I published a letter to the editor in last Friday's Charlotte Observer (7/18/2014, Charlotte, NC). In the letter, I comment on the new, NC state voter laws, and specifically, on the photo ID provision. The link follows:
Letter to Editor
Monday, July 21, 2014
Friday, July 11, 2014
POEM: World Cup
World Cup
I
loved watchingthe
United States
World
Cup team
play
soccer.
Their
game
was
unique:
they
usually
did
not care
about
possession
in
the midfield,
so
they were
usually
on the
defensive.
Then
they
would
flip
the
tables
andadvance
to
offense
on the
fast
break
down
the field
to
the
net.
They
were
the
fastest
players
in
the
world,
and
they
had
the
best goalkeeper
anywhere.
Other
teams,
the haughty
Europeans,
for
example,
would
just
sit there
and
dominate
possession
in
the
midfield
forever,
feeling
superior,
but
wholly
unable
to
break
through
with
a
goal.
That
is why
it
was
so
heartbreaking
to
see the
U.S. team
lose
in
extra
time
to
Belgium.
Just
devastating.
Now,
I have
to
watch
them
all play
not
haughty football,
but
what
I
would call
arrogant
soccer.
No
more
Team
USA
to
shockthe
world
with
their
goals
and
their
wins
as
the
great
underdog
triumphs.
No
more.
Now
it’s
just
arrogant
soccer,
all
tournament
long.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
POEM: Tea at 36,000 Feet
Tea at 36,000 Feet
The
fold-down tray table
on
this
trans-continental
flight
from
Charlotte, NC,
to
Salt Lake City, UT,
is
full.
There
is still room,
however,
for
a
small
cup
of tea
in
the
front-
right section
of
the fold-down
table.
It is
premium
Bigelow,
100%
CeylonTea,
served
in a
half-size,
Styrofoam,
Delta Airlines-brand,
Seattle’s Best
Coffee
cup.
The tea
was
delicious—
with
a little
creamer
and
a
little
sweetener—
and
the
flight
was
a little
choppy,
but
not bad.
Each
seat
was
full,
and
we
landed—
four
hours
later—
safely.
—Nicholas Patti
POEM: A Carolina Moon
A Carolina Moon
A
full moon
shines
brightly
in
the black
night
sky
outside
my
bedroom
window.
It
hangs high
over
a trove
of
trees
nearby
in this
apartment
complex.
No,
this is
not
a story
of
any
seedy
underbelly
of
life
in
the
working-
class,
in
the
New
South,
detailing
rogue
figures
and
outlaws
and
drugs
and
prostitution
and
all
that.
No,
this is
just
a
story
of
the
Carolina moon—
how
bright,
how
beautiful
above
the
darkened
trees.
It
is
hard
to
imagine
someone
escaping
this place—
a
slave
in the
underground
railroad
in
the
antebellum
South,
headed
North,
or
a
mass
migration
in
the
early
twentieth-
century,
away
from
old
Jim
Crow.
It
is
hard
to imagine,
even
if
entirely
understandable.
Why?
Simply
because
no
moon
shines
so
bright,
so
beautiful
in
the dark
night
sky
as
this
Carolina
moon
tonight.
—Nicholas Patti
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Libraries, Culture, and Teacher Pay Raises Worth Paying For
Open letter to the editor of the Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, NC):
In response to "County Sends Sales Tax to Ballot" (June 18):
In response to "County Sends Sales Tax to Ballot" (June 18):
As host city for Bank of America and Duke
Energy, Charlotte sees some significant levels of capital flowing around town.
So what does it mean to be poor, working class, and middle class here?
Everyone—from the homeless to the 99% to the
1%—benefits from a better public library, for example. The book budget allows
the library to stay current and relevant, establishing its basic value for the
community. Expanded service to six days year-round means that Charlotte
children have someplace positive and productive to go for an extra day each
week—either with parents or when parents are away at work during the summer.
All of us Charlotte and Mecklenburg
residents deserve a better library, one more on the same scale as the highly
concentrated wealth this city possesses.
So the majority of Mecklenburg County
Commissioners are asking the 99% to pay the bulk of it? It is not a perfect
world. It is time for us all to step up, vote yes, and pay for what we need—and
deserve.
—Nicholas
Patti
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