Please sign the petition below to remove the statue of Jefferson Davis currently in Kentucky’s Capitol Rotunda, and replace it with a tribute to Muhammad Ali, “the Louisville Lip” and “the Greatest of All Time.”
I just heard from the Ali family: It is the Champ’s belief that Islam prohibits three-dimensional representations of living Muslims. Accordingly, I have adjusted the petition to call for a two-dimensional representation of Ali (a portrait, picture or mural) in lieu of a statue.
UPDATE (Tuesday, December 2, 2014)
In this interview with WHAS-TV’s Joe Arnold, Governor Steve Beshear endorses the idea of honoring Muhammad Ali in the State Capitol (although he disagrees with removing Davis). Arnold explores the idea further on his weekly show, “The Powers that Be.”
Click here to check out WDRB-TV’s Lawrence Smith’s coverage of the story.
And here’s my op-ed in Ali’s hometown paper, the Louisville Courier-Journal.
UPDATE (Saturday, June 4, 2016)
In the wake of the 2015 Charlestown tragedy, in which a Confederate flag-waving murderer united the nation against racism, all of the most powerful Kentucky policymakers — U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell, Governor Matt Bevin, Senate President Robert Stivers and House Speaker Greg Stumbo — called for the removal of the Davis statue from the Rotunda. Today, as we commemorate last night’s passing of Muhammad Ali, there is no better moment to replace the symbol of Kentucky’s worst era with a tribute to The Greatest of All Time.
UPDATE (Wednesday, June 8, 2016):
Great piece by Lawrence Smith of WDRB-TV in Louisville on the petition drive to replace Jefferson Davis’ statue in the Capitol Rotunda with a tribute to Muhammad Ali.
UPDATE (Thursday, June 9, 2016):
Excellent piece on the petition drive by Jack Brammer that was featured on the front page of the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Highlight of the article:
Miller said he has received a few “angry comments” on his call to honor Ali.
“One of them encouraged me to kill myself,” he said. “You can quote me that I have decided not to take their advice.”
UPDATE (Friday, June 10, 2016)
The petition drives continues to show the Big Mo(hammed): check out these stories from WKYU-FM public radio in Bowling Green and WKYT-TV, Channel 27 in Lexington:
UPDATE (Saturday, June 11, 2016):
Still not convinced? Check out this excerpt from today’s New York Times:
I’m all about instant gratification. Give me the choice between store-bought and homemade, and I will almost always go for the quick fix. My family calls it “Rathness” to want to get things done yesterday. Unfortunately, in my line of work, there aren’t always shortcuts. Obtaining a new wardrobe can take time, not to mention the tailoring that’s inevitably involved. One place where I can satisfy my Rathness, however, is with updating clients’ hairstyles. Call today for an appointment tomorrow, and boom, you’re well on your way to a new and improved you.
I get that the idea of changing your hairstyle can be intimidating, especially if you’ve been rocking the same look for several decades. But it’s defeatist to assume that if you’re past a certain age it’s too late to make a change. So what if you’re 40 years old and have been wearing your hair the same way since you were a kid? That’s all the more reason to consider an update, especially if you (and your spouse/partner) think it looks stale. If you’re on this site, chances are you’re already thinking a change may be in order, and perhaps hair is part of it. To that I say, dive in, go for it. If you don’t like it, it will always grow back in a couple of weeks.
That said, it’s key to go about your hairstyle upgrade thoughtfully so that you get your desired results. Below are 8 tips on how to do this.
1) Ask others with hair you like for the name of their hair stylist. (A lot of people have a hard time asking questions like this, but it’s not a big deal. Just say that your barber is retiring, and you need someone new.)
2) Check on a user-review site like Yelp in your area for a hairstylist who’s well-recommended for men’s scissor cuts (not clippers).
3) When you call for an appointment, see if you can go in for a consultation first. That way you can discuss your goals in advance and ask how s/he would go about achieving them before breaking out the scissors.
4) After you’ve found a stylist who’s the right fit, it’s imperative that you communicate clearly with him or her. Explain what your job is (including how conservative your look needs to be and what you typically wear to work), what image you’d like your new cut to convey, and how much maintenance you’re OK with. If you’re a chameleon and want something hip for outside of work, but conservative for everyday, tell the stylist. In many cases, all it takes is a subtle difference in how you fingercomb your hair when you get out of the shower to distinguish between looks.
