Friday, April 02, 2004
Well, here I sit, sick again. I used to never get sick. Then I moved to NYC, where you are closer and more intimate with the disgusting masses than in any other American city. Now, about once a season, I get some throat/ear thing. A few years ago, I had an abscess that not even my doctors could explain. I knew it was something weird when every fucking doctor in the hospital came by to look in my gullet.
"Hello, I'm the best doctor in the hospital and I heard you have a freakshow in your throat. Can I take peek?"
"Sure Doc, I'm just sitting here watch Judge Judy in my assless hospital gown. Why don't you stick that big hunk of metal down my throat."
But I digress...
So, I'm sick now, again. It kind of snuck up on me, tapped my on one shoulder and then ducked over my other shoulder. And it made me do something I can't ever remember doing.
It made me bail on a show.
Now, before you get all crazy and in an uproar, as you, my loyal readers are wont to do, understand that I have another show tonight. I'll be there to be sure, but if I had performed last night I would not. So I made a choice.
But I still feel like a heel.
Understand that I have been a performer since the age of five. And I have ingrained into my psyche a sort of performers loyalty which makes it a sin in my eyes to let your fellow artists down, in any way. I do group art, and in group art, the need and feelings of the individual are secondary.
But, yo, I feel el crapitan.
Just wanted to share.
"Hello, I'm the best doctor in the hospital and I heard you have a freakshow in your throat. Can I take peek?"
"Sure Doc, I'm just sitting here watch Judge Judy in my assless hospital gown. Why don't you stick that big hunk of metal down my throat."
But I digress...
So, I'm sick now, again. It kind of snuck up on me, tapped my on one shoulder and then ducked over my other shoulder. And it made me do something I can't ever remember doing.
It made me bail on a show.
Now, before you get all crazy and in an uproar, as you, my loyal readers are wont to do, understand that I have another show tonight. I'll be there to be sure, but if I had performed last night I would not. So I made a choice.
But I still feel like a heel.
Understand that I have been a performer since the age of five. And I have ingrained into my psyche a sort of performers loyalty which makes it a sin in my eyes to let your fellow artists down, in any way. I do group art, and in group art, the need and feelings of the individual are secondary.
But, yo, I feel el crapitan.
Just wanted to share.
Wednesday, March 31, 2004
Where do we go from here?
So, back in 1963, there was this thing called the Vienna Convention. Not as famous as it's sister city named convention, Geneva, the Vienna Convention helped to establish the rights of foreign citizens charges with crimes in other countries. It says, among other things, that persons accused of crimes have the right to contact their own government for assistance. And, much like your right to remain silent, it is the responsibility of the arresting government to inform the accused of that fact.
Today, the World Court- the high court of the UN- announced that 51 people from Mexico had been deprived of this established global human right by the good ol' U.S. of A. And where are those 51 Mexicans?
Death Row. Every one of them.
It's no secret that I am vehemently opposed to the Death Penalty. Not only is it more expensive to execute someone than to imprison them for life, it is intensely arrogant of our justice system to assume that our brand of deciding guilt or innocence isn't so fallible that an innocent person couldn't be executed by the state. The true beauty of our justice system is appellate review; no one decision can decide a man's fate. But it's hard to release someone who is dead, Hollywood movies aside. Not to mention that it has never been proven to be a deterrent of crime.
But now, the world court is saying that 51 people sit on death row who didn't get the rights afforded them by a globally agreed upon document, right here in the 'Land of the Free'.
As long as you're not Mexican, that is.
The new American ethos: kill em all and let God sort em out.
So, back in 1963, there was this thing called the Vienna Convention. Not as famous as it's sister city named convention, Geneva, the Vienna Convention helped to establish the rights of foreign citizens charges with crimes in other countries. It says, among other things, that persons accused of crimes have the right to contact their own government for assistance. And, much like your right to remain silent, it is the responsibility of the arresting government to inform the accused of that fact.
Today, the World Court- the high court of the UN- announced that 51 people from Mexico had been deprived of this established global human right by the good ol' U.S. of A. And where are those 51 Mexicans?
Death Row. Every one of them.
It's no secret that I am vehemently opposed to the Death Penalty. Not only is it more expensive to execute someone than to imprison them for life, it is intensely arrogant of our justice system to assume that our brand of deciding guilt or innocence isn't so fallible that an innocent person couldn't be executed by the state. The true beauty of our justice system is appellate review; no one decision can decide a man's fate. But it's hard to release someone who is dead, Hollywood movies aside. Not to mention that it has never been proven to be a deterrent of crime.
But now, the world court is saying that 51 people sit on death row who didn't get the rights afforded them by a globally agreed upon document, right here in the 'Land of the Free'.
As long as you're not Mexican, that is.
The new American ethos: kill em all and let God sort em out.
