Another Extended Farewell

The irony is, I guess, that the more time you have to blog the less you have to blog about.  Lately I've been busy from morning to night hence the absence of updates.  I'm well aware that I've been here in Rwanda for nearly a week, and I have heaps and heaps to tell you about that, but this post is going to wrap up a long overdue update about my departure.

Also a note of warning, this year's Christmas letter is going to be late.  Think New Year's Day…

Despite Sandy putting the kibosh on my farewell from Knoxville, I still arranged to have at least three more going away parties.  (I pretty much only go away for the parties.)  I loaded up all of my possessions and put them in a u-haul storage unit in NE DC.  I hope that Deirdre is not too unhappy about her new living quarters.  On my way out of town I had a farewell at the Big Board in DC.  Do go by there for a burger if you are in town.  It was a super fun time and amazing to see so many people come out for someone who had only been in town a few months.  I had a blast with some folks from the DC disc scene and also a number of normals, friends new and old.  Extra special thanks to Sarah and Frank for dragging out an 8 year old on a school night, Ben Pauker for bringing me crisp 2006 hundred dollar bills in mint condition and the gang from Snack Pack who came from far afield.  I had a super fun time and somehow failed to take a single photo of the event that was marred only by a brief, but insistent, open mic night.

After recovering from that shindig, I got my bags packed and headed out to NYC on the Amtrak.  I had every single thing I'm taking to Rwanda for a year, so as you can imaging navigating inside Penn station with my overstuffed and heavy bags was a real treat.  Jesse and Alyson met me at Penn Station and gave me some keys.  Oh man Brooklyn!  Why did I ever leave?  It was so great to be back in Fort Greene.  Once I got back in the 'Lyn I got to walk Phineas and then I had dinner at Roman's with TG and a few beers at Hot Bird. 

Saturday started with an incredible brunch with Danielle at Dizzy's in the Slope.  Then it was a bit too rainy for a full walk around Prospect Park but I got to see Dave and Ali and take their baby, Ella, to a bar.  She had fun the whole time and never cried or fussed at all.  Then I met Erica for dinner at a place that served us "nachos" on potato chips with mozzarella cheese. It was unlike anything I had ever seen.  Maybe not my best choice for only a few meals left in NYC, but we were in a rush to get to the Park Slope Bier Garden where yet another farewell party was being staged.  Again it was great to see tons of folks.  Special props to Tishler, Erica, and Taliesin who ended the night by pledging a trip to see me in Rwanda and go Gorilla Trekking.  It's in writing now gals. I'm totally holding you to it.  Also high marks for Julie Sussman who stayed late and walked me to the subway.

Sunday was also a fantastic time, including watching an improbable Eagles win at the Dram Shop over Bloody Mary's (see my twitter feed for proof @CourtneyMFK) and getting to go to see the Nets in the new Barclays center. (Thanks Jesse!).  That place is like a space ship, it was incredible inside and tons of gourmet food as well.  The Nets let us down a bit, getting down 32 at one point and losing to the Bucks, but it was still a fun time.

Monday through Wednesday I had orientation for Agahozo Shalom youth village at the the Liquidnet offices in Midtown. The Liquidnet offices were AMAZING and they took such great care of us and brought us food every 5 minutes.  Orientation was truly inspiring.  I had the chance to meet the other members of my cohort who are heading over for a year with me.  We are 5 women and 4 men.  The women are from LA, NYC, Pittsburgh and a recent Middlebury grad from DC (Hello Pranksters!).  The guys are from Nigeria, Israel, Denver and Boca Raton.  It's a fun group and we're all focused on the kids.  

We had the opportunity to meet Anne Heyman, the founder for several hours.  She explained the story of the village from her initial inspiration until now with the village being weeks away from graduating the first class.  It's incredible that it went from an idea to a fully functioning school for 500 kids in the time that it has.  Her vision for development being focused on capacity building and having an exit strategy is compelling.  Her passion for the kids she works to help shone through with every topic she discussed.  We also met the executive director and had the chance to talk to several formal volunteers and get tips and guidance for the year ahead.  During the orientation I had another social style evaluation, and yes Stalin, I am still a Driver.  Oh well.

We went on a learning field trip to look at Images of Apartheid at the International Center for Photography in midtown. That was an exceptional exhibit and a stark reminder about extreme governmental control.  I'll spare you my detailed review of the exhibit in the sake of time, but I will say that if you haven't watched "I Ain't Gonna Play Sun City" in a while, it's a blast from the past and you should: Artists United Against Apartheid - Sun City - YouTube .

Tuesday night was my last night in the good ol' U. S. of A. for about a year and after phone calls to mom Kelly and the Gupton house I attended my third and final farewell party. Thanks to Drew and Cara for hosting on no notice.  It was super fun to eat Pizza, watch Knicks/Nets and play poker.  I even came out ahead by the end (charity perhaps?) and won yet another of those prized 2006 Benjamins.  I had an amazing time and I wouldn't want to go out any other way.

