Mad Rants from the Mad Pana in Atlanta

The Future American Worker

2008-02-26T09:15:00.001-05:00

I have been seeing adds for this group run early morning on Channel 2 (Atlanta's WSB-TV). 6:00 am-ish. http://www.americanworker.org/Something didnt feel right at all. I couldnt put my finger on it. Maybe it was the fact that the add was claiming that 42% of Black unemployment was due to immigration. Not illegal immegration; just immigration. No sources given or anything. It's a real short add. Maybe 20 to 30 seconds so by the time you start processing it, it is over. But I do love the internet and it's preponderence of links. :-)

So I looked up their website and it traces to a white guy named John Beck of Numbers USA which traces to F.A.I.R (Federation for America Immigration Reform) founded by John Tanton which then leads you to fact that FAIR accepts money from The Pioneer Fund ($1.2 million).

I wonder if Channel 2 knows they are running adds for group declared a hate group by both The Southern Poverty Law Center as well as Hatewatch.

Back in Business

2008-02-18T09:59:00.004-05:00

Well I haven't blogged a bit in a year and a half. A lot has changed but so much has stayed the same. I have a much better job now and I thank God for that. I cant imagine being paid as little as I was being paid in Aug of 2006 right now in the middle of this recession. (Yes! It is a recession folks! Only millionaires call it a correction!). My beloved Georgia State University is months (weeks?) away from anouncing the start of their football program. It's a presidential election year and finally we have hope of erasing the mistake made 8 years ago.

Somewhere in 2006 I became demoralized to the point that I suppose all my creativity dried up. So I stopped writing. Since then I come to realize that blogging can be cathartic in the sense that even if everyone disagrees with your opinion you can at the minimum get stuff off your chest. And beleive me I have plenty to get off my chest. So I am back (after trying to recover my account for 2 weeks).

So much is going on in my neighborhood of East Atlanta. We are in the middle of a protracted crime wave. There is class and racial tension just under the surface. There seems to be a wish by some to get rid of poor people and put the entire area through an urban renewal machine. And when poor=crime=black in some people's minds, well you can see where the tension arises from. But more on that later.

Random Shootings and Good Luck

2006-02-28T23:56:00.000-05:00

I hesitated. I don’t know why I did and for the last 2 and half hours I have been trying to reconcile the whats and why fors. I even stopped by Joe’s tonight and had a Latte’ and sat in the window and tried to figure out why I hesitated. All of a sudden I was reminded of 1996 and the Olympics. I spent most of the first week of the Olympics leaving work and heading to Centennial Park. There I would spend the whole night in front of the Big Screen. The Saturday night of the bombing, my best friends called me and asked if we were going out. I hesitated. I told them that no, I felt like staying in. They agreed and also stayed in. When I saw the news the following morning I couldn’t believe what had happened and where it happened.

Well tonight I left class at GSU and rode the train to Inman Park/Reynoldstown. I got of the train and was going over to ERD to get a coffee and wait for my wife. I exited the turnstile and I stopped. I hesitated. I stood there for no particular reason for about a minute and a half. Then I proceeded to the Reynoldstown side and walked down the stairs. There were no buses there so I walked towards the street and made a left to walk out to Moreland. As I made my left, an orange Range Rover sped out of the parking lot. I can’t explain it except that I got a chill down my neck. I took maybe 10 to 15 steps down the street when I heard what sounded like a firecracker. Then I heard another. By the third pop I realized it was not a firecracker. By the fourth I heard a whizzing sound. I turned around and started running back to the station past an oncoming Marta police officer headed in the direction of the shots. As I ran back to station I heard 5 or 6 more shots. That definitely made the decision to wait for the bus much easier. As the bus went past the apartments 10 minutes later the Range Rover was resting against a now damaged telephone pole and there were 2 squad cars that had detained several people. The only thing I could think of is that if I had not hesitated for 90 seconds I would have been more or less at the same spot the shooting took place. I still haven’t told my wife because a) she will freak out and b) my mother in law is here from McAllen TX and she already thinks that Atlanta is Baghdad.

I don’t think I will be taking things or people for granted for a while.

Dallas Austin's Atlanta Anthem...bought to you by...

2005-10-27T13:12:00.000-05:00

You cannot commission an anthem for a city or state. You cannot commission an anthem for a city or state. It cannot be done. New York, New York was not commissioned. Nor were Sweet Home Chicago or Georgia on My Mind. So what in the blue hell made Brand Atlanta (Brand Atlanta??) think they could go against history and common sense and commission a theme song that Atlantans would love. Does ANYONE like Dallas Austin’s anthem? Does Dallas Austin even like it? I don’t know. I heard 30 seconds of it on a local radio station 2 mornings ago and I felt like “Wow, this really really sucks!”

