Anthony Weiner, Bobby Kennedy and Me

I liked Rep. Anthony Weiner a lot.
I liked his sense of humor, I liked that he was friends with people like Ben Affleck and Jon Stewart, I liked the way you could still detect a hint of Brooklyn scrapper in his mannerisms even on the floor of Congress.
But what I liked about him most of all was what I think most of my fellow fans liked most too: the fact that he didn’t pull any punches on issues he cared about, even at the cost of diplomacy. Last summer, I saw him on the House floor furiously railing against an attempt to obstruct a package that would provide 9/11 first responders with health care, wielding words like “gentleman” and “shame” with such righteous fury that he might as well have been saying “motherfucker”. At a time when I was thoroughly disillusioned with the complacency of Democratic leaders in Congress and the White House, Rep. Weiner came off as a dedicated rogue cop, waiting outside Chief Pelosi’s office to be told that he got results, but dammit, she did NOT approve of his methods. Clearly, he was a man unafraid to fight the good fight.
Then it turned out he’d been sending pictures of his dick to women who weren’t his wife.
I think his decision not to resign over it was the right one; unlike Eliot Spitzer or current Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, he didn’t do anything illegal, and it doesn’t affect his ability to serve his constituents. That said, I’m still really pissed about the whole thing.
First of all, I’m angry that Weiner’s deception has given credibility to notorious liar and journalistic Antichrist Andrew Breitbart, who helped break the story; we sure as hell didn’t need to see Breitbart’s rumpled, petulant, perpetually drunk-seeming ass on television any more than we already do. But more than that, I’m pissed at a man who seemed so genuine for turning out to be so completely full of shit.
I’m not so naïve that I believe any politician is spotless; you don’t get there in the first place without having a lot of the same skills that make people effective used car salesmen. And yeah, I knew that a lot of Weiner’s high profile had to do with his not-so-secret desire to succeed Michael Bloomberg as mayor of New York (a goal I imagine he’s scratched off his list by now). But Weiner was just so relentless in his attempts to avoid owning up until it was absolutely unavoidable that I was a little revolted by it (that, and the betrayal of his wife). The Anthony Weiner I admired would have come clean early and gotten back to doing his job. Again, I know I probably deserved it for thinking any congressman was above it all, but it was a nice idea.
Speaking of nice ideas, today is the 43rd anniversary of the death of one of my heroes, Robert Francis Kennedy; what always struck me about Bobby was that he seemed like America’s last hope, an ideological pallbearer for first his older brother, then for Dr. King (and even, if you want to get really metaphysical, the badly damaged idealism of the beginning of the Johnson years) who had survived it all and could help renew us. And yet, I’m well aware Bobby wasn’t perfect; he authorized a wiretap of King when he was attorney general, and he had a reputation as a ruthless political operator. And I honestly don’t know what kind of president he would have been; things were so fucked up at that point that it honestly might not have been possible that anyone was good enough to be the right man to fix things. But none of that really matters, because Sirhan Sirhan’s bullets both shattered that hope and canonized Bobby, making the man not just a fallen human being but, post-mortem, the very idea of hope. Maybe that’s why, long after his death, he still captures my imagination so much. And this isn’t just some starry-eyed, liberal idealist thing; there’s no way Ronald Reagan’s divorced, tax-raising, former union-president, amnesty-granting ass would ever win a primary today. But that doesn’t matter, because his admirers are in love with Reagan the idea, not Reagan the man. And sometimes, for better or for worse, that’s what matters. Me, I’m trying to get off the idea of heroes. There’s nothing wrong with finding a role model and using them for guidance, but if you want somebody to do everything according to how you would do it, the best way is to do it yourself.

Alachua Kedavra

This is Florida Gov. Rick Scott:

This is Voldemort:

Think about it... won't you?

The Good with the Bad

Recently, as some of you may have noticed, I had a brief fit of journalistic frustration (which is like sexual frustration, except Brian Williams has experienced it) at the fact that CNN was running iReports on whether or not android songbird Rebecca Black was pregnant ("This report has not been vetted", noted the story, which is generally an indication that you should not run it). In this fit, I found myself doing something I don't remember ever doing, for multiple reasons: getting nostalgic about the '50s and '60s. Let me explain: yeah, if you were black/a woman/Jewish/Richie Cunningham's brother who mysteriously disappeared, they kinda sucked. But (I thought at the time) here's one thing they had on us: actual news was on the news and in the papers, and bullshit was in tabloids. But, as is usually the case with nostalgia, I soon remembered it wasn't that simple. Take Jack Kennedy; the guy had more girls on the side than a cannibal's buffet plate (albeit slightly less than Warren Harding, apparently), but the media wouldn't touch it. Seems cool at first, if you don't think anyone's consensual sexual activity is actual news (it isn't), but this seeming benefit is endemic of what was a serious problem of the era: the media of the time simply didn't scrutinize the president. While this isn't a problem when it comes to their private faults, it helped enable some of the worst transgressions of the Johnson and Nixon administrations. Woodward and Bernstein did a lot to prove that dirt-digging was not only permissible, it could be vital to the workings of democracy, but it wasn't until the Clinton administration that we really opened Pandora's box ("Pandora's Box" is a pornographic remake of "Avatar"). Clinton's Monicagate or whatever dumb name we've given it was the first time a man with Kennedy-esque proclivities had come to power in this era of increased media scrutiny, with the rich and famous no longer on pedestals. And agree or disagree on the whole thing, Clinton's investigation and impeachment wouldn't have been possible without the burgeoning internet. So here we had the people at the top finally being held to account, and regular people were involved. But here was the issue: it was over something completely trivial. In the modern era of online hyperconsciousness, things aren't much better. We've got access to more information than ever before but by and large, we'd rather use it for bullshit. The controversy over Time choosing Mark Zuckerberg over Julian Assange for their Man of the Year is emblematic of the two warring factions: would you rather have all the answers, even if they make you uncomfortable, or would you rather Poke someone? Here's the thing, though: that's a false choice. Yes, the modern world of information-sharing allows for way too much petty triviality to pass through, but it allows the things we need to know as well. I'll take a thousand Tweets about how good this sandwich is if it means one on-the-ground picture from the Jasmine Revolution. I guess what this whole piece comes down to is one question: is it worth having to extend Rebecca Black's fifteen minutes for a media apparatus that can truly watch the watchmen? And the answer is: oh, hell yes.

