Race Conversations

I've been fortunate enough to be privy to a lot of race conversations over the past few years, which have challenged me to be more critical and understanding of the world around me. I've taken in a lot, with a lot left to learn.

One thing that continues to bother me is how you can always count on people who are having conversations about race to say some variation of the following:
"Well, I don't care if they're black, white, green, blue, or yellow..." Why the "green, blue, or yellow" part? I haven't seen anyone resembling those colors outside of Cartoon Network. So why do people inevitably tag this on to the end of their race statements?

I have a theory.

I think people like to avoid the real issue of racial tensions between blacks and whites in this country. There's a multitude of research that clearly shows that people don't like to face tough issues about race, and when they are forced, they sometimes do so in superficial and inauthentic ways. I've watched the trend of adding other colors to people for a long while, but I've never put a whole lot of thought into it. Using this technique, people are able to put forth a persona that they are indeed deeply engaging in matters of race, without really talking about anything. Take for instance, major league baseball pitcher Curt Schilling's recent comment on Barry Bonds chase toward the all-time home run record, the most hallowed record in all of sports:

"And I don't care that he's black, or green, or purple, or yellow, or whatever. It's unfortunate... there's good people and bad people. It's unfortunate that it's happening the way it's happening."


The fact of the matter is Barry isn't green (except in this doctored photo), purple, or any other shade of the rainbow (remember ROY G. BIV, kids), he's black. And the all-time home run record chase is deeply entrenched with race issues, specifically around African-Americans.

I challenge you to watch for this trend in conversations about race. And, if you really feel ballsy, ask the person what they mean by "blue, green, yellow." I suspect his/her answer will be surprising.

Those Crafty Sox Fans

After a three game sweep of the hated Yankees by the beloved Red Sox, the Boston Globe ran this picture on the cover of the sports page.
Be sure to catch the subtle message the Sox fan is sending the New York fans with his left hand. Haha. Classic.

That Damned Rap Music

Don Imus' latest media circus has brought rap music into the public's condemnation. Many people claim that rap music, a multi-billion dollar industry that uses questionable language (the same language Imus was fired for using), promotes violence in its lyrics, and objectifies women, should be changed. Whether you think it's scapegoating or on-target, it's certainly something to think about.

As I was driving to work today, I was listening to rap music for whatever reason. What made this occurrence interesting was the beautiful juxtaposition of two songs that played one right after the other on XM's most popular rap station, The Rhyme.

The first song was, "Keep Ya Head Up" by 2Pac. It was recorded in 1993, and immediately became a very important song, as it conveys the burdens of the ghetto to the greater public. In particular, it talks about the disrespect for the female gender, particularly black women, that so many people exhibit. It later became a somewhat unofficial anthem for the streets, and a sounding point for those who believed in and stood up for women's rights. In many regards, it empowered a lot of people to fight against trends of oppression, misogyny, and bigotry. Here are some important lyrics:
"And when he tells you you ain't nuttin don't believe him
And if he can't learn to love you you should leave him
I think it's time to kill for our women
Time to heal our women, be real to our women"

This song reached #1 in 1993.

Then, the next song played was "Walk It Out" by Unk -- a song that is quickly approaching the #1 spot on the Hip/Hop charts. This song, as best as I can tell, is about dancing (I could very well be wrong here) and picking up women. Here's a little sample of the lyrics:

"I Threw My Head Back
Then I Froze Like Da Wind
West Side Walk It Out
South Side Walk It Out"

That's about it. Nothing positive, nothing uplifting. In fact, it was even difficult to listen to the whole song. I can't imagine anyone wanting to listen to that song.

I think that these 7 or so minutes I spent in the car were a great chance to stop and think about how much rap music has regressed in the last 14 years. I wish there were more messages from 2Pac, which sought to empower people to rise above oppression, rather than today's music, which seems to simply empower people to "Walk It Out."

NASPA/ACPA Joint Meeting

I just arrived home from the 2007 joint conference of NASPA/ACPA a couple of days ago. (It's not important what those acronyms mean, just know that it's a meeting of student affairs professionals from around the world.) With over 10,000 people in attendance, this was the largest gathering of student affairs professionals to date.

