Crime, Business and Alchemy

Nick Spencer, now-and-then candidate for Cincinnati council, activist on behalf of creative professionals, concert promoter, and blogger has announced the possibility he may shutter the doors of his nightclub, Alchemize, within the next year. It's located in one of the most beautiful and historic neighborhoods in the Queen City, Over-the-Rhine. Despite repeated attempts at restoration, the area has become a crime battleground, with a murder rate far ahead of most other neighborhoods [PDF] and a gradually diminishing commercial district.

But Nick's weblog has been a chronicle of nothing but break-ins, assaults and harassment from criminals who live in the area. I have worked with several nonprofit organizations in Over-the-Rhine, and it's impossible to avoid the feeling that any individual or establishment with wealth in excess of the poverty line is a ripe target. And the police seem to have little impact. People argue about this issue constantly on Cincinnati weblogs; some claim we need almost paramilitary levels of law enforcement, while others seem to think that endlessly more government-led social programs will somehow (for the first time anywhere, I guess) break the cycle of poverty, despair, and family breakdown.

Obviously this is a thorny problem, and I don't have any answers. But I hear tale told of similar neighborhoods in Baltimore where the residents finally had enough, reached deep, and battled back against drug dealers, gang-bangers and degenerates. Once that happened the efforts of the police and the government began to finally gain traction. We can hope and pray that such a spirit takes root in Over-the-Rhine one day soon. Meanwhile the ex- and suburban people who bitch about the "dangerous city" should shut their cake holes and find some opportunity to help with the soup kitchens, non-profits, and church-driven charities that exist to serve the residents, whether it's a Big Brother program or writing a check.

It certainly shouldn't take the possible closing of a nightclub to remind anyone of their fundamental obligation to take care of the needy. Nevertheless, people like Nick - entrepreneurs who actually take a risk, and instead of offering "critique" actually work to generate a couple of jobs while putting their own safety and success on the line - they deserve some genuine appreciation.

If you're in Cincinnati stop by Alchemize, if you can, in it's waning days.

[Post revised slightly, since Spencer is tentative about closing or moving the club, and has some hope that larger crowds and nearby "anchor" businesses may help.]

Behooving Ourselves Port-wise

It looks like there will be another review of the Dubai ports deal, following a lot of panicky politics from both sides and the pundit-sphere.

The idea seemed funny to Republicans, probably because it resembled plot element from '24' on Fox (Jack Bauer cross-references the decrypted file and finds out the port management company is based in the Middle East! And it was approved by administration insiders!). Meanwhile Democrats recognized that any opportunity to seem like they possess cojones on national defense and simultaneously show love to the labor unions is a big fat double no-brainer.

I'm a few days late on this, but it seems to me that Nixguy does a public service for some on the Right by calling attention to the painfully obvious:

If you haven’t noticed, the planet has been getting a LOT smaller lately. So it would behoove us to distinguish good Muslims from bad ones. And Dubai and the UAE are some of the most USA Friendly people in the (Middle East).

It's possible, of course, that the 45-day review will turn up evidence that the ports deal was a national security threat waiting to happen, and a bullet was dodged thanks to arm-waving bloggers and congress-creatures up for re-election. But we're supposed to be equal opportunity capitalists, aren't we? Are we going to let ethnic paranoia get the best of us?

Purple Haze Meadows

Anyone under the the age of 40 has spent years enduring baby boomer's endless self-involvement. From activism to rock 'n roll to space exploration we've seen American culture warped by the jaded notion that anything worth doing was discovered first and done before by this colossal demographic, and then endlessly amplified by our already-narcissistic media.

So now this bunch is considering going back to commune-style living as they live out their sunset years. A piece in the New York Times describes the concept of co-housing, whereby a raft of oldsters joins forces to share rent and play canasta. The group of Californians described in the article is admittedly a few decades older than the boomers, but the tone of the writing suggests a familiar "back to Woodstock" vibe.

Even revolutionaries need to be flexible. At Glacier Circle, where the first tulips of spring are popping up, the group had approved special wall insulation for Mr. Morrison, who has a penchant for playing Mahler's Ninth Symphony at 3 a.m. When the bass and timpani pulse through his subwoofer, his neighbor Dorie Datel, a youthful 80-year-old, just lets it slide. For Ms. Datel, whose husband left her for "the other woman" he met at Elderhostel, this group's wisdom and resolve are embedded in the square footage.

