Additional Rhetoric In Words Omitted

McCain versus Obama: Number of Cars and Vehicles owned

2008-09-22T17:53:00.001-07:00

I saw this and had to post it:

God forbid we have a single-car-driving, single-home-owing elitist running our country!

More history in the making: Sarah Palin

2008-08-30T09:12:00.000-07:00

A lot of people have been scratching their heads at McCain's pick for VP, Sarah Palin. But I say, let's look at the bright side. This is history in the making! This is the first election that (straight) men will be able to vote superficially. Who cares about policy when the VP is kinda hot?

Joe Biden may look good on paper but he definitely doesn't look as good in person.

While they were great leaders, politicians like JFK and RFK both had something else going for them: their looks. Real talk, they got much of the female vote with that attribute alone. And now it's our turn. Men are often accused of not thinking with their heads and now we have the opportunity to vote the same way. There's even a website dedicated to this political milestone.

This is awesome. People speak of McCain's judgment but what better testament than this? He likes to surround himself with beautiful women. I can't fault him on that.

Obamazing!

2008-08-28T23:48:00.001-07:00

That was a great speech.

We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country. The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang-violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals. I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination. Passions fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers. This, too, is part of America's promise -- the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort.

I bet even McCain was moved by these words

I don't care what anybody says...

2008-08-14T10:42:00.000-07:00

...these will never become fashionable for men

Learning from Obama and the race card controversy

2008-08-05T07:52:00.000-07:00

Last week there were claims that Obama was playing the race card. And for good reason: McCain's campaign is subtlety using race to deter less-grounded voters. As a second objective, they're also hoping the ads would cause a normally well-composed Obama to stumble, respond aggressively and proove to all those suspicious voters that he is in fact just another angry black man.

Both Obama and McCain's people know this but unfortunately, it has to remain unsaid. If McCain's camp admits to it, then there's no hiding the fact that their using scare tactics instead of policies to win. If Obama's campaign admits it, which they somewhat did, then they're playing the race card and will end up losing voters.

It's a brilliant conundrum though it once again reminds me of the ugliness of politics.

Equally interesting was thinking of how this relates to blacks in the corporate world. Though I'd argue that things are getting better, there is still a fear that black employees will play the race/victim card in corporate America. Affirmative action can force employers to hire blacks but it can't force them to trust them. Just as McCain supporters waited for a hint of racism claims to jump on Obama, many in offices all across America lie and wait for their black coworkers to confirm their suspicions. The problem is that racism is rarely apparent for those on the outside looking in. And for those who harbor such negative thoughts and feelings towards blacks, few, if any, will ever admit it.

The solution for corporate blacks, IMO, is to do what they've always had to do in order to succeed: be that much more meticulous with your words and work that much harder to build confidence in your coworkers and bosses. Let those in organizations dedicated to building racial equality do the work. Race is still an issue in America but for white-collar blacks, there is no still no way to bring it up at work. No matter how articulate you may state your argument, you'll still end up losing the debate.

So don't.

FB Friend Suggester is Spam

2008-06-30T07:19:00.000-07:00

When Facebook rolled out Friend Suggester, I wonder if they realized the implications amongst extremely high networking groups such as Indians and Nigerians? For some people, Friend Suggester may actually end up suggesting friends and colleagues but for those in the 2 aforementioned groups, the average # of friends one has makes Friend Suggester rather useless.

If I, a member of a highly networking group, have 700 friends on FB, many of my friends will have mutual connections completely unknown to me and so FB's Friend Suggester will usually end up suggesting strangers.

2008-06-06T12:57:00.001-07:00

I understand the need for CAPTCHA technology but some people are taking it too far:

The CAPTCHA phrase has 7 characters but it asks the user to only enter the 4 (the text box only allows 4 characters) "Symbols attached to a cat".

WTF?

For one, all symbols are attached to a cat and for two, the image isn't even that clear. Besides, is it really that necessary? Has CAPTCHA actually been hacked to the point where we need to have cats strategically allocated across the phrase characters to prevent bots?

Why Bother?

2008-06-05T17:55:00.001-07:00

To Weezer or not to Weezer, that is the question.

