tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81844967355098695202024-09-12T21:53:13.004-05:00". . .a heart like Turner, a mind like Douglass, a mouth like Malcolm and a voice like 'Cris."Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger150125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184496735509869520.post-48790378934828087662008-08-06T15:00:00.003-05:002008-08-06T15:19:32.169-05:00

My article in LEO last week ruffled a few feathers back home. So much that there's buzzing talk about boycotting the paper and protesting out in front of LEO Weekly's offices in the near future. Others are making it much more plain about what should be done with me in LEO's Inbox (see: 'Phillip Bailey should be fired').I don't want to blow this out of proportion for you super-serious types. We're

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184496735509869520.post-30111216998022003572008-07-30T15:00:00.001-05:002008-07-30T15:00:00.788-05:00

One of my favorite snapshots in American history will be the time between the upcoming election (Nov. 4th, 2008) and next year's inauguration (Jan. 20th, 2009).No, not because of Mr. Hope. I'm interested to see what will happen when the country receives a totally unfettered W. presidency. In the meantime fiction will have to do.Set to debut Oct.17th, Oliver Stone's new film is about our current

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184496735509869520.post-64824696648485634142008-07-30T11:45:00.000-05:002008-07-30T12:10:18.435-05:00

What happens when a veteran of the civil rights struggle goes off the rails? When does the next generation tell the previous one to step aside? That's been a question on a lot of minds, particularly after Jesse's comments on B-Rock. It has always been a sticky area and taboo subject back home in Louisville.Rapper Nas made it plain about Jesse."I think Jesse Jackson, he's the biggest player hater,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184496735509869520.post-62684877160646036442008-07-29T15:15:00.002-05:002008-07-29T22:47:54.059-05:00

The Republican National Committee launched a website, BarackBook, which copies the format of Facebook and parodies the junior Senator from Illinois about his controversial friendships and moonwalking positions. It's a 21st century facelift on classic GOP attack ads, but it's a lot better than throwing the easy punch at Barack (he's a Muslim). Give the RNC credit, it's a pretty creative

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184496735509869520.post-16724251051045865342008-07-22T15:30:00.003-05:002008-07-22T16:06:35.828-05:00

Teaming up with 'Borat' director Larry Charles, comedian Bill Maher has a new documentary set to hit theatres on October 3rd. It's about religion and is called 'Religulous', because well, believing in unicorns, centaurs, demons, gods, angels and pixies in the 21st Century is ridiculous!Watch the trailer, here.Maher's statement on the film:It has been my pleasure over the last decade and a half to

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184496735509869520.post-7294373787239433952008-07-17T15:30:00.006-05:002008-07-17T15:57:27.028-05:00

Boy oh boy, this is going to be a very interesting presidential election. Everywhere from Georgia to Utah, we're seeing some of the most racist caricatures since the 1920s being veiled as 'presidential criticism'.Joining the club of rednecks is an unlikely candidate, an Israeli-born New York fashion designer named Apollo Braun, who is considered the new Andy Warhol according to one documentary

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184496735509869520.post-50825364226828276762008-07-14T15:22:00.008-05:002008-07-14T16:11:06.397-05:00

Barack is a Muslim terrorist, Michele is a Black Panther, bin Laden's their hero and old Glory is burning -- scared enough, America?Maybe the readership of The New Yorker is so sophisticated that Barry Blitt's illustration, called 'The Politics of Fear', is understood as satire. The troubling thing about satire is this: if it ain't funny you're screwed. And it appears the rest of the country

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184496735509869520.post-85868012359787102862008-07-14T13:55:00.000-05:002008-07-14T13:58:17.242-05:00

Described as a copious enterprise, fact-checking was our latest lesson at the Academy of Alternative Journalism. It was facilitated by Patti Wolter, an assistant professor at Medill, who was once a managing editor at Mother Jones magazine.Wolter showed us just how important and tedious a process it can be, even to the smallest fact it can have serious repercussions at a major weekly or monthly

