Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Group Economics

 

Group Economics

(As explained by former Miami Heat forward Andre Iguadola)

It manifests the same way off the court. The back of his jersey says "Group Economics," which isn't a concept most people are familiar with. Ask him what it means and he launches into a brilliant stream-of-consciousness treatise with all sorts of intellectual connections that'll make your head spin.

"That was a term I learned from David West," he said. They were interviewing candidates for the players' union executive director job, and West asked how they felt about group economics. Iguodala wasn't familiar with the term. But when he and West became teammates with the Warriors, he circled back and the two had long conversations about it.

"How do you bring more value to the Black community?" Iguodala explained. "How do we get more value out of ourselves? How do we build up our communities? How do we build up our communities so we don't rely on government?

"People understand how powerful voting is, how powerful government officials, their jobs are, and they start running -- and then how important it is not just voting for the president, but local officials. Now you have better funding for schools because your land's worth more. You know, you have more home ownership because the land's higher. You have more commercial development because the land's worth a lot. And then when you buy from your own, you're essentially recycling money back into your own community.

"If we start building our own businesses and buying from ourselves, then that's how we build our communities, and then that's how you get school systems that are great, and that's when you start having better relationships with law enforcement.

"And that stems all the way back to group economics. So that was the meaning behind that and why I put it on my jersey."

Whew. That was a lot. But just when your head is going to explode, Iguodala synthesizes it down into the perfect pass and slam dunk.

"Basically," he said, "group economics is what fixes all the other things people have on the back of their jerseys."

 

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Christianity With Strands of Constantinople

 

From Professor Cornel West, 2004 Essay on contemporary Christianity and politics:

...This same religious schizophrenia has been a constant feature of American Christianity. The early American branch of the Christian movement-the Puritans-consisted of persecuted victims of the British empire in search of liberty and security. On the one hand, they laid the foundations for America’s noble antiimperialist struggle against the British empire. On the other hand, they enacted the imperialist subordination of (Native Americans/Indians). Their democratic sensibilities were intertwined with their authoritarian sentiments. The American democratic experiment would have been inconceivable without the fervor of Christians yet strains of Constantinianism were woven into the fabric of America’s Christian identity from the start. Constantinian strains of American Christianity have been on the wrong side of so many of our social troubles, such as the dogmatic justification of slavery and the parochial defense of women’s inequality. It has been the prophetic Christian tradition, by contrast, that has so often pushed for social justice.

When conservative Christians argue today for state-sponsored religious schools, when they throw their tacit or more overt support behind antiabortion zealots or homophobic crusaders who preach hatred (a few have even killed in the name of their belief), they are being Constantinian Christians. These Constantinian Christians fail to appreciate their violation of Christian love and justice because Constantinian Christianity in America places such a strong emphasis on personal conversion, individual piety, and philanthropic service and has lost its fervor for the suspicion of worldly authorities and for doing justice in the service of the most vulnerable among us, which are central to the faith. These energies are rendered marginal to their Christian identity.

Most American Constantinian Christians are unaware of their imperialistic identity because they do not see the parallel between the Roman empire that put Jesus to death and the American empire that they celebrate. As long as they can worship freely and pursue the American dream, they see the American government as a force for good and American imperialism as a desirable force for spreading that good. They proudly profess their allegiance to the flag and the cross not realizing that just as the cross was a bloody indictment of the Roman empire, it is a powerful critique of the American empire, and they fail to acknowledge that the cozy relation between their Christian leaders and imperial American rulers may mirror the intimate ties between the religious leaders and imperial Roman rulers who crucified their Savior.

I have no doubt that most of these American Constantinian Christians are sincere in their faith and pious in their actions. But they are relatively ignorant of the crucial role they play in sponsoring American imperial ends. Their understanding of American history is thin and their grasp of Christian history is spotty, which leaves them vulnerable to manipulation by Christian leaders and misinformation by imperial rulers. The Constantinian Christian support of the pervasive disinvestment in urban centers and cutbacks in public education and health care, as well as their emphatic defense of the hardline policies of the Israeli government, has much to do with the cozy alliance of Constantinian Christian leaders with the political elites beholden to corporate interests who provide shelter for cronyism. In short, they sell their precious souls for a mess of imperial pottage based on the false belief that they are simply being true to the flag and the cross. The very notion that the prophetic legacy of the grand victim of the Roman empire-Jesus Christ-requires critique of and resistance to American imperial power hardly occurs to them.

 

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Monday, August 30, 2021

Tailgating Is Back! Dub Shack BBQ Smokes Cream Cheese

For the football tailgate parties, baby showers, stuffing for those jalapeno peppers, a smoky taste for bagels, or simply a slow Saturday afternoon, smoked cream cheese takes a breakfast staple to another level as an anytime snack. Guess what?  It’s also a keto-friendly recipe.

