I’m riding on the 7 Train the other night with the sun setting on a humid early summer day on the clustered and ethnically diverse sections of Queens (Jackson Heights, Sunnyside and Flushing, for the record) and without a companion to share the experience or my MP3 player for rhythmic sustenance, I glance over the back portion of the cart to notice a couple of good lookers, unfortunately sitting breathing distance away from two meatheads spitting out misogynistic, monosyllabic utterances that would fail too woo a 21-yeard old virgin jonesing for a first crack at unadulterated fucking. See I wanted to go the graceful Shakespearian route but watching George Carlin over the past couple of days has heightened my appreciation of such a dynamic and to the point word that censors slam on like Shaq on Kobe. Fuck’s a fucking great word and I do wonder if Kobe knows how Shaq’s ass really tastes like? Mine, if you were wondering, tastes like Cookie Crisps. So I’ve been told.

Damn mind and its insistent interruptions, well this one rugged individual with his trophy girlfriend began to rip on the sport he, and myself, were about to view in person. Instead, this warrior rambled on with out much of an attentive audience, about a true sport in all facets of the word - RUGBY! Insert retarded Tim Allen man grunts from that whack ass show that at least paved the way for Pamela to become Borat’s love interest.

First, I entered the wrestling subculture in high school where dropping weight and sincere dedication to overall fitness pumps the ego with pure testosterone. Then I tore shit up on the rugby pitch where once again stamina and a desire for an adrenaline rush that numbs the physical pain becomes the calling card of a lesser known sport in the States.

“Rugby’s the best, man,” says some otherworld brain-dead dude wearing a rugby shirt just in case those cannon-sized thighs were not enough of a tip-off. “It’s the only sport where you can just…um, you know run someone over. Yeah, because you know that’s what a sport should really be about.’

Here’s where your sports enthusiastic and clear-headed blogger steps in to disengage those immersed in their own discovery and devotion to one particular sport that they fallaciously castigate 99% of the other athletes celebrating the overall wonder of sports as a whole. I could list every sport I have ever played and given you, the reader, a firsthand account of why I loved, no hyperbole on that one, that sport.

Maybe my organizational route dilutes my purpose so I’ll break it down point by point or instance by instance.

1. The main reason for this blog is to vent for my spiritual equilibrium. Without a steady job over the past month, I have had the fortune of watching almost every match of UEFA’s Euro Cup ‘08. With nearly half the goals from the tourny coming after the 75th minute thus far, and a German team first upsetting a top-seeded Portugal crew led by arguably the best player in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo and then holding off an upstart and persistent Turkish squad, the entertainment level matches any past international tourny in recent memory. The Spaniards, of course, could ruin the German’s attempted conquest and win their first Euro Cup in over 40 years as Spain has been branded as underachievers of late. We’re hours away from what could be a gripping final but always influenced and agitated by the haters of the world, I marvel in disregard at how those Americans, blind and ignorant on their own self-infatuation, could knock the most popular sport in the world! Hypocrisies and paradoxes abound when examining the infrastructure of our country, I just wanted the sports world to grow an immunity to stupidity. But Americans shed the underdog status soon after Lexington and Concord and will never chart the long-winding road to success. If Scarface and the Great Gatsby doesn’t say enough about the warped American Dream then our denial of soccer as a major, if not the most popular sport, surely says plenty on how Americans view the world as of today.

2. As much time as I have spent watching Euro ‘08 I still have not played soccer in over a decade, hopefully an excursion to Brazil will change that and I will return as the Jewish Pele. Since graduating college and giving up rugby as a formal pursuit, I usually apply my golden athletic skills to basketball, stickball and, not living far from the U.S. Open, tennis. My buddy Micah, who is currently home from the Netherlands where he studies, and I have run down some pretty exciting points over the past couple of weeks on the hard courts of Forest Park. Micah, however, with his travels and open-minded, carefree spirit, contrasts with some of my more insulated friends abiding by a script written by predecessors who have been passing on outdated social norms for generations. Take my stubborn and plump friend that dons the badge of the NYPD. Let’s call him officer Oink. The piggy called me up recently to talk fantasy baseball - always a riveting topic. But before spewing out his one-sided trade offer he chimed in with an irritating and patented laugh after hearing I was about to play tennis. Yeah, I know I cannot lend merit to a voice backed by a gun and some blubber. But his insolence surely allows me to further mock the sports fan who thinks every accomplishment should be measured in 10-yard increments.

3. Finally, I send this message out to those with influence in the media as I have hung up my pen and seek to exhaust other possibilities with or without accepting failure as an option. As a child I recall watching a show on ESPN devoted to intriguing games from around the world. For example, ESPN the magazine featured an article on some esteemed mud-wrestling tournament in Turkey. I cannot remember the exact name of the show but predict that one made of the same cloth would keep me tuned in on a weekly or monthly basis.

Now go! Don’t read another word. Pick up a ball or a remote and dig into the international cuisine known as sports.

Prior to Game Four of the NBA Finals, I trekked with some friends out to Long Island for some sun and scrumptious dead animal as my close friend Prozac invited us over to his pad after recently returning from a stint in Wyoming - don’t ask. Prozac showed little interest in the game during the opening minutes as he remained tended to his barbeque, but he also expressed no aversion to those who understand the enormity of the game, and savored such action on a large screen, HD television - the very set that presented Tom Brady’s finest moment this past winter. Did the Giants really win that game? I see Super Bowl shirts occasionally and still need a refresher to remember the G-Men took it all.

Granted, because of the best-of-seven series format, the game held less appeal than the aforementioned NFL season conclusion, yet us watching demonstrated nearly as much gusto for this contest as any. As an invited guest, I bit my tongue in disbelief and shock as Prozac booted us from his house at the half, right after Jordan Farmar banked in a prayer. I could relate to his desire for sleep but our crowd didn’t resemble a Coors Light commercial, more like a public service announcement for the sticky icky. Silence will always be golden in my world. No go on persuading Prozac to bend. Clearly, if I knew of his buzz-kill ways, I would have passed on the beach and camped out in my living room for the night with hands nestled warmly on the remote.

Fortunately, ESPN Classic replayed the game and I caught the conclusion with less anticipation due to knowing the final result. I practice forgiveness but I also covet peace of mind. My resolution usually plays out as I allow time to ease my nerves. But come on now! This was only an unfathomable road, come-back victory in one of the most hyped Finals ever. I will definitely scout out television accessibility next time I hit up a party. Feel free to reply with reaction from this regrettable dilemma. Onto thoughts concerning multi-millionaires playing a child‘s game.

From the post-season onset, ESPN mismatched analysts with their NBA coverage as former Fab Five member and Pacer point guard, Jalen Rose, clashed with the caricature form Queens known as Steven A. Smith. Rose’s impressive resume and irreverent commentary lost legs due to the immaturity of a hack columnist who never donned an NBA jersey. Smith owns the word count between the two but remember young entrepreneurs - it’s not quantity, it’s quality. Rose mentioned how the addition of Tom Thibodeau to Doc Rivers’ coaching staff represented the biggest Celtic acquisition following the arrival of Ray Allen and KG.

Thibodeau helped orchestrate a terrific defensive scheme in New York with Jeff Van Gundy as the Knicks stood near the top of most defensive categories on a yearly basis. With KG as his centerpiece, Thibodeau once again drew up a smothering defensive game plan for the season, resulting in the best defense in the league, and possibly the best overall since Pat Riley’s Knicks some 15 years ago.