5) Part of clear communication is bringing with you at least three pictures of looks you like. Hair stylist James Hernandez of James Hernandez New York says, “Texture and density play a big part in determining the end result. But where the visuals help is in capturing the concept of the look you are after, both what you want to achieve and what you don’t want. Any stylist that is opposed to you using visuals, I would be little leery of their understanding of the craft of haircutting.” Stylist James Joyce agrees, “In the conversation before starting the service, the stylist can decide what element of the pictures you bring is grabbing your eye. Sometimes it’s the shape of the head, and sometimes it’s the texture of the hair. Either way it’s a big help to have a non-verbal idea. Pictures can be printed off Google images or clipped from magazines.”
Read the rest of… Julie Rath: How to Change Your Hairstyle
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Oct 17, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
The 3% secret.
When you meet someone fir the first time and look them up and down, side to side, and even try peering into their soul (the shallow and deep ends) and get that awkward vibe that you only like about 3% of them, here’s the trick: Focus in and focus hard on just that 3% and somehow–almost magically–you will find another 3% that you like before the end of your first conversation.
And here is the bonus part.
If you meet someone new and at first glance only like about 3% of them, chances are good that they only like about 2.5% of you.
And by doubling the amount you like them by to 6%, that almost always doubles the amount they like you by to a full 5%.
Which gives them more things they like about you that they can focus on.
As many know, I am in the process of writing a book; titled “12 Steps to Fitness Freedom.” In the book I discuss a variety of topics but one in particular that is supremely important is goal setting. In the video below I discuss how to set goals and keep accountable to them. In my book I will be discussing, in more detail, the strategies it takes to have “fitness freedom.” Enjoy.
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Oct 16, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
Bad cropping doesn’t mean a picture is useless.
For example, in this badly mangled cropping job, I get an idea of what I would look like in a Bhurka.
And reinforces that I should never try to wear one.
And I learn that my right eyebrow looks about a decade younger than my left and that I should favor my confident and younger-looking eyebrow the next decade until it catches up with the wiser-looking but withered left eyebrow.
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Oct 15, 2013 at 3:00 PM ET
My surefire plan to end the government shut down.
Each member of Congress has at least one person who knows how to get them out of their stinky mood and coax them out after having locked themselves in their bedroom.
That’s right. It is “Mom.”
Someone needs to call the mother of each member of Congress and explain, “Remember when Rep. (blank) was growing up and would get mad and lock himself (or herself) in his room and threaten not to come out for days? Well…the reason I am calling is….that is happening again and as a matter of national security we really need your help. What sort of “tricks” worked for you to get Rep (blank) to unlock the door any come down to dinner?”
Maybe it is chocolate chip cookies, or playing dress up, or getting to stay up extra late, make fun of gay people, promising to time and listen to their “pretend” filibuster, or raising their allowance 10 cents a week if they would outline how wasteful their siblings were being with their allowance, or agreeing to play Dodgeball or Tag (you’re “It”)
It doesn’t really matter what works ….but finding that secret something that works for each member and then asking their chief of staff to try it on them again this week.
I think this is a pretty ingenious plan….that may just work. Once out of their rooms, we then need to remove the door locks so this can’t happen again.
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I have been beating up on Congress the past few weeks, and that helps me vent a bit but isn’t very helpful.
On a more serious and somber note, I think we all are to blame for the shutdown. In a democracy, our elected officials are pretty much a reflection of the voters electing them. Again, I tried admitting my poor behavior in all this.
I mean….a democratic republic is a government based on the consent of the governed, right? In other words, if you want to know how we can expect our elected officials in Congress to behave, a good place to look is political debates on Facebook.
We are the people who hired them and they are mirroring us and we them. I am frustrated with Congress for the shutdown because I do think that is especially irresponsible. But it is important, in my humble opinion, that we as citizens/voters not wait and hope some elected leader is going to save us from ourselves.
We don’t live under a government system that operates that way. We have to save ourselves and improve how we cope with our own demands, wants and disappointments and differences from others—political and otherwise. As that happens, I believe, we will see an alternation in how Congress debates. Or more precisely, we will see a voting public that demands discussions that are more informed and mature and aiming to resolve questions within the realm of the possible. Maybe not.
I can’t say with a great degree of confidence this is how it works.
But that’s my take on it….and wanted try to explain best I could. I think the blame game from Dems to Repubs and Repubs to Dems and voters to Congress and Congress to voters and on and on and on…. is getting tiring to all and has about run it’s course. As Dr Phil might say, “How’s that working for us?” And as unpleasant as blaming myself can be, at least I feel like I have a little control.
