Archive for July 31st, 2007

As I mentioned in the last post, my high school team is about to start two-a-days, which means that football season is now in effect. Not in full effect yet; that doesn’t happen until the first pre-season game. But It’s time for the real sports season to begin. And if it’s football season, that means it’s time to start talkin about the Eagles in earnest.

So once again, I’m callin for the NFC East to break down like this:

Eagles - 11-5
Cowboys 10-6
Giants - 10-6
R*s - 8-8.

I really don’t fool with too many other divisions like that, but since the AFC North now has 3 Black coaches, I’ll mess with them too.

Bengals - 12-4
Steelers - 11-5
Ravens 10-6
Browns - 7-9

Looking at that Bengals pick, particularly with a 12-4, I’m asking my own self if I’m high on crack, but something’s telling me this could be a breakout year for them. If they stay out of legal trouble, there might be some big doings down in Cinci. The Steelers pick is risky too. It all depends on how soon the players buy into Coach Tomlin’s system and how Roethlisberger responds to having a more open offense to run. Either way, I can see the division not being decided until the last week of the season.

The NFC East, on the other hand, belongs to the Eagles. I’m expecting the Brokebacks to finish stronger than they did last year, but I’m also not expecting the Birds to lose on another 60+ yard field goal. The new defensive schemes in Dallas are cause for concern, but I’ve got confidence. Especially if Andy Reid and Marty Mornigwheg actually learned something while Jeff Garcia was in there - namely, the running game can be effective for the Eagles too. If they can get to about a 53-47 balance with passing to running (and if Donovan and Westbrook stay healthy), it could be a pleasant fall. And winter. But the window is closing.

In the few minutes that I have before two-a-days start, I may do some real research into single-sex schools. Being in the middle of the action, it seems clear to me that a lot of our kids need some addition by subtraction. In this case, the subtraction of the distraction of attraction. Now, do I think that single-sex education is necessary in every case? Not at all. And maybe it’s not even the ideal way to educate most students. Even if that’s true, though, for many Black kids, we’re not at the point where we can afford to talk about ideal methods. We’re at straight-up crisis stage. I know. I see ‘em every day. And the skill levels are…well, it’s a crisis.

Even as I think through this, I know that there are some feminist organizations that would have a problem with single-sex public schools because of the spectre of segregation, but I think that’s looking at things through some idyllic lens rather than looking at what’s really going on down here on the ground. Statistically speaking, using DC, because that’s the district I know best, girls are more likely to graduate high school and several times more likely to graduate college than boys. Frankly, I think that single-sex ed wouldn’t be harmful to girls either, but it’s clear that the boys need some help. And again, it’s not about whether this is ideal. Maybe it is the best way, maybe it’s not. But what I know for sure is that with the numbers being what they are, there should be absolutely no potential solution that’s not on the table. Better to try something that may work than to keep slogging through with what’s not working.

But like I said, this is all off the top of my head, before I’ve done a shred of research. If the evidence tells me something different, I’ll follow, but it would have to be really convincing.

It’s summer, which means that I’m back developing a whole new appreciation for Songs In The Key of Life. Again. Of course, it goes without saying that As is, without question, the crown jewel of that collection, but SitKoL is such a comprehensively superior album, almost every song on there is an all-time beast. The song that’s got me all geeked up these days is the sublime, Summmer Soft.

As I said when I wrote about this album before, I grew up hearing SitKoL, so as a result I don’t think I really appreciated how good an album it is until I got older. That’s partially why I think the lack of a generation gap is particularly troublesome in terms of musical quality. Part of growing older and listening to grown folks’ music is that I can come to a more nuanced understanding of what the artist was talking about when my life experience has grown. No disrespect to Cube, but in trying to keep his record career focused on the “reality” of the streets, he’s neglecting the reality of the thirty-plus former hardheads who have, by one means or another, gotten themselves together. Or the reality of cats who were around the action, but not really a part of it. Which is his real story - and mine. That little parenthetical aside, because I’m better able to understand the situations Stevie’s describing as I get older, both in terms of lived experience and comprehension of literary devices, every time I hear Summer Soft, I get more and more floored.

First of all, let’s talk personification. Nothing heavy-handed enough to get into allegory, just simple assignment of human characteristics to a season. The thing is, it’s done with such care, you get the impression that it could be allegorical. Is it about the changing of the seasons, or is it about losing a loved one in one of the transitional seasons? Or is it about waking up one day to find that things have transitioned? In any case, there’s no question that it represents excellent writing — the type of writing that I, as an English teacher, get very excited about.

But then, Summer Soft is not a poem. It’s unquestionably poetic, but it’s a song. Which means that the music and the singing is a factor. But of course, this is early 70’s Stevie, so it goes without saying that those are on point. What I really like is the contrast between the quiet beginning of the song and the repetition of the chorus(es) in ascending keys at the end. Oh. And that line, “taking with her summer’s play” at the end of the first verse. That line, particularly the way he sang it, almost made me hate fall. Almost. Football kept that from happening.

At any rate, rather than talk about it, let’s have Summer Soft.

UPDATE

A Summer Soft story…

One time, I was at my then-girlfriend’s apartment, blasting Summer Soft as we were about to leave. The upstairs neighbor was on her way out the door too. When it got to the end when Stevie’s like, “na-na-naa-naaa-naaaa! WHOOO!!” the neighbor joined right in with him, as loud as she wanted to be.