Of course, everything happens first in California. As the boomers approach their Centrum silver years we can expect more childish bickering as they steal each others medicinal pot and exchange over-enthusiastic investment advice, all the while dragging our economy slowly under the padded, pastel-toned geriatric bus.

Do I come across as annoyed? While I am tired of the boomer mindset, there is an opportunity for them to redeem themselves, in part, by pioneering more dignified ways to get old, remain healthy, and eventually kick the bucket. Less-institutional care for the elderly has worked in other contexts for generations - notably in homes for the religious, where nuns keep busy looking after one another. Maybe I'm dreaming - but if their aging self-adoration can lead to an economically-sound model for community living ... then I'm willing to entertain the idea that their overall contribution to society wasn't a net loss.

Endless Numbered Days

My doctor thinks I'm at the age when I should have my cholesterol checked. Given a family history of heart disease and high blood pressure this seems reasonable. So this morning I stopped by the hospital to have blood drawn. The laboratory room is small. A few nurses work quietly with their syringes and samples. But you have a sense that this is the entry point for many people into institutionalized care - a place where troubles that are caused by genetics or a lifetime of bad decisions are finally, and sometimes fatally exposed.

Across from me in the lounge area sat an older couple, perhaps in their seventies or eighties. He wore a baseball cap advertising farm equipment. She looked like she had been crying. They held hands - two gnarled roots tied together on the arm of the chair, waiting.

When they called my name it was quick and painless. I expect to know the results in a few days, and I expect the worst, but only because I have a deep, Irish fatalistic streak. I drive my wife crazy with dark comments about the airplane going down in flames and the handsome young husband she will acquire in her mid-forties. But truthfully I have plenty of work to do before my chips are cashed, notably in the raising of the our daughters that bounced merrily off to school this morning, preoccupied with math homework and the perils of friendship, and so perfectly oblivious to the exigencies of mortality.

Shall Not Perish

Punk was over before it began, almost thirty years ago, in a burst of rage and revolutionary upheaval. And punk was born imprinted with all of the dilemmas of commercialism versus faux "authenticity" that would plague the underground and alternative music movements of the 80s, 90s and beyond. It was always about giving the middle finger to any formal authority, even if that authority was the flabby, profit-mad mongers of (once rebellious) rock and roll itself.

So it makes me glad on some fundamental level that, when the aging band members were supposed to be indoctrinated, the Sex Pistols told the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame that it could F*** off entirely.

Our time here is short. You really have to be true to yourself, and we're not contributing by being spineless.

Hippy Republican Love

One of the problems with stereotypes, I've found, is that they are occasionally true. Sometimes the white kid with the crew cut in the red Grand Am flying dangerously past everyone in traffic while waving a middle finger does turn out to have a Young Republican sticker on his bumper. And likewise, sometimes a welfare mother does turn out to blame everyone but herself while wielding a rude and righteous sense of entitlement.

But in our complicated, unpredictable world we are obliged not to judge categorically. Homo sapiens appear to come in more varieties than the taxonomy of our narrow brains can handle. And now, fresh on the heels of South Park Conservatism comes a new discovery in diversity on the Right (and they might be my favorites, I'll admit). Crunchy Cons, a new book by Rod Dreher, explores a growing segment of the GOP that rejects consumerism, embraces organic farming and generally lives "off grid" when it comes to schools, commerce, and stripmall American culture.

This new phenomenon may or may not qualify as a growing trend. Right now they seem to lack adequate political representation - since most social conservatives are also cheek-to-jowl with the traditional corporate fatcats. But the 'National Review' considers this thesis important enough that they launched a blog about Crunchy Cons.

Will the stereotypical Republicans still dominate? Certainly the environment is shifting. Right now John McCain and Rudy Giuliani are ahead of the pack of 2008 presidential contenders. But their path to the White House runs right through a dense thicket of buttoned-down evangelical conservatives who like things their farming corporate, their cultural stylings traditional and their women back there in the kitchen, ripe with child.

