Just How Much Cream is in That Twinkie?

A topic of conversation (and humor) among some students and staff at New Urban Arts (where I work) has been the "Stuff White People Like" blog. There are a number of interesting topics that the blog could be a jumping off point for me to babble about (white privilege, gentrification, identity politics, class etc. etc.), but I'll spare you all any extended thoughts.

As funny as the blog is, my biggest beef is that it refers to a pretty privileged class and doesn't really get into how complex whiteness is in this country and how it's constructed. Of course, I don't think that's the responsibility/intent of this particular blogger. It's pretty entertaining and has us talking about race and identity in our studio community, which is pretty cool in and of itself.

So for shits and giggles, I decided to rate my own "whiteness" using a 1-5 scale for each item. I'm assuming that each item is weighted equally and I did my best to interpret questions that didn't directly refer to me as a non-white person (I'm Korean) e.g. being the only white person in a room. Check it out here. I'll keep updating it as I learn more about myself and as more items get added.

Rest in Peace Israel "Cachao" Lopez

Long run in Flushing

Did this long run in Flushing today. I didn't come back up Booth Memorial Ave though, I just ran back through the Botanical Gardens coming back. Mileage should have been basically the same, I just got to bail on a hill! Very scenic. Some hills but nothing crazy:

New York, New York...

Ok, it wouldn't be fair for me to not rag some on my beloved NYC after (another) weekend back home:

1. Umbrellas. New Yorkers hold them just over the tops of their heads as low as possible and then don't look where they're going. I think I got my eyes taken out almost a dozen times on Main Street in Flushing. Well ok, maybe this is just an Asian thing...

2. It seems like in places other then New York City, you can actually lock and leave your bike for more than a few hours at a time and reasonably expect it to still be there when you return. I've gotten my fair share of jokes from New Urban Arts staff and students for a) checking on my locked bike from my work desk every couple of hours b) either releasing the front wheel and locking it to the rear wheel or c) simply taking the front wheel to my desk and sitting with it. Whatever, I'm still that fat Chinese (Korean) kid in Prospect Park. I tried to tell them that bike thieves were so good in NY that Kryptonite's "gurantee" was always valid everywhere except in Manhattan USA:

In the late 1980s, just as Kryptonite began to offer a newly designed mountain bike lock, anti-theft guarantee claims began to increase dramatically in Manhattan. This increase in theft forced Kryptonite to stop offering the guarantee in Manhattan and spurred the Zane’s to redesign their locks.

-Lemelson Center for the Study of Invenion and Innovation

I forgot that it was so bad that it was a huge promotion when they came out with a guranteed Manhattan u-lock in 1994.

Kryptonite introduced the New York Lock in 1994. This newly designed lock allowed Kryptonite to reestablish an anti-theft guarantee for $1,000 in Manhattan. The company recreated its earlier publicity event by successfully locking bicycles throughout New York City to prove the efficacy of its locks.

Problem was, it was way smaller than their standard lock so you couldn't do the double wheel lock with it making it not so useful.

3. I may bitch about RIPTA but you know what? RIPTA a) takes dollar bills and b) gives you change (even in if it's only in the form of a credit on a RIPTA card). Will NY buses ever catch up?

Life in the Ocean State (No Peter Griffin Sightings)

So far, I've been adjusting to life in Rhode Island a lot better than I thought I would, but there are still some things (cultural adjustments) I don't get. In no order:

• Why do drivers, when they have the right of way, wave me in front of them? It's nice, but I'm a New Yorker, as a pedestrian, I don't trust drivers. Just go, take the damn light! This practice gets even stranger on 2-way streets, a driver on one side will wave me to cross ignoring the oncoming traffic coming the other way. Thanks, but no thanks. Even worse, is the miscommunication that happens at night when you can't see if the driver is waving you to cross and can't tell if you're going to take the free pass. It's an accident waiting to happen.
  

• Bus stop signs. Would it kill you to write the actual bus line number that stops on the sign? It makes learning the bus system a lot more difficult.

• No one shovels their walks here. I've almost busted my ass so many times here walking around. I don't get it, I guess it's not enforced, in NY we always hopped to it to avoid a ticket. I walk on the streets here and it's all ice. How are there not more lawsuits over this?