Staying with Jesse and Alyson in the apartment I used to live in in Ft. Greene was a several hundred dollar donation to ASVY who would have put me up in a hotel.  Thanks Guys! In addition to helping the orphans it was great to be back in Ft. Greene and a real treat to hang out with Alyson and Jesse, and (of course) more importantly Phineas!  Phineas is super smart and also acts like a person and watches TV and looks at you with a proud condescension.  In the mornings before heading to orientation I would gather my belongings on the edge of the couch while I was getting ready, like a staging area.  By Wednesday, Phineas had figured out this meant I was going to leave soon and let me know what he thought about that:

Wednesday was an abbreviated orientation day so we could get back to our luggage, do laundry if necessary and any last minute shopping or errands.  Then I hailed a car service to JFK (thanks again to Jesse's help).  At JFK all of us assembled our heavy, overstuffed bags and, wait for it, three bags of doorknobs.

Sidebar: There's an entire post here on the doorknob situation, but I'll sum it up since I'm already so far behind.  Sourcing building materials in Rwanda is very difficult.  (Foreshadowing here for some weird fittings in my 'luxury' hotel in Kigali in a future post.)  Most of the construction materials for the village were actually sourced from China, which fit the budget, but it turns out the quality has really varied, so some items, like doorknobs, have had unexpectedly short lifespans.  This time around a decision was made to purchase higher quality doorknobs, but then they need to be shipped to the village, a process for the landlocked country that is more than 3 times the cost of the already more expensive doorknobs.  Since every cost trades off directly with services for vulnerable kids, these are hard decisions.  ASYV is trying to send the doorknobs over piecemeal when people from the states visit the village, but this means boxes of doorknobs crowding the tiny NYC office, coordination required to get the doorknobs to the traveller and an inconsistent stream of supplies to the maintenance team in the village.  Making do and improvising are a reality.

After waiting in a long check-in line and a longer security line we made it into the terminal just in time for one final farewell beer on American soil together.  The flight to Istanbul was an uneventful 9 hours, filled with movies and meals and a nap.  We were on the ground just long enough in Turkey to take our Malarone get a coffee and wander around the terminal a bit.  The flight to Kigali was another 7 hours with movies, naps, flashcards and some pretty gross Turkish Airlines meals.  The flight landed at 1:00 AM a few minutes earlier than expected and we were all glad to have finally arrived.  After preparing for months to come here, it was a huge relief to finally be here.  I was tired, flight-grimey and glad to be in Rwanda!

Next Post - Landing in Kigali and Beyond.

Days of Birth; Nights of Sportscenter

Well, if you follow me on Twitter then you know I've been watching the NBA playoffs every possible minute, as well as much fruitless scrutinizing of pre and post game interviews and reading of D-league assistant coaches blogs to break down lineup options to try and make sense of it all.  At one point the Spurs were unstoppable and there were no good teams left in the East.  I remember that pretty clearly.  Then LaBron literally sucked the remaining life force out of the aging Celtics and used it to stop the coolest, funnest team in NBA history.  Doodle Jump?  Doodle Jump?!?!  Just ask James Harden's Beard's Cat how sad it all was.  *Sad Meow*  That's how sad.  I'm just hoping that this is the first battle in a long storied Heat/Thunder rivalry where two meteorological forces battle for intergalactic supremacy for years to come.

Suddenly I find myself with a bit more free time, so I'll update ye Olde Blogger account.

Summer is going pretty well.  I got to see sweet baby Kate graduate from 8th grade which was pretty insane.  She does not look like this any more:

 I also got out to Oak Island to the beach house.  Robbie took us out on his boat and I had fun playing in the ocean.


We held another lemonade stand.  Thanks so much for everyone's donations to fight pediatric cancer.  We had another great stand with tons of help from the Guptons, balloons and posters and raised more funds for research.  It's not too late to donate.  You can send a quick text from your cellphone “LEMONADE E83129” to 85944 to make a $10 donation directly to our stand.  Lindy is doing great but kids are diagnosed every day. Here's Emily (Kate and Lindy's cousin) Kate, my Mom, Ayer Jennae and Lindy at the stand:

I'm playing in twice as many ultimate summer leagues and a pretty casual women's club team as well, so I guess I still have not retired from ultimate despite all common sense.

The birthday was super fun, thanks to Sarah who also supplied a top secret surprise guest.  Thanks for dinner.  Mom made me my favorite food and an old fashioned Rum Cake and thanks for all my presents.



Speaking of birthdays, 1) Lindy turned 10.  2) I got to welcome Chip Stout to the great decade of the 30s with Jen and a lot of his old truck stop teammates.  Seems that vast quantities of bourbon are not gatorade for skeeball as I was led to believe by those scoundrels.  3) I was also up in NYC for one minute for a surprise 40th celebration for Emily O'Halloran.  It was great to see her and hear about doing the Ironman.  I guess once I turn 40 I'll start acting like a badass too.  That's how it works, right?  NYC is always amazing and what little time I had in town I spent just walking around enjoying the city.  I stayed in the Millennium Hilton and had this incredible view of the 9-11 memorial which is a lot bigger than it seems on TV: 

 (Sorry if you are in NYC and I didn't tell you I was swinging through, it was a surgical strike.)

I've been working my usual spate in Knoxville.  When in DC, I'm running and biking when I'm not on the way to league.  I had fun at the DC stop on the Tour de Fat.  Was pretty interesting so check and see if it's coming to your town this summer and since they are doing so much for cycling rights and awareness, maybe go ahead and order a Fat Tire or a Ranger next time you are out.

