Racial stereotyping, love it or leave it.
A test established some months ago that I have a modest preference for Black versus White people, based on assigning the value judgments “Good” and “Bad” to race-specific facial images.
At the time, I chalked this up to living in a mixed-race neighborhood with nice people, but yesterday, while listening to KKJZ, the #1 jazz radio station in the US, a deeper set of reasons surfaced.
Good / Bad
Martin Luther King / Bernard Law, the Inquisition, the Magdalene Sisters
Colin Powell / the Bulger boys and George W. Bush
Miles Davis, Coltrane / the America-firsters who have, unfortunately, co-opted Country music
Kunte Kinte / Bull Connor
Rush Limbaugh / Thomas Sowell, Callie Crossley
Tiger Woods, Randy Moss, Bill Russell / the screaming, drunken hoardes at major sports venues
Bravery, courage, defeating the odds, family loyalty / privilege, cruelty, taking advantage, sociopathy, child abuse
Based on how it used to be, if these associations were a majority view, it would be a public perception flip of no small consequence.
It might even help to explain the remarkable ascendance of a certain candidate for President.
Category: Uncategorized
The Physics of Sheets
This past weekend, I bought a set of flannel sheets, most places having sold out of the newfangled adult-sized fleece ones that are this winter’s fad.
Turns out, flannel does feel “warmer” than percale, evidently due to the fact that there is less heat conductivity: a “bumpy” fabric exposes less of the sheet’s cold surface.
Meanwhile, it looks like we are in for yet more snow showers today. Here’s hoping the superior heat absorbency of dark roads protects us all from black ice and other hazards.
Depart, Cold
Depart, cold, son of a cold, thou who breakest the bones, destroyest the skull, partest company with fat, makest ill the seven openings in the head!
– Healing incantation from Life in Ancient Egypt by Adolf Erman
It seems like half the people I know have already wrestled with at least one bout of sickness this winter.
It caught up with me last week in the form of a head cold that wasn’t anything close to the flu, but still leaves one totally spent by about 3 or 4 in the afternoon.
Thoughts on Iowa
So, Huckabee and Obama won, and we are waiting for the cantankerous New Hampshire voters to upset the outsider apple carts.
As it turns out, the NH primaries have been a much better predictor of national election results than the Iowa caucuses: 70% accuracy over the last ten Presidential elections.
New Year’s
I forgot to blog about the 2007/2008 Newport New Year’s events that the kids and I enjoyed this year.
We did some new things: a boat trip and sight-seeing/seal watching excursion to Rose Island and swimming at the Middletown Y.
We watched the Fort Adams fireworks from Jamestown; Robert and Emme got to see them from indoors, which pleased them greatly.
We had a terrific lunch at the Atlantic Beach Club and our traditional Newport Creamery Awful Awfuls.
I rented a Rav4 to give the kids who have to sit in the back a break.
We totally lucked out for weather. The worst part of the trip is packing up and driving to Milton for the New Year’s Day visit with Bis, but we missed the snow, had rain the whole way, a mercy.
Through Brockton on Route 24 at 1:30 in the afternoon, it was 35 degrees. Four hours later, on the Cape, it was 44 degrees. Believe in the ocean effect.
Freezing
Last year, it caught up to us on January 17.
It was early this year.
It’s cold. No, that’s not an adequate description: it’s unbelievably, horrifically, wind chilled to below zero, hyperborean, mythically cold, Mount Everest kill zone cold.
I am not a warm weather person, but this is crazy, insane.
A Holiday Tradition Preserved
I was very disappointed when I read that the Cape Codder’s “Enchanted Christmas” ended last weekend.
The kids and I have enjoyed this low-key event for the past couple of years, but we were all so over-scheduled before Christmas that it was impossible to coordinate.
Yesterday I was in Hyannis running several errands and on impulse, stopped at the hotel to see if their courtyard was still decorated for Christmas.
Indeed it was, and there was a notice of a bonfire that evening.
So, the kids and I got to see the lights and roast marshmallows.
Some time this winter, budget permitting, I may plan an overnight so they can enjoy the wave pool as well.
On the way home, we made a stop at a private home in Sandwich that invites the public to stroll through a large holiday display that they set up in their back yard.
We discovered this last year and were prepared with a donation this time to thank the owners for their generosity.
These are small things and maybe aren’t as significant to the kids as they are to me, but I enjoy them and if nothing else, appreciate that the kids humor me.
Some Nerve
Bonnie’s folks, intrepid ones, host an overnight at a local hotel for five of their grandkids every winter.
The kids enjoy it, there’s a pool and a game room, and it gives them a chance to visit with their cousins.
In past years, the hotel has had special activities for school vacation week, and it’s been packed.
This year, the hotel is almost empty because it changed hands and is undergoing renovation. There is so much scaffolding in the front that you had to use your imagination to figure out which door to use.
Bye Bye, Christmas
The buildup was long but the actual day went by so fast, it hardly seems possible that Christmas is over.
This has been a stressful month, starting with an intense 2 1/2 day testing/evaluation session around work, a week-long out-of-town business trip, snow storms, and several holiday parties.
This is not to mention fitting in shopping, card writing, getting the truck serviced and the usual running around.
Now We Are Sleet
Got back from a biz trip to Atlanta around 10:00 on Friday night.
There was about four inches of snow and hard-packed plow drifts from the prior day.
Another storm was predicted for last night/this morning. It was supposed to rain, so I never finished shoveling the driveway, figuring a good part of the stuff would wash away.
Woke up this morning to another 4-5 inches of – snow.
Now, it is sleeting, and I’m immeasurably grateful that I
a) am not a newspaper delivery person or the holder of tickets to this afternoon’s Patriots/Jets game;
b) completed the weekend’s chores and holiday shopping yesterday;
c) returned from Atlanta in between storms;
d) have electricity, heat and hot water;
e) postponed writing holiday cards until today in lieu of spending some quality time yesterday afternoon with Emme and James;
f) don’t have to drive on ice-encrusted roads to an obligatory family party as do some of my nearest and dearest; and
g) bought a couple of good books yesterday at Border’s.