• So far, not a big fan of the pizza dough up here (too thick, too mushy). I hear Sicilia's on Atwells is ok, but when I see a sign that says "NY Style pizza", I keep right on walking. Sorry Aneudy, even Saki's is probably not going to cut it.
  

• I still don't like the license plates. The serif font is too big and that wave looks really cheesy.

First Run in Rhody

Just did my first long run in Providence, about 8.5 miles. I found a great route on Mapmyrun.com. I needed a long run that took me all over and this was a nice route. Passed through the West End, Armory, Olneyville, Federal Hill, Smith Hilll (past the state Capitol), College Hill (Brown, RISD flashback!), downtown and back to my apt. Great way to get reacquainted with a good chunk of the city (except for all the damn hills!).

Google Check Out Test (DreamYard)

$

The Big Move

The New Crib (Cross Your Fingers!)
I spent last weekend looking for an apartment in Providence and I think I found one. Don't want to jinx it, but the Realtor said my application checked out and she would mail me the lease soon.

Here's the kitchen: Common area: Bedroom: The location is great, it's on Broadway, just under a mile from New Urban Arts. It's also near some great casual restaurants, within a few blocks of the place are Seven Star Bakery, Julians and Nicks, all of which are local hits. I'm also a healthy mile walk from Federal Hill if I need my meatball fix. Actually, I will want to get a "wimpy skippy" at Casertas. It's been awhile.

I'm not looking forward to getting a car which I'm probably going to have to do. I also forgot that Providence doesn't allow on-street overnight parking which leads to atrocious shit like this:


Almost no one has backyards in Providence because everyone has to pave them over to make them into parking lots like this sad example I saw in the South Side. You can see the grass fighting through the pavement even in this picture. Sad. Really sad.

J-O-B
Why does a city that strives to be much more cosmopolitan stubbornly have a law that makes it look so second-rate (especially late at night when you see all those empty streets)? My guess is tax revenue. Combine ongoing job loss, high unemployment and a city where you're losing a lot of property taxes because of higher education (Brown, RISD, Johnson and Wales, Providence College are probably some of the biggest property owners in the city) and they probably need every buck they can get. I'm seeing how much the foreclosure crisis is affecting property tax revenue in cash-rich New York City, I can't imagine how having so many non-profit property owners affects the taxes of a city like Providence that doesn't have as near as much industry as NYC (RI Hospital and Brown are the city's two biggest employers according to good old Wikepedia).

Driving around the different neighborhoods really hit home for me how economically depressed the city is. While it's been getting a lot of national press for being a "renaissance city" just looking around you can see the employment problem in the city (well, if you look in neighborhoods other than fancy downtown). Boarded-up houses and shuttered stores and people just hanging out during business hours. There are some serious challenges economically that the state and the city are going to have to deal with. RI has been losing manufacturing jobs at a really fast rate and apparently population too (net losses of population even after immigration is pretty scary when you think about it):

They said they watched as lifelong friends moved away in search of better conditions; census officials estimate that Michigan lost 30,500 people in the year starting July 2006, one of only two states (along with Rhode Island) to lose population in that time.

New York Times 1/13/08

It ends up being a self-perpetuating problem. The lack of jobs leads to an ongoing brain drain of the entrepreneurial talent most likely to start new innovative businesses locally. I asked one of the realtors about all the new development I was seeing downtown; a few luxury high-rise condominiums. His firm had actually sold about half of the new condos in one of the new buildings. I asked him if there was some kind of common profile of the condo buyers thinking that Providence might be attracting some other youngish professionals like myself and this might be a good for sign for its struggling economy. He told me that most of the buyers were Brown University parents who wanted a place for their kids to live off campus and/or a place for them to stay when they visit their children. Not exactly the kind of thing your city wants to stake its whole economic future on.

Art Saves! Or Something Like That...
What does this all mean for me as an outsider, a creative person, a community-oriented individual, an educator and now, the pending Executive Director of a small funky-after school arts studio that bring together artists and teenagers in this very city?

