Unfortunately we live in a time of intolerance and incivility fueled by a bullying, divisive, and fear-mongering administration that increases our collective xenophobia daily. Thank you to Peter Schilling [“Postcards from Saudi Arabia”] for bringing some of us just a bit closer together by sharing his personal experiences and reflections. I am sure he made a better ambassador than many of our “leaders.”
Year: 2007
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Fond Memories
I grew up in Saudi Arabia, where my parents worked for Aramco (Arabian American Oil Company). I found the article “Postcards from Saudi Arabia” [December] to be a very memorable and well-written description of life in the country based on my experiences growing up. Both my parents and I have many insights on the country from having lived there and been a part of the community up to and right after the first Gulf War. My parents started as farm kids from Minnesota, yet ended up as educators living in Saudi Arabia for twenty years, and lived through the first Gulf War. They gave me the opportunity to see the world as many have not, and I am very appreciative of the experiences I have had. I spent my formative years in Saudi Arabia (second through ninth grades), then had to return to the U.S. for boarding school due to Aramco policies, but was allowed to return during breaks. I was fortunate enough to be able to visit soldiers in the desert during the war and spend time with them over Thanksgiving and Christmas at my parents’ house in Dhahran. I’ve got great memories of the country as a child and am always amazed at the change that took place within the country and region after Saddam invaded and the U.S. landed as a military force. I love the article and it brings back many memories of a culture not many can experience.
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Eye-Popping Scenery
Melanie Kim and Layne Bittner went to South Africa last year on a very specific mission: To study the promise of reconciliation in the wake of apartheid. They were traveling as part of a team from Columbia Heights’ Church of All Nations that included four Koreans, two white Americans, a South African Indian, a Kenyan, and one African American. “Our church is focused on racial reconciliation and celebrating the multi-cultural makeup of the Twin Cities,” Bittner said. “What better people to learn from than South Africans?” The pair had their picture snapped just outside of Cape Town while taking in the scenery along the wondrous promontory at Cape Point.
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Amen to That
“Truth be told, that’s one of the reasons I left. I couldn’t stand covering random assaults and vandalism, stories that had no impact on the average viewers. TV news does violence because it’s fast, easy, requires no frame of reference or special reporting skills.”
– Heather McMichael, a former Kansas City Fox 4 Reporter….comments to the Kansas City Star -
Good News for Video Blogs
I’m a big fan of Robert Wright. His book, “Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny”, is one of the most sophisticated perspectives on human conflict — including radical religiosity — I’ve ever come across.
His various web-sites are now consolidating, including bloggingheads.tv.
There are entirely understandable reasons why commercial television stations, (hell, PUBLIC TV), haven’t dared try something like this — a regular, good-natured conversation/debate between broadly-informed thinkers, (not just politicians and government officials protecting a narrow partisan turf). The best reason? Once they inhale this stuff, there’s no way viewers will accept the latest drug killing, car wreck or house-fire as the most important thing going on in their world.
Bloggingheads.tv is another preview of the edifying potential of the internet-TV marriage. It may never counterbalance an unlimited-on-your-42″ LCD-in-your-living-room connection to ArgentineSluts.com, but it’ll help.
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I'll Believe Bill Gates on This One.
Even though the organizers of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland politely asked the likes of Sharon Stone and Angelina Jolie to stay home this year, the summit of big hitters is making news.
This Reuters report on Bill Gates’ statement that the full marriage of television and internet is less than five years away … (I’ll bet three, if anyone wants to start a pool) … is worth noting.
If what Gates believes actually comes to pass, and a fully-functioning internet, assisted by Hi-Def production values, (and fiber optic, for those of us lucky enough to have access to it), blows past commercial-(heavy) television, we will obviously be falling into a whole new rabbit hole. Note what he says about elections. Former Virginia Senator George Allen’s “macaca” moment will be remembered as the only the first incident of guerrilla election coverage.
It can’t come soon enough. Imagine, also, local TV newscasts with actual news.
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Singles Party, Gossip
Got my hands on somethin’ here:
—–Original Message—–
From: Thomas Lee [tlee@startribune.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 11:28 AM
To: Pat Sukhum
Subject: Singles partyHi Pat,
I received your contact info from Simon Groebner, who mentioned that you threw a singles party last year. I am a Star Tribune reporter who is working on a story about singles parties for vita.mn, our new tab geared towards younger adults. I am co-hosting a singles party in the Warehouse District this Saturday night and was wondering if I could borrow your guest list, e-mail addresses, etc.. At the very least, could you pass on the party details to singles you
know? Thanks…TRosalyn Park, Thomas Lee
Location: 5th Avenue Lofts
401 N. 2nd Street, Minneapolis, MN View Map
When: Saturday, January 27, 8:00pm
Phone: 612-203-9500, 612-202-2307
It’s the singles party you’ve been waiting
for… come over to the Warehouse District to have a glass of
wine, meet some new singles, and have a great
time!There is no cover. Ages range is 21-40.
