Pictured above are six of my top picks for beer so far this month. These are brews encompassing diverse flavors, colors, aromas, and geographical origins.On the left is D.M.'s Imperial Stout from Hawks Brewing Company in Roseburg, Oregon (a brewer that, if I understand correctly, is now defunct). Two of my friends generously provided this one as a souvenir from their recent trip to Portland. It's a highly drinkable beer that packs quite a punch: 9.9 percent alcohol by volume. Dark in color and thick in texture, it has a surprisingly sweet aftertaste combined with the more expected bitter quality that typifies stouts. Yummy.Next over is Bitch Creek, an ESB (Extra Special Bitter) from Grand Teton Brewing Company in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Its name does it justice: dark with an extra-special bitter taste that doesn't leave you feeling bitter or bitchy afterwards. (There's actually a creek in the Tetons from which this beer derives its title.) Yummy.The Holy Moses White Ale from Great Lakes Brewing Company of Cleveland, Ohio, is in a class by itself. It's like a hefeweissen: light and mellow but very flavorful. It's brewed with spices, orange peel, and chamomile, making it a terrific summer ale. Yummy. Then there's Goose Island's India Pale Ale from Chicago, which tastes just how you'd expect an IPA to taste: a biting, hoppy flavor with a lighter color and strong aroma. Yummy.The remaining two are Wisconsin brews. One is the Cascade Pale Ale of Point Brewing Company in Stevens Point. It has a nice bitter finish that is nonetheless easy to drink. Yummy. And last but certainly not least is the Blonde Dopplebock, one of my all-time favorite beers from the Capitol Brewery in Middleton. It has a nice golden color with a sweet, malty flavor and high alcohol content.Did I mention yummy?
In recent years, television viewers have been bombarded by an aggressive influx of marketing by pharmaceutical companies. Their intent is clear: to sell medication to anyone and everyone for almost any ailment imaginable. Particularly noticeable have been ads for impotence drugs, which warn male users that they should seek "immediate medical attention" if an erection lasts for more than four hours.As a guy myself, I have to be honest. I'd be concerned if an erection lasted less than half that time. I can drive from Iowa City to my parents' home in Elgin, Illinois, in fewer than four hours. It would no doubt be a very long and hard couple of hours if I were faced with such a problem. Four hours? Are they joking?In general, the warnings that accompany these types of commercials usually make them downright humorous. I don't know what lawsuit prompted the pharmaceuticals to list every conceivable side effect of every drug they advertise, but doing so seems to defeat the purpose. Hearing that taking a certain prescription may cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, fatigue, dry mouth, shortness of breath, or possibly even death does not entice me to try it out. I've heard some people suggest that pharmaceutical companies shouldn't be allowed to advertise their products on television. I agree wholeheartedly. These ads encourage us to fabricate ailments, to imagine things that are wrong with us, just so that we'll buy these drugs to make the drug companies even richer than they already are. If I really thought I had restless leg syndrome, or acid reflux disease, or high blood pressure, or impotence, I'd go to the doctor and ask. I don't need these commercials to lead me on; nor do millions of other television viewers across America who are afraid of too much already.
At a recent press conference:DUBYA: Imagine a world in which Saddam Hussein was there, stirring up even more trouble in a part of the world that had so much resentment and so much hatred that people came and killed 3,000 of our citizens. You know, I've heard this theory about everything was just fine until we arrived, and kind of we're going to stir up the hornet's nest theory. It just doesn't hold water, as far as I'm concerned. The terrorists attacked us and killed 3,000 of our citizens before we started the freedom agenda in the Middle East. REPORTER: What did Iraq have to do with that? DUBYA: What did Iraq have to do with what? REPORTER: The attack on the World Trade Center? DUBYA: Nothing. Except for it's part of -- and nobody has ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack. Quotes courtesy of www.dubyaspeak.com.Yet again, Bush refers to Saddam Hussein and 9/11 in the same sentence, and almost in the same breath, denies that he ever misled the American people by insinuating a nonexistent connection between Saddam and the terrorist attacks.Shouldn't a good man of faith like George W. Bush be more honest than that?
