Tom Brokaw just spoke at USC - took us through his life covering the late 1960's...man, he's been through it all. Seems like he just gets it. There's something about a guy like that, who has interviewed just about every big name in U.S. history during his career, that just seems authentic...there's something about him that makes me believe and trust he doesn't really bullshit his way through life. Good guy to listen to, and believe me, he said a lot - about race and politics, about citizenship, but even more simply...about talking and conversing with each other.
He left his listeners with an idea: if we don't speak to one another...if we stay on opposite sides of the room with opposite ideologies, how will we ever progress as a country? Dialogue. It is the simplest of ideas. It's what we're taught when we're younger. Listen when somebody speaks to you. Don't talk when somebody else is speaking. Respect others' opinions. Be open-minded. Maybe it's just the way I grew up, but I don't think so.
So how is it that as we get older, all this sort of fades away under the broad umbrella of what we like to call politics? It somehow becomes okay to attack each other for what we believe, to close ourselves and our minds off to differing opinions completely. And we call ourselves older...more mature.
Brokaw didn't really go into this as much...I took the liberty to expand on his thoughts, but just think about it.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Tom Brokaw at USC - Broad Yet Moving
When I heard Tom Brokaw was coming to USC, I knew I had to go. A man who has gone through history with America and abroad, reported on some of the Nation's greatest, worst and most monumental moments and has been a well-heard voice in the media, Brokaw had a lot to reflect on. Using these reflections, he delivered an eloquent speech remembering history and relating it to a generation who should learn from the stories of the past. Although quite idealistic and non-specific, with the theme of individuals contributing all that they can as citizens to the greater good of the people, it still was moving. With a feeling of wanting to be a part of a collective society who upholds the value of helping one another, audience members left Bovard asking what they could do? While coming across very genuine and grounded, one question left Brokaw only skimming the surface of a much deeper topic with an answer that contradicted itself. When asked how Brokaw thought Los Angeles should deal with the vast diversity of our city and break racial walls that divide our community among ethnic lines, he was slow to answer. He made the point that people are too afraid to offend one another, yet he was very careful with what he said himself. He discussed all needing to speak one language, which was vague. Did he mean metaphorically? It is interesting to compare Barack Obama's speech on race and politics with Brokaw's. It seems as if Brokaw feels he is not at liberty to discuss the issue with blunt honesty because he's never been fully immersed in the culture. While jumping in and out of moments of racial tension, he can't have the connection the Obama can to the issue of race. Obama's speech was risky, truthful and unglazed. Nonetheless, seeing Brokaw at USC was a privelege and a thought-provoking, moving experience. He is a man that's seen more in his life than most could in a century. He hit his point home when he said that change in our current day is going to come from the bottom up. Each of us has a responsibility to choose a meaningful life path that contributes to a brighter future for us all.
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everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt
Let's take a break from politics and remember the one-year death anniversary of the most acerbic and kick ass writers to have ever lived....
My first image of Kurt Vonnegut was through the masked ballerina that forever scarred me. Her image was haunting, the elegance of her dance destroyed by the weights strapped to her legs, her beauty shrouded within a stifling, muggy facial mask, all her potential hidden among handicaps forced upon her by a totalitarian government so everyone would be treated equally.
I hated Kurt Vonnegut for creating the idea of her. I hated him for frightening me, for describing the most disturbing image of a dystopian world, which even seven years after first reading it still freaks me out.
She is one of the main characters in his short story, "Harrison Bergeron," one of my first and favorite works by the ridiculously insane Vonnegut.
With Vonnegut's passing last April, obituaries lauded him as a master of science fiction and complexity, metaphors and allegories, but I never thought of him as any of those things. He always just seemed like a grizzly old World War II vet intrigued by the scientific possibilities of the future who had the fortune of knowing how to write.