RIP Ray Bradbury who was right about almost everything. Go to a used book store and get a copy of Dandelion Wine as Ray did not want you reading it on a Kindle or a Nook.

Or go ahead and read all Summer in A Day right here online in about 8 minutes (it's 3 1/2 pages long) and deep, hard, stomach punch.

Looking fwd now to Wimbledon, the Olympics (track and field mostly) and the NFL pre-season.

Delinquent Blogger

Hi. Sorry I have been so delinquent. Happy hot summer. May was a blur.

Things have been pretty busy. I have been spending a lot of time in the Charlotte and Atlanta airports. I am so over business travel. Calgon take me away!

In early May, I went to the Kentucky Derby with my Cousins and Aunts & Uncles. It was a lot of fun. I did not foresee the winner, Animal Kingdom, but I did win on a couple of earlier races so I came away ahead for the day.

Last weekend my Mom & I had a lemonade stand for Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation.
It went pretty well and I am glad to be able to give something to a good cause. It's not too late to pledge us if you're interested in supporting pediatric cancer research:
http://www.alexslemonade.org/mypage/72432

I had a great birthday out on the Del-Mar-Va peninsula with Dave. We went to the beach. Except for the mosquitoes, it was a great time. I can confirm that I am still terrible at Putt-Putt.

I have been watching a lot of the NBA playoffs, and I am glad the Heat did not prevail. Someone get a Binky for baby Bron Bron. I doubted Dallas from the Portland series and I was surprised when they won it all. I am not sure what I will do for sports now. Baseball is so baseball and NFL continues to have labor hesitation. Luckily, Wimbledon starts soon.

Friz-wise I am the captain of a summer league team (Go Green!) in Charlottesville and I am trying to get in shape for the Masters National Championship (Ultimate for the Elderly) in Ohio in July. Look out.

I'm looking forward to a beach trip in July to Oak Island, and Neko Case is coming to town, so things are looking up. Have a great summer.

Memorializing the end of May

My new women's team is really taking off. Brooklyn's Women's Team Frisbee had tryouts this weekend and announced a roster of 18. There will be 9 more players added through June. We will be a pretty young team. It should be a lot of fun and also a lot of work I cannot really believe I signed myself up for.

Beacon High School Girls Ultimate is pretty much wrapped up for the year. I survived the trip to Vermont. I drove 14 hours in 3 days in a giant SUV packed with screaming girls. It was pretty much hell. We all slept on the floor together in our host house. There is no predator as vicious as a high school girl. The girls actually did pretty well, finishing 7th in the tourney and 8th in spirit. 7th out of 10 might not sound so great, but they beat their cross town rivals from Stuyvesant for the first time in years. They all seemed to have a tolerably good time, though you'd never know it from their permanent scowls.

I recently finished Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, and of course it was incredible. That's all I can really say. I love the chapters by each character, the changing point of view. I especially love the chapters from Vardaman the 7 year old son. Faulkner had a lot of courage. I could never write something that leaves so much out at the beginning, that requires the reader to work so hard. I would be afraid of readers giving up or missing my point. (Of course it goes without saying that I could never write anything like Faulkner could write, but I'm specifically pointing to this one aspect of his writing, which is this deliberate and bold choice to slowly dribble the details through a murky filter, heightening the suspense.) Five Stars.


Other news:
Well, I gave blood again. My hemoglobin is still low, but I found a guy with a broken meter!
I am pretty amped about the NBA finals: Celtics/Lakers. Go Rondo!
I am looking forward to the world cup as well. Should be alright.
Went out to the Frying Pan for Tim Barbie Dahl's birthday, which was a great time.

Let's Hear it for the Girls!

We're #7! We're #7!

On April 24 & 25 I traveled to Springfield, PA with the Beacon High School Girls Ultimate team to compete in the O'Hara Invite Girls Ultimate Tournament. You'll recall I'm coaching the team this season with O-Town.

I was very nervous. Being responsible for 16 high school girls for an entire weekend petrifies me. My goals were straight forward: I wanted to return 100% of the girls to their parents by EOD Sunday with none suffering from exposure, dehydration, sunstroke, starvation or major injury. I hoped to avoid felonies and unintended pregnancies for all 16, and was really aiming to have none of them run off to Atlantic City or join the circus.

By these metrics the weekend was a rousing success. At this very moment I believe the are all alive and in relative good health. VICTORY.

By some other standards, the results for the weekend were a bit more mixed. We lost all 4 games on Saturday, at a combined margin of 8-49. We were destroyed. Our girls are just not in the kind of shape the other teams are in and we cannot match the skill level in throwing and catching. This game of ultimate is pretty much no fun at all if you cannot catch.

It was a hard day for the team. Most of them got up around 4 am to get their rides to Philly. They lost 4 games in a row badly. They were in no mood to listen to my tips on swinging the disc off the line, or preventing ACL injuries. When hotel rooms were assigned there were tears, actual tears. You would have thought I was arranging marriages, not assigning 4 teammates rooms for one night in a Howard Johnson.

That evening I had this telling exchange with one of the girls on the team:

Team Member: Boys are so weird.
Me (nodding, grateful to have identified any common ground): They sure are. It gets a little better after college, but not much.
Team Member: Like, take for instance our Boy's ultimate team. They get so mad when the other team scores or they make a mistake.
Me (still nodding, quizzically now): mmm-hmmm.
Team Member: What are they so mad about? Don't they know it's just a game? It doesn't matter.

