So let me get this straight. The city government in Los Angeles has decided that the residents of South Los Angeles have too much of a propensity (or is it just a statistical likelihood) to be obese, so the city government has decreed a moratorium on new fast food businesses in that part of the ‘hood. Is that right? Is that what I’m readin? While I know people who would be proud that the government is responding to a public health need, to me, it’s a perfect example of what some people call the “nanny state.” I mean, I really don’t like bans on smoking or seat belt laws, but at least they have the benefit of having directly causal relationships to the problems they’re designed to prevent. As much as I don’t like to wear ‘em, seat belts do save lives, and smoking does lead to cancer. (whether the government should actually be involved is another question.) Fast food, though? That’s a whole different argument altogether. There is no way the government should be limiting the growth of businesses because of public health, when the impact of said businesses ON public health is determined by the choices that the public makes INSIDE the businesses.
Put it like this: when I go to McDonalds, I usually don’t buy the salad. In fact, I almost never do. That’s because when I did buy it, I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the taste. The fries, on the other hand, are delicious. Nevertheless, the problem isn’t that there’s a McDonald’s near me, the problem is that I choose not to eat the healthier choices that are available. But that can’t legitimately be blamed on the Clown. Nor can what I do after I leave the restaurant be blamed on the Clown.
We know that obesity is generally the result of a combination of diet and a lack of exercise. So if the government can mandate what we eat, then what comes next? Are they gonna have neighborhood drill sergeants to get people up off the couch? Are there gonna be city-mandated TV-free days? Doubt it, but if the point is really to decrease obesity and its accompanying health problems, then that seems to be the next logical step. Thing is, we can’t make people exercise. Just like we can’t make them eat certain foods. Just like we shouldn’t try to disallow them the option of eating other foods.
None of this is to say that I think there should be MORE McDonalds in the hood. By all means no. For real-for real, I honestly believe that there is a shortage of healthy food options for people who don’t live in the trendy areas. Thing is, that’s not a problem for the government to fix, that’s a problem for them fu-fu food joints, charging the people up for what’s (ostensibly) NOT in the food. A quote from the article gets to the meat of the matter right here:
South Los Angeles resident Curtis English acknowledged that fast food is loaded with calories and cholesterol. But since he’s unemployed and does not have a car, it serves as a cheap, convenient staple for him.
On Monday, he ate breakfast and lunch — a sausage burrito and double cheeseburger, respectively — at a McDonald’s a few blocks from home for just $2.39.
Close and cheap. Amidst all the “they should open up healthy restaurants in the hood,” there needs to be an understanding of why it ain’t gonna happen. “They” are not gonna get “their” clientele in the hood, nor are “they” gonna be able to charge their ignorantly overinflated prices. Which means they ain’t comin’.
Now if you really wanna get to the nitty-gritty, people need to cook. It’s cheaper AND closer. Notice, I didn’t say they just need to eat at home, they need to cook. Food. Not processed foodstuff, actual food. Because in reality, that’s one of the unexplained variables in the obesity “epidemic.” As the time cost of preparing food decreased, obesity increased. Real food takes longer to cook, but it’s cheaper and there’s nowhere closer to home than home. But let’s see the city try to legislate that.
I spent over 8 hours at a rap concert yesterday. Yeah, I was at Rock The Bells. The lineup was sometin fierce. Tribe, De La, Red & Meth, Rae & Ghost, Nas, Mos….there were a couple other groups, but that was about enough for me. I think I unconsciously listed the acts in the order of the degree to which they ripped the stage. For a serious hip hop head, I DEFINITELY recommend a ticket. But a couple of random notes:
After about a month of thought, reflection, and study, I’m still riding for Rakim. Don’t get me wrong, Kane’s my man and all that, but Rakim really is just a cut above. At the same time, I don’t think it can be denied that a big part of why everybody is so SURE Ra is the best is that he just has the aura. I mean, seriously. Jay-Z can call himself Hova and all that, but if you’re talkin about emcees and somebody says, “The God,” you KNOW who it is, and it ain’t Shawn Carter.
*****
I can’t necessarily vouch for them in other media, like TV and movies, but Red and Meth on stage? Fire. Literally a dynamic duo. They’re the type of act that makes you feel like you really got your money’s worth if got flossy and sprung for tickets down front. Same thing goes for De La. Of all the times I’ve seen De La, I’ve NEVER seen them come weak. Never. Likewise with Tribe. The difference is that De La doesn’t really have the popular songs that Tribe does. I mean, I can’t even front. Back in 93, I rode hard for Tribe, but I wasn’t really checkin for De La too tough. It wasn’t until Stakes Is High that I got enlightened and started to recognize. (And literally kicked myself for not buying Buhloone Mindstate earlier.) All that’s to say that it’s easier for the crowd to get hyped off Tribe because more people are more familiar with their songs. De La, on the other hand, Pos in particular, are just very good performers. Period.