I'm not sure, but I'm excited to see what our community comes up with and facilitating that conversation. I'm not naive enough to believe to think that the arts alone, is some magic panacea that will solve deeply entrenched urban problems with global roots (in a class I took on arts and urban revitalization at Wagner, Professor Ruth Ann Stewart talked about arts cultural districts being most effective they were part of a holistic plan aiming various urban problems e.g. education, workforce development, public transportation, tax incentives etc.). But at the same time, my mantra is that the artist and art must be part of their community(ies). Shit, that's what my graduation speech was about. Job creation is hard. Better men and women have wrestled with this question than me. In the early nineties I remember reading one of George Bush's (the first) aide's anonymously ask a reporter "how DO you create a job?" It's not exactly a science, but I think you focus on creating conditions that make innovation most likely to occur and that's where unlocking creativity comes in. Any good career counselor will tell you not to choose an educational path based on what industries are hot because industries change fast.

I think that's where we come in, giving kids and artists the space and belief in themselves, to experiment, to fail and succeed, creates the kind of people with a far less limited sense of what's possible. If you ask me, that's what's really going to fuel development. Shirley Brice Heath (one of my heroes) writes some really great stuff about how community arts spaces instill entrepreneurial instincts in kids' language and sense of what they can achieve.

That's the beauty of this work, we can't predict what's going to happen, where or how the next big innovation will come from, but we can create conditions that make it more likely to happen.

Trade Imbalance

Saw this one ESPN:

Tis' the Season

My Mom, Dad and I checked out one house in Bayside (Queens) with infamous lighting. I'm at a loss for words:

Don't Stick a Fork In Me Yet

I noticed this ad has recently started showing up on my Facebook profile. I know my birthday is this June, but couldn't they wait?

Whatever, thirty is the new twenty.

Pudding Pies

I used to dream about these and I was devastated when they were discontinued.

The Food Pyramid

Dennis found this and this shit took me back! Not that I grew up in the 'hood (just Park Slope pre-hyper hipsterfication), but anyone who grew up in NYC should remember trying to stretch that dollar as far as it could go at the cake stand at their local local bodgea, Korean grocery, Optimo, Te-Amo what have you...

"These won't go bad until 2000 forever."

My winning combo:

• $.50 Crunchy mini-donut pack/Iced honey bun (with the white frosting, not that clear shit/frosted apple pie cakes
  
• $.25 4-cookie Drakes packs (strangely not covered in this video). I think they're up to $.35 a pack now which sucks, but for a quarter, they were a ton of calories for the penny. Best flavors: lemon, coconut or oatmeal
• $.25 Gotta go savory now, bag of chips. Dipsy doodles(BBQ!)/Crispy cheese doodles(never puffy)/sour cream and onion.

Other winners:

• $.25 Nutty bars (wafers=carbs, peanut butter=protein, TWO came in one pack)
  
• $.50 Those GIANT 2-for- a-dollar cookie packs!!! Yo, I used to make myself sick eating those things. The fudge striped cookies were the best, and you knew they were bootlegs of the Keebler ones you always saw on TV, but it didn't matter.
  

My poor mother, she packed me tuna and alfalfa sandwiches and wondered why she had a fat kid...LOL

Coup Proofing

We've already seen Britney go off the deep end in 2007. You know who might be joining her for the holidays? Every single Knicks fan!

You can't overstate the level of passion and frustration here. I have rational, thoughtful friends sending me e-mails like, "I turned down courtsides tonight because I would have ended up walking over to Dolan's seat and punching him in the face."

Bill Simmons wrote a (typically) funny column lambasting us Knicks fans, telling us to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and making the (accurate) point that one of the only reasons that the ongoing black comedy/tragedy that is the Knicks gets as much national attention as it does is because we're such a big damn media market. I say give them some credit, a multi-million dollar lost sexual harassment suit? Star players having sex with interns in their trucks? An owner that cares more about the outfits of the Knicks City Dancers than the Knicks' actual won/lost record? I'm not even getting into the Rangers. I think this might get some national attention even coming out of Utah.

Seriously though, I get his point. It's not that bad and it's our memory of the recent good years that make this now so awful. But at least we had the good years.