As you know, I'm not often silenced, but this had me speechless. I nodded dumbly and felt around the table for another breadstick.

Sunday was better. We played two games in the losers bracket and won them both. They were the first wins of the season, and the first back to back wins for the club. We earned a 7th place in the tournament (out of 10) which beat seed and made the long congested Sunday drive back to the city more tolerable for everyone.

Yesterday, the team scrimmaged downtown rivals, Stuyvesant HS in Prospect Park. The team was down 7-1 at half and got the game back to a much more respectable 8-5 final, so we'll count that as progress.

I'm driving them to St. Johnsbury Vermont in a couple of weeks. I just may find religion.


In other news:

Book Reviews:
I have been reading, but a little slack about telling you what I was reading.

A while back, I read the recently released short story collection Look at the Birdie from my beloved Vonnegut. The book's full title is actually, "Look at the Birdie: Unpublished Short Fiction" which pretty much makes no sense at all and I'm sure Kurt would have edited, but I know what they meant. I was a little leery. I love Vonnegut like no other author, but he's published more posthumously than Tupac, and I was concerned that the stuff getting churned out after his death was stuff that he wouldn't have published while he was alive for a reason. Maybe there was some reason, but it isn't that this is poor quality work. It's vintage Vonnegut. I was delighted to find a little bit more of something that I thought had been all used up forever. My favorite short story in the collection is Ed Luby's Key Club, which really should be a movie, likely starring Bruce Willis.

I finally read Letham's Motherless Brooklyn, which I guess Ed Norton is turning into a movie now. I've loved Letham for years. Girl in Landscape and Gun, with Occasional Music were favorites of mine in back in college. I loved Fortress of Solitude. For some reason I just skipped Motherless Brooklyn. Maybe it was that it seemed MB was when Letham really blew up and I wasn't ready to share just yet. At any rate, it's great. Not as good as Fortress, but compelling and quick paced and worth your time as a read. With a protagonist with Tourette's I found myself observing everyone for tics. Maybe we're all on the Tourette's spectrum somewhere and it's amazing how common these little involuntary urges appear in folks when you watch for them. There are all kinds of clicking, tapping and jerking on the plane when it's time to touch down.

Speaking of the plane, for the second time, some jerk sitting in the seat next to me has woken me up, to tell me I was nodding off. "No Kidding, sir! Thanks for the update. Keep me posted as this story develops." This is baffling. We're adults traveling. Having been randomly assigned the seat next to me does not make you my buddy for the field trip. This guy, a fat guy in his 50s or early 60s, had the nerve to wake me up, tell me I was nodding off and then offer that, if I wanted to, I could lean on his shoulder. Grrrr!!! My birthday is coming up, so whoever is getting me that large engraved, "Leave me alone!" sign to wear around my neck, maybe we could accelerate that.

I hate cops. I always have. They are just a violent gang that is funded by my taxes. Other violent gangs at least fund themselves. Here's a VERY DISTURBING video I can't recommend where the cop gang shoots some dogs on a drug raid over possession of marijuana. The shoot a corgi. A corgi!

Links: Thanks to Kalb for this democratic way to determine the most awesomest thing ever.

Fitness-wise, I did another SNERTZ about a week ago and my times continue to improve, though it is leveling off a little. This time I was about two minutes faster overall than the last time. I finished the whole workout in 49:35 (first set = 12:10, second set = 25:40, third set = 37:20). I'm planning another one on Sunday with Erica, so I'll let you know how that goes.

I ran a 10 hard minutes today in the park. That went pretty well.

I've been watching a lot of the NBA playoffs. I'm pretty much in anyone but the Lakers mode. Right now I feel like the Magic are my best hope.

Best to my cousin Madison who is recovering from a major surgery. Hang in there, my dear.

30 for 30: No Crossover – The Trial of Allen Iverson

Special to you for my bicentennial post, and just in time for NBA playoff kickoff weekend:

I love Allen Iverson. A search on this blog for Allen turns up a mere 5 mentions but he is always on my mind.

You know this. If you’re reading this blog, you know how I feel about Allen Iverson. It is probably one of the first things I ever told you. Chances are even if you found this blog from a link of Chip’s blog, or Mara’s and you barely know me, you know me as that girl who tells stories about Allen Iverson.

Allen & I were freshman together at Georgetown, and I loved watching him play my first two years there. I remember so clearly watching him down at McDonough Hall during ‘Midnight Madness’ which was at 7:00 PM the day after NCAA basketball practice was opened, and quite orderly. The scrimmage against the Armenian national team (or whoever was in town) was my first glimpse of this controversial young man, alleged to have taken the SAT 3 times and only nearly achieved the minimum, (with assistance?) on the final try. Our college newspaper reported he was just out of serving federal prison time for his participation inciting a race riot. The sports pages said that perhaps he would be the best ever. All of that could be true, but it is the last point of which I am most certain. I became sure of that the first time I saw him move up and down the court and I have never wavered in that conviction. Inch for inch, this is certainly true, and he has the most heart.

