Something from New York City

Yes, this was about 2 weeks ago, but I'm just getting to share a few pictures from New York City.

I've been working, very slowly, on a Web site redesign, and so that's been eating up what little time I spend on pictures and such on my computer ...

John Lennon's memorial site


Resurrection


As for the final touches to the Web site redesign ... give me another week or 2!

Music to My Ears

So my splurge in posting is drawing me ever nearer to 500, which, if this were a TV show, would be quite notable ...

But, what prompted me to write today is a column I read on Wired magazine online regarding this Recording Industry Association of America's file sharing lawsuits, which recently returned a verdict of $220,000 to a single mother of 2 in Minnesota.

I've been quite upset with the way the music industry has been acting of late, so much so that I was part of a letter writing campaign back in my college days when Napster was getting to be all the rage.

I lambasted the ever-rising CD prices - I worked at Tower Records at the time and helped re-label the entire inventory a dollar higher - and the decreasing quality of the product.

How is Britney Spears (worth less or worthless) and The Beatles (worthy) even comparable, and yet the prices were the same. To counter myself on that very issue, The Beatles have long paid back all costs of their almost decade-long run, meaning more of the money should be going to The Beatles and less to the music industry.

So, most of my music purchases these days comes from the iTunes Music Store or was coming from eMusic, or friends.

I think I'll continue that way, unless more artists move through different and more fair business models. I can only hope more people and artists find alternatives.

Rethinking Columbus Day

I wrote about this last year for Columbus Day, but, now, working for the oldest continuous African-American newspaper in the United States, I have been given yet another point of view.

That being that Africans were in the Americas - Central & South - long before Columbus, even before the times the Irish and Vikings were to have landed on North American continent.

But, the story that did run in my paper included comments from an African American Studies professor from Temple who wasn't completely against Columbus. The ramifications of his journey made him an imperialist, but he was a product of the times, and if it wasn't him, it would have been someone else.

It was his voyage to the "New World" that drastically altered human history, but it would be nice to see history books make this distinction, correcting centuries of miseducation.

Here's to hoping. In the meantime, we'll all have to investigate the truth ourselves, as education in America is less about being correct and more about pushing a certain agenda.

Back from New York City

That was actually yesterday. Today back to work, and it went remarkably well. I think New York did the trick ...

But, what's the first picture I put up? The end result of a grocery story trip that yielded even more tea, the necessity to organize the tea thereby find a mix of types to send to the shore house with Michael.

To be honest, today was the second time in as many days that tea was added to the collection ...

I bought tea at McNulty's in New York City and Chris and Michael bought at Argo Tea in Chicago.

But, the end result is this:

Tea Fetish, I'm told

A New Weekend, A New Trip

It hardly sounds that luxurious. Last weekend I was in New Jersey trying to get the last of the nice weather in. That happened in Asbury Park, but the short bike ride with Chris and Michael and the chilly time on the beach ended Sunday too quickly.

And now it's the next weekend, which seems best to be at the beach, but I am off to New York City to stay the weekend with my friend Chris visiting from Atlanta, a friend of his from that city down South and another friend of his now in Chicago.

I'll also be running into Cassie, friend and co-worker, and perhaps another friend Sammy from Philadelphia.

It seems New York City is the place to be this weekend, and why not. They've got a leather festival.

My camera will be clicking away this Sunday ...