Sunday Java

I’m sitting in the TV room with Mimi, my cat, watching the snow fall. It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon.

This morning was different. We got up early and were going to go out for breakfast. But on our way to our usual Sunday spot, decided to drive into Hartford to go to Mo’s Midtown. It’s a place that does New Orleans-type cooling (spicy). When we lived in Hartford, we used to go there practically every weekend. We didn’t even know if it existed anymore because we haven’t been there for years. The staff that we knew are all gone and replaced by other people. Yet, the food was still great. We both had the “Rajin Cajun” omelet - very very spicy filled with their own jambalaya. And, I suppose I will be tasting it all day. Tonight, I’m thinking of making chicken marsala. Something simple.

We were watching Bill Maher last night. We enjoy him. He’s funny and most often has a very stimulating panel of guests. He had John Amaechi as a guest. He’s a former pro basketball player who came out of the closet awhile back and now has a new book, The Man in the Middle.

This has been met with some people who respect Amaechi as a person.

“We all have our little secrets. He had a big secret. And I can’t blame him. You can only imagine how he felt. He was terrified that his private life would become public, and it would cost him the job he loved. It doesn’t bother me that he kept it a secret. You never know how people are going to react. That’s the scary part about it.” - former teammate Ben Wallace

And then there were others who had utter disdain for Amaechi.

“You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don’t like gay people and I don’t like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don’t like it. It shouldn’t be in the world or in the United States.” - Tim Hardaway

The cool thing is, most people are condemning such comments in this day and age. Perhaps this is progress? But back to Bill Maher’s show. Bill pointed out to Amaechi that he was amused at what Amaechi said about the locker room. In the book, Amaechi said that the locker room was one of the “gayest” places around. He said that it was like a bunch of peacocks showing off and preening themselves -- making mention of one guy painting his toe nails (in season), and another guy plucking his eyebrows. And during all of this, Amaechi asks himself, “...and I’m the gay one?” (laughter) Point taken!

The only thing that I don’t care for so much with Bill Maher, is that at times, I feel he carries a joke too far, or jokes about something that simply should never be used in the context of a joke, or to garner laughter. For example, he made a joke about young Russian men recruited into the Russian army. This is what this issue is really about, and it’s not something to joke about.

One conscript, who had raised the alarm, told Russia’s Gazeta newspaper yesterday that older soldiers humiliated the others. “Sometimes they made us mop the floors all night ... The officers would beat us on the arms and legs. We were sent out to the park to earn money ... I was tortured with electric shocks.” Another conscript added: “At least 10 out of 35 of us would not spend the nights at the military base.”

The allegations involving St Petersburg’s unit of 3,727 personnel follow cases of abuse of conscripts. Last year there was national outrage at the gruesome fate of Andrei Sychev, 19, a tank academy conscript so badly tortured by his superiors his genitals and legs had to be amputated. (source)

Yet, here we are in America, making a joke about it. I wonder if it is something that Andrei Sychev will ever be able to laugh about. Sometimes, we forget our own humanity, all for a joke. Not everything is made to laugh at. I kind of wish Bill Maher would realize that. I’m not a prude or anything, but I think it is extremely distasteful to find humor at the expense of some human being’s suffering. That's all.

It’s still snowing, but tomorrow is supposed to bring sunshine! Actually, it’s kind of pretty. Next weekend, we are planning on going to Vermont snow shoeing. It’s a compromise for me. I suck at cross country skiing (which Kent loves), but I think I can do this. So, we will be able to do this together, which will be nice.