It’s an understatement to say I followed his career intently at GU. I sent flowers for home games. The term stalker could probably be fairly applied. I loved him like a 1956 teenager loved Elvis, but my Elvis was almost near enough to touch. I watched him on campus and in the dining hall as closely as I watched him on the court. The Hoyas never got beyond the Elite 8 with Allen, but he never really had much help. When he was drafted first over all by the Sixers, already my favorite NBA team, my lifelong dedication was sealed. I followed his NBA career ravenously.

He is the fastest that I ever saw; the best at slicing and driving the lane, the most exciting. He was so tiny among those giants and he was the toughest player in the NBA, driving the lane again and again, drawing hard fouls and getting up to swish the free throws.

I still love him, and though I am loathe to admit it, the additional highlights are likely to be few and far between. He is becoming a creature of the past (those with less attachment to him and more access to reality would say this has already occurred). It is with genuine sadness that I am coming to grips with likely never seeing him play again. (Though I still believe he should go live in Greece and play for the A1 Ethniki and be the best player in the league and highlight reel every night all night. Why not? Go live on an island and get paid Allen!)

So you can imagine my excitement when I learned that ESPN was doing a 30 for 30 on Allen.

Here for you, blogged in real time is my reaction to the program:

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Baby Allen. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Oh my. I wonder if I will have anything more to say. He was a beautiful child. And amazing. This might not turn out to be any more substantive than a 6^th grader blogging about the Jonas Brothers.

I’d seen much of this high school footage before, but it is delicious to see again. His football plays, returning kicks for touchdowns, are impressive. He is so much faster than everyone else. The aired-out, windmill dunks from his Bethel games are better than anything from this years NBA all star dunk contest. The alley-oops, too. These are pro-level highlights. Dun-nun-nunt, Dun-nun-nunt!

The film focuses on Hampton, VA as a racially divided community. The film posits that the Allen Iverson trial is simply a lens that depicts the racial tension of the community. Race is something I’ve never felt comfortable commenting on. As privileged and white, I’m probably wrong on race and willing to let those with firsthand experience comment on the subject. But this is a 90 minute film, and it’s about race. Shift nervously on the couch.

I wonder why he wears #10 on his Bethel HS football footage. Is #3 not a QB number? Maybe someone already had that on the football team.

The commentary on his childhood is stuff I had heard before, but really makes me laugh at the college me. What was I really going to say to this kid if he ever did talk to me? I didn’t understand how different someone could be. He lived in a 2 room house with 14 people. He missed school to take care of his baby sister when his mother didn’t come home for days at a time. Everyone had to wear boots in his house because the floor was covered in raw sewage that backed up from the faulty plumbing. Seriously, what were he and I going to talk about? I bet Allen was real worked up about who was running for GUSA. I bet he cared a lot that my college humor newspaper had satirized the student health and financial aid departments. (“…And if you do have these calculators, as you say, why is that you do not use them?)

His mother was 15 when she had him. 15. I’m trying to imagine the type of mother I might have been 19 years ago. I know that sack of flower I carried around for home-ec didn’t survive the 6 week term. Mike Brick stuck a fork in it when I left it in the debate room unsupervised.

The bowling alley brawl: this film tries to bring all the angles and conspiracy theories to light. What do I think now, having seen this? That Allen’s status as an elite athlete hindered him and then helped him at every turn, doubling back on itself like a shoelace. The fight seems like no big deal really. A standard high school squabble. Chairs are thrown. The biggest injuries are 6 stitches, a concussion and a broken arm. Stuff like that happened at my high school all the time, in the halls. This is misdemeanor disturbing the peace at max, disorderly conduct, (I don’t know what any of these terms actually mean, but I watched a lot of LA Law growing up.)

Who started it, the blacks or whites? Who knows? Was the N word-used? If it was, does that justify the violence? Who knows? This just seems to me like a not-that-big-a-deal fight in a bowling alley. They all probably should have been given tickets and a 1-month ban from the bowling alley, and no more free shoe rental for life.

I guess a bunch of white people in a predominantly black bowling ally shouldn’t start trouble and then be surprised when trouble goes down.

But Allen was famous, and it seems this was a chance to make someone famous pay. It was a fight, and fights have 2 sides, but there were only blacks charged. The only reason he was singled out was because people knew who he was and could identify him.

The night of his arrest Allen Iverson scored 42 points, and weeks later won a state championship. (Damn!)

Director Steve James spends most of the film interviewing columnist and local activists on either side of the story from the trial. What stands out the most is that the introduction of race forces everything, excuse the phrase, into black and white. There can be no middle ground. For the whites, Allen Iverson was a felon that should serve 15 years for inciting a mob. He swung a chair at a defenseless white woman, and he should be held responsible for this evil act. For blacks, he and his friends also charged were persecuted angels, innocent 100%. It’s probably somewhere in between. Maybe they shouldn’t have been in a fight in a bowling alley, but as the white trial photographer said, they probably should have done a week picking up trash, not been convicted as felons. For most people in either camp, there are only the two extremes and no middle ground.

Pow! There is a black and white close-up still of Baby Allen’s face that fills the entire screen at about the 20-minute mark in this film. If the TV broke right then, and never changed again, that would be a fully valid use of the technology.

Allen was charged with “Maiming by mob”. All that had to be proven was he was present, as a member of the ‘mob’. The charge is abusive. But it was on the books, because it had never been repealed.

