (as I've mentioned before) and the lyrics to "Wake Up" are so adaptable to today. Admittedly, I'm cherry picking them for my argument, but the song references:
Fist in the air in the land of hypocrisy;
Still knee deep in the system's shit;
Departments of police, (what!) the judges (what!), the feds;
Networks at work, keeping people calm
It speaks, literally to the assassination of Martin Luther King, a Federal cover-up because he returned the power to the people. I think a lot of it resonates with me because the problem never went away...certainly it never left the black communities, and now there are echoes of similar themes with white nationalist politicians, namely Trump and the Republican right. As an avid student of music from the 60s, these themes are hardly new, but due to the grandstanding and extreme political actions by those who would put business before the needs of the people, a new protest, using old themes, is in order.
What's more, it's so hard to believe that informed citizens voted "these people" in. There are so many extremes I see on the right, from fraternizing with a new Nazi regime, to claims of being devout without following a word of the bible when it comes to treating others as you would treat yourself. Granted, the Democrats are hardly innocent. I believe Menendez dodged a political bullet based on procedure and lack of evidence. I think he's guilty. I think he's not the only one who swings his political might in this manner, and that both sides of the aisle are guilty, but he got caught. I'm not happy that I have to vote for him, but the alternative is another right-wing religious zealot, with views similar to Trump's, that would be deciding Federal law in my name. No way.
November is coming. Historically, Americans are horrific at getting to the polls. I hope you're not. Something has to change. And, I don't believe that a xenophobic, nation-first, blinders version of United States policy is good for our own citizenry or that of the world. Which movie will you feel better coming out of: the one where the underdog, with nothing, is able to finally make his/her life better against all odds...or the one where the oppression of the people rewards only the task masters at the top pulling all the strings to keep them fat while the rest of the world burns around them? We have one month to talk to people about our right to choose who leads this nation. It's time to wake up.
But, I am seriously burnt out on this whole Kavanaugh thing. I so want the GOP to move on to a better candidate, but I'm terrified that this rich, Roe v. Wade-hating, beer-swilling entitled fraternity douche-bag is going to get his vote and be 100 times more politically charged than Gorsuch whilst attempting to legislate us back into the dark ages.
And while he believes himself to be a child of Jesus, and a righteous Catholic, I think, even the Pope would have issue on this man's past actions, legal decisions, core beliefs and severe lack of a dedication to his fellow man, except for Judge and Squee. Frankly, the Pope would make a far better justice.
But that all being said, I have found myself turning to my music for both confirmation of my feelings and fears as well as a refuge so as to tune the world out.
For fears, I think it's easy. I've recently re-found Rage Against the Machine (as I've mentioned before) and the lyrics to "Wake Up" are so adaptable to today. Admittedly, I'm cherry picking them for my argument, but the song references:
Fist in the air in the land of hypocrisy;
Still knee deep in the system's shit;
Departments of police, (what!) the judges (what!), the feds;
Networks at work, keeping people calm
It speaks, literally to the assassination of Martin Luther King, a Federal cover-up because he returned the power to the people. I think a lot of it resonates with me because the problem never went away...certainly it never left the black communities, and now there are echoes of similar themes with white nationalist politicians, namely Trump and the Republican right. As an avid student of music from the 60s, these themes are hardly new, but due to the grandstanding and extreme political actions by those who would put business before the needs of the people, a new protest, using old themes, is in order.
What's more, it's so hard to believe that informed citizens voted "these people" in. There are so many extremes I see on the right, from fraternizing with a new Nazi regime, to claims of being devout without following a word of the bible when it comes to treating others as you would treat yourself. Granted, the Democrats are hardly innocent. I believe Menendez dodged a political bullet based on procedure and lack of evidence. I think he's guilty. I think he's not the only one who swings his political might in this manner, and that both sides of the aisle are guilty, but he got caught. I'm not happy that I have to vote for him, but the alternative is another right-wing religious zealot, with views similar to Trump's, that would be deciding Federal law in my name. No way.
November is coming. Historically, Americans are horrific at getting to the polls. I hope you're not. Something has to change. And, I don't believe that a xenophobic, nation-first, blinders version of United States policy is good for our own citizenry or that of the world. Which movie will you feel better coming out of: the one where the underdog, with nothing, is able to finally make his/her life better against all odds...or the one where the oppression of the people rewards only the task masters at the top pulling all the strings to keep them fat while the rest of the world burns around them? We have one month to talk to people about our right to choose who leads this nation. It's time to wake up.
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Political Assault
As new accusers of nominated Supreme Court Judge, Brett Kavanaugh reveal themselves, I am blown away at the critics of their stories, primarily Republicans. But, first, let me back up.
Assault is assault. It's a criminal act of someone in power physically overpowering another individual as part of an act of malicious intent. The degree to which one is injured is irrelevant. The state of toxicity of the victim is irrelevant. The fact that the accused assailant was once a victim themselves is irrelevant. The fact is that someone is being wronged, and someone else is doing the deed.
With the first accuser of Kavanaugh, her credibility was immediately called into question. How can someone remember the details of something that happened so long ago? Why wasn't it pursued then? In my experience, high school is easy to remember, especially the negative. When I was a senior, I was working on an independent art study with two classmates, a black male classmate and a white female classmate. We were outside using a spray adhesive on an art project we were working on together when underclassmen who were black decided to harass us, question us, and ultimately spit on our art project. The fact that they were black is important, because my words to them after seeing them ruin our art were harsh: "instead of wasting my time in school walking the halls, I'm trying to get an education and have a future instead of deep frying chicken for a living." It was then that one of the three boys punched me in the jaw, and another punched me in the back of my head, before running off. Long story short, we got the teacher and I was able to identify one of my attackers for the vice principal who was overseeing the resolution to the altercation. He then told my mom and dad that I provoked the boys, and was to blame. The attackers weren't expelled and only one of the three received a suspension. And that was that. To the school, I was almost as guilty as the ones throwing the punches. It's true that I chose my words poorly, as referencing fried chicken could be interpreted as a racist slur. I admit that there were months when I questioned myself and the words I used. Why didn't I say "flipping burgers?" Regardless, I remember it all in vivid detail. That was in 1993, 25 years ago.
I'm sure that the words I used are different than the exact quote I've identified above. But, I remember the teacher and the fact that it was an independent study, the fact that one of the kids who hit me was an extremely light-skinned black boy, that the project was a play on the Beatles song "Blackbird" and that it was a book which incorporated pop-ups and spray painted feathers, and I can recall the doors we used to leave the High School to use the adhesive and the location of the art teacher's classroom...and its layout, and the fact that we had jazz playing in the background while we worked...
And to that point, these women who are coming forward can also recall a similar level of detail. It's possible. What's more, it's likely. And, they're not coming forward without risking anything. Yes, ultimately, the Democratic party is using their stories as a blunt physical instrument for stopping the nomination of an extremely conservative judge who has views of women that are not modern or scientifically accurate. You can argue with me on that point, however, the testimony of these women is inarguable. It is their truths and accusations...ones that, at the very least, require far more consideration than politics is allowing. I understand that once this nomination goes through, or doesn't, the casualties in this political fight will be these women. They get nothing from this process. They get to be used and bludgeoned by our bi-polar political system, and then left to fend for themselves amid accusations, death threats, and the potential for being sued themselves for libel.
There is no winning for these women. They will get nothing, and that has to make you think: why would they come forward with these allegations? How can we trust their words? It's simple, the events in the past that are now coming to light hold a special and very negative meaning for these women. This has impacted their entire lives since either witnessing debauchery at the hand of Kavanaugh, or being a victim his advances. It's not enough to point fingers at the Democrats accusing them of political motivations. That's why they were elected, to be political, same as the Republicans who are trying to get this done before the midterms.
It's true that there have been several nationally publicized sexual assault accusations that were proven to be fabricated. However, the number of forcible rape cases is on the rise in the United States. Since 2013 when it was 23.5 cases per 100,000, the number of cases has risen to 30.7 rapes per 100,000 people. That translates to over 99,000 cases in 2017. So, before you become political judge, jury and executioner yourself based on news headlines, take into account that not only are the accusations plausible, but they're likely.
Check these statistics from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center and let's give due deference to these women's accusations for a man who may be presiding over cases pertaining to sexual assault and women's rights over the course of a lifetime appointment.
Assault is assault. It's a criminal act of someone in power physically overpowering another individual as part of an act of malicious intent. The degree to which one is injured is irrelevant. The state of toxicity of the victim is irrelevant. The fact that the accused assailant was once a victim themselves is irrelevant. The fact is that someone is being wronged, and someone else is doing the deed.
With the first accuser of Kavanaugh, her credibility was immediately called into question. How can someone remember the details of something that happened so long ago? Why wasn't it pursued then? In my experience, high school is easy to remember, especially the negative. When I was a senior, I was working on an independent art study with two classmates, a black male classmate and a white female classmate. We were outside using a spray adhesive on an art project we were working on together when underclassmen who were black decided to harass us, question us, and ultimately spit on our art project. The fact that they were black is important, because my words to them after seeing them ruin our art were harsh: "instead of wasting my time in school walking the halls, I'm trying to get an education and have a future instead of deep frying chicken for a living." It was then that one of the three boys punched me in the jaw, and another punched me in the back of my head, before running off. Long story short, we got the teacher and I was able to identify one of my attackers for the vice principal who was overseeing the resolution to the altercation. He then told my mom and dad that I provoked the boys, and was to blame. The attackers weren't expelled and only one of the three received a suspension. And that was that. To the school, I was almost as guilty as the ones throwing the punches. It's true that I chose my words poorly, as referencing fried chicken could be interpreted as a racist slur. I admit that there were months when I questioned myself and the words I used. Why didn't I say "flipping burgers?" Regardless, I remember it all in vivid detail. That was in 1993, 25 years ago.
I'm sure that the words I used are different than the exact quote I've identified above. But, I remember the teacher and the fact that it was an independent study, the fact that one of the kids who hit me was an extremely light-skinned black boy, that the project was a play on the Beatles song "Blackbird" and that it was a book which incorporated pop-ups and spray painted feathers, and I can recall the doors we used to leave the High School to use the adhesive and the location of the art teacher's classroom...and its layout, and the fact that we had jazz playing in the background while we worked...
And to that point, these women who are coming forward can also recall a similar level of detail. It's possible. What's more, it's likely. And, they're not coming forward without risking anything. Yes, ultimately, the Democratic party is using their stories as a blunt physical instrument for stopping the nomination of an extremely conservative judge who has views of women that are not modern or scientifically accurate. You can argue with me on that point, however, the testimony of these women is inarguable. It is their truths and accusations...ones that, at the very least, require far more consideration than politics is allowing. I understand that once this nomination goes through, or doesn't, the casualties in this political fight will be these women. They get nothing from this process. They get to be used and bludgeoned by our bi-polar political system, and then left to fend for themselves amid accusations, death threats, and the potential for being sued themselves for libel.
