Nashville, TN -- A Lotta Bridges in Birmingham...
First thing yesterday morning, I paid a visit to the Institute for Southern Jewish Life. One quick tidbit: Though the Jewish community in the South is obviously a lot smaller than in the North, it's a lot more "affiliated" -- that is, a larger percentage belongs to a synagogue or Jewish organization. According to ISJL, there are two reasons for this -- first, in the South, where religion is so important, it's better to belong to a "Jewish church" than no church. Second, Jewish culture is not pervasive in the South like it is in the North, so people need to put a little more effort into a Jewish identity. Sounds right.
Visited three Alabaman cities yesterday afternoon -- Selma, Montgomery, and Birmingham. No time now to talk about the first two, as I'd like to post some pictures with 'em, but suffice it to say that unlike Nashville, Jackson, and Memphis, those two cities were the South I'd always pictured.
Birmingham seemed more midwestern than Southern to me; I easily could've confused it with St. Louis or Kansas City (and, in fact, the suburb of Hoover could've fit right in back home). The city is trying to revitalize, and there are a few fun blocks downtown. I had a great dinner at a SoHo-style Italian cafe -- an eight-cheese lasagna. I can now vouch that eight cheeses are better than fewer cheeses than that!
Binghamton, NY -- Gas is too expensive so I'm going to get one of these
...when I can afford it.
Take a look at my next car.
Jackson, MS -- Down With the Navy Jack
The Confederate Flag has always upset me... As I walked through Jackson this afternoon, I realized how pleasantly surprised I was that I hadn't seen a Confederate flag anywhere since touching down last Saturday.
However, not two minutes after that thought, I looked up and saw that the Mississippi state flag incorporates the Navy Jack.
The Missisippi State Flag, hanging near the State CapitolI don't understand why this remains acceptable in this day and age. Despite the insistence that the Confederate flag represents "Southern heritage," there's little heritage it can represent other than the South's secession and its reason for seceding. The flag was only used from 1863-1865, not before, and
according to Wikipedia:
What is usually called "The Confederate Flag" or "The Confederate Battle Flag" (actually the Navy Jack as explained above) is still a widely-recognized symbol. The display of the flag is a controversial and very emotional issue, generally because of disagreement over exactly what it symbolizes. To many in the US South it is simply a symbol of their heritage and pride in their ancestors who held out during years of war under terrible odds and sacrifice. Others see it as a symbol of the institution of slavery, or of the Jim Crow laws established by the many Southern states enforcing racial segregation within their borders for almost a century later. It can also be used to tell others that there are guns in the household. The Confederate battle flag is a controversial symbol in contemporary American politics. Because of its link to slavery and because Southern opponents of the Civil Rights Movement, the Ku Klux Klan, American neo-Nazis, and other white supremacists have used the flag as a symbol for their causes, many Americans, particularly African Americans, consider it a racist symbol akin to the Nazi swastika. As a result, there have been numerous political fights over the use of the Confederate battle flag in Southern state flags, at sporting events at Southern universities, and on public buildings. According to Civil War historian and southerner Shelby Foote, the flag traditionally represented the south's resistance to northern political dominance generally; it became racially charged during the Civil Rights Movement, when protecting segregation suddenly became the focal point of that resistance.The "south's resistance to northern political dominance generally?" Perhaps this is why our President can get away from referring to his opponent derisively as "The Senator from Massachusetts."
I don't believe in censoring anyone, so this flag can stay, but I reserve the right to call anyone who displays it an asshole.
I'm very curious about the racism in this area. I spoke to a legislative aide about it this afternoon at the Capitol, and I asked, "So is racism still such a huge problem? I'd imagine it might be in rural areas, but not in Jackson." She answered that it actually does remain a problem in Jackson, and a couple of colleagues this evening concurred. They said that the racism here is actually
less insidious than that in the north (yes, it does exist, and it is tacitly institutionalized) because it's overt here. I haven't seen any instances. I wonder if I will either here or in Birmingham tomorrow.
Humorous aside: Arsenio Hall's caricature of a southern black preacher in "Coming to America" has always been my mental image of southern black preachers, though I'd always assumed that his preacher was more than a bit of an exaggeration. Not so. Driving down I-55 today, I was flipping through FM stations when I settled on 93.9 about 100 miles north of Jackson, listening to a black preacher. Wow... he was way beyond anything I'd ever expected. He sermonized for at least 40 minutes (hadn't ended by the time I lost the signal), practically singing every line, groaning breathily after every line, accompanied by a rather incoherent organ. A friend down here told me this evening that it was par for the course.