In a way I is reminiscent of the crash and burn Olympic Opening Ceremonies in 1996 which had zero to do with Atlanta. (Tractor Pull? WTF?) Why do we continually go ask Marketing and Advertising companies to define our culture? Don’t we know who we are or do we just, after seeing our reflection in the mirror, not like who we are. Maybe that’s why we’ve distanced ourselves from the obvious anthem; Jermaine Dupri’s “Welcome to Atlanta” But isn’t that indicative that we aren’t comfortable with who we really are. Isn’t that the problem with places like Underground Atlanta? Why else would we turn our former downtown into a crappy mall? Pave over history and truck in some crass commercialism. That's what we do best.

In watching the city of Chicago’s World Series celebration last night, one thing is abundantly clear. Chicagoans love their city; aren’t afraid to show it; and know who they are. Maybe Atlanta’s giant collection of suburbs just isn’t cohesive enough to take that next step to great cityhood. I really hope I am wrong because I do love this city.

DirecTPeave Me

2005-10-19T19:36:00.000-05:00

There is a movie made in the late 1980’s staring Michael Douglas called “Falling Down”. In it, the chief protagonist is a white suburban male who reaches a breaking point in his life and resorts to armed violence to retake his lost respect I have officially reached the “Falling Down” period with DirecTV. Or maybe it’s Rambo where John Rambo wanders into a small town in the American Northwest and is immediately hassled by the authorities. All he wanted was something to eat. All I wanted was to move my damn dish from one house to another. It would on its surface seem to be a relatively simple matter in that DirecTV actually HAS a service called Dish Mover. A more apropos name would be The DirecTV You Move Your Set Top Boxes While We Contract Out To A Wholly Unqualified Company In Your Area To Install The Wrong Dish Service. (By the way you guys a DirecTV, if you want to trademark that name feel free to use it. Lord knows you deserve it).

So I move my set top boxes on Set Top Boxes on September 29^th and here it is October 19^th and I still don’t have Spanish Channels from the Spanish Package which A) I had for 4 years prior to the aforementioned You Move The Set Top etc. Service and B) I am currently still paying for. You see the great technical gurus at DirecTV apparently don’t have the technical capability to pass along minutiae to their contactors such as what packages the customer should have or what dish should be installed. So Digital Satellite Services came and took three and one half hours to install the wrong dish on September 30^th. Once we discovered we didn’t have the Spanish Channels the following Monday, (Imagine being married to a Cuban woman who is in the middle of viewing a novella that may end at any moment. Then imagine you tell her “Honey, it seems we don’t have that channel anymore. Honey, please put down the gun” we contacted the crack team (Team on Crack?) at DirecTV only to be transferred 11 billion times and be told repeatedly. “Okay, were gonna unplug the receiver. ...Now plug it back in…okay that didn’t work….try unplugging the receiver….” The Crack Team frustrated me to the point that I hung up in mid transfer and didn’t call back ‘til Wed or Thurs. At that point we started with the Serial Pluggings again. I finally stopped one of these Nimrods With A Technical Manual and told them “Look, I am paying 5 or 6 dollars extra for service calls and I want a service call”. So of course I was you guessed it, transferred. Now at this point we still had no idea what the problem was. Anyway, that Saturday the 8^th Digital Satellite Services sent the same Nuclear Physicist out that screwed the system up to begin with.

So he walks in and says, “It’s not working?” I politely inform him that the Spanish Channels are missing. He says “You have the Spanish Package? That takes a different dish. I don’t have one with me. You have to call DirecTV back and….”

Me: “Good Bye”

Technician: “Excuse me”

Me: “Goooood Byeeee”

So after kicking the Physicist out of my house I contacted DirecTV upon which I was promptly transferred. I finally got an appointment set for this past Tuesday. Unfortunately a stomach virus, an IV and an Urgent Care facility changed my Tuesday plans causing me to miss said appointment. I did have a note from Digital Satellite Services to call them to reschedule. I called and rescheduled for Saturday but forgot I have other plans. So I just got home and called them back. Of course I was placed on hold and transferred to a rep who told me I had to call DirecTV to reschedule an appointment. I just hung up. I am too tired and too full of antibiotics to belabor the point. But some observations come to mind.

1) Anyone who wants to start a rival satellite company and really market customer service as a selling point should do that NOW.