To pay respect to a champion (Happy Father’s Day to all you Celtic fanatics as you’re winning it in Hollywood tonight) I will break down a team dripping with toughness and unselfishness that stormed through the season and recovered from an inauspicious start to the postseason to defeat a favorite to oust them before the series started. As a New Yorker desperately clinging to the boyish belief that Mike D’Antoni will boost my Knicks back to watchability, I contest that this Boston team goes beyond the walls of that crummy city. This is a squad with three legit superstars who abide by a team concept. A team representing Eastern Conference basketball with grit and bruising hustle. Without further slurping…

P.J. Brown - A well-traveled Oakley wannabe without much offensive spark who will forever own the ire of Knick fans after body slamming Charlie Ward in the ‘97 playoffs and costing my team the series due to a bogus NBA rule that summons such contempt that I long for learning curse words in a foreign tongue to aptly express my rage, Brown jumped onto this 66-win team after the All-Star break. Move over Scott Boras, KG and Pierce might consider delving into sports agency after retirement as they recruited the former Net during the All-Star festivities as the recently retired Brown enjoyed the weekend in his hometown of New Orleans. I did not expect Brown to play much during the postseason but his toughness has earned him the role of the first big off the bench. Besides school-yard quality aggressiveness, Brown also contributed a memorable jumper in Boston’s Game Seven victory against Cleveland.

Eddie House - A straight-up chucker in Phoenix and New Jersey, House landed a spot on Boston as General Manager Danny Ainge worked immediately following the blockbuster Allen-KG deals to throw together a serviceable bench. House showed his deficiencies in an early-season game against Detroit in which defensive specialist Lindsay Hunter consistently picked House’s pocket. Head coach Doc Rivers cured that dilemma without abandoning House’s deft perimeter touch by going to a smaller second unit without starting point guard Rajon Rando as Allen handles the rock and looks to feed House. House, to the befuddlement of myself and the Sports Guy, played sparingly to start the postseason but when given the opportunity knocked down j’s at a consistent clip. House played during Thursday’s dramatic comeback and gave Boston its first lead at 84-83 with less than five minutes to play. House resembles Hubert Davis from the Riley Knicks as New York won on defense but needed strong shooters to come off the bench and deliver crucial baskets. House did just that the other night.

Leon Powe - Toss Powe “The Show” in there with House for giving me ample reason to lose my lust for Boston during the first two rounds of the postseason as Rivers went Isiah on me and disregarded two of his best bench players from a triumphant season. I won’t slobber over Powe too much for brevity reasons but his Game Two explosion against L.A. in which he slammed down two emphatic dunks, illustrates why Boston can go back-to-back despite an aging Big Three.

James Posey - Ainge must have gone on a spiritual quest prior to last season’s draft as he made ALL the necessary steps to turnaround a team with the worst record in the league into a flawless championship contender. One only need to look at title teams from the past 15 years and see a relatively common feature - Robert Horry. Horry won two with Houston, three with L.A. and two with San Antonio because of an uncanny ability to hit critical shots down the stretch of games. I now anoint James Posey the next Horry. Posey seems to drain everything he puts up in the postseason and has replicated his defensive performance from the ‘06 Finals where he controlled Josh Howard as a member of the title-winning Heat. Posey bangs you on defense and then spits you out on offense. Maybe Kobe aught to pass on his Black Mamba title to a true predator.

Kendrick Perkins - My first impressions of the straight-out-of-high-school center was generic big body to play d in a league with a shortage of centers. Playing in a league where officials usually feel neglected and incessantly blow whistles on apparition calls, Perkins at times picks up an early two and visit’s the bench. Without rhythm he exemplifies a player not in his prime but see him on the court with confidence and he exhibits quite a repertoire, including a delicate baby hook that belies his beastly play. Perkins exploded during the Eastern Conference Finals where the Pistons coach should have countered with the burly Jason Maxiell. Good luck finding a job Flip.

Rajon Rondo - Without question, the most intriguing player from this unit since the first game of the regular season. Handed the keys to a Rolls after driving a Malibu in his first season, the featherweight has handled the season with poise despite Rivers going Avery Johnson on him and losing faith prematurely. Rondo dissected the Lakers in the first two games with precision passing and little error. The Lakers then forced Rondo into a shooter and he reacted with patience from the perimeter. Rondo understood early on in the season that he needed to develop a jumper but his synergy with KG seems to always bail them out of patterns of stagnation on offense. The expectations were low at the outset for this rangy Kentucky Wildcat, but to say he has overshot them is like saying a then unknown DeNiro did the part of Vito Corleone justice in Godfather II.

Ray Allen - Dead and resurrected - maybe Spike really needs to squash his man crush with Kobe and begin working on He Got Game II - Jesus goes Boston, with Matt Damon replacing Denzel. From an embarrassment to the star of a pivotal Game Five against the Pistons to a possible MVP of the Finals after playing all 48 minutes in Game Four and blowing past Sasha Vujacic in the waning seconds with a reverse lay-up to ensure victory, Allen has truly played like the third corner on an almost equilateral triangle of brilliance. Allen built his bball portfolio with a smooth j, but his quick first step in those spry legs blurs the line between a perimeter player and one with an overall grade A game.

KG - Past Defensive Player of the Year Awards have gone to the likes of Dikembe Mutombo, Ben Wallace and Marcus Camby. No slight on any of the three but not since David Robinson and Hakeem Olajuwon has a superstar center won the award. His wingspan and tenacity alter almost every shot taken in the paint. Analysts want to belabor his overly unselfish tendencies, and yes he shied away from big spots in the first two rounds, but Sir Charles eloquently put it when he said KG is a great player but not a great scorer. His play elevates everyone around him and one cannot downplay his intangible leadership skills that have tied the team together ever since Rivers placed a ban on cell phones in Europe during preseason to build team unity.

Paul “The Truth” Pierce - I’m not here to flower Pierce’s persona by saying he didn’t bail on last year’s team and call him the true MVP of the Celtics because he withstood years of shoddy play from his supporting cast. But I pick up on the creeping sensation that his needs look to him for more than just a basket, which is usually the situation with the Lakers and Kobe. The Celtics rely on Pierce for emotional stability as well as flair. His effervescent smile after draining two huge free throws in his 41-point performance against the Cavs in Game Seven seemed to bury a burden of tension weighing on Boston. Pierce adopted a more stoic demeanor in the next round, best illustrated in Game Six when he was called for a charge on what should have been a four-point play. Pierce laughed off the abysmal call and Boston rallied to win in Detroit and take the series. KG plays uncontrolled at times but Pierce has not flailed in frustration since those first two forgettable series.

Two plays stand out as signature moments for Pierce in that Game Four comeback. The first was a patented Pierce drive in which he muscled to the basket, drew a foul and somehow used his strength to put up a reverse lay-up that rolled in - only LeBron could have pulled off such a display of physical fortitude. But this is Eastern Conference basketball and by this I mean we need to amplify defensive dominance. Pierce shut down Kobe in the second half and even swatted a jumper that led to a fast break. No deflection. No foul. No fingertips. Unadulterated rejection.

Now there have been plenty of corny moments by ESPN and ABC involving this Celtics team as their half-time segments reek of pretentiousness. But I recall the Big Three prior to the postseason sitting down for an interview. Someone on ESPN asked all three to say who was the true MVP of the team. They spoke all at once without letting the audience decipher the answer. I’m going with Pierce for this series because of his defense but since 1980 every NBA champion team has won a title with a distinct superstar except for the ‘04 Pistons. Twenty years from I will not sully this Boston run by telling my child of the KG-or-Pierce led Celtics. This is a team with sturdiness from the bottom to the top. This blog pays tribute to a team in the truest sense of the word that will allow me to root for them despite playing in the same city that has as much sophistication and tact as a New York sewer rat.

But just as a chronicled rivalry creates the ideal match-up for the culmination to this NBA season, one cannot forget the recent history associated wit the series that hopefully turns the next couple of weeks into Xanadu for us bball junkies.

