Paula Deen and Race in America

Hello everyone!

Paula Deen. Yeah, yeah, I know. The media has been going haywire over this story since it broke on Friday and frankly, I've never seen Paula Deen's cooking shows or been to any of her restaurants or made a single one of her recipes. On the surface of things, I really don't care. But I suppose this whole hoopla raises a series of interesting issues. Obviously race in America is still very much a hot button topic. The "n-word" is dreadful. It should be barred from the English lexicon. What I find so interesting though is that Ms. Deen is receiving support from some of the African American community who seem to accept her apologies on the basis that Ms. Deen grew up in a different, less enlightened, time, that she has publicly apologized for having said the "n-word", and that this does not necessarily brand her as racist.

It brings to mind a thoughtful conversation I had this week over dinner with an author friend of mind in town from Birmingham, Alabama. I mentioned to him that whenever I've been in the South -- albeit limited to the wealthier suburbs of Atlanta -- I've always been struck by the sense that there is a greater 'integration' down there between whites and African Americans. There's a looser kind of camaraderie between the races, at least within the circles among which I've traveled, than exists here in Chicago, which to me is very much a Northern city.

He explained that because--especially in Birmingham which was and is the epicenter of the Civil Rights Movement--integration was and is so heavily enforced, the barriers between whites and blacks just, at least on the surface, fade away. Here in Chicago, there's still a noticeable division between the "black neighborhoods" (the South and West sides) and the "white neighborhoods" (downtown, The Gold Coast, Lincoln Park, and the North Side) that the city has been branded one of the most segregated in the United States.

Chicago's seemingly endemic gun violence that tops international headlines is pretty much relegated to African American neighborhoods on the South and West sides. I live in the West Loop. My parents live in Lincoln Park. I work in River North. I exist pretty much in a white bubble. But it's only nine minutes on the expressway from my house to West Garfield Park, one of the most underprivileged and violent neighborhoods in Chicago. Over the span of about a year I spent at least part of every week day student teaching and then tutoring African American high school students in an at-risk public school. At first I didn't know how I was going to cope. The prospect terrified me. Blond-haired and blue-eyed, I'm about as white as they come. How was I ever going to get four classes of inner-city African American high school seniors interested in British Literature, let alone take me seriously?

But you know what? Somehow, it happened. I fell in love with those kids. I saw a whole side of life that I'd previously been sheltered from. Not a single one of them had been unaffected by some major trauma in their young lives -- the shooting deaths of friends and relatives, teenage pregnancy, broken families, homelessness, and/or a combination of all of the above. I listened to them. And while I  couldn't necessarily relate, I empathized. I gave them a voice. I told them about my own experiences and I found a way to relate 19th century British literature to these kids. Behind the swagger and the tough-guy/girl veneer, most of them just wanted someone to listen to them, to talk to them, to give them a positive role model. They accepted me and I accepted them.

It's been more than a year since I last stepped foot in those classrooms. I've given up on teaching because, at least in the public schools here in Chicago, the system is run by petty and bureaucratic administrators who can't look past race and only care about preserving the status quo. But I think about those kids often and I'd like to think I made a difference -- however small -- in at least one of their lives, because they certainly made a difference on mine.

In getting back to Paula Deen....is she or isn't she a racist? Should she or shouldn't she have been fired by the Food Network? It's not for me to say. The only thing I will say is that we are all guilty -- whites, blacks, whatever -- on some level of using race as a barrier and an excuse for failing to see that beneath the color of our skin, we are all human. We all have the same desires, the same fears, the same hopes, the same longing for validation. This is what the media should be exploring. There's certainly a lesson to be learned here...probably several lessons. It's time to limit the accusations and the finger pointing. It's time to really engage and listen.

Somehow though I think this is too much to ask. I hope I'm proven wrong.

Ciao.

6.16.13: My Top 5 for the Week

Hi everyone!

Here's my Top 5 list for this week. Enjoy!

1) Emad Burnat's incredibly moving documentary "Five Broken Cameras". This film was nominated for a 2013 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. It is extraordinary. Over the span of five years -- 2005-2010 -- Mr. Burnat used 5 videocameras to document his West Bank village Bil'in's weekly protests against Israeli settlement expansion. Each camera was destroyed by an Israeli soldier (bullet, tear gas canister, fist) but Mr. Burnat found another camera and continued to film. Unlike anything I've ever seen or read about the Palestinian protest movement, this film humanizes the conflict and distills it into everyday experience that anyone can appreciate if not relate to. What results is an incredible narrative of one man's/one village's fight for freedom, dignity, and survival. "Five Broken Cameras" is a tragic and visceral film but what emerges most is Mr. Burnat's inspiring resilience in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. For anyone who follows and/or cares about what's going on in the Middle East, this film should be required viewing. For more information please click onto Mr. Burnat's website www.emadburnet.com.

