From Abraham Piper
Monday, August 19, 2024
Daddies and Daughters
An excerpt from The Daily Beast -
Why Every Father Needs to Watch the Netflix Film ‘Daughters’
The new documentary is about a father-daughter dance at a prison. As one dad of two girls writes, it’s a must-see film that brings all of parenthood into perspective.
By Andrew Crump
Reams of data exist that highlight the range of effects a father’s absence can have on his daughters. They’re likely to struggle with trust issues. Their confidence might flag. They may wrestle with feelings of abandonment, low self-esteem, and rejection, or develop aggressive or otherwise antisocial behaviors, or risk-taking behaviors; they may become depressed, detached, or anxious. Fathers shape their daughters’ relational lives—the foundation and maintenance of meaningful relationships, with family, with friends, with romantic partners, with communities—and spur their creativity.
Angela Patton and Natalie Rae’s Daughters, the Festival Favorite and Audience Choice: U.S. Documentary Competition winner at this year’s Sundance Film Festival—now available to watch on Netflix—side steps statistical analysis and instead strives for emotional impact.
I have two daughters myself. For their privacy’s sake, I’ll refer to them by their nicknames: Brontosaurus, my eldest, and Elephant, my youngest. I love them more than anything I’ve loved in my forty years on this Earth.
On behalf of that, I intentionally avoided Daughters in my remote coverage of Sundance, knowing full well a movie with that title, focused on the subject of barriers forced between young girls and their incarcerated dads, would likely break me in two; the idea of being separated from my girls is the stuff of my nightmares, as unlikely as it is that we’ll ever be separated. (Sending them off to summer camp and, soon, back to school is hard enough.) I am not a statistic. Brownie and Elephant aren’t, either. All the same, my reality didn’t blunt Daughters’ effect on me.
This is not a film about the numbers: How many girls grow up fatherless in the U.S.; how many of those girls end up in bad partnerships; how many of them become teen mothers; how many are burdened by mental health problems; how many attempt suicide. Frankly, that wouldn’t be a film at all, had Patton and Rae chosen these details as their subject. It would be an academic paper instead, dry and sans any human sensation.
Sensation is what Daughters is all about, of course, a front row seat to an overwhelming reconnection between a cadre of girls and their fathers, each behind bars for reasons Patton and Rae refuse to detail. (Those reasons are neither our business nor relevant to the film’s thesis.). At the same time, it’s an elegant condemnation of America’s love affair with crime and punishment, exhibited through varied atrocities carried out within its prison system.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/netflixs-daughters-the-movie-every-father-needs-to-watch
Sunday, August 11, 2024
August 13 is Left Handers Day!
Celebrate the lefties in your world!
Did you guess? I'm a lefty, too!
Who Decides Who's Black Enough?
An excerpt from the LA Times -
Opinion: Denigrating Drake, and Kamala Harris, as ‘Not Like Us’
By Michael Eric Dyson
 | |
Arguments that question the racial identity of the hip-hop artist and the presidential candidate deny the complexity of Blackness. (Los Angeles Times photo illustration; photos by Carmen Mandato / Getty Images, Matt Rourke/ Associated Press) |
On the same day that former President Trump claimed before a national gathering of Black journalists that Vice President Kamala Harris “was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden she made a turn, and she became a Black person,” his running mate Sen. JD Vance accused Harris of being a “phony” who “grew up in Canada” (she attended high school in Montreal) and used “a fake Southern accent” at a rally.
Both men’s accusations sound eerily like those leveled against the rapper Drake by his fellow hip-hop titan Kendrick Lamar (and many others) in a rap beef whose effects linger. Drake has been accused of being a “colonizer” whose Canadian identity and eager embrace of various aspects and accents of a wide range of Black culture make him racially suspect.
Such arguments, whether made by racially troubled white men or Black icons, deny the complexity and diversity of Blackness.
~~~~~
Ironically, that cosmopolitan vision of Blackness is at the heart of the Lamar and Drake dustup. Their kerfuffle — playing out fiercely this spring in a series of releases — is a battle over cultural cachet, racial authenticity and group pride. And it exposes a provincialism that undercuts the global currents of hip-hop.
In his hit “Not Like Us,” Lamar accuses Drake of being a “colonizer” because Drake supposedly “run[s]” to Atlanta to partner with some of the paragons of its trap music to bolster his Blackness. Lamar’s argument echoes long-standing criticisms that Drake’s biracial Canadian roots render him suspect as a bona fide Black artist. Drake’s artistic experimentation with different accents and musical genres has prompted many to claim, as Vance did with Harris, that Drake is a phony.
Lamar’s beef with Drake is rooted in a parochial, claustrophobic vision of Blackness.
