Thoughts on the changing of the season

I’m sitting on the couch at 4:00 in the morning because I can’t sleep. I’m used to it, so it’s no big deal. Since I have some free time, and the last rerun of The Soup just ended, now is as good a time for a post as any. Classes begin this week for your resident professional student, and I’m reminded of how much I have grown to truly love Fall (and it is Fall, don’t call it Autumn that’s just pretentious). It’s really a great time of year; the return of football coupled with the baseball playoffs makes it a sports fan’s paradise. Apple orchards, wearing a hooded sweat shirt with no jacket, haunted houses, and burning leaves are just a few of the things that make September and October my two favorite months on the calendar. This hasn’t always been the case, when I was younger I mourned the end of summer like the passing of an old friend. There would be no more days of sandlot baseball from breakfast until dark. Soon I would be sentenced to the kiddie version of a forced labor camp, public school. I honestly hated every minute of it, from the teachers who were forced to act more like prison guards, to the administrators who were so terrified of lawsuits that they could be reclassified as an inert gas. That’s not even mentioning my wonderful classmates who behaved as if Boyz in the Hood was an instructional video.

Luckily, I eventually transferred to a private school, but that still didn’t alter the feeling of dread that would rush through me as the calendar turned from August to September. Once school started, I would set about putting three times the effort into avoiding class as I did into trying to learn the material. Looking back on this, and considering the mountain of student loans I’ve taken out (enough that you might as well stamp Property of Sallie Mae on my butt) I can’t help but think it’s all a bit ironic (or maybe it isn’t ironic, I’ve misplaced my Alanis Morrisette’s Guide to Irony).

So as I watched Michigan stomp the snot out of Connecticut this Saturday, eating hickory-smoked roast, with a smile on my face, my thoughts trailed off. I wondered if the fondness for education that I had developed over the years was related to my growing appreciation for the season. After a bit of quick analysis I have to conclude that it is. The things I that like about Fall are things I’ve always liked: the sports, the food, the weather. Unfortunately, negativity was preventing me from fully making the connections that were right there in front of my face. I suppose I had what some might call a moment of grace, a realization of how blessed I was to be doing what it is I enjoy. I know that most students are putting in their time, working just to get the piece of paper that signals to potential employers: “Yes, I am hire-able.” I know that I will eventually have to leave school, and engage in that most adult of activities, career building. After this weekend though, I think it’s essential to remember the importance of enjoying what you do for its own sake and how that can give the rest of your life coherence.

Michigan Preview

There has been a lot of ink spilled this off-season, little of it positive. While the prognosticators may disagree on the number of wins that this Wolverines squad will have to come up with to save Coach Rodriguez's job, the consensus is that a repeat of last year's struggles will be unacceptable. Handicapping this squads chances is an opportunity to look incredibly foolish sometime in late November, and is a good illustration of why Las Vegas will always make money from the betting public. Anyone who says that they are confident in their predictions for this season is trying to sell you something. This team has a combination of talent and inexperience that could result in anything from a 4-win disaster, to a 9-victory campaign. Which is the same as saying: "They could be god-awful or they could be pretty good." That all being said, I'll point out some things to watch for this season.

The offense will put up points. Another off-season to work on the spread offense should help the Wolverines to light up score boards. Expect Sophomore Denard Robinson to get the majority of snaps from center. His athleticism has caused visions of Pat White to dance in the heads of optimistic analysts. There's no question that Robinson has speed to burn, and plenty of shake and bake; the key to his success will be effectiveness in the passing game. Accurate early down passing will prevent the safeties from cheating up to play the run, and will help the running game gain yards in chunks. Last season's starter Tate Forcier will likely see some snaps, but could see extended time if Robinson struggles throwing the ball. If super-frosh Devin Gardner sees the field, you know something has gone horribly awry. The backs and receivers are talented, with Michael Shaw and Roy Roundtree being counted on to lead their respective groups.

The defensive side of the ball is what will make or break Michigan's season. Fast but undersized, they won't pitch shut outs, but need to find a way to get off the field on third down. Last season's struggles in the time-of-possession battle were a key contributor to the Wolverine's collapse down the stretch. The defensive front is going to be forced to get pressure to protect a Michigan secondary hampered by injuries and inexperience. J. T. Floyd leads a defensive backfield that still gets carded at R-rated movies. Freshman Cullen Christian will probably be counted on to step up opposite Floyd. While this unit should improve as the season progresses, it will probably struggle with sophisticated pass attacks (thankfully they play in the Big10).


Prediction:

I expect this team to be exciting, and incredibly frustrating to watch. Points will be scored in bunches, but to win, the Wolverines will have to get defensive stops eventually. Expect some national columnist to dub them the "cardiac kids" by week 3, just remember you read it here first. As for their final record, I'm torn. My heart says this is an eight-win bowl team, my head says this is a young team that will finish 6-6. So I'll split the difference and predict a 7 win season, with a over Sparty, but a loss in Columbus.

