Darren Rovell is an asshole!  Not just an asshole, but a racist, isolationist asshole, a racist, isolationist, dumb ass of an asshole to be exact.  If you walk away knowing anything from this article, it is this fact:  Darren Rovell is an asshole!

In his idiotic article, Marathon's Headline Win Is Empty for CNBC.com, Rovell applied an unjust asterisks to the recent New York City Marathon victory of American Meb Keflezighi.  Whereas most Americans were glad to see a victory for one of our own after 27 years, Rovell, declared Keflezgihi’s victory as, “Unfortunately, … not as good as it sounds.”  Because of the fact Keflezighi was born in Eritrea, and became an American citizen after passing the test in 1998.  Rovell insists the significance of the victory is diminished. 

While others have stated Rovell’s article most likely had no racial connotations, I refuse to give him such a pass.  I believe if Keflezighi had been an American born in Canada, England, or even Germany, this article would have never been written.  I believe Rovell was speaking to a certain group of individuals, members of this same group have shown up at Tea Party Protest with signs reading “We Want Our Country Back!” and “The American Tax Payers are the Jews for Obama’s Ovens.”  Rovell, along with certain talk show host and political talking heads have decided there is an audience for hate speech, which is large enough now; they can be spoken to in the sun.  No longer must those with such racist opinions hide within safe havens such as private conversation and web sites with the sole purpose of spreading their racist, hateful messages.

Today, the numbers of those who hate openly have grown to sufficiently to allow them to come out of their closets and show the world who they really are.  His article was in effect, a coming out party for Rovell.

And while this is his God-given, American right, it is also a wakeup call for those of us who feel racism in this country is making a surge which could affect generations to come.  Racism is at its most dangerous when its allowed to penetrate slowly into our society.  Twenty years ago, when I was just graduating high school, the belief was that by the time our generation took over, most of the racist would be dead or dying.  The proliferation of mixed marriages among young people seemed to confirm this, but ask that same question today, and you’ll be told racism has once again saturated our nation.

But I digress:  I really only wanted you to know that Darren Rovell is an Asshole!

-Iba French

Consider this; your local government has just repaved your street, so now that pothole you hit every morning on your way to the Interstate is no more.  Then imagine, as you reach your exit to get on the same Interstate, the six months of road construction, which was paid for with your tax dollars is finally over and you experience a smooth commute for the first time in over a year.  You exhale, savoring one of those moments when the government seems to have finally served its purpose while tapping your fingers on the steering wheel as the latest Beyonce hit is playing from your radio.

Now imagine at the midpoint of your commute you get a call from your spouse.  She called all the time, so you’re not worried initially.  That is, until she tells you that your insurance company called, denying coverage of the recent course of treatment, your doctor has recommended for your daughter.  Their reasoning was vague, and you become just as confused as she tries to explain to you, what was explained to her.

As you turn Beyonce’s volume down, disbelief is your first reaction.  Sure, you’ve heard the horror stories in the news and on the web about this happening to other people, but not you, not from your insurance company?  You thought they were a good, honest insurance company.  I mean, when your daughter was born, they paid for everything, right?  Why wouldn’t they pay for her treatment?

This moment of clarity causes you to think about the recent healthcare debate with its at times violent town hall meetings, and patrician political tempest.  You remained silent during those hot August days, even refusing to enter the fray when co-works seemed to want to talk about nothing else.  Why?  Because you thought you had good insurance.  You thought the whole healthcare battle was for people who didn’t have any at all.   You know those people; the ones you really thought were just too lazy to go fine a decent job, with decent insurance.

As you continue your drive, you become so engrossed in thought that it causes you to miss your exit and now, you’re not only confused about your ‘good insurance’, and worried about your daughter, but you’re also mad.  Pissed even; the thought of government getting it right and keeping the roads you travel on in good condition, seems trivial now.  In fact, all day at work and even on the way home you’re unable to focus.  Everyone in the office notices and they ask you several times, if everything is okay?  You can’t convey to them how you feel, I mean, you thought you had good insurance.

You get home and find your wife standing in the kitchen, you feel how she looks.  She too, thought you had good insurance.  You hug her and try to reassure her that everything will be alright, but she’s heard those horror stories too, and she can hear the lack of conviction in your voice and feel it in your caress.  The two of you debate explaining the issue to your daughter and just before dinner you agree to wait.