2) And while we're on the subject of documentaries, Jeremy Scahill's just released in theaters and On Demand film "Dirty Wars" is another of my top picks for the week. I wrote about it at length the other day so I'll keep my commentary brief. "Dirty Wars" follows Mr. Scahill's journey to Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia to understand and document the covert underbelly of the US War on Terror. The film is riveting for the questions it asks and the footage it shows and Mr. Scahill, a journalist for The Nation, is an expert and compelling tour guide.

3) From the sublime to the slightly ridiculous, I just finished the last two of episodes of "Game of Thrones" Season Three. As a big (but rather critical) fan of George RR Martin's novels upon which the series remains impressively faithful, I found this season suffered from the same fundamental defect of its source material. We're getting to a point where there are simply too many characters and too much plot that the storytelling is getting too spread out and the pacing somewhat cumbersome. However...the infamous Blood Wedding sequence that closed out Episode Nine was as shocking and defining as it was in the book. And the final scene of Season Three with Daenarys Targarian (Khaleesi)  being lifted into the collective arms of the liberated slaves of Junkai is one of the all-time great Game of Thrones moments, right up there with the Season One finale when Daenarys emerges naked from the ashes with the baby dragons. It is so ridiculous you have to laugh but at the same time so deliciously audacious. Other Season Three highlights: any and all of Arya (Maisie Williams) Stark's scenes. This little girl is a fantastic actress who seems to be really growing into the role; Peter Dinklage's Tyrion Lannister. We didn't get much of him this season but Mr. Dinklage's ironic line readings especially in response to his nephew, mad king Joffrey, are priceless. Best line of the season, also from the final episode: "Killed a few puppies today?"; Lena Headey's ice queen Cersei continues to steal every scene she's in as does her on-screen brother, Jamie (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) Lannister. As despicable as Jamie is, Mr. Coster-Waldau manages to bring out a strange kind of humanity in the guy that has you kind of cheering for him despite all his rather egregious nastiness. Since I know what's coming, having read the novels, Season 4 should be epic.

4) Philipp Meyers' novel "The Son". If you're a fan of Cormac McCarthy or "Lonesome Dove", you gotta read this novel. I'm about halfway through so I can't give a complete review, but I will say this will most assuredly be one of my top fiction picks for 2013. Three generations of one great Texas ranch family set in 1850, 1917, 1945, and 2012. Meyers's prose is understated, assured, and driven, a hybrid of "Little Big Man" and "Giant" but wholly original. It just hit the New York Times Hardcover Bestseller List at Number 10 and I can guarantee it'll be one of the most talked-about books of the summer if not of 2013.

5) The roofdeck bar of Trump's Sixteen in Chicago's Trump Tower: some of the best views in Chicago (if not some of the most expensive drinks!) I know it's summer in Chicago when the roof deck is open. Sure, the place is a bit overpriced but it's so perfect that you almost forgive the trumped-up price. And the Wagyu beef sliders ain't bad either. Enjoy!

Children of Privilege

Hi everyone!

I want to take a few minutes this morning to alert all of you to a new campaign I've launched. Some of you may know that I'm in the process of raising funds to mount a production of my new play "Children of Privilege" here in Chicago this summer. This project is a labor of love for me and I can't thank my terrific cast enough for their continued support and enthusiasm as they go on this journey with me to achieve one of my lifelong dreams.

"Children of Privilege" is a two-act drama that tells the story of the wealthy Tolliver family. After a five year estrangement, the two surviving adult children of Constance and Henry Tolliver return with their respective significant others to the family home in the Hamptons to pose for a family photograph that will be featured alongside an article about the family in the local society rag. The children, Max and Jennifer, are both in their early-to-mid-thirties and are haunted by a tragedy that killed their other sibling, Declan--Max's identical twin--and Phoebe, Declan's pregnant fiancee, five years' previous. Max is a struggling writer with anger management issues and Jennifer is a self-proclaimed "Life-Caster" who uses social media to give herself a sense of personal validation. Both are desperate to cling onto something that gives them relevance in a world that is rapidly crumbling around them.

Their parents, Constance and Henry, have problems of their own. Constance is haunted by the notion that the illegitimate son of her husband--born from an affair--will one day invade the family compound and lay claim to the family's considerable fortune. She is desperate to preserve the family's public image and will do just about anything to ensure her family's continued social prominence, at the expense of her children (and what little remains of her marriage) if need be.

The creative process has truly been organic. My cast originally came together last August and through a series of private readings and at least three revisions, we are now in a position to take the next step: hiring a director to stage a workshop of the play for an audience this spring. This is Phase One of a two phase initiative. Phase Two will hopefully result in a full production at a small theatre here in Chicago this summer.

To learn more about this project and to donate if you so desire, please check out its page on Pub Slush, the popular crowd-sourcing site for writers and other creative types. I've pasted the link below. The campaign launched yesterday and will run for the next 30 days. On the page, you will also find an excerpt from the play as well as an introductory video message from me and additional information about the play itself, my artistic influences, and my overall goal.

I appreciate your support and I'll keep you all updated as things progress.

http://pubslush.com/books/id/163

Ciao.