My Quiet Life

The maintenance guy at my building just told me he read about a picture I took of the mayor somewhere, but doesn't remember where. He thought it might be the City Paper. Anyone have any idea what he might be talking about?

Assuming I am still in Nashville in 2017, and not dead -- party at my place on August 21! It's my birthday -- I'll be turning 38.

I am gonna hire a DJ, and get a sweet buffet spread. Open bar. Oh yeah, and I've arranged for a sweet full solar eclipse.

Congrats to Iraq on winning the Asian cup. I know this because of people driving down 2nd celebrating waving around the Iraqi flag. I guess you take your victories where you can get them..

Harris Teeter on hillsboro currently has huge bags of the biggest cherries I've ever seen for $2.99.

I was thinking about going out to the park to take pictures of people dancing after the beerfest, but somehow I wound up at Decades instead. Dancing of a different sort. I hope I don't sound boastful here, but I think this may be the best picture ever taken in the history of pictures ever:

I'm just sayin.

There's a moment, right when someone realizes that their picture is being taken, where it goes from being a candid to being ... something else. Some people, in a fit of self-consciousness screw up their face, throw horns, scream and make a contorted face. Some people turn and give a big cheesy smile. Some people just freak out and shy away from the camera. But there's this small subset of people that are either used to it, or remarkably self-confident, and there's a slight, barely perceptible change where it goes from candid to a nice, relaxed portrait. (I've noticed they tend to be good-looking people -- I suppose because they're used to having their photograph taken. I've given up any sense of shame over overtly taking pictures of good-looking people. It's not my fault they're so good looking.) Anyways, these tend to be really awesome pictures, and it feels awesome when it happens -- like it did yesterday. It was perfect. Perfect! And then someone walked in front of the camera:

(more...)

How will our next mayor use and embrace technology?

David Briley:

• Advocate for free wireless in public spaces.
• Advocate for free internet access at the Campus for Human Development

Buck Dozier:

• Wants to "create an online confidential reporting system for citizens who know employers are hiring illegal immigrants"

Sweet -- our own online tattle-tale system. That'll work great. "DEAR BUCK I SAW A BROWN PERSON AT KROGER I THINK THEY MIGHT BE ILLEGAL. THNX, BUBBA".

UPDATE: Sean Braisted is all over this as well.

I finally got around to reading Briley's immigration platform.

Quick analysis: politically, it's a good platform for his campaign. Immigration is a hot topic, so he has to say something about it. It comes across as pro-active, if a bit toothless. It's a far cry better than anything else I've seen so far.

Others have already pointed it out, but I think the inclusion of the bit about drunk driving was unnecessary. Granted, it only says that "as a city we will not respond in a racist way", and then details a plan for curbing drunk driving in general. It's clear it was included to address the public concern that "the illegals" are somehow a driving force (no pun intended) for drunk driving fatalities, and that this is somehow an immigration problem. But, if you ask me, the best way to address utter nonsense is by ignoring it. But anyways.

I was disappointed to see him endorse the 287(g) legislation. My introduction via Claudia Nunez's case and the subsequent horror stories I've heard about the abuse of 287(g) have been enough for me to maintain rigid opposition to this legislation. Briley's contention is that since the federal government is unable to do anything, 287(g) is basically the only way we can fight the "problem". What's lacking in his platform here is an analysis of what exactly the problem is that he thinks 287(g) will solve. It also ignores the fact that the past years have demonstrated the potential of 287(g) to flood the courts with contentious or worthless cases, rampant racist abuse, and general failure.

In his introduction, Briley states that when he's mayor, "we will go the way of community and
diverse leadership, not the divisive way of Washington." If that's true, his endorsement of 287(g) constitutes a dangerous failure in that respect.

Aside from this, his immigration platform is okay, if a little toothless. Briley's main contention is that since the feds are tied up in partison gridlock, we have to act to solve the problem. I disagree.. Immigration is a problem that needs to be fixed on two levels: 1) federal, and 2) cultural. Our borders and minds both need to be opened up before any meaningful change will come. Local attempts to fix the problem basically amount to handing over the reigns to increasing federal government control (i.e. 287g) to prosecute and persecute, which is not something that will foster community -- it's divisive by its very nature. An ideal mayoral platform on immigration should be committed to:

• Embracing and assimilating new members of our community
• Prosecuting abuse of immigration status
• Prosecuting racist/xenophobic practices

Anything else is a waste of time and money. Our illegal immigrant situation is a federal problem. Let them fix it. We have bigger fish to fry here in Nashville.

This one is for Aunt B:

I just pulled up a web browser, intending to go to http://www.volunteervoters.com/, but my fingers, as if operating with a mind of their own, typed http://www.volunteercooters.com/.

Side note: the domain is available. I'm just sayin'.

Briley & Mancini

So the Briley meetup last night went well, I think. Great turnout and lots of good discussion. I'm sure that some money was raised, but I think probably the most tangible benefit to Briley was an opportunity to convey his confidence that things in this race are not what the polls seem to indicate. He seemed confident that the swing of things was firmly in his favor. I had mentioned to him earlier the retarded, divisive comment about "splitting" Dean's vote, and how strategic voting in a race that is this close is insane. Briley pointed out in his remarks that he thinks it's as likely that he and Dean will be in a run-off as anything else, given the momentum of both campaigns right now. And that was the theme of the evening -- momentum. Everyone I've talked to in the past week -- admittedly a small sample set --has been excited about Dean or Briley, whereas I've gotten nothing but baffled apathy regarding the rest of the field, particularly with regards to Clement.

So, we'll see what happens. All I know is that neither Karl Dean nor David Briley should be counted out of this race. I took my camera to the meetup with the intention of documenting the fun-times, and I took ... 2 pictures. I am a chatty-cathy socialite first, and a photographer second. Sometimes I forget that.