I’m cohosting my first comedy show next week.  I’m nervous but I’ll be playing keys and Broady is gonna host.  It’s gonna be awesome.

It’s unnerving.  Separation.  What once were two sides of one street, now are two cities separated by a concrete barrier.

My primal reaction was one of disgust.  You can hear people on the other side.  In a corner piece, there’s a paper thin crack where you can peek through and see that life, somehow, exists on the other side.

This isn’t to say I don’t understand it’s purpose.  Israel has been much safer since its construction.  I can’t speak for the Palestinian Territory on the other side.  I don’t know much about it.  I can say that there have been few attacks since it’s construction.

I don’t necessarily disagree with it’s purpose.  Perhaps, at some point separation becomes necessary to prevent viciousness.  The wall becomes a tangible symbol of this necessity.  It doesn’t make the primal reaction that I had leave though.  It’s an extremely indelicate solution to an indelicate problem.  

There’s little argument that would say that it hasn’t kept the violence down;  An indelicate solution.

I know that there are other political questions;  those that relate to it’s path and of contested land.  This post isn’t about those questions.

theres a chance I’ll be working on a feature in baltimore.  slim for now, but it could be a lot of fun if it works out.  

meloukhia:

The judge in his case has requested clemency, not least because he had inadequate legal representation which led to the suppression of mitigating factors in his case. 

And again, for those who say that the death penalty in the United States is not about race—Derrick Mason is a Black man accused of killing a white woman. 

You can contact Alabama Governor Robert Bentley to ask him to reconsider his denial of clemency in this case. 

I didn’t even mention race in my post earlier.  It’s as big an issue as any.  I am so disgusted with the death penalty right now.

(Source: se-smith)