Terrible mistakes were made at trial. A judge trial rather than the jury trial was chosen, by Allen’s pro-bono attorney and this was a major disadvantage. One of the judge’s defenders describes Judge Overton as, “not particularly bigoted.” Oh okay, just the typical amount of bigotry for a white Virginia judge. That is the best thing you could say about this judge. I learned working for a law firm at Georgetown that a jury of your peers could be a critical tool in the justice system, especially in matters of race, and Allen was deprived of a jury trial.

To me, the most powerful footage of the film is of the sentencing. Imagine being 17 and hopeful of a NCAA scholarship to a big program, followed by a career in the NBA, and hearing that you were going to serve 15 years in prison and lose it all. At that moment, I would have vomited, and then cried out. My knees would have buckled, I would have wept. I would have torn at my clothes and hair. The toughest player ever to play in the NBA just swallowed hard and stood there, like a little man. I cried watching that.

But as much as his fame and talent got him into this mess (he never would have been identified if everyone didn’t know who he was, never would have been charged if he weren’t worth making an example out of) his fame then came to his aid. Community activists rallied, marched, raised money, recorded rap songs, and generally did everything they could think of to get him out. It’s hard to think this kind of groundswell would have occurred if Bubba-Chuck weren’t shouldering the hopes of the entire community. The biggest town halls in the history of Hampton were convened in Allen’s name.

Now half-way through, at the 46-minute mark, director Steve James is reflecting on the racism (both latent and overt) in his hometown of Hampton when he was growing up, twenty years before the Iverson trial. Maybe this is news to him, but I’m not at all surprised that Virginia was really racist in the 70s. I’m pretty sure it’s really racist now as are most states in the South, and to be fair a lot of places in the North.

Now at the 52-minute mark, James is listing folks that are unwilling to speak to him on the record about the trial. One person who does reluctantly come forward asks what the purpose of digging all this up is again could possibly be? What really could be gained? That seems like a fair question. Sensationally, this is interesting and ESPN will sell some ads. I’m naturally glad for any airtime for AI, but I doubt any additional reflection on the past will lead to apologies or racial healing.

At the 53-minute mark, there it is again. The glorious, angelic, black and white headshot of baby Allen (mentioned above at the 20-minute mark). It’s by far the most visually compelling thing in this documentary and James knows it.

58-min: Tom Brokaw interviews Allen in prison. Hampton takes some PR lumps when the sun shines on the kangaroo court they are running down there.

60-min: The film advances that Allen was done in, or at least not assisted by, not only the white community, but upper class blacks that didn’t want to rock the boat for this lower class, street kid. House help. Uncle Toms.

64-min – Allen Iverson is denied bond. This is unheard of for this type of crime.

71-min – In one way, Allen is lucky: in his timing. The first elected black governor, Douglas Wilder is nearing the end of his term. Community activists (and Bruce Hornsby! Mandolin Rain!) petition Wilder to pardon AI. He does, and later the other convicted young men. Allen is now free.

73-min – Allen is tutored extensively by Sue Lambiotte to get his GED, as he is not allowed to return to Bethel High School. The footage of his mock high school graduation ceremony from the learning center is of a proud and happy young man. He laughs genuinely and smiles broadly.

77-min – Allen is chosen #1 overall in the NBA draft. After dragging Allen Iverson behind a truck, the city of Hampton has the gall to host Allen Iverson Day and a parade. Since they didn’t kill him, they might as well cash in.

83-min – Snap back to the present, Allen weeps openly when thanked for granting a college scholarship. The toughness and the rawness when he speaks makes it all so clear. He’s told himself he didn’t need anyone or anything since he was a little kid, that he could do it all alone, and he pretty much has. Fine, now you’re gonna put me in jail, now you’re gonna hate on me, go ahead. I don’t need you. I don’t need anyone. I don’t need to listen to coach.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

James justifies the film in hoping that viewers will give more consideration to the struggle around race and sports. What does it mean that the NBA and NFL are dominated by black athletes? Does this actually condemn scores of children who hope to succeed in the way of their heroes? I never for one moment thought that I could be like Dr. J, or Charles Barkley so I never could have traded time doing my homework for taking extra free throws, but maybe for some kids this distant, improbable goal serves as an out for pursuing more realistic endeavors.

I think it’s telling that even that tiny fraction that do make the pros, don’t really succeed in the way we imagine. Many (60%?) NBA stars live paycheck to paycheck to support the superstar lifestyle, play short careers and end up filing for bankruptcy. Right now, no one knows the extent of Allen’s gambling debts and if he is financially secure. Even the way out is no way out.

rejected

Here's something from last week that my editor rejected as stiff and too long. (Insert your own Beavis & Butthead joke here.) It might not be good enough for the Stranger, but it's good enough for you.

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This was a tough sports viewing weekend.

I guess Seattle can be forgiven if you’re not exactly excited about watching Oklahoma Zombie Star Kevin Durant win the NBA H.O.R.S.E. competition and then represent his new city in the NBA All-Star Game.

Never fear. Bite back that bile and tune to NBC. The international spectacle that is the Olympiad is here.

