Silent Protest

The Bruckner Expressway is an unglamorous stretch of road which I travel twice a day to enter and leave Manhattan. Bruckner sunsets can be pretty if you are looking out toward Randall's Island, and there is something to be said for the orange reflection of the setting sun on South Bronx windowpanes - but not too much. There is however, one point of interest: a homemade 'billboard', painted in yellow with a black background - which changes from time to time to reflect the artist's outrage over one issue or another.
Currently it reads 'I am Troy Davis'. The door which opens onto the roof straddles the 'R' and the 'O'. 

The previous message was painted around August 2010 in response to the increased racial profiling of Hispanics in Arizona and the proposal that all Americans ( read Hispanic Americans) carry proof of citizenship on their person at all times.The painted message in response to that debacle read 'No human is illegal', which is now a movement unto itself. 

Even though the specific case of Troy Davis has faded into the background, something about the billboard still feels immediate and pertinent. Maybe its the words 'I am' facing off against the impersonal whir of traffic and the stark city lanscape which makes me want to pay attention, or at least acknowledge the sign even though I've seen it many times. We all have to declare ourselves in the midst of a din, and must do so even if there's no one listening.

Haiku Moments - I

Last year, my friend Daniela and I participated in a "renku" - a string of haiku composed by each of us alternately in a sort of response to the one which went before. We used Twitter as the interface and ended all of our tweets with the hash tag #renku in an attempt to 'file' them in sequence.

We were writing from two very different geographical locations: she, from somewhere just south of the Canadian border, and I, from New York City. Our interfaces with nature and season were likewise considerably different. 

The Haiku form leans heavily on specificity of place, season, and simple observations as an expression of the 'haiku moment' - some sublime experience which the poet then attempts to encapsulate within three lines and seventeen syllables.

We had decided to go eighteen rounds, which we did over the course of nine months. Because each haiku in the chain feeds off the previous one, presenting them in pairs is not necessarily the most meaningful way to share them, so here are the first three:


 #1 D (3.30.2011)

Light snow falls

on the coffin along with dirt—

on the sod, a robin hops…

#1 L (3.31.2011)

Fallen branches  

some with buds  

snap underfoot.

 #2 D (4.4.2011)

A red sunrise—

Coffee sweet with birdsong—

And snow, again…

Photo credit :Ruled by Neptune

Bonding over Banzuke

Finding common ground on the TV

What is it about aggression, confrontation and acting up (not to mention, acting out) that men find them entertaining 'reality' television? I don't know. My taste in TV runs from the mystery of The Antiques Roadshow to the adventure of Rick Steve's Europe to the nail-biting suspense of House Hunters International. When I want to relax, I watch P.Allen Smith's Garden Home or New Scandinavian Cooking.

 In stark contrast, the men in my life (when there is no English League Soccer or NBA game on) flip from channel to channel searching for the most mindless, regressive sort of programming they can find. While I'm over in the corner campaigning for "How it's Made" or "Mythbusters", they're discussing the relative merits of  'Hardcore Pawn', 'Lizard Lick Towing', and' 'Storage Hunters'. They try to tell me these are different shows, but there are a few things one can count on: finger pointing, quickly escalating confrontations, bleeped expletives, forcible removals, and the like. 

Then there's the 'World's Dumbest...' franchise. Finish that any way you like: bank robbers, convenience store heists, high speed chases, carjackings, drivers, stunts - there is no end to the folly. This gem is hosted by a revolving roster of has-beens and small timers - several of them with rap-sheets. There's Tonya 'Whack-a-Knee' Harding, Danny 'Been-There-Done-That' Bonaduce, Gary 'Cold-Busted' Busey, not to mention Daniel 'I'm-No-Alec' Baldwin.

I was just about to give up on finding common ground when we stumbled upon 'Unbeatable Banzuke' and 'Ninja Warrior' - Japanese extreme-sport game shows complete with hyper-enthusiastic Japanese commentary. There's no trash talking or posturing - there's no time. Completing these obstacle courses takes every ounce of the competitors' energy and focus. The action is exciting, awe-inspiring and just plain fun to watch- pure performance without the side-show. In last night's episode of Ninja Warrior, American parkour enthusiast and freerunner Levi Meeuwenberg was the only one to make it to the third stage of the course. Speed, strategy and suspense meet grace and beauty - we all get something to cheer about.

Photo credit:Derek Hyamson

http://twistedsifter.com/2011/03/25-incredible-parkour-photographs/

Super Tuesday Tea Leaves

The race for the Republican nomination is in full swing with four runners left...er right. In their attempts to handicap the race and parse the rationale for voter choice, the pollsters and the media are making extensive use of entrance and exit polls. These are so effective that they dovetail quite well with the actual outcomes.

Last week we were watching the race for Michigan when a sampling of the exit-poll questions came across the screen. The one that got my attention was 'Are you a born again Christian?'
I never thought I'd see the day when that question would be relevant in any setting outside of a tent revival, but here we are.

How good a predictor of a person's choices are any of their personal attributes, opinions, predelictions, habits or traits? We don't know, but the answer must be 'very good' given the time, money and energy being invested in gathering data from every corner of our mundane little lives.
No detail is so small or obscure that something cannot be inferred or gleaned from it. This is the company the devil keeps, after all.

So in addition to one's 'born-again' status, the pollsters may soon want to know the answers to the following questions:

1. How do you feel about sweater-vests?
2. What's your blood type? Blood color?
3. How much would you wager on a casual bet?
4. Which do you prefer, silver or gold?
5.Would that preference apply to jewellery or currency - or both?
6. How much is your Tiffany's credit line?
7. Do you have a Cadillac and a horse at each residence?
8. Serial monogamy, polygamy or 'till death'? 
9. Widowhood aside, how many marriages would you say were too many?
10. If offered the option, would you live on another planet?

This data can be crunched, twisted, spun and massaged into a rock solid prediction, or at least something to feed the news cycle until the heir becomes (a bit more) apparent.