He was someone who had the unique ability to chuck around one-liners from a rocking chair as easily as taking a breath. He was acerbic, ironic, witty and painfully pragmatic. Vonnegut braved a POW camp during the Allied bombing of Dresden, and could write everything I never could and make it sound spontaneous. He could turn convoluted sentences into hard-hitting juggernauts, and somehow have everything make sense.
Like many impressionable eighth-graders, I used to read until I fell asleep under my blankets and dream I was a famous writer, and I was always most impressed by how minimally Vonnegut wrote. He didn't delve into grandiose metaphors about willows and wuthering heights - he made up words of his own, such as "Duprass," "bokonon," "foma." My favorite being "karass," the idea that a group of people are collectively conducting God's will in carrying out a precise, universal task.
In "Slaughterhouse-Five," the main character, Billy Pilgrim, notices how you never realize when you're happy until pain takes its place. He notices how peaceful it is immediately after a war, how the stagnancy after a horrible catastrophe leads to nothing but silence. Vonnegut was the same way; his complexities lay in how uncomplex he was, how he could just sit around after a massacre and make an observation about how quiet it was.
His advice was as simple as his writing. "Be a sadist," he told aspiring writers. "No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them - in order that the reader may see what they are made of."
He didn't take himself seriously and he realized the role of writing was about make-believe places, characters and plots, and not about the writer at all.
That's why, truthfully, Vonnegut would laugh at this post. Like when PBS once asked him how life was treating him, his response was a sober, "Well, it's practically over, thank God." After taking one look at the words written here, he'd probably ask, "What were you thinking? You spent 500 words writing about some fleshy old man decaying underground?" He'd say it that way, too: crassly, masochistically. Then he'd probably shrug his shoulders, whistle and sigh, "So it goes ..."
He was the most beloved sadist I've come to known.
Hillary Clinton: president forty fo'
We here at Reality Check haven't given a ton of space to Hillary Clinton coverage. Why? Maybe she scares us. Maybe, for better or for worse, she's just not as fun to write about.
Well I think the old girl's giving her campaign all she's got, and it's touched me. Not in the way that makes Popes blush (happy B-day Ben Dawg!) No, in the way that makes you want to write about them.
In an attempt to make Ms. Clinton more accessible to the youth we touch here at Reality Check (no pun intended. Right, Ben Dawg?) here's a song I found on the internet on Clinton. It's written by a young Schenectady street rapper named Herb Money. I guess Herb doesn't have a producer because it's written to the beat from Flo-Rida's "Get Low." It's missing a verse, but I still think it's on point. It's called "Prez Forty Fo'"
Want to rap it for yourself? Go for it. Be sure to start rapping at :22 in.
[Chorus]
Rodham’s got that Clinton Health Plan [Plan]
Bill to confer [to confer]
The whole nation’s lookin’ at her
She won’t take no [she won’t take no]
She will plateau [she will plateau]
Prez forty fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’
That horny Ken Starr
He’s not even on a par [on a par]
She made it through Whitewater with not even a scar
[Ayy]
She won’t take no [she won’t take no]
She will plateau [she will plateau]
Prez forty fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’
[Verse 1]
Ya ain’t never seen nuthin like Hill oh no
First a Yalie maybe Senate tem Pro
A female lawya; she got plenty of dough
Dem health care aches, they got to go
So deplorable, Bush be lamentable
Condemnable, off in wars and blow
Hold up wait a minute, do I see what I think I
Whoa
Did I think I seen Rodham say yo
Girl she say she wanna give it a go
Be da Prez? Yah’if she says so
Work the polls, grab dem Dem votes
Voters say ‘hey, we ain’t go no bank roll’
Hill like, ‘I hear dat, be makin it grow’
They say, ‘On Iraq, why ain’t you vote no?’
Hill say, “Thought Saddam had A Bombs below.”