2) DirecTV must secretly be run by the Bush Administration. Talk about blatant and brutish disregard. I was almost ready to climb on my roof top and wait for better Customer Service Relief.

3) If it wasn’t for NFL ticket I would have dropped these Bozos three weeks ago.

I intend to keep writing about this situation until I get a satisfactory response. This B.S. on the highest order. I haven’t even gotten an apology form these asswipes .At the very least how about some sort of acknowledgement that this is crazy and hey “We screwed up”.

Federal Response to Katrina: Too Little Too Late

2005-09-05T10:04:00.000-05:00

I have really waited for several days after the Hurricane Katrina tragedy to formulate any sort of coherent viewpoint. I guess I was also waiting for any of this to make sense. I was waiting for the heroic response from the federal government. I was waiting for the President and FEMA to have that classic Ground Zero press conference. Granted I may have watched the movie “independence Day” just 2 or 3 times too many. But I will say this. I never want to hear the words 9/11 as long as I live. I am done. Finito. My patience finally has worn down to the bone. African-American and Hispanic-American citizens have given this administration the big pass for 4 years. And now we know exactly what we get for out investment of faith. Not a damn thing. Zip! Let me rephrase that. You DO get death, destruction, ignorance and apathy. One good thing is that as people of color we don’t have to continue to wonder how the current administration feels about us. In letting thousands sit in disease and squalor at the Superdome we have our answer. In letting hundreds who could have been saved drown or starve to death in their home we have our answer. In referring to US citizens as refugees we have our answer. In telling us repeatedly that the most mighty military force in the history of mankind could not reach the most accessible port city in the history of mankind we have our answer. Just for fun, read the 9/11 timeline sometime. http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/11/chronology.attack/

It will at the minimum give you the idea that people at the highest level were at least being mobilized and trying to get stuff done.

Let this serve as a lesson to Houston, St Louis, Miami, Oakland, Memphis, Albuquerque and Atlanta. Let it serve as a lesson to every majority minority community in America. Let it serve as a daily reminder to every poor community in America. When your time comes don’t look to this Administration for help or compassion. What a misnomer Homeland Security has become this week. Now we know what our tax dollars pay for. Security? You are only as secure as the next disaster coming to your city. Who knew that private industry would be the hero’s here. The response from companies like State Farm and Wal-Mart has been astounding. But the fact remains that private industry cant rescue people from attics. It is not private industries job to formulate a disaster relief response. Which by the by, should we not already have had a response ready? Doesn’t FEMA stand for Federal Emergency Management Agency?

In the weeks to come I am sure the Bush spin machine will begin to find others to blame. I am sure that if the heat gets hot enough somebody in FEMA will lose their job. Some of those who perished may be blamed for their own deaths. But we shouldn’t forget what the response was in this disaster. How is it that in countries with no money or resources the army arrives within hours of a major catastrophe? Yet we are to believe that nothing could be done for 4 days by the United States government. We should not forget.

IKEA Brings the WorldTogether (or at least part of Atlanta)

2005-07-03T20:27:00.000-05:00

IKEA, the famous Swedish home goods store, opened this past June 29^th to much media fanfare. The funny thing is most people I know outside the center city had no idea what the fuss was about. But then again let’s face it, our friends in area codes 770 and 678 do tend to live a very Rooms To Go existence. I think what most fascinated me about the IKEA experience were two things that have little or nothing to do with the modern furniture experience. The first was how un-American the store was. By that I mean the modern American department store experience which either falls into the Wal Mart, “Get your cheap items and get out our store” experience or the Saks 5^th Avenue “How dare you enter our store without at least $10,000 in credit or gold bullion , you swarthy, grimy, low class bastard?” experience. Either deep discount stores with questionable service or horribly marked up merchandise and service quality that is directly proportional to your tax bracket.

There doesn’t seem to be a place, or so I thought, for the family shopping experience that Sears, Rich’s and Marshall Fields used to provide up until about 30 years ago. IKEA with its 50 cent hot dogs, wonderfully helpful sales associates and children’s play area has that kind of feel to it.