Without a doubt, Weezer was my bando numero uno from 1995 until 2001...when the Green Album came out. And it's only been down hill since then. WTH happened to them!? The first two albums plus all of their b-sides were genius and captivated many from my generation. I remember seeing them in 2000 when they started touring again after an extremely long hiatus and even though their last album had been 4 years prior, they still had hella loyal fans coming out in full force.

But then their music started sucking. A lot. As a self-proclaimed Weezer-fan-for-life, I felt the need to support them regardless of their artistic direction but I barely made it through Green and gave up hope with Maladroit. And even though I copped Make Believe, I felt I had wasted my money.

And now, another self-titled album has been released, thus continuing the tradition of referring to their albums by album cover color: Red.

If their last 3 albums are of any indication, this one will also be a disappointment. I've heard one single, which was kinda catchy, but that doesn't necessarily represent the rest of the album any more than "Hash Pipe" repped the Green Album, "Keep Fishing" repped Maladroit or "Beverly Hills" repped Make Believe. While there were a few hidden gems amongst the garbage, I dunno if it was enough to justify the purchase and not just otherwise "cop" the album.

Decisions, decisions..

(The title of this post, "Why Bother?", comes from the name of one of the songs from their last decent album, Pinkerton)

History has been made!

2008-06-03T23:30:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Senator Barack Obama for becoming the first (partially) African-America to be the Presidential Nominee of a major political party.

These are some very exciting times. Yes we Can.

Politics, shmolitics

2008-05-31T20:11:00.000-07:00

I ran into a local politician, David Chiu, politicking outside of my local grocery store and decided to engage him in conversation instead of taking his pamphlet and immediately throwing them away.

As much as I read about politics, this is my first time really talking to a politician and who would've thought: you can actually learn a thing or two from them. We chatted about rent control, the highly likely gentrification of Bayview and even a little bit about IT and the early dot com era.

I gotta do that more often.

South of the border

2008-05-28T20:03:00.000-07:00

Here in the states, we don't see all of the casualties from the War on Drugs but it'd be a different story if one were to cross the border into Mexico:

http://au.news.yahoo.com/080527/15/17195.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/31/world/americas/31mexico.html

Entire towns are controlled and victimized by the drug cartels who will do anything to see their cash cow keep giving milk. The policies that have been created to police individual liberties in the states have had the unfortunate adverse effect of destroying the police force and individual liberties just south of the border.

Every care that keeps you in your seat is a care that carries your defeat

2008-05-20T19:10:00.000-07:00

One of my white vices is indie music. Or more specifically, one specific indie band: Ozma. I first saw them in 2002 when they opened up for Nada Surf (whom they out-rocked) and immediately ascended (or descended, depending on how you look at it) into groupie status. I’ve since been that guy, proposed to the keyboardist, Star, had them sign ticket stubs and survived a swarm of teeny boppers and their chaperoning parents to be 1 out of 15 Ozma supporters at a packed Hello Goodbyes show for which they were opening.

Having attended every single one of their Austin shows since 2002, I figured I knew what I was walking into when I stepped into Bottom of the Hill last night to see them perform but am now keen to certain fact: an Ozma show in Austin != an Ozma show in San Fran. It wasn't so much that Ozma was different but the crowd was unlike anything I had seen before in the ATX. There was a mosh pit that started as soon as the band stepped on stage and didn't end until they stepped off (I'm now a firm believer that the best way to experience Korobeiniki is in a mosh pit). Even those outside of the pit were head banging, dancing or otherwise physically responding to the music. After encore, there was a Weezer moment when a dog ran across the room and nobody seemed surprised. I also wasn't the token black person as there were a few other blacks sprinkled throughout the audience.

My favorite difference was that the show was packed. I don't know if it sold out or not but it definitely got close to capacity. Good music deserves support and I'm glad a great band like Ozma was able to get some last night.

Hip Hop in the Park

2008-05-12T13:08:00.000-07:00

Hip Hop in the Park went down in Berkeley this past weekend. The vibe was really dope. The live graffiti and the breaking cypher were the best parts. Here's a clip of me getting down:

A little choppy, but I still had fun.