Big Popularity Contest

Clive Thompson, writing in New York Magazine, describes the hard reality of blogging and how difficult it is to break through to large readerships. Flowery ideas about the meritocrisy of the blogosphere do not jibe with the cold reality that most people only have time to read A-List blogs like Instapundit, Kos, or even the Huffington Post ... the last of which recently attained prominance through celebrity clout and corporate backing.

Most of us are deligated to the B- and C-lists, with only a few regular viewers and zero chance of actual income. Not that revenue should matter, of course. Every blogger claims loudly and self-servingly that it's about the art. But privately a few will admit that a few cools Gs in pocket as compensation for their efforts would be appreciated. Mostly, though, we want mass adoration for our brilliance.

Blogging is still a dirt-cheap way to attain media karma, but connections and influence are crucial. Yes, you must deliver wit and analysis and update your site relentlessly with new and fresh material. And you can beg and pray for the golden ticket - Glenn or Andrew or one of the other A-listers linking inbound to your blog with some "Here's an insightful observation" type of accolade. But even with all of the stars aligned you might attract only a few thousand readers at best, and percolate slowly to the bottom of the middle.

I used to have more faith in the local blogosphere. But any time spent looking at websites like Cincinnati Blog, The Beacon, or Nate Livingston reveal very little interest in what other bloggers have to say. They're pleased to hawk their opinions, which usually take the form of a endless, ruthless critique of public officials and local media giants. But clippings from other weblogs are almost nonexistent, with the exception of merciless "Looks like [Insert Blogger's Name] said something else crazy again." character slams. I've been the subject of a few of these myself, and my reaction generally falls between amusement and indifference.

Frankly - and I know this is stirring the pot - but all of the above bloggers have one thing in common. They are all extremely aggressive liberals. Nate in particular seems to rant constantly and humorlessly (and to be fair, Brian Griffin is getting more evenhanded). But in contrast, Nixguy and the other conservatives in the "Southern Ohio" group are much more generous with linkage back and forth to each other and building on shared analysis.

Inevitably someone will claim that these are conservatives "marching in lockstep". But the question remains - why don't the Lefties do a better job helping each other along? Can the karma be shared, or is it always ultimately a matter of becoming the alpha dog?

Lessons from Tall Afar

When it comes to coverage from Iraq it's hard to reckon the ground-level reality. Correspondents in the media are huddled inside the Green Zone and the backdrops are always familiar when they’re on camera. They deliver a body count followed by a statement by U.S. commanders leavened with weary skepticism.

Whether you support the war or not the only way to stay consistently informed is to supplement your diet with Iraqi blogs, and soldier blogs of all varieties. Even then you must consider the motivations and biases behind this information. But at least you can consider life outside of the Green Zone, in the places where reconstruction mixes with insurgency and nascent, tentative democracy.

The Washington Post bucks the trend today with a story about the 3rd Armored Cavalry division. In the city of Tall Afar they managed to win the approval of the locals while slowly and patiently removing the militants - first by arresting them, finally by a slow and calculated sweep through the town. Nowadays there are signs of success. Local civilians tip off the coalition when the insurgents bury an IED, ethnic Sunnis are joining the police force, and the mayor has lunch with the commanding officer.

All of this thanks to a serious effort at cultural understanding. Call it political correctness, call it smart operational tactics - the soldiers in this division discovered that they needed a firm engagement with customs, culture, and language to effectively sort the neutrals and civilians from the dead-ender insurgents. And to do this without creating more of the latter in the process they needed to move patiently in the realm of tribal affiliation and familial ties. And the folks in Washington have taken notice. Many similar situations have seen much more pandemonium, animosity, and bloodshed.

Business leaders talk about "innovation". But many people would be surprised at how this is put in practice by the United States military. Great soldiers follow commands, but exceptional ones adjust, improvise, and think resourcefully about the true nature of the problem. I know this firsthand from talking directly with some very bright people in the armed forces, and they consistently impress me with how much lateral thinking and creativity is applied in the field and encouraged by management.

Now if only we can get politicians to abandon antiquated and unnecessary "defense systems" in favor the leaner approach suggested by the Quadrennial Defense Review. The much-vaunted asymmetrical nature of contemporary conflict requires far fewer fighter jets and battleships and many more robot spy planes and information systems. This means we sometimes need to disappoint our friends in the defense contractor business by thinking outside of the box on these billion-dollar boondoggles.