Next stop, Birmingham, and then back to Nashville. If I get out early enough tomorrow from my meeting at the Institute for Southern Jewish Life, I
may try to squeeze in Montgomery to get another Capitol out of the way (I've done Tennessee and Mississippi so far on this trip).
Jackson, MS -- ... Home of Elvis, and the Ancient Greeks
I'll talk about Jackson later, but I'm going to wrap up Memphis for now.
I managed to visit a few attractions while I was there, one of which was the National Civil Rights Museum, constructed at the site of the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. It was fairly powerful, as one would expect, but more interesting was a
one-woman protest outside of the museum:
The next day I ventured back to the area south of downtown Memphis where the National Civil Rights Museum is located, attached to the former Lorraine Motel. My schedule didn't allow for time to see the museum but I wanted some daytime pictures. Besides, the $12 admission fee seemed a bit steep especially considering I'm usually not a fan of static museum displays. Then I saw something totally unexpected.
An anti-museum banner at a table on the edge of the grounds. Yes, a protest calling for people to boycott the National Civil Rights Museum.
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From Jacqueline Smith's Fulfill the Dream website:
"The National Civil Rights Museum exists to educate the public about the history of the Civil Rights Movement and to promote Civil Rights issues in a proactive and non-violent manner.
"Sadly, it fails to live up to these ideals. The truth is that the museum has become a Disney-style tourist attraction, which seems preoccupied with gaining financial success, rather than focussing on the real issues. Many people have criticized the "tone" with which information is portrayed - Do we really want our children to gaze upon exhibits from the Ku Klux Klan, do we need our children to experience mock verbal abuse as they enter a replica bus depicting the Montgomery bus boycott. Do we have so little imagination, that we need to spend thousands of taxpayers dollars recreating a fake Birmingham jail, to understand that Dr. King was incarcerated?
"All in all, the greatest criticism of the Museum is that it dwells heavily on negativity and violence. Surely the underlying signals must portray hope and non-violence.
"I highly recommend reading through her site, which will take some time. It is seldom that I find myself not really knowing how I feel about an issue but this is one. I think a civil rights museum is fitting but her charges of excessive spending and inappropriate displays makes sense to me."Couldn't have said it better myself, so I'm not going to try.
I checked out Graceland on my way out of town this morning, simply because everyone said I had to see it. Total waste of time, but I did it once and will never have to do it again.
Perhaps the best part of Memphis was the
World Overcomers Church, located in southern Memphis not far from the border. They're the ones that erected the fifty-foot-tall crucifix-bearing Statue of Liberty, on the grounds that the poor blacks need to be made aware that the only way to improve their lots in life is through Jesus.
I drove down there at about 8:45 AM this morning, and was greeted by a friendly guy by the name of Calvin. He asked what I thought of the statue, and after I replied that it was "impressive," he said that it was necessary to erect the statue because the school systems in the area were so bad and that the locals needed to "restore traditional values." He invited me into the church, where he showed me a collection of quotes from our Founding Fathers that the church believes indicate that the Founding Fathers intended the country to be a Christian theocracy. Interesting place, all in all. The street names around the church were Hebrew, such as "El Shaddai Circle" and "Adonai Road."
Bizarre, but hey, that's the South!
The Statue of Liberty, as our forefathers intended (if only the stupid French weren't all atheists)
West Memphis, AR -- Did I Forget, Forget to Mention Memphis?
Writing from the midst of the largest truck stop in the country, at the intersection of I-40 and I-55, the true center of America.
Last night was fun, but not so healthy. John, a former business colleague and his pals took me out to the most famous rib joint in Memphis (the name escapes me), the same one where President Bush took Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi two weeks ago when they were in town. John and his colleagues, who are partners of Ned's, are doing an urban revitalization project, developing an area of downtown Memphis called
Court Square.
I hadn't had dry ribs before, but they were delicious, and I ate an awful lot of them, and nothing else, as other than cole slaw and baked beans, there wasn't a vegetable on the menu! Hence, the reason I'm eating oatmeal and fruit at a Perkins for breakfast, rather than pancakes.
Afterwards, I went out to Beale St., the main scene downtown. The place was rocking on a Wednesday night. Beer, ribs, and music everywhere.
I am SUCH a Yankee... I just cannot stop talking and just chill in company.
Photos later, but maybe not for a few days.
Graceland is next, then on to Mississippi!
Me on the Memphis trolley!
Memphis, TN -- March of the Ducks!
As I was driving west on I-40 today, Paul alerted me to a daily "
March of the Ducks" at the Peabody Hotel in downtown Memphis:
The tradition of the famous Peabody Marching Ducks began in the 1930s. Peabody General Manager Frank Schutt, an avid sportsman, and a friend Chip Barwick, returned empty-handed from weekend hunting trip in Arkansas. The two friends had a bit too much Tennessee sippin' whiskey, and decided to play a prank and put their live duck decoys (which were legal at the time) in the fountain in the hotel's Grand Lobby.