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184496735509869520.post-72184595782366345632008-07-09T18:00:00.004-05:002008-07-09T18:04:04.955-05:00

Look mommy, Mr. Hope is melting.From NY Times:After long opposing the idea of immunity for the phone companies in the wiretapping operation, [Senator Barack Obama of Illinois] voted for the plan on Wednesday. His reversal last month angered many of his most ardent supporters, who organized an unsuccessful drive to get him to reverse his position once again. And it came to symbolize what civil

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184496735509869520.post-40857865434282470652008-07-09T16:36:00.005-05:002008-07-09T16:52:12.224-05:00

In this week's LEO I wrote about the death of Rev. Louis Coleman, which has been hard for many -- friend and foe -- back in Louisville to digest. He was one of the city's most familar faces, charismatic personalities and divisive subjects. He committed his life to struggle which some in our sleepy town will be eternally grateful. With all of the last minute memorials and comments of appreciation

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184496735509869520.post-23781319078544834122008-07-06T15:30:00.001-05:002008-07-06T15:46:08.741-05:00

With Taste of Chicago coming to a close there's an interesting piece in the Tribune today about what garbage workers have to deal with each year, particularly a nasty elixir of soda, grease, food, snot rags, baby shit and other liquids known as 'The Juice' -- yuck!Think about it, the world's largest food festival must produce the largest and one ff the nastiest mixtures of trash and human waste.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184496735509869520.post-75283093901278598122008-07-04T13:45:00.002-05:002008-07-04T14:01:18.637-05:00

If you haven't heard of Wale don't apologize. Just download 'The Mixtape About Nothing' and all your hip-hop sins will be forgiven.Amen.'Let's Ride' -- Wale f. Lupe Fiasco

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184496735509869520.post-29501825378919183732008-07-04T09:00:00.002-05:002008-07-04T11:25:16.141-05:00

With W. signing another $162 billion to keep the war going, the 'Change' candidate might be backpedaling on more than just campaign finance according to critics.From the Wall Street Journal:Barack Obama defended his position on the Iraq War on Thursday after saying he may "refine" his position to withdraw combat troops within his first 16 months in office if military officials said such a

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184496735509869520.post-36579695867685819712008-07-03T15:15:00.006-05:002008-07-03T17:12:58.625-05:00

Whether we know it, like it or embrace it or not, my hometown of Louisville, KY has exported two of the greatest rebels in American history -- Muhammad Ali and Hunter S. Thompson. The boxer who was a poet and the writer who was a fighter. Two men who revolutionized not only their respective genres but challenged the orthodoxy of atheletics and journalism and the world at large. In Louisville

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184496735509869520.post-86976257750771120952008-07-02T14:15:00.007-05:002008-07-02T14:27:55.682-05:00

Though I've left my ol' Kentucy home for the bosom of Windy, check out my story on the cover of this week's LEO.It's about bullycide, which is when kids committ suicide due to depression caused by bullying at school. My story orbits around one of those cases in Kentucky by following the family of 13-year-old Stephen Patton, an 8th grader who killed himself last November allegedly due to being

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184496735509869520.post-13863208230153664952008-07-02T12:14:00.005-05:002008-07-02T13:25:44.852-05:00

Today Steve Bogira, author of Courtroom 302, spoke with the AAJ fellows about the art of interviewing. Before today's lesson we had to read the prologue and first chapter of his book, which was a detailed account of the Cook County criminal courthouse in Chicago in the late 1990s.I'm not into the prison beat, but Bogira's book is journalism at its best -- lucid, detailed and gripping. We think of

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184496735509869520.post-33680170802660691042008-06-30T14:28:00.011-05:002008-06-30T21:58:18.641-05:00