My Broadband Valentine

There I was, waiting for the Time Warner service truck to arrive for the second time this month - this time because the signal keeps magically fritzing out all of a sudden right in the middle of an crucial download or insightful blog post. I had come to expect this, I guess. You reach a certain age when you make bargains, and you come to terms with what you can reasonably tolerate.

But when the bell rang it wasn't Time Warner.

It was Josh.

Josh works for Current/Cinergy - a new broadband provider in competition with Time Warner Cincinnati and Cincinnati Bell Zoomtown. He started talking provocatively about how he could offer me speeds of one megabit consistently through the power wires in my house, without a lot of extra hassle. I knew I shouldn't listen, but the first thirty days were free, and the monthly rate was a good $15 bucks cheaper a month. So agreed to the trial.

Price point might turn a few heads, but the real test comes with reliability. Power can be fickle, especially in this older house with 110 wiring. When the six year old decides to microwave a Ken doll in the next room will my browser get slower? Will the actual performance vary during times of the day, or during peak electricity season when the A/C units are humming up and down Spacetropic Avenue?

Time Warner eventually showed up and fixed my service (for now) but it remains to be seen if the will ever make me a better deal. It's a competitive market here in the Queen City, and you can't rest on your fat profit margin forever. Somebody in the Enquirer should do a side-by-side comparison feature article of all of these services in the Tempo section. But ... that would require almost a late-90s level technical understanding of the Internet, so I won't cross my fingers.

Olympics, Irony, and Apple Pie

When they haul out the "American mosaic" business in the schmaltzy NBC coverage - when they run through the biography of kids from Texas, Chicago, or New Hampshire and they make special notice of the fact that our Olympians look like Americans, which is to say, like people from anywhere in the world except probably stronger and better looking - this still gets me worked up with pride.

I know there's some manipulation at work. And I know there are cynics who will sneer if they detect patriotism, and take any opportunity to throw manure at any positive conception of our country. For them it's another chance to strike up the familiar litany of grievances about injustice, from Jefferson's slaves to the fake 1950s - with selfish corporations, hypocrisy, and the whole laundry list of negativism ticked off in tedious detail.

But the Olympics are simpler than politics. Our tribal affiliations are on display, certainly, as we parade into the stadium behind our standard. But it's impossible to miss how the countries of the world seem indisputably excited to see one another. The full flower of youth is in bloom in these waving athletes, and some useful common principles - fairness and competition - are on display for every culture to appreciate. (And, of course, there's always some totally smoking chick from central Europe to remind you of other universal values.)

So I'll say this, even while acknowledging the heavy "Team America" irony that lurks behind the honest sentiment: I hope the athletic performances are spectacular from every corner of the globe, but at the end of the day I hope United States kicks everybody's ass left, right, and sideways in an extremely good-natured and wholesome way - while scoring a few phone numbers and promising to see them again at the next full-scale military invasion.

And one final note on the opening ceremony - which the press kept describing as 'surreal'. It reminded me at times of a Terry Gilliam production. I remarked to my wife that I expected the Baron Von Munchausen to make an appearance, or a giant Monty Python foot to come down and squash some of the performers.

Miscellaneous Hootenanny

My topics and attitude lately have been too serious, and it's time to lighten up a little. Issues usually don't get under my skin, but for some reason the editorial cartoon situation alarms me deeply. Enough about that. Time for a rambling post about all kinds of miscellaneous items.

For any one who working in a corporate IT environment (or may have in the past) the BBC series "The IT Crowd" is worth a few laughs. It's not Ricky Gervais, but supposedly its get better and better. All 25 minutes of the first episode are online at Google Video.

Related to this, I've been reading quite a bit about how the new content distribution model is changing very rapidly. Google might make a very large footprint in this market. More importantly iTunes video has been a success, and even seems to be increasing the TV viewership of the shows that have been made available to download. I won't pretend to know any more than the 10 zillion other people who are observing this transformation, but this much is clear: The massive investment made in the late 90s in Internet infrastructure such as fiber optics might finally be paying dividends.

And finally I'm in the market for a new gadget, preferably one that will allow me to enjoy some wifi capability and write more blog posts on-the-go. I've compared low-end laptops, and it's possible to get an impressive array of features for a relatively small amount of money. But I'm also eyeing the Nokia 770, a wireless mini-tablet that has earned decent reviews for the Debian Linux implementation of an Opera browser and simple wireless connectivity. It looks useful for browsing and scanning RSS newa feeds, but I expect it’s clumsy for typing.

