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I haven’t been in a plane in quite some time (can’t remember the last time), and so I have that anxiety that comes when air travel is not a habit. I am trying not to pack too much. For a few hours yesterday, I resigned myself to the fact that I couldn’t bring my camera. But, I decided to fuck it and bring it, because I really feel lost without it.

I just finished a book by John Robison, which was actually a gift I had given to Matthew for Christmas. I borrowed it from him after he quickly finished it post-Christmas. John Robison is the brother of Augusten Burroughs and lives in Amherst. He grew up in Shutesbury, just around the corner from where I work right now. The book is his first and it is about his life with Asperger’s. It’s a quick and engaging read; I highly recommend it. If you do get it, consider the hardcover edition. The paperback edition that I purchased removed expletives so that younger people could read it and learn about Asperger’s, or just growing up different (and all the bullying that comes with it).

Now I am between books and don’t know which one to start. I’m thinking that I’d like to switch to fiction, so I am considering Andre Dubus III’s latest The Garden of Last Days, which I received as a gift. I also received two nonfiction books that are en vogue right now–Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food. I heard about them at JBo’s tea party in December and put them on my Amazon list.

I also got Obama’s The Audacity of Hope, but I have already decided against reading it next. Something about reading Obama while in Chicago seems awfully cheesy.

I think I’ve settled on Ande Dubus III. I don’t know anything about the book. A perfect escape.

I won’t have any computer access for a few days as far as I know. Back on Friday night.

Here is, in his words, what happened.

My name is Anthony Jones. I am a 29 year-old college educated, professional African-American male who resides in Northampton, MA. I am writing to discuss a complaint against a public establishment in Holyoke named The Clover, as well as against the Holyoke Police Department.

Recently, my partner and I were out for the evening when we decided to go to The Clover Pub in Holyoke for a couple drinks. As we thought this establishment to be friendly enough (as it is in gay marriage friendly Massachusetts), my partner and I kissed one another on the lips. We were told that this behavior was “unacceptable” in this bar. We were told to stop. As I believe I have the right to kiss anyone I want, I asked why we were being asked to stop kissing. We were told that this bar was not “that kind of place.” I explained that what we were doing was not inappropriate. My partner and I were asked to leave. I said I would not leave the bar because I kissed my boyfriend and because we did nothing wrong.

We were again told to leave and told that if we refused to leave, the cops would be called. Because I felt and still feel that my partner and I were being asked to leave because of our sexual orientation, I again stated that we would not leave because we had a right to be in this public establishment and that we were not violating any laws.

Within a few minutes, five police officers showed up to the bar and asked my partner and me to step outside. As we were dumbfounded, my partner was trying to explain to the officers that we were not doing anything wrong. We did nothing to warrant the reaction we received. The cops refused to listen to either of us who were trying to explain our side of whatever story had been told. They (the cops) became more forceful in an effort to get my partner and me out of the bar. Once we were outside, I again tried to reinforce what I had been saying all along – that this was happening to us because of our sexual orientation. The police report clearly states that I kept saying that we were being treated unjustly because we were gay.

Later, we discovered the bar tender and owner informed the cops that we were engaged in “lewd” behavior. The police report states that it was reported that we were lifting up one another’s shirts and sucking one another’s nipples. This is completely untrue. Obviously, this was an excuse made up by the owner and bartender to cover their butts because they knew we had done nothing out of the “ordinary.”

In the meantime, the cops tried to insist we settle down or that they would place us in protective custody. Again, because we felt as if this was completely unfair and inappropriate, I said being taken to jail was an even bigger insult than being thrown out of the bar. Since the cops thought I was unwilling to cooperate, they used pepper spray directly in my eyes. It was one of the worst experiences of my life. While one police report says that after the pepper spray was sprayed I calmed down, another states I calmed after a little more resistance. Personally, I don’t know anyone who can not feel violated when he or she has been pepper sprayed for no reason at all.

As I was unaware of what was happening with my partner, I know I was handcuffed in the most forceful of ways. Even today, almost a month after the incident, I still have visible bruises from this incident. I was then placed in a patrol car and taken to the Holyoke Police Department where things got increasingly worse.