Alright, now that I've perfunctorily acknowledged my self absorption as a native New Yorker and longtime Knicks fan, I'm going to proceed to bitch and moan and feel sorry for myself.

I am officially on Knicks strike. I am not a Knicks fan until Dolan sells the team. It's not enough to fire Isaiah. Even if he's fired, he'll just get replaced by some other sycophant that will continue to run that team into the ground. No self-respecting basketball professional is going to work in that madhouse. Only kiss-asses that know how to navigate the dysfunctional culture that Dolan has created will take this job. For my organizational behavior class at Wagner, one of our readings was about how Saddam Hussein had coup-proofed himself in Iraq by setting up reward structures that all flowed through him, ensuring that no group of factions would ever get together to overthrow him. Dolan, for all his basketball incompetence, is a pretty damn good despot. Even fucking David Stern can't get him removed.

Looking at the team itself, one of the things that frustrates me the most is that it's actually really hard to hate this team which is why I'm choosing to hate Dolan. This isn't like the Jailblazers of the late 90s. Save Steph when he's acting petulant, most of them seem like likable people. They always publicly support the coach, each other and the organization. It was classy to stand as a team at Don Marbury's funeral as a public statement of unity, especially after Steph had so recently cut out on them. Talent-wise, each player is someone I can easily see most general managers wanting on their roster depending on their needs. Save Jerome James (why???), there really isn't any dead wood on the roster. Everyone has some valuable basketball assets (just not enough defensive assets). But it's like Zeke wants the whole to end up equaling less than the sum of its parts.

So I'm on Knicks strike. I'm not rooting for an NBA team (though I enjoy watching the Celtics) until Dolan is replaced.

NYC Marathon Pics

Oh, the agony!

NYC Marathon Thoughts...

When you see thousands of people cheering you on, handing out all sorts of goodies (thank goodness for those orange slices) and telling you that you will make it, you are reminded of how the bond of humanity connects us at a far deeper level and how it bring us all together in good and in bad times. I realized then how proud I was to be a New Yorker and so blessed to be living in one of the greatest cities in the world.

My friend Raj's girlfriend, Nadia, like me, ran her first marathon yesterday and said this about it. She took the words right out of my mouth. It was incredible. The last time I felt this kind of citywide sense of unity, of brotherhood and sisterhood was, sadly, just after September 11. But this was obviously different, a joyous celebration of life and achievement.

Coming off the Verrazano bridge running fourth ave and hearing and seeing all the people cheering for us almost brought tears to my eyes. The unconditional support for our utterly quixotic endeavor moved me. Virtually every neighborhood we went through had people out on the streets, rich, middle class, poor, all races and ethnic groups, lifelong New Yorkers to transplanted hipsters to recent foreign immigrants. From reggateon rappers in Spanish Harlem to the Bishop Loughlin Marching Band to merengue blasting in Sunset Park we ran through a pageant of New York City, even though we were the ones on parade.

I was so proud to be a New Yorker, reminded how much I love this city, but also sadly realized how much work has to be done to continue to fight to keep this city a place where the vitality I saw and experienced along the route can always exist, where people can afford to live, go to school, work and sustain themselves.

My Performance
I guess I'll start with the positives:

• I finished (!)
• I experienced severe cramping at various points from mile 19 and had to stop several times to walk and stretch it out. I seriously thought I would have to stop the race all together the cramping was so bad. But I worked out the cramps, got a second wind at mile 20 and ran most of the rest of it and ran a strong finish for the last 1.2 miles

OK, now to the heart of it:
I was shooting for a time of 4:30 (my best half is a 1:56, granted at Staten Island, which is flat compared to the NYC course, but I thought it was still a realistic target) and ended up clocking in at 5:00:39. I can't believe I didn't even break five hours, which I'm embarrassed by. I analyzed where and how my body broke down and despite a scientifically calculated training schedule tailored to my pace, it didn't include any hill training which is what killed me in the end. The Pulaski Bridge at mile 13 and the Queensboro bridge at miles 14 to 16 took everything out of my legs and led to my calves cramping at mile 19. I'm mad, but now I know what to differently for my training next year. I'm swear, I'm going to rock the sucker out next year...