My second observation was related to the clientele. In what seems to be an indication of both where IKEA is been and where the City of Atlanta is headed, the number of customers from Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East was astounding. But then again should be surprised? After all IKEA has a store in 22 countries in Europe, 4 in the Middle East and 6 in Asia and the Pacific. Obviously that familiarity in the Atlanta international community is helping to fuel the excitement. It was truly a lovely thing to hear half a dozen languages spoken on a recent visit to the store. It was one of those rare occasions where it seems like there was cross section of the entire city represented in one place at one time. It is something that sadly I haven't seen since the Olympics. (We do tend to segregate ourselves way too much) Here’s hoping it won’t take a store opening to bring us together next time

Atlanta Needs a Visionary

2005-06-24T08:00:00.000-05:00

To have vision is clearly not the same thing as managing. If there is one thing all great cities clearly seem to have in common is that no matter how many bad epochs they may experience they always dig their way back up off the scrap heap. Witness London’s recovery from WWII and New York’s Renaissance after the 70’s economic downturn. (A downturn I might add that affected New York City far more than 9./11 did). These re-emergencies however don’t occur on their own. They are always assisted by visionary leadership. Anyone can be a capable administrator and manage to screw things up even more. But the true talent lies in having vision and successfully communicating that vision to the populace. Atlanta’s fortunes have waxed and waned throughout the past 165 or so years but we have also been fortunate to have had a succession of visionary Mayors over the past 60 years who could see the big picture. Candler building a national airport hub; Allen realizing the Civil Rights Movement was the make or break moment in the history of southern cities. Jackson building an even bigger national airport hub; Young realizing what Olympics would mean as an advertising vehicle for the city as well as revitalizing intown neighborhoods.

Each of those moments in our cities history served to widen the gap between Atlanta and the Birminghams, Tampas, Miamis and New Orleanses of the world. And now Atlanta finds itself at yet another turning point. Affordable housing is disappearing from the center city at a dizzying rate. Sandy Springs incorporation has effectively cut northern expansion of the city forever. The sewer and water situation is a mess. MARTA is practically broke. The city Police and Fire departments are severely understaffed with no funding in sight. Transportation in the region is no better than when GRETA stepped in to handle things.
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:qocfpCxIXfsJ:www.ajc.com/opinion/content/business/saporta/0605/13saporta.html+Time+to+bite+bullet+on+transit&hl=en&start=1
So who will be the visionary leader who will step forward to make a case to tax-payers inside and outside Atlanta that we need transportation funds from the state allocated to MARTA? Who will step forward and make the case for building the multimodal station downtown that should have been built 10 years ago. http://cpt-atlanta.org/article.php3?id_article=176
How will we improve our school system?http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/northfulton/0605/23wilson.html
Who will step up and say “We need to change our high school curriculum to a state of the art one so that our students can compete in the 21st Century”. Who will make sure that affordable housing, both rental and new homes, gets built in the city before we get condoed to death. Is Shirley Franklin the visionary who will lead us out of the morass? Is Sonny Purdue? The clock is ticking and we have decisions to make that cant be put off on some 35 year plan,

Every time I walk up Forsyth Street and see that empty railroad gulch where a Multimodal Station should be, I fear we have run out of time.

Caribe? Atlanta?

2005-02-13T12:27:00.000-05:00

By Jorge Brooks

Over the past 22 years I have watched Atlanta grow by leaps and bounds. I’ve watched its population double and seen a Latino community grow and change and in makeup several times. Yet much like the city of Atlanta itself the Caribbean community seems to lack identity. We are constantly searching for our place in the sun. This isn’t New York/New Jersey where the word bodega has become a ubiquitous replacement for the phrase convenient store. Nor is it Miami-Dade in Florida where cafeteria style Latin restaurants are found on every commercial corner. At the other extreme this is not Iowa or Wyoming where I imagine you would have to get rice and plantains airlift to you in a military cargo plane. Yet something here in Atlanta is strangely lacking. I have to wonder why it is that Mexicans can show up here and in less time blanket the city with their restaurants, open up their own food stores and radio stations while Caribbean Latinos sit on the sidelines. Are we that divided by nationality? Do we not care? It is sad that as long as our history has been in this city that we don’t have even a dulceria to call our own.

Don’t get me wrong. I commend all of the true believers. The people who for years have organized the Salsa nights at clubs. The standard bearers who have opened up the few restaurants we have. Thank you for otherwise it would make life here truly unbearable. But I fear that things won’t get better, not in the face of VIVA: Tan Latina Como Tu! (Who exactly do they think they are kidding?)

The truth is it has gotten to the point where I am questioning the validity of keeping Caribe Atlanta alive as an entity. When I first came up with the idea back in 1997, I foresaw a much more vibrant Caribbean community than what exists today. I never thought that 8 years later our music still would not be on the radio or that we would become even more marginalized by the other ethnic communities here in Atlanta. Yet here we stand. I am sure I am not the only one frustrated by this status quo. I can’t be the only one who thinks that WCLK/Latin Aura’s Tomas Algarin should be a Salsa station program director here in Atlanta by now. I can’t be the only one disappointed in the crud that WRFG’s Serenata Latina has become. Or the fact that we can’t even get our food in grocery stores because to corporations Latino = Mexican. Yet all we do is mutter about it under our breath and take trips to Miami, NY or the Caribbean trying to forget how miserable we are.