The Perpetual Party Pendulum or Why I Wake Up Depressed in the Morning:

I wonder if people remember 2008? There was a total solar eclipse, we were introduced to Katy Perry, and Michael Phelps made Olympic history and ate massive quantities of food. 2008 was also the year that we supposedly figured out that conservatism, compassionate or otherwise, had failed. After the eight years of continuous disaster that was the Bush Administration, America voted for change.

The election of Barack Obama was supposed to signal a clean break from the policies of the previous regime, and to the more optimistic among us, a repudiation of a generation of American politics ushered in by the election of Ronald Reagan. Two short years later the Republicans are poised to take back Congress, sporting the largest polling leads the party has ever received. So what happened? To put it simply, the American political process happened. The structures of our institutions operate in a way to provide several veto points; the result is that the majority of reform measures are kneecapped and gutted before they ever see the light of day. Given the accomplishments of the Democratically-controlled Congress, financial and health insurance reform for example, it may seem as if the party had cracked the Progressive legislation code. Recent polling regarding the Democrats’ chances in this November’s midterm elections suggest otherwise. The reality is that this situation was entirely predictable, and probably inevitable.

Health-care is a fine example of this dynamic in action. The Senate filibuster rules coupled with outright Republican obstructionism, required as a practical matter, that the Democratic party march in lockstep and vote as a bloc. This allowed lobbyists and pressure groups time to target a handful of Senators in an effort to thwart the entire process—then after failing at that, to water it down. At the same time the corporate media swung into high gear, criticizing the Democrats for producing a partisan bill, when there was quite literally no bill that would have garnered Republican support. This isn’t a case of off-the-cuff analysis; it’s an assertion bolstered by the fact that the final bill signed into law with no Republican support was basically the Conservative think-tank’s response (read: The Heritage Foundation’s response) to the reform efforts proposed during the Clinton Administration. Therein lays the rub: if the only ideas Democrats are capable of turning into legislation are Republican-inspired, it’s hard to fault voters who question exactly why we need a Democratic party.

You might be saying to yourself, “Won’t the Republicans pay a political price for subverting efforts to benefit its constituents?” The truth is that they will, eventually; but not before they’ve stopped the momentum of the progressive movement, increased disillusionment in government, and ensured the continued suffering of countless American citizens. Unfortunately, from the Republican viewpoint, this isn’t a bug, it’s a feature. Remember this is the party of Reagan, who said, “Government is the problem.” This is the party of Newt Gingrich, who along with his congressional cohorts shut down the Federal government in the ‘90's. Besides those people suffering from unemployment, home foreclosure, ill health, or any number of other serious issues that Republicans don’t care about unless it provides the opportunity to demonize someone, don’t contribute to election campaigns.

Eventually the wheels will fall off. The GOP will heed the demands of its culturally conservative base and overreach. Or, the policies of endless tax cuts for the wealthy, and economic deregulation, will once again set the economy ablaze, at which point the voters of America will demand change, and the process begins anew.

Hello again

Hello again. I know that I re-launched this endeavor by promising to be more consistent with my posts, but I’m just now starting to recover from a pretty nasty bug. So, fortified with Gatorade, fresh fruit and peanut butter crackers let us forge ahead. I stumbled across a piece on WSJ.com by James Taranto entitled Oikophobia. I’m always interested in the lines of attack that media establishment types are directing at Progressives, so of course you know I’m going to subject myself to this disingenuous right-wing blather. He begins by quoting neo-conservative Sith Lord Charles Krauthammer’s response to recent left-right engagements over immigration, gay marriage and Cordoba House. “Now we know why the country has become “ungovernable,” last year’s excuse for the Democrats’ failure of governance: Who can possibly govern a nation of racist, nativist, Islamophobes?”

Taranto concludes that what motivates the “cognitive elite,” is “contempt” and “snobbery” for and toward the poor rubes they are destined to lead. He references a term, Oikophobia, as a way of providing a clinical diagnosis for some malignant psychosis infecting the liberal over-class. The term coined by British Philosopher Roger Scruton is outlined as the fear of the familiar, and can be thought of as basically the inverse of xenophobia. With this nifty rhetorical sleight of hand, Taranto has defined the entirety of the conservative world view as inherently American, and views to the contrary as not only alien, but clinically diagnosable. He points to the recent rise in Republican support as evidence of a backlash against a kind of cultural bigotry, rather than the entirely predictable response to a sharp economic downturn. He decries attempts to point out the correlation between the poor performance of the economy, and the rise in populist fervor as “Marxism Lite.” Color me shocked that the business friendly Wall Street Journal thinks that discussions of politics in terms of material deprivation during an economic downturn are illegitimate.