If I ever forget how terrible the American mainstream media can be, all I need to do is tune in to one of the major networks (CNN, Fox, NBC, ABC, CBS, etc.), and I'm reminded instantly. Most of the "news" that we consume on any given day is anything but.Perfectly illustrating this just recently was the arrest of John Mark Karr, a newly uncovered suspect in the murder of JonBenet Ramsey. Back in 1996, that story didn't merit months of front-page headlines, and it does even less so a full decade later. Frankly, I didn't lose much sleep over the past ten years knowing that the killler of JonBenet was at large, and I suspect I wasn't alone.This, no doubt, sounds insensitive. Certainly the death of any six-year-old child is tragic. Unfortunately, the mass media made it far less so with their unrelenting coverage, which, of course, was not done out of sympathy for the family or a desire for justice. The same has been true of the Natalee Holloway saga. Holloway, the 18-year-old girl from Alabama who disappeared in Aruba during her senior class trip in May 2005, became an instant celebrity across the world.Why? Because these types of stories sell. Stories about other petty issues, like the environment, or inequalities in America's public school systems, or the AIDS pandemic, simply aren't as engaging. They don't captivate audiences day after day. In any case, why would we care about issues like those, when we can learn what type of wine John Mark Karr enjoyed during his flight back to the United States? Or what bars Natalie Holloway went to on the night of her disappearance? Or how the states of Alabama and Georgia are officially boycotting Aruba because of it?Stories about missing persons wouldn't be offensive if those missing persons weren't always beautiful, young, wealthy white people whose pictures look good on television. I often wonder how many young black men went missing in America's inner cities the same month that Natalee Holloway did down in Aruba.How much national attention did they receive?
In my last post, I suggested that the Republican majority would once again try to make voters afraid of "liberals." It's sad, but it's true. Frankly, I wouldn't ever want to be labelled as a "liberal" or "conservative." I'd much rather be described as deciding the issues on their merits, not conforming to some random ideology or living up to a stereotype. I also refuse to pledge loyalty to a political party. There's good reason for this. Last weekend, I was reading an article about how America's Republican Party has evolved since its establishment at a small schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin, in 1854. At that time, it was the party of justice. It was founded on opposition to racism and slavery during a time when both were plaguing the nation. It produced perhaps the greatest American president ever, who freed the slaves and held America together through the Civil War. It made Wisconsin one of the first states to abolish the death penalty, and advocated for women's rights, eventually including suffrage. Remember, this was at the same time that Democrats favored wealthy, white, slaveholding landowners.The Republican record of social justice wasn't confined to the nineteenth century, either. In 1982, a Republican governor of Wisconsin made it the first state to pass a gay rights law. Now, in the year 2006, it's hard to believe that just 24 years ago, a Republican lawmaker would have endorsed such a radical, "liberal" initiative, especially in a Midwestern state. We aren't talking about Massachusetts here. So, what has happened to "the Party of Ideas" in the last two decades?Simply put, it's been hijacked. The founders of the Republican Party are probably now rolling in their graves: How did their beloved institution, created on progressive and just ideals, turn into what it is now, where the status quo (though not always the case) seems to be pro-rich, pro-war, anti-gay, anti-environment, and so on? Sadly enough, it appears that the Republican Party is now much the same way the Democratic Party was a century ago. George W. Bush has shown that his ideology, despite its moral bankruptcy and nonsensical nature, can produce success and power. So it has caught on and spread like a virus.The key question is: Will the tide turn again? Will Republicans once again stand for justice and equality?We don't know. That's why I say that we must vote on conscience, not on party lines.
