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A Flag Pin? Come on!
B, you’re kidding me, right? The flag pin? Come on. I’ve noticed you’re wearing it again—a lot. I also noticed you’ve been talking about patriotism—a lot. Too much, in fact Now, I have no beef with the flag or with patriotism, but I do when they are used as political weapons by people who think…
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Sexy, Yes. Art? No.
I have been gaming longer than most gamers have been alive. In the early 1970s, I was one of a handful of electronic technicians at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center who used what was allegedly the most powerful computer complex outside of the military and intelligence communities to play geeky Star Trek strategy games during…
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The Fall of the Mighty Celtics
Except when Shaquille O’Neal is involved, good things happen in threes when it comes to NBA title runs. In the ’90s, the Chicago Bulls won six titles with a combination of Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and a stellar rebounding forward (Horace Grant from ’91-’93 and Dennis Rodman from ’96 -’98). In the last five years,…
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Where Swagger Meets Stoicism
My introduction to portrait artist Kehinde Wiley was happenstance—a tag-along-type adventure with a photographer friend to the National Portrait Gallery in Washington. Upon entering the gallery, I was greeted by space: a labyrinth of hollowed rooms demanding silence on behalf of the stark white walls. Amid this absence, Wiley drew me in with bright colors…
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Cacao-Café No Lait Pudding
Cacao-Café No Lait Pudding Yield: 4 Servings Soundtrack: “Brown Paper People” by Lila Downs from Una Sangre – One Blood Growing up, I used to love chocolate pudding. Since Bill Cosby convinced my mom that dangling a pudding pop in front of me would be an incentive to eat all my vegetables, I would even…
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John Edwards: Obama's Ace in the Hole
It was the finest moment of the agonizing slog this election season has become. John Edwards was back, bringing a gift of reconciliation by merging three concerns that have divided loyalties this year: race, gender and class. By endorsing Barack Obama on Wednesday, Edwards pointed voters back toward the “moral shame of 37 million people…
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A Stone-Faced Lie on the Mall
The night before he was assassinated in 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. famously roared that he had “been to the mountaintop” and he had “seen the promised land” of freedom, justice, and equality. That spirit in the final phase of King’s life has been captured brilliantly by Chinese sculptor, Lei Yixin, who was commissioned…
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We Hood! We Votin'–and Throwin' It Up!
In Ishmael Reed’s 1972 novel Mumbo Jumbo, a dangerous epidemic, “Jes Grew” threatens 1920s America. For the uninfected, the virus’ symptoms are troubling and sudden, centering on an obsession with the dances, lingo and clandestine locations associated with ragtime and jazz. Jes Grew infections start in the country’s colored precincts, but the virus soon shows…
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A Forever Family
I was born a ward of the state in Maine, and I grew up in the foster care system. I was blessed to have been placed with families who cared for, supported and guided me, and to have been loved by incredible women who gave me the discipline and confidence to develop a successful career…