If the Olympics are an excuse for rampant, irrational nationalism (think chanting if U. S. A.! U. S. A.!) and yet another kick in the gut to ‘have-not’ countries, the Winter Olympics take that all a step further. There’s not a lot of pick-up ice hockey played in Bogota or in Asmara. Events like Curling, Skelton and Biathlon have limited general appeal worldwide. Doubles luge has me questioning what is sport and what is losing a bet.

The Winter Olympics lack the star power and name recognition of the Summer Olympics. One possible exception to that is US Speed Skating Star Apolo Anton Ohno but he has forfeited any respect or admiration from me as long as he has that ridiculous facial hair.

SI Cover Girl Lindsey Vonn has sparked Shin-watch 2010, but if you are like me, you are finding it hard to stay focused on that particular injury vigil.

Instead there are a couple other items I’ll be paying attention to in the Vancouver coverage.

One of these will be the riveting Biathlon (cross country ski and then shoot). Keep an eye on Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen who should bring the traditional Norwegian pizzazz to the chocolate/peanut butter perfect combination of cross country skiing and shooting. Hungry for more of this same type of drama, I’ve made a petition for more combined-skill events. What about a downhill toboggan race and chili cook-off? What about a 400-meter speed skate combined with an ice-fishing competition? Perhaps a 24-hour ice-dancing marathon crowned by a synchronized ski jump for any couples still standing? These are the type of ideas that could save the winter Olympics for me.

Also garnering some of my attention will be men’s figure skating. What will Johnny Weir wear? The Lady Gaga of the US figure skating team, Weir has already been forced to change his accommodation plans due to his flamboyant costumes outraging animal rights activists. Weir is known for skating in corsets, feathers, fur and all manner of bedazzling. I think this is the type of thing that the judges will take in to account when evaluating not only the artistic interpretation score but also the of difficulty score. I know it would be a challenge for me to be seen in front of a crowd wearing any of the above and I cannot fathom how he keeps his concentration, but I’m glad he does as it is certainly a good show.

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Post script is that I thought Johnny won the whole thing last night, though people say he didn't have the degree of difficulty he needed.

If you love something, set it free...

There’s nothing I love more than my apartment, 29, and that’s why I’m moving out. I spend 4 days a week in a Westin any way, so it make sense to save a little money on rent and since I spend all my time in Brooklyn (practice in Prospect Park, the animal shelter, watching Jesse’s cable) I spend the 3 days I am in NYC getting back and forth to Brooklyn, so this will save me some time as well. I will miss 29, that is for sure, but I tend to think that change is good, and this will be change. I’ll keep you posted.

Deirdre is at the vet. She was not put together properly after I got back from Melbourne and I didn’t use her all winter and when I took her down the chain just fell off, so she’s down the street at the bike hospital. Send flowers or grease.

It is 87 degrees today in NYC. So much for spring.

Last Friday, Jesse and I went to see the new Mets’ ballpark Citifield. The Mets won (over the lowly nationals) and the new ballpark is nice. My favorite part is the Jackie Robinson rotunda. This is the field from the left field stands where we sat:

Saturday I did this SNERTZ workout with Keri and Ali. It is almost impossible.

Then I went to the animal shelter. Uneventful.

I am so excited!!! Kimberly informed me that the first season of The State will be out on DVD on July 14. Sign up to be notified when it goes on sale. My excitement caused me to look up some old favorites, like the Schwam family.

Sunday, Keri took me on a tour of Brooklyn’s best Pizza places, with Drew and Adam in tow:
(I missed the first stop.) I went to:

• Franny's (295 Flatbush Ave) - *****
• Di Fara Pizza (1424 Ave J) - *****
• L&B Spumoni Gardens (2785 26th St) - ***
  

I am still full, but it was fun.

This pic is from Di Fara’s where we waited 90 minutes for a pie at 3:30 PM in the afternoon:

This weekend is the first of the Bent tryouts. There are 60 or so women interested so this should be pretty great. I haven’t been this psyched since the training camp for Australian National Team try-outs. I love try-outs because you are bound to learn something new.

Speaking of Australian Disc, congrats to my sisters and teammates from Sporting Team Box Athletico United for making the finals at nationals an nearly getting over on those boring school marms from Wildcard. There’s no shame in second place and I know you will get them next year. It was a great tourney for Victorian ultimate with Honey making semis (yeah, Mama!) and my favorite boys from the Heads of State finishing third, due in some part to hot D from Mikey Stout.

How amazing is this Bulls/Celtic series? This could be the best series until the finals. Every game is a game winning last second shot or overtime. Great Basketball.

I owe you a book review. I finished Roth’s Exit Ghost. It's a painfully detailed look into the implications of aging, of losing your faculties and losing control of yourself and of your legacy, which might have been just an illusion anyway, but a comforting one nonetheless. The book is a quick read and I enjoyed Roth's take on the post 9-11 hysteria in NYC. I struggled with the crux of the main character's struggle. Aging is just such a sick joke, getting more broken and more useless every day, forever. I honestly don't know why anyone over 27 gets out of bed. I'm just trying to stay distracted by sports and entertainment. I hate being 32, but this book was a reminder that it will be getting worse, a lot worse. It's very well written and I enjoyed the characters Roth introduced, but it's hard to recommend unless you are pretty comfortable with your place in this world.

I’m presently reading Faulkner’s Light in August and I love it. I love the descriptions. I am deeply involved in the story and the characters. It is great.