I have defended Atlanta to my wife (Cubana from Miami) so many times that I finally have given up. You go to Miami and they sell pastelitos at Wal Mart and enpanadas at Chevron. You come back here and people treat you like you are from Mars if you are Cuban or Panamanian or Dominican.

I am writing this to get a dialogue started. Let’s stop the muttering and start talking about it. No more whispering. Let’s discuss the where’s, how’s and why’s. I’ve started the dialogue so lets here some ideas.

Jazz: Blue Notes on the Blue Island

2005-01-23T10:15:00.000-05:00

Since Creative Loafing has characterized Atlanta as a Blue Island in a Red Sea, I’ve decided to run with the metaphor. Last night January 22, 2005 Atlanta bore witness to a musical masterpiece. The Lincoln Center Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra was downtown at the historic Rialto Theatre of Georgia State University. For those of us that know intuitively that references to “The Big Three” refer to the two Titos and Machito, it was truly a special night. Our presenter for the night was none other than that Latin from Manhattan, Tomas Algarin. If you have not caught his Latin Aura on Saturdays on WCLK do so immediately. It is an indispensable bible of Latin Music and History.

At any rate he introduced what has to be the best Latin Jazz orchestra playing today. This band of 18 veteran soloists is in a word flawless. To hear them play Tito Puente’s 3-D Mambo, Chico O’Farril’s Afro-Cuban Suite and Machito’s Zambia live was a truly euphoric experience for a kid who grew up buying these tunes at the now defunct Lindberg Shopping Center. To see some of the legends I grew up listening to like Milton Cardona (Congas), Joe Gonzalez (Bongo, Campana), Ruben Rodriguez (Bass), Reynaldo Jorge (Trombone), Luis Bonilla (Trombone) and Mario “El Comandante” Rivera (Sax) was an experience that literally bought me to tears. News accounts will tell you that January 22^nd, 2005 was the night the marquee at The Rialto was bought down by high winds. I prefer to think that Cardona and Gonzalez’s de dedo drum solos actually did that job. I kept thinking throughout the whole experience that we must preserve this heritage of music and that we must do more to promote this music here in Atlanta. I kept thinking of all the jazz rooms that have come and gone in the last 15 years here in Atlanta. Not to mention how many Latin and Latin Jazz Bands we have lost (Otto Rondon?, Jimmie Jackson All Stars?).

That brings me to another point. Noticeably absent last night were my Latino brethren. It is sad to see that when you have a ground breaking band in town that is literally playing our musical history. That we will pay $35 to $45 to see some run of the mill Salsa Monga group but wont pay to see and the Genesis of where it all began is a sad commentary. On that note thanks to last night’s Latin battery charge, I’ve decided to work on a short Afro-Latin musical history of sorts. So in the coming weeks make sure to look for it.

Underground Atlanta tick tocks away....

2004-12-31T13:44:00.000-05:00

Well, it’s the last day of the year and here in Atlanta we are preparing for yet another December 31^st Blow Out. And yet another experiment will begin tonight at Underground Atlanta. Yes folks 2005 will bring us yet another “re-imagining” of Underground. This time some brilliant soul has determined that what Underground really really needs to succeed is an S & M Fetish Dance Club, a rock club where the waitresses dress in “Pussy Cat” attire, a Caribbean themed Karaoke bar and a Latin/ Latin Jazz club. Geez thanks guys; once again you’ve managed to flush more tax payer money straight down the toilet. (Underground Atlanta is owned by the city of Atlanta i.e. you and me.)

It seems at this point, 15 years after Underground’s reopening that the people making decisions for this property either live on the dark side of the moon or perhaps spend way too much time smoking crack. How else to explain the total lack of foresight over the past 15 years? How else to explain a mix of clubs and restaurants that neither fits the neighborhood nor the out of town clientele that frequent Downtown Atlanta. Don’t get me wrong. I am quite sure that all these clubs will be up to their eye teeth in business tonight and probably for the next couple of months. However, if history is ay indicator we will be right back at square one in 12 to 24 months. The management decisions really seem contrary to the direction Downtown Atlanta is headed.