Future Politicians of America

2008-05-09T18:54:00.000-07:00

I didn’t initially notice the disclaimer at the top and so fell for this story about a 13 year with political ambitions using the law to convince prostitutes to hang out with them.

He’d have my vote

Things done changed..

2008-04-23T12:55:00.001-07:00

I just heard "It was a Good Day" on the radio and it reminded me just how old I am. Its not so much the fact that I was listening to it when it first came out in 1993 or that I knew who Ice Cube was before seeing him stoop down to levels of Barbershop or Are We There Yet?. The reason I feel old is that it reminded me of how I used to listen to that song. Bear with me...

Nowadays, one need only a broadband connection to be able to be able to hear anything, but I remember sitting by the stereo with a cassette tape in the deck and my finger impatiently waiting to hit record once a desired song came on the radio. For hours. I can't really fathom how I managed to waste so much time but I guess having a song on hand was worth the investment of time. Of course, once you had a bunch of tapes full of songs, organizing them wasn't the easiest thing to do, which meant I ended up recording the same songs over and over again so that I could listen to them without searching through a bunch of tapes.

I probably had "It was a Good day" in 10-15 places across multiple tapes. Now I just have the .mp3. Things done changed.

AOL, R.I.P.

2008-04-16T08:34:00.000-07:00

It was fun while it lasted, but I really don't see AOL surviving now that FB Chat has been released. I'll continue to have fond memories of your annoying diskettes and then CD's sent to everyone and their mother, 20 hr/month plans, umpteenth dial-up attempts and unforgettable .WAV messages ("You've got Mail", "Good bye", etc)

Today in History

2008-04-11T00:00:00.000-07:00

Today is April 11, 2008 but why focus on the year? For it was this very day in history that...

The Shogunate was abolished in Japan. (1868)
Oliver Riedel of Rammstein was born (1971)
Albert Einstein revealed his Theory of Relativity (1905)
The last execution for witchcraft in Germany took place (1775)
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing. (1968)
Joss Stone was born (1987)
Kurt Vonnegut died (2007)
The Apple I was created (1976)

Wow, so much can happen on 1 day throughout history!

Nigerians are the originators of "cool"?

2008-04-05T13:30:00.000-07:00

I was checking out Jamel Shabazz's "Back in the Day" photography book and the introduction section talked about the origin of "cool":

What is cool? Robert Farris Thompson writes in his 1983 book Flash Of The Spirit that cool originated in Nigeria in the first half of the 15th century. Ewure was the name given to a ruler crowned king of the Nigerian Empire of Benin. At the time, the word literally meant, "it is cool". Thompson writes that Nigerian civilisation was impressive not only for its urban density, refinement and complexity, but also for the inner momentum of conviction and poise they maintained in the face of ongoing political oppression. Other leaders followed suit. Later in that century, a Yoruba leader from Ilobi (an area that is now southern Egabado) decided on the name Oba tio tutubi asum, which means "Cool-and-peaceful-as-the-native-Herb-Osub." Thompson discovers cool in these different black civilizations and attributes them to a special inner drive and confidence that kept these civilizations going...

So apparently, Nigerians "created" cool? Or the idea of it was first distinguished by them. This could explain a lot...

Nobody told Wallstreet it wasn't Friday yet

2008-03-18T17:15:00.000-07:00

Either that, or they're celebrating Eeyore’s Birthday early this year…

Photo Ambiguity

2008-01-28T02:11:00.000-08:00

Advertisement for a D.U.I. lawyer...

...or a b-boy toprocking in a cypher?

INCONCEIVABLE!

2008-01-09T08:14:00.000-08:00

Randomly placed Princess Bride references are dope:

from http://thrillist.com/DKO/hassle_me.html

Call your grandma (twice a year)
Call your ex-girlfriend to breathe heavily into the phone (every couple days)
Floss (4x per week)
Build up immunity to iocane powder with increasing, semi-weekly doses (semi-weekly)
Eat a fruit or vegetable (once a month)
Take a photograph; remember Sammy Jankis (daily)

from http://www.magusisoup.com (the entire thing)

The WCDMA Bride

QUALCOMM: So it is down to you, and it is down to me.