Drake grew up in Toronto the son of a Jewish Canadian mother; he spent summers in Memphis, Tenn., with his Black American musician father. His artistic tastes were deeply influenced by a wide swath of the Black diaspora — Afro-Caribbeans, Londoners, American Southerners, especially Memphians, and Torontonians. The multicultural makeup of Toronto, with its sizable Italian, Portuguese, Jamaican and Filipino immigrant populations, also fed his musical appetite.
Comparing Crowd Size
Meanwhile at @realdonaldtrump’s rally... https://t.co/uZ73w1de7D pic.twitter.com/lhCZvG4KxF
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) August 10, 2024
Saturday, August 10, 2024
An Obamacare Convert
My apologies. I couldn't figure out how to post this other than just linking the page. I promise. It's worth the watch. It is one minute long.
A Teacher's Profound Impact on Her Student
@ms.e_hustla Teacher's life is saved by the very student she never gave up on#fy #cupcut #cupcuteditvideo❤️✨ #foryou #fypã‚·゚viral #fyppppppppppppppppppppppp #wow #fypã‚· #fypツ♡❦࿐foryoupageã‚·༄🖤💕💙stay #fypツ♡❦࿐foryoupageã‚·༄🖤 #yppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppã‚· #CapCut #husbandwife #trending #beautifull #new #viral #friends #viral_video #women ♬ Emotional - Bang Nono
Friday, August 9, 2024
THE Arizona Turnout for VP Harris & Gov Walz
I've been to dozens of campaign rallies this cycle: Trump, Biden, Haley, DeSantis, etc. This Harris rally in Glendale, AZ, is — by far — the biggest crowd (and biggest venue) I've seen. pic.twitter.com/o8r0tz9nb3
— Samuel Benson (@sambbenson) August 9, 2024
Thursday, August 8, 2024
Monday, August 5, 2024
Do you Know Your Salts?
An excerpt from ChowHound -
Table Salt Vs Sea Salt Vs Kosher Salt: When To Use Each Type In Your Kitchen
BY MATTHEW LEE
 |
Westend61/Getty Images |
It doesn't matter if it's the kitchen of an amateur home cook who barely uses the space or that of a professional chef, you'll be hard-pressed to find one that doesn't have a jar of salt somewhere. And that jar will most likely contain table salt, also known as "common salt." This fine-grained variety is super versatile and can be used for both seasoning and cooking just fine. But if you want to get the most out of your cooking, you'll need to expand your salt collection, stat. There are dozens of notable salt varieties; but to start, try adding sea salt and kosher salt to your pantry.
Table salt is great for most applications
 |
| Ws Studio / Getty Images The salt you'll find sitting in those fancy glass shakers at restaurants and cafés is most likely table salt. Odds are good that the one you have in your kitchen right now is this type, too. Table salt is produced by blasting high-pressure water at underground salt deposits to reduce them to brine. It's taken up to the surface by a pipe and into a factory where it's dried. After going through several more processing steps, the results are tiny, dense salt crystals that — under a microscope — look like perfect little cubes. |
Sea salt for extra flavor
Sea salt, as its name suggests, comes straight from the ocean. Large puddles of seawater are left to bake in the sun, and once all the water has evaporated, flakes of salt appear at the bottom of these pools, ready for harvesting. Unlike table salt, sea salt doesn't go through a lot of processing steps, so it retains trace minerals like magnesium and calcium.
Kosher salt for everything
 |
| AlexPro9500 / Getty Images |
Even though table salt is the most common, if you can only choose one type of salt to stock your pantry with, pick kosher salt. Think of it like a salty Swiss Army knife. Whatever task you have in mind — from cooking and seasoning a dish, to canning, pickling, and curing — kosher salt can handle it.
I'm a Republican, not a fool."
An excerpt from WeGotThisCovered -
‘I’m a Republican but not a fool’: If you think all GOPs are voting for Donald Trump, you might want to take a look at this
Who's gonna tell him?
By Nahila Bonfiglio
Meanwhile in Philly pic.twitter.com/4AxBd9sxzj
— Alex Cole (@acnewsitics) August 3, 2024
Every presidential election is a vital moment in history, but it’s hard to argue the truly unprecedented urgency of the 2024 election.
This November, the American public will make the choice between a heavily convicted felon who has no remorse, who plans to establish a dictatorship, and who has an avenue in place to contest a free election process, and a capable leader who has experience, poise, and decades of experience under her belt. The choice will come down to the security of Kamala Harris or the unhinged bluster of Donald Trump, and it’s truly unclear which option has a better shot at the White House.
The masses are praying for a Harris victory, but it’s unsettling to see how much support Trump still boasts. Even beyond his support of the Heritage Foundation and Project 2025, his promises that Christians will only need to vote “this once” and then never again; even beyond his insistence that Harris happened to “turn Black” in order to win the election, he still has unwavering support from a huge number of people.