She had that
[Chorus]
Clinton Health Plan [Plan]
Bill to confer [to confer]
The whole nation’s lookin’ at her
She won’t take no [she won’t take no]
She will plateau [she will plateau]
Prez forty fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’
That horny Ken Starr
He’s not even on a par [on a par]
She made it through Whitewater with not even a scar
[Ayy]
She won’t take no [she won’t take no]
She will plateau [she will plateau]
Prez forty fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’
[Verse 2]
Hey
Hillary what ya gonna do to get the votes
Your thoughts in the papers
Gotta get them quotes
Senate Bills Policies you gotta promote
Talk up your feats but do not gloat
Best seller (come on)
Grammy win (come on)
Junior Senate (come on, now that’s not bad)
What you think she’s playin’ America
She’s the man, her mettle won’t scratch a Teflon pan
That’s what she’ll show you, what most of New York knew
Barack it is ova, you sick like ebola
Tasty like granola
Work her Motorola like Yo-Yo his viola
So lucky for you, the Delegates they love her
Don’t even need any payola
Sorry but you can’t control her
Hear that, Ayotollah?
She got them
[Chorus]
Clinton Health Plan [Plan]
Bill to confer [to confer]
The whole nation’s lookin’ at her
She won’t take no [she won’t take no]
She will plateau [she will plateau]
Prez forty fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’
That horny Ken Starr
He’s not even on a par [on a par]
She made it through Whitewater with not even a scar
[Ayy]
She won’t take no [she won’t take no]
She will plateau [she will plateau]
Prez forty fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’
C’mon
Well I think the old girl's giving her campaign all she's got, and it's touched me. Not in the way that makes Popes blush (happy B-day Ben Dawg!) No, in the way that makes you want to write about them.
In an attempt to make Ms. Clinton more accessible to the youth we touch here at Reality Check (no pun intended. Right, Ben Dawg?) here's a song I found on the internet on Clinton. It's written by a young Schenectady street rapper named Herb Money. I guess Herb doesn't have a producer because it's written to the beat from Flo-Rida's "Get Low." It's missing a verse, but I still think it's on point. It's called "Prez Forty Fo'"
Want to rap it for yourself? Go for it. Be sure to start rapping at :22 in.
[Chorus]
Rodham’s got that Clinton Health Plan [Plan]
Bill to confer [to confer]
The whole nation’s lookin’ at her
She won’t take no [she won’t take no]
She will plateau [she will plateau]
Prez forty fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’
That horny Ken Starr
He’s not even on a par [on a par]
She made it through Whitewater with not even a scar
[Ayy]
She won’t take no [she won’t take no]
She will plateau [she will plateau]
Prez forty fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’
[Verse 1]
Ya ain’t never seen nuthin like Hill oh no
First a Yalie maybe Senate tem Pro
A female lawya; she got plenty of dough
Dem health care aches, they got to go
So deplorable, Bush be lamentable
Condemnable, off in wars and blow
Hold up wait a minute, do I see what I think I
Whoa
Did I think I seen Rodham say yo
Girl she say she wanna give it a go
Be da Prez? Yah’if she says so
Work the polls, grab dem Dem votes
Voters say ‘hey, we ain’t go no bank roll’
Hill like, ‘I hear dat, be makin it grow’
They say, ‘On Iraq, why ain’t you vote no?’
Hill say, “Thought Saddam had A Bombs below.”
She had that
[Chorus]
Clinton Health Plan [Plan]
Bill to confer [to confer]
The whole nation’s lookin’ at her
She won’t take no [she won’t take no]
She will plateau [she will plateau]
Prez forty fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’
That horny Ken Starr
He’s not even on a par [on a par]
She made it through Whitewater with not even a scar
[Ayy]
She won’t take no [she won’t take no]
She will plateau [she will plateau]
Prez forty fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’
[Verse 2]
Hey
Hillary what ya gonna do to get the votes
Your thoughts in the papers
Gotta get them quotes
Senate Bills Policies you gotta promote
Talk up your feats but do not gloat
Best seller (come on)
Grammy win (come on)
Junior Senate (come on, now that’s not bad)
What you think she’s playin’ America
She’s the man, her mettle won’t scratch a Teflon pan
That’s what she’ll show you, what most of New York knew
Barack it is ova, you sick like ebola
Tasty like granola
Work her Motorola like Yo-Yo his viola
So lucky for you, the Delegates they love her
Don’t even need any payola
Sorry but you can’t control her
Hear that, Ayotollah?
