SJBC
Some people have asked to read the commencement address I delivered this morning to the 2013 graduates of Butler University. So here it is.
My own commencement speaker, who shall remain nameless, began with a lame joke about how these speeches only come in two varieties: Short and bad. This…
I can’t wait for the German version of this song, “Accidental Anti-Semite”, to be released. The song, a rousing polka featuring a soulful accordion solo, will chronicle the tale of a young Bavarian man who ventures to Israel in a pair of lederhosen and a t-shirt with a swastika.
Upon noticing that everyone is giving him dirty looks, he will sing a tragic ballad about how he is just so sad that history and that whole Holocaust thing kind of sucked, but why can’t he just be proud of der Heimat? It’s certainly not his fault that he’s an accidental anti-semite.
But seriously, what the eff, Brad Paisley. And LL Cool J?!
I get that modern white Southerners can get an unfair rap for historical racism, and that celebrating the positive aspects of Southern culture- which are legion- can be seen as tacit endorsement of the lousier parts. I have Southern roots. I get it.
BUT WRITING A SONG ABOUT A DUDE WHO WEARS A CONFEDERATE FLAG SHIRT TO STARBUCKS, AND THEN FEELS SAD THAT THE BLACK GUY SERVING HIM THINKS HE IS A RACIST?
Last time I checked, symbols have meaning, and the Confederate flag has several clear meanings that are universally known. These include:
- I do not respect the union of all 50 states,
- I find something admirable about the Confederacy/20th-century South defending “states’ rights,” which center almost exclusively around disenfranchising minorities, and
- I am probably a big, fat racist.
I realize that a song like this was put out to raise the hackles of folks like myself, liberals typing away on their tumblrs on their new MacBooks as they prep themselves to move to the Bay Area. I know.
But, like, here’s the thing—- I really, really like the South. I love so much about Southern culture. But if you choose to glorify the symbols which represent the lowest, nastiest parts of that culture, then you can just go eff off.
Ugh.
I could write a lot of words about my feelings on this topic, or I could let Kelly say all of this far more hilariously than I would’ve.
Roger Ebert has died. He was a movie critic, an advocate for disability rights, a recovering alcoholic, TV personality, producer, memoirist, novelist, and a regular contributor to the New Yorker’s cartoon caption contest.
He watched and read and wrote extremely broadly—most famously about movies but also about books and politics and religious life in America.
To some, he was known primarily for his comments that video games aren’t art. Ebert was wrong about that, as he was wrong about plenty of other things, too. But his was a broadly lived life of public intellectual engagement, something that we don’t see very often anymore, and something worth celebrating.
In the months since I fully committed to studying abroad in England next year, I’ve had a lot of discussions with members of my family about what I’ll be doing while I’m there. I’m hoping to spend as much time as my wallet allows bopping around the country, probably travelling and lodging on the…
“Those poor boys’ lives will be ruined because of this.”
“But the girl was wearing—”
“She was drinking alcoho—”
“They won’t be able to play football anymore!”
“The boys’ futures are ruined because of her!”
“She should be held accountable, too!”
“What did she think was going to happen!?”
(via keptinkirks)
Total meth lab incidents in the United States in 2012 by state
DAMN IT MISSOURI AND TENNESSEE, WE JUST WANT TO BE #1 AT SOMETHING.
#hoosiers
California I remember when you had that eagle eye
Important News: John Darnielle is on Tumblr!
Missouri: PARTYIN’ PARTYIN’ YEAH
I don’t know if this is actually funny or if it was just so unexpected that it seems hilarious.
(Source: serenebranson)
