Podcasting since 2004; Conversations, conflicts, adventures and monologues from around the world.
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Here I am in Philly.. or actually.. uploading this from DC.. either way.. its me this morning talking about how and perhaps why Philly is changing. I also get into the NYC transit strike and how the media covers it, as well as a little on the new Bolivian presidente.
AudioCommunique #90(mp3)
29min+, 80kbps, 17Mb+
Im in a startbucks in Adam’s Morgan and I’m due at a party, no show notes, listen to it and maybe I’ll fix it later.
Growing up in New Jersey, you always hear about Atlantic City. Your town has buses that old people pile into and drive down to that mythical city where you can gamble your troubles away. Then, as you reach that legal age, you’ll hear friends talking about driving down to “AC” for the night, to roll the dice or play some blackjack, and come back north when the sun is rising. Like everybody else in New Jersey, I was used to hearing about the city every now and then, but somehow, I never went there.
So last night, as my family was hiding out for the holidays down in South Jersey, after eating fake-xmas-dinner one week early, it seemed like there was nothing left to do. Then my father asks — have you ever seen Altantic City at night? I admited I hadn’t. Minutes later, my father, my brother, and I piled into the car and drove to that mecca of shiney casinos, aging hotels, and utter poverty in its shadow.
From the outside, it is a modest sized collection of tall buildings with fun light patterns. Vegas lovers will say its nothing compared to their holy land, but the truth is, both offer the same horrendous features, in my eyes: gambling, extreme poverty, desperation, and addiction.
As we walked through the different casinos my brother pointed out the different games, the minimum bets, the profiles of the players.. it was all overwhelming. The place was in a frenzy, like a Portuguese flea-market on a saturday morning. Among the things I noticed were the people, all seemingly strange looking or suffering from some ailment. Maybe it was just sadness. maybe it was the unemployed blues. maybe it was their shitty walmart jobs… whatever the cause there wasn’t much smiling or laughing, just concentration mixed with frustration.
In typical bicyclemark style, I kept looking at the rows and rows of machines thinking — what a waste of money. You know how many hospitals could have been built instead. You know how many trips to different parts of the world these people could go on. and why oh why is such a rich industry surrounded by poverty all around it, outside those golden doors?
This morning some people asked what I thought of Altantic city with this expectant smile. If it wouldnt have been impolite I would have told him the truth — Im afraid of AC and the culture that finds this passtime appealling.
Im somewhere in South Jersey hell. Where the only wi-fi I could find was in the parking lot of this helliday inn. On the drive down here, with my parents, my mother started talking about the details of the presidents’s beloved No Child Left Behind initiative, and whats happenning to schools because of it.
AudioCommunique #89(mp3)
32min+, 80kbps, 18Mb+
Discussed:
Im sitting in a car in the parking lot, I can’t be bothered to write the highlights.
Music:
Bright Eyes – something from Digital Ash Digital Burn
Phil Ochs – Outside…
Joanna Newsome – Bridges and Balloons Dedicated to my roomate Amy
Next show Ill talk about the Vlog Calender and wouldnt you know it, IM IN IT!
Tomorrow: Philly!
I haven’t been talking about the meetings, the observations, and the thoughts, Ive been having since being back in New Jersey. Mostly because days melt into days and like some kind of battery-recharging, I don’t tend to do much with my time here, besides read blogs, play with the A-Ren, and take care of xmas shopping.
However last night was one of those great meetups, the kind that I look forward to long before making the trip out here. As you may have read elsewhere, I had dinner in the East Village with Ms. Thingk and Jamie of the Known Universe. I’ve been saying those two names alot lately, perhaps because they are great friends with whom I’ve always felt at ease around, or maybe because they both live in Brooklyn and can easily meet up with me at say, the Starbucks at Cooper Square.
And just as I had anticipated, it was pure joy to be around them again. Ms Thingk who I had met in the fishtank at the U of Amsterdam, with whom I had so often explored Amsterdam with and blogged about our adventures. After her wonderful adventures in DC, it is fun and almost fitting to watch her progress as a New Yorker. Jamie who I somehow met through bloggging and blog comments, who later came to Amsterdam and I remember sitting with him in my living room (one of my old living rooms) drinking Scotch and talking about his friend who was travelling to India. He handed me a copy of his book last night, and I haven’t been able to put it down since.
The three of us ate our Moroccan dinner and then proceeded to start taking photos of each other – obviously for our blogs. I recorded some audio but have decided some things are not meant to be shared. That and I messed up the volume level pretty bad. No matter – it was good to be back in the neighborhood that used to greet me every morning, and it was even greater to see good friends with whom I share so much in common.
I react to Tookie’s Death, play his final interview and other observations from outside San Quentin. Also New Jersey’s number one newspaper is in my crosshair.
AudioCommunique #88(mp3)
28min+, 80kbps, 16Mb+
Discussed:
Tookie’s final interview on WakeUpCall
The execution and an actor-turned-governor’s decision to kill
Reviewing the useless content of NJ’s most important newspaper
Had Dinner with MsThingk and Jamie (read his account of the meal)
Jamie’s book Envy the Rain, will be discussed once Ive read it
The Listener/reader meetup, Thursday starting at 4pm, St. Mark’s Ale House on St. Mark’s place
Music:
The Stars – Celebration Guns
Rush – Closer to the Heart (yes Rush!)
Coralie Clement – ça valait la peine
Vinicius Cantuaria – Pena de mim
Death Cab for Cutie – Soul Meets Body
Simon and Garfunkle – America
Stare at this photo. Picture it… think about it… the lethal injection.. the solution so many Americans (and lots of people in other countries too!) see to the issue of crime. Stare at it – it is done in your name. In our name. Doesn’t matter what your nationality, you’re human, and these are follow humans who carry out this practice.
Did you stare at it? I have. I keep looking at it. The last phonecall they make will be to rich Austrian-American who a few years ago decided he should be governor and make such decisions about whether people should live or die. Apparently he can be trusted to make the right decisions. He spent a few days reading the case, and he’s now qualified to decide if the case of a prisoner on death row was fair or not. Even though everywhere there is evidence that the cases are anything but fair and properly carried out. Case after case have appeared where lawyers and judges and trials were botched and flawed, and yet they keep killing people anyway, believing they’ve carried out justice.
In a few hours.. this room will once again be occupied. Humans will strap another human to the chair. They will insert poison into that humans body and end his life. They do this because we have accepted this practice, we allow it to go on. We go out for coffee tonight and laugh at television programs, while a man is injected with poison, and people watch from behind the glass. The whole world watches this, and they think – “I don’t understand that country.” Of course, we don’t understand this country either. Yet another murder is being carried out in my name, and I hate it and I will carry the blood of Tookie Williams on my hands forever.