But not everyone on the right side of the political aisle is so enamored with the former Cheeto-in-Chief. Despite the overwhelming support he continues to boast from his most dedicated followers, Trump is hemorrhaging support from pretty much anyone with a brain and right-leaning tendencies. These poor souls, left with no Republican options that aren’t outright dangerous for the nation, have decided to step across the political aisle, and they’ve masterminded the perfect sign for their unique position.
That sign is starting to decorate lawns now that the election is mere months out. Straightforward and truly stunning, the simple piece of cardboard states that its owner is “a Republican but not a fool,” before proclaiming its support for “Harris for President.”
Mr. Harris
An excerpt from WeGotThisCovered -
Kamala Harris’ father Donald J. Harris’ ethnicity, confirmed
What is Kamala Harris' father's cultural background?
By Kevin Stewart
This is Kamala Harris, father Donald Harris, distinguished emeritus, professor of economics from Stanford University. Stanford called him their first Black tenured economics, professor.
— Mr. Reynolds (@MrReynolds52) August 2, 2024
pic.twitter.com/l1K2AztmAe
Donald J. Harris is an award-winning economist and professor emeritus at Stanford University and the father of Democratic Party Presidential candidate Kamala Harris, and her lawyer sister, Maya Harris.
In 1960, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of London, and in 1966, he achieved a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.
He is the author of several books and articles, including the 1978 monograph Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution and the 1993 article “Economic Growth and Equity: Complements or Opposites?” in The Review of Black Political Economy.
https://wegotthiscovered.com/politics/donald-j-harris-ethnicity-confirmed/
Afro-Latina Stanford Grad Wins Miss USA
An excerpt from CNN -
New Miss USA crowned, capping tumultuous year of pageant controversy
By Oscar Holland, CNN
 |
| Michigan's Alma Cooper wins Miss USA 2024 at the 73rd annual Miss USA pageant at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California. Gilbert Flores/Variety/Getty Images |
Michigan’s Alma Cooper, a US Army officer, was named Miss USA on Sunday, becoming the third person to hold the title this year following the shock resignation of 2023’s winner.
The 22-year-old, who has a Master’s in data science from Stanford University, beat 50 other contestants in a pageant that included swimwear and evening gown competitions. Kentucky’s Connor Perry and Oklahoma’s Danika Christopherson were named first and second runners up, respectively.
“As the daughter of a migrant worker, a proud Afro Latina woman and an officer of the United States Army, I am living the American dream,” she had told judges during a Q&A session at Sunday’s finale. “If there’s anything that my life and my mother have taught me, it’s that your circumstances never define your destiny: You can make success accessible through demanding excellence.”
https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/04/style/miss-usa-winner-alma-cooper-michigan/index.html
Sunday, August 4, 2024
The History of Theme From Shaft
An excerpt from American Songwriter -
The Groundbreaking Story Behind the “Theme From Shaft” by Isaac Hayes
By Hal Horowitz
“Theme From Shaft”
Written by Isaac Hayes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTU_9T5ufzY&t=12s
Right on. Can ya dig it? Shut your mouth…
Sound like the early ‘70s? You’re daaaamn right! Those by-now iconic words are some of the few, mostly spoken, lyrics to Isaac Hayes’ 1971 No. 1-charting title track to the motion picture considered one of the first and best examples of the “Blaxploitation” genre.
Specifically named “Theme From Shaft,” the song was as groundbreaking as the film, winning an Oscar for Best Original Song, making Hayes the first Black composer to triumph in that category. It also grabbed two Grammys, for Best Instrumental Arrangement and Best Original Score.
Why Isaac Hayes?
Hayes was a hot property in the early ‘70s, especially in the Black community. He had recorded four solo albums since 1967. Hot Buttered Soul (1969) was the most successful; it topped the R&B chart and rose to No. 8 on the Billboard 200, showing that Hayes’ made-for-the-bedroom slow-jams could cross over to a more mainstream audience.
Parks showed Hayes footage of the gritty opening scene of his film, where private detective John Shaft emerges from a Manhattan subway and weaves in and out of traffic like he owns New York City. Parks told Hayes he wanted “a driving, savage beat, so we’re right with him all the time.”
Hayes responded with the propulsive 16th-note hi-hat opening that leads into arguably the most definitive and demonstrative use of distorted wah-wah guitar in soul music. But he paused writing the rest of the theme until he’d composed the remainder of the film’s score. “Theme From Shaft” was completed after Hayes had gained a better appreciation for who this guy confidently crisscrossing the crowded city streets really was.
Then What?
https://americansongwriter.com/the-groundbreaking-story-behind-the-theme-from-shaft-by-isaac-hayes/
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