The highlights
Mile 1-2: The Verrazano bridge. It was breathtaking to see the bridge tower over us on what was a beautiful clear sunny day with music blasting and the Queensboro bridge in the distance knowing that was where we were headed.

Mile 3: The rush of humanity into the cheering crowds on fourth avenue, I almost cried.

Mile 4-6: Sunset Park. The smell of Mexican food, I really wanted to stop and grab some food....sopes?

Miles 6-10: Just trying to hold back at a solid 10:30/mile pace. Holding down my adrenaline, breathing steadily. Favorite part here was the Bishop Loughlin Marching Band set up in front of the school playing the theme of "Rocky."

Miles 10-13 Uh-oh, finally starting to feel some achiness, I had been hoping I cold stave off serious pain until mile 18 or so...

Mile 13 to 14 The Pulaski Bridge, or what I like to now call the "widow maker". The ramp onto the bridge was steep and I wasn't ready for anything like that. Hill workouts in Harlem in Central park didn't cut it. I'm training on bridges next year I swear to fucking...

Miles 14 to 15: The best moment of the race for me. I saw my father on Vernon Blvd, he had a big grin on his face when he saw me and I stopped and shook his hand. He said my mom was on her way, but I couldn't wait so I kept going and he wished me luck while I ran off. I felt bad missing my mom, but then I saw her around the corner and ran up to her and she gave me a hug and kiss. Everyone running with me started clapping and she wished me luck when I got back in the pack.

Miles 15 to 16: The Queensboro bridge, or the "widow maker part II". Whatever structural integrity my calves had left after the Pulaski Bridge was killed here, especially on the sharp downhill ramp coming off the bridge (ow, ow, ow, ow, ow...)

Miles 16 to 19 Basically, I was in a daze while I struggled to keep my feet under me on first ave. This is supposed to be the most exciting part of the race, but all I remember was seeing a lot of fogginess and hearing a lot of noise on the sides. Oh, I think I was trying to run also. One of my friends from Wagner saw me around 90th and yelled my name. I don't even know how I heard her. Two of my best friends saw me at mile 19 and yelled my name just as I hit my wall.

Mile 19: Severe cramping, walk, run, stretch, repeat. At the top of the Willis Ave Bridge (fucking bridges) I stopped and did some thorough stretching and gentle flexing/extension of my calves which finally worked.

Mile 20: My legs finally recovered, I'm running gingerly, but I feel good, I've got a second wind. Any chance of making 4:30 is now out the window, but finishing under five hours is well within reach so I run confidently through the South Bronx. Not being so concerned with my time now, I relax, high five a bunch of kids and pump my arms and wave at the crowds. Basically, I start having some fun.

Mile 21: My boss yells my name and jumps out and runs with me a couple of blocks. I've been alone the entire 21 miles so far (I ran half the bridge with Raj, but that was about it) and it was a great boost to have someone out there with me, even for just two blocks.

Mile 22 to 24 Holy fucking shit, why did they put this incline at the end of the race?? 119th and 5th ave south to 90th and 5th Ave. Walking it, you'd never think of it as a hill, but at the end of a marathon it's a miserable, slow, painful climb...

Mile 24: My legs give out, I can't feel them I can't run, I'm walking and it hurts too much to walk. People are yelling 'you can do it!' and I want to lie down and die and/or yell back 'leave me alone, I can't do it!!!'.

Mile 25: I have to figure something out, I can't walk, I can't run. I pull over to the side and say 'fuck my time, I'll be damned if I'm walking across the finish line' and take a good 5-10 minutes and stretch my calves, quads, gluts and hamstrings. Once I've got my blood circulating again (and after I've refused medical attention three times) I hop back on the course and my legs feel great, I'm kicking myself for not having stopped sooner to stretch out again (walking hadn't felt any better than running anyway), but I take off for the last 1.2 miles.

Mile 26: Columbus Circle: I see my friends Gloria and Anil who shout my name out, I'd been running well the last mile, but seeing them and knowing I was at the finish gave me the final kick I needed and I took off passing a bunch of people at the tail end:



Pulling into Central Park: The other moment I almost cried. After all the pain and wondering if I was going to even finish, after having to humbly alter my target goals mid race, I realized I was going to finish the damn thing, and I was going to finish strong, and I was doing it at the intersection where I had been doing all of my long runs dutifully every Sunday preparing for this moment.