Finally, on a family note, our 10-year-old daughter is overextended. She's playing volleyball, she's in a musical, a variety show, and the church choir - not to mention girl scouts and saxophone lessons. I realize the plight of parenthood involves driving everywhere and encouraging them every time they express a passionate interest - but unfortunately 10 year old girls express many passionate interests, and it may be time for more self-examination and kitchen table conversations before we hit the sign-up list.

And I am tired of these blank gray Ohio winter skies.

Prophets and Complacency

The Enquirer editorial page on the cartoon Mohammed situation:

The lessons to be learned are those commonly taught in many religions: Do not seek to offend, and when offended, meet insult with forbearance and forgiveness.

A nice turn of phrase, and evocative of the heads-down conservatism that is the heart and soul of Cincinnati. This stalwart mindset, at it's best, entails traditionalism and mutually-assured respect. At it's worst it amounts to this: Mind your own business, or move quietly away from the problem.

But this is a clash that won't go away with Sunday-school nuggets of wisdom. The minority of agitators who have decided to exploit this issue are "offended" to the point of homicide by comic strips, dancing, and women in public without several layers of shapeless bed linen to conceal their lascivious forms.

More importantly we are in the middle of resolving incompatible conceptions of liberty, freedom, and human rights on a planet that has become very small. Government is built on principles that are assumed to be commonly-held - and to put it in geek-speak the software that runs our society and that which runs societies like Syria and Iran has some known incompatibilities.

We shouldn't be comfortable with the senseless defamation of religion, and we should cultivate forbearance. And it's true these Danish editors and cartoonists picked a fight - one which the haters and rabble-rousers exploited. But can this incompatibility go unresolved? Free speech is the core of liberty. It helps to safeguard pluralistic societies and nourish them with all of the expression, accord, and disagreement that come along with democracy.

Don't you believe in these things? Don't you think newspapers in America should be the first to speak strongly and unequivocally in their defense?

Cartoon Jihad Journalism

Some mornings, depending on the parking situation downtown, I find myself walking by the offices of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

When I was a teenager I went through a phase when I considered a career in journalism. Russell Baker's Growing Up and a Mencken biography instilled in me a maudlin appreciation for the old profession, and even now I sometimes imagine that within that nondescript office building can be found a newsroom raging on the adrenaline rush of deadlines, pursuing big stories about gritty local crime and tawdry politics. But this isn't the newspaper business today, and most likely it wasn't quite the news business of yesteryear either.

The brutal 24/7 newscycle demands more than a few rote local news reports and an agreement with the associated press. Corporate media giants must not only do battle with one another they've also got all of us crackpot bloggers creating a whole alternate economy of information. Stories have a different inertia in this environment. Their importance can't be accelerated if the public isn't interested, and likewise, compelling stories won't be ignored.

This is why coverage of the Cartoon Jihad baffles me. This is a great story of free speech in a democratic society, and it's an opportunity for the type of soul-searching that journalists typically enjoy. While bloggers everywhere have decided to re-print the cartoons, CNN contorts itself with pixilated images and an appeal to sensitivity.

Here in Cincinnati we have a Pulitzer-class editorial cartoonist, Jim Borgman - one of the most consistently inventive and engaging practitioners of the craft. I was pleased to see that he recently began a weblog to chronicle the doodling and thought process behind his cartoons. On the editorial page his work looks effortless, but a glimpse behind the scenes shows the careful labor involved in making a concise, funny editorial cartoon.

Any time an aging baby-boomer embraces a new technology like weblogs it seems like sour grapes to make any complaint. It's like hassling grandma for not responding to email - it's a miracle she can logon in the first place. And certainly Borgman's blog is not intended to be a forum for his general opinion on issues of the day. But I can't help but wonder about his perspective on the Danish cartoon controversy. Free speech or sensitivity? They're both defensible positions - but here you have editorial cartoons playing a key role in geopolitics and opinion. Jim, what do you think of this turn of events?

