Allegory

Thanks to consumerism, MTV/BET and the No Child Left Behind Act, high schools really don't teach literature, essay-writing, basic composition, etc. any more. So let's define the term. Allegory is an extended metaphor, the way an illustration's an extended, story-like example. It carries a literal meaning and a symbolic message...

...so, five years after her son's murder, Jam Master J's mother Connie's still looking for answers. No leads. No clues. One thug who'd been living on J's sofa and likely witnessed the crime isn't talking to the cops or anyone. Connie blames the "don't snitch" sub-culture. J was one of the softer souls in Hip Hop, and in Run-DMC's music he will forever be a pioneer...

...and T.I., king of the durrrtySouth, is out on bail. The actual bond would buy a couple of houses even in this crazy D.C. market. Several of his fans were outside the courthouse, Michael Jackson-fan-style (by the way, did you know MJ's a citizen of our fair state, Maryland...sharing prime Chesapeake Bay frontage with Dick Cheney, author Tom Clancy and a couple of billionaires?). Their tee shirts read: "Let your haters be motivators." And what did this man who's "gettin; paid" do with his money to get him landed in the pokey? Stock fraud? Mis-stating a form 10-K? Nah. He brings machine guns and pistols with silencers to the BET Awards. Allegedly, of course...

...thus I pray the Connies out there will no longer have to grieve and lament. I pray our kids pick new heroes and real causes. Then again, they don't teach allegory in school anymore...

NEWSFLASH (yeah, and I tie it in, don't worry): The Turks vow to make the Kurds "grieve." It's so good to see our President inspiring yet more horseshit spillover from a horseshit war. Indeed, here's a quote from an old black man, a barber, down in Upper Marlboro, Md whose son just finished his stint in the Army and is now in a reserve unit: "The white trash and conservatives put Bush in office, let the white trash fight his wars and they can do it to a country music soundtrack. And let the conservatives pick up a rifle and put down their damn Blackberries and Bibles." By the way, this dude used to cut my hair, and I ran into him at Border's during the Capital Bookfest. He won a Bronze Star and Purple Heart in Korea (in case you wish to disparage him, Rush Limbaugh & Dittoheads) and yep, was once stationed in Turkey guarding an old missile base during the thick of the Cold War. He's one of the few regular folk out there who understands the centuries-long mess between the Turks and Kurds. And this dude barely graduated high school. But wait, didn't Dubya go to Yale? No affirmative action baby, him, right, so it must've been on merit. I'm sure they taught him something there, eh? ;-) Too bad TI's a hero to our youth, and not this old brother.