Category Archives: Uncategorized

Naked Athena, To Cheer or Jeer?

It was unexpected, and definitely a break from the banal images of nightly fence fires, but what was it?

She was dubbed “Naked Athena,” her identity unknown, but her image was striking. It naturally went viral and then came the confusion, the doubts, the internal failing of an ideology due to one derriere. Is she a heroine or not? Should we adore her or hate her. Continue reading →

When Gnats Becomes Bullies

Like many people of a certain age, when someone says “bully,” I picture the old Charles Atlas ad in the back of comic books, where the muscular clod kicks sand in the face of the 98 pound weakling. What made him a bully was that he behaved that way and there was nothing the 98 pound weakling could do about it.

Today’s bully is the 98 pound weakling with a twitter account.

A critic – even a forceful one – does business in the proper currency of intellectual discourse: presenting evidence, providing reasons, making arguments; a bully questions people’s motives and calls them names.

A critic wants to discuss an issue—to try to persuade you to change your mind or see things in a different light; a bully wants to shut down discussion.

A critic appeals to reason—your mind and conscience; a bully tries to induce fear–resorting to threats and shaming to frighten you into submission. Continue reading →

Seaton: The Crazy Origin of the UFC

Mixed Martial Arts, or MMA, is a uniquely American sport developed in our lifetime. It’s a billion dollar business these days, and the biggest name in the game is the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC. Today’s fight cards, however, are a far cry from the batshit insanity that was the first Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The idea of a used car salesman turned ad executive, the Ultimate Fighting Championship was envisioned as the ultimate test of various fighting styles. Art Davie loved the idea of seeing who would win an actual fight between a boxer and a wrestler, for example.* Everyone he pitched the idea to turned him down. Davie’s idea finally caught on with a guy who had a vested interest in making such a tournament happen. Continue reading →

Reporters In The Middle Of The Storm

Can anyone define the parameters to be characterized as a journalist anymore? Am I a journalist? I have this blog, but is that enough? Are you? You “report” on Facebook or twitter, or even here, so why not? It might have been argued in the past that a reporter was someone who worked as a reporter for legitimate media, but even that doesn’t quite cut it, as a silly blog like SJ has many times more readers than the Podunk Gazette.

The First Amendment protects the press, whatever that may be, and with excellent reason. One of the worst aspects of the protests and riots, whether peaceful or destructive, has been the handling of journalists by law enforcement. Shooting reporters in the face, arresting them despite their “credentials,” official press passes prominently displayed, dispersing them along with the masses and the occasional beating, have happened with regularity. Continue reading →

Mayor Ted Shows Up At Portlandia Bowl

Day 55 of the Games saw a crowd estimated at 2000. And then it was 2001, as Portlandia mayor Ted Wheeler made an appearance to show his solidarity with rioters, who he was hoping they would welcome him with open arms.

Mr. Wheeler, who scrambled to put on goggles while denouncing what he called the “urban warfare” tactic of the federal agents, said he was outraged by the use of tear gas and that it was only making protesters more angry.

“I’m not going to lie — it stings; it’s hard to breathe,” Mr. Wheeler said. “And I can tell you with 100 percent honesty, I saw nothing which provoked this response.”

While the crowd mocked him as “Tear Gas Teddy,” at least on supporter tried to help his discomfort by offering Wheeler some water from a small distance. Continue reading →

The Pod People’s Kids

Human beings are amazingly adaptable, and the pandemic has given parents cause to come up with ways to address the conundrum of education, or lack thereof, for their kids. There is no doubt that keeping public schools closed will have a deleterious impact on the education. Kids are only twelve once, and they don’t get a pandemic Mulligan. Miss that year of education, of socialization, of living, and it’s a big deal. Then again, dying or killing grandpa isn’t good either.

And despite the rosy schemes of teaching kids riding on unicorns, there is no plan that doesn’t either defy Newton’s Third Law or require an acid-trip level belief in fairies. On top of it all, parents are constrained to stay home with their kids unless they’re of the “lock ’em in the closet under the stairs” view. So inventiveness is kicking in, for everyone’s sake. It may be a very pale effort compared to the real deal, but it’s better than nothing.

Meet the Pod Kids. Continue reading →

3 Posts, No Posts

As twitted:

And the comments of late haven’t helped.

Tuesday Talk*: What’s The PDX End Game?

Granted, there are people in the streets for any number of purposes, whether it’s about Black Lives Matter, socialism, anarchy or boredom. After all, it’s Portland, and the young people of Portland were never sticklers for have reasons to protest. Or burn.

But I posed a question on the twitters, and received the usual responses from people who confused whatever floats through their heads with whatever the questionable reality might be.

The first question was mostly rhetorical, but there were some interesting ideas about the methodology of the protests/riots, foremost of which is to inflict sufficient destruction to make the bourgeoisie acquiesce to stop the expense they will ultimately bear. The tactic is extortionate, but nobody said extortion was ineffective. Continue reading →

The Blind Hearing The Blind

It wasn’t too long ago that the orchestral world recognized that it might have a race and gender problem, largely because symphonic orchestras were pretty much all white and all male. It’s not that they weren’t great, but they weren’t diverse. And there was a solution that would not only serve to eradicate bias in the audition process with almost no pain required, but would enhance the quality of music. Blind auditions were born.

Blind auditions, as they became known, proved transformative. The percentage of women in orchestras, which hovered under 6 percent in 1970, grew. Today, women make up a third of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and they are half the New York Philharmonic. Blind auditions changed the face of American orchestras.

Problem solved? So everyone thought at the time. But no more. Continue reading →