By virtue of appearance alone, Dick Cheney seems to be a truly miserable human being. He'd do better as a grumpy old man drinking Bud Light in a LazyBoy chair than he does as vice president of the United States.And whenever he opens his mouth, my opinion of him is confirmed. Last week was no exception. After incumbent Sen. Joe Lieberman's loss to anti-war challenger Ned Lamont in the Connecticut Democratic primary, Cheney conducted a conference call with reporters. His message? That the results of the primary would encourage "al Qaeda types" in their drive to "break the will of the American people in terms of our ability to stay in the fight and complete the task."What a perfect way to remind Americans that midterm elections are approaching. Here again is Cheney equating a vote against Bush administration policies with a vote for the terrorists. Remember what he said just two years ago around this time? "It's absolutely essential that...we make the right choice [in the presidential election], because if we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again."Some things never change. With less than three months remaining until Nov. 7, we can no doubt expect Bush-Cheney-Rove-and-Company to repeat more of its tried-and-true methods of keeping people afraid. Like, for instance, fear of gays. Or flag burning. Or suicide bombers in Iraq who are there because we invited them. Or, worse yet......liberals.
Pictured here is part of the group that I went with to Madison this past weekend for the 20th annual Great Taste of the Midwest. Upon closer inspection of this scene, some may perceive me to be falling forward and carrying some of my friends with me. I speak the truth when I say that such a mishap would not have been unusual during the time and place at which this photo was taken.Nevertheless, the purpose of the event is not to drink oneself into a stupor (I didn't ... seriously), but to educate about craft beer. One of the festival's mottos is, "Friends don't let friends drink swill." That's exactly the point of this.Craft beer, simply defined, is real beer. Craft beer is beer the way it was meant to taste. It's not Miller, or Coors, or Budweiser. Those are mass-produced beers manufactured to make a profit, not a high-quality product. Those are beers that, in my humble opinion, should not be identified as such. They're carbonated waters with inadequate amounts of barley and hops added as an afterthought.Beer, in its authentic state, comes in various flavors, colors, and aromas. One could try a different type of beer every day and never taste the exact same one twice. There are dark beers, the stouts and porters; medium beers, the reds and ambers; and lighter beers, the wheats and pilsners. All these styles of beer were available for sampling at the Great Taste -- over 100 vendors and over 500 types from throughout the Midwest. The most awesome part about the festival, I believe, is that the maximum number of 5,000 tickets for the event are sold out annually in a single day. That's a good sign that the trend of drinking and promoting real beer is catching on.Sometimes people will describe me as a "beer snob" when I speak of it this way. My response is that I simply don't understand what's so snobby about suggesting that beer should taste good ... and real.
It wasn't a hard decision to choose Madison as my first monthly destination to highlight. I just today returned from a weekend trip up there for the 20th annual Great Taste of the Midwest, a beer-tasting festival including live bands, over 100 regional vendors and over 500 different brews (see following post.)Madison, in many respects, is about as close to the perfect Midwestern city as you can get. It isn't too big; the long commutes, suburban sprawl, outrageous costs of living and violent crime rates that typify bigger urban centers like Chicago aren't generally found here. But it isn't too small, either; there's a cosmopolitan edge and worldly flair that most American cities of its size lack (210,000 residents, give or take). It reportedly has a higher per-capita number of restaurants than almost any other metropolitan area in the country. I can believe this; the downtown area alone is full of fair-trade coffeehouses, brewpubs, ethnic eateries, outdoor cafes, and lively nightspots. Speaking of downtown Madison, it's beautiful. It's built on an isthmus between two large, sparkling lakes: Mendota on the north and Monona on the south. The east end is anchored by the Wisconsin State Capitol, which dominates the entire city skyline because of a municipal ordinance that has prohibited buildings from exceeding the height of the dome. The west end is dominated by the massive University of Wisconsin, which, with its enrollment of 40,000+ students, is one of the nation's largest public universities. In between the two is the famous State Street, one of the country's longest and most vibrant pedestrian malls, with all kinds of quirky shops, restaurants, and theaters. The city has a long-standing reputation for progressive politics and activism, almost radically so at points in its history. Today, Madison's progressive edge manifests itself most clearly in civic spirit -- the well-maintained bike paths along the lakes, the park-like setting of the university campus and Capitol square, and the (occasionally rowdy) block parties that add spice to the streets of downtown. Of course, Madison's distinction as a capital city and college town are great advantages, but so is its location. The area's lakes alone provide great recreational opportunities. A day trip in almost any direction, however, will lead to some noteworthy attractions. Just a couple hours north, for example, are the lakes and forests of the great Northwoods; immediately west of town are the green rolling hills and bluffs of the Wisconsin and Misssippi River regions. To the east is Lake Michigan.Indeed, Madison seemed an easy choice to feature for the month of August. It's close, it's fun, and it combines most of the key attributes that make an urban setting great.