On one side you have Downtown Atlanta and nearby environs which is gentrifying at an alarming rate. Hardly a week goes by without announcements of new residential or retail projects within a 5 or 6 mile radius of Underground. How many upscale restaurants, diners and coffee shops have we seen open this past year Downtown, all following the Middle Class dollars. The scary, barren Downtown Atlanta of 10 years ago is now but a memory as now you can walk from CNN Center to the MLK Center at 10 O’clock at night with nary a worry for your safety. A walk past Woodruff Park any night of the week is now a pleasant experience as you walk past tourists, students and neighbors walking their dogs.

Given that, how and why did Underground decide to go against the grain of local retail centers like CNN Center and Peachtree Center? (Both the aforementioned retail centers have opened several upscale eateries over the past 36 months) How does a city almost equidistant from New Orleans and Charleston; from Savannah and Memphis; how did they decide to put no Jazz, Blues or R & B clubs in a retail property ready made for it. (In an unscientific survey I would say that over he last 10 years most tourists I have spoken to in Atlanta are nearly equally divided between single men looking for strip clubs and couples or groups looking for Blues and Jazz clubs) What is the city telling families who come to town to see the Braves, Braves Thrashers and Force and who catch the Braves Shuttle Downtown at Underground? Sorry, we don’t have anywhere for you to take the kiddies for a before game meal?

It just seems incomprehensible to me that a city that is the capital of the South would so purposely ignore its own history. After all doesn’t our most enduring historical marker; our original downtown deserve better?

When it comes to the NFL Smash Mouth Wins Games.

2004-12-17T16:59:00.000-05:00

One application of Decision Analysis can be seen every Sunday in the NFL. Some might find that kind of application trivial but rest assured that men like Arthur Blank (Atlanta Falcons’ Owner) probably wouldn’t consider an investment of $400 million as trivial. It is a decision driven business where results are demanded not only from the team ownership but also from fans and the media. Probably the largest decision an NFL team owner makes is the hiring of a Head Coach.

Different coaches have different philosophies as to what it takes to win consistently. There are those of the school of thought that a strong running game and a stingy defense wins games. Other coaches would prefer to have great passing attack under the assumption that as long as they keep scoring they will win more times than not. The third school of thought subscribes to a balanced running and passing offense that doesn’t necessitate a great defense. Under that school of thought an average or above average defense will be sufficient to win games. So where does the reality lie. For years we have heard the adage “defense wins championships” not to mention “you have to control the clock to win”. So the question becomes, is that conventional wisdom that has been passed down though 5 generations of coaches true?

Well, let’s look at the current season which at the writing of this paper is still in progress. I might add here that the NFL presents a very good model in that due Revenue Sharing among the league’s 32 teams each team is basically on the same financial footing. Restricted Free Agency and a common League Draft has created general talent parity amongst the teams as well. There therefore wouldn’t be any of the statistical anomalies created in baseball or basketball for instance when a rich owner “loads up” with all the best players. Haven said that, if the old line NFL conventional wisdom hold true, the teams with the strongest running game and the stingiest defense should at least in theory have the best record. Conversely the worst rushing teams and the worst defensive teams should have the worst records.

To test this theory I used a statistic that I made up called the “Combined Ranking”. It is made up of each teams combination of “Team Rushing Offense” ranking and “Total Team Defense” ranking. By adding each team’s league ranking in each category we arrive at the “Combined Ranking”. Since there are 32 teams they can be ranked from any number from 1st in the league to 32nd (dead last). Therefore the best achievable combined ranking would be 2 (1st in the league in each category and the worst would be 64 (last place in the league in each category). So if our old adage holds up the teams with the best Combined Ranking should also have the best records and the worst Combined Rankings should belong to the teams with the worst rankings.

The three teams with the best combined ranking through Week 12 of the 2004 season are Pittsburgh (3), New York Jets (9) and Denver (12). The three with the worst Combined Ranking were New Orleans (61), Oakland (60) and Houston (52). The three teams with best Combined Ranking have an average winning percentage through Week 12 of .750. Two of them are in second place in their division and the other two are in second place. Of the three teams with the worst Combined Ranking their average winning percentage is .361 and two of them are in last place in their division while the third is in second to last place. Since the possible range of Combined Rankings is 62 (from 2 to 64) I divided that range by 3 to separate the leaders (Top Third) from the middle of the pack (Middle Third) and the bottom of the barrel (Bottom Third). That gives us a cut off of 21 for the Top Third. 22 to 43 would represent the Middle Third and over 43 the Bottom Third. Of the six league teams with Combined Rankings below 22 only one had a winning percentage below .750. That was the NY Giants at .417 and at that their Combined Ranking of 21 was barely below the threshold. Of the 8 teams with Combined Ratios over 43 none has a winning percentage above .500 and only one has a winning percentage above .417 (the St Louis Rams at .500).