That’s worth something… Just a parting thought for whatever it is worth. (Note: I was paid nothing for it so the market value for my opinion is, well, zero.)
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America is a great country with a great history of overcoming setbacks, defying our critics and beating the odds against us. We are at our best when things are at their worst.
Why?
Because at the nadir of that dark encompassing moment some inspired person steps up and leads–and leads almost instinctively and with renewed vision and passion.
We are at that point again. Somewhere last night, when members of Congress were caucasing with their party leadership –much like the scene in this video clip–I choose to believe one (or both) party’s experienced one of those soul-riveting moments.
It is “a call to leadership” when some courageous and articulate soul leads us out of our political wilderness and back into everything that makes America great. And that speech, whenever and wherever it happens, will surely look like this (see video clip).
Now, when you watch this clip through the lens of your own partisan biases– whether you see Bluto’s inspirational speech and imagine it is John Boehner or it is Harry Reid– it doesn’t matter. The important thing about this “moment” is that we know we are on the brink of it today….and someone in Congress will inspire others to join them for a higher calling…..like “The best damn night of our lives.” And succeed.
It’s what makes America great. (Warning: inappropriate language…but this is how Congressional leadership works and it can be gritty and ugly sometimes. But inspired too.)
By Lauren Mayer, on Tue Oct 15, 2013 at 1:30 PM ET
Right now the best hope for any solution to the Congressional stalemates over both the government shutdown and the debt ceiling seems to be a bipartisan effort spearheaded by Susan Collins and involving several other senators, mostly women. Which doesn’t surprise me at all. Many, if not all, of these female senators are mothers, and once a woman has dealt with the range of challenges from toddler tantrums to sullen teenagers with body odor, she can handle anything.
Years ago, I would illustrate that theory by imagining a mom tackling the Middle East – “Israel and Palestinians, if you can’t find a way to share the occupied territories, neither of you can play with them.” But these days it feels like that conflict pales by comparison to Washington DC. So how would my motherhood experience help me deal with the issues that have led to governmental gridlock? Well, for starters, many Republicans have cited public image as a key factor, i.e. “We won’t be disrespected.” Moms have moved way past that concern, once they’ve had a preschooler in a shopping cart say something embarrassing and loud to a packed grocery store. (Most of my friends dealt with things like “Why is that lady so fat?” or “Why doesn’t that man have any hair?” My personal humiliation was when my 4-year-old son announced loudy, “Mommy, you know how you said babies happen when a daddy plants a seed in a mommy? How exactly does the seed get there?”) So it makes sense that there are no women chiming in about how important it is that they save face.
Another issue raised by Republicans is their fear that once Obamacare is the law of the land, we won’t be able to repeal it because Americans will become “addicted to the sugar,” in the immortal words of Ted Cruz. That wouldn’t bother any mom who has given up trying to get her kids to eat anything but pizza, nachos and Dr. Pepper. (Or in my case, that even extends to my husband, to whom I had to explain that a bowl of Froot Loops didn’t count as a serving of fruit.) Or there’s the concern that by raising the debt ceiling, the GOP will lose its chance to ‘teach Americans a lesson’ about fiscal prudence. Most moms of teenagers have given up trying to ‘teach lessons’ – logical consequences often work best when we don’t plan them (like when my 17-year-old forgot to set an alarm on the day before school started, when he planned to do all his summer reading, so he slept til 4 p.m. It was a new personal record for him, but he also learned his lesson – which was to ask me to doublecheck he was awake, so okay, he isn’t totally on his own yet . . . . but I digress.)
Perhaps the biggest problem right now is the inflated language on both sides, comparing each other to Nazis, terrorists, etc. Moms know that yelling and name-calling don’t work (as tempting as they are), and often humor can be the best response. Plus we know that when our kids are young, they learn best when things are set to music, like the ABCs or the names of the states in alphabetical order (anyone who ever had to learn the “Fifty Nifty” song knows what I mean – I can’t complete a crossword puzzle without singing that song!). So here’s some humor, set to music, to explain why it might not be such a good idea to let the radical fringe take control of a party. (As one op-ed columnist noted, of course there are extremists on both sides, but there aren’t any Occupy Wall Streeters or throwing-paint-at-fur-coat-wearers-activists in Congress . . . )
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Oct 15, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
Twitter is kind enough to keep track for me if how many Tweets I have created, how many people on Twitter (fellow Tweeters) whom I follow, and how many of them follow me.