There is no winning for these women. They will get nothing, and that has to make you think: why would they come forward with these allegations? How can we trust their words? It's simple, the events in the past that are now coming to light hold a special and very negative meaning for these women. This has impacted their entire lives since either witnessing debauchery at the hand of Kavanaugh, or being a victim his advances. It's not enough to point fingers at the Democrats accusing them of political motivations. That's why they were elected, to be political, same as the Republicans who are trying to get this done before the midterms.
It's true that there have been several nationally publicized sexual assault accusations that were proven to be fabricated. However, the number of forcible rape cases is on the rise in the United States. Since 2013 when it was 23.5 cases per 100,000, the number of cases has risen to 30.7 rapes per 100,000 people. That translates to over 99,000 cases in 2017. So, before you become political judge, jury and executioner yourself based on news headlines, take into account that not only are the accusations plausible, but they're likely.
Check these statistics from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center and let's give due deference to these women's accusations for a man who may be presiding over cases pertaining to sexual assault and women's rights over the course of a lifetime appointment.
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
Forgive Me
I have mixed emotions about the "celebration" of the Jewish holidays/Holydays. Mostly, this stems from my inability to rationalize organized religion. At its most intense, our fates and actions are either being controlled or judged (or both) by an ever-present deity or deities. In some religions, free will is wistful and wishful thinking. Your actions are merely an extension of the divine. What happens to you is predetermined. You are but players on the stage of life, acting out perfectly scripted roles.
In the most strict sense of Judaism, the Talmud (Jewish book of law) says that on Rosh Hashana, God inscribes everyone's name into one of three books. The righteous go into the Book of Life, the evil go into the Book of Death, and those in-between have judgment suspended until Yom Kippur. You best attone for your sins that God then writes your fate into the correct book.
Some liberal observations:
No one is 100% good or 100% evil;
Plenty of good people die which flies in the face of a literal interpretation;
By the same virtue, plenty of bad people survive to do horrendous things;
From a scientific vantage point, natural systems are both orderly and, at times, chaotic. Humans, being a part of nature, are no different, and our ability to correctly predict human actions, based on precedent, is immensely difficult if not impossible. Sometimes, the signs are there, whether we see them or not (Stoneman Douglas), and other times, we are caught completely unaware (Las Vegas).
"Sometimes the lights are shining on me, other times I can barely see."
My values, shaped by a Jewish upbringing, but firmly grounded in science, makes me continuously question the self-righteous actions performed by humans in the name of religion. I am no Zionist, and the recent nationalist actions of Israel make me sick, especially the bulldozing of settlements of HUMAN BEINGS in the West Bank. Similarly, it should be obvious that I have no love for the white-supremacist-accepting millionaire, Donald Trump. I don't believe the man is intentionally racist. I do believe that the man doesn't understand anyone without his ethnic and cultural background, and has no interest in trying to. Do I understand that Jewish people in the 1940s were targeted for eradication? Yes. Do I also understand that Israel was established to ensure that a permanent place was available for an outcast people? Yes. Do I also understand that Trump's enthusiasm for Israel may be based on his understanding that a monotheistic society/nation-state with a single dominant religion is possible and it fuels his desire to move the United States in that direction through walls and tariffs and travel bans, etc.? Did you know that "In God We Trust" was added to paper currency in 1957 to perpetuate the lies of McCarthyism? Did you also know that "under god" was added to the pledge at the same time for the same nationalistic reason?
While Trump's intentions may be pure conjecture on my part, the uncertainty of human actions makes this a difficult time to live with pure convictions. By that, I mean, we (everyone) need to relax our strict definitions of religious edict. We need to be more understanding that there's more than one way to achieve a goal, and that even the smartest of us can't solve our collective problems. Whether this is your holiday or not, take this week to look past the religious veneer of your neighbors. Until we stop caring whether someone has humbled themselves before an invisible god, or attended religious services at Yom Kippur, Easter or Christmas, or fasted during Ramadan, we are doomed to continue the divisiveness born from our collective ignorance. Because, ultimately, the message of all religions is the same: don't be a jerk, and if you were successful at not being a jerk today, then try again tomorrow, and make sure to thank the people who enrich your lives the most. The actions of your goodness speak the loudest, regardless of your upbringing, or your cultural habits, but it takes courage.
"If we had any nerve at all, if we had any real balls as a society, or whatever you need, whatever quality you need, real character, we would make an effort to really address the wrongs in this society, righteously." Jerry Garcia
While my "J" may be different than yours in "WWJD," their logic about humanity frequently overlapped. Because, as Buddha says "No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path."
In the most strict sense of Judaism, the Talmud (Jewish book of law) says that on Rosh Hashana, God inscribes everyone's name into one of three books. The righteous go into the Book of Life, the evil go into the Book of Death, and those in-between have judgment suspended until Yom Kippur. You best attone for your sins that God then writes your fate into the correct book.
Some liberal observations:
No one is 100% good or 100% evil;
Plenty of good people die which flies in the face of a literal interpretation;
By the same virtue, plenty of bad people survive to do horrendous things;
From a scientific vantage point, natural systems are both orderly and, at times, chaotic. Humans, being a part of nature, are no different, and our ability to correctly predict human actions, based on precedent, is immensely difficult if not impossible. Sometimes, the signs are there, whether we see them or not (Stoneman Douglas), and other times, we are caught completely unaware (Las Vegas).
"Sometimes the lights are shining on me, other times I can barely see."
My values, shaped by a Jewish upbringing, but firmly grounded in science, makes me continuously question the self-righteous actions performed by humans in the name of religion. I am no Zionist, and the recent nationalist actions of Israel make me sick, especially the bulldozing of settlements of HUMAN BEINGS in the West Bank. Similarly, it should be obvious that I have no love for the white-supremacist-accepting millionaire, Donald Trump. I don't believe the man is intentionally racist. I do believe that the man doesn't understand anyone without his ethnic and cultural background, and has no interest in trying to. Do I understand that Jewish people in the 1940s were targeted for eradication? Yes. Do I also understand that Israel was established to ensure that a permanent place was available for an outcast people? Yes. Do I also understand that Trump's enthusiasm for Israel may be based on his understanding that a monotheistic society/nation-state with a single dominant religion is possible and it fuels his desire to move the United States in that direction through walls and tariffs and travel bans, etc.? Did you know that "In God We Trust" was added to paper currency in 1957 to perpetuate the lies of McCarthyism? Did you also know that "under god" was added to the pledge at the same time for the same nationalistic reason?
While Trump's intentions may be pure conjecture on my part, the uncertainty of human actions makes this a difficult time to live with pure convictions. By that, I mean, we (everyone) need to relax our strict definitions of religious edict. We need to be more understanding that there's more than one way to achieve a goal, and that even the smartest of us can't solve our collective problems. Whether this is your holiday or not, take this week to look past the religious veneer of your neighbors. Until we stop caring whether someone has humbled themselves before an invisible god, or attended religious services at Yom Kippur, Easter or Christmas, or fasted during Ramadan, we are doomed to continue the divisiveness born from our collective ignorance. Because, ultimately, the message of all religions is the same: don't be a jerk, and if you were successful at not being a jerk today, then try again tomorrow, and make sure to thank the people who enrich your lives the most. The actions of your goodness speak the loudest, regardless of your upbringing, or your cultural habits, but it takes courage.
"If we had any nerve at all, if we had any real balls as a society, or whatever you need, whatever quality you need, real character, we would make an effort to really address the wrongs in this society, righteously." Jerry Garcia
While my "J" may be different than yours in "WWJD," their logic about humanity frequently overlapped. Because, as Buddha says "No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path."
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
The Shakedown
This Labor Day weekend was extremely busy, but also satisfying in several ways: Labor Day tradition (grilling) and familiar outcomes (Phish, music, ramen) spoke the loudest.
As happens every school year, my wife was deep in preparing both our family and her classroom for the first week of school. Quite typically this involves several days in the classroom at the end of the summer even before she officially reports for those no-children, in-service days her contract requires. There's a lot that goes on in that classroom before she's been blessed with around 20 children she'll be required to raise until June of 2019.
Before I get on with my own thoughts, my wife, and her colleagues across the United States will be your child's teacher, therapist, nutritionist, physical trainer, mentor, and, in worst-case scenarios, the first line of defense/first responder whenever something may go wrong for the next 9+ months. And, while her benefits package rivals the more generous ones in corporate America, her salary for someone who has their masters degree, several certifications, and 30 additional credits, is less than half of the take-home of those private industry execs who also have 20 exemplary years at their profession, not to mention that she's working for the same employer. So, add the characteristics of "undying dedication" and "loyalty" to her resume, traits that are deteriorating from work-forces around the country. Hell, they pay the garbage men more than what they pay the person who has volunteered to become a metaphorical and literal human shield for your child. On behalf of her and all of the teachers returning to work this week, you're welcome.
But I digress.
This past Saturday I had arranged for one of my oldest friends, G, to stop by and catch some of the simulcast Phish concert. He came bearing gifts. Firstly, he had mentioned a while ago that he had the opportunity to pick up Dark Star by the David Murray Octet for me. Would I be interested in a Dead-inspired jazz album? Yes please. Murray had played with the band in 1993 introducing a rabid fanbase to his jazz-inspired flourishes on Grateful Dead staples such as Bird Song and Dark Star playing his alto sax. This sits firmly in my wheelhouse of pre-approved music genres: the aforementioned album (Dark Star) is a creative and sometimes cheeky take on your typical Dead set with the eponymous track being the longest, again, strongly emulating what the Dead themselves would do. Speaking of which, the album opens with Shakedown Street, and then Bobby Weir, the rhythm freight train of the Grateful Dead plays on the last track of the album. The circle is complete.
Then, G says, "hey, whatchu know about String Cheese Incident." Told him that, my impression was that it was a jam band, similar to Umphrey's McGee in scope, but with more strings as the name would suggest. Maybe cheese? Told him I wasn't super aware of either. We resorted to the YouTube where we found this gem of a jam from Umphrey's. While it was playing in the background to our old-man-card-game, we continued our conversation, but every once in a while, this band got our attention, especially at 0:17:32 into the video. Holy cow. Unbridled rock. I think I need to do more homework.
