Friday, January 27, 2017

Prince Jones

Prince Jones plays a not insignificant part in Between the World and Me, this month's book club book. I was living and working in DC back in 2000 when he was shot and killed by PG County police. The killing dominated news in DC for quite a while, so I thought I'd go back and dig up some of the stories for context. The one I recall best is this article from the Washington City Paper, the DC alternative weekly. That article is contemporaneous with the shooting. A year later, Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote this article for the Washington Monthly, in which he takes a deeper look at policing in PG County. Finally, two years after the incident, the City Paper published an additional article with significant new facts gleaned from depositions given by the police officers involved in the shooting. Read together, it's a deeply depressing catalog of race and policing that underscores what I take to be Coates' pessimism about whether America will ever accord black men equal respect, both culturally and legally.

Saturday, January 14, 2017

Thursday, January 12, 2017

The Obama Era

Following up on our conversation last night, here is a link to the Atlantic series on The Obama Era. It contains both Ta-Nehisi Coates interviews with President Obama, his article on Obama's blackness, and the response I mentioned (authored by Tressie McMillam Cottom). There's also some additional articles. The whole series is both excellent and heartbreaking.

Cthulu/Special Forces

As I mentioned last night, here is a link to my pal's military/Lovecraftian books on Amazon.  They're cheap, and the $ goes to a good cause.  Also, if you do read, feel free to leave a review.  He also has a few books on a conspiracy to start World War I, if you're interested in that.  Be careful googling "Sean Michael O'Dea" however, as there is another writer by the same name who writes bondage fiction. You know, NSFW.

SPOOk: Alpha by [O'Dea, Sean Michael]

Monday, January 9, 2017

Phoenix Jones, eat your heart out

Portland has a superhero, and it's the most Portlandish superhero you could imagine. It's...the Unipiper.

Just watch the video, all right?


[Update: did some research and apparently this guy's been around for a while.]