One month in…

Seems long this time, but it’s a quick read, folks.
Starts with a thank you. I have no idea if this is good or not, but BomaniJones.com has registered over 1,000 hits since its inception. That might be terrible, but unless my mother, my daddy, and the Seuss have logged in 333 times apiece, that’s more than I could have expected. Thanks to everybody that came to the site in the first month. And for those of you adding to the second thousand, send me a note and i can add you to the mailing list. That’ll save you the time of clicking on your own to find out if there’s been an update.
And now, the randomness begins…
***

Let’s start with a chuckle…gotten a decent bit of e-mail about the column. Thanks for everybody that did that. But ummm…I’m not sure how I feel about the fact that I got more e-mails about the picture than the column. From colleagues, strangers, and teachers.
This means two things–that I have an idea of what it is to be a woman in a patriarchy, and that the standards of male attractiveness have decreased since I was in high school.
But bump what you heard, I’ll take it!
***
Keyes and Obama. This will not stop being funny. Ya boy Alan had the nerve to question the validity of Obama’s African-American heritage and cited the fact that his great-grandfather was a slave. Obama’s great-grandfather was African. Like from Africa.
I wonder how proud Al’s great granddaddy would be to se him now. Probably as proud as I am.
Anyway, chill out, Al. And any of you editors that are checking this out, I’ve got a piece that has yet to run on everyone’s favorite carpetbagger.
This situation will not stop being funny. The problem is that the humor of it makes it impossible to take all of this seriously, and it’s on heart attack status.
***
I do not have Madden yet, but I will have it shortly. Somehow, the economic gods at Carolina didn’t realize quals were scheduled around Madden Day. Maybe they need to get a grasp of what’s really important in this universe. It’s God (depending on how you roll), Family, and Madden. Simple as that. School? Please. They can put me out tomorrow, and I’ll still be playing Madden. Loyalty is owed to those who are loyal to you. And Madden’s always loved me, dig?
Moral of this story…don’t tell me how dope it is because I can’t relate with you. No more phone calls, no more e-mails, no more nothing. I’ll have it soon, and then I’ll call you.
***
Puerto Rico? Or, as the street is spelled in Houston, Porto Rico? Yes, Porto Rico mollywopped the US Olympic team yesterday. With one NBA player and a 41 year old cat logging noticeable minutes. No joke, let’s send the And 1 Mixtape All-Stars out there. Even if they lose, that’ll be fun, jack. I’ve seen Hot Sauce play in person, and he’d have looked better out there than Stephon Marbury. If the US ain’t got a cat that can shoot on the roster, at least they can get someone that doesn’t need to shoot jumpers, dig?
***
International Baba Day is the 26th. If you don’t care, I’m okay with that. But if you do, no excuses when you forget it, dig?
***
And on the way out, this week’s favorite songs….
Field Mob – It’s Hell. The most underrated group in the South. Don’t hate on the accents and undeniable ugliness (that’s right, I said it). Listen to the irreverance, insight, and entertainment.
The Band – The Weight. “Take the load off Annie, and put the load right on me.” Something we can all take solace in here and there.
Weezer – Only in Dreams. Let the White Homey say it…”the crescendo at the end makes me wanna burn shit down and go save some seals all at the same time.”
Weezer – Say It Ain’t So. Two times for the goofy white boys!
Anthony Hamilton – Float. Is that the dopest R&B album of the last two years? Just might be.
Prince – When 2 R in Love. Thank God for .mp3, meaning I can listen to that song without having to fast forward through all of the LoveSexy CD to get through it.
Van Morrison – Tupelo Honey. If you haven’t heard it, I can’t quite describe it. Incredible emotional resonance.
Branford Marsalis – Mo’ Betta Blues. Good move, great song.
Kanye West – My Way. Unreleased. Damn sample clearances.
Frank Sinatra – My Way. Damn the Chairman’s estate for not letting Kanye get the sample. It’s the theme song for all self-indulgent, self-absorbed renegades. Yes, I am one of those people (at least if you let my ex-girlfriend tell it).
Trick Daddy – Back in Da Day. Underrated again, and for the same reasons as FM.
UGK – Take It Off. In the last four years, this has not gotten old. Can’t wait ’til the Pimp gets free.
Ludacris – Southern Fried Intro. Wow.
George Harrison – My Sweet Lord. Even though he proved not to really believe what he was talking about…
David Bowie and Queen – Under Pressure. Damn that Vanilla Ice. Made us forget this may the best collaboration ever.
***
And I’m gone…definitely will be a post on Thursday. I promised before, and I’ll do it again…this will not be my LiveJournal. However, Thursday is Boone’s birthday, and there are things I’d like to say that a lot of you might need/want to hear.

9 thoughts on “One month in…”

  1. i think my way is one of kanye’s best songs. float is about phone sex and i can’t totally blame the us team for sucking…there are many reasons and all of em aren’t directly on the players who are in greece. alan keyes reminds me of bamboozled, not the funny parts either…it’s still my summer vacation, i’ll get in english major mode in a couple of weeks…

  2. As a white male conservative (within reason), I’m torn about Keyes. Most rational (non-politician) conservatives are dying to see a non-white conservative public figure come to prominence. Partially, conservatives want legitimacy with people that see differently, but they also want to get away from stereotypes that say conservatism = racism or blindness to other peoples problems and concerns. No matter how long I type, I’ll never explain things fully. Basically, most conservatives think of Keyes as an unfortunate, but necessary, step in the right direction. I won’t pretend to defend most of what he says, but his support is based on the hope that his visibility will atrract someone that most of the poeple in the middle can rightfully support. Keyes at best will be a footnote to better things, we’re just hoping that the better part actually comes to fruition.