Finally, G asks about my experience with Joe Russo's Almost Dead (JRAD). This is a band that's been on my radar for quite some time. The make-up of the band starts with drummer Joe Russo, and includes Ween's bassist Dave Dreiwitz, keyboardist Marco Benevento, Scott Metzger on guitar and vocals, and American Babies' Tom Hamilton on guitar and vocals. The Wife and I had seen Benevento and Russo play together as a duo, with Mike Gordon as a trio, and then with Mike Gordon and Trey Anastasio from Phish (G.R.A.B.?). By themselves, the Benevento/Russo Duo talent pool was deep already. Adding Hamilton, Metzger and Dreiwitz made for an almost certain slam dunk. But, what, you ask, do they play?
The goddam Grateful Dead...primarily.
Shortly after G's visit, he shot me a text with a link to Archive.Org, the end-all-be-all FREE music repository for legally recorded live music. The JRAD show G shared was a recent one from their appearance at the Jam-infused Lockn' Festival and was recorded live on 8/24/2018. Good god they're awesome. Jams are more serious than the proto-typical noodling of Jerry and Co. from the days of old. And, they don't just play the Dead, but, in this set they were able to mix in tracks from The Band and The Bard, and they infused the set with hints of the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Earth Wind and Fire, and Radiohead. There's some serious talent going on. This iteration of this group has been playing since 2013 and are quickly becoming one of the shows I must see...especially if they cap their shows with Feel Like A Stranger into Shakedown Street and back into Feel Like A Stranger. Full show here.
Certainly I can't blame you with thinking that this post may have had something to do with either the President's crony's legal troubles, or the pending release of Bob Woodward's latest book "Fear." However, in times of insanity, of which there are many in this administration, I'm stealin' back to my same old used to be. In times of great turmoil, find comfort in familiar tradition. For me, that's getting my Shakedown on. Proof that I'm doing it right: when the song comes on in any of its many forms (jazz, cover, live recording or studio), both of my kids sing from the back seat. While teachers are the linchpin of our future, some lessons you gotta learn on your own...or from your dad. Don't tell me this town ain't got no heart.
As happens every school year, my wife was deep in preparing both our family and her classroom for the first week of school. Quite typically this involves several days in the classroom at the end of the summer even before she officially reports for those no-children, in-service days her contract requires. There's a lot that goes on in that classroom before she's been blessed with around 20 children she'll be required to raise until June of 2019.
Before I get on with my own thoughts, my wife, and her colleagues across the United States will be your child's teacher, therapist, nutritionist, physical trainer, mentor, and, in worst-case scenarios, the first line of defense/first responder whenever something may go wrong for the next 9+ months. And, while her benefits package rivals the more generous ones in corporate America, her salary for someone who has their masters degree, several certifications, and 30 additional credits, is less than half of the take-home of those private industry execs who also have 20 exemplary years at their profession, not to mention that she's working for the same employer. So, add the characteristics of "undying dedication" and "loyalty" to her resume, traits that are deteriorating from work-forces around the country. Hell, they pay the garbage men more than what they pay the person who has volunteered to become a metaphorical and literal human shield for your child. On behalf of her and all of the teachers returning to work this week, you're welcome.
But I digress.
This past Saturday I had arranged for one of my oldest friends, G, to stop by and catch some of the simulcast Phish concert. He came bearing gifts. Firstly, he had mentioned a while ago that he had the opportunity to pick up Dark Star by the David Murray Octet for me. Would I be interested in a Dead-inspired jazz album? Yes please. Murray had played with the band in 1993 introducing a rabid fanbase to his jazz-inspired flourishes on Grateful Dead staples such as Bird Song and Dark Star playing his alto sax. This sits firmly in my wheelhouse of pre-approved music genres: the aforementioned album (Dark Star) is a creative and sometimes cheeky take on your typical Dead set with the eponymous track being the longest, again, strongly emulating what the Dead themselves would do. Speaking of which, the album opens with Shakedown Street, and then Bobby Weir, the rhythm freight train of the Grateful Dead plays on the last track of the album. The circle is complete.
Then, G says, "hey, whatchu know about String Cheese Incident." Told him that, my impression was that it was a jam band, similar to Umphrey's McGee in scope, but with more strings as the name would suggest. Maybe cheese? Told him I wasn't super aware of either. We resorted to the YouTube where we found this gem of a jam from Umphrey's. While it was playing in the background to our old-man-card-game, we continued our conversation, but every once in a while, this band got our attention, especially at 0:17:32 into the video. Holy cow. Unbridled rock. I think I need to do more homework.
Finally, G asks about my experience with Joe Russo's Almost Dead (JRAD). This is a band that's been on my radar for quite some time. The make-up of the band starts with drummer Joe Russo, and includes Ween's bassist Dave Dreiwitz, keyboardist Marco Benevento, Scott Metzger on guitar and vocals, and American Babies' Tom Hamilton on guitar and vocals. The Wife and I had seen Benevento and Russo play together as a duo, with Mike Gordon as a trio, and then with Mike Gordon and Trey Anastasio from Phish (G.R.A.B.?). By themselves, the Benevento/Russo Duo talent pool was deep already. Adding Hamilton, Metzger and Dreiwitz made for an almost certain slam dunk. But, what, you ask, do they play?
The goddam Grateful Dead...primarily.
Shortly after G's visit, he shot me a text with a link to Archive.Org, the end-all-be-all FREE music repository for legally recorded live music. The JRAD show G shared was a recent one from their appearance at the Jam-infused Lockn' Festival and was recorded live on 8/24/2018. Good god they're awesome. Jams are more serious than the proto-typical noodling of Jerry and Co. from the days of old. And, they don't just play the Dead, but, in this set they were able to mix in tracks from The Band and The Bard, and they infused the set with hints of the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Earth Wind and Fire, and Radiohead. There's some serious talent going on. This iteration of this group has been playing since 2013 and are quickly becoming one of the shows I must see...especially if they cap their shows with Feel Like A Stranger into Shakedown Street and back into Feel Like A Stranger. Full show here.
Certainly I can't blame you with thinking that this post may have had something to do with either the President's crony's legal troubles, or the pending release of Bob Woodward's latest book "Fear." However, in times of insanity, of which there are many in this administration, I'm stealin' back to my same old used to be. In times of great turmoil, find comfort in familiar tradition. For me, that's getting my Shakedown on. Proof that I'm doing it right: when the song comes on in any of its many forms (jazz, cover, live recording or studio), both of my kids sing from the back seat. While teachers are the linchpin of our future, some lessons you gotta learn on your own...or from your dad. Don't tell me this town ain't got no heart.
Thursday, August 23, 2018
We've been warned
Another vacation. Another naturalist. Another warning about climate change, human causation, and political ineptitude from the front lines.
Last week I didn't write a blog post due to the fact that my family and I were on another vacation. Sometimes summer works like that. And, this time it worked heavily in my favor. After beginning the summer in Alaska, we were able to revisit one of our most favorite places in the country: Mount Desert Island (MDI), Maine, home to Bar Harbor, and, more importantly, Acadia National Park.
MDI has many unique characteristics. At 108 square miles, it's the largest island off the coast of Maine, and second largest island on the eastern seaboard. Only Long Island in New York is larger. Wisconsin Glacial retreating, that occurred over 15 thousand years ago, caused the formation of approximately 26 peaks, the tallest of which stands at 1,529 feet...which doesn't sound like much, but mostly because the majority of hikes start at an elevation greater than sea level. Not so with MDI.
Acadia preserves 47,000 acres of land, and in 2017, according to NPS, over 3.5 million visitors...well, visited. Simple math tells us that's over 74 people per acre...if every inch of the park was visited equally, which it's not. Enter Park Loop Road and Sand Beach traffic congestion. Still, like us, the majority of these visitors came between the months of May and September. Why? We're trying to live like the Rockefellers in the early 1900's, and escape the heat and bustle of New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia, etc.
MDI is also home to many migrating bird species. It's smack dab in the middle of the northern part of the Atlantic Flyway, a name given to the geographic area where the majority of bird migration occurs, from Florida and further south (i.e. Cuba, Central and South America) to Maine, Canada and Greenland. And, change is afoot. During my time on MDI, I made it a point to visit with Michael Good. Michael is a jack-of-all trades naturalist with expertise in anything MDI: geology, botany, biology, and ecology, though his passion is birds. Michael has been giving island birding tours since 1993, collecting data and performing quantitative analysis on observed species and he knows nearly every nook and cranny on the island where they may be hiding. During our outing, his warning about man-made environmental change was no different than my guide in Alaska.
"I see chaotic [ecological] fluctuations every year"
One of Michael's messages: everything is connected. During our outing, he made sure to show us where fish ladders have been rebuilt. A concerted effort was made in 2007 to rebuild fish ladders that, historically, allowed alewives access through the tidal streams into the freshwater lakes to spawn. What are alewives? According to the Maine Department of Marine Resources: "Alewives are important to the ecology of freshwater, estuarine, and marine environments. They provide an alternative prey item for osprey, eagles, great blue heron, loons and other fish eating birds at the same time juvenile Atlantic salmon are migrating downriver. Alewives provide cover for upstream migrating adult salmon that may be preyed on by eagles or osprey, and for young salmon in the estuaries and open ocean that might be captured by seals." Alewives are another species that specifically impact both marine and freshwater ecosystems found on MDI. They are essential components of the food chain both in life and death, providing direct nutrients to things that eat them, and indirect nutrients to the lands and water bodies where they decompose.
Which brings me back to birds. Things are changing almost too quickly to document.
"Twenty years ago we had many more Evening Grosbeak and hardly any Northern Cardinals or Canada Geese. Today, no Evening Grosbeak, Cardinals are everywhere and Canada Geese are starting to be seen in every watershed...so the dynamics are changing for sure."
I asked him what were the primary contributors, and he basically said that we have a tremendous job of undoing all of the stupid decisions we've made in the past. "The other aspect of this is how the 'ecologically-illiterate' people of the past and those science and ecology deniers of today, are essentially the product of the 'European Concept of Exploitation' and the absolute misunderstanding of Ecological Systems and how they are tied to our economy." He's speaking of the collective economy, but also of the coastal Maine economy. Unplanned, unsustainable, uninformed human practices, it turns out, is bad for business. Due to over-fishing, the only coastal fishery allowed to operate is lobster. No cod. No haddock. No flounder. No pollock. The Boston Globe reported earlier this year that these staples of traditional New England catches have moved to colder water. Also, the dip in alewives as bait-fish due to poor management practices in addition to years of mismanaging ocean stocks of fish have led to those fish being unsustainable. And they're not done making poor political mistakes with our environment.
Michael puts it this way: "Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife cannot design a free-flowing fish passage for the Union River because of the 70 foot tall Union River Dam. That dam is sucking the life out of Blue Hill bay and nobody... not a single politician is doing anything about it nor have they since 1908. So, we need some good old American Common Sense and some direction that increases our biodiversity."