*****
Breath control. Breath control. Breath control. If live shows were a factor in how emcees are evaluated, Black Thought would have to be in everybody’s top 10. Like I said, I liked most of what I saw out there yesterday, but ain’t nobody really seein’ Tariq Trotter on the stage. I mean, if you really break it down, ain’t too many people really seein’ Tariq Trotter, period. The Roots didn’t play Rock The Bells yesterday, but check out Thought covering Kool G Rap’s “Men At Work.” That’s a tough rap to recite in the car ridin’ down the road, let alone at a concert.
So I’m browsing through the wapo online, and I see this link for the 30 greatest sitcom characters of all time. To the extent that a newspaper’s online edition can have a back page, that’s where it is, for now. The author, Gene Weingarten, actually made this list four years ago, and is allowing readers to lobby for changes to his original. Which is good, because his original list is kinda suspect.
Now, I’m not all about Affirmative Action, per se, but I do like to see myself represented. (I almost wish I could lie and say that’s part of the reason I don’t watch a lotta television right now, but the lack of Black folks on primetime has nothing to do with why I don’t watch.) So when somebody makes a list of all time sitcom characters and the only Black character on there is Kingfish from Amos ‘n Andy (Kingfish!!), that list gets the gas face. But instead of simply complaining and saying that there are some Black characters who should be on the list, I think I’m a little more interested in why that particular television critic may have missed out.
My first thought is simply this: folks look for different things. It’s not really cool to be prejudiced, so most people don’t want to admit to it, but we are. All of us. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. All being prejudiced means is that we are used to seeing things a certain way, and all things considered, we prefer to keep seeing them that way. That’s relatively benign. It only becomes problematic when it involves limiting somebody else’s life. The fact that I root for the Black fighter/game show contestant/quarterback/coach almost exclusively has no bearing on the contest in question. That’s just me. So when I see a subjective list, even a subjective list that’s supposed to be definitive, there’s no getting around the fact that all the choices are shaped by a single person’s perspective. Personally, I don’t know what there’s not to like about Fred Sanford as a sitcom character, or what would make somebody rank him below Granny Clampett (and I like Granny Clampett), but homeboy did. And that’s his prerogative.
As for me? I don’t know that I watched quite enough TV to come up with a list of the 30 “best” sitcom characters. There are too many shows that I never saw. But I can give you 20 that I really liked. For now, in no particular order, but not exactly random.
- Archie Bunker
- Fred Sanford
- Cosmo Kramer
- Jim Ignatowski (If there were some continuity in the television universe, I would almost think that Kramer was Jim’s son.)
- James Evans, Sr.
- Dr. Heatchcliff Huxtable
- Drs. Frasier and Niles Crane
- Lucille Ball
- Johnny Fever (but was Johnny Fever really better than Les Nessman? Gotta think about that one.)
- Clair Huxtable (for 100 reasons, she has to go on the list.)
- George Jefferson
- Aunt Esther Anderson
- Cliff Claven
- Arthur Fonzarelli
- Ed Norton
- Granny Clampett
- Stanley Roper / Ralph Ferley
- Woody Boyd
- Dan Fielding
- Edith Bunker
HRISTIAN ABATE majored in education at Temple, but put his studies on hold for a few years while having financial hardship.
He’s worked as a busboy for eight years at Saloon (750 S. 7th), where he struck up a friendship with one generous regular at the Italian restaurant who volunteered to pay his Temple tuition.
During a visit to Saloon last summer, Charles Barkley asked Abate how he was enjoying teaching, and was disappointed to learn that Abate had still not returned to Temple because of problems securing financial aid. Abate, 28, of South Philly, started at Temple in 1997, months after graduating from St. John Neumann High.
Sir Charles told Abate he would like to help him with his tuition, and Abate wasn’t sure how to respond. Barkley didn’t give him much time, telling Abate that he had the length of Barkley’s meal to decide. Abate wisely accepted.
I’ve heard too many similar stories. When I met Chuck, he was personable, but more like I’m-being-nice-but-I’m-really-tired. Still, it’s great to see things like this.
Temple basketball is number 20 in ESPN’s ranking of most prestigious basketball programs since 1984-1985. Had we pulled off a couple Final Four appearances, we’d be even higher. I knew we had a well-known program, but I didn’t think it was quite as consistent as it is, especially over the last few years. But even with the small downturn the program has taken, we’ve only had one losing season. Not too bad.
Having spent a little time traveling over the past few weeks, including spending time in some very urban areas and some verrry suburban, borderline rural areas, I can safely say that all the talk about obesity is warranted. Now understand, based on what I saw, it’s not just Us, but it definitely is Us. So when I see pieces like this out of Madison, Wisconsin, I kinda cringe.
The disparity is most pronounced among women — almost twice as many African-American women are obese compared to white women in the state. And that disparity is what makes black women believe they are being held to a white standard of beauty and body type. Which is nothing new, said Beverly Burns of Madison, who was recently treating her visiting granddaughters to ice cream at the East Towne Mall food court. Burns recalls that as a young girl her mother was forced to stand with her back against the wall in the school gymnasium, and told that the space between her body and the wall meant that she was too fat. Burns is still indignant.