  3. Katrina, selecting a token has nothing to do with it. If you read a bit more carefully, you would see that one of my main points is that most conservatives would like to see a LEGITIMATE non-white conservative step up and make an impact. Legitimacy is almost the diametric opposite of being a token. As far as Keyes being a joke, I made it a point of mentioning that I was not defending him; if you think he’s a joke, I’m fine with that. Unfortunately, a person like Keyes often has to exist before a legitimate rival can emerge. While I respect your opinion, your post has little to offer in terms of real dialogue or insight.

  4. Keyes is an unfortunate individual. He’s being used as a pawn in a highly dangerous game of so-called ‘race’ relations. It will take more than an Uncle Tom in a Brooks Brothers suit to ‘hoodwink’ hard-working black men and women whether they are conservative, liberal or in the ‘middle’.

  5. Can’t wait for the article on my homie Jon Boone. I remember that day in ’00 like it was yesterday. I will always have love for that man, he was such an extraordinary individual (and a funny, tempermental lil guy as well). On a lighter note, take your time with getting into Madden ’04…it’s not all its cracked up to be.

  6. On USA basketball:
    Can we get some SKILLED basketball players? The players on the “Dream Team” are athletically gifted and flawed. Can’t shoot. Can’t pass. Won’t defend. I thought the name of the game was winning. Now the name of the game is to make sure Nike is in a position to sell more shoes on the global market.
    The conservative ideology sounds wonderful. Judge each man by his own merits. Since when has merit,broadly defined, ever been disassociated from initial conditions. People like Alan Keyes and Ward Connerly say, “I made it. You can too.”
    I find that laughable. The popular media provides
    incite into this phenomenon. Why is the failure of the scion of some rich person worthy of coverage?
    It is worthy because people understand that with wealth and the advantages wealth provides failure should be highly unlikely. Why are rags to riches stories worthy of news coverage? These stories are worthy because people understand that statistically such success is improbable. I’m not saying that one’s fate is determined by one’s iniital conditions. However, I am saying that the failure to consider such factors is ahistorical and immoral.

  7. most conservatives would like to see a LEGITIMATE non-white conservative step up and make an impact.
    and since there isn’t one any non-white is acceptable?
    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5747800/
    Reversal of attitude: Alan Keyes on reparations
    Conservative calling for tax exemption for descendants of slaves
    Alan Keyes, the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate who once referred to reparations as “an insult to our slave ancestors,” is now calling for a plan that would exempt the descendants of slaves from income taxes for at least a generation.
    Tax exemption would give Blacks “a competitive edge in the labor market,” because they would be cheaper to hire than federal tax-paying employee” and allow Blacks to be compensated “for all those years when your labor was being exploited,” said Keyes, who is challenging Illinois state Sen. Barack Obama for the U.S. Senate seat.
    Keyes’ different turn
    The ancestors of slaves would be precluded from paying federal taxes for a generation or two. The exemption would apply only to federal taxes, as opposed to state taxes, since slavery “was an egregious failure on the part of the federal establishment,” Keyes said. There would be no exemption from Social Security taxes, however.
    But Keyes’ recent pronouncements are puzzling some observers, who remember his expressed disdain for reparations not that long ago.
    In 2002, for example, as a commentator for the MSNBC program “Making Sense,” Keyes lambasted former D.C. Delegate Walter Fauntroy for suggesting that the descendants of enslaved Africans should be compensated for centuries of forced, free labor.
    “The issue of slavery was very prominent in the minds of the young men who went into the cannon’s mouth during the Civil War,” Keyes railed. “[A] lot of folks went consciously, believing that God called them to give their lives to repair the moral wrong of slavery. Something money could not do. So, they gave their blood.”
    “Now, it seems to me that by the very comparison you’re suggesting, almost I feel an insult to our slave ancestors. You want to tell me that what they suffered can actually be repaired with money? You’re going to do the same thing those slaveholders did, put a money price on something that can’t possibly be quantified in that way.”
    Conservative critic David Horowitz, also a guest on the show, praised Keyes’ insight.
    Keyes: “Frivolous suits”
    “Well, Alan, you put it very eloquently, yourself. This is a shakedown operation; the United States government liberated the slaves…,” Horowitz said. “The United States inherited from Britain a slave system, and within 80 years ended slavery at the cost of the equivalent of 5 million lives. We have dealt with slavery in this country — another thing, Black Americans are the richest and freest and most privileged Blacks on the face of the Earth.
    “The United States is a country that Americans should be proud of for ending slavery. And this whole, you know — you started with the suits against companies, completely frivolous suits. The companies that exist today have nothing to do with the companies of 150 years ago.”
    Reparations advocate Charles Ogletree, a law professor at Harvard University, applauded Keyes’ recent conversion.
    “It’s a step in the right direction,” said Ogletree, whose views on affirmative action, as well as on reparations, have conflicted with those of Keyes in the past. “It captures the sentiments of many who are for reparations. It’s not nearly as comprehensive to address the magnitude of the matter, but it is consistent with issues in finding real solutions.”
    Keyes is facing a tough battle to unseat the popular, charismatic state senator from Illinois. Obama, grabbed virtually every major headline and lead TV story after delivering a rousing speech at the Democratic Convention last month. Keyes, an African American from Maryland who admittedly knows little about the issues affecting residents of Illinois, was drafted by the Republican Party to run against Obama. But Keyes is no novice to national politics: He ran two unsuccessful bids for the U.S. Senate, and he sought the Republican nomination for the White House in 2000.

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