And, we need it now. The ignorance shown by our politicians where natural systems are regarded is mind boggling. On a page that our Cheeto-In-Chief hasn't found yet, NASA.GOV, the statement is quite plain: "Observations throughout the world make it clear that climate change is occurring, and rigorous scientific research demonstrates that the greenhouse gases emitted by human activities are the primary driver." This on a page named Scientific Consensus. The 18 organizations listed on that page seem disconnected to you and me...which is why we need to heed the warnings from scientists like Michael Good, and the work that Down East Nature Tours is doing. It's not too late to vote in environmentally responsible representation. And, as I've mentioned before, it's not too late to change personal habits with regard to our choices of light bulbs and ensuring that we're not contributing to the waste problem that single-use plastic bags presents. "Now that you mentioned Cuba [above, ed.] you better tie in the plastics issues because the beaches of Cuba are covered by plastic." Thanks Michael. I guess I now know where I need to visit next before we've permanently destroyed those too.
Last week I didn't write a blog post due to the fact that my family and I were on another vacation. Sometimes summer works like that. And, this time it worked heavily in my favor. After beginning the summer in Alaska, we were able to revisit one of our most favorite places in the country: Mount Desert Island (MDI), Maine, home to Bar Harbor, and, more importantly, Acadia National Park.
MDI has many unique characteristics. At 108 square miles, it's the largest island off the coast of Maine, and second largest island on the eastern seaboard. Only Long Island in New York is larger. Wisconsin Glacial retreating, that occurred over 15 thousand years ago, caused the formation of approximately 26 peaks, the tallest of which stands at 1,529 feet...which doesn't sound like much, but mostly because the majority of hikes start at an elevation greater than sea level. Not so with MDI.
Acadia preserves 47,000 acres of land, and in 2017, according to NPS, over 3.5 million visitors...well, visited. Simple math tells us that's over 74 people per acre...if every inch of the park was visited equally, which it's not. Enter Park Loop Road and Sand Beach traffic congestion. Still, like us, the majority of these visitors came between the months of May and September. Why? We're trying to live like the Rockefellers in the early 1900's, and escape the heat and bustle of New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia, etc.
MDI is also home to many migrating bird species. It's smack dab in the middle of the northern part of the Atlantic Flyway, a name given to the geographic area where the majority of bird migration occurs, from Florida and further south (i.e. Cuba, Central and South America) to Maine, Canada and Greenland. And, change is afoot. During my time on MDI, I made it a point to visit with Michael Good. Michael is a jack-of-all trades naturalist with expertise in anything MDI: geology, botany, biology, and ecology, though his passion is birds. Michael has been giving island birding tours since 1993, collecting data and performing quantitative analysis on observed species and he knows nearly every nook and cranny on the island where they may be hiding. During our outing, his warning about man-made environmental change was no different than my guide in Alaska.
"I see chaotic [ecological] fluctuations every year"
One of Michael's messages: everything is connected. During our outing, he made sure to show us where fish ladders have been rebuilt. A concerted effort was made in 2007 to rebuild fish ladders that, historically, allowed alewives access through the tidal streams into the freshwater lakes to spawn. What are alewives? According to the Maine Department of Marine Resources: "Alewives are important to the ecology of freshwater, estuarine, and marine environments. They provide an alternative prey item for osprey, eagles, great blue heron, loons and other fish eating birds at the same time juvenile Atlantic salmon are migrating downriver. Alewives provide cover for upstream migrating adult salmon that may be preyed on by eagles or osprey, and for young salmon in the estuaries and open ocean that might be captured by seals." Alewives are another species that specifically impact both marine and freshwater ecosystems found on MDI. They are essential components of the food chain both in life and death, providing direct nutrients to things that eat them, and indirect nutrients to the lands and water bodies where they decompose.
Which brings me back to birds. Things are changing almost too quickly to document.
"Twenty years ago we had many more Evening Grosbeak and hardly any Northern Cardinals or Canada Geese. Today, no Evening Grosbeak, Cardinals are everywhere and Canada Geese are starting to be seen in every watershed...so the dynamics are changing for sure."
I asked him what were the primary contributors, and he basically said that we have a tremendous job of undoing all of the stupid decisions we've made in the past. "The other aspect of this is how the 'ecologically-illiterate' people of the past and those science and ecology deniers of today, are essentially the product of the 'European Concept of Exploitation' and the absolute misunderstanding of Ecological Systems and how they are tied to our economy." He's speaking of the collective economy, but also of the coastal Maine economy. Unplanned, unsustainable, uninformed human practices, it turns out, is bad for business. Due to over-fishing, the only coastal fishery allowed to operate is lobster. No cod. No haddock. No flounder. No pollock. The Boston Globe reported earlier this year that these staples of traditional New England catches have moved to colder water. Also, the dip in alewives as bait-fish due to poor management practices in addition to years of mismanaging ocean stocks of fish have led to those fish being unsustainable. And they're not done making poor political mistakes with our environment.
Michael puts it this way: "Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife cannot design a free-flowing fish passage for the Union River because of the 70 foot tall Union River Dam. That dam is sucking the life out of Blue Hill bay and nobody... not a single politician is doing anything about it nor have they since 1908. So, we need some good old American Common Sense and some direction that increases our biodiversity."
And, we need it now. The ignorance shown by our politicians where natural systems are regarded is mind boggling. On a page that our Cheeto-In-Chief hasn't found yet, NASA.GOV, the statement is quite plain: "Observations throughout the world make it clear that climate change is occurring, and rigorous scientific research demonstrates that the greenhouse gases emitted by human activities are the primary driver." This on a page named Scientific Consensus. The 18 organizations listed on that page seem disconnected to you and me...which is why we need to heed the warnings from scientists like Michael Good, and the work that Down East Nature Tours is doing. It's not too late to vote in environmentally responsible representation. And, as I've mentioned before, it's not too late to change personal habits with regard to our choices of light bulbs and ensuring that we're not contributing to the waste problem that single-use plastic bags presents. "Now that you mentioned Cuba [above, ed.] you better tie in the plastics issues because the beaches of Cuba are covered by plastic." Thanks Michael. I guess I now know where I need to visit next before we've permanently destroyed those too.
Friday, August 3, 2018
Hummable Brag
This post is mostly about my victory against the man! In this case, the man is fictional, but that doesn't matter. A little history:
On Wednesday night, my wife, my friends and I shuffled off to Port Chester, New York to catch one of our favorite musicians play in the small bar, Garcia's. Keller Williams, who has long covered music of the Grateful Dead intertwined with his own tunes, was scheduled to play all Dead/Jerry Garcia covers on August 1st. Why? It was Jerry's (or would have been) 76th birthday. It's been a while since he's passed. Jerry died from a heart attack at age 53 in 1995. What's significant about that is, due to the number of narcotics he experimented/depended on during his career as a musician, 53 is longer than he probably should have lived, especially after surviving a diabetic coma and other debilitating conditions.
Jerry did well to live that long.
But, for those of us who believe that he was an incredible musician and lyricist, we depend on others to continue to bring us his music; enter Keller Williams. Now, before I go on, it should be noted that Keller has zero to do with the realty agency. Just a coincidence. Keller performs his own original compositions along with other tracks he appreciates, and he has (nearly) always included Grateful Dead music in his shows, regardless of whether he's performing solo or as part of a larger musical ensemble.
When announced in April that he was going to play this show, my group jumped on the opportunity to grab tickets. And, sure enough, they evaporated as Garcia's is a small venue, and have been sold out since the beginning of May. They even added a second show. That sold out too. Fast forward to earlier this week as the concert fast approached: organizers of the event surprised all of us when they announced that, due to the sell out, they would be simulcasting the show, for free, on the YouTube. Hurray! Friends, unable to grab tickets, would be able to see the show anyway! Also, this presented a unique opportunity.
I'm a bit of a collector of music, specifically music I've seen. At previous Keller shows, I've even gone to the soundboard operator, master of Keller's domain, Lou Gosain, and asked if a copy of the live show would be made available for purchase. The answer was always no. Sure, at some venues, Keller's peeps allowed for tapers to bring their own mics and record the performance, complete with audience noise/chatter, but I was looking for something a bit cleaner, a soundboard copy. And, this time, I was able to get it.
Because they used YouTube, I thought the video of the show would remain on there for a bit. Turns out, that was true. The show, in its entirety, is still up on YouTube. So, how to get it off. Well, the first order of business was to grab the show/download it, just in case it disappeared. While you can load a mess of plug-ins to Chrome, I was doubtful that there would be one so that you could locally save videos since both Chrome and YouTube are properties of Google. Enter Firefox. I added the extension, and a button appeared just below the video: would you like to download this in HD 720p? Yes please.
Now that I had the file, I would need some audio-processing software and MP3-ripping software as well. Enter Audacity. Audacity is FREE and powerful. It allows you to record from your mic, but more importantly, directly from your soundcard in your computer. I was able to play back the show I just downloaded and simultaneously record just the audio track without degradation. Then, Audacity allows you to split the file into individual tracks, normalize the volume, and batch (read: do multiple) save the resultant tracks into individual MP3 files complete with artist/album metadata!
DONE AND DONE.
What I was left with was a near-CD quality show, certainly good enough for car listening, that I could upload to my iPhone without streaming, and relisten to a board-copy of one of the most fun concerts I've been to in a while! Where there's a will there's a way. Now, there may be a reason why Keller's people, and possibly the venue's administration, why this wasn't or wouldn't be made available. But, as it was a free show, one I don't intend on selling for my own profit, I don't think I'm breaking any copyright laws. I may be wrong, but at least when they lock me up, I'll be in my cell with Keller's own brand of bittersweet, folk rock, for free!
P.S. If you tune into the YouTube video (music starts at 14:09), it's practically an advertisement for my wife, who is heavily featured in every song due to the fact that she was tempted to jump onto the stage and hug Keller the entire night. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed. Yes, I'm confident in the strength of my marriage, I think.
On Wednesday night, my wife, my friends and I shuffled off to Port Chester, New York to catch one of our favorite musicians play in the small bar, Garcia's. Keller Williams, who has long covered music of the Grateful Dead intertwined with his own tunes, was scheduled to play all Dead/Jerry Garcia covers on August 1st. Why? It was Jerry's (or would have been) 76th birthday. It's been a while since he's passed. Jerry died from a heart attack at age 53 in 1995. What's significant about that is, due to the number of narcotics he experimented/depended on during his career as a musician, 53 is longer than he probably should have lived, especially after surviving a diabetic coma and other debilitating conditions.
Jerry did well to live that long.
