I ‘CrossFitted.’ And I’m Brown. But I just didn’t CrossFit anywhere. I trained at CrossFit South Brooklyn (CFSBK). That is a crucial component of my “CrossFitting While Brown” experience. Being brown and chasing ‘elite fitness’ does not necessarily entail a conceptual clash between the two, but my personal insecurities and the cultural placement of CrossFitContinue reading “Crossfitting While Brown”
Tag Archives: militarism
Robert Mueller And The Cruise Missile: Ready To Be Fired
All–especially my fellow American citizens–praise the cruise missile. This marvelous weapon, “a guided missile used against terrestrial targets…remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed.” It is “designed to deliver a large warhead over long distances with high precision.” It can be launched off-shore from a ship, orContinue reading “Robert Mueller And The Cruise Missile: Ready To Be Fired”
‘Jokes’ About Country Music Fans’ Taste In Music Is All I Got For Now
Because–in the wake of Sandy Hook and Las Vegas–talking about gun control, gun regulation, background checks, mental health, institutional capture by the National Rifle Association, the Republican Party’s gun lobby, gun culture, toxic masculinity, American cultures of violence, racist understandings of ‘terrorism,’ white privilege, political hypocrisy, the rural-urban divide, and all of the rest seemsContinue reading “‘Jokes’ About Country Music Fans’ Taste In Music Is All I Got For Now”
Missile Firing Day: The Republic’s Inaugural Day Is Here
There is a popular and enduring American fiction that the US President is sworn into office on something called Inauguration Day, which is commemorated on January 20th in Washington DC. Seasoned students of the Republic are well aware, however, that the actual, truly meaningful, Inauguration Day is not so rigidly anchored to a particular freezingContinue reading “Missile Firing Day: The Republic’s Inaugural Day Is Here”
Hillary Clinton’s War Abroad Will Come Home Soon Enough
Hillary Clinton’s response to the Orlando massacre reminds many why they are nervous about a person who carelessly voted for the Iraq war becoming US president: Whatever we learn about this killer [Omar Mateen], his motives in the days ahead, we know already the barbarity that we face from radical jihadists is profound. In theContinue reading “Hillary Clinton’s War Abroad Will Come Home Soon Enough”
W. E. B DuBois On The Exportation Of Domestic Pathology
In ‘Of Mr. Booker T. Washington And Others’ (from The Souls of Black Folk, Bedford St. Martins, 1997, pp. 68) W. E. B. DuBois writes: This triple paradox in Mr. Washington’s position is the object of criticism by two classes of colored Americans. One class is spiritually descended from Toussaint the Savior, through Gabriel, Vesey, andContinue reading “W. E. B DuBois On The Exportation Of Domestic Pathology”
Robespierre On The Iraq War(s)
Robespierre, in a speech to the Jacobin Club, which began on 2 January 1792, and concluded on 11 January, responding to the Girondins call for war: [T]he most extravagant idea that can arise in the mind of a politician is the belief that a people need only make an armed incursion into the territory ofContinue reading “Robespierre On The Iraq War(s)”
Machine Gun Men: Not Your Grandfather’s Police
It was a common sight in New York City: soldiers, paramilitary or regular in origin, wearing battle fatigues and carrying assault rifles and machine guns, standing guard in various bustling points of urban interaction–train stations and bus terminals most commonly. Typically, these were deployed after some mysterious, unspecified warning would be made public by theContinue reading “Machine Gun Men: Not Your Grandfather’s Police”
Crossfit and the Military: A Way Forward
As a long-time member of Crossfit South Brooklyn, I have blogged here on Crossfit-related issues before (posts on Crossfit and the military, Crossfit and women, and of course, some training notes on weightlifting.) I’m not done yet writing about Crossfit, especially when it comes to issues of inclusiveness. On that note, I’m glad to welcomeContinue reading “Crossfit and the Military: A Way Forward”
Bridging Partisan Divides with Patriotism? No Thanks.
Have you, dear reader, seen the latest cinematic masterpiece making the rounds of YouTube channels, ‘Americans, Fuck Yeah‘? (I lie ever so slightly; the actual title is just ‘Americans’.) Directed by James Stafford and starring musical maestro Kid Rock and actor and director Sean Penn, it aims to bring Americans together, to bridge partisan divides,Continue reading “Bridging Partisan Divides with Patriotism? No Thanks.”
Samir Chopra 