Author: whodeanny

Run Away Home

A new poem. Just trying out something new. Lemme know how it works.

FDO

Run Away Home

You really wanted to keep running last summer, didn’t you?
Didn’t you wonder if things would somehow turn out right
Even if you did take a little vacation

Just an unannounced several day road trip
Out to the Michigan beaches
Or to a private spot just on the wrong side of the Mexican border
One you know Marcy would never have wanted to visit even if you’d offered to pay for you both

Is it hard to admit that you’re scared because the whole thing was a little easier than you’d feared
More interesting, denser
Did you decide that you liked eating out more than you thought you did
Or maybe you’ve realized that waking up warm is always better
And being in love is too

© Gayle Force Press 2007

The Silence That Kills

Although Tom Friedman’s NYT article is ‘behind the glass’ it is worth finding. He indicts the silence of the Muslim world regarding Iraqi violence. He also makes the point that America has no moral authority to comment on it.

http://select.nytimes.com/2007/03/02/opinion/02friedman.htm?hp

It seems clear that the most critical battle for the future of the Middle East really is the battle of ideas. It takes a great deal of commitment to choose death over life but that is the choice several people in the Middle East make every single week.

Perhaps the best we can hope for long term American engagement in the region is that it will eventually result in a modern day educational Marshall Plan. In that plan, I might envision a frenzy of school and hospital building with young, cheap volunteers interested in making a service commitment and changing the world. Young people from all over the world would be willing to serve in a program like this, maybe with the carrot of an American visa dangling before their eyes. Perhaps this will be the Powell Plan and our currently embarassed general/Secretary of State can restore his standing by being the point person for this kind of long term building process.

Without some serious, concerted effort at actually engaging the Muslim world in an important fashion, nothing critical will change and the choice of death over life will continue to be applauded while the rest of the world sits in stunned, stupid silence.

TP

Falling Grace


Since we’ve been inundated with rain (and worse) lately, I thought I should post this poem about rain and all of us.


Falling Grace

The rain crashes down from heaven
And today, the sinner and the saint
The righteous and the wicked
Will all give a moment’s thought to nature

The clouds pour their sustenance on all
In grace, not in judgment

© Gayle Force Press 2007

Brothers in Hope

Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan
Mary Williams, author
Gregory Christie, illustrator

http://www.amazon.com/Brothers-Hope-Story-Coretta-Illustrator/dp/1584302321

This is a children’s book that follows the story of a young man who was part of a Sudanese refugee crisis. It is the winner of a Coretta Scott King illustrator award and a warm, non frightening introduction to global distress.

Highly recommended.

Hating Black People

according to the San Francisco Chronicle

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/02/27/MNGTCOBI921.DTL

A San Francisco weekly newspaper that bills itself as “The Voice of Asian America” is facing harsh criticism from that very community for publishing a column Friday titled “Why I Hate Blacks.”

Yes, it’s true. There are race based haters in every segment of American society. This seems particularly sad to me because the writer of the original article is an ‘Asian supremacist’ in his early 20s. Ish.

TP

Bush’s Billionaires

This article from Matt Taibbi uses comparisons from the Bush budget to illustrate how bizarrely warped our national priorities are. I mentioned the absurdity of Britney Spears media coverage in class today and several students found it very peculiar that they really do know more about her than they do about me. Taibbi makes the point wonderfully that tax cuts for the super rich are not part of any legitimate plan to provide benefits to society as a whole but only those super rich themselves. Really good stuff.

http://alternet.org/story/48278/

TP

Celebrate Barry Bonds?!?


We should take some time to celebrate Barry Bonds in his pursuit of the most important record in American sports, the ML career home run record. No other record is as hallowed, so seemingly inviolable. We just don’t care as much about any other number in sports.

Bonds is one of the athletes most everyone ‘knows’ and knows as a bad person. That matters. It shifts the public perception of this record; we downplay it automatically just because it’s easier that way.

Immensely important record, registered bad guy= complicated story that we’ll perpetually diminish

Here’s a way to feel a bit better about Barry Bonds being the guy who we celebrate. Remind yourself that he’s the best player in American team sports today.

Okay, it takes a moment to get there. But ask yourself, is Barry Bonds one of the five best players in the history of baseball? Even if grudgingly, you have to say yes. It’s simply that clear. And he’s the only active player in American team sports for whom that is true.

In the NBA there are at least five players who are sometimes considered among the top five ever. There’s no consensus on anything in the league right now. Dwyane Wade plays for a sub .500 team and is going to become a chic pick for MVP since the defending champs will only be a playoff team if he comes back too soon from serious injury.

But really, the closest you could come to putting a current NBA player in an all time top 5 is Shaq and a 6-3 white Canadian point guard may boast a 3-1 MVP advantage on him by the end of the season. Duncan, Garnett, AI, Kobe may appear on an occasional list if you’re young and fixated on a certain element of the game.

