It's all about keepin' it real. I know this doesn't make any sense right now, but it will, because we're talking about veracity. ID theft, Internet scamming, Nigerian letters, and the tortuous process of activating a new credit card—a previously solid world is starting to fade and the boundaries that define the real from the imaginary are blurring like never before. It isn't a question of figuring out where the line is anymore, because those days are gone and they won't be coming back. Instead, what we're learning to deal with is a kind of quantum-reality, where we make estimates of believability, playing the percentages, gambling with reality and hoping that we win.

The problem here, as you've guessed already, is that keeping your senses tuned to the task is hard work that demands almost constant concentration. And people generally avoid work whenever they can. So there's going to be a steadily mounting pressure to fold your hand and shrug it all off: "Who cares? It doesn't matter anyway." Then, in additional to physical cocooning, we'll see widespread informational cocooning, too. First, imagine a society where true and false have lost all meaning and the only criteria to evaluate are surface appearances. Then ask yourself if you're already living in one.

Back in Black

Actually, it's Women in Black, an international feminist protest organization that makes a point through the effective use of austerity and silence.

The WIB branch in Detroit is going to be demonstrating in Hamtramck, Michigan tomorrow at Pope Park, standing in quietude to get people thinking about the meaning of war in Iraq and "U.S.-sponsored violence around the world."

They keep silent to encourage reflection on the issue of violence and to draw attention, to engage in quiet debates with passersby and to suggest the somberness of the wars they detest. They dress in black to signify mourning.

Hello, Dali

Looks like that Salvador Dali heist at Rikers Island was an inside job—as if it could have been anything else.

One of the officers involved in the theft is squealing on the scam, fingering himself and four of his cronies. Since it was only the replacement mounting that gave them away, you might say they were framed. Turns out that they used a phony fire drill as cover for the caper, practicing once the night before, then doing it again for real.

Just before that drill, supervisors cleared a path for the robbery by ordering out staff who weren't in on the job—demanding that one guard who has never taken a lunch break take a break, sources said.

The Candyman Can

An FBI child pornography operation has been underway targeting the members of something called the Candyman Website. We're glad to see that federal judge Denny Chin has thrown out the evidence in one prosecution, possibly clearing the door for more acquittals around the nation.

The problem isn't that the FBI was going after a kiddie porn group. Power to 'em for that. The sticking point is that the warrants they've been using are a fabrication of deceit and outright lies. Even though they've netted some child molesters this way, the cases are "fruit of the poisoned tree."

The F.B.I. affidavit claimed that anyone who had signed up to join the Internet group at the center of the investigation automatically received child pornography from other members through an e-mail list.

The Paper Chase

State Education Dept. honchos in New York are at a loss to explain how this question appeared on a standardized reading exam for fourth-graders (follows a short article on strep throat):

"According to the article, which sentence is a fact?"

a. All bacteria cause illness.

b. Most viruses are harmless.

c. Viruses are cured with medicine.

d. Strep A is caused by bacteria.

On Da Fo Real

Now we come to our main story, an explication of the ascendance of the slang term "ghetto." It's come a long way since Elvis used it to redefine maudlin and Mayfield sharpened it up. According to this report, "ghetto" is now a complimentary adjective.

It can describe how someone dresses, talks, even how they think. Doing something unusual, being innovative, or just being frugal are examples of being ghetto.

Which brings us back to where we began, since "ghetto" in this sense refers to a real, urgent and unaffected reality. In mainstream culture, things are less and less what they seem, and if meaning is increasingly derived from surface appearance, then that becomes all that is projectively valued as well. Not so ghetto-wise, where experiential truths penetrate the veneer and are wholly believable.

Until someone burns you for $140 on a dope deal, anyway.

5:53:56 PM       

It's all about keepin' it real. I know this doesn't make any sense right now, but it will, because we're talking about veracity. ID theft, Internet scamming, Nigerian letters, and the tortuous process of activating a new credit card—a previously solid world is starting to fade and the boundaries that define the real from the imaginary are blurring like never before. It isn't a question of figuring out where the line is anymore, because those days are gone and they won't be coming back. Instead, what we're learning to deal with is a kind of quantum-reality, where we make estimates of believability, playing the percentages, gambling with reality and hoping that we win.

The problem here, as you've guessed already, is that keeping your senses tuned to the task is hard work that demands almost constant concentration. And people generally avoid work whenever they can. So there's going to be a steadily mounting pressure to fold your hand and shrug it all off: "Who cares? It doesn't matter anyway." Then, in additional to physical cocooning, we'll see widespread informational cocooning, too. First, imagine a society where true and false have lost all meaning and the only criteria to evaluate are surface appearances. Then ask yourself if you're already living in one.

Back in Black

Actually, it's the Women in Black, an international feminist protest organization that makes a point through the effective use of austerity and silence.

The WIB branch in Detroit is going to be demonstrating in Hamtramck, Michigan tomorrow at Pope Park, standing in quietude to get people thinking about the meaning of war in Iraq and "U.S.-sponsored violence around the world."

They keep silent to encourage reflection on the issue of violence and to draw attention, to engage in quiet debates with passersby and to suggest the somberness of the wars they detest. They dress in black to signify mourning.

Hello, Dali

Looks like that Salvador Dali heist at Rikers Island was an inside job—as if it could have been anything else.

One of officers involved in the theft is squealing on the scam, fingering himself and four of his cronies. Since it was only the replacement mounting that gave them away, you might say they were framed. Turns out that they used a phony fire drill as cover for the caper, practicing once the night before, then doing it again for real.

Just before that drill, supervisors cleared a path for the robbery by ordering out staff who weren't in on the job—demanding that one guard who has never taken a lunch break take a break, sources said.

The Candyman Can

An FBI child pornography operation has been underway targeting the members of something called the Candyman Website. We're glad to see that federal judge Denny Chin has thrown out the evidence in one prosecution, possibly clearing the door for more acquittals around the nation.

The problem isn't that the FBI was going after a kiddie porn group. Power to 'em for that. The sticking point is that the warrants they've been using are a fabrication of deceit and outright lies. Even though they've netted some child molesters this way, the cases are "fruit of the poisoned tree."

The F.B.I. affidavit claimed that anyone who had signed up to join the Internet group at the center of the investigation automatically received child pornography from other members through an e-mail list.

The Paper Chase

State Education Dept. honchos in New York are at a loss to explain how this question appeared on a standardized reading exam for fourth-graders (follows a short article on strep throat):

"According to the article, which sentence is a fact?"

a. All bacteria cause illness.

b. Most viruses are harmless.

c. Viruses are cured with medicine.

d. Strep A is caused by bacteria.

On Da Fo Real

Now we come to our main story, an explication of the ascendance of the slang term "ghetto." It's come a long way since Elvis used it to redefine maudlin and Mayfield sharpened it up. According to this report, "ghetto" is now a complimentary adjective.

It can describe how someone dresses, talks, even how they think. Doing something unusual, being innovative, or just being frugal are examples of being ghetto.

Which brings us back to where we began, since "ghetto" in this sense refers to a real, urgent and unaffected reality. In mainstream culture, things are less and less what they seem, and if meaning is increasingly derived from surface appearance, then that becomes all that is projectively valued as well. Not so ghetto-wise, where experiential truths penetrate the veneer and are wholly believable.

Until someone burns you for $140 on a dope deal, anyway.

5:34:18 PM