So while you’re out there looking for a job, trying to pay for college, or simply working to make the rent payment this month remember this one thing; conversations about economic inequality are a Marxist plot to destroy America and turn you Muslim, and the only legitimate political cause to champion is the protection of those, whose consistent defense of this country against so-called minority groups (immigrants, gays, African Americans, women, the poor) leads to their defamation as intolerant bigots. If you believe that, we are in bigger trouble than I thought.

Jersey Shore

I admit it, I watch MTV’s Jersey Shore. I’d like to pretend that I was watching PBS, or the game, but the truth is, at ten o’clock Thursday evening I’m glued to the TV. It is the only thing that I watch on that wretched network. MTV has been completely unwatchable since at least Singled Out (remember folks Jenny McCarthy and Carmen Electra used to be attractive before they were punch lines), and they haven’t played good music since Yo! MTV Raps and Headbangers Ball went off the air. The reason that I watch, is because it is simply the trashiest show on television. True, the kids from the Hills are more worthless, and the contestants on the Bachelor and Bachelorette are more pathetic, but I defy you to find a television program that captures the American Id as completely as this Real World knockoff does.

The fact that it is unoriginal is just further testament to its place in our completely recycled culture. The show boiled down to its essence is this; a group of 20 somethings, the guys so pumped like they look like they might float away, and the girls dressed like they are getting ready to dance with a pole, eat, drink, fight, dance, and mate. That’s it, that’s the whole show. Does anything capture the American obsession with gluttony, violence, warped body image, and voyeuristic sexuality so perfectly? I honestly think it perfectly encapsulates a moment in time; a collection of entitled “beautiful people”, earning outsized paychecks, living a corporate funded lifestyle, marauding across the landscape in search of immediate gratification.

This is what we’ve celebrated for a generation, correct? Recently one of the conceits built into a lot of reality programming was a glimpse behind the curtain of the upper crust. Not here though. The cast has worked in retail, selling gelato and t-shirts. Still yet here they are night after night club hopping, and running up a bar tab that would make David Hasselhoff blush. Isn’t that what we’ve been promoting, selling the idea that we were all going to live large, even if we were pinching pennies at the end of the month, and hoping for overtime that never came? I’d say those times are over for a lot of people. I’d say a lot of people out there are worried about next month, or next week, and trying to figure out where to put the twelve-man hot tub just sounds silly. So I say enjoy Jersey Shore, it captures a time that is hopefully already past us.

Recipe book

The weather lately has been rather Fall-like. In keeping with that mood, I thought I’d share a recipe that tastes like fall, my mashed sweet potatoes and butternut squash.

Ingredients:

3 sweet potatoes peeled and cubed
1 medium sized butter nut squash peeled and cubed
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
½ tablespoon of nutmeg
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup maple syrup

Directions:
Place cubed sweet potatoes and squash in a pot filled with water. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to med-high. Cook for about 20 minutes. Drain water and let rest for one minute. Mash potatoes and squash while mixing in cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar and maple syrup. Blend until smooth. You can add a few tablespoons of butter if you’re not counting calories.

I think it’s a pretty good secondary side dish if you have a sweet tooth. I think it goes particularly well with fried or barbeque chicken. After you’re done with the peeling, the rest of the dish is pretty much no fuss. Give it a try and tell me what you think.

Cordoba House

It’s late August, and in accordance with the carefully balanced cycle of the seasons we are treated to back to school shopping, meaningless NFL preseason games , and the annual manufactured media controversy meant to fill the news vacuum resulting from Congress’ August recess. This year’s ragefest is particularly contrived and insidious. I’m of course referring to the debate over the proposed construction of the Cordoba House Islamic Center in Lower Manhattan. The Cliffs Notes version of this dispute plays out as a contest between opportunistic right-wingers looking to gin up support of a increasingly nativist base of party voters, and a disjointed collection of interests-supporting religious tolerance and freedom. The approach of the radical right is as obvious as it is grotesque. Their first order of business has been in the area of labeling. By referring to the proposed Cordoba House project as the “ground-zero-mosque,” they seek to tap into negative feelings toward the Islamic community whose genesis goes back much earlier than that September morning. It’s a rhetorical sleight of hand, designed to create a guilt-by-association dynamic, and sentence the Islamic community to an ongoing sort of collective punishment. The deceit doesn’t stop there; the proposed center is not in fact on the site of the World Trade Center, but located two blocks away in the former location of a Burlington Coat Factory. This line of rebuttal, while necessary to correct the factual record, simply demonstrates how far our collective discourse has degenerated. In this context what we are essentially debating is the size of an Islamic-free zone. In a country that holds religious freedom to be among its bedrock principals, this development does not bode well for our chances to move toward mutual understanding and fulfilling our promise of a “more perfect union.”