Almost done...

Hey Richmond, what annoys you?

[Cross-posted from Facebook]

As some of you may know, I recently received a new assignment from Style: they want me to bring my righteous-indignation schtick to local issues. Trouble is, I haven’t really been paying much attention to that kind of thing (unless Libya is in Richmond, and it might be, for all I know), and I’m not up on things in every walk of life, so I thought I’d ask the audience: what in Richmond is pissing you off? It doesn’t have to be political; in fact, I’d kind of prefer it not be. Just tell me what’s going on in our fair city that makes you want to grab a baseball bat and teach some toddlers that life is suffering.



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Just Beat It

The final presentation for Messner's class was today; I feel like it went okay. I'm concerned my latent "Pahk yah cah in the gahden" accent may have flared up a few too many times, but I'm sure that won't be a huge deal. Our slideshow should be up on Richmond.com soon, so I'll make sure to post a link.
Oh, and since I very rarely get to tart up for journalistic purposes, here's what I wore.

As much as I've bitched about it, I think I'm gonna miss Messner's class; it's stressed me out plenty, but in doing that, I understand that it's been great for me as far as doing The Dance. And of course, the people were great too.
In other news, Scott called me in at Style today, and told me he wants me to have some kind of regular feature where I spout off about local issues (he says he's liking my editorial writing, he just wants to give it more of a Richmond focus). It'll essentially be something like a Richmond version of this:

This is a pretty big deal for me, and I'm excited, especially since I'll have more time to follow local news with school just about done. And if there's a local issue you think should get more coverage, drop me a line. See you beautiful people around.

Shadows of a struggle at Virginia Union

Over the past couple months, I've had an assignment to write beat stories for my print journalism class relating to Virginia Union University; it's been one hell of a stressful project, but I'm done now, and I actually kind of like how this one, the final piece, turned out, so I thought I'd post it.


Dr. Raymond Hylton points to one of Virginia Union University’s chapel buildings as he walks the campus. “Dr. King would preach there from time to time,” he says. His tone is casual, but the pride in his voice is unmistakable.

Hylton, Virginia Union’s history chair, makes no secret of the gratification he gets from his school’s role in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. “I’m quite proud to be at such an institution with such courageous students,” he says. “It probably gives me a broader perspective than someone working elsewhere, a more humanitarian perspective.”

Founded immediately after the Civil War, Virginia Union’s place in the movement’s history was cemented on February 22, 1960, when a large group of politically-minded students marched to heavily-segregated downtown Richmond to demand service. At Thalhimer’s Department Store, 34 students (including Charles Sherrod, who would go on to be field secretary of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee)were threatened and eventually arrested by police for trespassing. “Now, they didn’t stay in jail long;” added Hylton. “They were quickly bailed out and then were escorted down to the Eggleston Hotel where they were cheered, they were congratulated, and where the Campaign for Human Dignity was launched.” This group used Martin Luther King Jr.’s tactics of organized, nonviolent resistance to protest against segregation and institutional racism in the Richmond area and as a result, said Hylton, “most of the stores who had been discriminating gave in within about a year of the launching of the Campaign.”

On Virginia Union’s campus today, students say the school heavily emphasizes this place in history. “We have different plaques that explain the history of Virginia Union,” said Union student Isaiah Freeman, who said he wasn’t aware of the school’s connection to the civil rights movement until he began classes. “We also have to take a course our freshman year that also teaches us about past events leading to the present day VUU.”

Union student Rashard Byrd said he researched the school’s historical significance, which was “one of the many reasons I decided to attend VUU”, but he believes knowing about the incident ahead of time puts him in the minority. “Most students don’t research anything besides tuition,” he said, “but they’re starting to become aware through chapel and professors.”

Regardless of how familiar they were with the story, students still look to the “Union 34” as inspiration. Freeman said it was a positive motivator “knowing that I go to a place where people actually fought and worked hard to make it become what it is today.”

Dr. Hylton says the same values that compelled the Union 34 to take action are taught at Virginia Union today. “The administration tries to remind faculty to inculcate these ideas into our curriculum,” he said, “and of course, we do have very much so, in our mission and goals, a civic engagement component.”

With many of the issues that spurred the civil rights movement still relevant today, Virginia Union student Emily Piercy believes there are always further lessons to be learned from the activists’ examples. “We have a saying at Union, that we’re walking on ‘hallowed grounds and dear old walls’,” Piercy said. “Knowing that you are attending a school that produced such great people that went on to change the world makes you believe that you can go on and do the same things.”