I wish Twitter would track a fourth category for me—one that I suspect would surpass the other three.
“Number of times my Twitter account has been hacked.”
And a fifth for number of people in Twitter who have told me I sent them a personal message claiming to have a funny picture of them.
That way at least two of my five categories would have impressively high numbers next to them.
By Nancy Slotnick, on Tue Oct 15, 2013 at 8:30 AM ET
I was watching Lena Dunham on Charlie Rose the other day and despite the fact that I’m not loving her new haircut and the second season of Girls is proving to be overly ambitious, I was inspired.
And I shouldn’t be so hard on her. It would be almost impossible not to choke under the pressure that she is facing at such a young age. Emphasis on the almost impossible. Which brings me to the part of the interview that was so inspiring.
When asked about how she accomplished such a meteoric rise, Lena quoted her Dad as saying, “Love the possible.” That stuck with me. Especially because I am trying to make that kind of meteoric rise happen in my life. So I am embracing that idea. My new year’s resolution is, as I have told you previously, (see my blog that quotes Will Smith’s new movie) to be fearless.
When you are fearless, anything is possible. Or is it? I embarked on a quest to see what is possible and what is in store for me, on a Tuesday morning recently. I was hoping that a store front is in store for me. I was contemplating the fact that anything is possible if you believe that you can achieve it. How do you draw that line? Is it possible that I could go to one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the city and procure a retail space by the end of the day without more than a stick of gum, $20 and a Metrocard in my pocket?
Well, let’s see what the universe said. I was able to procure a grilled cheese. And it was good. And then, as I was strolling around, following the path of whatever the universe sent me, I passed by an art gallery with a grafitti-esque painted canvas. It read: “Enough is possible.” Thank you, universe, I have my answer!
Here’s how I interpreted that. Not everything is possible. I will not win the Tour de France in my lifetime. Even if I use performance enhancing drugs and pass the drug tests in the post-Lance-on-Oprah era. But having a bike ride with my son on a weekday and still getting him to get his homework done- that is possible. And that is really great.
What is endemic to the idea that “Enough is possible” is that we need to take action, without waiting for perfection. How many times have you said to yourself “If only?”
Read the rest of… Nancy Slotnick: Love the Possible
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Oct 14, 2013 at 3:00 PM ET
If GPS’s had existed in the late 15th century, America may never have been discovered. Unless it was during a long “recalculating” message.
Today we celebrate the life of Christopher Columbus who sort of “discovered” America. But, let’s be real, Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492 in much the same way I “discovered” Indis restaurant at age 16 in downtown Louisville after I couldn’t… find McDonalds.
Columbus was an adventurous explorer sponsored by the Queen of Spain who helped supply several cool ships (or at least ships with cool names) and Columbus promised a group he would take them to India where they had great spices.
When I was 16 years old during my first week Central High School I had money in my pocket from the allowance my mom provided and a cool looking red Firebird car. I was adventurous and promised to take a group of other students “off campus” for lunch to the McDonalds on Broadway because we wanted a Big Mac (with “special sauce”).
Columbus got lost, probably because he didn’t have a GPS, and instead landed in America (or at least nearby) and later claimed he “discovered” it all by himself.
Likewise, I got lost since –like Christopher Columbus– I didn’t have a GPS at the time either, and instead of McDonalds found (i.e. “discovered”) a restaurant called Indi’s, a fast food ethic restaurant with “spicy” food. I parked nearby and we went in and I got barbequed rib tips. And they were delicious. After we got back to school word got out about my new “discovery” and other students wanted to go with me next time. And for my two years at Central I got credit among my friends for “discovering” Indi’s. Of course, I didn’t get to rename it. No need. It was already called Indi’s even though the name had nothing to do with Indians. I still like Indi’s a lot, especially the rib tips.
By contrast, Columbus thought he was in “India” and even named the people he found “Indians.” He eventually ate but didn’t get anything nearly as good as Indi’s barbequed rib tips, I’m guessing. But he did stumble onto what is today a great country. And today we are officially remembering his “discovery.”
So, Happy Columbus Day. And if you don’t know what to do to properly celebrate Columbus Day, may I recommend barbequed rib tips.
And if nothing else, let Columbus Day remind us that even if we find ourselves without a GPS system handy, not to worry. And just go for it, Columbus-like.
Who knows? We may “discover” a new country or at least a cool new ethnic restaurant.
Blog this!