When RSVPing, please indicate which GENDER you are, so we can keep our ratio 50/50. RSVP to tlee1212@gmail.com
When you arrive at 5th Avenue Lofts, dial 241 for the Community
Room to gain entrance. The Community Room is on the 5th floor.And remember, your fellow single hosts Tom and Rose will be writing an article about the party for vita.mn, and there will be a
photographer present–so, flash a winning smile at that new single
someone, and have fun! -
How Do You Judge Time?
Yesterday I had one of those zen moments while doing laundry. What if I judged the passing of time not by weeks and months but instead by laundry loads. How many laundry loads old am I? If I had to hazard guess it would be about 852. That sounds a lot wiser than 29 years old. Maybe that’s how the bible kept track of Methuselah’s age.
I remember physics classes in High School, where I learned that time is relative. So why shouldn’t I keep track of it how I please? I would love the flexibility of judging time by laundry load. I could call a client and say I’ll have that for you in one-and-a-half loads. But since I choose when that is, I could fit in some leisure activities. At least till I ran out of clothes.
There may be some better ways to judge. By vacations(most people do this already). Or maybe by meals. I am 31,245 meals old.
How old are you?
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Damn Press Got it Wrong
Kevin and his wife, whose family lives somewhere in MichiganThe new City Pages editor, Kevin Hoffman, logged on to the City Pages blogs Wednesday to clear up the geography question regarding the relative proximity of the Twin Cities and Cleveland to Michigan.
Some have suggested that he could have made the whole thing go away by claiming that his wife’s family is from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, which is arguably closer to Minnesota, and doesn’t require a boat ride to get there. But no, he went with the time tested explanation employed by politicians everywhere: “I wuz misquoted by a journalist.”
In this case, that journalist is Deborah Rybak, the media reporter at the Strib.
First, you might want to ask yourself, Kevin, “Do you want to piss off the Strib’s media reporter right off the bat?” Second, you might want to ask yourself, “Do I want to act so thin skinned right in front of all my new subordinates?” Third, you might want to ask yourself, “What sort of big brass ones does City Pages staffer Chuck Terhark have to make him want to make fun of me before he even has the opportunity to kiss my ring?”
There’a thread going over at mnspeak about Hoffman and some of the ribbing he’s taken so far. The latest entrys are Deborah Rybak’s short jab in the Strib this morning (last item) about Hoffman’s myspace page, (Clarification: Rybak wrote the item on Wednesday, before Hoffman said he was misquoted) and my son’s fictitious Seven Quick Questions for the out-of-towner.
Given Hoffman’s comments on the CP blog, and his own defensive remarks to Rybak when questioned about his age, what we can perhaps conclude about him is that he could use some help in the humor and self deprecation department.
Maybe he could just use a better writer. Let’s pretend, ok?
Rybak: “Kevin, aren’t you kind of young?”
Hoffman: “Yeah, I’m so young, I still have my high school graduation on my myspace resume, just to make it seem longer.”or
“I’m so young, I have a picture of a green guinea pig on my myspace page.”
or
“I saw that the City Pages’ publisher’s twelve-year-old daughter has a myspace page, and I thought being her myspace friend would be a good career move.”
or, maybe even
“Yes, I am young and I have some huge shoes to fill. Steve Perry has been an institution in the Twin Cities since before I got my learner’s permit. Over the years, he and City Pages have been responsible for a lot of remarkable journalism, and I hope the current staff, (none of whom were even considered for the editor’s job by the corporate bosses) will help me get to know the cities, and help me carry on the tradition of excellence they and Perry have established.”
Naah.
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Everything, everything
Here’s what I’ve been so excited for: tonight I’m going, with my good friend Adam, to the Weinstein Gallery, where my favorite visual artist is opening a new exhibition. And I even got to interview David Rathman for the new February issue. (This hits stands on Monday but is online right now.) Rathman and I yakked a lil’ bit about this new show, Home and Away, which happens to be his first Minnesota exhibition since his cowboy drawings caused a stir at the Walker Art Center back in 2003. The subject of this new show? Football players. But not the gold-studded NFL variety. Rather, Rathman traveled to Montana to capture images of six-man games–lonely matches with the clouds and mountains ringing in. (Get a peek here.)
On Saturday I’m going to the 5 p.m. Electric Arc Radio show, of course. Then it’s off to the Kramer’s Ergot reception at Macalester.
Sunday: the St. Paul Winter Carnival and then the Harriet Island Pavilion, where Three Sticks Theatre Company will be performing A Midwinter Night’s Dream. This is the same company that, in 2005, did the fantastically physical Fringe Show Mythed. They then topped themselves at the 2006 Fringe with their comic look at bureaucracy, Borderlines.