She got them
[Chorus]
Clinton Health Plan [Plan]
Bill to confer [to confer]
The whole nation’s lookin’ at her
She won’t take no [she won’t take no]
She will plateau [she will plateau]
Prez forty fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’
That horny Ken Starr
He’s not even on a par [on a par]
She made it through Whitewater with not even a scar
[Ayy]
She won’t take no [she won’t take no]
She will plateau [she will plateau]
Prez forty fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’ fo’
C’mon
The day of the Democratic nomination will be one of the most exciting days of my life;
I can’t wait.
That’s when we can finally start talking about something else.
For months, almost all of the political discussions I’ve engaged in have come down to the fight between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
I know when we have a Democratic nominee, I’ll start talking about John McCain, and whether Republicans will stay loyal to their party or back the more popular candidate.
But since that day is not yet arrived, we have to keep talking about Obama and Clinton, and so in this column, I will.
Irrevocably, their fight is a novel one. It’s a great story that will long outlast either one of them, or their prospective terms in office. It is a story of courage, determination and strength of wit. It is as engaging as any movie I’ve seen recently, but that may be a problem of mine, I’m not sure.
As for the ending, however, I’m not sure the winner will ever be as significant as the battle, in the same way that an amazing book sometimes leaves its reader thinking more about the journey in the middle pages than the book-closing finale.
I haven’t lived through enough presidential elections to be sure, but I have gotten the impression, over the years, that presidential campaigns and platforms do not always mirror exactly what the elected officials do in office.
In other words, I don’t think it’s clear how much the nomination will tell us about what we can expect.
Do I like Obama more than Clinton? Yes. Do I think Obama is a better leader, potentially, than Clinton would be? I do. Would I vote for Obama over Clinton? I would.
But do I think Hillary would be a bad president? I don’t.
She could definitely handle the job and is qualified to do it well.
When you have a fight between two challengers, the dynamic always seems to form that one person must be good and the other must be bad. One choice must be better than the other, but we become so passionate about our beliefs that we turn our backs on the viable alternative, often giving it no credence.
Obama has my Democratic vote, but Clinton still has my confidence.
Here are my issues and frustrations as I think about the future:
When I graduate college, I’ll do so in one of the most unstable job markets we’ve seen in generations. Without a tremendous amount of capitol, it will be very difficult for me to get a reasonable mortgage on a house. I’ll also be paying off debts, hopefully from law school. My annual household income, currently, will be heavily taxed under Obama or Clinton. I am sick of living in a country that is at war overseas.
I do not believe electing Obama over Hillary, or Hillary over Obama, will greatly impact the future of my issues one way or the other. Our country’s needs are very apparent, and any president will have to deal with them and fix them.
Whether Hillary or Obama gets the Democratic nomination, I’m going to stay concerned about these issues until they change. To be honest, what we can expect from either Clinton or Obama is probably difficult, if not impossible, to tell right now.
I am so interested to see what happens either way. The conventional wisdom says the conservatives will come very close to destroying Obama, and I’m not sure that’s wrong, despite how unfair that would be.
So if Obama does, in fact, win the nomination, I’ll just hope the fight stays fair, though it probably won’t.
If Clinton wins the nomination, who I have always believed would be a less challenging candidate to face McCain, I will be anxious to see how she picks herself up from a troubled campaign and learns from her mistakes to fight back and win.