Two seasons ago seemed to mark a turnaround for the league as the stellar draft class of ‘03 (LeBron, Melo, Wade and Bosh) matured into primetime players. Wade’s earlier-than-expected entry into superstardom prompted this blogger to predict an accelerated leap for LeBron in his game and title pursuits. The King reached the finals last season, however, playing in a feeble conference, the Cavs embarrassed themselves and LeBron regressed during a four-game sweep against the Spurs due to a not-ready-for-primetime jump shot.

To exacerbate the situation, news leaked that an official bet on playoff games, and in the next line of terrible teammates to join Bonds and TO, Kobe used the mismatched finals to air his discontent with the Lakers and announce his intentions to leave L.A. Forget needing damage control, David Stern desperately required assistance from a deity or possibly The Wolf.

Nothing seems to revive optimism quite like an old fashioned blockbuster trade. Not long ago I lamented the fact that two future hall-of-famers were languishing on lottery-bound teams while playing in the latter prime of their careers. The Allen Iverson move to Denver last season failed to provide more than a first-round exit for the Answer. However, a move worthy of backroom happenings in D.C. landed the Big Ticket in a much more title-conducive atmosphere than Iverson.

After acquiring one of the best shooters of our time in Ray Allen on draft night, the Celts’ GM, Danny Ainge, contacted former Celtic great and current GM of Minnesota, Kevin McHale to eventually work out a team-clearing trade for Garnett. And we know what happened after that as Boston’s new Big Three, KG, Allen and Paul Pierce need only four more wins to reach the pinnacle of their careers.

From an off-season steal to dead-line larceny, former Laker great turned Memphis GM, Jerry West, who no longer has official ties with the Grizzlies, is believed to be the main conspirator behind a trade that reshaped the season in possibly the best conference since the NBA-ABA merger some 30 years ago.
Kobe’s initial calls for a trade seemed to indicate a possible move to Chicago. Fortunately for those Hollywood A List celebrities packing the Staples Center, the emergence of Laker’s center Andrew Bynum, who at 20 years old cannot legally consume alcohol in the States, kept the Lakers competitive during the first couple of months of the season. Bynum temporarily satiated Kobe but with the big man going down in January, Laker GM Mitch Kupchak worked quickly to acquire the big Spaniard.

Pau Gasol might have gone 0-12 during the postseason with the Grizzlies but a Rookie of the Year Award and plenty of accomplishments in international play merit him an All-Star. Team him with the Black Mamba, the Zen Master and drop Lamar Odom to a more comfortable position as the third scoring option and the Lakers managed to sneak past last year’s defending champs and take the West.

This gift to us NBA fans might have come wrapped in a bow but it didn’t arrive first class. Both teams earned a trip to the finals by taking down legitimate contenders. And while lack of economic compensation deters me from laying out the highlights of this season, I say with little ambiguity that this season ups my gratitude for following this league for nearly 20 years to an immeasurable altitude.

The Tale of the Tape

So much has been written and said heading into this series so I’m going to break it down simply and succinctly.

Point Guard: Rondo vs. Fisher. Possibly the one match-up with the highest reward for the Lakers. Rondo’s ability to facilitate remains the biggest surprise for the C’s all season but he has lost his poise at times during the postseason, as any second-year quarterback would. Kobe needed some reminder other than Phil Jackson from the Laker title teams of earlier this decade to enter the fray. Fisher’s pedigree and defensive aptitude could prove vital for L.A.

Edge: Lakers

Shooting Guard: Allen vs. Kobe. James Posey came up with arguably the biggest play of the Eastern Conference finals when he stripped Tayshaun Prince in the backcourt during the fourth quarter of Game Six. Posey undoubtedly can match-up with Kobe but that would force Doc Rivers to bench Allen during crucial moments. A conundrum that makes a best-of-seven-series so intriguing as adjustments after every game mean everything. I see Posey almost splitting time with Allen. Don’t know if Boston can win with the Big Three minimized to a duo.

Edge: Lakers

Small Forward: Pierce vs. Radmanovich. I do not place Pierce’s 41 points in Game Seven against the Cavs as one of the top post-season- performances that I have witnessed, however, the Truth entered the Detroit series with a calm demeanor that has eliminated his emotional volatility. Every pundit with a voice predicts Kobe winning finals MVP for L.A. and Pierce for Boston rather than KG. Whether Radmanovich or Sasha Vujacic guard the bulky forward, Kobe will need to help with a double without cheating too much on Allen or Posey to minimize the mismatch.

Edge: Boston

Power Forward: KG vs. Odom. I used to feel that Lamar Odom did not maximize his freaky athletic body but the Christ the King product plays a Scottie Pippen free safety role in the Triangle Offense by coming from the wing and attacking the basket on a more frequent basis since the Gasol trade. Question now concerns Odom’s perimeter defense as KG has been deadly from 18 feet throughout his whole career. A tough match-up to envision but Odom can handle Garnett somewhat.

Edge: Celtics

Center: Perkins vs. Gasol. Perkins continues to impress and it is a certainty that with an offensively deficient center like Eddy Curry playing the five, the Celts would be done by now. Gasol baffles me with his passivity in the post but could be the best passing big man I have ever seen. I call this a push with a clause that Doc cannot depend tremendously on guys like Big Baby and Leon Powe to deliver at crucial moments, and instead plays Perkins as much as Phil plays Gasol.

Edge: Push.

I purposely left the edge from the starting match-ups as a push to prove the Lakers will win the series based on the next two components.

Coaches: Rivers vs. Jackson. Doc could study film for the next five years and give up sleeping, eating and family time completely and still lose this match-up. Most peers in New York despise Jackson despite his time as a player with the championship Knicks simply based on surrounding talent as he had the luxury of coaching possibly the greatest player of all time, the best big man of the past 15 years and now another assassin with an innate clutch feel. I tire easily from defending the Buddhist’s sterling record that turned the Bulls and Lakers into dynasties after the coaching predecessors failed to do so. To save on verbosity, I point only to the second quarter of Game Five against the Spurs as proof that Jackson understands the apprentice/mentor relationship like only an observer of Eastern spirituality could. Despite trailing 3-1 in the series and playing on the road, San Antonio busted open a 20-point first-quarter lead. A couple of more Duncan baskets and the series could have swung back to Texas. Most coaches would have been tempted to alter their usual routine and place a tourniquet on the situation but Phil kept confident and brought in his second unit to start the second, as is his usual custom, and benched Kobe. Allowing me to segue oh so seamlessly.

Bench: Vujacic, Walton, Farmar, Turiaf vs. Posey, Brown and who knows who else.
Jordan Farmar’s energy along with crisp passing by Luke Walton, precise shooting by Vujacic and a cerebral big man in Ronnie Turiaf brought the Lakers back into that aforementioned game and presented a ripe situation for Kobe to unleash the fury and bury the Spurs.

Final Verdict: The bench and coaching, along with outplaying their competitive opponents noticeably thus far in the playoffs, gives the Lakers an edge that will be enough for them to win in five.

But this is where mind vs. instinct furiously engage in a vicious tangle. As the mind suggests L.A. the instincts roar Boston. The Celts’ roundabout journey to the finals with six consecutive road losses to start the postseason against inferior teams combined with the unpredictability of Allen can convince any cynic that the Celtic mystique remains a huge reason for 16 franchise titles.

Then there’s what’s at stake. For Phil, he can break a tie with Boston legend Red Auerbach for most coaching titles as Jackson collected six with Chicago before winning three with L.A. Kobe could join Jordan in completing the ultimate season by winning MVP of the regular season and the finals and then taking home gold in the Olympics, as Jordan accomplished the trifecta in ‘92. But the thing with the Lakers is that of the nine players seeing action for the team during the postseason, only Fisher is over 30 years of age (33). With Bynum expected to return next season, the prospect of starting him next to Gasol and Odom in the frontcourt almost guarantees they will be the prohibitive favorite to capture it all.

