The return
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I started this blog as an unofficial vehicle for interesting statistical
information. When I retired, I let it lie fallow. I'm going to post here
period...
Gender Wage Gap By State - Census Bureau
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If you need a reason to start a business, the gender wage gap may be a
factor. The Census has created a new visualization of the disparity between
male ...
It takes a lot of practice
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A friend asked: “If you had the chance to ask three different people
(living or dead, famous or not) ONE question… who and what would you ask?”
The one req...
Faded road markings cause concern
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Q: Can someone at New York state tell me why the DOT doesn’t use a better
reflective paint when the lines are painted? It appears the paint used has
no ref...
Goodbye but NOT farewell
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Using the words which Roger used in his intro for the last post of round
20--- Z
*With joy, we'll dream away each sorrow, With love we'll live for each...
Alan Moore's Twilight Proposal
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Introduction by Alan David Doane:
Honestly I didn't intend the irony, but this week's FMF, looking at Alan
Moore's never-published Twilight proposal, also ...
The Best Films of 2023
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Martin Scorsese, left, Lily Gladstone, and Robert DeNiro all received Oscar
nods for *Killers of the Flower Moon*. Some say Leo DiCaprio, right, was
snubbe...
Getting Ready To Die
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Getting Ready To DieNo, as far as I know, it’s not imminent, but you never
know. An awful lot of people are checking out in the seventh decade that I
just ...
Petitioning season cut short
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Political "petitioning season" for U.S. Congress, NYS Assembly, NYS Senate,
and a host of other positions, was cut short. Like all the other things
that...
Eagle Scout Project
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Rutherford neighbor Krish Soni is getting started on his Eagle Scout
project on Saturday, October 26. He will be labeling storm drains in the
neighborhood ...
We’re Off On An Adventure!
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Just now, Marge and I are doing a bit of adventuring. The next adventure
will include a whole new online reality and presence for me and my work…
See you i...
It Changes
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Living with Lupus and Fibro and Asthma is often not so much 'one day at a
time.' It is much more like one fifteen minute segment of time - at at time.
This...
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye…
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Well, kids, this is it. I’m leaving first thing tomorrow morning. My visits
home will be few and far between, and when they happen, they’ll be
exclusive...
Spring is here?
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As far as the pro peloton goes, it’s on! I watched the Tour of Flanders
today, and it was one of the best races I’ve ever seen. “Looking back, you
get a b...
Modern Types-Ronald Searle,Geoffrey Gorer
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With the recent attention given to Ronald Searle's 90th birthday and new
interview,I decided to look at one of his books.
The book is titled Modern Ty...
October Photo Challenge: It’s Fall Y’all!
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It’s officially Autumn and racing towards winter at breakneck speed. As I
sit here, the wind is whipping the fallen leaves around at 20 mph and it’s
rainy....
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 16
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A new song went to Number One on November 3, 1984: *”Caribbean Queen (No
More Love on the Run)”* by Trinidadian-British singer *Billy Ocean*. The
song was...
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Saturday November 2nd.
The viewings on the Saturday went well. Monday morning the Estate Agents
rang to say there had been 2 offers. We went for the one...
one-off and one-of-a-kind
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Congratulations to Ben Yagoda on his new book *Gobsmacked: The British
Invasion of American English*! If you like this blog, you are going to like
that boo...
Another podcast guest spot
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This past Saturday (my time), I was a guest host with Daniel Brewer on the
podcast he does with Adam Burns, The Gay Mix (aka “The Mix”) podcast. That
episo...
Our Blood – Not Theirs
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With the caveat that I’m intentionally being a bit provocative, I’d like to
say that… Regarding the well being of this country, violence might be
necessary...
1, 2, 3, 4: You Can Count On It
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Up the stairs, count the steps1, 2, 3, 41, 2, 3, 41, 2, 3…Crap, it didn’t
come out even, it’s eleven But 1-2-3-4-1/ 2 /3-4-1-2-3 will have to do; the
middl...
This is The End (a follow-up)
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I wrote yesterday about my possibly retiring this space in favor of
migrating all of my blogging to ForgottenStars.net, because of Reasons. I
am now pul...
18 and life, you got it
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It's the 18th of April, and that means it's the anniversary of Mia's
accident - 18 (!!!!) years ago today, we were in the crash that damaged her
brain ir...
Sunday Round-up
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Wash your mouth out
In these ultra-hygienic days, Russian artist Yulia Popova has come into her
own by making models of foodstuffs out of soap. What makes y...
I believe ..Religion
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Written by the Rev.Jeannette van der Veen-Bosgra
I believe in a world where all people can live in happiness,
and that I too have a duty to create such a wo...
Tough Day
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A few weeks ago, I turned 38, and I am still under the scrutiny of
strangers in public. One would think that once you're out of grade school,
middle school...
Change
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Group Reading “The only thing we have in this world that is utterly and
intrinsically ours is our integrity.” ~ Mira Grant One- to find the
universal eleme...
Retro Y'all!