Looking out a ways, I’m going to see my Brother-in-law’s new boat on Oak Island for Memorial day, and then hiking in Zion for a few days in June, and then back to Oak Island in July to see all the cousins.

Break's Over. Get Back to Work.

Well, spring break is over. It was great, but it really only served to remind me how great New York is and how much I wish I lived there full time.

Keri and I went to the Bronx Zoo (I liked African Painted Dogs the best and resisted the perfectly understandable urge to jump in with the Polar Bears ) and to see the Younger Than Jesus exhibit at the New Museum, as well as a sweet Alife sale.

Jesse and I went to see the Felice Brothers at Webster hall. They were pretty rawkin'. Check them out. Their brand new CD is out now.

I also spent a couple days down near Dewey Beach, DE and that was really fun.

Please check out www.eatlowcarbon.org which is a pretty cool web app and serves as a good guide for how one can cut back and make meaningful changes in our diets. Compare sushi to steak. It’s pretty amazing how significant the difference is, and according to this Fruit Monday is holding up, but much better if you eat local, seasonal fruit than greenhouse grown fruit or fruit that is flown all over the world.

I am back in Minneapolis. At least it has stopped snowing here. This weekend I'm going to the new Citifield to see the Mets, cross-training, and getting my beer on while I watch NBA games. I am advocating the name change from the Cavaliers to the Labrons. Any objections?

Home again, home again, jiggety-jog;

38 hours of airplanes and airports later I'm back in Melbourne. I'm tired and getting over jet lag and work is nuts. I have a lot to do before I head back to NYC on July 1.

Business class is so weird. All anyone really wants is to sleep and watch the in seat entertainment, but the airlines serve these elaborate 6 course meals of rich gourmet everything that is just ideal for preemptive air sickness. I would rather just have Pret a Manger which tastes great is high in quality and doesn't spill. The last Qantas flight I was on offered people a full icecream sunday bar. Nuts for nuts I guess.

One nice touch on the American Airlines leg from JFK to LAX was a think full sized duvet, rather than just a blanket. Other than that I think all the deluxe touches are wacko.

This time on the planes I watched The Bucket List (C), Charlie Wilson's War (B+) and likely some others that I have now forgotten. Mostly I slept.

The wedding was a blast. I didn't know many people there, but it really seems like most people didn't know many people there as Jen & Chip's friends cut a wide swath of friends from Ultimate, Amherst, Yale, New York and the West Coast. They're off on the honeymoon now so I'll be checking Chip's blog soon for updates.





Here's the bridesmaids (minus Trina who I suspect was Taking the photo) and bride on the Friday night before the Sunday wedding out at a dance club in Greensboro NC.



I'm using 'club' as loosely as possible. This is Greensboro people. There are reports that on Sunday night after the wedding I organized some running and Wheelbarrow relay races on the putting green, and I do have the bruises to corroborate this story.


The resort where the wedding was held was beautiful, but the staff were a little slack. I woke up and hour late on Monday June 2 after the wedding in part due to a wake up call that did not come. I grabbed my stuff and got out of there, but an hour later than I was supposed to get back on the road to Raleigh, which made me late to return my sister's car. It was a huge favor for her to lend me her car for the long weekend and I am a stupid jerk who returned the favor by making her late for work. Sorry Lynn. Thanks again for trying to help me.



As penance for being an irresponsible sister, I spent my entire birthday alone in airports in Raleigh, New York and LA. I read Jesse's old copy of ESPN the magazine and Kurt Vonnegut's Armageddon in Retrospect. He's produced more work post-mortem than anyone since Tupac, but I'll take it as he's still the best writer I've ever read and maybe the only voice that has ever seemed genuine enough to give me any hope.

I'm glad to be back in Melbourne for a few weeks and getting ready for July in NYC.

NBA: The Celtics got 1. Let's hope they get three more.

We on award tour with muhammad my man...

Hey. I am in North Carolina. It is good to be back in the states. I have been dealing with by overseas cravings for Strawberry Pop Tarts and Little Powdered Donuts. Thirst quenched.

One night in NYC was waaaaay to short, but it was great to see Jesse, Ben and Caitlin and Curtiss. I had a proper brunch on my way out. Look out NYC. I'll be back in July.

Then I spent some time with my family in Oak Island North Carolina. I got to see my much much much older sister (love you Lynn) have another birthday and also her now teenager-in-training daughters Kate and Lindy. It was good to sit on the beach and play in the sand.

Now I am at the Grandover Resort at Jen and Chip's wedding in Greensboro. I lived here from aged 2-4 or so and it is all coming right back to me: the nightlife, the wooden furniture...

I've had a pedicure, a back yard barbecue at Jen's parents' beautiful home and a night out on the 'town' with the bridal party where we made Jen do body shots off strange men and then we shook it all night to Bell Biv Devoe. Oh yes. That girl is poison.

We've had a rehersal brunch, and next is the rehersal and the rehersal dinner. Sunday will be the primping, photos and wedding. Look out.

I fly back to Melbourne on Monday morning but I don't arrive until Wednesday morning, so you go twice as hard on Tuesday for me, since I won't be having one.

Kobe is no Magic so don't tell me that again. Only Paul Pierce can save me now.