Boston’s home-court advantage plays huge with the 2-3-2 format, and with the home team dominating play thus far, the Celts slim the margin separating these two teams. But then there’s the narrowing window closing on the title aspirations of the Big Three, who all entered the league in the mid ‘90s. Allen and Garnett, 32, and Pierce, 30, have authored a tremendous season. A season with little disappointment. A season that started in Europe with Rivers banning all cell phones, thus forcing the team to bond. This a team linked together and thriving on the urgency of the moment. I struggle to see what next year holds and I’m sure that specter that presently motivates, could easily haunt in a couple of weeks. I think we all understand that life’s course usually benefits when logic takes over and human emotion dims into a flickering afterthought. But this is a writer who places a premium on the indefinable. Jordan was Jordan because of moments like these and many expect Kobe to be Kobe in this series and tie his former gregarious teammate by winning his fourth title. But this is KG’s time. Pierce’s time. Allen’s time. They appreciate where they are and with Boston embracing the underdog role, they will prevail.

Boston in Seven. Holy shit!

Further commentary for my progressive brethren eager to breakdown the vane barriers preventing unity: Since their last epic finals showdown in ‘87, Hollywood released the definitive anti-racism movie in American History X. A classic scene involves the Aryan, Ed Norton, arguing with the African-American, Guy Torry, about which was a better team in the ‘80s - the Celtics or the Lakers, as the two fold underwear in a prison. Norton backs the white-bread C’s as Torry favors the black-led Lakers. The argument eventually turns to laughs as the two bust on the how ugly those players were with Norton calling James Worthy’s head a melon.

Now Sam Cassell might resemble an alien and Vujacic wears a headband courtesy of the Lakers cheerleaders but disfigured appearances aside, there is no longer a white-black rivalry with these teams. In fact, the globalization disproves a stigma that only African American youths from urban areas flourish in basketball. Credit to writers who point out these progressive facts but unfortunately the last race-related story I read in sports dealt with the lack of African Americans in baseball.

I know the peachy stories do not find their way into the daily tabloids but the emergence of mixed martial arts as a sport that attracts people from all social cloths there is hope for purists like me who know the positive deserves as much attention as the negative.

Lastly, I read recently that while many attribute the moribund Red Sox curse to the Babe, a more rational reason involves racism as Boston was the last team in the MLB to integrate. Boston has now embraced two Dominicans in Big Papi and Manny and now lionize three dark-skinned athletes that, if my prediction rings true, will enter Celtic lure.

To end this opus with some catchy and inspiring lyrics by the White Stripes I say:

Well, Americans:
What, nothin’ better to do?
Why don’t you kick yourself out?
You’re an immigrant too.

I have no idea how this one’s going to turn out, but I suspect that Greenwald, with her Iowa Democratic Party connections, and Kevin Miskell, with strong connections of his own through the Iowa Farmers Union and the help of former John Edwards staffer and Howard Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi, are the candidates to beat.

The primary had been more or less off the radar until recently; things have gotten a bit testy in the run-up to June 3.

Most notably perhaps, The Register published an article about candidate Kurt Meyer’s second home in Edina, Minnesota, and wrote that he has not filed Iowa income taxes in a decade and had no Iowa driver’s license until December 31 of last year.

In the article, Miskell enters into the fray:

Meyer said Thursday that he has an extension and will file Iowa income taxes this year.

“This isn’t a matter of choosing a place to move to for political expediency, this is coming home,” Meyer said of the house his family built and moved to four years ago.

One of Meyer’s Democratic challengers, Kevin Miskell of Stanhope, alleges that Meyer, for years, used his St. Ansgar home as a secondary residence and that he lived primarily in the Minneapolis area. Meyer denied the accusation, saying he spends most of his time in Iowa.

Miskell said Meyer is misleading voters and that the truth should come out now. Republican incumbent Tom Latham could use the information against Democrats in November’s general election, Miskell said.

“It amazes me that people think they can cover things up,” said Miskell, who unsuccessfully ran against former Sen. Stewart Iverson, a Republican, in 2002.

Meyer said his family chose to maintain a Minnesota home largely for his son, Ethan, who was born in Colombia and adopted at age 5. Learning challenges would make a transition to another school more difficult, Meyer said.

Meyer said he has never attempted to hide his living arrangements.

It’s also going to be very interesting to see how William J. Meyers performs tomorrow. He’s the most atypical candidate in the primary race. He lacks the powerhouse connections of some of his rivals and has made a strong appeal to voters that he is a regular guy just like them, down to the way his campaign website looks and how he authors his e-mails. As an example, on the front page of his site: “I’m not some rich special interest terrorist who’s out on a vanity run. I’m just an average guy, an average Iowan, and an average American.”

Meyers has been contentious in the primary, too, largely with various county chairs whom he feels have slighted him. In one blog entry at Bleeding Heartland, he criticizes Greenwald, the Vilsacks, and The Register for the Vilsacks’ “D.L.C. tactics” and the paper’s support of Greenwald, the Dallas County chair whom Meyers says has failed to give all the candidates fair access: “Being denied access to a county with a large population is sure to cost me an enormous amount of votes.”

While Kurt Meyer, too, lacks some of the inside connections enjoyed by Greenwald and Miskell, he does have at least one thing going for his campaign’s vitality, and that is personal wealth. He’s donated $100,000 to his coffers.

Which puts a different spin on things. According to that same link (Open Secrets), Miskell has raised very little in comparison to Meyer, and to a lesser degree, Greenwald. There’s no info there about Meyers’ fundraising.

One final thought. Meyers told me in our interview, “Actually, more people are aligning with us regarding our own alignment with the remaining two presidential candidates.” I brought this up at an Ames Drinking Liberally meeting a while ago and there was some disagreement, but I think it’s relevant given the rift in the party the presidential election has created. So, for what it’s worth, Greenwald and Meyer supported Clinton in the primary, Meyers supported Obama, and Miskell worked for Edwards before gravitating toward Obama after Edwards dropped out.

For less analytical silliness and more on the candidates’ views, check out our interviews with the candidates: Becky Greenwald, Kurt Meyer, William J. Meyers, and Kevin Miskell.

And, of course, 2006 candidate Selden Spencer for good measure.

One example: Boswell expressed skepticism about the financial problems facing Medicare, asking what economists the Register had consulted to conclude the health-care program was in fiscal trouble. It’s hardly an issue for debate. The Medicare Board of Trustees has issued numerous reports outlining the trust fund’s looming deficits. David Walker, former comptroller general, has expressed concerns about projected Medicare spending. Yet Boswell talked about further studying the issue rather than proposing how to address it.

On immigration, he suggested that undocumented immigrants should go back to their home countries and “get in line” for a chance to come here. That’s hardly realistic considering there are an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

When asked about Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s prediction the previous day that most American troops could be home from Iraq by 2013, Boswell seemed unaware of McCain’s statement. When asked about education in Iowa, Boswell said the state does “pretty good.” And when asked what he based that on, he said Iowa’s history and his own experience. But Iowa’s educational system - not to mention the world economy - looks nothing like it did in Boswell’s childhood.

This seems to be a pretty accurate portrayal of Boswell. Before I interviewed him about his support for the Kucinich impeachment bill in March, he held a press conference with Senator Tom Harkin on clean energy. Harkin did the majority of the speaking, and when Boswell did speak he had a lot of vague policy proposals and “let the scientists do their work” type of rhetoric.

Predictably, the Boswell camp went after Fallon in a series of mailers and, now, a television commercial, primarily over Fallon’s past support for Ralph Nader. Fallon has continued to drill Boswell on his support for a variety of Republican-backed legislation.