Much of my time was spent commuting on a bus between these two beautiful hotels, The World Marriott and the Gaylord Palms.I haven't had a chance to really process the whole ordeal, but I thought blogging about it might help spur some reflection. Here are some random notes about the conference.

(1) The people who planned the conference deserve a lot of credit. The logistics could have been A LOT worse. Trying to coordinate shuffling around 10,000+ people sounds as appealing as a dinner date with Glenn Beck.

(2) Al Gore is long-winded. He was the opening speaker, and all I can say was he must have been well-rested. Something else that dawned on me when he was speaking was how did he become funny? For a man who was notoriously dry, lifeless, and boring during his presidential campaign, he is very funny all of a sudden. Surely it isn't brought on by talking about global warming, because it's not funny. It's inconvenient.

(3) There are few better feelings in this world than being reconnected with old friends and colleagues.

(4) When ballpark food prices suddenly seems reasonably priced, chances are you're paying too much for food.

(5) Marriott beds are uncomfortable. I felt like I was sliding off a cliff.

(6) I further get the feeling that student affairs, in some regard, suffers from a bit of scholarly disinterest, especially amongst young professionals.

(That's Jen, Julie, Erica, Me, and Dave at Universal Studios)

(7) For the four days I was there, I felt like a hamster trapped in an atrium. We were more or less trapped in between these two hotels, which I liken to one of those giant atriums that you can put hamsters in (see below). That was what it was like in the hotels. A few cool things to do, but after the settling realization that you are trapped inside, and it costs $30 for a taxi to escape, it becomes a bit suffocating.

(If you look closely, you can actually see Dave presenting on Education City in Qatar in the upper right hand ball. It's also where hamsters like to relieve themselves after a long day of burrowing under cedar chips.)

(8) This was probably the first of many conferences Erica and I will attend together. She's a good travel buddy.

(9) Many of the educational session presentations are uninformative, boring, and haphazard. Some are very good, however.

(10) I'm glad to be home, even if it has been overcast for the last two days. Viva Oxvegas.

Erica Le Pu

As if the cartoon didn't give it away, let's just say that Erica now has a new found respect for one of nature's most potent defense mechanisms: getting sprayed by a skunk.

Erica was driving to see me the other night, and lo and behold, a skunk ran out in the middle of the road and sprayed her car. Since it was cold that night, Erica had the heat blaring, thus forcing all of the rotten egg smell into the car's interior, and consequently, all of her and her belongings. She came to my house, and I made her stand out on the porch until we could determine a course of action. We decided to leave everything out on the porch for the night and research what to do on the Internet.


*** (This is a picture of Erica trying to figure out if her purse smells like skunk)

Legend says that tomato juice rids articles of skunk smell. Not so. It turns out that a mixture of dish soap, vinegar, and baking soda is the only thing that works. So, the next day, we went to the laundromat and washed all of her clothes, bags, and anything else that was machine washable in the mixture. It turned out great, and a wash, spin, and a rinse cycle later, she was in the clear. Her car took a few more days to get the smell out, but nevertheless, one week later, Erica is skunk-free.

Rock Lobster

Although it's a little past Valentine's Day, I thought it might be worthwhile to show you all what Erica gave me.




He's an electric blue lobster. He's quite entertaining as he enjoys eating food off the bottom of the tank, trying to capture fish in his claws (he's got two so far... they were picking on him, so don't feel too bad for them!), and swimming -- which he does backwards. He also likes to rearrange the rocks in the tank. He will move upwards of 100 little rocks per day if he's feeling up to it.

He doesn't currently have a name, but we like to refer to him as Rock Lobster, after the B-52's song (they're the group that sang "Love Shack" for the musically deficient).

So, welcome the Rock Lobster. If you leave a comment, I'll be sure to deliver it to him later!

Beautiful Juxtaposition

I was surfing through CNN.com this afternoon as I do every day after lunch, and saw the following two headlines side by side on the business section:

"America's Most Admired Companies"
and
"Wal-Mart Fires Employee for Snooping"

How wonderful. Follow one link to learn more about those companies that are socially-conscious, fair to their employees, competitive without being dishonest, and engaging to work for.... follow the other to learn more about why saving $0.14 on a mega-jar of pickles comes at the expense of employees' welfare and quality of life.

Only in America.

It'd been a while before I got a good rip in on Wal-Mart. There you have it.