But, for those of us who believe that he was an incredible musician and lyricist, we depend on others to continue to bring us his music; enter Keller Williams. Now, before I go on, it should be noted that Keller has zero to do with the realty agency. Just a coincidence. Keller performs his own original compositions along with other tracks he appreciates, and he has (nearly) always included Grateful Dead music in his shows, regardless of whether he's performing solo or as part of a larger musical ensemble.
When announced in April that he was going to play this show, my group jumped on the opportunity to grab tickets. And, sure enough, they evaporated as Garcia's is a small venue, and have been sold out since the beginning of May. They even added a second show. That sold out too. Fast forward to earlier this week as the concert fast approached: organizers of the event surprised all of us when they announced that, due to the sell out, they would be simulcasting the show, for free, on the YouTube. Hurray! Friends, unable to grab tickets, would be able to see the show anyway! Also, this presented a unique opportunity.
I'm a bit of a collector of music, specifically music I've seen. At previous Keller shows, I've even gone to the soundboard operator, master of Keller's domain, Lou Gosain, and asked if a copy of the live show would be made available for purchase. The answer was always no. Sure, at some venues, Keller's peeps allowed for tapers to bring their own mics and record the performance, complete with audience noise/chatter, but I was looking for something a bit cleaner, a soundboard copy. And, this time, I was able to get it.
Because they used YouTube, I thought the video of the show would remain on there for a bit. Turns out, that was true. The show, in its entirety, is still up on YouTube. So, how to get it off. Well, the first order of business was to grab the show/download it, just in case it disappeared. While you can load a mess of plug-ins to Chrome, I was doubtful that there would be one so that you could locally save videos since both Chrome and YouTube are properties of Google. Enter Firefox. I added the extension, and a button appeared just below the video: would you like to download this in HD 720p? Yes please.
Now that I had the file, I would need some audio-processing software and MP3-ripping software as well. Enter Audacity. Audacity is FREE and powerful. It allows you to record from your mic, but more importantly, directly from your soundcard in your computer. I was able to play back the show I just downloaded and simultaneously record just the audio track without degradation. Then, Audacity allows you to split the file into individual tracks, normalize the volume, and batch (read: do multiple) save the resultant tracks into individual MP3 files complete with artist/album metadata!
DONE AND DONE.
What I was left with was a near-CD quality show, certainly good enough for car listening, that I could upload to my iPhone without streaming, and relisten to a board-copy of one of the most fun concerts I've been to in a while! Where there's a will there's a way. Now, there may be a reason why Keller's people, and possibly the venue's administration, why this wasn't or wouldn't be made available. But, as it was a free show, one I don't intend on selling for my own profit, I don't think I'm breaking any copyright laws. I may be wrong, but at least when they lock me up, I'll be in my cell with Keller's own brand of bittersweet, folk rock, for free!
P.S. If you tune into the YouTube video (music starts at 14:09), it's practically an advertisement for my wife, who is heavily featured in every song due to the fact that she was tempted to jump onto the stage and hug Keller the entire night. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed. Yes, I'm confident in the strength of my marriage, I think.
Thursday, July 26, 2018
Sleight of Hand Done Poorly
The infidelities of the President and his attempts at keeping them under wraps are doing exactly what he wants them to do: distract. Seemingly, every time there's a serious charge leveled against this President, something trivial is exposed which then dominates the easily distracted news media, desperate to report anything that would besmirch the man's already less-than-stellar reputation.
For the Trump team the play is now: distract from disastrous economic and foreign policy by instructing your "fixer" to play the role one last time. Serve your master and release the tapes! Amazing that, as we learn more about Russian influence in our collective political sphere, Cohen (through his lawyer) releases a tape with a recording so ambiguous that both the extreme left and paranoid right claim that it proves their point/s.
Pay no attention to the meeting with Putin or the admission that Russia acted as a bad international agent in our political lives...they didn't, they did, they didn't again, they did but in the favor of the Dems. Trump's constantly changing allegiances stems from the fact that he's a single puppet being used by so many ill-intentioned puppeteers. What, I've said too much? Change the subject!!! Russian spy who slept with ugly NRA members caught? RELEASE THE TAPE and watch the media swarm all over it for days using every word in Webster's dictionary and saying nothing.
Butina, like communism, is just a red herring.
While this administration dismantles our education system, our environmental restrictions (see: clean air, endangered species list, reclamation of national monuments for profiteering), puts money back into the pockets of the filthy rich while condemning our national debt to drop like school child hit by an AR-15 round, the media is frothing over the fact that our President paid $250,000 to get laid twice! Great businessman indeed! #notnews #bankruptethics (see: Atlantic City, NJ)
Look, how many American born traveling abroad were captured by an oppressive nation that then claimed they were spies? Working in full view of anyone caring to pay attention, Butina does qualify as acting suspiciously, more because of her ability to win both games: Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon and Six Degrees of Vladimir Putin in three or less connections. Still, she wasn't hiding! Anything! Have at her CNN, MSNBC, WashPo...and while you're distracted let's really eff things up.
Enter Betsy DeVos stage right. She's wearing a coordinated business skirt-suit and her traditional wireframe glasses. She walks to the podium in the center of the stage and begins speaking in a whisper:
BETSY [muttering]: "students taken advantage of by colleges will no longer be able to find loan relief from the Federal Government..."
MEDIA [collectively]: "SPEAK UP!"
BETSY: "Release the footage of my boat."
MEDIA: "Hey, look what they did to Betsy's boat! Our top story tonight, billionaire Betsy DeVos may find herself in an insurance pickle as someone undocked her $40 million yacht which then sustained...wait for it...you're not going to believe it, between $5,000 and $10,000 in damages."
MEDIA: "RUN THIS ON ALL CHANNELS FOR 10 HOURS STRAIGHT!!!"
End scene, except it's not.
I'm not saying that stories about how Trump campaign funds were used as hush money for exotic dancers and playmates aren't peripherally important. What I am saying is that Cohen, Daniels, McDougal, Butina are nothing better than media fodder. Ask Clinton. Ask JFK. While infidelity sells, it's hardly the most important story about what our President and his administration are doing to this country, and it makes the progenitor of these slight-of-hand stories seem, to quote Ray Stantz, Ghostbuster, 1984, "either the architect [of these distracting news stories] was a certified genius, or an authentic whacko!"
All of the above is to say: stay focused on attacks of actual policy that impact our citizenry (Farmers, this is you!) Make no mistake, the 24hr "news" headlines are being used, on purpose or inadvertently, to distract us from real policy change and legislation meant to promote the agenda of our puppet-in-chief, who, with all the hands up there, is bound to get ripped a new one...eventually. Paging Dr. Mueller...Dr. Mueller, it's time for a political caputque abscisum.
For the Trump team the play is now: distract from disastrous economic and foreign policy by instructing your "fixer" to play the role one last time. Serve your master and release the tapes! Amazing that, as we learn more about Russian influence in our collective political sphere, Cohen (through his lawyer) releases a tape with a recording so ambiguous that both the extreme left and paranoid right claim that it proves their point/s.
Pay no attention to the meeting with Putin or the admission that Russia acted as a bad international agent in our political lives...they didn't, they did, they didn't again, they did but in the favor of the Dems. Trump's constantly changing allegiances stems from the fact that he's a single puppet being used by so many ill-intentioned puppeteers. What, I've said too much? Change the subject!!! Russian spy who slept with ugly NRA members caught? RELEASE THE TAPE and watch the media swarm all over it for days using every word in Webster's dictionary and saying nothing.
Butina, like communism, is just a red herring.
While this administration dismantles our education system, our environmental restrictions (see: clean air, endangered species list, reclamation of national monuments for profiteering), puts money back into the pockets of the filthy rich while condemning our national debt to drop like school child hit by an AR-15 round, the media is frothing over the fact that our President paid $250,000 to get laid twice! Great businessman indeed! #notnews #bankruptethics (see: Atlantic City, NJ)
Look, how many American born traveling abroad were captured by an oppressive nation that then claimed they were spies? Working in full view of anyone caring to pay attention, Butina does qualify as acting suspiciously, more because of her ability to win both games: Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon and Six Degrees of Vladimir Putin in three or less connections. Still, she wasn't hiding! Anything! Have at her CNN, MSNBC, WashPo...and while you're distracted let's really eff things up.
Enter Betsy DeVos stage right. She's wearing a coordinated business skirt-suit and her traditional wireframe glasses. She walks to the podium in the center of the stage and begins speaking in a whisper:
BETSY [muttering]: "students taken advantage of by colleges will no longer be able to find loan relief from the Federal Government..."
MEDIA [collectively]: "SPEAK UP!"
BETSY: "Release the footage of my boat."
MEDIA: "Hey, look what they did to Betsy's boat! Our top story tonight, billionaire Betsy DeVos may find herself in an insurance pickle as someone undocked her $40 million yacht which then sustained...wait for it...you're not going to believe it, between $5,000 and $10,000 in damages."
MEDIA: "RUN THIS ON ALL CHANNELS FOR 10 HOURS STRAIGHT!!!"
End scene, except it's not.
I'm not saying that stories about how Trump campaign funds were used as hush money for exotic dancers and playmates aren't peripherally important. What I am saying is that Cohen, Daniels, McDougal, Butina are nothing better than media fodder. Ask Clinton. Ask JFK. While infidelity sells, it's hardly the most important story about what our President and his administration are doing to this country, and it makes the progenitor of these slight-of-hand stories seem, to quote Ray Stantz, Ghostbuster, 1984, "either the architect [of these distracting news stories] was a certified genius, or an authentic whacko!"
All of the above is to say: stay focused on attacks of actual policy that impact our citizenry (Farmers, this is you!) Make no mistake, the 24hr "news" headlines are being used, on purpose or inadvertently, to distract us from real policy change and legislation meant to promote the agenda of our puppet-in-chief, who, with all the hands up there, is bound to get ripped a new one...eventually. Paging Dr. Mueller...Dr. Mueller, it's time for a political caputque abscisum.
Thursday, July 19, 2018
Alaskan Straws
It's been two weeks since I've written here because, last week and the week before, my family took a trip from the great state of NJ to Alaska by way of Seattle. You may think that this is a "sky is falling" point of view, but the intent was to get our kids to see a glacier before it was gone. I don't care if you believe in global warming, but the glaciers do, and they're receding at an unprecedented state. That's math and that's science and it's measurable and shut-up. Hell, the latest trend, and I fully support it, is the removal of the defalt, non-compostable, plastic straw. Unless you're differently abled, you will survive without them. Trust me. It'll be OK.
Other goals on this trip that were vocalized by the kids and us was to: pan for gold, cuddle with sled-dog puppies, and see orcas. Based on the time of year and the geography of the region we were covering, none of these things were out of the realm of possibility. And off we went.