Although the police report states I was allowed to wash my face a couple times, this is untrue. It felt like an eternity before I was able to open my eyes without pain.

The details of the rest of this evening are painful to remember. I have never in my life been made to feel like less than a human being by anyone. I was informed that my partner was also in protective custody because he refused to leave me. I was so thankful to know I wasn’t alone.

I was placed in a cell and told to calm down. I was told to calm down because I was extremely angry, hurt, and confused about how this evening transpired into the nightmare it had become. Of course, I was very vocal about how unfair this was and how it shouldn’t be happening. After a brief while, I was taken out of the cell and escorted to be officially “booked.” I was asked for my address and social security number (which I asked why it was needed and I was told if I didn’t give it to them I wouldn’t be allowed out). I conceded.

After this process, they had me sign a piece of paper although it was unclear what I was signing. I do remember, however, being told that I was being charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. I asked if I could make a phone call. I was escorted to the phone, but because I rely on my cell phone, which had been taken with all my other possessions, I didn’t know a number to call to reach a friend. I demanded an attorney. I was told that I didn’t need an attorney because they were not questioning me about anything. Again, I asked for an attorney. They told me to make my phone call to call whomever I wanted. Since I was unsure of who to call, my privilege to make a phone call was taken away from me. I was again made angry at the fact that my rights were being violated, in my opinion. As I tried to reach for the phone, three offices bombarded me, threw me on the ground, and cuffed me again, this time even tighter than before. The force of these three men was so intense it caused me to fall to the ground face first where I chipped my front tooth.

I was taken back to my cell (shirtless, which I later found out was because of a suicide watch or something ridiculous). I yelled to my partner in another cell and we comforted one another with words until an officer approached my partner and told him (which I found out the next morning) that if he didn’t stop speaking to me, he would be kept in jail for an additional eight hours.

I was made to sleep without a blanket on the cold cement block they use as a bed. My partner was given a blanket. Not only was my partner given a blanket, however. He was also given permission to make a phone call, was not charged with anything formally as I was, and will not have a record of this as an arrest. Obviously, this does not sit well with me as we were both violated, but my “discipline” was handled in much more of a severe way than his. I understand that my partner is older than me and white, which causes me to wonder why such harshness was placed upon me and not both of us? My partner was released at 8 in the morning and was allowed to bail me out with a $40 price tag. We’re still dealing…

I think it’s important to note that neither my partner nor I were looking for trouble. A number of versions of this story will be told that don’t match the truth. Yes, we were having a great night of fun. Yes, we are gay. Yes, I am dating an older white man. Yes, I now realize that the place I was in might not be receptive to our lifestyle. No, I didn’t think this happened in Massachusetts where gay marriage is legal. It shouldn’t happen anywhere.

I am appalled at the way my partner and I were treated at the bar and by the police. No matter what side of the story they tell, I want someone to answer these questions:

1. Was it right for me to be pepper sprayed?
2. Should my partner and I have been asked to leave the bar?
3. Is it wrong to be gay?
4. Do black Americans deserve to be treated differently than whites displaying the same behavior?
5. Should my tooth have been chipped?
6. Why do I have to go to court in October to clear my name when I have done nothing wrong?
7. Is anyone as angry as me?
8. Who wants to help me fight?

I need the best defense I can get to help me with this. I want people to be aware of how things are still happening in this day and age. Please help me bring this message of injustice, police intimidation, and outright prejudiced to an end. We must do better!
Regards,

Anthony Jones
ynotjones@gmail.com

no soldier no lover
no father no mother
not a lonely child
in the up and in the bedroom
a black and white of the bride and the groom
will bring me to my knees
with the colorized bad dream
that takes its place on
ash wednesday

white noise and love
will be my only drug
on this day nine
suns away
from that sad sad saturday
when fire my friend
fire my villian
you take away yesterday
to give to me today
when nothing’s free no now it’s
ash wednesday

so each day is ash wednesday
all this life is ash wednesday

all the doors are shut
and the windows barely opened up
the fires all around
it’s the ending of the drought
and we are ready now
for tear gas clouds
on my mind
come on fill the house
finally and weep
for it’s king and queen sleep
both now
in the arms of
ash wednesday
ash wednesday

Furthermore, in contrast to earlier times, our state now recognizes that an individual’s capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual’s sexual orientation, and, more generally, that an individual’s sexual orientation — like a person’s race or gender — does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights. We therefore conclude that in view of the substance and significance of the fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship, the California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples.