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Still jumping. In place, mostly. Someone should do one of these rap battle
style brags about being a junker. Seriously. Big sale at the Peddlers Mall
today.
X is for XMAS
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*MERRY CHRISTMAS (XMAS) EVERYONE!*
I thought I'd put a link to the top 100 Xmas songs for 2017 so you could
click on it and play anything your heart d...
The Myth Memers
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One of those little questionnaires just to dip a toe back into blogging.
Took this from Chris Hull's Facebook.
1. Do you make your bed? No.
2. The first c...
Now available in paperback!
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*Sharp: A Memoir*. William Morrow & Co, 2012. Print.
We lost 4 members of the Guilford High School Class of 84: David Ciardello,
Richard Eaton, Ronnie Burn...
No parallel
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Get a good look at these: Whence they came: After seeing that incredible
glow-in-the-dark Zac Posen dress that Claire Danes wore at the 2016 Met
Gala, Lori...
ABC Wednesday: The Importance of Being Bored
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When I was growing up, you being bored was your problem that you were
responsible to rectify. As children we learned never to be bored- or at
least not t...
Monday PSA: The Pioneer of the Pole
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Click on the image for the full ad As promised, the second of two
Antarctica themed PSAs. Today: “Pioneer of the Pole.” Just like last week,
this is from D...
Final Act
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Dear Followers of Berowne's "Savage Reflections." I'm very sorry to have to
inform you that my father, John Savage, passed away on December 26, just a
week...
Friday Post - Your services are no longer needed
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Heads will roll
While the good news fairies of Wall Street would have you believe that
everything is just hunky dory the truth is it's not. In order to m...
Age is a State of Mind, Somewhere Near Nebraska
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What a year it has been! After surviving the odometer rolling over to 40, I
had a year of sabbatical. That gave me plenty of time to think about my mid-lif...
The End of a Long Day
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You know those days where all you really want to do is change into your
pajamas and curl up on the couch while you decide which comfort food would
mak...
#Freaking Out -AND!
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Calmly completely freaking out about my move. AND! I quit smoking. I feel
this qualifies me to have an opinion on how to do it.
So I am calmly completel...
Gaze Upon My Works and Snicker, Part 53.
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[image: DP700-F365028]
Another quickie sketch at work, because I wanted to draw Pandora A in a
white fuzzy hat (no, I don't know the name for them) and a b...
Superheroes I Love #10: Deathlok
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Every red-blooded boy loves cyborgs. Half-man, half-robot, what’s not to
love? The Marvel Comics character Deathlok is a bit on the obscure side,
but debut...
Cries and Dolls
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“My great aunt had some interesting babysitting techniques.” (submitted by
IG @mangum_manor)
The post Cries and Dolls appeared first on AwkwardFamilyPhot...
Episode 326: The WGA Strike
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One by one, Ken goes over the many issues the WGA is fighting for and why
they’re important. He also gives an overview of the situation and how it
might...
The dopamine jail of joke Twitter
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I’m home from vacation and the Planet Funny promotional engine is slowing
down. (There’s still one last signing at Powell’s City of Books in two
short week...
Rex Smith: Free speech, pulpit speech and tax laws
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Each school day when I was a little boy began with the Pledge of
Allegiance, followed by all the students bowing their heads to recite the
Lord’s Prayer. T...
Mixed Results for The Rules
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Well that was an “interesting” Emmy Awards. There were enough surprises to
make the alteration of the voting rules to a single round plurality rather
than ...
Mom Has Stacked Dinner Party Roster
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GOLDEN, CO—Their eyes widening in amazement as the 43-year-old rattled off
the names of heavy hitter after heavy hitter, impressed members of the
Dreesh...
Week 17 NFL Picks
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Last week’s 10 wins leaves me with 153 wins. Weak season. Sorry. Week 17
picks NFL Picks Away Home Chicago Detroit NY Jets Buffalo Tampa Bay Atlanta
Caroli...
Coverville Countdown 2012: Nominations Begin NOW!
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It’s that time of year again! Time for you to nominate and vote for your
favorite covers, and for me to spend the last few shows of the year to line
them...
Obama’s speech coverage on NPR
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What were the people at NPR thinking? The coverage of President Obama’s
speech on National Public Radio on Wednesday was just awful. I’ve never
minded anal...
Ellsberg’s “Desperate Proposal Pattern”
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by Thomas Reifer At the height of global demonstrations against Israel’s
radically disproportionate response to the horrific October 7, 2023
terrorist atta...
2PP132 – 16 May 2020
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This episode was delayed, yet again, because Arthur didn’t have enough
time. Anyway, here we are—were? Today’s chat was about the changes to New
Zealand’s ...
My New Venture: Top Flight Family
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You may have noticed that you haven’t heard much from me lately. That’s
because I’ve been quietly working on new passion of mine, a digital media
startup o...
First blog post
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This is your very first post. Click the Edit link to modify or delete it,
or start a new post. If you like, use this post to tell readers why you
started t...
