Monday, October 2, 2017
Sunday, October 1, 2017
They Helped Us See the World
An excerpt from the Paris Review -
John H. Johnson and the Black Magazine
By Dick Gregory
Let me tell you a story about Jet magazine.
In the late 1970s, I went to the African country Uganda, which was falling apart under Idi Amin. His rule was over, and he had left a mess. I wanted to see about helping sick and hungry folks over there. I got on a plane, and then onto a bus. Things were crazy, with people fighting for control of the country. A group of men made everybody get off the bus I was on. And the saddest thing was: suddenly I was looking at a nine-year-old African child with a gun, who walked up to me and said, “Get up on the sidewalk.”
A man on a bicycle jumped off and said, “Dick Gregory! Dick Gregory!” He looked at that little punk packing the gun and said, “Get outta here. You know who this man is?”
And how did the man on the bicycle know who I was? Jet magazine.
That man said to me, “I see all your work, brotha. I just … ” And he started crying. Because he had read about me in Jet.
Jet and Ebony magazines exposed black people to the world—not just the negativity but the positive things, too. We got to see black folks we had never seen, hear about black folks we had never heard of. Let’s say your sister was a judge. How would I know that? Because Jet magazine put it out there. Let’s say your daddy was a scientist in California, but I’m in New York. How would I know? The New York Times wouldn’t mention it. So we looked at Jet and said, “Wow, this is positive stuff, not just the negative stuff about black folks that the white press was talking about.” Ebony and Jet had black photographers taking pictures of people and things that white photographers wouldn’t even have thought of.
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/09/26/john-h-johnson-black-magazine/#nws=mcnewsletter
John H. Johnson and the Black Magazine
By Dick Gregory
Let me tell you a story about Jet magazine.
In the late 1970s, I went to the African country Uganda, which was falling apart under Idi Amin. His rule was over, and he had left a mess. I wanted to see about helping sick and hungry folks over there. I got on a plane, and then onto a bus. Things were crazy, with people fighting for control of the country. A group of men made everybody get off the bus I was on. And the saddest thing was: suddenly I was looking at a nine-year-old African child with a gun, who walked up to me and said, “Get up on the sidewalk.”
A man on a bicycle jumped off and said, “Dick Gregory! Dick Gregory!” He looked at that little punk packing the gun and said, “Get outta here. You know who this man is?”
And how did the man on the bicycle know who I was? Jet magazine.
That man said to me, “I see all your work, brotha. I just … ” And he started crying. Because he had read about me in Jet.
Jet and Ebony magazines exposed black people to the world—not just the negativity but the positive things, too. We got to see black folks we had never seen, hear about black folks we had never heard of. Let’s say your sister was a judge. How would I know that? Because Jet magazine put it out there. Let’s say your daddy was a scientist in California, but I’m in New York. How would I know? The New York Times wouldn’t mention it. So we looked at Jet and said, “Wow, this is positive stuff, not just the negative stuff about black folks that the white press was talking about.” Ebony and Jet had black photographers taking pictures of people and things that white photographers wouldn’t even have thought of.
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/09/26/john-h-johnson-black-magazine/#nws=mcnewsletter
So Wrong
From the AP & Time -
A Man Told His Friends He Needed Help Moving. They Didn't Realize They Were Robbing a House for Him
(GREAT FALLS, Mont.) — Police in Montana say a man told friends he needed help moving and got their unwitting help stealing $40,000 worth of items from another man's home.
One of the friends allegedly rented a U-Haul without knowing it would be used in a crime. The other told police he became suspicious and left after he saw military medals in the Great Falls home. He doubted 36-year-old Patrick Joseph Adams Jr. served in the military.
Investigators say the true homeowner came home later that night, found his home had been burglarized and called 911.
http://time.com/4964291/great-falls-movers-robbed-house/
A Man Told His Friends He Needed Help Moving. They Didn't Realize They Were Robbing a House for Him
(GREAT FALLS, Mont.) — Police in Montana say a man told friends he needed help moving and got their unwitting help stealing $40,000 worth of items from another man's home.
One of the friends allegedly rented a U-Haul without knowing it would be used in a crime. The other told police he became suspicious and left after he saw military medals in the Great Falls home. He doubted 36-year-old Patrick Joseph Adams Jr. served in the military.
Investigators say the true homeowner came home later that night, found his home had been burglarized and called 911.
http://time.com/4964291/great-falls-movers-robbed-house/
Straight to Hell
http://www.vulture.com/2017/09/lin-manuel-miranda-cant-hide-his-disgust-at-trump-tweets.htmlYou're going straight to hell, @realDonaldTrump.— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) September 30, 2017
No long lines for you.
Someone will say, "Right this way, sir."
They'll clear a path. https://t.co/xXfJH0KJmw
Saturday, September 30, 2017
Consider Heading North Kids
An excerpt from the Boston Globe -
Canadian colleges offer US students lower tuition and Trudeau instead of Trump
By Laura Krantz
CAMBRIDGE — In a sweaty high school gymnasium on a recent Monday evening, 25 college recruiters set up tables with glossy brochures and free pens. Among them were Quest University, Mount Allison University, the University of Waterloo, and Bishop’s University.
Most Americans can’t locate these schools on a map (hint: they’re all in Canada), but nonetheless about 100 US students and their parents attended the fair, curious to learn about them. Why? The lure of reasonably priced tuition and a chance to study outside the United States.
