2009 in Review (before 2011 begins)

I'm back, and I apologize to all around the world who have been waiting very patiently for a new post for the past oh . . . . . year or so now. I thought I'd try to make more of a habit of posting (choose and adjective) interesting/controversial/informative/funny/none of the above perspectives on various topice of importance. With this first, return-to-action post I thought I'd pitch a softball, a nice easy review of some 2009 events. These are in no particular order of importance, and there's no way I can promise chronological rank because I can barely remember what I did last week. The following are just a few of the things that stuck out in my mind from last year:

A) America Day at Madame Toussaud's (sp?) in London: on 20 JAN 2009, the famous wax museum let everyone with an American passport in for free in honor of Barak Obama's inauguration! You know I couldn't pass THAT up- the free bit, that is. That day, not only did we get to go on a "date" to the wax museum (and romantic it was), but we also got to see BO sworn into office, bringing that intangible hope to many Americans. OK, so maybe it was only about 55% of Americans, but that's way more than in either of the Bush elections. And it was very reassuring to see W and Laura ride off in Marine whatever the number changes to when you're no longer the Prez. Of course Cheney is still lurking around in his lair, probably plotting the first US coup.

BO's first year has been not quite what many had predicted. I am hoping that is more a symptom of the challenges of getting anything logical done in DC than his shifting from an evil socialist who wants to make society more egalatarian to el presidente behind the latest Afghanistan surge and the still-opened Guantanamo "detention" center. He also stepped in it on the Honduras thing, you know that little triangular-shaped pais in C. America.

B) My first full club match in London: yes, finally, just under 2 years after arriving in London, I played in my first proper, 11-a-side match with my team from Lewisham. The most striking thing about this match- one of MANY Sunday football matches through London- to probably any Norte Americano is that at first glance they may have thought is was an NBA match, except for the large grass field and 22 people running around. Or perhaps it was an NFL practice (with 2 black QB's- remember when that was a big deal?!) without pads and with all of the players kicking the (round) ball?!

It was neither of these, but the main aspect my US-trained mind picked up on was that it was ALL bruthas, the Jamaicans vs. the Africans. And boy did the the Africans play nice football- we eventually lost about 4-1 or so. Anyway, I just find it so funny when some "African Americans" I encounter- mostly the blacker-than-thou types- always want to bash football and so myopically think it's soft or boring, etc. It's always easier to disregard something about which you have no knolwledge or exposure. The sad part is when you stop your investigation and analysis there.

Well guess what all of you proud-to-be-black people in the US-- pretty much all other black folks around the world play the beautiful game, and most play it quite well- see the Africa Cup of Nations. I'd imagine if some of the heroes of your more narrow world- e.g. Kobe, Reggie B, Neon Deion, Barry Sanders, etc.- played proper football from a young age, not only would you be singing a different tune, but I'd bet money that the US would have won a World Cup by now. Oh, that's the tournament that actually produces a TRUE world champion.

And don't get me wrong, it's not just black folks who don't understand the complexities of football. US whities are just as guilty and see it as a foreign, non-macho endeavor. However, at home, the sport has always been viewed as more of a white sport, though the reality of that looks to be shifting. I'm also simply more critical of my own peeps, who many times are very satisfied, or even feel they MUST be followers of all things "black," whatever that is. Oh, right, those are the expectations and stereotypes we and others place on ourselves, that we buy in to and thereby limit what we allow ourselves to achieve and be exposed to- i.e. to learn.

C) X-mas Play at School: suffice it to say there ain't no separation of church and state here. The kids respective X-mas productions are straight up what you have to go to church to get at home. They sing about baby jesus and dress up as wise men and shepherds, joseph and mary, and basically act it out in front of the full-on manger backdrop.

That's one of the cool things about England. They don't worry about offending anyone. Of course, they're not setting out to offend anyone. They just haven't folded to the whole, stupid PC mindset, where how you phrase something is more imoprtant than what you actually do! i.e. the general part of London that we live in is very integrated, and you don't get all of these people who are either over snesitive about race, which causes others to worry about how or whoat thay say. Most here would describe me as "American" before they'd describe me as "black," or god forbid, "African American." As a result, here they still say "Happy Christmas" (of course, they screwed up the Merry part, but they really do need to work on some aspects of their English here) and act out birth-of-JC scenes in the public schools . . . and nobody really seems to care. It may be a little insensitive, I don' tknow. But that's how they've done it here. And more importantly, people's actions (like their travels, the friends they keep, etc.) speak louder than hollow, conformist words.

It all really hit home with the little muslim girl, head scarf and all, was right up on the risers with the rest of the rainbow coalition of kids singing about Christmas and jesus. Could you imagine such a scene at home? Whoat!?

D) Death of MJ (no, not Peter Parker's dreamboat): this is primarily a mention for my girl, Meena. Of course, I am quite a big fan of "Off the Wall" and consider it one of the best albums ever. RIP Michael.

E) Lagos, Nigeria: this place takes the cake for 3rd (oops, I mean "Developing") World- meets crazy oil money- meets one of the most densely populated cities on the African continent. I don't even know where to start.

I've put in some time in the developing world- from my regular hitch hikes in Honduras to an almost toppling bus in Nepal to tromping around bits of Guatemala and India. But the bustle, traffic, pop. density and the street entrepeneurs who put the Crenshaw and Slauson bruthas to shame were over the top. On one strecth of major boulevard coming back into Victoria Island, the stop-and-go traffic creates an almost bazaar-like atmosphere . . . down the MIDDLE of the road!? No, not on the median, I'm talking between the lanes. You can buy everything from socks, to music, to food, to clothes, to kitchen utensils, to floor mats for your car. It's like a drive through where you don't drive up to the window, but the windows walk up to you.

Needless to say, the whole atmosphere was a bit of sensory overload. For the first time in my life, I really had no desire to leave the big hotel's gated,walled compound and go explore my surrondings. Of course, it must be Lagos. I mean, it couldn't be me just getting S-O-F-T in my old age . . . . .


And that pretty sums up all of 2009- pretty efficient, eh? Note that there are definitely exceptions to those issues I discuss above. However, you can pretty much take what I say as the most enlighttened perspective. Now you can also look forward to hearing from me more frequently in 2010.