(Nokia approaches slowly)

If you wish WCDMA dead, by all means, keep moving forward.

NOKIA: Let me explain...

QUALCOMM: There's nothing to explain. You're trying to kidnap what I have rightfully stolen.

NOKIA: Perhaps an arrangement can be reached?

QUALCOMM: There will be no arrangement, and you're killing 3G.

NOKIA: Well, if there can be no arrangement, then we are at an impasse.

QUALCOMM: I'm afraid so. I can't compete with you globally, and you're no match for my US presence.

NOKIA: You're that loved?

QUALCOMM: Let me put it this way: have you ever heard of Motorola, Samsung, LG?

NOKIA: Yes.

QUALCOMM: Nothing without me!

NOKIA: Really. In that case, I challenge you to a battle of chips.

QUALCOMM: For WCDMA?

(Nokia nods)

To bankruptcy?

(Nokia nods)

I accept.

NOKIA: Good. Then file the lawsuits.

From http://www.xkcd.com (last row, first column)

Inspiration

2007-12-16T21:02:00.000-08:00

Inspiration comes in many forms. Today it came in the form of a documentary called "War/Dance" which is a documentary about kids in Northern Uganda who have are living in a war zone but find an outlet in music and dance.

Beautiful.

Jaywalking

2007-11-04T07:24:00.001-08:00

I can't believe there are cities (this wasn't San Fran) that actually gives you fines for jaywalking. $123 dollar ones at that. And I kid you not, the cop came straight out of Harold and Kumar go to White Castle except he had on some aviator-ish sunglasses. But all the other mannerisms (gum chewing, cockiness, prick-ly behavior) were there and he fit Kumar's stereotype to the T:

The dude seriously was trying to show how much of a bad-ass he was. Maybe I looked like a threat and he felt the need to assert his all-mighty police status over me. I hear a lot of criminals wear v-necked sweater, dress shirt, khakis and loafers. And you know the Carlton Banks look is in amongst gangsters.

And while I know jay-walking is technically illegal (I only did it because where I was going is directly across from the train station and I would actually have to spend another 10 minutes or so to go to the crosswalk down the road), the fact that a city has a cop who actually has the time to stop his cruiser, get out of the car and issue someone a ticket for jaywalking either (a)doesn't have enough crime or (b)has too much money. In this case, I think it was a bit of both.

I hope the taxpayers of that city know how frivolously their taxpayer money is being spent. Then they should pray that criminals don't find out there's a city with so little crime they pay cops to give jaywalking tickets; it'd be a field day for them.

My only regret (other than getting "caught") is in actually wasting my breath trying to talk my way out of it. The more I spoke the more determined he seemed to give me the ticket. He enjoyed it...listening to me try to talk my way out of it...just to give me a ticket anyway? I can't believe I gave him that satisfaction.

Please welcome to the stage...Niggy Tardust

2007-10-31T12:34:00.001-07:00

Vintage Goodness

2007-10-13T13:00:00.001-07:00

I finally got a couch for my SF crib.

I got it off of Craigslist and carried it 4 blocks with the help of the seller and 2 random girls who saw us struggling. It's not that the couch was that heavy, but on the way back home, I saw a TV on the side of the road and so opted to put it on the couch as we carried it. I'm not sure how heavy it really was but it felt like it doubled the weight of our load. It was worth it though, because the TV works and is actually the biggest one (30 inches maybe) I've ever had. All for the low price of free-99.

I'm really not sure what the name of my new piece of furniture is, actually. Couch? Sofa? All I know is that it's hella fresh and makes for a lovely addition to my place. And now when I have people over, they actually have a place to sit.

WTF is Juice?

2007-09-30T23:53:00.000-07:00

There's a user on youtube, Rubix89, who mixes anime with stand-up comic performances. He overlays video of the anime on top of the comic's audio, fusing them together and making a very entertaining clip. There's apparently a website dedicated to doing this kind of fusion.

