My Religious Disappointment

Last week, a group of clergy members gathered in D.C. for a prayer vigil.

Were they praying for peace in the Middle East? No.

Were they praying for the end of the slaughter of Christians in Darfur? No.

Were they praying for an end to the poverty in the U.S. that was highlighted during Katrina? No.

They were praying for lower gas prices.

Now, I hate $2.80 gas too. I long for the days when I was 16, learning to drive, and gas cost 75 cents.

But I have missed the religious outcry over other matters that seem more pressing. Instead, seeing them pray for the end of gay marraige and lower gas prices.

My Blogging Portfolio

With the end of the class fast approaching, I have been asked to create a portfolio of my blogging this semester.

This blog has gone through several changes since its inception. In the beginning, the blog started as a commentary of current events set to music. Over time, I dropped that idea as I was struggling with it and others were doing it better.

Also, I did attempt a name change at one point. I was considering changing the name to G.R.I.M. (the Guilty Ramblings of an Innocent Man). However, My First Attempt, originally a place holder name, fit more as all of my titles began with My...

The origin of the My... titles began as a "mistake." After the first post, The Beginning, my next two posts happened to start with My... After that, I kept up the string as most posts were my commentary on current events and different forms of media.

Some posts, I liked and, perhaps, didn't get the response I wanted. Some, I was surprised at the high number of responses. And some, were intricately crafted and got a response that I particularly enjoyed.



My Drug of Choice

First, I would like to highlight an early post that got a strong reaction. My Drug of Choice began as a post about my favorite coffee but became something larger as I discussed the small ways that New Orleans was coming back after Hurricane Katrina.

We discussed in class the nature of blogging is that many times the "best posts" do just that -- use a small item to expound upon a larger topic.

However, this is early blogging for me and as you can see there were only two links in the post. Later posts used far more links and graphics. (Hey, looky there, I'm demonstrating my growth!)

My Career Aspirations

I was really proud of a very recent post that, unnfortunately, didn't recieve the attention that I desired -- although I'm not sure what I expected. My Career Aspirations was designed as a link-laden post to discuss my three favorite journalists (perhaps, I need to do one about my literary favorites).

The origins of blogging began as a compilation of links and, I believe that this demonstrates that relatively well. The links were more informative than "cool."

My Mixtape Experiment

The last post of the "best of" that I would like to highlight is one that made me particularly proud. My Mixtape Experiment was a response to a assignment in which we were asked to push the limits and do something that we wouldn't normally do.

My blog began as a news commentary or personal commentary, this post change the blog. From this point on, I attempted to invent new content and push the envelope.

The posts took me nearly two days (not consecutively) to finish due to my relative lack of experience.

I was able to mainpulate photo sizes and provide links and commentary on each song or artist.

This post was well-recieved, and I appreciated that based on the work I put into it.

As a side note, my experience is such now that my blogging was sped up so that I won't take two days anymore.

The aforementioned blogposts represent what I feel is my best blogging, as well as my technical growth as a blogger. However, it was not all greatness.



The Spanish Post

This was one of the posts that I tried to create something outside the box. I attempted to make a statement by putting my thoughts on immigration into Spanish. At the end, the translators link didn't work, and no amount of my work could fix the link so the post sits there.

I am proud that I tried something new, but for most that one broken link takes what could have been a very good post, and turned it into a post that goes here.



Some of my favorite comments came out of some of my favorite posts over on The Hamster's Wheel.

Hey, Red!

This post was outstanding and I was eager to post a comment. I hoped to add from my own experience.

The Electricity Post

Once again, I thought something from my own experience would add to the conversation. In most of my comments, I'm not sure they really expanded the convversation, but I tried.

All in all, I am proud of my blog and look forward to any comments I recieve on my new posts and ideas as they come up.

My Literary Addendum to a Journalistic Post

After writing about some of my journalistic "heroes," I thought that, perhaps, I should maintain some balance and look at some of my literary favorites.

Then I began to really start to think that this sounded stupid.

If I made a list of three writers then I would obviously leave some out.

Also, Bill would seem a little out of place with some of the more contemporary writers I enjoy.

Besides, how cliched is it to name Shakespeare or Hemingway as your favorite writer. I don't want to do that.

So, I've decided to stay focused on more recent -- and breathing -- authors.

In no real particular order:

Michael Chabon -- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Okay I said no real order but this may be ordered, slightly. Chabon wrote an exceptional book that became an exceptional movie with Wonder Boys. The book deals alot with unrealized talent and a writer that cannot produce a second book. That wasn't a problem with Chabon. He followed up Wonder Boys with the Pulitzer winning Kavalier and Clay. The book touches on comic books, Harry Houdini, Jewish fear and anger at Nazi Germany and the American Dream. This is probably my favorite book.

Dave Eggers -- A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius The title alone makes this book a worthy read. This is Egger's first book. The book is a memior that contains some embellishments. But not James Frey type embellishments. Egger's tells the reader where to look for the fiction in his numerous prefaces and forewards. Egger's is also the founder of McSweeney's.

Johnathan Safran Foer -- Everything is Illuminated This book is excellent. Three intertwined storylines criss and cross without once becoming tangled. The three distinct voices achieve this trick as the story slowly unfolds toward an unexpected twist that does not upset the beautiful story before it. I recently watched the movie adaptation that is a merely adequate portrayal of a nearly impossible book to adapt.

I think I will stop at these three as I only used three journalists. And these are sufficient. There are, of course, others, like David Sedaris, but I think the three above highlight the bright crop of relatively young authors in this time when some insist that the written word is dying.