10.29.15 GOOGLE UBER ALLES
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This article originally appeared in the 10.29.15 issue of Metroland.
You may have heard that the New York federal appeals court granted Google a
big win ...
This Is Not A Joke
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A new ball game - with tasers. Hat-tip : The Volokh Conspiracy According to
The Daily Caller, Eric Prum, one of the founders of Ultimate Tak Ball,
said, “I...
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Friday, September 18, 2009
AUDIO BOOK REVIEW: The Breakthrough by Gwen Ifill
Annoyed that I've started so many books without actually finishing them, when I saw Gwen Ifill's book The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama in audio form at the library, read by the author, I decided that this would be a more productive way to read a book. Then I got a whole bunch of new CDs and didn't listen to it at all for the first four weeks and had to renew it.
In her introduction, she addressed "the controversy" over her moderating the debate between Vice-Presidential candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. As you may recall, there was a considerable amount of flak suggesting that she should disqualify herself as moderator because writing this book would have made her biased towards the Democrat, Biden. As it turned out, she did moderate the debate; I thought her effectiveness in cutting off the rambling and non-answers to her questions - Palin famously said she was not going to answer question A but would instead answer with stump speech response B - was compromised. Ifill in the book and also on Meet the Press expressed her discomfort of being the subject, rather than the reporter, of the story.
It's almost too bad she couldn't have shared her notes of the book, because this is no love story about Obama. It's about how the various factors, not the least of which is race, played in the campaign. And the campaign's outcome, whether he won or he lost, was largely irrelevant; if he had lost, she might have to change some conclusions but little else.
The early chapters served as a rehash, an instant history of the campaign, with issues of, e.g., how some black female politicians were split as to which "first" they should be supporting, a first black president or a first woman President. Likewise, black men supporting Clinton or white women supporting Obama were seen in some circles as traitors to their race or gender, an issue white men did not have to deal with.
But the bulk of this book is not about Barack Obama at all, or only peripherally. It's covering an array of young black leaders who came to the fore in this century. Some are sons of black leaders, such as Harold Ford and Jesse Jackson, Jr. Others are mayors or other local politicians. Whole chapters are dedicated to Corey Booker, mayor of Newark, NJ; Artur Davis, congressman from Alabama who wants to be governor; and Deval Patrick, who became Massachusetts governor, as Ifill points out, not even having been elected dogcatcher in the state. The common thread for almost all these politicians is this: they are relatively young, they are impatient and don't feel they have to "wait their turn". They respect the old guard civil rights leaders but aren't beholden to them. And their strategy of getting elected generally involves appealing to white voters and hoping black voters will understand and eventually follow.
This happened with Barack Obama. Despite a revisionist culture that suggested that the black population was always going to go with the black candidate, polls in South Carolina in December 2007 had Obama losing the South Carolina black vote by two to one, in large part because the Clintons had paid their dues to the black community nationally and Barack had not. It was not until the Iowa primary, when Obama won a 98% white state, "transformative" as Ifill quotes Obama aide David Axelrod, that black people flocked to Obama in SC, and he won the primary handily. The reason Bill Clinton's remark about Jesse Jackson winning the state twenty years earlier was seen as racially insensitive, Ifill suggests, is that something very different took place. Jackson may have won because he was black; Obama won, almost in spite of that fact.
For Obama's campaign, quite consciously avoided talking about race, which may comforted whites ("post-racial!") but became a concern in some blacks that he didn't address their specific concerns during his campaign. In fact, if it weren't for the Jeremiah Wright controversy, Ifill notes, he probably would not have talked about race at all.
The chapter that most resonated with me was the one on Deval Patrick. He attended the Milton Academy in Massachusetts, and when he was home back in Illinois on a break, his sister taunted him with "you talk like a white boy!" Ifill reports how, decades later, that really stung him, and maybe still does a little. (All I'll say on this point is: boy, can I relate.)
I should note that she reads her own prose well, although one can sometimes tell when the recording breaks occur because the new text is slightly louder or softer. And I don't know if this is intentional, but occasionally, when quoting certain speakers, she seems to be taking on their vocal patterns and accents as well.
I'm glad I "read" this book. While the early chapters retold what this political junkie already knew but might have forgotten, the non-Obama chapters, particularly the ones on Booker, Davis and Patrick, were especially interesting. An Amazon review the last chapter as reading "a little like a baseball scouting report from the minor leagues, listing the hottest young prospects for future seasons"; I agree with that assessment. *** From Salon: What role does race play in who likes the president? His BLACK support is higher now than on Inauguration Day. The Blackening of the president by Joan Walsh. *** Barack Obama's coming to Troy, NY on Monday.
I have to admit, I stopped a minute when I read "Annoyed that I've started so many books without actually finishing them…" That's the story of my life! Maybe that's a topic you could explore on it's own.
1 comment:
I have to admit, I stopped a minute when I read "Annoyed that I've started so many books without actually finishing them…" That's the story of my life! Maybe that's a topic you could explore on it's own.
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