Taken from PDF courtesy LA Times.

Me: Are there any new trends you’re seeing in the blogging world that bother you?

Tony: Most of the new trends I love: Twitter, Tumblr, FriendFeed, SocialThing, because they are helping bring back the idea that the individual bloggers’ lives matter and those tools make it easier for people to share their experiences with their readers.

The only trend that bothers me, as you say, is the ongoing obsession with people trying to make money off their blogs. I am speaking of the popularity of the Make Money Blogging blogs. These blogs don’t tell the truth about blogging which is: less than one-tenth of one percent of blogs make any real money. You’re better off playing the lottery or OMG getting a second job (or a better primary job) than thinking you can either tweak your blog into some sort of money-making machine.

There are over 100 million blogs out there and about 500 people making money blogging. You have a better chance being a starting quarterback in the NFL. So if you want to blog, blog and forget about the money. Do it because you want to express yourself. If you wanna make money: get a damn job.

Me: Does your new job ever make you feel like a sellout?

Tony: To me, selling out is doing something simply for money that you really don’t love. Working for the LA Times is a dream come true and a job I’ve been wanting for a very long time and I love it. I can’t even really believe I have this job. There have been two Pulitzer Prize winners who have sat at my desk and typed on my keyboard. So damn cool. Me having this job is probably a lot like how Theo Epstien feels about being the GM for the Red Sox – outsiders who always loved this Old School iconic thing, and somehow we get to work for it in a major way due to our New School beliefs and ways.

Working for the love of things is the polar opposite of selling out. It is what people should be doing more of.

Me: As someone who has worked for a small web site within a large company for several years now, sometimes I feel like we’re always chasing the next big thing in new media. Do you feel any pressure at the LA Times to be the trendsetters?

Tony: The Times has not earned its reputation by setting trends, but by being credible and delivering news in a timely fashion. So trendsetting is not a pressure that I think anyone here has ever felt. We have other pressures, like competing with new sources of news like Yahoo, CNN, and those 100 million other blogs.

Do you pay the LA Times bloggers?

Tony: Yes. Even our interns get paid here. It’s quite a different world, in that respect than most of the blogosphere.

Me: What section of the newspaper do you typically take with you to the bathroom?

Tony: The best thing about working at a newspaper is you can carry the paper with you and no one knows you’re headed to the john. I like to bring Metromix in there because a) it’s fantastic and b) I like to leave it in there as a passive-aggressive way of sharing it with my cohorts. Metromix is owned by Tribune Corp but doesn’t always get all the love that it deserves. It’s sorta like the (hot) red-headed stepchild, I feel.

Me: Did you go to your senior prom? What do you remember about it?

Tony: I did go to the senior prom. Even though it was a long time ago, I remember everything, in vivid detail. I went with a junior named Claudia who had dated one of my closest friends, Mike, but he broke up with her a month or two before prom. I wanted to go with my quasi-girlfriend Mary but she had moved and her parents wouldn’t let her fly back to me because they had found out that my mom was going to be out of town that weekend.

I remember clearly how I asked her to prom. I was very superstitious back then and I said to myself, if a good song comes on the radio I will ask Claudia to prom, if not I will beg Mary to go with me one last time. The Kinks’ “Come Dancing” came on and I asked her, she said yes, we kissed, and I thought all would be well.

When Prom came, she looked great (she eventually was Homecoming Queen the next year), I put the corsage on her, etc., but when we got to the dance she didn’t wanna dance. She said she was “sick”. She didn’t seem sick to me, so I was pissed and me and all of my friends, like Mike all danced together in front of the band. I didn’t even kiss her goodnight when I dropped her off.

