Posts Tagged ‘racism’
May 13th, 2013 | 
Author: As I’ve undoubtedly noted, the name Roger comes from the Germanic roots meaning spear bearer, specifically “famous with the spear.”
When you think of the first name Roger, who are the first people you think of? (I mean besides me, of course.) That was the question in this segment of the TV show Family Feud; I’m sorry it is incomplete.
Here’s a list of celebrities whose first names are Roger. The ones that immediately came to mind are some Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Uncategorized | 
Tags: ABC Wednesday, baseball, Constitution, football, movies, music, Pink Floyd, racism, religion, Rhode Island, Roger B. Taney, Roger Clements, Roger Federer, Roger Moore, Roger Rabbit, Roger Staubach, Roger Waters, Roger Williams, slavery, sports, Supreme Court, tennis, Who Framed Roger Rabbit | 
31 Comments »
Scott is back with more questions: In the first one hundred years of the US, which president do you find the most fascinating?
Who do you find the most fascinating US president after those first one hundred years?
It occurred to me that, depending on how you measure the first 100 years, one could put Grover Cleveland in both chronological camps, since the first President under the current Constitution was elected in 1789, and Cleveland’s terms were 1885-1889 and 1893-1897. Not that I would, but I COULD.
There are a number of early Presidents who I find fascinating: Jefferson, Madison, JQ Adams, Jackson (for the wrong reasons), but primarily for their service before (or in Adams’ case, after) the Presidency. It’s hard to argue with choices such as Washington or Lincoln.
Still, I’ll pick Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Uncategorized |
Tags: Chester Arthur, Jaquandor, Lyndon Johnson, Presidents, racism |
4 Comments »
Chris from Off the Shore of Orion starts off the Ask Roger Anything jamboree with:
You can only have one of these three powers: infinite strength, the ability to fly, or the ability to read minds.
Which one would you pick, why, and what would you use it for?
I decided to deconstruct this. How often have I said, “Boy, do I wish I were stronger so I can do X?” Not that often, in the grander scheme of things. Maybe during my many moves, but many hands make light work. Besides, I’d probably end up schlepping stuff for others far too often
I’ve wanted to fly since I was a child, had the flying dreams and everything. It would save time, and time is a finite, not a fungible, commodity. Thought that would be it.
However, the idea of the ability to read minds was too intriguing to pass up. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Uncategorized |
Tags: baseball, Chris Honeycutt, flying, LisaF, mind reading, racism, Tom the Mayor |
4 Comments »
Jaquandor, who continues to be western New York’s finest blogger, wrote, even before I asked him to Ask Roger Anything:
May I ask, what’s YOUR response to the question that ALWAYS gets asked in February? I’m referring, of course, to “How come there’s no WHITE History Month?” Anymore I just snort and say “That’s all the other ones. We just don’t announce it.” Problem with that response is, it doesn’t always get taken as the sarcasm it is.
He added:
I really hate hearing that question, with its pouty tone and its implication that racism is over and we need to just stop talking about it.
Let me tell you some of the things we talked about at my church in late January and February:
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Uncategorized |
Tags: Ask Roger Anything, Black History Month, education, environment, history, Jaquandor, justice, race, racism |
4 Comments »
I had heard for a long time how awful and offensively racist D.W. Griffith’s landmark 1915 film, The Birth of a Nation, was. It’s good that I saw it, but I’m glad it was as an adult, so that I could appreciate it in the historic context in which it was made. I’m not much on banning movies, but there is something to be said about seeing it at the right point.
A couple blog posts I’ve seen recently reminded me of this point. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Uncategorized |
Tags: Birth of a Nation, Django Unchained, Holiday Inn, Jeni le Gon, movies, race, racism, Roger Ebert, SamuraiFrog, Song of the South |
5 Comments »
When I was growing up, as often as not, we got our gas from the Esso station. Esso (“S-O”) “is derived from the initials of the pre-1911 Standard Oil.” I didn’t remember this, but I read that it became the focus of so “much litigation and regulatory restriction in the United States [that in] 1972, it was largely replaced in the U.S. by the Exxon brand… while Esso remained widely used elsewhere.” Ironic, since the Exxon brand name has been forever tainted by the Exxon Valdez oil spill, not to mention purposefully manufacturing uncertainty on climate change.
Whereas Esso had quite a positive image, at least with many people of my father’s generation. For there was a time in the United States Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Uncategorized |
Tags: ABC Wednesday, black culture, Esso, ExxonMobil, Green Book, racism, travel |
35 Comments »
Jackie Robinson Day is an annual “event…in Major League Baseball, commemorating and honoring the day Jackie Robinson made his major league debut, in 1947. Initiated for the first time on April 15, 2004, Jackie Robinson Day is celebrated each year on that day.” The uniform number 42 has been retired by every team since 1997, though any player wearing it at the time was able to keep it until he retired, e.g. Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees. From 2007on , though, Read the rest of this entry »