I just want to state for the record that my vagina has been on point for last couple of weeks. Not that it hasn’t always treated me well but the fact that I’m noting how great it is now means that it has really stepped up it’s game.
Now, if I only had someone to share all this awesomeness with.
In 1990 I had lived in Charlotte, North Carolina a little over a year and I was in the 9th grade. That year there was a very important Senate race. Long time incumbent/racist/homophobe/Republican Jesse Helms was defending his seat against the first viable Democratic canidate in years, Harvey Gantt. Gantt was also black. Now given Helm’s chokehold on the eastern part of the state where most of the population was and the amount of money he was able to raise, it was unlikely that Harvey Gantt was ever going to win the seat. But there was a wave of enthusiasm that was propelling Gantt closer and closer in the polls. I even volunteered with the Young Democrats that year and bored my fellow junior high students to death with talk of politics (some things NEVER change).
Then the infamous “White Hands” ad came out playing on the racial fears of poor and working-class white people and Jesse Helms won by a landslide.
This was not the first and it wouldn’t be the last time Republicans used the race card to try and win elections. Race-baiting has a long and hearty tradition in America but was formalized in modern politics by the Southern Strategy during the Nixon era where the Republicans gathered up all of the disaffected racist Democrat votes in the southern states by playing into their racial fears after the Civil Rights Act of 1964. For those not familiar with this history, you can read a short but informative article here.
Now most people of color who live here in Massachusetts can tell you that it’s still a pretty racist state but for the most part we have it a lot better than those living in the Midwest and South so the use of blatant race-baiting tends to be frowned upon. Or so I thought.
Enter Scott Brown, incumbent senator who won the seat left vacant by the death of long-time politician, Ted Kennedy. His challenger is Elizabeth Warren, Harvard professor and the main force behind the creation of the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency. It was always going to be a tough race. Scott Brown is getting loads of outside money and he is supposed to be a “gifted campaigner”. But by the time the first debate rolled around, Warren was up in the polls by 5 points and gaining momentum. True to Republican form, Brown spend the first 6 minutes of a 55 minute debate discussing whether or not Warren is Native American and whether or not she “benefited” from that designation.
I was disappointed because I really thought that this could be a debate about the issues. I found this deviation low-class, racist and beneath what is expected in a state like Massachusetts. Yet after seeing that this line of attack was not going anywhere in the debate, Scott Brown doubled down and released this ad the very next day:
The feeling that Scott Brown is trying to harvest with this attack angle is the exact same feeling that Jesse Helms harvested with his “white hands” ad. Right-leaning, working-class white people seriously believe that their life is less than what it could be because people of color get preferential treatment because of affirmative action. Not because they didn’t go to college. Not because they didn’t study in school or make good financial decisions. Not because the government has been in the pockets of corporations. And just in case you wanted to find some half-assed explanation for this emphasis in the campaign, this rally led by Scott Brown staffers made sure you understood where they were coming from. Fake Native “war whoops” and ‘tomahawk chops”.
And just today, a crazy-ass Republican in Hanson, MA posted this sign in his yard:
Sign posted on lawn in front of Republican Robert Sullivan’s business in Hanson, MA – via @SueWinMA
As I was writing this draft over the last few days after I saw the debate, Rachel Maddow, resident of Massachusetts, made the same connection with the Jesse Helms ad I did and, as always, made an articulate response to this strategy.
This song is one of my favorites in a bittersweet way. Every time I listen, it pulls so much from me emotionally that in the end it leaves me a little spent. But I’ve been in a place lately where I feel a little numb, like psychically I’m touching everything with thick wool gloves on. This song makes me feel something real even though it’s sad.
It’s a difficult song to cover. Not just mechanically with it’s high register but also emotionally. While looking for videos on YouTube I came across a bunch of people who sounded good but their performance was hollow. You could tell they just couldn’t identify with the pain this song is trying to convey. I don’t think you can truly appreciate this song unless you’ve known some kind of loss.
So, without further whining from me, here’s the original song and video followed by the 5 covers. As usual, at the end of the post there’s a poll for you to rate your favorite one.
1. Maxwell – This is the most famous cover of the song. He blew our collective minds singing it back in 2001 in his MTV Unplugged special and many younger people only know his version as the standard. I was torn between using this video and his live performance but I love the imagery in this one so much I went with it.
2. Greg Laswell – To be honest, this is my least favorite. In fact, the only thing making this bearable is the beautiful animation someone decided to set it to. But I guess I’m in the minority because this version was featured in The Vampire Diaries and the kids seem to love it.
3. Hope Murphy – This is a very pretty rendition of the song but as I said earlier, a bit hollow. But Hope was only 15 when she recorded this so we’ll cut her some slack. She also perfomed this song on the show Britain’s Got Talent.
4. Gwenyth Paltrow – Now this one shocked the shit out of me. Not just because I didn’t know the actress could sing but because it’s a damn good show. This song appears on a benefit album called “Every Mother Counts”.
5. Ellie Williams – Not much I can say about her other than I like her cover and the production values were decent. If you know anything about her. Feel free to comment below.
My nephews are each 9 years old. They have known now for about a year or so that I don’t believe in God. Except for a few brief conversations including one where J exclaimed, “I wish Auntie believed in God so she could be in heaven with me,” I thought they had gotten the concept.