I'll start by saying that we're not a cruise family. We tend to enjoy the potential of stops/visits that weren't planned. For instance, we stumbled upon the Henry Cowell State Park in California on our last day as we traveled back to San Francisco from Monterey Bay a couple years ago. That park was amazing. So, you can imagine that the boat, at times, felt constraining. The kids felt it too, though, less so as they were more likely to brave the 60 degree temps and hit the (slightly) heated pools on the top deck.
However, as you can imagine, the best parts were when we were off the ship. Excursions, though overpriced, were rewarding. The kids got their sled-dog puppy cuddling time and visited with dogs that ran the iditarod. Cool. We did pan for gold, and after spending $130 for the honor, we made about $32 back in found gold flakes. The orca hunt was less successful. Didn't see a one. I'm sure they were there, smiling as we looked the wrong way...or maybe it was because we were so distracted with the humpbacks.
Oh yes. By far, my best time was on a small 12-person boat in the Inner Passage with guide, captain and other guests, searching the surf for surfacing whales (say that 5 times fast). And we hit the jackpot. After chasing a very specific whale for about 30 minutes, our captain moved further south where she guessed others would be...and how! For about an hour, we witnessed approximately 10 whales, together, surfacing and spouting, and diving. My pictures won't/don't do the experience justice, mostly because, what made the moment special was the knowledge shared by our guide during the trip. Jim was an expert and a photographer and a gear-head, and it was an absolute pleasure having him lead our group for the 6 hours we were together.
But, towards the end of the trip, Jim's patter started matching my own message I was trying to deliver to the kids: this stuff is disappearing. Why are the whales there? Because herring are abundant. Why are herring abundant? Because krill is abundant. And, why is krill abundant? Because of the nutrients found in the waters in that part of the world. And, where do those nutrients come from? Minerals smashed during the process of glacial ice movement towards the sea and the eventual mixing of the fresh and salt waters combined with rich mineral deposits.
And where are the glaciers going?
This is not trivial stuff...because, the more whales thrive, the more species thrive that feed on either whales (read: sharks, crabs, bottom feeders, etc.) or whale poop (read: kelp, krill, more shellfish and bottom feeders). When the whales disappear or even diminish in numbers, other species will become unsustainable...which will eventually mean that our food sources from the oceans will go with them. This is not alarmist, this is scientific proven fact. The human species is messing with the food-chain and the natural order of the world can't correct it quickly enough.
My hope is that, in 10 or 20 years, my kids will remember this trip enough to say: "Yes, I was able to see the glaciers and the whales before they disappeared...and do you really need that disposable plastic straw?"
Other goals on this trip that were vocalized by the kids and us was to: pan for gold, cuddle with sled-dog puppies, and see orcas. Based on the time of year and the geography of the region we were covering, none of these things were out of the realm of possibility. And off we went.
I'll start by saying that we're not a cruise family. We tend to enjoy the potential of stops/visits that weren't planned. For instance, we stumbled upon the Henry Cowell State Park in California on our last day as we traveled back to San Francisco from Monterey Bay a couple years ago. That park was amazing. So, you can imagine that the boat, at times, felt constraining. The kids felt it too, though, less so as they were more likely to brave the 60 degree temps and hit the (slightly) heated pools on the top deck.
However, as you can imagine, the best parts were when we were off the ship. Excursions, though overpriced, were rewarding. The kids got their sled-dog puppy cuddling time and visited with dogs that ran the iditarod. Cool. We did pan for gold, and after spending $130 for the honor, we made about $32 back in found gold flakes. The orca hunt was less successful. Didn't see a one. I'm sure they were there, smiling as we looked the wrong way...or maybe it was because we were so distracted with the humpbacks.
Oh yes. By far, my best time was on a small 12-person boat in the Inner Passage with guide, captain and other guests, searching the surf for surfacing whales (say that 5 times fast). And we hit the jackpot. After chasing a very specific whale for about 30 minutes, our captain moved further south where she guessed others would be...and how! For about an hour, we witnessed approximately 10 whales, together, surfacing and spouting, and diving. My pictures won't/don't do the experience justice, mostly because, what made the moment special was the knowledge shared by our guide during the trip. Jim was an expert and a photographer and a gear-head, and it was an absolute pleasure having him lead our group for the 6 hours we were together.
But, towards the end of the trip, Jim's patter started matching my own message I was trying to deliver to the kids: this stuff is disappearing. Why are the whales there? Because herring are abundant. Why are herring abundant? Because krill is abundant. And, why is krill abundant? Because of the nutrients found in the waters in that part of the world. And, where do those nutrients come from? Minerals smashed during the process of glacial ice movement towards the sea and the eventual mixing of the fresh and salt waters combined with rich mineral deposits.
And where are the glaciers going?
This is not trivial stuff...because, the more whales thrive, the more species thrive that feed on either whales (read: sharks, crabs, bottom feeders, etc.) or whale poop (read: kelp, krill, more shellfish and bottom feeders). When the whales disappear or even diminish in numbers, other species will become unsustainable...which will eventually mean that our food sources from the oceans will go with them. This is not alarmist, this is scientific proven fact. The human species is messing with the food-chain and the natural order of the world can't correct it quickly enough.
My hope is that, in 10 or 20 years, my kids will remember this trip enough to say: "Yes, I was able to see the glaciers and the whales before they disappeared...and do you really need that disposable plastic straw?"
Friday, June 29, 2018
I'm Looking Over
Wednesdays are the day when I typically am able to get out and mow both yards at the house. Recently, in order to cut down my carbon footprint, my family invested in an electric lawnmower which has an approximate 2-hour run time, more than enough for my suburban yard, which I've let go a bit. When we moved in several years ago, I would argue that the majority of the lawn was a 50/50 mix of grass and weeds, green weeds, so that's OK, some dandelions, and some clover. I'm not sure what happened over the winter, but this year, the yard has become predominantly clover, which is currently in bloom with small olive-sized white flowers, all over the lawn, like a 70/30 split. It's a simple function of species competition in a diverse mini-ecosystem comprised of whatever the birds drop on it along with wind-carried seed and adjacent propagation of species due to available resources and proximity to other plants of the same species. Hence, the clover. And the insects love it, specifically the bees and other nectar-dependent insects, and the birds that eat them. The resident song sparrow seems to thank me every morning as I leave for work.
This is good.
Researchers at Penn State have identified that "In the United States, over 24 million acres of lawn surround our homes." Largely, the types of grass used for these lawns are non-native water hogs, and therefore no good for local flora and fauna. Subdivisions that knock down native forest species displace otherwise natural habitat that some of our most vulnerable species depend on for survival. Also, by maintaining lawns, we are creating acres and acres of fringe habitat where shrubs and low-growth plants provide an easy source of nutrients to one of New Jersey's largest nuisance animals: the white-tailed deer. While deer are suited to be forest dwelling, nature was able to regulate their success by keeping the food higher up, thereby reducing their ability to thrive and breed. With our self-imposed lawn/fringe habitats, we've created our own traffic problems. Just ask Princeton Township, who hires sniper squads to annually cull the deer population and reduce vehicular/deer incidents with the resulting meat donated to the local food bank.
But, I digress. I don't have a deer problem. Quite the opposite, I've got a yard that is literally buzzing, and I love it. Ever hear of clover honey? No, I don't have a beehive on the property (yet...not sure if there is a local ordinance prohibiting it). However, the majority of honey on the market is clover honey, which just means that bees collect the majority of their nectar from clover flowers. There are plenty of other kinds of honey out there. In California you may be lucky enough to buy avocado honey. In the mid-west, there's buckwheat honey which is darker in color and contains different minerals, potentially healthier for consumption. But the maintenance of my field of clover has other ancillary benefits:
This is good.
Researchers at Penn State have identified that "In the United States, over 24 million acres of lawn surround our homes." Largely, the types of grass used for these lawns are non-native water hogs, and therefore no good for local flora and fauna. Subdivisions that knock down native forest species displace otherwise natural habitat that some of our most vulnerable species depend on for survival. Also, by maintaining lawns, we are creating acres and acres of fringe habitat where shrubs and low-growth plants provide an easy source of nutrients to one of New Jersey's largest nuisance animals: the white-tailed deer. While deer are suited to be forest dwelling, nature was able to regulate their success by keeping the food higher up, thereby reducing their ability to thrive and breed. With our self-imposed lawn/fringe habitats, we've created our own traffic problems. Just ask Princeton Township, who hires sniper squads to annually cull the deer population and reduce vehicular/deer incidents with the resulting meat donated to the local food bank.
But, I digress. I don't have a deer problem. Quite the opposite, I've got a yard that is literally buzzing, and I love it. Ever hear of clover honey? No, I don't have a beehive on the property (yet...not sure if there is a local ordinance prohibiting it). However, the majority of honey on the market is clover honey, which just means that bees collect the majority of their nectar from clover flowers. There are plenty of other kinds of honey out there. In California you may be lucky enough to buy avocado honey. In the mid-west, there's buckwheat honey which is darker in color and contains different minerals, potentially healthier for consumption. But the maintenance of my field of clover has other ancillary benefits:
- Clover is affordable, as in free, and easy to grow.
- A nitrogen-fixing plant, clover brings nutrients to your soil and requires no fertilization. When mixed with other grasses, clover can reduce or eliminate the need for regular fertilizing.
- Clover is drought tolerant and grows despite lack of water once established. This contrasts starkly with traditional lawn grasses, which usually need watering all season long.
- Full sun or partial shade? Clover is tolerant of many conditions and outcompetes other weeds.
- Clover is versatile. Add to a regular lawn to help invigorate tired turf or plant a full clover lawn on its own for lush, year-round greenery (depending on your geographical location).
- The bees! Don't like bees? Then, simply mow your clover before and after it blooms.
- As a former pet-owner, ‘good-bye’ burn marks; clover will not turn yellow as quickly as a regular lawn when pets are around.
Wednesday, June 20, 2018
Killing in the Name Of
The phrase is "it's far easier to ask for forgiveness than permission." That seems to be the mantra of this administration: act first, see the ramifications of the actions later...and, no matter how the facts stack up against them, defend, defend, defend.
I'll admit that this post is largely due to the fact that, at 7:30am this morning, I had Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name Of" blaring at top volume in my car. For those not in the know, it's a rightfully angry song, championing the fight against an unjust authoritarian regime which discriminates against minorities. Back in the day, it was police brutality against blacks, but we fixed that up fine (read: sarcasm). The song can easily be ported to what's happening now at our borders.
"Some of those that work forces, are the same the burn crosses."