The clips he puts in there are pretty clever:

Comic: Dave Chappelle
Performance: For What it's Worth
Anime used: Naruti

I also stumbled across this old clip of Chappelle. It's interesting how you can see his performance style developing. It's not quite as polished as with in "Killing them Softly" but it's still funny nonetheless:

You put a gun in my hand and you hide from my eyes...

2007-09-05T08:05:00.000-07:00

A while back, I saw The Roots in concert (with Lupe Fiasco opening for them) at Stubb's BBQ in Austin. During the show, the Roots (or really just ?uestlove, Captain Kirk and someone else on Tuba, but I can't remember who it was) did an amazing cover of Bob Dylan's "Masters of War". The song is, of course, politically motivated and about war (though, according to Dylan, it's not actually anti-war but just related to the relationship between war and the businesses who make money off of them).

They also did this at a Bob Dylan tribute concert, which was thankfully recorded or bootlegged. Either way, you can download the track HERE.

There are also a few YouTube clips of it available:

Here are some excerpts from the lyrics:

"You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly"

and

"How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do"

I'm really feeling this song.

Unbelievable

2007-08-17T06:34:00.000-07:00

This has me shaking my head and is really beyond words but for now, I'll say "unbelievable":

This is a prime example of a grade-A-clusterfcuk. The war, our reasons for going, our President's ability to keep it going, our inability to leave, our having to choose between saving American lives (troops) or finishing what we started (regardless of whether it was a good idea or not). Not that I condone it, but if you can plead ignorance or bad intel ("Wait, you mean there were NOT weapons of mass destruction?"), you've at leasted CYA. But to go directly against what you said earlier, well, that just takes the cake...

In the clip, Cheney even talks about the "cost" of war (146 American lives) not being so cheap to the families of those soldiers even though others kind of praised it for being so low. How much more is this cost: we're nearing 4,000 American casualties, 75,000 civilian casualties and countless wounded. Even if the war ended today, the aftershock will continue to haunt us as derivative issues come out...

I support our troops but not the war nor our administration.

I got ants in my pants and I need to dance

2007-08-07T17:09:00.001-07:00

"Gravitational pull, will have you making a fool, out of yourself on the dance floor
Doing backspins, running mans and more
Boogie down with vigor and candor"

Rock the House by the Gorillaz/Del the Funkee Homosapien

Last week Wednesday, I said goodbye to a very good friend of mine. We've known each other for 5-6 years and there is a good chance we will never see each other again. This friend has stayed steady despite me walking all over them and patiently waited for me even when I ignored 'em. This friend has seen me during some of my happiest, saddest, angriest and most frustrated moments and has always been there letting me vent my emotions. This friend I speak of is the UT Student Union's Quadrangle Room dance floor.

For the most part, I'm introverted when it comes to my emotions but found an expressive outlet through bboying. Be it with a clenched fist and grimace or a goofy strut and a smile, bboying was therapy and the dance floor was the psychiatrist. And no where have I danced more EVER than the Quadrangle Room in the Union. Last week was my last time practicing there before I move away from Austin and so saying my "goodbyes" brought back a lot of memories...

A little bit of history:
I started "Breakdancing Association" in Summer 2001 to continue a hobby I had developed in high school. Despite UT being this big, diverse school, with tons of organizations, there was no bboy-related groups and so I opted to find other students who were as interested in it as me and posted up fliers around campus. After getting contacted by a handful of students, we started practicing in Jester classrooms on Saturday mornings. Or really, I'd teach since most people were interested in learning but were not already dancing. This was kinda weird b/c I was pretty whack but I guess with no one to be compared to I must've looked like Crazy Legs instead of Carlton.

Fast forward some months and I start meeting some other dancers who I will proceed to dance with up until and beyond graduation: Billy W., Madhavan R., David L., Jason C., Irvin H. and later on April J., Gee Lee B., Krystle B. and Peter T. The group evolved from "Breakdancing Association" to "Algorhythms" (get it? Algorithms? Yuk, yuk, yuk. Clever, I know) and we started practicing in Gregory Gym, the Tower Room and the Quadrangle room, opening up the Quadrangle room to the Austin bboy community at large. But of all these places, the Quadrangle Room sticks out the most. Despite dancing with crew and often out/about/around school and town, I felt it was the Quadrangle room where I really learned to express myself. It was the first time I put myself out there with other bboys (outside of crew) and in doing so I was able to learn from more experienced heads (much love to Alien Squad's Blitz and Dizzy and B-boy City's Recon and Buck Rog) and see hip-hop/bboying in a totally different light. Though I primarily sustained my level of skill as opposed to improving, those nights in the Union helped get me through college.

