The Bunker Hill Monument by Specterras on Sketchfab We humans, tend to embellish, exaggerate, and even conjure up stories out of whole cloth. Trusting an autobiography, a CV, or tales of former glory on the football field or classroom is a bit naive. Legends are often the result of embellishments. To use a contemporary example, Kim Jon Un is allegedly able to control the weather, cure diseases, and according to the Korean Central News Agency, “reconfirmed a lair of the unicorn rode by King Tongmyong, founder of the Koguryo Kingdom.” His father, Kim Jong Il, a man of numerous talents, was reported to have concluded his first 18-hole championship golf course with a staggering 11 holes-in-one and a record-setting 38 under par. He was also reported not having the bodily need to pee and poop. I always get a good chuckle from propaganda. Still, it speaks to what can happen (in an extreme scenario) if a society does not have mechanisms to account for what is true, even if the truth is inconvenient, uncomfortable, even dangerous. Dave Chappelle’s Instincts about the Past Much of history as we understand it is a collection of stories, some accurate and anodyne, some laughably […]
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This area is not unlike St. John’s Wood, that is, the quant leafy location on the iconic Abbey Road Beatle’s album cover. Taken opposite the Boston Common during a BLM protest, the sizable police and military contingent cordoned off a commercial area in the Downtown Crossing neighborhood. To my back is the Boston Common, a location initially used for colonial livestock fodder. St. John’s Wood is also renowned for its sweeping green spaces, including, but not limited to, Regent’s Park and Primrose Hill. Of course, Beacon Hill, also to my back, is a historical neighborhood where many of Boston’s power brokers live and circulate (the state capital building, the Massachusetts seat of power, sits atop the hill like a golden bulwark). Similarly, Primrose Hill is the watering hole for London’s minted elites. Rihanna sold her stucco villa on St. John’s Park in September for a cool £32 million. At 6,332 square feet, that’s about $7,000 per square foot, admittedly more expensive than anywhere in Boston. As the global pandemic ebbs, it will be interesting to see where the real estate tides will take humanity, but what is increasingly certain is that the rapidly changing climate will have some cascading […]
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As we approach President Trump’s ego-fueled fireworks extravaganza, it is important not to overlook the history of the garish Mount Rushmore monument, its sordid historical roots, and that of the national and state park system more broadly. Though it is unreasonable to expect a man that barely reads to understand the historical implications of throwing a campaign infomercial at Mount Rushmore, American’s ought to understand how provocative such an act is to the Sioux in particular, and Native-Americans generally. The history of Mount Rushmore and it’s role in Ethnic Cleansing The Black Hills from which Mount Rushmore was carved sat on land, codified in the Sioux Treaty of 1868, granted to the Sioux “in perpetuity”, that is, until George Armstrong Custer and his 7th Cavalry expedition reported gold deposits in the Black Hills in 1874. By 1876 the Sioux were ordered to vacate the Black Hills or be deemed “hostile” intruders. White prospectors would flock to the Black Hills in droves, forcibly displacing the Sioux in the process. By 1911, the park would be given “game preserve” status, thereby cutting off yet another vital economic resource from the Sioux, and subsequently named Custer State Park in 1919. To date, it is […]
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This is Erykah Badu at the Byron Bay Blues Fest several years back. I must say, out of all the performances I had the good fortune of seeing, hers was THE one that was brimming with a vibration indicative of unrestrained artistry. Not to say that some of the other performances weren’t impressive—and dance-party worthy—but hers, like an expertly made wine, left much more on the pallet than some of the more saccharine performances that you are inevitably subjected to at the bigger music festivals. The Provocative Artistic Mind Ms. Badu, from my point of view, is the type of artist that clearly does not fit into the parameters of the more “manageable” big-box musicians. She has also said some pretty provocative things that have not endeared her to some people, and I get that, but she has demonstrated a gadfly-like candor throughout her artistic career that is not common among what today we would call artists. Many creatives today will say the “safe” thing, that is, they are managed and very carefully coached to say and do just the right thing for the sake of sales numbers, merchandising, corporate interests, etc. One of the reasons I suspect—at […]
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As a child of the 80s, I have indelible almost-peed-in-my-pants memories of Eddie Murphy on the stage in Delirious and Raw, but also as an actor, unparalleled impressionist, sketch comedian and unfortunate one-time Rick James musical collaborator (“Party All the Time!”). In Coming to America, a movie starring Murphy, a congenial and high-minded African prince named Akeem travels to America to find a wife that in his words will, “arouse my intellect, as well as my loins”. Akeem decides that Queens, NY is the most suitable location to find his bride-to-be. One of Akeem’s first stops in the neighborhood is the My-T Sharp Barbershop. When Akeem opens the door the black proprietor—played by Murphy—is incredulous that Saul—played by Murphy too—an old Jewish customer, would suggest that Rocky Marciano be considered the best heavyweight boxer of the ages: “Oh, there they go, there they go. Every time I talk about boxing, a white man pulls Rocky Marciano out of his ass. That’s their one, that’s their one. “Rocky Marciano, Rocky Marciano!” Let me tell you something, Rocky Marciano was good, but compared to Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano ain’t shit!” Fight against the smallness of systemic racial injustice Marciano did, in […]
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