Tuesday, January 19, 2010
On Crime
"For someone never trained for useful work, crime is a skill like any other. It has its craft, its lore, its traditions, rewards and risks. Poverty helps train people for such jobs, the way poverty goads so many other people to acquire legitimate skills."--Pete Hamill, "For Looters, $ Overcame Good Sense," New York Post, August 17, 1977. Re: the Blackout of 1977.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
A Racial Double Standard
Cord Jefferson states in his theroot.com article promoting the use of the word "colored" to describe black people that he's "brown, but for whatever reason, that descriptor was given to Latinos." He further states "I don't begrudge anyone that decision, but I find it difficult to agree to being called black, because I'm not."
Yet when discussing the white med student from Mozambique who wanted to be called African American, Jefferson had no problem with the use of the word "white." Are whites really white?
And isn't there diversity within the white community? Ever hear of blondes, redheads, and brunettes? A set of encyclopedias I once owned as a kid divided whites into three groups: Nordic, Alpine, and Mediterranean. Obviously an acknowledgment that whites are not all the same, just like blacks.
Plus there are whites who shy away from calling themselves white and instead use the word "Caucasian." This is probably because white is not a good description of their skin tones. Although Caucasian might not be accurate either. Does the term mean that whites originated in the Caucasus Mountains? However, I don't see whites getting all bent out of shape over nomenclature. Maybe it's because whatever name they go by, they still dominate the global power structure.
Yet when discussing the white med student from Mozambique who wanted to be called African American, Jefferson had no problem with the use of the word "white." Are whites really white?
And isn't there diversity within the white community? Ever hear of blondes, redheads, and brunettes? A set of encyclopedias I once owned as a kid divided whites into three groups: Nordic, Alpine, and Mediterranean. Obviously an acknowledgment that whites are not all the same, just like blacks.
Plus there are whites who shy away from calling themselves white and instead use the word "Caucasian." This is probably because white is not a good description of their skin tones. Although Caucasian might not be accurate either. Does the term mean that whites originated in the Caucasus Mountains? However, I don't see whites getting all bent out of shape over nomenclature. Maybe it's because whatever name they go by, they still dominate the global power structure.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Honoring Strawberry Ice Cream
While browsing through my Turkey Hill Ice Cream 2010 calendar, I learned that January 15 is National Strawberry Ice Cream Day. That brought to mind my junior high school days in California, when I would purchase at the campus snack bar a Dixie cup of what passed for strawberry ice cream--vanilla ice cream topped with a dollop of strawberry preserves that was to be stirred with the wooden spoon supplied. I've been meaning to duplicate this concoction to see if it comes close in taste to what I had in junior high.
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