Fast Forward:
After graduation, I kind of went on a dance hiatus, still doing it but not relating to it the same as I transitioned from starving student to overfed corporate consumer. I took pride in the fact that the organization that I had somewhat-selfishly started had transformed and that the Quadrangle room practices continued to go on (run by April, Mark W. and Zeshen W.) providing a place of practice for the Austin b-boy community. However, I was detached; I was adjusting to my new roles in life, making mistakes and investing time in other hobbies. I was physically attending when I could but my heart was pretty much absent. Slowly but surely, however, the love came back.

With the encouragement/meeting of old crew, O.G.s, and other dancers (thanks to Misa S., Sarah H., George S., Liz R., Mogi P.), I started finding my place in the dance again. And when I was ready, the Quadrangle Room -aka Ol' Faithful- was there to welcome me back.

This clip is compiled from 4 different practice sessions this past summer, when I came back.

Nintendo is on point

2007-07-10T12:59:00.001-07:00

I don't even play video games but think this is smart on Nintendo's part:

Now, we can all Wii
Anyone can make a Wii Game

To summarize, Nintendo has released WiiWare, a toolkit for developing video games for the Nintendo Wii gaming console. This will give small time game developers the opportunity to create video games for the console and put the final, Nintendo-approved (making sure to par/standard) version online for people to download/buy.

Smart move, I say. They already have a nice market share but I think this could possibly help them sustain it and/or grow.

I still won't buy one though.

Confessions of a black white supremacist...

2007-06-18T05:51:00.000-07:00

Before Chappelle's Show made it popular, I was a black white supremacist...

It was Spring 1997, the 2nd semester of my freshmen year at Everman High School. The demographics of the student body at the time were at about 50% black, 25% latino, 24% white and less than 1% other. The school was integrated but the majority of students hung out solely with their own race except when cliques (jocks, band geeks, drama geeks) came into play. On top of being a drama nerd and so-called honor student, I also flirted with the skater/slacker crowd.

One Friday afternoon, we had gender-specific assemblies where Mr. Norris -our male Vice Principal at the time- talked to us about dress code, code of conduct and some other stuff that nobody was paying attention to. It was during this time that a letter had started getting passed around. This single piece of paper would become the tipping point of a small racial crisis that would last for the next week or 2. On it was a word-for-word copy of some Klansmen manifesto from the Ku Klux Klan's website that was signed (typed) by one of the guys, Stephen Stepp, from the skater/slacker group. Now it wasn't real; Stepp didn't know his name was there until it had already started getting passed around throughout the day and especially at the assembly. It had been a practical joke by some of the other guys in the group who very likely hadn't really considered the possible consequences of their actions...

Just before assembly ended, after the letter had been passed around, you could feel a definite change in the air. The small skater/slacker constituency was hanging out on the far left while most blacks were on the right hand side but at one point you could see many of them looking toward their direction and whispering amongst themselves. Someone alerted Mr. Norris of the letter in the middle of the assembly and he told Stepp to go to his office. Then the whispering became a mumble. People started standing up and heading left, towards the apparently clueless skater crowd. Then the bell rung...

...and all hell broke loose.

As we left assembly to go home, I saw 1 white guy from the group get jumped by 3 or 4 black guys with a handful of others cheering them on. As I made way to my bus, I heard reports of the same thing happening to others all over campus. By the time my bus (everyone who rode was either black or latino) took off, the mood resembled that of when the verdict came in saying that O.J. was acquitted (which had actually happened during the school year before; I remember seeing other 8th graders running around smiling and screaming "The juice is loose!" and "we won!" whereas I didn't see the big deal. Kind of reminds me of my brother): people were celebrating, cheering, laughing about the situation as if it were the revolution, untelevised. I sat nervously confused in my chair, looking out the window. I didn't want to be noticed as concerned lest someone take it as motive to engage me either verbally or physically. Later that weekend, I assumed that I had been overreacting and that come Monday, it'd all blow over....