That night, you toss and turn as a new feeling begins to creep into your body.  Along with the confusion, the fear, and the anger, you begin to feel a comeuppance as if you somehow deserve what your ‘good insurance’ company has just done to you because you didn’t get involved.  You’d refused to jump into the fray.  And as you wake the next morning, stumble to the bathroom and find yourself looking at your still tired eyes in the bathroom mirror, those good roads are the furthest thing from your mind.

What matters, if you, your spouse, parent, or child are sick and can’t get an available treatment to get well?

DLR

Imagine the next time you take in a race at Daytona or The Brickyard, before the start of the official competition, fans could watch a different race.  This race would be just as interesting, just as intense, and just as exciting for the millions of NASCAR enthusiast, around the world.  This race would also lead to a major change in the types of automobiles we drive down the road.

NASCAR would be the perfect partner for a “Green Racing League.”  The competitive spirit of NASCAR is already pushing drivers and their teams to build better, faster, race cars.  Wouldn’t a green racing league; a league where no fossil fuels but only other viable alternative power sources, push the technology envelope?  As the race cars became safer, faster, and more efficient using alternative energy sources, wouldn’t that technology prove itself worthy of the interest of the American auto industry, and the vehicles of our near future?

A twenty team racing league, with 100% corporate sponsorship and the captive audience of the NASCAR fan base, already in the stands could change the world. 

The 7 keys to a successful green racing league would be:

·         Each vehicle would need to be able to maintain a minimal speed limit of 100 mph;

·         Each vehicle must meet a minimal mpg standard, such as 200 miles before refueling;

·         Each team would be required to start out with a stock vehicle, such as a Dodge Charger or Chevy Malibu with the engine removed

·         Each team must seek 100% corporate sponsorship;

·         Each team must be allowed to use the green technology of their choice (no fossil fuels or alternative fuels which require a standard combustion engine), as long as mpg and mph standards are met;

·         The league’s point system must consider fuel efficiency  and emissions in its tabulations;

·         NASCAR would need to aggressively market the league and its goals.

Would the NASCAR fan base embrace a green racing league?  If you’re a fan, leave a message on our blog and take our poll.  I’m sure NASCAR Executives would be interested in your thoughts.

DLR

With our 2^nd issue of Strange, Weird, and Wonderful Magazine I noticed a pattern in short stories that was somewhat alarming to me.  The unease wasn’t caused by any of the content of the material I received, in fact, on that note it was just as I expected when this magazine was founded; there is much more talent out there, than there are publications able to showcase it all.

       My agitation was based solely on the fact that writers seem to be unaware that creativity in their titles is just as important, when it comes to a short story, as the content of that story.  On several occasions, I opened up an emailed submission only to roll my somewhat lazy, brown eyes at “Submission: The Stick,” or “Submission: Crying Tears.” Titles like these, I can say without even reading the submission, do not give the reader sufficient interest to keep reading!

       Yes, to purpose of the first sentence is to make the reader want to read the second and so on and so on, but it is the title that makes them want to read the first sentence. 

       More than once, in the past submission period, I was forced to write back to the Writer and inform them of my opinion of their limp noodled title.  Within many of these stories, great, succulent, prose could be found, and I often pointed that out also. 

       Unfortunately, many of those I contacted just didn’t want to hear it, for which my alarm was only increased, because I know for a fact that any writer worth his own salt, is open to constructive criticism, if it would lead to a sale, but this was not the case with most.  I was told bluntly, to “butt out,” “the title is fine,” and “the instructor in my workshop like it!”

       Is this the new industry standard?  One word titles or a title that gives away, in no uncertain terms, what the unread short story is all about?  I hope not.

       Take “That Hell-Bound Train,” one of my favorite short stories of all time.  Imagine if Robert Bloch had simply called his 1959 Hugo Award winner, “Train Ride.”  It seems unthinkable, doesn’t it.  Or take “Joe R. Landsdale’s “Tight Little Stitches on a Dead Man’s Back.”  If you’ve read the story, you understand that any other title would have been literary heresy. 

       I’d like to know if you feel I’m just a ranting nut job, for being so picky about short story titles, or if you agree with me.  You can also pass on any creative titles that made you want to read a story.  If I like it, I just may hunt it down and read it too.

DLR