Sunday: Brown Baggin' It At O'Hare

New Rule

Don't make a single phone call or send a single email for work before I get my caffine in the morning.

Just don't go it, Marge. You end up saying things to people like, "We'd love to work with you, especially since we were considering Mario Batali and THAT didn't work out." And that simply is not ok.

Sigh.

Ok. Reboot.

Wednesday A Little Later

Wednesday

Friday

Saturday

Friday

Immodest H&M Mannequins Await Their Fate at 34th & 7th

I bet this is about to happen inside...!

The View (from my desk)

The trains in the foreground make up the West Side Railyards, some of the most hotly contested real estate in Manhattan. Beyond that, the mighty Hudson river. Across the river lies Weehawken, New Jersey. Weehawken is infamous because it is the dumping grounds for the Lincoln Tunnel (it deposits angry drivers into and out of the Garden State) AND it is the location where Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr dueled in 1804...to the death (well, to Hamilton's death)!

This stretch of river is also the exact location in which Captain Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger "masterfully" landed the US Airway jet, but a few chilly weeks ago.

Since this side of the island seems to get most of the action, I have very high expectations. If I don't see a miracle on the Hudson, presidential duel, or shocking display of Jersery road rage a month, I will be so disappointed. Seriously? How else can I be expected to work in this environment?!

Superbowl XVIII Game Highlight (aka Greatest Crotch Slide of All Time)

Ominous Sign (Literally) Across the Street From Work At PBS/Thirteen, On My First Day

Perspective

One Newspaper Stand Owner Get Political

Porky Piggin' It

I saw this sticker on a free magazine box at 34th/6th last night and kind of can't believe it's been just over 2 years since the Sean Bell shooting. And, well, better late than never to talk about it.


That cold November night I remember I was leaving a meeting across the street from Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica, when there was all this commotion at the hospital. I think it's a natural reaction for New Yorkers to repel from lots of commotion; at least, that's what this New Yorker does. I chalked up the chaos to just another night in Queens.


I was floored the next morning when I found out what had gone on at Mary Immaculate. Because of that weird coincidence, I have always felt a personal link to the case. Not like, in a creepy I'm-gonna-show-up-at-the-courthouse-and-expect-to-be-an-expert-witness kinda way, but just, I made sure to tune in when the story came on the news or up in conversations.

When a story of race and police brutality comes to light (has it been happening more frequently or am I over analyzing?!), my hackles go up and I immediately assume: the cops were white, the victims were black, and it was the cops' overwhelming racist tendencies that manifested into violence. I'm not gonna get into why I jump to that conclusion...but, obviously, more often than not, it's never that black and white.

I think an NPR report from Lester Spence explains the minuita of this specific case much better than I could. This report and the idea of "thinking without thinking" or making snap judgments based on a lifetime of exposure to a topic, idea, or stereotype, is also the theory of Malcolm Gladwell's Blink.

Does this change how I feel about the case and that I think Sean Bell died tragically and wrongfully? No. Do I have more understanding for why the police took the actions they did? Yes. Do I have faith that the NYPD will analyze this case as deeply as much as scholars and citizens? That remains to be seen.

Prelinger Archives (Attempt 1): Failure

I was trying to download some great public domain videos from the Prelinger Archives, but I'm not good enough at decoding HTML to see why the embedded code won't publish.

Sigh.

I'm home sick with Bronchitis.

So, I guess I'll just go back to bed.

Eh.

Date Night

Date Night from Deli Proof on Vimeo.

Last Night I Had A Dream...

...that I found a black lab puppy on the subway.

He kept pooping on the seats.

It was adorable.

You Cash Give Now

Yes We Can.

1. Yes He Can.

2. Yes We Did.
BBC North America editor Justin Webb: On every level America will be changed by this result - its impact will be so profound that the nation will never be the same. In a sense, the policy changes could be the least of it. It's the way the nation sees itself that will change. And the way outsiders see America. To think some ignorant folk think US elections are all about balloons and nonsense. To think some ignorant folk think America is not capable of change.

BBC editor Judy Sheerin: Many years from now, political science students will still be debating how a black guy from a broken home beat a war hero and ex-beauty queen to the US presidency. How did a freshman senator with such a flimsy resume out-hustle two of the most formidable machines in American politics: the Clintons and the conservative right? Bill Clinton's scathing dismissal of the Obama story as a "fairytale" during the primaries has turned out to be ironically prescient.


3. Yes They Did:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Martha Simel
> Sent: 11/05/2008 04:02 PM ZE3
> To: IFC Africa
> Cc: Williette Parker; Geoffrey Willing
> Subject: IFC Nairobi Office, Kenya - Closed on Thursday November 6, 2008
>
>
> Dear colleagues
>
> Please be informed that Thursday November 6, 2008, has officially been
> declared a public holiday in Kenya, in recognition of the election of
> Barrack Obama as the 44th President-Elect of the United States of America.
> The Nairobi Office will therefore remain closed tomorrow to re-open for
> business on Friday November 7, 2008.
>
> Best regards,
>
>
> Martha Simel
> Country Office Administrator
> CBA BUILDING, MARA/RAGATI ROAD
> P.O. BOX 30577-00100
> NAIROBI, KENYA

Halloween 2008

NYU Medical Center, ER.
Asthma-related shortness of breath.
Discharged: 6:35pm.
I'm fine now.