WHM Day 23: Barbara Jordan

I saw a post on Twitter about Barbara Jordan, a former congresswoman from Texas, and was reminded about what Molly Ivins, another Texas feminist, had to say about her:

Her great bass voice rolled forth, “My faith in the Con-sti-tu-tion is whole, it is com-plete, it is to-tal.” She sounded like the Lord God Almighty and her implacable legal logic caught the attention of the entire nation.

She was the first black woman elected to the House from the South and gave keynote speeches at the 1976 and 1992 Democratic conventions. Jordan died in 1996, and she was the first black woman to be buried in the Texas State Cemetery. A statue honoring her life stands at the University of Texas at Austin. It’s a shame she died so young, because we could use her strong voice to lead us forward toward equality.

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Etiquette for the digital era

I like reading a funny e-mail as much as the next person, but I think 80 percent of e-mails that get passed around are junk. Many are chain letters that promise something exciting will happen if you forward the message to 10 people; these are, of course, lies. Others take aim at specific groups of people. I tend to delete junk forwards without looking at them, but in the past couple of years I have replied to three e-mails, all sent from relatives, that attacked Muslims and immigrants. The most recent one was about a supposed Muslim stamp that President Obama introduced. I exchanged a couple of messages with the sender, then checked out Snopes.com and found out the whole thing was false. No response when I pointed this out to the sender.

Even if your message is funny, I’m less likely to look at it if you send me five or six messages a day. Same with Facebook posts. Even if I’m interested in the topic, I’m going to scroll on by because reading everything takes too much time. I’m much more likely to pay attention if you post or e-mail once a day.

Petitions are another thing I think there should be limits on forwarding. I sign one or two per day, probably, but then I post them on Twitter or mention them on the blog. I don’t necessarily think my whole contact list will be interested in the same causes I am.

One of the reasons I started this blog with Rick is because I don’t feel comfortable sharing all of my political opinions on Facebook. I’m not ashamed of them, and I do make occasional posts that are political, but in general I don’t think a personal Facebook page is the proper outlet for passionate interests, whatever they are. I’m more interested in what and how you’re doing personally than a story I could find myself on CNN.com.

So here are a few general guidelines for today’s digital age:

1. Think twice before passing along an e-mail that targets a specific group of people (Muslims, Christians, men, women, the mentally ill, etc). You’re likely to make yourself look racist or sexist to at least one person. When in doubt, err on the side of caution and don’t send it.

2. Check Snopes for urban legends before passing along a message. Just because you get it in an e-mail doesn’t mean it’s true.

3. Keep in mind not everyone has a chance to constantly monitor her e-mail. Try to be considerate by passing along or posting one or two things a day instead of five or six, which can quickly clutter inboxes.

Are there any digital habits you wish people would rethink?

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“Arrows” by The Lonely Forest hits the mark

Those of you who are regular visitors to Progressive Blogic are familiar with my appreciation for good rock music and have probably seen my two prior posts about The Lonely Forest from Anacortes, Washington. They are an amazing band from the beautiful Pacific Northwest. But, unlike the grunge-era bands who put the Seattle area on the music map, The Lonely Forest’s music is largely more hopeful and fun. Their terrific five-track EP came out in September 2010.

The band’s first full-length album, Arrows, was released yesterday (March 22nd) and I am not the least bit disappointed. The album is simply astounding.  I personally bought the deluxe edition with two extra tracks (14 overall) off  iTunes. I honestly do not recall hearing such a good debut full-length album by a band since Logic Will Break Your Heart by The Stills in 2003.

Arrows begins with a introspective ballad, builds its rockin’ and ass-kickiing intensity throughout and then concludes with another great ballad. The two bonus tracks are nice additions to the disk and are worth the extra two bucks to purchase of the deluxe edition.

People, you seriously need to listen to this band. The Lonely Forest are something quite special. There are so many great tracks on this album it is difficult to pick favorite songs. After a couple of listens, here’s my initial list of favorite tracks on Arrows:

• Turn Off This Song and Go Outside (on EP) see video below
• Two Notes and a Beat
• Coyote (on KEXP podcasts through iTunes)
• I Don’t Want to Live There (on EP)
• Tunnels
• Woe is Me…I am Ruined
• Arrows
• Be Everything
• (I am)The Love Addict
• We Sing in Time
• End it Now
• The Tide (bonus track)
• (I am) The Love Skeptic
• Pickett’s Charge (bonus track)

Forget the new Strokes album, Angles, for Arrows by The Lonely Forest is the best new release to come out on March 22nd and frankly it is also the best new album of 2011, to date. I give it a 12+ out of 10.

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