The Perfidy of Images

There's a blow-up in Europe over freedom of speech - and the fallout is global. An editorial cartoon reprinted in a Danish paper featured cartoon images of the prophet Mohammed. This is a terrible insult to the Muslim faith, and violates a strict historical taboo against representation of the prophet. So guess what happened?

First, of course, some on the continent dropped their croissants and apologized reflexively. A French magazine editor was sacked. But others in the European media are spoiling for a free-speech fight, and readily admit this was an act of antagonism. A societal conflict is rapidly escalating between traditional citizens of European society (who only recently began to get along) and the influx of Middle Eastern immigrants who hold on tightly to their cultural and religious identity even after they are transplanted.

So, thanks to the lighting dissemination of worldwide media - there were men with machine guns standing around the EU consulate in Gaza yesterday. Protests and "Death to ... (fill in the blank)" chanting has erupted in several cities. But what interests me is this news item:

In Saudi Arabia, Prince Nayef, the interior minister and staunch conservative, said the cartoons were an insult to all Muslims, and suggested the Vatican should intervene to put an end to the spread of the cartoons.

This type of statement relies on a seismic lack of understanding of how Western society has been ordered for hundreds of years. It adds unfortunate credibility to people who claim that this struggle is between medieval and modern worlds. In states like Saudi Arabia, "the government" is allowed to exist at the leisure of religious leaders and polices are executed only with their express consent. Because their world works that way they naturally imagine that Benedict XVI could pick up the phone and threaten a newspaper with censorship.

Leaders like Prince Nayef are smart enough to know better. But his comment was designed more for his internal constituents, who do believe such things because they are fed on a steady diet of hatred towards the West and Israel. Nayef knows the Vatican has nothing to do with this, but the desired goal among radicals is a frenzy of hostility towards Europe.

Cue the sophomore socialists who will rabidly equivocate between this and the Tom Toles affair, whereby a cartoonist received a letter from all six Joint Chiefs of Staff over his depiction of servicemen and women who have been injured in the line of duty. I haven't checked the usual suspects in the blogophere, but I expect an obtuse and willful failure to appreciate the chasm of difference. A stiff letter is how we communicate displeasure in civil society - nobody is "taking away his rights", as the weak accusation always goes.

As a Catholic and a vigorous supporter of the arts I am familiar with all of the ways Christianity has been explored, celebrated, desecrated, and lampooned. But I apparently have a thicker skin than some of our friends in the Middle East – who don’t think twice about beheadings on Arab TV but go literally ballistic over a line drawing.

Pompous Circumstances

The highlight of last nights extravaganza actually came in the pre-game coverage, when Joe Scaraborough brazenly admitted to Chris Matthews that the appointment of Sam Alito to the Supreme Court signaled a new day dawning - that yes, basically, the president is trying to pack the bench with stealth conservatives, and Matthews, Russert and all of the other former Carter administration officials who make up the NBC news room could bank on the cold reality that the score in this culture war is now 6 to 3, bee-yotch. He stopped short of saying that Roe vs. Wade would be dismantled by Friday, but the implication was clear.

Then in notable contrast the speech itself was wrapped in pleas for comity and cooperation among the political parties. It was received, of course, with the old mutually exclusive clapping-and-standing routine by the Democrats and Republicans as an indication, alternately, of defiance or support. If the president were more serious about this nonpartisan malarkey he should have stepped down from the podium, started grabbing congressmen and women by the sleeve, and forcefully rearranged them to break up the wolfpacks.

The presidents science initiatives can be summed up as follows:

Electric Engine Hybrids = GOOD
Animal-Human Hybrids = BAD

My remaining notes: Hillary needs to be advised by her staffers that it's important, especially if you aspire to the presidency, to always act like the camera is trained directly on you. Gum chewing and eye-rolling won't win the 35% of the country that consists of centrists and swing voters. And McCain earned his look-at-me-I'm-so- independent stripes by being the only one clapping when Dubya suggested that the practice of legislative earmarking (by which a bill is laden with constituent-friendly bacon) needs to be ended. And the "Democratic response" (a masochistic practice which began during the Reagan years) was a real eye-glazer. Every year the opposition folks who get assigned this unenviable task put on a brave show, and they must earn political hardship pay - but I suspect, secretly, they would rather commit hare kari with a blunt spoon.

Nora Ephron contributes her perspective. (She's dismayed.)