But other than that, I can’t say the nomination will really affect me one way or the other.
I’ll just be excited to talk about something else for once.
I can’t wait.
That’s when we can finally start talking about something else.
For months, almost all of the political discussions I’ve engaged in have come down to the fight between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
I know when we have a Democratic nominee, I’ll start talking about John McCain, and whether Republicans will stay loyal to their party or back the more popular candidate.
But since that day is not yet arrived, we have to keep talking about Obama and Clinton, and so in this column, I will.
Irrevocably, their fight is a novel one. It’s a great story that will long outlast either one of them, or their prospective terms in office. It is a story of courage, determination and strength of wit. It is as engaging as any movie I’ve seen recently, but that may be a problem of mine, I’m not sure.
As for the ending, however, I’m not sure the winner will ever be as significant as the battle, in the same way that an amazing book sometimes leaves its reader thinking more about the journey in the middle pages than the book-closing finale.
I haven’t lived through enough presidential elections to be sure, but I have gotten the impression, over the years, that presidential campaigns and platforms do not always mirror exactly what the elected officials do in office.
In other words, I don’t think it’s clear how much the nomination will tell us about what we can expect.
Do I like Obama more than Clinton? Yes. Do I think Obama is a better leader, potentially, than Clinton would be? I do. Would I vote for Obama over Clinton? I would.
But do I think Hillary would be a bad president? I don’t.
She could definitely handle the job and is qualified to do it well.
When you have a fight between two challengers, the dynamic always seems to form that one person must be good and the other must be bad. One choice must be better than the other, but we become so passionate about our beliefs that we turn our backs on the viable alternative, often giving it no credence.
Obama has my Democratic vote, but Clinton still has my confidence.
Here are my issues and frustrations as I think about the future:
When I graduate college, I’ll do so in one of the most unstable job markets we’ve seen in generations. Without a tremendous amount of capitol, it will be very difficult for me to get a reasonable mortgage on a house. I’ll also be paying off debts, hopefully from law school. My annual household income, currently, will be heavily taxed under Obama or Clinton. I am sick of living in a country that is at war overseas.
I do not believe electing Obama over Hillary, or Hillary over Obama, will greatly impact the future of my issues one way or the other. Our country’s needs are very apparent, and any president will have to deal with them and fix them.
Whether Hillary or Obama gets the Democratic nomination, I’m going to stay concerned about these issues until they change. To be honest, what we can expect from either Clinton or Obama is probably difficult, if not impossible, to tell right now.
I am so interested to see what happens either way. The conventional wisdom says the conservatives will come very close to destroying Obama, and I’m not sure that’s wrong, despite how unfair that would be.
So if Obama does, in fact, win the nomination, I’ll just hope the fight stays fair, though it probably won’t.
If Clinton wins the nomination, who I have always believed would be a less challenging candidate to face McCain, I will be anxious to see how she picks herself up from a troubled campaign and learns from her mistakes to fight back and win.
But other than that, I can’t say the nomination will really affect me one way or the other.
I’ll just be excited to talk about something else for once.
Beer Drinkin', Whisky Swiggin'
"Drink, drink, drink, drink!"
It's a common song sung among college kids - guys looking to prove their manhood and girls getting sloshed and sloppy. We look like marathon runners pining for their first cup of water after running through the desert for miles - we slam the cup back, chug down the frothy liquid, and wipe our mouths off of the foamy debris. If us college kids drink even half as much as we do now once we get into the real world, Alcoholics Annoymous will have to build a thousand more mega-churches to house us all.
"Live it up," so the saying goes. "...because once your out of college it's called alcoholism."
Let's face it. Alcohol is an intergral part of the college experience. We earn respect from our peers when we let loose and let the liquid pour.
Out in the real world, where people work nine-to-fives and can't afford late Thursday night bingers, alcohol is not such a staple. It does, however, hold similar objectives. It lets people relax, let go of nervous inhibitions and feel comfortable around one another. Having a beer once and while shows you're a normal person who likes to let go of the stress of every-day life and kick back with a cold one.