I really did not expect to see such a staggering correlation between Rushing Offense, Team Defense and Winning Percentage. Of course there would have to be more study done to factor in other variables (Time of Possession, Injuries, and Strength of Schedule etc.) but initially it would at least seem that if I had to pick a Head Coach tomorrow I would want one with a strong Team Rushing and Defensive philosophy.

So Tin Drum Hates Multiculturalism….

2004-12-06T20:52:00.000-05:00

12/06/04

So Tin Drum Hates Multiculturalism….

I have seen the enemy and he doesn’t like people of color. Let me first say that over the last hour I have calmed down and therefore am not writing this while under the influence of rage. Incredulity would be closer to it. After a rather long day at work and with the daunting prospect of studying for finals at GSU tonight and for the rest of the week, my wife and I decided to unwind by eating a relaxing dinner at Tin Drum Asian Café on 5^th Street in Midtown Atlanta.

Things started off well enough. Tin Drum is what is now being described as “New Fast Food”; that is you order and pay at the counter and the food is bought out to you. So we ordered, got our drinks. I really didn’t think much of the fact that the server literally dropped our appetizer dishes on the table. But, hey I was attempting to lubricate myself with an Asahi beer and therefore purposely ignored the rudeness. At any rate our main courses arrived a few minutes later.

Not let me also say that is not even close to our first experience with Thai or Asian cooking so that we have a pretty good idea as to what to expect. So I bit into my dish and found it to be kind of bland and tasteless but serviceable. My wife took one bite of her dish (a different dish) and pushed the plate away. I am purposely omitting the names of the dishes because frankly that is irrelevant.

You see, this is where the story really starts. I motioned for the server to get her attention. When she came over we told her that my wife thought her dish tasted funny. She basically cut us off and told us that we had to go to the register. So I got up and walked over to the young lady at the register. I very quietly and discretely explained the situation; that my wife’s dish had a funny taste. What followed was something I have never experienced in all my years eating out at restaurants both here and abroad. The young lady cut me off and advised me in rude tone that I would have to take that up with the manager. After cutting me off twice she then advised me that I needed to “go stand over there”. At that point I did take exception to a teenager half my age giving me direct orders as to what I “needed to do”. So the exchange that followed was not pretty. She finally did go get the manager. When the manager came out I firstly advised him that his cashier is very rude and then went on to explain the situation. He cut me off and asked me “Well has she had it before because many of our dishes have a unique taste.” He advised me that he didn’t think he could switch the dish for another but that his chef could redo it. I was ticked off but in lieu of punching him out I said okay.

The dish was bought out again at which point the “manager” cut my wife off in mid-sentence. He went back in the kitchen and my wife took a couple of bites of the re-done dish and pushed it away. “It tastes rotten” was the verdict. So we got up and decided to leave. As we were leaving my wife saw the “manager” and decided to voice her satisfaction. He cut us both off and told us that we should be sensitive to the fact that his cashier “is not required to deal with people” and the fact that “she is a student and under a lot pressure with finals at Georgia Tech” and that she “has to deal with a lot of Multicultural people who come in and are rude to her”.

At that point I walked out rather than go to jail. You see my wife is Cuban and I am a Black Panamanian. As I looked around at the restaurant whose clientele was at least 65% “multicultural” I could only infer he means that non-Caucasians are problem customers. The manager who also claims to be the owner threw my wife out when she took further exception to her treatment. I have to say, that I have been treated rudely and unfairly at other establishments in the past but never have I basically been told to my face that the color of my skin will determine my level of customer service. Having said that, the food really sucks. I you have been to Mama Fu’s, Thai East, Surrin’s or Noodle House you are going to be really upset not only with the service but with the lousy food. Hey, maybe their kitchen could use some Multiculturalism.

Reggaeton was born in Panama not Puerto Rico

2004-06-12T13:27:00.000-05:00

This letter was sent to Latina Magazine in response to an advertisement that appeared in their July 2004 issue.