As private college costs in the United States creep ever-closer to $70,000 a year, Canadian schools are seizing on unprecedented interest among Americans increasingly unwilling to accept mountains of debt for an undergraduate degree.
Colleges in Canada, which are almost all public and receive more government support than their US counterparts, are significantly cheaper, as little as $8,000 per year at Brandon University in Manitoba, or $15,000 at McGill, in Montreal.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/09/27/canadian-colleges-focus-recruitment-efforts-students/esfIXhe9ctB66yrrQ7a2cO/story.html?et_rid=606374700&s_campaign=todaysheadlines:newsletter
Canadian colleges offer US students lower tuition and Trudeau instead of Trump
By Laura Krantz
CAMBRIDGE — In a sweaty high school gymnasium on a recent Monday evening, 25 college recruiters set up tables with glossy brochures and free pens. Among them were Quest University, Mount Allison University, the University of Waterloo, and Bishop’s University.
Most Americans can’t locate these schools on a map (hint: they’re all in Canada), but nonetheless about 100 US students and their parents attended the fair, curious to learn about them. Why? The lure of reasonably priced tuition and a chance to study outside the United States.
As private college costs in the United States creep ever-closer to $70,000 a year, Canadian schools are seizing on unprecedented interest among Americans increasingly unwilling to accept mountains of debt for an undergraduate degree.
Colleges in Canada, which are almost all public and receive more government support than their US counterparts, are significantly cheaper, as little as $8,000 per year at Brandon University in Manitoba, or $15,000 at McGill, in Montreal.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/09/27/canadian-colleges-focus-recruitment-efforts-students/esfIXhe9ctB66yrrQ7a2cO/story.html?et_rid=606374700&s_campaign=todaysheadlines:newsletter
Friday, September 29, 2017
Co-opted
An excerpt from Vox - (Bold is mine)
The NFL has officially whitewashed Colin Kaepernick’s protest
The co-opting of protests against racism has a storied history in our country.
Updated by Louis Moore
Last Sunday, in the largest single-day athlete protest in American sports history, players across the league linked arms and took a knee during the national anthem. But it was a toothless gesture. The demonstration, which started as a protest against police brutality by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, had become a “mere picnic.”
Last weekend’s wave of protest was prompted by an angry rebuke by President Trump during a rally in Alabama. The president called for any “son of a bitch” who took a knee to be fired by the NFL. In response, players across the nation knelt in front of the flag during Sunday’s games. But these protests meant something different. Billionaire team owners who had donated to Trump’s campaign joined in. The symbol of taking a knee came to mean something else — unity, anger toward Trump, free speech. Kaepernick’s bold statement against systemic racism had been co-opted.
The beauty and brilliance of Kaepernick’s protest the previous season is that it put all athletes and fans on notice. "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color," Kaepernick told reporters. He did not mince words.
And his truth drew the ire of white fans. For two minutes, they had to confront systemic racism and police brutality, something most fans don’t want to acknowledge, especially during a football game. In short, Kaepernick took a page from Bill Russell’s activist athlete playbook. As Russell noted in 1964, “We have got to make the white population uncomfortable, because that is the only way to get their attention.”
https://www.vox.com/first-person/2017/9/28/16379618/nfl-take-a-knee-protest-colin-kaepernick
The NFL has officially whitewashed Colin Kaepernick’s protest
The co-opting of protests against racism has a storied history in our country.
Updated by Louis Moore
Last Sunday, in the largest single-day athlete protest in American sports history, players across the league linked arms and took a knee during the national anthem. But it was a toothless gesture. The demonstration, which started as a protest against police brutality by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, had become a “mere picnic.”
Last weekend’s wave of protest was prompted by an angry rebuke by President Trump during a rally in Alabama. The president called for any “son of a bitch” who took a knee to be fired by the NFL. In response, players across the nation knelt in front of the flag during Sunday’s games. But these protests meant something different. Billionaire team owners who had donated to Trump’s campaign joined in. The symbol of taking a knee came to mean something else — unity, anger toward Trump, free speech. Kaepernick’s bold statement against systemic racism had been co-opted.
The beauty and brilliance of Kaepernick’s protest the previous season is that it put all athletes and fans on notice. "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color," Kaepernick told reporters. He did not mince words.
And his truth drew the ire of white fans. For two minutes, they had to confront systemic racism and police brutality, something most fans don’t want to acknowledge, especially during a football game. In short, Kaepernick took a page from Bill Russell’s activist athlete playbook. As Russell noted in 1964, “We have got to make the white population uncomfortable, because that is the only way to get their attention.”
https://www.vox.com/first-person/2017/9/28/16379618/nfl-take-a-knee-protest-colin-kaepernick
Wardrobe Malfunction Statement
From Vox -
Someone took an upskirt photo of actress Natalie Morales. Her response is required reading.
Updated by Constance Grady
Someone took an upskirt photo of actress Natalie Morales. Her response is required reading.
Updated by Constance Grady
https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/9/27/16375446/natalie-morales-upskirt-photo-responseBefore this gets watered down or the word "vagina" gets censored out, here's my statement on this "wardrobe malfunction" b.s. pic.twitter.com/nE6CNAsovB— Natalie Morales (@nataliemorales) September 27, 2017
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