Saturday, February 21, 2004

Hoggard wonders how the N&R can run an op-ed piece on Al Sharpton getting the Sit-In Movement's Civil Rights award, which piece recapitulates the argument and many of the specifics included in Jerry Bledsoe's Rhino Times tirade that ran eight days before the N&R column -- without once citing Bledsoe's work. It's not like Sharpton's history is a mystery -- that's the point, really, of the arguments against giving him a Civil Rights award -- but Bledsoe rang the bell last Thursday, in a front-page article in a widely-read alt-weekly -- in which he called out the N&R for ignoring the situation. Hoggard has a point. Bledsoe has expressed in print his disdain for N&R editor John Robinson and publisher Van King,...That may complicate things in terms of the paper's willingness to cite his work. Or maybe they just don't read the Rhino, which would be damning in its own way. For those of us who grew up on Bledsoe's columns in the old Daily News -- not to mention those of us with friends and respected colleagues at the N&R who have been savaged by Bledsoe -- it's a sad situation, in part because we don't get to read him in the daily paper. But still.  My column tomorrow mentions the Sharpton/Sit-In situation in passing, as part of a larger discussion, and I cite Bledsoe -- it never occured to me not to. UPDATE: A reader questions my use of the word "tirade" to describe Bledsoe's column, wondering if that is not a negative characterization. Certainly not meant to be -- my dictionary defines "tirade" as "A long angry or violent speech, usually of a censorious or denunciatory nature." Maybe I should have said "jeremiad," or just "article"? This post has been edited for clarity. 5:39:09 PM    comment []

Last night Temple Emanuel featured its annual reaffirmation of vows during Friday night services. The idea is for couples who will celebrate a round-number anniversary at some point this year to get up and say they would do it all again. Since Lisa and I will hit 15 years in June, we decided to re-up. There were more than 30 couples on the program (Rabbi Guttman joked that he got the idea after hearing about Reverend Moon performing a mass marriage), including Stanley and Dorothy Frank, who are at the 65-year mark. Fred sermonized on gay marriage, saying that state-sanctioned "marriage" is just a civil union anyway in Jewish eyes -- no minyan, no marriage -- so everyone should just relax. My favorite moment: I turned to the couple next to us and noted that they, too, were celebrating 15 years of marriage. Said the bride, "We like to call it the happiest twelve years of our lives." 10:42:02 AM    comment []

Allman Brothers: "Early morning sunshine tells me all I need to know." Luna and I went for a long ramble this morning. Winter will try to reassert itself during the next several weeks -- we'll get that March snow we always get, the one the weatherdorks always call a surpise -- but the jig is up. Spring is on the way. 10:31:13 AM    comment []