Turned out it was that time of the month for Claudia, but because she was 16 she didn’t really know how to share that info with me, since we really didn’t know each other all that well. I felt awful. So what I learned was, if a woman says she’s sick, be super cool, cuz it might mean something that men couldn’t fathom.

Me: Favorite songs right now?

Tony: Lil Wayne “I’m Me” and The Ting Tings “That’s Not My Name”.

My office purchased a number of Flip cameras this week, so I’ve been testing one of them out. My early impressions are very positive, especially where design is concerned. It’s about the size of a pack of menthol 100’s and very lightweight. There are a minimal number of buttons to push. The designers definitely took a page out of the Apple book, right down to the boxy packaging the Flip came in.

I did need to flip through the instructions (and they were easy to follow) to figure out how to put the two AA batteries in, but after that I operated on auto-pilot. Recording, playing back, zooming were all simple things to do — easier than figuring out how to operate the camera on your cell phone (or at least my cell phone). Basically, you push the big red button. A red light appears in front of the camera so you know it’s recording. To stop recording, hit the red button again. Playback button appears to the left and a trash button (which I haven’t used yet) appears to the right. Zoom in and out buttons are above and below the red record button.

Once I recorded some footage, I flipped out the USB on the side (this is where the Flip comes in, I guess) plugged the camera into my work computer. Unfortunately, I have a 3-year-old Dell with a strange front-USB setup, so the Flip wouldn’t quite fit. I tried the back, but my monitor plug was in the way. I moved to a newer machine, plugged it in, and the software-download prompt came up. The software loaded in a matter of minutes and I was able to navigate through my video clips easily. The camera holds up to 60 minutes of video. I used up about 8 minutes of that.

The software is simple, albeit a little bit on the clunkier side than the sleek overall design of the camera itself. I figured it out relatively quickly, though (again, without the aid of the instruction manual). I reset the in and out points of some of my clips and then used the Make Movie option to bring them all together into one video. The program offers the option of adding music to the video (haven’t played around with this much, but it looks like you don’t have too many options about volume, so make sure that you don’t have much talking in your video) as well as some effects, like black and white.

There is a button called Share Video, which is good if you are an AOL user (WTF), or you’d like to send a video e-card, or if you want your video up on YouTube. Most will choose the YouTube option, I’d assume. If you are like me and want the video to go up somewhere else entirely, navigate to My Documents and you should find a folder named Flip Videos or something like that. That’ll contain the WMV of your finished video. Note: I had to ask a colleague in Alabama where my finished movie was, because I couldn’t figure it out and didn’t remember seeing a prompt. So, just remember, it’s in My Documents.

As a sidenote, the hard drive of the camera holds your raw clips as AVI files and you can always navigate to them in your My Computer folder when the camera is connected. That’s good if you want to edit your clips in Premiere or some other editing program.

As for video quality, I was impressed with how the video looked, but unimpressed with its audio capabilities. There is no external audio jack. Overall, though, this camera isn’t meant for hardcore editing projects. Stick to the quick and dirty stuff and have fun with it. For $150 you can’t go wrong.

The basic idea is this: For a flat rate of $10, Big Y will shop for groceries for you. Four hours later you can go pick up your groceries at the store.

This concept appeals to me on so many levels. First of all, I’m online all the time and happen to love online shopping. Think of it this way. If I research a recipe online, I can order ingredients right then and there. I don’t have to print out the recipe and take it to the store with me. That’s awesome.

Second of all, I have so little time these days to enjoy life outside of work. Chores like grocery shopping can sometimes fill up a whole night for me. $10 isn’t all that much to me these days if it means I can save time.

The downside is that Big Y is so much more expensive than Stop & Shop. I generally prefer going to Stop & Shop, too. And, of course, the program is not available – just yet – at a Big Y near me.

I applaud a relatively small family-owned chain like Big Y taking a chance with this forward-thinking idea, because it shows that they’re willing to try new things and that they are keeping their customers in mind. Now if they could just come down on their prices, we’d all be much happier.