26.2 miles: The finish, I threw my arms up and crossed the finish line.

And the worst part? Having to walk another mile to get out of the damn park :)

Congratulations to every single person who trained and entered this race. I just read Siddhartha, and for all of us, it's about the journey.

Stupid Trivia
I own the rather dubious distinction of being the youngest AND the slowest 'Yoon' in the entire 2007 NYC Marathon:
But at least I was the fastest 'Jason' who ran slower than five hours (chew on that one):
Glenna, my friend, training guru and sometime training partner, and I ran bizarrely similar splits for good chunks of the race despite being not even seeing each other the entire race
And lastly, I was mostly pissed that I wasn't going to be listed in today's hard copy New York Times because they typically only list runners who finish under five hours. But I assume because they had to fill the last page they actually went all the way up to 5:04 so I still back doored my way into today's paper! WooHoo!

My New Training Log
I'm now on a mission to eat as much junk food as I can and undo all of my training. For lunch today, I had General Tso's chicken and pork fried rice from the ghetto Chinese spot near work on Gerard Ave and 161st. Dinner was fried chicken wings and french fries. Tomorrow I'm hitting the fried fish joint on 161st for lunch (see a pattern?).

Later this week, I'm hitting the chuchifritos spot across from Casa Latina (after I treat myself to a new CD) for some mofongo with gravy and pasteles. I'll also hit Mannas before they go out of business (I read in the Daily News their building is getting bought out). And yes, I will get the fried rice there.

It's a lot of work, but I think I can do it...

Marathon Training (last one!)

Ryan Shay (r) at the 2002 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championship

I'll start this by offering my condolences to the friends and family of Ryan Shay who died this morning while running the Olympic Marathon Trials in Central Park. I woke up early to watch the Olympic Marathon trials in Central Park to get some inspiration for tomorrow's NYC Marathon. I'm always awed watching the mechanics and focus of the elite runners. I got to the race at about 9:30 and cheered for the runners before heading over to Javits Center to pick up my registration for tomorrow. I didn't find out until later that afternoon what had happened. I'm not sure how I feel about it, I'm not worried for myself running tomorrow, it's a freak incident that you can't dwell on, especially if you've been taking care of yourself. I think it's the fact that he died literally in the thick of pursuing his dream while probably at, or near, the peak of his ability as a runner. On one hand, for a competitive athlete, it may be the ultimate way to go out, but on the other hand I can't help but think of all the lost potential and what could have been for him.

Rest in peace Ryan, we'll all be thinking of you while we're running tomorrow.

Now, the final two work outs of the workout schedule I started way back in August. Looking back at my original schedule, I am really proud of having stuck to it. I've done every work out on the schedule plus countless dance classes and I know I am prepared for tomorrow.

November 1, 2007
Tempo run
1 mile warm up 86th St and Lexington Ave to 103rd and 5th Ave

3.2 miles (I ran it in 27:13)
From 103 and 5 to the finish of the NYC Marathon at Tavern on the Green

Half mile cool down
Total mileage
4.5 miles

Comments:
It was really exciting to run in the park and see the fencing out in the final mile, the bleachers and the finish line at Tavern on the Green. The finish is going to be tough, hopefully adrenaline will pull me through.

November 2, 2007
2-mile easy run

NYC Marathon

My friend forwarded me a pretty cool spreadsheet that calculates (roughly) what time you'll cross each marker at the NYC marathon based on your bib number and your expected time of finish. My times are below. if you want to download the whole spreadsheet, you can get it here.

Marathon Training

October 30, 2007
2 miles easy run
19:53

October 28, 2007
5 miles
58:52
11:46 per mile

Did the Poland Spring 5-mile kick off. Was supposed to do 8 miles total, but some late night partying did me in...

October 25, 2007
2-mile warm up to Astoria Park

Was supposed to do 3 miles at 8:59
Actual splits:
1 8:18
2 8:28
3 8:06

1-mile cool down

Total: 6 miles