My Big Free Blunder

After several non-announcements and spurned offers, The Big Free Music Fest finally announced a headliner -- and secondary act.

Just over a week before the show, DSA announced that Three 6 Mafia will headline the concert.

As proof that the Oscar-winning group has no idea what they are getting into, this is an exact quote from Nick Trusty, DSA director:

“We’re ecstatic. They’re pimptastic,” he said.

"Pimptastic?" You've got to be kidding me.

To make the whole event stranger, DSA added a country act, Tracy Lawrence, to the concert.

Said Andrew Ledbetter of the 4 hour gap planned between Lawrence's 5:45 start time until Three 6's 10 pm start:

“We decided that it would flow better if we didn’t put country right back to back with hip-hop.”

You don't say.

Now, I know that I, perhaps, sound bitter about the selections made for the concert. And, perhaps, I am a little disappointed.

Initial word leaked that the festival was reaching out to Wilco to headline, and I have already expressed my appreciation for Wilco on this Blog.

However, Wilco turned down the offer due to a previous engagement.

In fact, I think the planners did a very admirable job considering that they were planning a free music festival in Columbia, MO when a chunk of the music world will be spending their weekend in Indio, California at:

www.coachella.com

It tends to pose scheduling conflicts when you try to compete with one of the largest concerts of the year.

Mi Problema con la Legislación Propuesta de la Inmigración

I'm attempting something here, for translation help see here.

Mi familia ha estado en este país por muchas generaciones, pero para esto no significa que yo no tengo interés en la inmigración.

De hecho, mi cuñado es inglés y es actualmente en el proceso arduo (and that is for marriage or family, which is "easy") de completar el papeleo necesario para obtener una tarjeta verde.

Los pasos que uno debe aceptar este país para ganar la ciudadanía es prohibativo costoso y difícil.

La inmigración es un factor increiblemente importante mas polémico en la historia Americana.

Los inmigrantees son lo que construyó este país, y todavía a través de historia la población más nueva de inmigrante era el objeto del odio y la irrisión.

Cuando Americanos, nosotros nos preciamos en nuestras libertades civiles, mas procuramos crear la legislación para mantener a esos inmigrantees fuera de nuestro país.

Creo que esto se legisla el racismo dirigido en las personas mexicanas, disfrazado como seguridad de patria.

My Career Aspirations

The three people whose careers I would give anything to have, in no particular order:

1. HUNTER S. THOMPSON -- The most feared journalist in j-schools throughout the country, he embodies the opposite of almost everything they teach here. Or is he? He is, first and foremost, a seeker of the truth, even if it was not the truth he was sent to find. Also, there is perhaps not a more transparent writer in journalism. As he was a prominent character in almost all of his stories, -- another no-no -- he gave the reader the distinct advantage of not looking to far to find his reporting methods. While his cult fame and more palpable notoriety made for a legendary career, there are important factors that makes the Good Doctor completely different than the gentlemen to be named later. A) The drugs aren't important to me. They were important to him, the 60s were clearly a different time. B) There cannot be another Hunter. He was clearly a one of a kind, and trying to be Hunter is to be doomed from the start. It is his staccato beat and distinct word usage is intriguing. You can report the news without sacrificing style.

2. TONY KORNHEISER -- Mr. Tony to his fans, has managed to report on sports and lifestyle throughout his career. He wasn't stereotyped as just a sportswriter; he was a good enough writer to move throughout the journalistic world. Mr. Tony is an outstanding columnist who can blend comedy into his sports columns. Perhaps, the Dave Barry of the sports world, another writer I enjoy thoroughly. Mr. Tony also has parlayed his writing into, first, a successful syndicated radio show, then the ESPN hit, Pardon the Interuption. Kornheiser has been a success in all forms of the media.

3. ANTHONY BOURDAIN -- In yet another piece of personal information divulged, I love to cook. I get more joy out of cooking for others than I do eating the food. I've been told I'm pretty good. If I weren't in j-school, I'd be in culinary school. Bourdain is a surly chef who has had the best of both worlds. He has a successful restaurant in New York. But he doesn't just sling fries, steaks and tuna tartar, he is also a excellent writer. He has turned his love of food into a column about food. And that column inspired a book, a failed TV sitcom and a more successful TV show on the Travel Channel. The show, called No Reservations, has Bourdain travelling the world tasting local delicacies. Not that I want to travel the world eating reindeer blood sausage in Sweden and washing it down with bear bile in China, but the Sweden and China part would be nice. Someone once suggested that I become a food critic, and use both my cooking and writing. I laughed and scoffed that food critics are only a lowly steeping stool of journalism. And let's be honest they are. I would hope to avoid such a fate. But someday, when I'm not chasing the story anymore, and have hopefully settled into my column, I hope that I might still feel up to cooking on a larger scale. Or at least, travelling the world seaching out the food like Bourdain.

My Government's Spring Cleaning

Why is this man smiling so much? His life just got alot easier.

No more waking up every morning only to learn what he had to try to cover up that day.

A room full of people tired of feeling like they have been lied to attacked him constantly.

The man, pictured here with the puppetmaster, is Scott McClellan, and he "resigned" today in a continuing shake up of the White House.

The question here is, Is he out merely because of his confrontational relationship with the White House Press Corp? Are the executive branch's messages no longer being heard?

If this is the problem, who will the president tab to take on this job? Who would take the job of standing up everyday and being thrown to the wolves for a lame-duck president, any lame-duck president, much less one with Bush's approval ratings?

It is a thankless job, but sooner or later someone will have to do it.