Other Stuff

Crazily enough: the Jets have beaten Indianapolis and New England and will be playing Pittsburgh next week.  Crazy!

PBS posts the view of Brianna Lee, as her father, Edwin Lee, is sworn in as interim mayor of San Francisco, the first Asian-American in the position of mayor of SF.  Lee would be different than the previous mayor (and… he’s an APA lawyer!).

Brooklyn Historical Society and the 1770 Map restoration.

An interesting look at old Tavern on the Green, while it’s not in operation (or awaiting something to replace it, whatever that might be).

I didn’t even realize it: the comic strip of Brenda Starr came to an end.  How sad.  She was a  pioneer woman journalist with the mysterious love interest in Basil St. John (the man with the eye patch) and funny friends and weird adventures.  They really don’t make comic strips like that anymore.  Then again, were there still readers of comic strips, much less readers of dead tree newspapers?

And, oh yes, as this is triscribe and we’re APA’s and lawyers: let’s not forget the reaction to Yale Law Professor Amy Chua’s book, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.”   Wall Street Journal did an excerpt, which sent the APA bloggers into Red Alert.  Via San Francisco Chronicle, Jeff Yang gets further perspective from Amy Chua concerning that excerpt.   On Disgrasian.com, the point is that the book is a memoir, not a how-to – but, as Disagrasian notes: it’s not clear why Chua still had to take the perspective of Immigrant-1st Generation Parent to torture her kids to success – when maybe it wasn’t that necessary to take the hard line.

Sure, I suppose reading the whole book gives a better sense of Chua’s view of parenting, but still: all that controversy with the book – I doubt that Chua will cry to the bank. (though: I kind of expected that a Yale Law prof would have better sense of responsibility about all the craziness that ensued. Just sayin’).

And, because we’re APA lawyers: please note that Yul Kwon’s leaving the FCC (them’s the feds) to go back to tv (PBS, but still – tv!). He will likely not be shirtless on PBS. That’s ok. Sort of.

Slate’s Farhad Manjoo points out why we don’t need to do two spaces between sentences anymore.  Sorry, but I was taught to use two spaces after a period when typing. Yes, it is an ingrained and arbitrary habit done over 20 years now. But, it’s not like I’m really wasting space. Plus, I find seeing space is easier on the eyes. But, that’s just me… 😛

The new horoscope sign: Ophiuchus.   CNN notes that there’s more to this whole horoscope change than we think though.

So it goes, I guess.  I’m not impressed by 2011 so far (besides the Jets making the universe all very weird).  Maybe 2011 will get better.  Eventually.

John Legend — Pride (In the Name of Love)

John Legend — Pride (In the Name of Love) Source: www.youtube.com      Today’s soundtrack – a nice tribute to Dr. King     

Source: www.youtube.com
    Today’s soundtrack – a nice tribute to Dr. King    

The rest is here: John Legend — Pride (In the Name of Love)

Extended Stay Hotels

Martin Luther King, Jr., Day 2011

Among the things we remember when we think of Martin Luther King, Jr., is the “I Have a Dream Speech,” as David Weigel of Slate notes.  The story behind the speech, in the Washington Post, by Clarence B. Jones, MLK’s lawyer and speechwriter.  Thanks to a hat tip from Swampland at Time.com, I also link to the Stanford collection of MLK materials.

Thought that it was interesting that the NYC Bar posted this on their website: a reflection of Martin Luther King’s speech at the City Bar in 1965.  Institutions with long histories have really fascinating histories.  The City Bar notes:

In his 1965 speech, Dr. King called on the moral and practical obligations of the legal profession to justice and the rule of law in America:

“Standing before you in the House of this Association, whose very cornerstone is an abiding respect for the law, I am impelled to wonder who is better qualified to demand an end to this debilitating lawlessness, to better understand the mortal danger to the very fabric of our democracy when human rights are flaunted.”

He reaffirmed that, despite violence and legal segregation, his faith in the law and lawyers as instruments of justice had not been shaken, continuing:

“Your profession should be proud of its contributions. You should be aware, as indeed I am, that the road to freedom is now a highway because lawyers throughout the land, yesterday and today, have helped clear the obstructions, have helped eliminate roadblocks, by their selfless, courageous espousal of difficult and unpopular causes.”

Finally, Dr. King expressed hope that America, even in the face of fierce opposition, would ultimately fulfill its promise as a country of legal equality, proclaiming that “I do not despair of the future.  We as Negroes will win our freedom all over our country because the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is America’s destiny.”

NY Times’ City Room blog, with a post by Sam Roberts, notes MLK’s relationship with NYC.

PBS NewsHour’s Rundown blog has a nice list of MLK-related things.

Slate posts a fascinating slide show of MLK-related images.

Things to think about on this day.  It’s the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, when this country’s lack of civility and the revolution took another step to end slavery and make a better union.  Progress isn’t inevitable; but that doesn’t mean we give it up.  We need to figure that out.