First Looks category archive

Come help us celebrate.

When: 6:00 7:00 p. m., Tuesday, October 29.

Where:
Tripps Restaurant
101 South Independence Boulevard
Virginia Beach, VA (map)

Boys are piglets.

Sportswriter extraordinaire Bob Molinaro remembers the San Francisco earthquake of 1989. He was there. A nugget:

A few minutes before the scheduled start of Game 3 between the Oakland A’s and Giants, I was in a media workroom on the mezzanine at Candlestick Park when I heard a rumble from above. At first, we thought it was fans in the upper deck stomping their feet.

Then there came a stranger sound – like 62,000 people taking a collective deep breath – before the room began violently shaking. The lights went out as the shaking continued – for a total of 17 seconds, we would learn.

As this was happening, a feeling of helplessness began in my knees and sent me to the floor. I may have tried to crawl under a table. I remember thinking that I hope the TVs attached to the walls don’t come down.

At the time, my then-in-laws lived in the Bay Area and my father-in-law’s route home included the double-decker freeway that collapsed on itself. He happened to work late that evening.

RIP Tim Hauser, founding member of Manhattan Transfer.

Vocal jazz at its best.

No, he wasn’t actually from New York City, but he might as well have been.

Off to drink liberally.

New day, new place.

Drinking Liberally is a gathering place for liberals. Socialize and laugh in a friendly atmosphere.

When: 6 p., Thursday, October 16.

Where:
FM Restaurant
320 Granby St.
Norfolk, VA (map)

Family matters.

My aunt has passed away at 102.

She was ready to go.

Now I go to say farewell.

Cowgirl Up cuts to quick on the story of the white woman who is suing the sperm bank because she didn’t like the color of the child produced by said sperm, giving her a not all white baby (as if there were anyone anywhere who is “all white”).

She’s literally suing for the return of the portion of her white privilege from which she has been temporarily separated . . . .

There’s more at the link, but that pretty much nutshells it.

Via Raw Story.

Off to drink liberally.

Fun and fellowship for liberals. Join us and talk about anything in a relaxed atmosphere.

When: Thursday, September 25th, 6 p.

Where:
Croc’s 19 Street Bistro
620 19th Street (Map)

More here.

Read Pia Glenn’s description of shopping while black. Here’s a snippet:

From the moment that I set my basket down, a store employee with a “Manager” name tag came over and stood behind me. The employee was a large, hulking, caucasian male. I don’t mention this arbitrarily. I never do. Anywho, I clocked him right away, but I honestly didn’t think much of it. A manager in a grocery store has every right to stand there, and I certainly can’t blame him for his physique.

And maybe he only appeared to be looking at me. The world doesn’t revolve around me; he could have actually been focused on who-knows-what in the distance beyond me, so I tried to ignore him and went on about my business.

A few items into ringing up my stuff, my peripheral vision told me that he hadn’t budged, and all that benefit of the doubt I was dispensing grew wings and flew right out the window. . . .

Chuck Hawkins explains how Florida’s standardized testing is causing students to hate writing. A nugget (FCAT is the acronym for “Florida’s Comprehensive Assessment Test”):

So I spontaneously came up with an assignment: Write a 300-word article on why they hate writing. The results showed a barely submerged anger, and sometimes one that was boiling right on the surface. Remember, these are many of the best students in the state.

Fifty of the 109 students wrote with some emotion about nine years of being drilled to write the “FCAT way”: a formulaic, bloodless exercise that drained the fun out of putting pen to paper.

Follow the link to see three of the students’ essays.

Rachel analyzes ISIS’s propaganda strategy.

Things to do.