It’s weird. Having always preferred that svelte body type, I’m like, ‘I coulda been told you that.’ But I’m also keenly aware that obesity as a health issue and obesity as a body type issue have a dangerous confluence. I know quite a few women who think of calls by the medical industry for women in general, Black women in particular, to lose weight, as being motivated by some insidious plot to make them dislike their bodies. But there’s a difference between being physically fit and being trim. There’s also a difference between being curvy and being fat.
Now, here’s where I side with the people who look skeptically on these types of studies: the basis for declaring someone obese is the Body Mass Index, which, while mostly accurate, can yield some strange results because of the way it’s calculated. For instance, when I work out a lot, I tend to get heavier because I grow muscle. My BMI then goes up, moving me into the overweight range. Not that I’m all musclebound, but it’s obvious that the growth ain’t fat. At the same time, I know that in the overwhelming majority of the cases, the correlation between BMI and body fat is pretty much right. So then it comes back to health.
Not being a woman, I can’t pretend to know what it’s like to think that your body type is not “right.” Dudes pretty much get a pass. Not entirely, but we get a lot more leeway than the ladies. At the same time, some of these sisters need to recognize that even though they may have curves, a lotta that weight is not being carried in their breasts and hips. It that might be where they notice the weight lost first, but I’m tryin’a tell you — from scientific observation, of course — sometimes people think they got ‘S’ curves when they really got ‘O’ curves.
Self-delusion is just as bad as media inculcation.
Blame It On The Boogie – The Jacksons Sooperman Luva II – Redman Golden Lady – Stevie Wonder City, Country, City – War What Is Slick – Pleasure The Wobble – Dyke and The Blazers Some Day – Mariah Carey Ain’t Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman) – Joe Tex Standing On The Verge Of Gettin’ It On – Funkadelic Grigiopela – Gianfranco Plenizio I’ll Pray For You – Cab Calloway Somebody’s On Your Case – Ann Peebles C’Mon Wit The Git Down – Artifacts, f. Busta Rhymes The Grand Finale – The D.O.C., f. NWA Misdemeanor – Ahmad Jamal
If all goes to plan on the field this fall, Florida State safety Myron Rolle will produce the kind of season that catapults him into the first round of next spring’s NFL draft.
If all goes to plan off the field, Rolle will be faced with a vexing yet welcome decision: NFL locker room or Oxford University classroom?
Rolle, a preseason All-ACC and All-America candidate, is an astounding anomaly in a sport synonymous with low graduation rates and dumbed-down majors. He’s a 3.75 pre-med student who will finish his undergraduate degree in just two-and-a-half years; a National Leadership Honor Society inductee; the recipient of a $4,000 research grant for his work studying human mesenchymal stem cells and the facilitator of a health and living program at a charter school run by the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
Just sayin. I haven’t rooted for Florida State since Charlie Ward, but Rolle might be able to get me to toss a couple granules of ‘hope so’ their way on Saturday afternoons.
Duane took it way, way back, bringing back the Homegirls potato chips, but makin it relevant, he points out the positive messages printed on the back of the package.
MOTHERHOOD
As we look to becoming mothers one day, we will produce good children with good manners and good minds. We are the first teachers.
WE ARE GOING TO CHANGE THIS THING AROUND
MARRIAGE
We should save ourselves for marriage. Why should a man respect us if he can have us before marriage? Respect yourself and everyone will respect you. NO RING…NO THING?
WE ARE GOING TO CHANGE THIS THING AROUND
THE POWER WITHIN US
The force within us is stronger than the negative forces outside of us. So our message to bad influences is… STEP OFF!
THERE IS A NEW BAG ON THE BLOCK… ITS ALL THAT..AND A BAG OF CHIPS.
Wow. No ring…no thing? Would they even PUT that on a bag of chips these days?
While any potential big-name coming to a Philadelphia team is exciting to me, I’m really not sure that adding Elton Brand to the Sixers is gonna do a whole, whole lot. The Eastern Conference is becoming quite competitive, but the Sixers are probably on the back curve of that. Up front are, of course, Boston and Detroit. Throw in Orlando and Cleveland, and that pretty much relegates the Sixers to a bottom seed in the playoffs already. Not to mention that it’s highly unlikely that Washington and Miami will be as bad as they were this year. Nah. It’s nice to add a big name to the roster, but I’m not sure that adding Elton Brand actually moves the Sixers any closer to a ring. This certainly doesn’t seem to make them automatics for the conference finals.
Temple basketball is number 20 in ESPN’s ranking of most prestigious basketball programs since 1984-1985. Had we pulled off a couple Final Four appearances, we’d be even higher. I knew we had a well-known program, but I didn’t think it was quite as consistent as it is, especially over the last few years. But even with the small downturn the program has taken, we’ve only had one losing season. Not too bad.
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