The comparison of this administration to the KKK and early Nazi actions in the late 1930s have been made again and again. Whether the administration is intentionally singling out Jews, blacks, hispanics, etc. will be for history to decide when all the facts come in. But, with statements like "both sides are to blame" and constant tirades about Chicago and South Americans seeking asylum make you believe that this "nationalist," American first, administration is a transparent cover for a new white supremacy movement.
And then there's Israel. Strangely enough, conservatives and this administration are "all in" on Israel, which, at first, confused me. With the President's unwillingness to denounce some of his supporters, or Breitbart, or actual Nazis with torches, he's been on the Israeli band-wagon from day one. Most recently, the administration used Israel as the reason why this country is backing out of the Human Rights Council of the UN. Why? Two separate reasons I think. One: what is Israel? To the untrained eye, Israel represents a successful ethno-state. It's proof that, by holding unwanted nationalities at the borders in inhospitable desert conditions, that you can successfully create a monotheistic society. It can be done! The white christian, Trump-ian citizens in this country use Israel as the primary example of possibility. Also, it's a place where Jews can go "home," much like how they want blacks to go back to Africa, and all hispanics to "return" to Mexico, regardless of their nationalities.
"They're the chosen whites."
Two: it's far more difficult to be in bed with actual dictators in North Korea and Russia when you're a member of an organization that is outspoken against those regimes and those like them. Israel's perceived treatment of Palestinians is the convenient screen this administration is using to get further into bed with actual tyrants that Trump would like to model himself after: Kim Jong Un, Duterte, and Putin. At least he would like to be "loved" like them.
Which brings me to our detention system of migrants seeking asylum in this country. The forcible removal of children from immigrant families seeking asylum has never occurred before in either Republican or Democratic administrations. The action further demonstrates that this is clearly at the will of the President and his administration. Call it what you want, but the separation children from their families and detention of all of them is, at the very least, unpalatable. If that level of shocked sarcasm isn't hitting you in the gut, maybe it's because I didn't deliver it in its original German. Note that "detention centers" is the politically correct name for internment and concentration camps. The Trump Administration just hasn't built the showers or ovens yet. No, that's not too strong a parallel: remember the fear-mongering he fostered against Muslims? His inaction against White Nationalists commiting hate crimes/parading with torches? The administration is quick to criticize these alternative names for detention centers, but keep in mind that, during WWII, when the United States took the majority of Japanese Americans and put them into internment camps, they didn't separate the children from their families. The current policy is significantly worse. The only good thing to come from it is that the Administration has been unified in its awfulness, and that (some) Republicans are scrambling to make this go away before this too will be added to the liberal arsenal of why conservatives should be voted out in November. And, yet, maybe this is the way of the Trump Administration to drain the swamp, by actively working against the incumbent GOP politicians. It's clear that the message the White House would like to send Republicans is: back the President, or else face the political consequences. It's already clear that, even without congressional support, he's able to move his nationalist agenda forward.
My hope is that, Democrat and moderate Republicans can come together and vote out anyone who openly or passively supports this wannabe dictator's agenda. Things are moving in the right direction as the immigrant detention policies have started drawing criticism from conservative religious groups who have, seemingly, just realized that their Christian values should extend to all people, all children, and that their message of "Pro-Family" is severely challenged by this President's border policy. (Not to be mistaken with their anti-gay views which are stupid and outdated. ed.) Duh. For the rest of us, we're going to keep marching and keep protesting unjust overreaches by this Administration. My family marched in the March for Women, March for Science, March for our Children, and most recently, March against the DHS and the Contract Detention Facility in Elizabeth, NJ. We'll keep marching and keep pointing out the anti-human, racist, sexist, anti-semitic "policies" that this Administration endorses until this philandering, pussy-grabbing, ass-hole is out of office.
"Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me."
I'll admit that this post is largely due to the fact that, at 7:30am this morning, I had Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name Of" blaring at top volume in my car. For those not in the know, it's a rightfully angry song, championing the fight against an unjust authoritarian regime which discriminates against minorities. Back in the day, it was police brutality against blacks, but we fixed that up fine (read: sarcasm). The song can easily be ported to what's happening now at our borders.
"Some of those that work forces, are the same the burn crosses."
The comparison of this administration to the KKK and early Nazi actions in the late 1930s have been made again and again. Whether the administration is intentionally singling out Jews, blacks, hispanics, etc. will be for history to decide when all the facts come in. But, with statements like "both sides are to blame" and constant tirades about Chicago and South Americans seeking asylum make you believe that this "nationalist," American first, administration is a transparent cover for a new white supremacy movement.
And then there's Israel. Strangely enough, conservatives and this administration are "all in" on Israel, which, at first, confused me. With the President's unwillingness to denounce some of his supporters, or Breitbart, or actual Nazis with torches, he's been on the Israeli band-wagon from day one. Most recently, the administration used Israel as the reason why this country is backing out of the Human Rights Council of the UN. Why? Two separate reasons I think. One: what is Israel? To the untrained eye, Israel represents a successful ethno-state. It's proof that, by holding unwanted nationalities at the borders in inhospitable desert conditions, that you can successfully create a monotheistic society. It can be done! The white christian, Trump-ian citizens in this country use Israel as the primary example of possibility. Also, it's a place where Jews can go "home," much like how they want blacks to go back to Africa, and all hispanics to "return" to Mexico, regardless of their nationalities.
"They're the chosen whites."
Two: it's far more difficult to be in bed with actual dictators in North Korea and Russia when you're a member of an organization that is outspoken against those regimes and those like them. Israel's perceived treatment of Palestinians is the convenient screen this administration is using to get further into bed with actual tyrants that Trump would like to model himself after: Kim Jong Un, Duterte, and Putin. At least he would like to be "loved" like them.
Which brings me to our detention system of migrants seeking asylum in this country. The forcible removal of children from immigrant families seeking asylum has never occurred before in either Republican or Democratic administrations. The action further demonstrates that this is clearly at the will of the President and his administration. Call it what you want, but the separation children from their families and detention of all of them is, at the very least, unpalatable. If that level of shocked sarcasm isn't hitting you in the gut, maybe it's because I didn't deliver it in its original German. Note that "detention centers" is the politically correct name for internment and concentration camps. The Trump Administration just hasn't built the showers or ovens yet. No, that's not too strong a parallel: remember the fear-mongering he fostered against Muslims? His inaction against White Nationalists commiting hate crimes/parading with torches? The administration is quick to criticize these alternative names for detention centers, but keep in mind that, during WWII, when the United States took the majority of Japanese Americans and put them into internment camps, they didn't separate the children from their families. The current policy is significantly worse. The only good thing to come from it is that the Administration has been unified in its awfulness, and that (some) Republicans are scrambling to make this go away before this too will be added to the liberal arsenal of why conservatives should be voted out in November. And, yet, maybe this is the way of the Trump Administration to drain the swamp, by actively working against the incumbent GOP politicians. It's clear that the message the White House would like to send Republicans is: back the President, or else face the political consequences. It's already clear that, even without congressional support, he's able to move his nationalist agenda forward.
My hope is that, Democrat and moderate Republicans can come together and vote out anyone who openly or passively supports this wannabe dictator's agenda. Things are moving in the right direction as the immigrant detention policies have started drawing criticism from conservative religious groups who have, seemingly, just realized that their Christian values should extend to all people, all children, and that their message of "Pro-Family" is severely challenged by this President's border policy. (Not to be mistaken with their anti-gay views which are stupid and outdated. ed.) Duh. For the rest of us, we're going to keep marching and keep protesting unjust overreaches by this Administration. My family marched in the March for Women, March for Science, March for our Children, and most recently, March against the DHS and the Contract Detention Facility in Elizabeth, NJ. We'll keep marching and keep pointing out the anti-human, racist, sexist, anti-semitic "policies" that this Administration endorses until this philandering, pussy-grabbing, ass-hole is out of office.
"Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me."
Friday, June 15, 2018
It's getting hot in here
Following the political changes in this country is exhausting. If you can block out all of the infidelities and petty character assassinations, there's still so many sweeping decisions that impact my family in both the short term and the long term. For example: because I live in NJ, the revised Federal tax laws will likely screw us in the short term. And, this administration's policy on ignoring climate change means that I need to take my children to see the glaciers now before they've completely melted.
It's this second part that is especially disturbing. The Tax laws, as one-sided as they are, will have exploitable loopholes...and plugs for those holes, and more loop holes. The natural world, however, doesn't have any escape. As the ferocity of natural disasters increases (floods, hurricanes, droughts, etc.), so does the bottom line of costs associated with clean-up and restoration, only to be knocked down again. And, the paths of destruction are symptoms of the larger issues associated with global warming. Ignoring those causation only to treat the symptoms seems like a losing battle.
I know it happens to every generation, but conversations about "when I was your age" are going to change dramatically, at least for my children. Currently, the amazement is that, in 1993 and 1994, you could buy gasoline for less than $1/gallon, and the baby boomers saw gas prices at a fraction of that. I'm afraid that my kids, instead of talking about gasoline prices, will compare their childhoods by how many natural wonders they were able to see, and that's a terrifying, but completely possible outcome. In addition to the melting glaciers, questions my children will likely be asking in 30 years will be more like these:
Remember when we could grow apples outside?
Remember when we could spend more than 15 minutes at the beach without getting sunburn?
Remember when there were whales?
Remember when going further north meant cooler temperatures?
Remember when you could drink water from a well in the ground?
I hope that I'm exaggerating. I hope that this, in 30 years will seem like the silliest post. However, we know that ignoring the issues don't make them disappear. As the global temperature increases, so do our oceans. By 2060, most of New Jersey will be on a constant flood watch due to ocean rise. While this article is from 2015, additional studies have shown that we are exceeding expectations already, and the global warming is accelerating. Yes, it may hurt our economic bottom line, however we can't ignore it any longer regardless of the political leadership in this country refusing to acknowledge this very real threat. This story has slipped away from us as we learn every day who the President has screwed and when (literally and metaphorically). It's time to resurrect this cause and start beating the drums for sustainable material development and energy efficiency improvements to ensure that future generations of all species, including ours, will be able to continue to thrive.
It's this second part that is especially disturbing. The Tax laws, as one-sided as they are, will have exploitable loopholes...and plugs for those holes, and more loop holes. The natural world, however, doesn't have any escape. As the ferocity of natural disasters increases (floods, hurricanes, droughts, etc.), so does the bottom line of costs associated with clean-up and restoration, only to be knocked down again. And, the paths of destruction are symptoms of the larger issues associated with global warming. Ignoring those causation only to treat the symptoms seems like a losing battle.
