Blog is a Mix Tape

I said to anybody that would listen last week that that Chuck Phillips article smelled wrong (just like his 2002 Tupac article smelled wrong). Now, look atcha!

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one line: from laura to leroy

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 00:01:36 -0800

When I asked whether JT was real, she paused, and smiled in a way that at the time said she was letting me in on the secret but in hindsight I can say meant JT was the bait and I had just swallowed.

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one line: dear obama letter

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:05:17 -0800

Feeling inspired is soooo early-February.

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one line: on handwriting

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 01:51:41 -0800

“We cling to handwriting out of a romantic sense that script expresses identity.”

I'm not sure I agree with that but I think we should be focusing on typing ahead of handwriting with kids.

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one line: beyond blackness

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 09:03:16 -0800

He is both black (obviously) and beyond blackness.

I have only minor quibble with the films they selected (and those they left out) but reading the pieces, I get that really they are just using these films to talk about a person or a moment in time that they want to play out.

I have major quibble, however, with this statement and the context it is placed in. I'm growing increasingly of the opinion that we -- all of us -- don't know what the hell we're talking about anymore when we talk about race. Trying to understand what Will Smith's success means and relating that to Barack Obama's ascent this year is such an oversimplification that I can't quite deal.

What the hell does "beyond blackness" mean in this context? Transcendence? Cross-over? Neither word works. Neither man has eschewed nor, in most cases, traded on their race and, in my opinion, it is ridiculous to couch their success in terms of "because of" or "in spite of" their skin color.

I've seen this moment in time being discussed as post-racial. That's problematic as well. I do think we're differently racial these days. I also think, however, that we're quick to try to define where we are without understanding much of anything. This isn't unique to this matter, it just annoys me more than most things. We are both tentative and cavalier with issues of race in America that this kind of clunky, ham-handed attempt at writing about it only exacerbates the misconceptions.

And infuriates me.

FAIL. Try again.

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one line: it isn't just about britney

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 13:34:15 -0800

Being crazy doesn’t make you stupid.

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