Walking through Windy's downtown loop provided me with another installment of what's becoming a series of encounters with black men from different walks of life that I'm posting on the ol' SOULution. I'm comparing it somewhat to the Washington Post's Being a Black Man series -- yes I'm an arrogant bastard, what writer isn't?While walking through the 'Taste of Chicago', I came across a bunch of

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184496735509869520.post-7621479036648352642008-06-26T21:30:00.005-05:002008-06-30T15:24:35.136-05:00

Today on my way home I decided to do one of my favorite activities, browse a Borders bookstore, which is right around the corner from my apartment -- did I mention I live in Hyde Park, haters!Anyway, while upstairs I noticed on the other side of the music section gathered around chattering was a crowd of about a dozen or more black men playing chess. If it exists, am I in heaven? I have never

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184496735509869520.post-32275134368876377152008-06-23T20:15:00.000-05:002008-06-23T20:15:02.059-05:00

"Now speaking of dead people."- George CarlinA great freethinker has left. I do wonder, however, if Carlin, who was a well-known non-believer in all myths whether it was demons, unicorns, angels, gods, or centaurs, would even want to be eulogized? I doubt it if the remembrance is wrapped up in superstition. But I can say that the self-described 'old fuck' cheered me up with his grim, vulgar and

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184496735509869520.post-54604693627884866822008-06-23T16:15:00.002-05:002008-06-23T17:49:13.157-05:00

For those of you who are completely in the dark about my life and why the SOULution blog has been running slow, I moved to Chicago last week for a fellowship at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. The program is called the Academy for Alternative Journalism, which I was first alerted about last year as a freelancer thanks to former LEO Editor, Cary Stemle.Thanks Stemle!Yes,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184496735509869520.post-91039974268011975652008-06-13T21:35:00.003-05:002008-06-13T21:55:46.512-05:00

Most of the journalists I respect are best described as rebels or outlaws. Tim Russert was neither. Nevertheless he was a beacon of American journalism at its absolute best.He was surgical.Much of the press is a blunt instrument, employing a sledgehammer to perform heart surgery when a scalpel is needed. Chasing ambulances, hulking over police scanners, copying & pasting celebrity gossip, and

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184496735509869520.post-51133755894595885752008-06-06T07:30:00.000-05:002008-06-06T13:06:14.592-05:00

Cary Stemle is back, blogger than ever! He's in Philly for the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies 2008 annual convention. Give him a look or two or three or more.From No More False Dichotomies:It’s always risky to generalize about a new place based on one day in a selected part of it. I can say confidently that the vibe here is much more open and friendly than I might've guessed. You hear

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184496735509869520.post-30295230455000018832008-06-05T18:00:00.005-05:002008-06-05T21:09:49.608-05:00

Was Louisville Metro Councilwoman Tina Ward-Pugh's comments on WHAS-11, yesterday, wrong? The debate was all the rage locally @ The 'Ville Voice and PageOne. It even broke national coverage on DailyKos. Maybe it was a bit of a pile by the bloggers due to a bad paraphrase chosen by reporter Joe Arnold.You be the judge.From WHAS-11: Metro Council member Tina Ward-Pugh says she’s not convinced that

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184496735509869520.post-51831045496459272132008-06-05T07:30:00.000-05:002008-06-05T07:30:00.314-05:00

Between writing for LEO and finding an apartment in Chicago, I heard America actually let the black guy win. Ever notice how America always has a surge of racial progress after a period of divisive, national devastation. After the Civil War, slavery ended. After George W. Bush, a black guy named Barack (Hussein) Obama is running for President.There are plenty of editorials trumpeting the historic

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184496735509869520.post-66344112588482851232008-05-29T23:01:00.001-05:002008-05-29T23:01:02.422-05:00

By definition every second term U.S. President since FDR eventually becomes a lame duck that the public ignores. No matter how good or bad their presidency, after the last midterm congressional elections we're looking towards the next possible president, we pretty much could care less what the sitting president says or does -- unless it is a veto, military act, impeachment or presidential

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0