Hilary Clinton must have gotten this memo. She decided to head over to the local bar and enjoy some shots of crown royal and chug some beer with the common people.
Obama sees this as a publicity stunt - one to make her look like a regular, fun-loving gal who can relate to even the dive-bar crowd, when in all actuality, she's just a manipulative, cunning candidate.
Clinton could say the same thing about Obama, who was seen drinking a beer while bowling.
I don't exactly know what the intentions of either candidate was when they decided to get on camera with their beverages of choice, but I don't think the footage will scare voters away from either of them - especially young voters.
While discussing the hours of time CNN devoted to talking about the beer drinkin', whisky swiggin' candidates, several of my peers commented that not only did they think it wasn't a big deal, but it made them like the candidates even more. It showed them the more human side of the bickering duo. I'm not sure staunch republicans will feel the same way, although if their truthful with themselves, they like a good scotch as much as any democrat.
I'm not saying that voters should vote for their candidate based on the brand of liquor they enjoy (although Hilary's choice of Crown Royal wasn't a bad one), I'm just saying that it is sometimes nice, especially for young voters, to feel they can relate to the candidates. I think we all want to know that the candidates aren't political robots programmed to manipulate. I hope that neither Clinton or Obama's drinking stunts were calculated to misrepresent their humanness, but it is possible. We all know politicians can by calculating!
Take a look at this YouTube Video and decide for yourself. At the very least, you'll be entertained.
It's a common song sung among college kids - guys looking to prove their manhood and girls getting sloshed and sloppy. We look like marathon runners pining for their first cup of water after running through the desert for miles - we slam the cup back, chug down the frothy liquid, and wipe our mouths off of the foamy debris. If us college kids drink even half as much as we do now once we get into the real world, Alcoholics Annoymous will have to build a thousand more mega-churches to house us all.
"Live it up," so the saying goes. "...because once your out of college it's called alcoholism."
Let's face it. Alcohol is an intergral part of the college experience. We earn respect from our peers when we let loose and let the liquid pour.
Out in the real world, where people work nine-to-fives and can't afford late Thursday night bingers, alcohol is not such a staple. It does, however, hold similar objectives. It lets people relax, let go of nervous inhibitions and feel comfortable around one another. Having a beer once and while shows you're a normal person who likes to let go of the stress of every-day life and kick back with a cold one.
Hilary Clinton must have gotten this memo. She decided to head over to the local bar and enjoy some shots of crown royal and chug some beer with the common people.
Obama sees this as a publicity stunt - one to make her look like a regular, fun-loving gal who can relate to even the dive-bar crowd, when in all actuality, she's just a manipulative, cunning candidate.
Clinton could say the same thing about Obama, who was seen drinking a beer while bowling.
I don't exactly know what the intentions of either candidate was when they decided to get on camera with their beverages of choice, but I don't think the footage will scare voters away from either of them - especially young voters.
While discussing the hours of time CNN devoted to talking about the beer drinkin', whisky swiggin' candidates, several of my peers commented that not only did they think it wasn't a big deal, but it made them like the candidates even more. It showed them the more human side of the bickering duo. I'm not sure staunch republicans will feel the same way, although if their truthful with themselves, they like a good scotch as much as any democrat.
I'm not saying that voters should vote for their candidate based on the brand of liquor they enjoy (although Hilary's choice of Crown Royal wasn't a bad one), I'm just saying that it is sometimes nice, especially for young voters, to feel they can relate to the candidates. I think we all want to know that the candidates aren't political robots programmed to manipulate. I hope that neither Clinton or Obama's drinking stunts were calculated to misrepresent their humanness, but it is possible. We all know politicians can by calculating!
Take a look at this YouTube Video and decide for yourself. At the very least, you'll be entertained.
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