Black and non-black

I've been saying for a while that this expanded re-definition of white is Latinos' likely future. We've seen this white assimilation in the past with Irish, Italians, and Jews. Now Latinos and Asians may well be subsumed into our cultural definition of white. The glaring exception of this white assimilation is, of course, African-Americans. The systemic racial categories remain black and non-black, basically.

I guess our hope can be with more and more "mutts" like Obama and me, the categories become more and more fluid, less easily defined. I'm not necessarily optimistic, but then again, I wasn't optimistic five years ago that we'd see a black President anytime soon.

I Read

So in addition to starting up blogging again, I'm also reading.  And by "reading," I'm referring to articles, not books--I have to wean myself back into it.  That weaning process made me start with a political read, as I'm already going through campaign withdrawals.  I spent many, many minutes reading Newsweek's laborious behind-the-scenes seven-part series on the 2008 campaign.  If that description sounds interesting, you'll like it.  If it doesn't, don't bother.

The next article should be read by each of you.  Since I'm undercultured, I've never really read David Foster Wallace.  At some point I'll get to his fiction, but I highly recommend reading his account of a luxury cruise excursion that he penned for Harper's.  It at first solidified my determination to never go on such a cruise but then made me second-guess because it could all be worth it just for the sheer experience of the thing but then I reconsidered because actually living it would most likely pale in comparison to Wallace's utterly brilliant take.  So, yeah, it's worth a read.

Change

I am so very glad that we won.

On Lance (no last name needed)

Still don't know what to think about Lance's comeback, but I'm sure it will be entertaining.  For one good example, it brings borderline psychopaths like Simeoni out and then fun articles are written about their "rivalry."

Don't Cry for Stewart & Colbert

There's been some chatter about the dark and stormy future of Comedy Central's nightly political two-fer.  Count me among those predicting The Daily Show and The Colbert Report will be just fine.  The genius of the shows is that they are not dependent on one person or one administration for their content--there's stupidity and incompetence all around us.  And, of course, one of the primary targets is the media, whose idiocy is not going away.