Recently, a 527 headed by Red Brannan — a developer who Bleeding Heartland writes stands to gain from a Boswell reelection — sent out a couple mailers about Fallon’s lone vote against a sex offender bill in the Statehouse. The problem is, the bill mandated residency restrictions for sex offenders that have been widely criticized by the law enforcement community. The Register went as far as to praise Fallon for the no-vote in its endorsement of the candidate.

This is going to be a tough primary for Fallon, and I suspect it may come down to Boswell’s vastly larger war chest funded primary from PAC money that Fallon has always refused to accept. I also suspect — and this is mostly speculation — that, based on my interpretation of Boswell’s primary campaign, although he knew Fallon might challenge him he was ill-prepared to run against a Democrat to his left and it shows.

So, I don’t believe that the April KCCI poll that had Boswell up 24 points will turn out to be a reliable indicator of tomorrow’s results. I think Fallon might pull this thing off, especially if The Register’s endorsement provides any bump, but this is a hard one to predict.

The Celts’ impressive fourth-quarter comeback victory in Detroit last night officially guaranteed the ideal match-up for all basketball, and probably, all sports fans. The aforementioned victory ended a combined drought of over 180 playoff games without a Finals appearance for the Celts’ new Big Three - as Ray Allen rejoined the triumvirate in this series. KG, Pierce and Allen leaned over the brink of anonymity and disappointment entering this season with all three set as the centerpiece for a lottery-bound team. Crafty trades and two Game Seven victories later and the ultimate prize now stands within sight. A treasure so elusive that a previous generation of greats, known solely by last name - Ewing, Malone, Stockton and Barkley, repeatedly failed to capture it as a paranormal athlete reigned over the land with utter disdain for all challengers. One time - that is all you need to eliminate regrets and attain a sterling legacy.

As three prominent All-Stars vie for a title in possibly their last voyage, a prince attempts to elevate to the throne by ascending atop the NBA’s Mount Olympus. He understands where he is but familiarity breeds immeasurable motivation as the past drives him further. Two syllables - one man - one more obstacle.

The past 12 months include a story dripping with intrigue and deception plucked from the Hollywood tabloids but for a less convoluted tale I look back to 2004 when Shaq cut ties with L.A., leaving Kobe’s status as poster child ensnared in doubt. I recall betting a friend that Kobe could overcome such unexpected turmoil and with his new cast mates - Lamar Odom and Caron Butler, return to glory. My foresight crashed on take off as new coach Rudy Tomjanovich ignominiously failed to bring the Lakers to the postseason. Phil Jackson returned but an inexcusable trade to acquire Kwame Brown for Butler ensured mediocrity. Another twisted array of subplots to match Boston’s ascension and the mere notion of the featured players dueling on the grandest of stages seems worthy of praise.

The two Conference title celebrations merited mention as former Laker great Jerry West doused Kobe with superlatives before handing over the trophy to a new breed of L.A. showmen with a jubilant crowd packed into the Staples Center. Boston one-upped their coastal rivals by pulling out John Havlicek, a.k.a. Hondo and incidentally Boston’s all-time leading scorer, did not have the NBA logo imaged after him like West, but while Mr. Clutch in L.A. won only a single title, Havlicek earned eight playing along the KG’s new mentor, Bill Russell. Hondo handed over the Eastern Conference trophy in a champagne-covered locker room before uttering my lead - Beat L.A.! igniting Pierce and company to echo the sentiment.

These two franchises suck up conference titles like Halliburton taking lobbyist contributions. The Superpowers sit on the precipice of total domination but not without a Lord of the Rings type battle lined up. Both teams have accomplished plenty. L.A. lost only three post-season games playing in arguably the toughest conference of all time. The Celts hiccupped six times on the road against inferior teams before slaying the Beast of the East on their opponents’ home court.

Now disputably there are times when teams appear overly appreciative for even reaching a title game or series and their overwhelmed sensation makes their demise expected. Spanning the three major sports over the years, one can find easy examples illustrating my statement. The Falcons upset the 16-1 Vikings with Randy Moss in the NFC title game before bowing over to the Broncos in John Elway’s last game. In a strike-shortened season, the eighth-seeded Knicks pulled off three upsets in the East before winning only one game against Duncan and the Spurs as San Antonio beat up on my boys in the Lone Star state. Last year’s World Series combined a team thinking dynasty against a team on an unfathomable run in an inferior league.

Without any ambiguity, the Lakers ARE the better team with the best player and a coach determined to combat his last Finals appearance, one in which his team finally lost after nine successful trips. The Celts owning home-court plays huge but with five days until tip-off, this underground columnist has time to weigh in on the series. A series with no winners. As far as these teams have come, history tells us runner up will not satisfy.

To go rather raunchy in tying a bow on this literary edifice of 21^st Century intellectualism, I quote the esteemed and proper James Hetfield of Metallica when he says:

And I’ve drunk that, I’ve drunk this I’ve spewed up on a pint of piss. So what, so what.
I’ve had skag, I’ve had speed, I’ve jacked up until I bleed.
So what, so what. So what, so what, you boring little cunt.

I’m thinking it’s a good thing I don’t write for an accredited site.

With every playoff defeat arrives possible future adjustments as well as lingering questions. The Spurs might contemplate splicing in some youth into a geriatric bench for next season as the Lakers’ virile second unit of Luke Walton, Sasha Vujacic and Jordan Farmar were instrumental in keeping their team in the game with San Antonio up 17 in the second quarter last night. The puzzling footnote that I continue to magnify into a lead concerns the befuddling fact that the Spurs have won four titles all in odd years as they have failed to earn dynasty status with consecutive championships.

But enough sidetracking, the title of my always tasteful and riveting blog refers to an athlete demonstrating pantheon status in humble defeat. As the media beast morphs into an uncontrollable blob of sensationalism and hysteria, few masterful athletes go unappreciated. Looking back on the post-Jordan era, the memories will most likely not illicit such immediate fondness for the Big Fundamental. The name says it all, as consistent production without much flair stuffs Duncan under the big men of our time – Shaq and KG to name a sample. Yet admirable sportsmanship and measuring a man during duress shows to me the caliber of stardom associated with a man still very much in his prime despite the incessant hawking of talking heads who fail to appreciate what make sports so awe-inspiring.

I mentioned in a previous blog how Duncan’s fall-away-to-the-side-and-shoot-across-his-body shot against the Lakers in ’04 before Derek Fisher’s .4 second miracle game-winner dropped in to crush the Spurs represents the greatest clutch shot in a loss that have I ever saw. Duncan also put up a staggering 41, 15, 6 and 3 in a Game Seven loss to Dallas in ’06 despite playing noticeably injured. In last night’s playoff departure, Duncan built up a sizeable first-half lead by schooling Pau Gasol with an array of moves set up by the fact that Duncan, like Shaq but unlike KG, knows a post player needs to establish his presence down low for easy baskets before spreading the floor with jumpers. The Lakers won last night’s game by doubling Duncan early and forcing the Spurs to make that extra pass and win on the perimeter. Still, Duncan left his mark on the series by exiting with 19, 15 and 10. Fantasy basketball did not extend into the postseason but I’m positive I will recall that stat line for a long time. Got a lot of empty space to rent in my head.

Duncan also stepped up with Kobe entering another dimension last night by challenging No. 24 and not shying away from self-effacement. Kobe’s signature shot came with Duncan draped all over him before hanging in the air and waiting to the last possible second before lining in a j.

The Spurs incidentally exemplified class throughout their abbreviated series with the Lakers as they did not hand the series to L.A. after losing a 20-point lead in the third quarter of Game One. Recall that they spent the night on a grounded plane in New Orleans after winning Game Seven of that series only two nights prior. And furthermore Susan, remember that these are large men with gargantuan limbs that need amenities to accommodate their freakish frames. Conversely, I heard the Suns’ Steve Nash lament that his team lost their first round series after Game One because of the let down associated with a double-overtime defeat. Forget your tattered psyche and get down to brass – it’s only one loss!

