Friday, Nov. 28, 2003 - 1:57 p.m.

Thanksgiving

Last night I had the pleasure of sharing a Thanksgiving dinner with a family I barely knew. One of the family members was a young man who had recently converted to Islam. While the plate of turkey was making its rounds, his firey grandmother said to the muslim, "I think you should go join the Taliban. I mean it. We gotta do something about that situation in Iraq." After clarifying the difference between the Taliban and Al-Quaida, the young muslim smiled and replied that he had no interest in becoming a terrorist, but appreciated his grandmother's anti-Bush sentiment.

I used to scorn Thanksgiving, reciting Ice-T's lyrics, "think I'll sit down like a fool and eat turkey?/ Well that's the day your forefathers jerked me!". Nowadays, I can't pass up a good opportunity for social contact, not to mention the food. I got invited to 4 Thanksgivings this year. I feel so grateful for that, but wish they could have been on 4 consecutive days, instead of mutually exclusive. And what a privilege to be present for special moments like the one above, which was even better than 12 years ago, at a Thanksgiving at the home of a family of successful entrepreneurs, when I announced at the table that I was a communist. I give thanks for that smart-mouthed grandmother.

I've been listening to the Sex Pistols and Seal, and classical radio, and pop radio. Outkast's new song, "Hey Ya", struck me as strangely familiar, and I couldn't figure out why until it struck me that it was dead-on in the style of David Bowie, circa 1980. Last night, the college station was playing Japanese hiphop, and now there's one of those DJs who mixes 2-4 disparate audio recordings simultaneously, with extremely surreal results. I love that stuff. Right now, they're playing the bluegrass version of Pink Floyd's The Wall.

I don't blame the voters of California. After all, even if it had been me in the voting booth, how could I have resisted flipping the lever for Arnold Swartzenegger? I mean, yeah, I was cross at him for promoting militarism and machismo and absurd body images, but still what could be cooler than voting for the governator? Plus, in his latest film, he's naked again. A naked governor, even cooler! I have a friend in California who voted for Gary Coleman. "Whatchu talikin' about?" I queried. Swartzenegger versus Coleman; it's no contest. And it's not like putting a right-wing Austrian into executive office has ever led to any problems or anything. Just be thankful I've renounced voting.

Anarchy Man turned me onto this new blog of an African American market anarchist in Missouri. I like his blog quite a lot, even though I agree with only half of his points.

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