Guy LeCharles Gonzalez (aka glecharles) (aka loudpoet)

An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Breaking Ground

Bloomfieldguy

There are 8 million stories in the naked city, plus another 2-3 million, give or take, if you count the transplants who still commute in for work from the surrounding cities and towns in Long Island, Connecticut and, yes, New Jersey.

From Bloomberg to Bloomfield is my story, a native New Yorker on his third go-round living in the Garden State, now as a first-time homeowner in the town of Bloomfield, which is in Essex County, due West of the Lincoln Tunnel and just north of Newark and East Orange, which are effectively the Bronx to Bloomfield’s Mt. Vernon, the former being where I’m from originally, the latter where I lived for most of my high school years.

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Spindle Update: Scheduling Delays

If you’re one of Spindle‘s obsessive readers who’s figured out our update schedule and checks in every second Tuesday for new content, you’ve probably noticed our schedule has been slipping a bit the past couple of months.  Thankfully, it’s not for lack of content, as the submissions continue to come in at a steady pace and many of them are pretty good!*

Truth is, I started a new job about two months ago and it has completely swallowed up the little bit of free time I used to have to keep Spindle on its intended monthly schedule.  Plus, I’m coaching my son’s Little League team AND Salomé just wrapped up her Master’s Degree AND we just bought our first house, so Spindle-time has been virtually non-existent since the beginning of March.

No worries about the fun coming to a premature end, though, as I expect to be back on a regular schedule shortly, and will post mini-updates sporadically whenever I’m able to until I do get back on schedule. I’m particularly excited about the upcoming debut of our newest column, “GSNY”, by Gabrielle Sierra, who has a great voice and some very interesting stories to tell.

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Ignorance is Bliss

Call me a latte-sipping elitist if you want*, but there are some truly stupid people in this country. Even worse, they’re willfully stupid!

Via Ben Smith’s “Things Americans Believe”:

10% of Americans believe [Barack] Obama’s a Muslim

…

22% believe President Bush knew about the 9/11 attacks in advance.
30% believe Saddam had weapons of mass destruction.
23% believe they’ve been in the presence of a ghost.
18% believe the sun revolves around the earth.

I can forgive the 9/11 conspiracy theorists because I don’t trust Bush as far as I can throw him, either, and I’m totally open to the idea of ghosts, but anyone still believing Saddam had WMDs is an example of willful stupidity.

And 18% believe the sun revolves around the earth!?!?

WTF?

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Olbermann Pounds Nail Into Clinton Coffin

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=cdbgELgiBQM]

Again, Keith Olbermann cuts to the chase:

You actually used the word “assassination” in a time when there is a fear, unspoken but vivid and terrible, that our again-troubled land and fractured political landscape might target a black man running for president.

Or a white man.

Or a white woman!

You actually used those words, in this America, Senator, while running against an African-American against whom the death threats started the moment he declared his campaign?

Just another sleep deprivation-induced gaffe — and this from the woman who claims to be ready for that 3am phone call? — or Freudian slip?

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Poetry: Where Your Vote Really Counts

Tired of the never-ending Democratic Primary and annoyed that, in the end, your vote might not really count anyway if the Super Delegates opt to nominate the candidate not in the lead when all is said and done? As in many other aspects of life, poetry offers a much-needed alternative. Blogsboro.com is running an election for the Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere and Tony Brown, a good friend and worthy candidate, is currently leading the race by a narrow margin over someone named Rob McClennan whom, in the spirit of Presidential elections, I know nothing about and won't bother to…

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Goodbye Potter’s Field

Home ownership is a key theme in one of my favorite movies, It’s a Wonderful Life, and as I called our current landlord this morning to officially let them know we won’t be renewing our lease, I couldn’t help but recall the scene where Mr. Martini is moving his family into their new home courtesy of a loan from the old Bailey Bros. Building & Loan Association:

“No more we live like pigs in this Potter’s Field!”

While our apartment is far from a slum, we’ve definitely outgrown it, both physically and psychologically, and more than any other step we’ve taken in the home buying process so far, making that phone call felt like the most concrete affirmation yet that we’re really doing it. There was also a bit of the bittersweet there with the realization that, after a combined 17 years, I will likely never live in the Bronx again.

Of course, It’s A Wonderful Life has an answer for that, too:

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