San Antonio then avoided the served-on-a-platter criticism of the NBA for 1. Assigning referee Joey Crawford to a Spurs’ postseason game after he ejected Duncan in a regular season game last year for laughing from the bench, which incidentally earned Crawford a suspension for the duration of the subsequent postseason, and 2. Admitting they goofed by not calling an obvious foul on Fisher at the end of Game Four after he bumped Brent Barry in the last second. The foul call would have almost certainly tied the game as the Spurs trailed by two and Barry is one of the best free-throw shooters in the game.

The Lakers-Celts possible Finals matchup could destroy the hype machine but the Spurs’ run deserves plenty of accolades. To go back to the man of the blog, Duncan’s three-pointer against the Suns in that classic Game One will almost certainly be the shot of the postseason. That series lasted only five games but served plenty of ammunition for highlight reels as the Spurs erased another Suns lead in Game Two before Tony Parker put San Antonio up 3-0 with a 40+ performance in Phoenix.

The Spurs fumbled twice in third quarters to open their series in New Orleans before quickly tying it up with two home-court bashings. But after witnessing David West’s Duncan-worthy Game Five breakout, I presumed that the Hornets would win all four games at home and kick the Spurs out of the mix. Game Seven road victories occur about as often as TBS releasing a funny sitcom but the Spurs cruised to a relatively easy one in New Orleans with Duncan once again showing no one on this planet can guard him mano-a-mano.

Yucky! I just filled a page with superlatives for a team I despise like a petulant friend who asks me to pick up an extra Yankee ticket and then cancels. To rinse out this vile aftertaste, let me list my first and second postseason teams.

First Team

Point Guard: Chris Paul

Tough decision with Parker playing well and CP3’s absence from a Game Seven loss to San Antonio but after barely failing to win the regular season MVP, the third-year point embarrassed a future Hall-of-Famer, Jason Kidd, in the first round. The Hornets’ breadwinner then put on a show throughout a epic series by downgrading Bruce Bowen’s defensive abilities and punctuating a tremendous postseason debut by driving right at Duncan before turning his back and flipping the ball into the hoop for a speechless move.

Shooting Guard: Kobe Bryant

The Black Mamba demonstrated to all that his biggest weakness from the past two years might not have been a weakness. Kobe’s prima donna certification could be attributed to his lack of trust in his surrounding teammates during the past couple of years. But with an emerging bench and arrival of Gasol, Kobe’s passing proficiency meets the requirements for all-around talent reached by such greats as Bird and Magic.

Small Forward: Paul Pierce

The Truth at times goes quiet and occasionally wigs out by scoring 41 against a king of a man in LeBron. But either way, Pierce plays everywhere on the court and imposes his will when necessary. KG remains the star but Pierce has this indefinable control over this team that has them a win away from the Finals.

Power Forward: Tim Duncan

See above graphs and know he has at least three years of steady play left in him.

Center: Kevin Garnett

The dearth of credible centers in the league coupled with KG’s penchant for playing big, forces me to put him at the five. We all want to harp on his offensive game but he continues to accredit the voters who chose him for Defensive Player of the Year by contesting everything in the paint. No need for exaggeration, the guy swarms after anyone nearing the basket as though the idea of driving to the hoop is an affront to his manhood.

Second Team

Point Guard: Tony Parker

Everyone knows you need to back off last year’s Finals MVP and give him the j but besides struggling beyond the arc I rarely see the guy missing open perimeter shots. But I guess when you’re defending a guy known as the One Man Fast Break you have to do something to save face.

Shooting Guard: Richard Hamilton

If Rip plays at anything less than 100% for Game Six and a possible Game Seven against Boston, the Pistons are D-U-N! If healthy, someone needs to tell Chauncey to give the rock to his backcourt mate on every single possession as he continues to refine his already assassin-like game.

Small Forward: LeBron James

Yes, he struggled at Boston before his 47-point Game Seven outburst but the Cavs’ second-round loss almost ensures the King will say peace to Cleveland after his contract runs out in two years.

Power Forward: David West

Just like Manu Ginobli with his ailing ankle, many believe West struggled in Game Seven against San Antonio due to a throbbing back but that was not enough to keep him for landing on my second squad.

Center: Pau Gasol

Phil Jackson ages one day every time the Spaniard throws up a prissy shot but his almost preternatural understanding of the Triangle Offense and his keen passing skills compensate for his overly gentile touch.

Part One

Nick Lindsley: On your website, you wrote a blog called “A Single Spark” framed around the saying “a single spark can start a prairie fire.” You compared this to the “spark” teachers start which inspire their students to go out and make a difference. What is the “spark” that students need today, so they will be inspired to stand up and speak out against governmental policy the way many did back in the late ’60s and early ’70s?

Bill Ayers: Teachers have to begin by reclaiming the intellectual and ethical dimensions of their work, resisting all the attempts to de-skill and hammer them into interchangeable cogs in a bureaucracy, all the pressure to reduce teaching to a simple set of manageable skills. Teachers have to decide who they intend to be in the classroom, whether to stand at attention as dutiful clerks, inculcating students into the status quo, the social order as it is, obediently passing along the received curriculum that’s handed them, or whether to move beyond sorting and shaping, striking out in pursuit of the new, questioning and challenging all that is before them, anything that wounds their souls. Teachers have to ask themselves whether they’re up for being bold and taking risks. If they’re not, perhaps they should withdraw now, for they’ve cut themselves off from teaching’s intellectual and ethical well-springs - the real adventure of it all - before it’s even begun.

Education at its best is eye-popping and mind-blowing. It’s about opening doors, opening minds, inviting students to become more capable and powerful actors and choice-makers as they forge their own pathways into a wider world. Education at its best is the practice of freedom. But much of what we call schooling forecloses or shuts down or walls off meaningful choice-making. While many of us long for teaching as something transcendent and powerful, we find ourselves too-often locked in situations that reduce teaching to a kind of glorified clerking, passing along a curriculum of received wisdom and predigested bits of information. A fundamental choice and challenge for teachers, then, as I noted, is this: to acquiesce to the machinery of control, or to take a stand with our students in a search for meaning and a journey of transformation. To be a prison guard or an educator. To teach obedience and conformity, or to teach its polar opposite: initiative and imagination, the capacity to name the world, to identify the obstacles, and the courage to act upon whatever the known demands.

Lots of schools built for the industrial age look like little factories, and the metaphor of production dominates the discourse: assembly lines, management and supervision, quality control, productivity, and outputs. Students are intermittently the raw materials moving dumbly down the assembly line while value is added by the workers/teachers, or - if the metaphor shifts its angle slightly - students are the workers themselves, workers-in-training, of course.

Central to an education for citizenship, participation, engagement, and democracy, an education toward freedom is developing in students and teachers alike the ability to think for themselves, to decide that this is black and that this is white, that this is false and the other true. The core lessons of a liberating education are these: we each have a mind of our own; we are all works-in-progress swimming toward an uncertain and indeterminate shore; we can each join with others in order to act on our own judgments and in our own freedom; human progress and freedom is always the result of thoughtful dissent and action.

On the side of a liberating and humanizing education is a pedagogy that has as its beginning and end identical points on a circle: the act of questioning. This pedagogy of questioning opens rather than closes spaces of curiosity, perspective, dialogue, and imagination. Its modus operandi is generous not stingy, revealing not concealing, unmasking, exposing, embracing. It’s a tool that promotes intellectual growth, awakens curiosity, encourages skill development, and a lot else. And at its core this pedagogy of questioning demands something altogether different, something upending and revolutionary from students: repudiate your subordinate place in the pecking order, it urges, remove that distorted, congenial mask of compliance. You must change. All of this requires a radical rethinking of the relationship of teacher and student, students and learning, schools and society, education and justice.