...it didn't.

Monday morning's bus ride to school came with news of a hit list. Pretty much, all you needed to do to be on the hit list was to be white. While there weren't as many physical altercations after that, there were taunts and words being thrown around everywhere. I went into my 2nd period class, micro-computing taught by Ms. Jarrell, and was waiting for the bell to ring when a friend of mine (black) said he wanted to show me something. Apparently, someone had typed "FUCK ALL NIGGERS!!!" in large font in MS Word on one of the back computers. Trying to be a peace maker, I thought the solution was simple: just select all and press delete. No big deal, right? My friend cautioned me that I should undo my edit but to me it made all the sense in the world. Ms. Jarrell came in later with Mr. Norris and went to show him the oh-so-horrible racist propaganda being spread via her computers but of course saw nothing since I had just erased it. She asked the class if anyone had came and touched the computer at which point I raised my hand, naively thinking it was no big deal. Mr. Norris looks at me and says "you erased it?" to which I confirmed. He then calmly asked me to go to his office, which I thought was odd but went nonetheless.

In retrospect, I recognize that I probably shouldn't have deleted it as he needed to see every and any piece of "hate speech" during this sensitive time. Still, what happened next surprised the hell out of me.

I had been sitting in the lobby to Mr. Norris' office, waiting for him to come back from Ms. Jarrell's classroom. Up to that point, I hadn't though too much of my actions (anyone would've done it, right?) and figured maybe he just wanted to ask me what it had said. He walked in and opened the door to his office, motioning for me to follow. The moment I walk in, he turns a complete 180, going from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde on me. He slams the door and screams at me to sit down. The next minute went something like this:

Mr. Norris: "WHY DID YOU ERASE WHAT WAS ON THE COMPUTER?!?!"
Me: "I, um..."
Mr. Norris: "YOU KNEW WHAT YOU WERE DOING, DIDN'T YOU!"
Me: "Uh..."
Mr. Norris: "I'VE SEEN YOU HANG OUT WITH THOSE PEOPLE, I KNOW YOU'RE FRIENDS WITH THOSE PEOPLE!"
Me: "Yes, but.."
Mr. Norris: "YOU'RE A PART OF THEM AREN'T YOU? YOU DID IT TO PROTECT THEM, DIDN'T YOU?!?!"
Me: "Wait, what? I.."
Mr. Norris: "NO! I KNOW YOU DID IT! YOU WERE FRIENDS WITH THOSE PEOPLE!"
Me: "But..."
Mr. Norris: "YOU'RE SUSPENDED!"

(The caps aren't just for effect; he really was yelling the whole time and would interestingly put emphasis on "those people" and "them")

So I got suspended. For erasing "FUCK ALL NIGGERS!!!" from a computer. Because I was friends with white kids.

The suspension didn't last too long because it was only until I had a parent come to the school. I called my mom and she came up during lunch and so my student status was back in full effect 2 hours after being suspended. The rest of the day was weird as I tried to make sense of it all but there wasn't really much to explain: It was just a f'd up situation. But it must've been isolated, right? I mean come on...helping "those" people? Protecting "those" people? Assisting in the spreading of racist propaganda (that was the actual reason given for my suspension)? No one else would be so dense...

I wanted the day to be over and I remember it going by pretty fast. Until my 2nd to last class period. As I drifted off into space, the guy who sat in front of me (black) turns around and looks at me...

Black dude: "Sup."
Me: "Sup."
Black dude: "I heard you were in the k-k-k."
Me (after a long pause while just starting at him): "No."

And that is how I became known as a black white supremacist.

Aftermath:

The stuff did finally blow over. I don't really remember the details of how things were resolved (if at all) but I know Mr. Norris held a useless parent-student-teacher meeting for the parents of those who were affected. All I remember from that meeting was that parents were pissed at how he was handling things (I remember the dad of a Korean-Mexican friend of mine who'd been jumped for hanging out with a white guy was yelling at him at one point) and he was trying to make excuses.

