Sporadic

On NPR this morning I heard something that shouldn’t have startled me but it did. A woman named Bobbi Lucier (sp?) was speaking from the American Legion Convention had this to say about Ann Romney “It’s about time we get a first lady in [the white house] that looks like a first lady and acts like first lady”. I can only, sadly, assume that this is a racist statement. Are we post racist? No. Every time someone calls the President a Muslim or calls for his birth certificate we should call it what it is. Racism.

There’s an interesting article in Atlantic Monthly this month that discusses this point with more eloquence that I could by TA-NEHISI COATES entitled “Fear of  Black President“. It’s a terrific, although dismaying, read.

How many people are looking at the President as Black first and President second? How many on the right are doing more than the expected knee jerk “I hates me some democrats” kind of reactions.

I feel like there’s a vehemence to the dispisal of President Obama that we’ve lacked in other instances. Can you imagine if the President’s record was anything other than exemplary? In a world where the things being dug up are as inane and misplaced as birth certificates, can you imagine if he’d done anything on Par with President Clinton? There would be calls for lynching.

There’s no way we’re going to change minds at this point, people who are that racist don’t even realize how racist they are. “I’m not talking about race. I’m talking about looks!”

The best solution is to win. Please register to vote if you haven’t, please talk to your friends about the state of the world we’d be have in a Romney presidency, please vote.

Recently Nicole and I were up in Portland and had a chance (actually 3 chances  to wander through Powell’s Books. If you haven’t gone- go- it’s a real treat.  So we were browsing around and we notice in the “book award” section that Powell’s is nice enough to give you printed lists of all of the 20th century’s National book award winners, Pulitzer prize winners and greatest books of the 20th century.

They give them to you in book mark size.

So we start looking at the list and I have to admit even with an English degree I was sorely lacking. So we have started reading the lists! I picked up a copy of John Cheever’s “The Wapshot Chronicles” and Nicole is reading Jennifer Egan’s “A visit from the goon squad”.

We’ve only got like 250 books to go!

At the end of the list we’ll have bragging rights and smarter brains! Hooray for us. I’ll keep you posted.

Also. I have been sorely remiss in updating the ol’ bligity blog. So perhaps in my re-commitment to life of letters I will also attempt to write a bit more.

To that end: expect a travel-logue from Portland in the next few days.