Another basic lesson is this: school learning is a commodity, traded at the market like boots and hammers. Unlike boots and hammers, whose value is inherently satisfying and grasped directly and intuitively, the value and use of school learning is elusive and indirect. Hence, students are asked to accept its unspecified value on faith and to be motivated and rewarded externally. The value of school learning, we’re assured, has been calculated precisely by wise and accomplished people, and the masters know better than anyone what’s best. The pay-off is way down the line, but it’s surely there, somewhere, over the rainbow.

We are relentlessly reminded that we are free to choose among products and brands, even as authentic, consequential choices are withheld; that consuming is a higher form of citizenship than actual participation in civic life; and that what’s good for Microsoft or the Pentagon is somehow the common good, a benefit for all. Celebrity overshadows accomplishment, consuming trumps contributing, accumulation conflates to happiness. This all develops into a flattening out of any urgent sense of democracy, of any vital vision of freedom.

One last note: Don’t get discouraged by thinking that the so-called Sixties was a time of easy activism in comparison to today. Those years have been mythologized beyond recognition, and one negative aspect of that myth-making is the received wisdom that today’s activists are somehow inadequate, today’s students uniquely stupefied, today’s aspirations hopelessly constrained. I disagree. The responsibilities of people who hope to make humane and progressive social change are the same: analyze the situation before you, learn all you can, reach out and speak up, organize and take action. And approach the whole thing with some humility: you don’t know all there is to know. And a lot of hope: if I can understand this or that, then others can too.

Part Two

Nick Lindsley: You were involved in the Weather Underground in the 70’s. You have expressed regret as well as defense about your actions while in the group. When the “Underground” was planting explosives in government buildings, how did the media label those actions, and how do you feel those actions would have been perceived in the media if they had taken place today?

Bill Ayers: The Weather Underground was called a terrorist organization by the government and the pro-state, bought media at the time, and it’s still referred to that way. Of course, it was no such thing.

We should demand a definition each time the word “terrorist” is used, and we should insist on stable, universal usage applicable to crazed groups of religious fanatics, cults, political formations, but also to governments. If “terrorist” means attacks on innocents or non-combatants, for example, if it means random killing or injury, if it means coercion and intentional collective punishment … then, no, the Weather Underground was not terrorist. But the US government was terrorist in Viet Nam, and is terrorist in Iraq, and Israel offered a textbook case of terrorism unleashed last month in Lebanon.

NL: Can peaceful protest and violent protest, if successful, ever have the same positive outcome? And, which do you feel has more of a sway amongst those in politics?

BA: The point of progressive political action is always to educate, organize, and mobilize masses of people. You can judge your own effectiveness by a simple standard: did our activity teach us as well as others, did it strengthen the movement for change, did it engage and involve more people who are collectively working toward revolution?

I don’t advocate “violent protest.” We do, however, live in a sewer of violence in this country, the greatest purveyor of violence in history. The fact that the violence is largely exported or hidden or kept from your consciousness through a mighty range of mystifications and manipulations doesn’t make it less true. Part of our job is taking the pretty mask off the beast, showing what’s really there. And we need to remember that power concedes nothing without a demand, and that violent thugs rarely give up power willingly.

But back to the point of protest - we need to build a movement for change, a mighty radical mass movement. We don’t need to try to calculate whether this or that act will get this or that opportunist to vote our way in Congress. Remember, FDR was not a labor leader, nor was LBJ a Civil Rights leader - each was a brilliant politician responding to facts on the ground. Create a different reality - alter the facts on the ground - and watch what happens.

Part Three

Nick Lindsley: A friend told me, “When Bush won in 2004, I cried. I felt as if there was no hope for our country and I still haven’t totally recovered from it.” Is there hope for our country today and if so, where can we find it?

Bill Ayers: You have to live as if the world could be otherwise: you have to become the change you hope to see in the world.

For every human being life is, in part, an experience of suffering and loss and pain. But our living experience also embraces other inescapable facts: that we are all in this together, and that much (but not all) of what we suffer in life is the evil we visit upon one another, that is, unjustified suffering, unnatural loss, unnecessary pain - the kinds of things that ought to be avoidable, that we might even imagine eliminating altogether.

In the realm of human agency and choice, we come face to face with some stubborn questions: Can we stop the suffering? Can we alleviate at least some pain? Can we repair any of the loss? We lurch, then, toward deeper considerations: Can society be changed at all? Is it remotely possible - not inevitable, certainly, perhaps not even very likely - for people to come together freely, to imagine a more just and peaceful social order, to join hands and organize, to struggle for something better, and to prevail?

If society cannot be changed under any circumstances, if there is nothing to be done, not even small and humble gestures toward something better - well, that about ends all conversation. Our sense of agency shrinks, our choices diminish. What more is there to say? But if a fairer, more sane and just social order is both desirable and possible - that is, if some of us can join one another to imagine and build a participatory movement for justice, a public space for the enactment of democratic dreams - our fields open slightly. There would still be much to be done, for nothing would be entirely settled. We would still need, for example, to find ways to stir ourselves and our neighbors from passivity, cynicism, and despair; to reach beyond the superficial barriers that wall us off from one another; to resist the flattening effects of consumerism and the blinding, mystifying power of the familiar social evils - racism, sexism, and homophobia, for example; to shake off the anesthetizing impact of the authoritative, official voices that dominate the airwaves, the media, and so much of what we think of as common sense; to “release our imaginations” and act on behalf of what the known demands, linking our conduct firmly to our consciousness. We would be moving, then, without guarantees, but with purpose and with hope.

Education is, of course, one arena of struggle as well as hope: struggle because it stirs in us the need to reconsider everything we have wrought, to look at the world anew, to question what we have created, to wonder what is worthwhile for human beings to know and experience, to justify or criticize or bombard or maintain or build up or overthrow everything before us; and hope because we gesture toward the future, toward the impending, toward the coming of the new. Education is where we gather to question whether and how we might engage and enlarge and change our lives, and it is, then, where we confront our dreams and fight out notions of the good life, where we try to comprehend, apprehend, or possibly even change the world.

Tuesday morning. The clinic has not even opened yet and people are already lining up outside the doors. Because there is only one doctor on site, space is limited, and we have to lock the doors within minutes of the clinic opening. Only sixteen people will be helped today. Sixteen. Most clients are able to get prescription refills or antibiotics for respiratory tract infections. But we are just a small clinic operating within a church building. There are a few other clinics like this one, but the tests and procedures we can do are very limited.

I can’t help but think about how this is just a small reflection of a greater need. Biloxi is a small town in Mississippi – what about the rest of the country? How much can we rely on free clinics to medicate and diagnose people in need? And, when it comes down to it, should it be left up to the clinics operating out of churches, schools and old warehouses to help bridge this need?

When I arrived in Sucre in mid-March, I immediately noticed the ubiquitous graffiti protesting President Evo Morales and his party, Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS). After witnessing numerous pro-Sucre rallies and hearing university students chant “Sucre se respeta carajo!”, I concluded that Sucre is still reeling from the violent riots of last fall. The reality of the riots, which I followed through brief news articles and civilian videos on YouTube?, became clear to me after coming across the still barricaded and vacant police stations. The police emptied the prisons as the rioters forced them out of the city, and the criminals continue to roam the streets. As a result, this tranquil city is now more dangerous than it was before. The police have returned, but they operate with a breath of hesitation. After a week in Sucre, I departed on a long and exhausting journey to Huacareta with two colleagues.