Mr. Norris became disgustingly nice to me after that. If we were ever in the same vicinity, he'd always go out of his way to say "hello" and would speak with his most non-threatening voice. If roaming the halls during class (which I tended to do a lot during my last 2 years), he'd smile and let me pass instead of inquiring as policy mandated. Then there was an awkward time in the bathroom where he lamented on the joys of "bleeding the lizard". It occurred to me later that he probably did this because I could've maybe had his job or at least done some damage to his career and so he was probably afraid of appearing mean in any way to me.

Moral of the story? None. Lessons learned? Black people can apparently join white supremacist groups...

Had I the foresight, I would've come up with something similar to the Clayton Biggsy skit from Chappelle's Show's Episode 1 from Season 1.

An Unexpected change...

2007-01-01T16:09:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, December 22, 2006, at approximately 2:00PM CST, something I thought would never happen, happened: my 1991 Honda Accord broke down(I had to get it towed approximately 120 miles to my parent's place in Grand Prairies, TX so that I wouldn't miss Christmas at home, resulting in a nice $550 tower's fee.). I guess it was kind of naive for me to think that, seeing as to how it was over 15 years old, but I guess I'd rather see the glass half full.

Apparently, it was half empty.

The car was a birthday present to me for my 18th birthday. My dad (who loves buying cars) had recently bought it and on April 11, 2000, he handed the keys over to me. Up until that point, I had gone through more cars than anyone I knew and prayed that this one, my 6th vehicle in 2 years, would last a little longer. Thankfully, it did.

My multiple-shades-of-navy blue and rust-colored, radio-less, antenna-locked, beige and stained interiored, point-a-to-point-b car wasn't much to others but it was damned fine piece of Japanese machinery to me (Though if you didn't recognize the body shape you wouldn't even know that it was an Accord since the rear "Accord" decal fell off some time ago).

Could I win races in it? Nope. Pick up girls in it? Nope. Could I even roll down the back right window and be sure it'd come back up? Not at all. In fact, 10% of my car time was probably spent forcing the shifter from Park to Drive/Reverse and back or manually aligning my window when rolling it up. There was also a faint odor (likened to urine) in the back that I was never able to fully get rid of, but that's besides the point, I still loved that vehicle.

Oh the memories...
-I graduated from both high school and college in that car
-I was hit by a blind (deaf) lady in that car
-I had 3 car stereos stolen from that car
-I drove a little less than 100,000 miles -primarily in Austin but also in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio- in that car
-I've carried many of you readers in that car
-I fell in love with Austin in that car (my first or 2nd weekend in Austin, I went through a tank of gas just driving around getting acclimated and familiar with the city)
-I studied (crammed) in that car
-I talked my way out of speeding tickets in that car
-I moved 8 times using that car
-I went to work at my first 2 corporate jobs (internships) and first (and current) post-college corporate job using that car
-I went on first dates in that car
-I went on last dates in that car
-I raced and won (accidentally, usually because of the other driver's error) in that car
-I raced and lost (very badly, mind you) in that car
-I learned to drive like a Nigerian in that car
-I learned to appreciate in that car
-I slept in that car (typically after a night out and being too lazy/tired to walk up the stairs to my bed, heh)
-I celebrated in that car
-I dreamed in that car
-I prayed in that car
-I vented in that car
-I cried in that car
-I lived in that car

Old faithful circa Christmas 2002

But all things must come to an end. Though the car is not necessarily dead (I still have no idea what the problem is) and may be fixed later, I've decided it's time to move on. I'm now driving a slightly newer, slightly less multiple-shades-of-navy and rust colored, slightly less stereo less, slightly less beige and stain interiored, slightly less smelly Japanese vehicle. It's the end of an era (is this how Bari felt?) but when it's time,it's time...

The next time you drink wine, beer, liquor, soda, tea, coffee, cider, malta, juice (wtf is juice?) or water, please pour a little out in memory of this fallen soldier.

PS, happy new year and if anyone would like to contribute to funeral costs (towers fee), please feel free :)