Tuesday, January 23, 2024

The Lifting

The lure of athletics is founded in man's desire to defy gravity. (We must hate gravity so.) Great athletes excite our imaginations; they leave us in awe. That is why we gravitate to sports and its stars in the first place - to witness the human body as it transcends laws that leave the rest of us earthbound. we crave the mammoth home run, the high-flying dunk, and the devastating punch from one 200-pound man that lifts another 200-pound man into the air, and sends him into oblivion. wonders only rare men can achieve. 

Women bring different aesthetic to sports, especially when they compete in events like tennis, gymnastics, and figure skating. There, they provoke a unique rapture of their own design, and our earthbound spirits are lifted. 

But, don't get it twisted. These ladies can defy gravity, too. Ever see a female olympian throw a hammer, hurl a discuss, or stride hurdles like a two-legged gazelle? and, don't get me started on those female weight-lifters, especially the little ladies, (such heart) - heaving great weights above Earth's immense head, even as gravity, itself, demand they drop that load... now! "Not yet," they seem to say, as they push their burdens to the roof. Talk about "chill bumps." 

Recently, the International Olympic Committee has announced that starting in Paris , in 2024, they will introduce female "flag football" as an Olympic event. It is a patronizing gesture. Women do not need it. They are doing fine without that kind of help. (Thank you very much.)

First, flag football is a children's game, one that is safe and inconclusive. It is not a sport like the majority of Olympic disciplines that athletes spend a lifetime perfecting. To be called an Olympian should be a hallowed honor, one that comes only after years of pain, sacrifice, and sheer determination. Even as children, we played flag football only when we were not allowed to play real football. Now, for playing a glorified game of "flag", you want to call these ladies, "Olympians". The Greeks of Marathon will be turning over in their graves.  

Monday, December 18, 2023

It is Simple Math: Two Wrongs Don't make a Right

Bibi Netanyahu, previously a prime minister of Israel, came under criminal indictment prior to returning as Israel's prime minister in 2023. Too weak to form his own government, he was forced to align with a far right-wing faction to complete his coalition. Immediately, his coalition was on the ropes. An unprecedented 100,000 Israeli citizens took to the streets to protest his extreme policies, including an on-going attempt to re-order the judicial system and make it subservient to the executive branch. Governments worldwide shunned him; even Joe Biden refused to invite him to the White House. Then, Hamas attacked Israel, and killed 1300 Israeli citizens. Suddenly, Netanyahu is the toast of the town. Coincidence? I think not. 

Israel's Mossad is one of the most effective intelligence agencies on Earth. Their network of informers riddle the ranks of Hamas, Hezbollah, Fatah, and even the Iranian government. So, how is it that a ragtag group of Hamas of fighters with a couple of bulldozers can breach Israel's multi-billion dollar wall separating Gaza from Israel, and commence in a wholesale slaughter of Israelis? Egyptian intelligence informed Israel that an attack might be imminent, as well as did the U.S. Bibi did nothing. Now, he has carte blanche to level Gaza, and soon turn it into a series of Israeli settlements extending the full length of what used to be the Gaza Strip.  

Speaking of math: The customary ratio of dead Palestinians to dead Israelis in these affairs is 10:1, even as high as 20:1. This current affair started out 1:1, when 200 dead Israelis matched the 200 dead Palestinians. A weak later, it was about 2:1 - 2400 dead Palestinians, 1300 dead Israelis.  

Maybe, when that ratio grows to the standard imbalance and the number of Israeli human rights violations shame even Joe Biden and America's media horde, we will unclip our tongues and speak out for humanity. 

Friday, December 15, 2023

Asymmetrical War: A Euphemism for "Shooting Fish in a Barrel"

A Fox News correspondent reporting on the conflict between Israel and Hamas declared: "This is a war between good and evil." No, it is not. 

Israel has occupied Gaza since 1967. It has blockaded Gaza by land, air, and sea for the past 16 years, rendered that impoverished territory of over two million Palestinians on open-air prison. President Carter has likened Israel's treatment of the Palestinian people to apartheid. The Gazans, like any humans would anywhere, have resisted the occupation and the subsequent blockade, at times resorting to terrorist acts because they have no vote, no say in this Israeli democracy. Neither side is good; neither side is evil. They are occupier and occupied; oppressor and oppressed. One side is strong, and the other refuses to be weak. 

In the wake of Hamas' brutal attack upon Israel's border communities on Oct. 7, Israel has been lavished with goodwill from the international community. It is predictable that Israel will squander that goodwill by committing an even more brutal act of vengeance. Israel's prime minister, Netanyahu, has already vowed to "exact a price that will be remembered by Israel's enemies for decades to come." Of course you will, Netanyahu. It is your nature to "out-cruel" all adversaries. Israel will attack Gaza with tanks, planes, artillery, and over 300,000 soldiers. Hamas will counter with a forces less than 20,000. They call that imbalance "asymmetrical warfare." 

What is to come in Gaza will remind us of the movie, "Cool Hand Luke" and the prison fight between Luke and the hulking, Dragline. When the fight starts, the other prisoners look on. The scrawny, Luke, played by Paul Newman, is game, but the entire time, he looks like he is trying to fight his way out of the proverbial "paper bag.," Each time Dragline, played by George Kennedy, hits Luke, Luke goes down and the crowd cheers. Soon, the cheering stops as Dragline pummels the pathetic Luke. Finally, one of the prisoners, shamefaced at his participation in the spectacle, turns away and mumbles, "Somebody ought to stop this thing." 

That is a glimpse of coming attractions. The world community will soon beg for a stoppage of the slaughter. Even the warden, Joe Biden, who vowed, "unending support" for the Israel effort, will have seen enough.  

