SOD: "Crooked Smile", J. Cole

today's song of the day, J.Cole's "Crooked Smile", has been getting lots of radio play lately, which is great for a radio junkie like me. but there are definitely days when i'm sick of hearing the commercial male rapper voice- so tired of listening to guys brag about money + b*****s. "crooked smile" is the oasis in the mainstream rap desert (ok, he does mention b******s. sigh.): j.cole recognizes how illusions of perfection in the media can make us feel small + inferior, and also calls out our nation's imperfections while he's at it.

On my way, on my way, on my way down
On my way, on my way, on my way down
You're the one that was tryna keep me way down
But like the sun, know you know I found my way back 'roundThey tell me I should fix my grill cause I got money now
I ain't gon' sit around and front like I ain't thought about it
A perfect smile is more appealing but it's funny how
My shit is crooked look at how far I done got without it

I keep my twisted grill, just to show the kids it's real
We ain't picture perfect but we worth the picture still
I got smart, I got rich, and I got bitches still
And they all like my eyebrows: thick as hell


Love yourself, girl, or nobody will
Though you're a woman, I don't know how you deal
With all the pressure to look impressive and go out in heels; I feel for you
Killing yourself to find a man that'll kill for you


You wake up, put makeup on, stare in the mirror
But it's clear that you can't face what's wrong; no need to fix
What God already put his paint brush on; your roommate yelling
"Why you gotta take so long?" What it's like to have a crooked smile
This crooked smileWe don't look nothin' like the people on the screen
You know the movie stars, picture perfect beauty queens
But we got dreams and we got the right to chase 'em


Look at the nation, that's a crooked smile braces couldn't even straighten
Seem like half the race is either on probation
Or in jail; wonder why we inhale
Cause we in hell already - I ask if my skin pale
Would I then sell like Eminem or Adele?

POD: Kobayashi Issa

9/10/13, soft pastel, nupastel, charcoal

haven't had a poem of the day in a while. 
today i give you two, both by japanese haiku poet Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828):

the world of dew-
a world of dew it is indeed,
and yet, and yet...

(trans. lewis mackenzie)


all the time i pray to buddha
i keep on
  killing mosquitoes.

(trans. robert hass)

OOJ: Art in the Park

every fall, OFFCenter Community Arts Project organizes a folk art festival in Robinson Park, ABQ, complete with a giant puppet parade (center). here's a collage of some of my faves. i actually ended up taking the wooden bird (upper left) home with me; i named him francisco.

It's Chile Time Again!

i'm not one for traditions, but if i stay in ABQ, the Hatch Chile Festival might become one. this was my second time making the pilgrimage to the green chile capital of the world, and i ended up repeating many of the things i did last year: picked out a new ristra to hang from my door (upper left pic); bought a rusa (squirt lemon-lime soda + chamoy + red chile powder + salt + orange slices) from a woman who remembered me from last year (!!?!); and took home half a sack of roasted green chile peppers (this year we were prepared + brought a cooler). 

bonus: found this spray-painted on a wall outside of a bar in las cruces

i don't do titles

"Untitled", me, 8/25/13

"Untitled": just an excuse?
another word for laziness?
like "i'll call you" or
"we should (totally) get together sometime"
when you just want to end 
a conversation
when did it become so difficult 
to say what we mean
where is the definition, if not in the words? 
when did words become 
clouds in the sky?
i see a bunny rabbit.
i see bart simpson. 

OOJ: "My Superpower"

today's OOJ comes courtesy of a fourth grader from the classroom next to mine.
"My Superpower
"My power is to make people fall in love so people won't be single all the time if someone is single I will make a ball and throw it at them so they can fall in love with someone so they won't be sad all the time and if they are I will cheer them up so they won't be sad all the time and they will be happy with somebody so they won't be sad all the time so that is my superpower to make people fall in love so they won't be sad all their life and I will make them happy for life and not to live with their pets all the time that's how they will be happy all the time so they won't be sad all the time so they will be happy all the time so they won't be sad."
clearly, the kid wants us all to just be happy. incidentally, her teacher happens to be single with three cats.

Stop + Frisk Ruled Unconstitutional

The Boondocks, by Aaron McGruder

on monday, federal judge Shira Scheindlin ruled that New York City's stop + frisk policy as currently practiced violates the constitutional rights of people of color. she ordered several changes for the NYPD, including public community meetings, body cameras to record officer interactions, and a lawyer to further investigate NYPD's constitutional compliance. though i am skeptical that Judge Scheindlin's ruling by itself will actually reduce police harassment of POC, i appreciated that she explicitly called attention to the fact that POC are disproportionately stopped by NYPD: “Blacks are likely targeted for stops based on a lesser degree of objectively founded suspicion than whites.” In other words, your behavior suddenly looks a lot more suspicious if you happen to be a POC, especially a male POC. Charles M. Blow, a NYT columnist, writes: 

     "At what precise pace should a black man walk to avoid suspicion? And can they ever stop walking away, or running away, and simply stand their ground? Can they become righteously indignant without being fatally wounded?"

Judge Scheindlin's comments on racial profiling contrasted sharply with the recent Zimmerman trial, where race as a factor in Trayvon Martin's death seemed to be discussed only outside of the courtroom. To me, this comes across as a blatant refusal to recognize Zimmerman's personal racial bias as "hard" evidence. Ekow N. Yankah wonders how the trial would have concluded had Martin and Zimmerman switched skin colors ("The Truth About Trayvon"), pointing out that "...race and law cannot be cleanly separated". Yes, the role of race in our society can be multilayered, but prison population numbers seem to make it pretty clear that our current criminal justice system does not work in favor of POC (U.S. Census). in light of these figures, it seems ridiculous to attempt any conversation involving crime and/or cops without acknowledging the role of racism in our society.