The NFL is so specialized that it’s hard to even generalize a best ever argument without defining it specifically by position. And really, unless you’re trying to be a pain in the butt, there are at least 3 quarterbacks in your top 5. Having all 5 being quarterbacks would not be a popular or cool choice but certainly legitimate.

There are only 2 top 5 possibilities in the NFL right now. And no, despite how vogue it is to consider, LaDainian Tomlinson is NOT a possibility. (Deepest sympathies, man. The worst thing in the world.) The two are Tom Brady, if you’re a championship resume person or Peyton Manning, if you’re an historical greatness fan. If QBs are the most important player and your team has won the most Super Bowls you’re the best. That’s a pretty limited way of deciding in my eyes but hey, some folks go there. In the historical greatness views, Peyton Manning is the Barry Bonds of his sport. (Remind me to develop a contrast between these two. How fun would that be?) Peyton is certainly a legitimate top 5 candidate but someone would need to justify that argument and you’d probably both be right.

The NHL may actually throw out my theory if a) they’re still considered a major sport (why isn’t it tennis? Beautiful people; a very cheap sport to play; distinct personalities; real rivalries; American strength; beautiful people; simple rules; specific numbers and history. We should push for this to happen.) and b) Mario Lemieux is still playing. Back when I knew what network broadcast hockey, it seemed clear all the puckheads agreed that Super Mario was top 5. That all seemed a little tough to figure but nobody seemed to dispute it so I just went with it.

In MLB, there are a couple other guys who might show up on someone’s top 5 list. If you love power pitching then you could ginny up a case for Rog-, oh no, who am I kidding? There’s no chance any active player can show up on your top 5 list besides Barry Bonds.

And you can’t pull Bonds from your list, either. Whether it’s the homers or the MVPs or the defense or the walks or the steals or the two stretches of dominance or the RBI total or the fear he instilled in entire teams or the disruption of the Manager Guidebook.

So maybe it makes a little more sense. Like him or not, Bonds is the best we have right now. And no, he’s not a hero like Henry Aaron but maybe we live in a world where heroes are less important to us. Maybe, for a while at least, being the very best can matter a little more.

After all, it’s only baseball.

TP

only 2 more months

For more evidence as to why we Wolves fans are so excited about the (playoff free, please!) end of the season/McHale era read this from Tom Powers of the St. Paul Pioneer Press:

Thursday’s trade deadline rolled past without the Timberwolves making a move, and that’s sort of a mixed bag. A fresh face could have provided a much-needed boost during this trying season. On the other hand, the front office didn’t do anything really, really stupid again, either.

We’ll call it a draw.

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/sports/16762928.htm

truer words…

TP

Tim Doyle

Since I live in the Midwest I always watch some Big Ten basketball every year but not a ton. I MUCH prefer the NBA and I don’t have many Saturdays where I have so much free time that I can watch an entire game. That being said, today is one those rare days. I have watched almost the whole Purdue at Northwestern game today. The Boilers have the two best players and need the game for NCAA consideration. That being said, Northwestern has played really hard and pretty well. Especially this guy named Tim Doyle. Yes, he sounds like an NYC cop and maybe he’s Tim Doyle Jr. and his dad IS an NYC cop. I dunno. I, in fact, didn’t know anything about him at all before today. He’s a starting senior in the Big Ten but I didn’t even know his name. But this guy’s my new favorite player in college basketball.

He’s not a typical D 1 star player even though he’s scored 20+ points today. He’s like the Ultimate Y Pickup Player. He moves at two speeds; high and low and there’ll totally distinct. But he shifts between them perfectly and at the appropriate time. He dribbles well with both hands and always changes at the right moment but isn’t a great ball handler technically but he works really hard to keep his body between his defender and the ball. He shoots pretty well but is mostly successful because he does exactly what the situation suggests.

Purdue’s Greg Landry is the dominant post player in the game but has had foul trouble (including a personal assessed for a hanging on the rim tech that was, uh, dubious at best) and when Doyle has him isolated on the wing he simply pushes the ball as hard as he can manage. One of two things will happen, Doyle thinks. Either 1) he will force Landry to back away and allow an easy layup or 2) Doyle will draw contact and pick up an important foul then shoot free throws. #3 happens: Landry moves backwards and keeps his hands up so as to avoid contact but appear to at least acknowledge that he doesn’t want Doyle to score the basket. Foul called. Doyle simply forced a good thing to happen.

That is Doyle’s MO. Forcing a good thing to happen. He backs in as he needs, pushes or hips appropriately, turns left or right, uses the glass and even the does the classic pass while simultaneously turning your body to set a pick. Seriously, this guy is the Ultimate Y Pickup Player.

TP