To: editor@latina.com

From: Jorge Brooks

I am writing this letter to take issue with something that appeared in your magazine, in the Cingular Wireless advertising section in your July 2004 issue (Latin Beats). In the section subtitled Reggaeton, the writer (writers?) asserts that Reggaeton is Latin Music’s latest craze and that Reggaeton originated in Puerto Rico. The writer goes on to assert that “While many consider Tego (Calderon) the king of Reggaeton, the undisputed reina is Ivy Queen” When my wife, who is Cuban, showed me the article and asked what I thought I was aghast. As a Panamanian I was thoroughly insulted. You see Reggaeton first of all is not a new craze. It has been around in some form for about 25 years or more whether it was called Reggaespanol, Reggae Rap or now Reggaeton. Secondly its very origin disallows it from being anything but Panamanian. The Reggae in its very name refers to the beats, rhythms and baseline that were transplanted whole from the British West Indies (Primarily Jamaica) to Panama’s Second City Colon and Panama City’s poor neighborhoods like Rio Abajo and Parque Lefevere. Panama has the largest commnuty of descendants of British West Indians in Latin America. It was these neighborhoods’ bilingual Black Caribbean culture that birthed Reggaeton. Immigration then brought the phenomenon to New York where primarily Black Latinos in Brooklyn and The Bronx (mostly NY Panamanians) were it’s earliest adherents.It did not reach Puerto Rico until several years later in the mid to late 1980”s. Throughout the entire period it was Edgardo Franco (El General) who invented and reinvented the genre. His ground breaking early 80’s albums along with his lyrical battles with Vico C made him the undisputed King of Reggaeton. That’s is not to mention the countless other Panamanian Reggaeton artists. Traces of the genre can even be found in the music of Panamanian Rocquero groups such as Los Rabanes. So I can only suggest that in the future maybe someone should do some fact checking before inserting material in your magazine so we can be spared any future articles on how Argentinos invented Merengue.

Sincerely Yours

Jorge Brooks

P.S. a copy of this letter will be posted on caribeatlanta.com

No Llores Mas...

2003-07-17T12:07:00.000-05:00

by Jorge Brooks

Originally printed 7/17/03

I couldn’t think of a more appropriate title. I have
been trying to crystallize my thoughts since this
morning. I have been trying to figure out why I have
been fighting back tears. Or why I have this emptiness
in my soul today, July 17th 2003. It is because a
Queen. Celia Cruz, is dead. Better put, Our Queen.

It may be difficult to explain to non-Latinos or
non-Caribenos. They may say, “Oh yeah, I heard” or
“Yeah, that’s so sad”. But we know better. The
magnitude is much much greater than that. And that’s
precisely what has me so confused. Why does this feel
bigger than just another entertainer passing away?
Why is it that while I, a Panamanian was talking about
this to a Puerto Rican we were both fighting back
tears. Perhaps the answer as to why this has affected
so many of us so deeply lies in who Celia was and who
we are.

When I think of Celia I think of fond memories of
something that cannot be recaptured. My youth. My
youth in Panama to be exact. Maybe that’s why she
meant so so much to so many. Her glorious voice
reminded us of palmeras and playas. Of café and of
course azucar. It brought us memories of when dancing
didn’t mean casino turns learned in dance class but
rumberos bailando en el patio. She reminded us of our
uncles and aunts and mothers and fathers dancing. Oh,
those are great memories. And for 60 plus years she
crystallized that for us.

More than that she united the disparate parts of the
Spanish-speaking Caribbean under our most enduring
legacy. La Musica. Her arrival in New York in the
1960’s and her collaborations with Tito Puente, Willie
Colon, Ray Barreto and of course The Fania All-Stars
broke down barriers of nationality and region. When
you listened to Celia and she evoked those memories,
you no longer were a Cuban, Puerto Rican, Colombian,
and Panamanian. Now you were a Caribeno, Latino,
Rumbero.

She came to America and flaunted her most valuable
asset. Her unbelievable voice. Each intonation became
everlasting proof that, Yes, a woman could sing lead
for a big band and as well if not better than all her
male contemporaries. With every Azucar exclamation she
took the clichéd stereotyped Latina created by
Hollywood (See Carmen Miranda), embraced it, made fun
of it and spat it back out. She made us all both happy
and proud to be Latinos and Latinoiamericanos. So we
shouldn’t cry for Celia. We should do what she did to
for our culture and us. Embrace her memory and
celebrate her just as she embraced and celebrated our
culture and us.

Celia once sang: Yo soy Rumbera de antano y soy
rumbera del presente…. Si hay Ritmo en el Corazon, La
Musica vive Siempre. Translation: I am the Rumbera of
the past and I am the Rumbera of the present. If
there’s rhythm in the soul, The Music lives forever.

Our Guarachera de Oriente has died. Our Guarachera de
Cuba. Our Queen of Salsa. And her music will love
forever. Descansa mi Reina.