"Reality"

One of the biggest problems with the way that the media portrays “reality” is that, essentially, every reporter, every journalist, is a writer at heart. As Mark Bowden discusses in his article, The Angriest Man on Television, the reporter risks having his or her story ruined by too many facts. Someone like David Simon is able to take the stories that he saw as a reporter for the Sun and tell them in a way that fits neatly into the narrative he has created. A reporter in the real world has to keep going back to the story, to keep investigating and suffer the likelihood that his story is not going to be neat and tidy. There is the very real possibility that this will lead to lazy reporting. It’s easier to report the story that reflects the “reality” created by media than to do the diligence required for a story that doesn’t fit into the narrative created by media.

As shown in the report, Prime Suspects: The Influence of Local Television News on the Viewing Public, the crime stories most often reported on are violent crimes. Of those, the ethnicity of the suspect is most likely to be mentioned when that person is African-American. Through a preponderance of these kinds of stories the media creates a “reality” where African-Americans generally commit violent crimes. The media afraid to break away from the pack reinforces this circular logic. Afraid to tell the story that doesn’t fit neatly into the narrative media has created for themselves, the same types of stories are told over and over until it becomes accepted as “reality.” Add to this the fact that minority reporters predominantly report on the majority of minority stories, in this case, crime stories, and a further level of reinforcement of the false reality is created.

Where does this leave the viewing public? Where are they to turn to in order to gain an accurate view of crime? The local media is going to go with the stories that sell, “If it bleeds, it leads.” The reporter is going to be tempted to report on the stories that fit into the easy mold, the white reporter is going to be hesitant to report on the minority issues that they are unfamiliar with. Hard work is hard. It’s easier to report on the same things that everyone else reports on, it’s easier to report on crime in the minority community than it is to report on issues that affect that community.

When we see someone like David Simon creating a fictional show that has more credibility than reality, we have to question that reality.

Head Colds and Breathing Masks

It's a strange feeling when you are told that you are sleeping wrong. I mean, it's sleeping, how can you not do it right?

When I finally got on my wife's insurance plan and had my first doctor's appointment in I don't know how long, he asked me how I was sleeping.

"The regular way," I said, "eyes closed, lying down.. you know."

He sent me to a sleep clinic where they hooked me up to a bunch of machines and told me to sleep normally. Then they proceeded to wake me up every few minutes to ask me how I was sleeping. The diagnosed me with sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is where your throat will close while you are sleeping and you will almost wake up, but not quite. You never go into the restful REM sleep so you always feel tired.

After I got my CPAP machine I started sleeping the right way. The machine consists of a mask that fits over your face. This is attached by a hose to a unit that pumps air into the mask. It creates an air pressure that keeps your throat open. It took some getting used to, but now I can't imagine life without it.

I am now suffering through my second head cold since I got the machine. It's not because of the machine, it's just your regular head cold. However nothing is quite as gross as having a runny nose while you have a mask strapped to your face that covers your nose and mouth. You wake up in the middle of the night to feel snot running across your face. Yuck. Then I as I was lying there, after going to the bathroom to blow my nose and wash my face, I realized that the machine was doing it's job. That is to create air pressure to keep my throat open. Usually, when I'm breathing through my nose, it's hardly noticeable. However, with my nose severely clogged, I was sleeping with my mouth open. With the air blasting straight down to my throat making it feel dry and making me feel a little bit crummier.

I did finally fall asleep. But I'll be glad when this cold goes away.

Honey Pie

Ahhh… food. When it’s at it’s worst it can be horrible, when it’s merely half-assed it can sometimes be pretty good, and when it’s delicious it can be a transcendental experience. Honey Pie on KK in Bayview falls into the last category.

Housed in the former home of the craptastic Annona Café, Scott Johnson and partners’ newest creation may have been their best one yet.

Thursday night found the place packed. My dinner companion, this evening played by my lovely wife, got there just as it really started to fill up. We got a table for two next to the window, but the people behind us had to wait.

The menu has a few appetizers, a few dinners and an expansive selection of sandwiches. There is also a huge selection of beers and a very tempting dessert display case; more on that later.

We started with the Pork Stacked Fries appetizer; delicious French fries, covered in a bar-b-qued pulled pork, cheese gravy, jalapeno slices, and bacon. What sounded like it would be merely a mess, turned out to work amazingly well together. The jalapenos tasted fresh and had a good bite, the cheese gravy was much more substantial than any cheese sauce could ever hope to be. Overall, the flavors balanced in an amazing dance of beautiful gastronomic excess, the sweetness of the bar-b-que sauce was countered by the pepper’s sharpness, and fries just taste better smothered in cheese.

My wife had a salad with a Citrus Basil dressing. The small taste I had reminded me of fruity vinaigrette, but significantly more substantial.

Dinner arrived. My wife got the Chicken Pot Pie. It was served in a bowl with a golden brown crust easily covering it. The insides consisted of a creamy gravy with a good amount of dark meat chicken and loads of vegetables.

I got the burger special; two pork and beef patties, with pepper jack cheese, a spicy chipolte aioli, and bacon. The special board specified that the burger had tons of bacon, upon seeing the burger, the statement was almost not hyperbole, there was a lot of bacon. This was of course accompanied by another pile of delicious french fries, plain, but I’m not complaining. I could make a meal of those deep-fried tubers.

Dessert seemed to be necessary to complete the experience. I chose the White Russian Cream Pie, my wife got a piece of Turtle cake. I’m not sure what I expected, but I got exactly what was advertised. A piece of home-made cream pie that tasted just like a White Russian. It was good, but not great. It had a bit too much of a strong alcohol flavor, but it was well made and I might be nit-picking. My wife’s cake was delicious and moist. She enjoyed it very much. By the time she offered me a bite, it was too late. I was filled to the top.

Prices were reasonable. Our dinner ran us a little more than $40. Soda refills were happily given, although the waitress seemed to be pretty busy. The place is small so extra servers might end up running each other over, but everything was well worth the wait.

The menu has a good amount of vegetarian and vegan offerings including the option of
”vegan-a-fying” many of the meat dishes.

The food is not healthy, but it is absolutely delicious. Home-cooked comfort food at it’s finest. Put it on your list of places to stop in at. You won’t be disappointed.