I know it happens to every generation, but conversations about "when I was your age" are going to change dramatically, at least for my children. Currently, the amazement is that, in 1993 and 1994, you could buy gasoline for less than $1/gallon, and the baby boomers saw gas prices at a fraction of that. I'm afraid that my kids, instead of talking about gasoline prices, will compare their childhoods by how many natural wonders they were able to see, and that's a terrifying, but completely possible outcome. In addition to the melting glaciers, questions my children will likely be asking in 30 years will be more like these:
Remember when we could grow apples outside?
Remember when we could spend more than 15 minutes at the beach without getting sunburn?
Remember when there were whales?
Remember when going further north meant cooler temperatures?
Remember when you could drink water from a well in the ground?
I hope that I'm exaggerating. I hope that this, in 30 years will seem like the silliest post. However, we know that ignoring the issues don't make them disappear. As the global temperature increases, so do our oceans. By 2060, most of New Jersey will be on a constant flood watch due to ocean rise. While this article is from 2015, additional studies have shown that we are exceeding expectations already, and the global warming is accelerating. Yes, it may hurt our economic bottom line, however we can't ignore it any longer regardless of the political leadership in this country refusing to acknowledge this very real threat. This story has slipped away from us as we learn every day who the President has screwed and when (literally and metaphorically). It's time to resurrect this cause and start beating the drums for sustainable material development and energy efficiency improvements to ensure that future generations of all species, including ours, will be able to continue to thrive.
Thursday, June 7, 2018
Another White House Fumble
I dislike the Eagles and I also dislike the Patriots. Who was I going to root for during the 2018 Super Bowl?
First, let me apologize to those who care not a wit for American Football, the NFL or my sports team preferences. There are tons of other issues that are far more important than overpaid sports legends and the machine that enables them to become who they are. Specifically, there are the issues of inner-city poverty, cancer, childhood obesity and school shootings that are far, far more important than a team winning a "world championship" where no other countries are allowed to participate.
That said, there have been a couple of changes in the NFL that have drawn much criticism. In its efforts to sideline (see what I did there) the controversy regarding the peaceful on-field demonstrations against minority social injustices, the NFL issued a new policy regarding protests at work. Namely, if you must demonstrate your 1st Amendment rights and protest during a game, you must now do so in the locker room. It's the equivalent of the NFL saying "Yeah, we hear you...but we don't want you to piss off our sponsors or our (declining) TV audience, one that perceives that you're disrespecting our flag and our Anthem [which they're not, ed.]." Take your ideals off of our field of play or get penalized financially. Why would they do this when, statistically speaking, fewer players knelt during the anthem in 2017 than 2016...except on week 3, right after the President said that any player who kneels should be fired?
What? The same law that protects their ability to kneel, protected a man whose "grab 'em right in the pussy" comment got him elected President!
There's no law requiring your to honor the flag or the anthem. And, any President who uses his podium to influence hiring and firing practices in a private company is ethically challenged at best, like he did when he called team owners and scolded them to make this issue go away. All it did was bring the matter back to the forefront. Why would he stoke the fires enough to reignite the issue? Perhaps it was because, in September 2017 he was taking heat for his stance on the Nazi...sorry, White Nationalists rally where he declared that "both sides are at fault." Perhaps because he was pissy that some of the Golden State Warriors decided that, due to his defense of those same Nazis, they weren't going to visit the White House to be honored for their championship win, and so he cancelled the visit by the team entirely before more people could call him out as an alleged racist. Sound familiar? Perhaps he's got a chip on his shoulder from when he attempted to sue the NFL for direct competition of his $8 million dollar team (10 times less expensive in 1983 dollars) in the US Football League, a competing sports league. While he won his lawsuit, the judges awarded him $3 for his efforts, and shortly thereafter his $22 million investment went bust and the entire USFL folded. Boo hoo.
So, here we go again. The President is still spreading the narrative that NFL players don't care about their country, the flag and it's anthem. The players maintain that what they are protesting is police brutality against minorities, blacks and people of color. The President doesn't care. Once he discovered that only a delegation of the Super Bowl winning Eagles were willing to make the trip to Washington, he cancelled and rebranded the event as a celebration of patriotism. This move stank of his pandering to the public who believes him over the players in the NFL, who are overwhelmingly black (70% of NFL players identify as black). How many Eagles players knelt during the 2017 season? Zero. What were the pictures that Fox News was broadcasting of Eagles players kneeling? It was the players praying before the game, something that happens before every game played and even before the anthem is played. Talk about #fakenews.
Here's the thing. Those players that Trump would have fired for not standing during the anthem...those terrible Americans, are some of the most generous humans I can think of. They regularly use their wealth to contribute to charities and causes that improve the lives of so many. Like, Patrick Peterson (Arizona Cardinals) who donates to help inner-city children have the resources to succeed during and after school. He also visited Haiti with Missions of Hope to improve conditions there. Or, how about Vic Beasley (Atlanta Falcons) who created a foundation dedicated to the scientific discovery of new treatments for many childhood cancers. Or, Charles Johnson from the Carolina Panthers who built affordable housing units for seniors in Rock Hill and Columbia SC as well as providing college scholarships to students who attend his alma mater, Hawkinsville High School. And then there's JJ Watt, who raised over $37 million for victims in Houston after the hurricane devastated that city...as well as paying for all of the funerals for the children who were murdered recently in the suburb of Santa Fe. Most recently in the news, Malcolm Jenkins (Philadelphia Eagles) created his foundation dedicated to improving the lives of children in underserved communities, and Chris Long (Philadelphia Eagles) who donated 100% of his salary for the 2017 season to charities, specifically scholarships to students from his home town, Charlottesville, Virginia, the same location where the President's defended Nazis marched and killed that woman.
That being said, this is but a short, short list of how individual NFL players give back to their communities. It's a complete misrepresentation to say that they don't care about the United States and don't honor its citizens. And, by stoking this particular fire, along with major news outlets contorting the news for their viewers, the President completely misses the point about the objectives of our nation's athletic leaders. As much as it pains me to say this as a New York Giants Fan, I have immense respect for the players on the Philadelphia Eagles players who have been vocal about our nation's social inequities. With that, Fly Eagles Fly and NFL players in general, keep doing the work that our federal government keeps defunding: affordable housing, cancer research, community development, and education.
First, let me apologize to those who care not a wit for American Football, the NFL or my sports team preferences. There are tons of other issues that are far more important than overpaid sports legends and the machine that enables them to become who they are. Specifically, there are the issues of inner-city poverty, cancer, childhood obesity and school shootings that are far, far more important than a team winning a "world championship" where no other countries are allowed to participate.
That said, there have been a couple of changes in the NFL that have drawn much criticism. In its efforts to sideline (see what I did there) the controversy regarding the peaceful on-field demonstrations against minority social injustices, the NFL issued a new policy regarding protests at work. Namely, if you must demonstrate your 1st Amendment rights and protest during a game, you must now do so in the locker room. It's the equivalent of the NFL saying "Yeah, we hear you...but we don't want you to piss off our sponsors or our (declining) TV audience, one that perceives that you're disrespecting our flag and our Anthem [which they're not, ed.]." Take your ideals off of our field of play or get penalized financially. Why would they do this when, statistically speaking, fewer players knelt during the anthem in 2017 than 2016...except on week 3, right after the President said that any player who kneels should be fired?
What? The same law that protects their ability to kneel, protected a man whose "grab 'em right in the pussy" comment got him elected President!
There's no law requiring your to honor the flag or the anthem. And, any President who uses his podium to influence hiring and firing practices in a private company is ethically challenged at best, like he did when he called team owners and scolded them to make this issue go away. All it did was bring the matter back to the forefront. Why would he stoke the fires enough to reignite the issue? Perhaps it was because, in September 2017 he was taking heat for his stance on the Nazi...sorry, White Nationalists rally where he declared that "both sides are at fault." Perhaps because he was pissy that some of the Golden State Warriors decided that, due to his defense of those same Nazis, they weren't going to visit the White House to be honored for their championship win, and so he cancelled the visit by the team entirely before more people could call him out as an alleged racist. Sound familiar? Perhaps he's got a chip on his shoulder from when he attempted to sue the NFL for direct competition of his $8 million dollar team (10 times less expensive in 1983 dollars) in the US Football League, a competing sports league. While he won his lawsuit, the judges awarded him $3 for his efforts, and shortly thereafter his $22 million investment went bust and the entire USFL folded. Boo hoo.
So, here we go again. The President is still spreading the narrative that NFL players don't care about their country, the flag and it's anthem. The players maintain that what they are protesting is police brutality against minorities, blacks and people of color. The President doesn't care. Once he discovered that only a delegation of the Super Bowl winning Eagles were willing to make the trip to Washington, he cancelled and rebranded the event as a celebration of patriotism. This move stank of his pandering to the public who believes him over the players in the NFL, who are overwhelmingly black (70% of NFL players identify as black). How many Eagles players knelt during the 2017 season? Zero. What were the pictures that Fox News was broadcasting of Eagles players kneeling? It was the players praying before the game, something that happens before every game played and even before the anthem is played. Talk about #fakenews.
Here's the thing. Those players that Trump would have fired for not standing during the anthem...those terrible Americans, are some of the most generous humans I can think of. They regularly use their wealth to contribute to charities and causes that improve the lives of so many. Like, Patrick Peterson (Arizona Cardinals) who donates to help inner-city children have the resources to succeed during and after school. He also visited Haiti with Missions of Hope to improve conditions there. Or, how about Vic Beasley (Atlanta Falcons) who created a foundation dedicated to the scientific discovery of new treatments for many childhood cancers. Or, Charles Johnson from the Carolina Panthers who built affordable housing units for seniors in Rock Hill and Columbia SC as well as providing college scholarships to students who attend his alma mater, Hawkinsville High School. And then there's JJ Watt, who raised over $37 million for victims in Houston after the hurricane devastated that city...as well as paying for all of the funerals for the children who were murdered recently in the suburb of Santa Fe. Most recently in the news, Malcolm Jenkins (Philadelphia Eagles) created his foundation dedicated to improving the lives of children in underserved communities, and Chris Long (Philadelphia Eagles) who donated 100% of his salary for the 2017 season to charities, specifically scholarships to students from his home town, Charlottesville, Virginia, the same location where the President's defended Nazis marched and killed that woman.
That being said, this is but a short, short list of how individual NFL players give back to their communities. It's a complete misrepresentation to say that they don't care about the United States and don't honor its citizens. And, by stoking this particular fire, along with major news outlets contorting the news for their viewers, the President completely misses the point about the objectives of our nation's athletic leaders. As much as it pains me to say this as a New York Giants Fan, I have immense respect for the players on the Philadelphia Eagles players who have been vocal about our nation's social inequities. With that, Fly Eagles Fly and NFL players in general, keep doing the work that our federal government keeps defunding: affordable housing, cancer research, community development, and education.
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