Three English call ducks were placed in the fountain, and the reaction from hotel guests was nothing short of enthusiastic. Soon, five North American Mallard ducks would replace the original ducks.
In 1940, Bellman Edward Pembroke, a former circus animal trainer, offered to help with delivering the ducks to the fountain each day and taught them the famous Peabody Duck March. Mr. Pembroke became the Peabody Duckmaster, serving in that capacity until his retirement in 1991. The late Mr. Pembroke's portrait hangs in the entrance to The Peabody, a luxury suite is named for him and a building in Peabody Place development is named Pembroke Square.
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Today, the ducks are housed in the "Duck Palace" on the hotel roof. Every day at 11 a.m., they are led by the Duckmaster down the elevator to the Italian travertine marble fountain in the Peabody Grand Lobby. A red carpet is unrolled and the ducks march through crowds of admiring spectators to the tune of John Philip Sousa's King Cotton March. The ceremony is reversed at 5 p.m., when the ducks retire for the evening to their palace on the roof of the hotel.
All the ducks in a row (click for video)
On a duck-related note, I've been really getting into
ZeFrank's vlog, The Show. I was tipped off to some of his video exploits a year or two ago, but just found out that he was doing the vlog and spent much of my time in Nashville watching the entire archive.
On
today's episode, Ze is giving Sports Racers the opportunity to meet other Sports Racers in their general vicinity. I recommend everybody sign up!
Why is that duck related? Ze likes duckies!
Be a Sports Racer!
Memphis, TN -- Quick Nashville Recap
Nashville was a bit of a whirlwind, even though I was there for five days. The Hadassah Convention was held at the
Gaylord Opryland (snicker) Resort, which I'm pretty sure is the largest indoor facility of any kind I've ever visited.
The resort carefully walked the lines between impressive and imposing, beautiful and tacky. By the time I left, I still hadn't made up my mind about whether I actually liked it or not. I'll try to post some photos if I get a chance.
Because the place was so massive, I think it sapped my desire to see the rest of Nashville (though I did visit downtown briefly on my way out, and will be staying there on Friday night).
A shot from the Gaylord Opryland's indoors Garden Conservancy
Don't ask... I have no idea
Nashville, TN -- Sidney, NY Flood Photos
I know, I know... I've been promising these for weeks, but they're here.
I've been in Nashville for a few days with the
bubbes at the annual Hadassah Convention. Now that I've posted these photos, I'll have some time over the next couple of days to write about that (probably, you know me).
Without further ado (haven't I adone enough?):
Sidney Flood Photo Album 1 Sidney Flood Photo Album 2 Sidney Flood Photo Album 3 Sidney Flood Photo Album 4
Binghamton, NY -- Garbage to Oil
While I was doing cardio at the gym, I was reading the April 2006 Discover magazine. One of the articles in the middle described a technique in which Brian Appel, a Hofstra University graduate, has used to turn slaughterhouse discards into high grade oil. He pressurizes turkey offal that he buys for $30 a ton from the nearby Butterball turkey plant and then raises the temperature of it to the point at which he is able to emulate in 20 minutes what it would take hundreds of thousands of years to do naturally deep underground. The resulting goo is then sent through a centerfuge which creates high grade crude oil and a nutrient rich water that he sells off to local farmers as a fertilizer. 85% of the oil produced can be exported. The other 15% is used in the process of producing more oil.
Sounds great right? Essentially free oil.
Unfortunately the US government until recently refused to subsidize "renewable diesel." Luckily for Appel, Ireland is willing to give him a guaranteed subsidy which will effectively double his profits.
Couple this with Jeb Bush's refusal to allow offshore drilling off the coast of Florida (currently Cuba is negotiating with a Chinese company to drill those same waters), and we've now blown two big chances to increase our oil supply.
Binghamton, NY -- Walmart wins again...
Last Thursday a
federal court overturned the Maryland state decision that would have forced Walmart to grant healthcare to its employees."We are very pleased. That law did nothing to control the cost of health care," says Sarah Clark, a spokeswoman with Wal-Mart, adding that Wal-Mart is offering new health care solutions such as insurance for children of part-time employees and a reduced waiting period for those eligible for health care coverage.
But Wal-Mart Watch, a union-backed group that supported the law, says many of the company's workers still cannot afford its coverage. "This setback does not change the fact that Wal-Mart's health care plan is unaffordable and inaccessible for its employees," says Nu Wexler, spokesman for Wal-Mart Watch. As expected, there will be an appeal on the US District Court's ruling.
