Thursday, October 16, 2008

When I was 11 years old and living in Newtown, Connecticut (where Bruce Jenner went to high school) I had a paper route. I delivered the local newspaper to about 15 different homes in the area, and since I was the only black kid on the block, this was a pretty big deal to have that level of responsibility. Each and every morning I would wake up, get on my bike, and put the newspapers on the front porch of each customer I had. Sure I could have just thrown it on their lawn, but I was striving for a higher level of customer service. I would gently place the newspaper in between the screen and the front door, so that when the customer opened their door the paper would gently fall into their hands.

Anyway, the street that I lived on was a steep hill and my house just happened to be halfway up this hill. So I would turn out of my driveway and do all my deliveries up the hill, then I would pedal my bike as fast as I could down the hill at world record speed and do the rest of my deliveries. One of my customers had this dog named Jake who lived at the top of the hill. For some odd reason, Jake's owners never tied him up, so he would run and roam freely throughout the neighborhood, yet he would never run away(aka voluntary slavery). Jake loved to jump on me, playfully take my newspaper, and put his wet nose all in my face. However, when I would race my bike down that monstrous hill, Jake's demeanor would change like David Banner with high blood pressure

As long as I stayed even with Jake, he would playfully bark at me as we swiftly went down this hill. But as soon as I would pass him on my bike, his playful barks would turn into mean growls and snarls, and he would literally try to run into my bike. As soon as I slowed down, he would turn friendly again, and then sometimes I would speed up my pedaling, and again the Cujo in him would resurface. After awhile, I would just let Jake win our downhill races out of fear that he would eat me(that's what she said). So why do I mention this?

During last night's presidential debate, John McCain appeared to be perfectly normal as long as he was getting no push back from Barack Obama on an issue. But as SOON as Obama said something that got under his skin, McCain's whole body language would change into something that quite frankly scared me. He would start smiling the way a touchy feely uncle does when he's left alone with kids. Then that smile would disappear, and his whole body seemed to tense up and prepare for battle..almost like he wanted to body slam Obama. And finally, he would slowly settle down, utter a subtle insult that sandwiched in between a couple "my friends" and he would calm down. This happened at least 5 times last night, and my lady and I looked at each and said, "This dude is crazy". Obama's demeanor rarely changes, although that does NOT necessarily mean that his crazy capability is non-existent, it just means he has sense enough not to show it when the presidency is at stake.

That was a lot of rambling I just did...

Anyway, my main man jazzbrew has a blog I think you should check out. And speaking of jazz..

Branford Marsalis Trio - Cherokee

4 comments:

spirit_55 said...

Exactly, Rashad. John McCain is deeply troubled. His angry, disdainful, disrespectful demeanor is so unpresidential-like. This dude is still fighting in Vietnam. Everything about his body language and message illustrates his warring stance.

He is STUCK! He represents the other folks who are stuck in this warmongering consciousness as well.

Tip for John McCain & Sarah Palin: MAKE LIKE A HOCKEY STICK AND GET THE PUCK OUTTA HERE!


P.S. Nice video clip of the Brandord Marsalis Quartet

Jazzbrew said...

I can't count the number of times that I said to myself - "this dude scares me" when watching John McCain last night (and that isn't the militant side of me talking). Your description of his transformation during the debate is spot on.

And mad props for the Marsalis clip. It is always good to see jazz getting some love. I listened to that Kurt Elling at least 4 or 5 times yesterday.

£ said...

you lived in CT? cool beans. bruce jenner is on one of my favorite shows you know: 'keeping up with the kardashians.' he plays the long suffering husband/stepdad. in other words - himself. lol

anyway that's pretty awesome you had a newspaper route. I used to want one. but...well I don't know why I didn't get one. but I do know I had an elaborate get-rich-quick scheme that involved selling GRIT. :(

and your observations on mccain were on point as usual.

rashad said...

Lex,
I lived in CT from '84-'87. HATED IT!