Monday, October 30, 2023

A.I. Ain't Writin'

Artificial Intelligence shall permeate our lives, and cause us to question everything our fellow humans do: "Did you write that?" "Did you create that all by yourself?" "Did you really catch that ball, or did those techno-gloves catch that ball for you?' It's a fair question. "Are you insulated?" 

The Hollywood writers have settled their strike (for the most part) against the television studios. Those same writers who whined about A.I. stealing their jobs, according to the settlement, can now use A.I., themselves, to complement their work. Chances are, many of these so-called "writers" may not be true "writers", at all. Chances are, many of them have no more true writing talent than I have singing or drawing talent, though I do like to sing, and dabble. 

A.I. uses recycled content to create its poems, essays, and scripts, just as many Hollywood writers have been using recycled content for years, and pushing it off as their own "genius." We know better when we see so many television scripts and movies look and sound like the ones before. 

There was a time, in football, when we would marvel at the "great, soft hands" of elite receivers. You never hear such talk anymore because, now, they all wear gloves - even in 80 degree temperatures! - which obscure those with "great hands" from those with "good hands." It is the gloves that secure the ball on contact. These gloves - I call them "techno-gloves" - are a form of A.I. You might ask, "Why don't the gifted receivers chuck the gloves, and show the world how "real men" once did it? Too late for that. Today, a great receiver without the techno-gloves is like a great guitarist without an amplifier. 

The truth is: The studios have little respect for their so-called "writers" because they see little "true talent" among the lot of them. That is why the studios were so slow to settle. And, even then, look at the terms of the settlement: Where the UAW is asking for 20%, 10%, and 10% raise over the next three years, the writers have settled for a 5%, 4%, and 3% raise over the same period. It would seem that is apropos to the talent these writers apparently bring to work. 

Great writers never need A.I. When writers couple with A.I., they cease to be writers; they become construction workers. I say, "Let A.I. have the touchdowns. It ain't writin'."

Monday, October 16, 2023

Crucified

Jesus was crucified
We know this
We do not know what
    it feels like
To be crucified
But we can imagine
We are human beings
We are built to imagine.

Some of us in our zeal 
Enact our own unique crucifixions
Replete with spikes and lances
and cries of "Why me?"

We must be crucified!
Our sins are so great
And mounting so
That  crucifixion seems too
    good for us
But it is the worst
We can imagine. 

Sunday, September 24, 2023

More Racial Dilemmas

Sage Steele, recently-fired ESPN anchor, declared: "I'm bi-racial." I declare, "So?" A large percentage of African-Americans are bi-racial, thanks in large part to America's "crime against humanity" - slavery - where the white slavemaster has his way with the two million original African-American women under his complete control. 

Then, Sage declared, "Barack Obama is going around saying that he is a black man, when he is actually bi-racial, like me." Sage should not have gone there. Barack knows who he is, and where he comes from. He has never denied his black Kenyan father , nor his white Kansas mother. After living in places around the wold , he settled in about the "blackest" community in America - Chicago's southside. After dating women all colors, he married a truly black woman - Michelle Robinson. He has a black family. Barack Obama chooses to be a black man. 

Back to Sage: Once you declare yourself "bi-racial", most people tend to wonder, "Okay, so what races are you?" Let me put it this way: I am a dark-skinned African-American man. My paternal great-grandfather was white. My maternal great-grandfather was full-blooded Native American. (The rest of me, for the most part, hails from western Africa.) That, I suppose, makes me "tri-racial". Should I declare myself that? Not unless I want to sound foolish. Chances are, many of us are tri-racial, and then some. Nonetheless, most of us declare a race: Hispanic, Black, Native American, Asian, etc., because that is the community we most identify with. 

Funny how a bi-racial person can claim to be anything he/she wants to be, except "white."

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

All the Way to the Back

"All the way to the back," she said
"All the way to the back" 
Those words were ingrained into our heads
Was it simply because we were black?

We had to do it, the good kids we were
Taught to do as were told
No time for sass - just march, lad and lass
All the way to the back of the bus
All the way to the back

Fill up those seats - Leave room! Leave room!
No matter how tight you are packed
"All the way, all the way, all the way," she said
All the way to the back.

"All the way to the back," she said
"All the way to the back" 
Words to children so easily uttered
Was it melanin all that she lacked?

Who was this woman with the hypnotist's glare
And the siren's knack?
It was Josie Wroblewski - the gasman's wife
Who said, "All the way to the back." 

She drove the bus, and the lot of us
And did it without any flack
How else could we have made it to school
Except for going all the way to the back
Except for sitting way, way in the back?

This 60s Woodland Park and Bitely did business
Played baseball, rode the same bus
Adjacent black and white rural communities
Never forgetting the thin line between us. 

Fill up those seats - Leave room! Leave room! 
No matter how tight you are packed
"All the way, all the way, all the way," she said
All the way to the back. 

And she got away with it
Until such time as Daria Plaut
Hitched a ride on that bus
She was a teacher's aide at Baldwin High
Heard the cry with the rest of us: 
"All the way to the back"
"All the way to the back"
"All the way to the back of the bus." 

Daria saw how each day we were herded
To clear space for the white kids to sit
Being a Woodland Parker - born and bred
She wasn't having any of it.

This was not Montgomery, Alabama
And Daria never claimed to be Rosa Parks
She heard, "All the way back" -
Stopped it dead in its tracks
Another community climbed out of the dark.

We had joined in a struggle waged across the land
From L.A. to Detroit to D.C. 
Black communities all - rallying to the call 
Of a people bound to be free.

"All the way to the back" - one by one;
Thanks to Big Sis, those days were done
Now, a faint and fading echo
Of a day Woodland Park had won.