Next week I'll post my first city/destination selection. This will be a different travel spot highlighted each month. There won't necessarily be any rhyme or reason to the location I choose. It will just be a city, region, state, or other locale that I think is noteworthy.Please, come back and check it out.
While visiting with my parents, we watched Al Gore's documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. The film is presented as more of a lecture -- its format revolves around Gore speaking to audiences inside an auditorium -- but the facts it presents and "global warning" it issues gives the viewer more than enough to chew on.Of course, there are those who will charge that Al Gore is taking on this issue for political purposes. Unfortunately for them, he has already indicated that he won't again seek a public office. And one of the film's best qualities is that it stresses, quite correctly, that global climate change isn't and shouldn't be a partisan issue. Conservative versus liberal and Republican versus Democrat won't make any difference as we watch Manhattan being submerged or the state of Florida ceasing to exist. Gore argues that such possibilities will become reality all too soon if the situation doesn't change. In Montana's Glacier National Park, the snow-and-ice sheets that give the place its name are expected to disappear entirely by 2030. Hurricane Katrinas will become the rule rather than the exception. Perhaps the saddest aspect of global warming is the way that the United States government has turned a blind eye to it for so long. The Bush administration has insisted that environmental initiatives like the Kyoto Protocol would be too detrimental to the American economy. The trouble is that, like political affiliation, a good economy won't make one bit of difference if water supplies are depleted by a catastrophic drought, or if cities across the country are leveled by other severe weather events (just ask the people of New Orleans.)The evidence presented in this film proves beyond any reasonable doubt that human activity is to blame for widespread climate change. At the end, Al Gore suggests that none of us need to make drastic changes to our lives to make a meaningful difference. We simply need to be responsible with our lifestyle choices. Drive a fuel-efficient car (most Americans do not), or ride the bus. Buy energy-saving light bulbs. Wear a blanket instead of turning up the heat. Recycle. I've started heeding some of this advice, though admittedly I still have a long way to go. Still, as far as I'm concerned, heeding any of it is a decided step in the right direction. This is an issue that won't go away until we all do something.
I got the title for this blog from the legendary James Brown. His late hit by the same name, according to my Billboard Top Ten book, peaked on the charts just over two decades ago in the early spring of 1986. Of course, I was just a little lad at that time. Nevertheless, my obsession with music from the past makes such a tune the perfect motivation for me.Aside from that, the title is a good summation of my intended purpose for this blog. "Living in America" these days carries with it a lot of baggage. I'm not just talking about politics and culture wars - or real wars, for that matter. I'm referring to all the things that make living in America unique, and all the things that interest me about it: travel destinations, beer, coffee, the mass media, the social trends, the music, the movies, the people, the wisdom, the stupidity. All subject matter is fair game here. And again, all readers' comments are as well. There isn't much incentive for me publish regular posts on this site if people aren't reading and responding to them.By the way, you'll note that the URL for this blog has a "2" appended to the end of the name. It has nothing to do with James Brown's song; someone else had already used this name for their blog, and it wouldn't let me create the URL without adding that "2."
Pictured above are six of my top picks for beer so far this month. These are brews encompassing diverse flavors, colors, aromas, and geographical origins.