Huacareta is a small pueblo nestled in the Chaco Mountains in the Department of Chuquisaca. According to the 2000 Bolivian Census, the municipality (the equivalent of a county in the United States) of Huacareta is characterized by an 89.5% poverty rate, 55% unemployment, and 34% illiteracy. Over 40% of the population identifies as indigenous, with the majority most likely being Guarani. There is also limited access to electricity and potable water.

The journey from Sucre can last anywhere from fifteen hours to two days, depending on the conditions of the unpaved roads that traverse in and out of the rough and dry mountains. One of my first observations of Huacareta was the refreshing absence of mobile phones. Most residents rely upon the local telephone center to receive and make calls. There is also the unfortunate reality of the less-than-secure access to food. Lacking a kitchen in our office, my colleagues and I happily frequent the local restaurants, allowing us to experience local cuisine and aid the local economy. More than once, however, my colleagues and I have struggled to find a restaurant willing to serve patrons because the restaurant vendors could not afford meat, vegetables, or cooking oil. Inflation is on the rise in this country characterized by widespread poverty, and many Bolivians can no longer afford basic goods.

The nation’s political conflicts seem to be amplified in the campo. Last month, a road blockade near Camiri, in the department of Santa Cruz, was finally lifted after several weeks of conflict between protesters and government forces. Unlike previous road blockades, which were organized by the campesinos, this one was executed by the wealthy landowners of the area in protest of the land redistribution policy of the Morales government, which has transferred idle lands to peasant ownership. This blockade had a direct impact on our own work with the Guarani communities.

In April, the German financier of the project was scheduled to meet with several of the Guarani communities. Just days before her visit we received notification that many residents of the communities would be on their way to Camiri to support the government forces in their land redistribution efforts. Receiving this information just outside of Totorenda, a small village near Huacareta, I found myself unnecessarily excited about the prospects of being in such close proximity to these political conflicts.

In fact, upon first arriving to Huacareta several weeks ago, I was informed that the landowners were already armed and prepared to confront government forces, and on April 14th, several news sources reported that ten indigenous Bolivians and a Uruguayan journalist went missing because of a suspected ambush by landowners. As I contemplated these developments, I realized that, in my excitement, I had objectified the politics of the area. The residents of Bolivia, however, have to live them. It was only after this realization that I observed graffiti near the plaza of Huacareta stating “¡Mueran los patrones!” (“Death to the landowners!”).

Reflecting on my time in Huacareta, there have been two moments that continue to resonate in my mind. The first experience exposed me to the realities of a limited education and the second to the disparities in access to health care. One afternoon, my project coordinator asked if I was willing to conduct an interview with a community elder in Totorenda in order to collect data for the project. I happily agreed, believing this was a chance to exercise my Spanish and meet someone new. Unable to spell the elder’s last name, however, I naively asked if he would be willing to write out his name for me. I grew embarrassed as I watched his pencil flutter over the paper as he hesitantly tried to determine the letters in his name. It had not occurred to me that he would be unable to do so.

The second defining moment for me came in the course of processing data about the families of the thirteen communities. In one particular entry, I was intrigued by the lack of a reference to a father. I was stunned to learn that the father, twenty-three years old, had passed away from Chagas, a preventable disease. He and his family unfortunately did not have the resources for medical treatment. In fact, most families in these communities are forced to either borrow money or sell off livestock in the case of medical emergencies, which typically involve preventable illnesses. These two incidents introduced me to the fact that the difficulties of life in the campo are not necessarily visual, like tattered clothing or an unsafe dwelling.

The most difficult challenge, for me, has been the realization that what I consider to be scholarly interests in Bolivia are, to the Bolivians, the realities of everyday life. I am most in awe at the sense of drive and passion Bolivians have for addressing the social injustices that continue to affect many in the country. I am envious of the formulation of political discourse, the engagement by Bolivians at all levels, and the care Bolivians have for their country. I am fascinated by the non-violent methods utilized by the indigenous peoples and the campesinos in their protests as they successfully managed to paralyze the country politically and economically in their efforts to highlight the injustices of poverty and discrimination that they have suffered for generations. Such injustices have politically empowered the Morales administration to pursue its political goals of land redistribution, the nationalization of the natural gas resources, and the drafting of a new constitution.

Many towns in the campo of Bolivia welcome visitors with Evo Cumple signs, meaning that President Morales is realizing his campaign promises. It is difficult to assess the structural changes in the lives of rural Bolivians, who are typically peasants or indigenous peoples. It is no doubt that life is difficult in the campo. The frequent turnover by people like me wanting to dedicate their work to improving conditions in the campo certainly does not help. In one Guarani community, Itaquise, two different technicians have cycled through its local development project, each one deciding to leave the project for personal reasons. A third arrived with me, but he returned to Sucre the following day after learning of the extreme poverty and harsh conditions of the community. The inconsistencies these communities face explain the frustration and growing distrust of technicians and development officials shared with us by the community leader.

It is very easy to feel distant and disconnected from La Paz, let alone the United States, while living in a town like Huacareta. I often forget that the United States is also experiencing political activity. Yet, the politics of the USA cannot compare to the volatility and unpredictability that has come to define Bolivia in recent years. In this visit to Bolivia, my third since 2004, I have felt an overt division that did not manifest itself in my previous visits. A poll released last month by Ipsos Apoyo, Opinión y Mercado suggests that 41% of the country supports the revised constitution proposed by the Morales government, while 41% opposes it. The riots in Sucre last fall illustrated discontent with the new constitution and with Morales generally. Residents of Cochabamba, a stronghold of Morales, initiated a new campaign to collect 172,000 signatures to revoke the mandate of the nation’s first indigenous president. On May 4th, the department of Santa Cruz controversially voted for autonomy, despite a ruling by the National Electoral Court that such a move would be beyond the legal scope of the individual departments. The departments of Beni and Pando will echo this move on June 1st and Tarija on June 22nd. The department of Chuquisaca has also been roiled by controversy regarding its prefect and will be voting in early June.

The question of food security has also become politicized as the Morales government prohibited the exportation of cooking oil, made from soybeans, in an effort to lower the domestic cost of cooking oil. The ban on exportation has since been lifted. Morales stated that any such product prepared for exportation would be treated as contraband. The department of Santa Cruz is rich in soy production and the manufacture of cooking oil, and is said to export 85% of the oil produced. One cannot help but speculate whether this was an attempt by the Morales administration to strike economically at the heart of Santa Cruz because of the pending referendum on autonomy. Protesting the decree, many of the manufacturing plants in Santa Cruz have decided to strike, and in response, Morales has threatened to nationalize the cooking oil industry.

Despite these conflicts, Morales remains popular. In a March poll released by Ipsos Apoyo, Opinión y Mercado, Morales had a 56% approval rating with 40% of residents disapproving of his performance as president. The poll, conducted in the cities of El Alto, La Paz, Cochabamba, and Santa Cruz, came as a surprise to me, considering the anti-Morales mobilization occurring around the country. Certainly Bolivia is at a critical point in its history. The votes for autonomy and the impending vote on the new constitution will surely divide the country, perhaps permanently. The clear lack of respect for opposing views in the conflicts Bolivia faces makes it difficult to assess the outcome of these political crises. The country is divided and racism has clearly spiked. As a student and an activist, I find this to be an exciting time to be in this wonderful country. I must also remember, however, that these uncertainties and divisions translate into a reality for the Bolivian people, a reality that is particularly delicate in the campo, where a slight rise in inflation may determine whether a family eats or goes hungry.

The only conclusion I can offer thus far in my stay is that Bolivia faces an uncertain future. I can only hope the conflicts are resolved non-violently and democratically, and that the discussion of the conditions of the poor campesinos and indigenous peoples does not become politicized in an increasingly virulent political conflict.