Zac Attacks Himself

Okay, so here's the dealeo about this picture of Zac Efron in Sydney with his hand down his pants. He's on his phone, he's looking at his iPad, and he has his hand on his junk. This is the classic pose of someone who is online getting a hookup and talking to said hook up on the phone. I'm not going to tell you how I know all this, but no one does that for that long if they're not talking to a jump off. And if what we hear about Zac, that he likes the boys, I can only imagine what's on that iPad and on the phone...

Emerging Tiger

Tiger Woods is back. I've been seeing him in commercials for Nike/Golfsmith that you can win a round of golf with Tiger if you enter some contest...I didn't really pay much attention to it...I was fascinated by watching what must be one of the first commercials featuring him since his wife took a golf club to his Escalade and he wrecked it in an Ambien haze trying to get away from her. Tiger also just won his first Master's tournament in two or three years. I wonder if the tail wagged the dog in this situation? Did Golfsmith have the ad ready for when he won his first major tournament? Or did the ad coming out give him the confidence that helped him win? I could probably do some research and find that out but I would prefer to just think about it...

I've never been a fan of Tiger Woods; actually, I never really thought much about him. I think the only thing more boring than playing golf is watching golf being played. I will admit that it was a car wreck moment watching his life fall apart...I didn't want to, but it was just too fascinating to watch such a manufactured persona fall apart because of a predilection for cocktail waitresses and pole dancers.

Now I'm not one to begrudge someone a way to make money. God knows Tiger probably has a big child support and alimony nut to cover each month. I just wonder if the particular Tiger shark has been jumped? Has he lost his relevance? Is he going to change the way he interacts with the media and his fans, becoming less reserved and more available for interviews that are real interviews and not love fests?

But America loves a second act and maybe this is Tiger's.

Justice for Trayvon

It's been over a month since a 17 year old boy was shot and killed in a gated community in Florida, and still his murderer has not been arrested. African-Americans are rightly angry that the confessed shooter, a white man whose father is a retired local judge, has not been arrested or charged with the crime. White people, mainly those on the conservative right and those who support non-restrictive gun laws, are saying there shouldn't be a "rush to judgement," have accused the boy Trayvon Martin of being a thug, and have even played the "reverse racism" card.

I grew up in a small town in East Texas. I know firsthand what racism looks like. I also know what it sounds like. There is no such thing as reverse racism. One has to have power to be a racist, and as a rule, African-Americans in our society, except for the Oprah Winfrey's and Barak Obamas, have no power. Laws are stacked against African-Americans (remember the higher penalties for crack cocaine possession as opposed to powder cocaine?) There are more African-American men in prison than in college. Some say, "Well, they should just pull themselves up by their bootstraps; no one helped me get where I am today! I had to work hard!" Of course, the people who say that are usually white. They don't know how difficult it is to find a job when you're a poor African-American man who is the product of poor schooling, single motherhood, and may not even have the transportation to get to a job interview. Of course, I don't know how difficult it is either, but at least I recognize there are a lot of obstacles to overcome.

When we blame the victims it becomes easy to ignore the problem. Only when we look at ourselves and our culture and honestly talk about the real racial divide that continues to haunt our nation, especially but not only in the south, will we be able to solve our race problems.

Justice for Trayvon Martin would be a good way to start.