Then about a week and a half ago I was babysitting them when something on the TV came out about the Devil. I can’t even remember. But that’s when D said something about me and devil worship. So they didn’t get it. Using 9 year-old logic combined with their religious indoctrination, they had concluded that if you did not believe in God, you must be a devil worshiper.
After explaining to them that being an atheist means you don’t believe in God or the Devil, and seeing the look of skepticism on their faces, I realized that just how ingrained religious thinking is in our community. It was actually impossible for my nephews to look at the world outside of the lens of religious teachings which for them, is spotty at best.
Also, in another incident, I got into a discussion with the youth of Gardening The Community who keep a food stall at the Mason Square Farmer’s market where I would volunteer about me being an atheist. They had known me for at least a year so they knew I wasn’t a bad person yet is was still hard for them to wrap their heads around the concept of being good without God.
It is because of this, I make it a point to be vocal about my atheism. Young Black children who are looking for real, concrete answers that they are not finding in traditional Christian teachings need to understand that there are other options. They need to understand that their doubts about the existence of God does not make them bad or immoral people. I believe it is our obligation, a non-believers, to create safe spaces and act as examples for those young people.
As I’ve explained in a previous post, I love cover songs. This helps me with my latest earworm, Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know” because there are people out there doing some real, quality covers so I can change it up a bit. I can’t get enough of this song.
What I’m going to do is post the video for the original song even though you would have had to have been living under a rock for the past year not to have heard it. Then I’m going to post the 5 best covers that I’ve come across on YouTube. I’ll even make it a little interactive by including a poll at the end to let you vote on your favorite cover. If there’s someone you think I missed, feel free to include a link to their video in the comment section. You can also make suggestions in the comments for other songs you want to see covers for.
So, first up, the original. (BTW – I can’t thank this song enough for introducing me to Kimbra, the female vocalist. Seriously, check her out.)
Cover #1 - Walk Off The Earth – This is almost as popular as the original. The 5 people/1 guitar thing kicks ass also.
Cover #2 – Pentatonix – Randomly clicked on this video today. It’s the one that gave me the whole idea for this post. Found out that they competed on “Sing Off” which I did not even know existed. I especially like the way the camera bounces with them for the breakdown.
Cover #3 – ARMY of 3 – This is a side project of singer/songwriter Ingrid Michaelson. I don’t know who the other two people are since she’s the only one in the video and it looks like she plays all the instruments.
Cover #4 – Rita Ora – Don’t really know who she is. It looks like she’s popular in the UK. I really like her voice and she does good covers. Sorry there’s no actual video footage but I think her version deserves to be here anyway. I like the soulful spin she puts on it.
Cover #5 – Peter Hollens feat. Evynne – Another strictly YouTube find. Great use of looper. Great editing of video. Real professional video for someone I’ve never heard of before.
So so now’s the time you all tell me which one you liked best. Here’s the poll:
In 2010 the Republican Party swept the legislatures in an overwhelming number of states (images below). Once in power, these legislatures began rapid-fire passage of bills following a far-right, ultra-conservative agenda. Extreme budget cuts, union-breaking, anti-choice abortion bills, attempts to repeal and/or block protection and marriage equality laws for LGBT people, the Republicans had a field day.
Lower house results after 2010 elections (Red=Republican, Blue=Democratic). From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_party_strength_in_U.S._states
Upper house results after 2010 elections (Red=Republican, Blue=Democratic). From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_party_strength_in_U.S._states
One of the most infamous legislative trends to come out of this has come to be known as the Voter ID laws. These are proposed (and in some cases passed) laws that are carefully crafted to disenfranchise the traditional Democratic Party base (minorities, poor people, new immigrants, young adults) by requiring forms of ID that were going to be difficult to acquire before this year’s election. A great history of this process can be found in this Alternet article.
Tuesday, through the haze of my daily nap, I heard a Rachel Maddow (clip here) piece on the financial problems of many state Republican parties and how independent conservatives groups like Karl Rove’s Crossroads and the RNCC are going to have to bail many of them out.
It’s then that it clicked. We progressives had been giving the right-wing too much credit. It’s not ideological with Republicans. As always seems to be the case, it’s financial. Donations are down. State party organization, as pathetically evidenced in Nevada is becoming non-existent. The ability to push their party platform in the traditional marketplace of ideals is shrinking. So what do they do?
They do two things. The first is accept money from better organized and better funded independent groups that force them to move their agenda farther and farther to the right and farther away from the vast majority of the American people. The second is to create laws that give them an unfair advantage in the election process. When Voter ID bills are grouped with other tactics like dubious electronic voting, purging of voter rolls, district gerrymandering, and felony disenfranchisement laws, well the Republicans may not have to actually campaign for generations.
Am I too off base here?
Click here to listen to the episode.
Riding around with my sister yesterday, I happened to turn to NPR and “This American Life” was on. It was on it’s last story of a cop in the NYPD who refused to manipulate charges to boost and/or lower numbers for the crime statistics. Being the type of person he is, he starts recording everything. Very damaging. When the top brass figures out what he’s doing, they have him committed to a psychiatric ward against his will.
This is something that I think everyone should listen to. My aversion to uniformed “law enforcement” officers tends to bend toward the rant end of the spectrum so when something so coherent and apparent comes up (i.e. police brutality videos) comes up, I like to make it available to as wide an audience as possible. I try to post it here, I post it to facebook and email it to friends.
Why? Because the role of the police in our community needs to be trained. Their disdain for our basic human rights has become so ingrained into police culture that nothing short of radical reorganization is needed.