Ingredients

·         Philadelphia cream cheese (store brands work as well although Philadelphia gives a more definite texture)

·         Olive oil

·         BBQ rub of your choice



STEP ONE. Unwrap the block of cream cheese and place them in aluminum foil boats. As they sit patiently for the smoker or indirect grill, spray the olive oil on and add your chosen rub. Many of you know that I like Killer Hogs’ The BBQ Rub but that barbecue rub is immaterial for this relatively quick smoke; therefore, make it your own. Those of you on the keto diet can use your homemade rub.

STEP TWO. You don’t have to clear out the offset smoker for this one as a two-zone fire suffices, so light your charcoals and a few smaller cherry wood chunks. The name of the game is not to overpower the cheese with smoke as much as give it an extra flavor as a balance. Try it with a softer fruit wood such as peach or apple if cherry isn’t your jam, and certainly maple would also make the mark. Once the cooker hits 225 degrees, put both blocks of cream cheese on the side opposite the coals and let them work their magic. Check back after thirty minutes; the cheese will let us know that it is done when it starts to split.

In the miracle of time (45 minutes), this and the other block of cream cheese were finished 

STEP THREE. Here is the best part:  Serve immediately with crackers or chips or add it as a filler for those jalapenos bound to be quickly grilled.

You didn't think I would let a barbecue trend pass without my own touch, did you? This turned out to be really awesome - ask my neighbors - and is really simple to do. For anything else you want to see your friendly pitmaster make, send a shout. As always, be blessed, stay safe, and thanks for reading and spread the word that every day is a GREAT day for barbecue!

 

 

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Saturday, August 21, 2021

What Up?

In the everlasting quest of minding my own Black-ass business, I might as well tell you what’s been up.

Obviously, minding my own Black-ass business is the primary objective of 2021 and beyond but also what if I told you I was working hard at sanctifying my family’s privacy? It doesn’t mean that I won’t share opinions or mine the wells of knowledge with the most analytical takes of policy, local politics, sports, religion, and of course, barbecue – only that mental atrophy is a real thing and I needed to take better care of myself before people find themselves at my homegoing service throwing confetti and launching blue and gold balloons in the air.

Where shall I start?

1.     I got vaccinated for COVID. Before you go on a judgmental spiel about “who cares?”, here are my reasons:

a.      Chastity Armstrong.

b.     Caeli Armstrong.

c.      My parents aren’t spring chickens; therefore, they aren’t getting any younger. Dad has had a couple of major procedures done and I’m not about to be the guy whose callous behavior hastens his transition to the ancestors.

d.     My grandma is 94 years old: I love her. Period.

e.      Last October, I lost one of my closest friends from Henderson State when Karen passed away from Dat Damn Rona. To know what she means to me (and the rest of the crew), I would have to dig up the pictures or you can talk to any of us.

f.       A few of you may already know, but if you do not know, I am diabetic. Read Coming Out the Diabetic Closet - originally released July 2017 - for that story since I apparently won’t get around to ever sharing it.

g.     Was I skeptical about the Pfizer shots? Absolutely! I’m a Black man in America; after He-La, the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, eugenics, and countless instances of medical racism throughout American history, I would have been a complete fool for blindly trusting the science without my own critical research beyond what a few people have said on Facebook or YouTube or heard on Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, or the favored news source.

h.     I didn’t tell you because it is a decision for my family and only for the three of us.

2.     I’ve been back and forth in the lab making new barbecue sauces – try out Blue MF, Get Honey, or Block Party Pineapple, better known as BPP. All of the sauces are gluten-free, if you're wondering. *Since the original posting, Blue MF and BPP have been discontinued. Not every sauce is here for a long time but most definitely a good time.*

3.     Without speaking further of the church (note the lowercase c), let’s agree that I really like livestream services.

4.     In sanctifying my family’s privacy, I have minimized my own posts on social media including this very tome you are reading from. We know spring break in Myrtle Beach was a relative cost-effective way to go to the beach but what if I told you that it was more for the memories instead of the thirst-trapping so many people do back and forth to Atlanta or Dallas with little to nothing to show for it aside from overpriced retail goods and unnecessary crowds of overly basic people living for the ‘gram? Nothing against either city but the world is so much more expansive than two metropolises that define the South in 2021.


Minding my own Black-ass business is harder work than I anticipated.

After being reminded that some folks – even those with advanced degrees and larger bank accounts than my own – 1) lack serious critical thinking skills, 2) thoroughly enjoy tap dancing for Massa as if they won’t be forgotten one week after their own deaths, or 3) are so comfortable being hood rich in their own sorts of hedonism that trafficking in silence intimidates them, I found it best to let them meander in the mists of malarkey as they f**k around and find out the pricey penalties of their finesse attempts and casual bliss of ignorance.

Like the alliteration? I do too.  

I just put my English degree to good use for the first time this week.

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