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Thursday, February 02, 2006
Nick Spencer’s Festival: Death at the Hands of a Black Man?
Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
Recently, Nick Spencer (a two-time failed candidate for City Council) announced The Desdemona Independent Arts Festival, scheduled for June 23rd and 24th. It seems Spencer’s hatred of poor blacks has infiltrated his subconsciousness in naming his doomed-for-failure festival after an innocent white woman killed by a black man.
In trying to create momentum for his project, Spencer writes, “It will be, I promise, the absolute greatest two days Cincinnati has ever seen. I mean it.” What’s noteworthy is how later blog posts characterize his vision for the festival. In a column entitled ”A Little More to Work With,” Spencer writes the following: ”Explain why this is such a big deal again? You know, for most Cincinnatians actually, I doubt it will be.” This is classic Nick Spencer: the hatred he has for himself and his City at constant odds with his feeble attempts to make a name for himself.
Just consider his role in Over-The-Rhine as a small white guy trying to colonize the area with his liquor peddlers. Does that have any bearing on why Spencer admits that Desdemona is one of his favorite literary characters?
For those who don’t remember, Desdemona (who is white) appears in Shakespeare’s Othello. Othello (who is black) marries Desdemona, but some people are upset at the union.
In short, Othello is tricked by his right-hand man, Iago, into thinking that Desdemona is unfaithful. Othello kills innocent Desdemona, and then finds out the truth. The play ends with Othello killing himself atop the body of his murdered and innocent wife.
So the effeminate and white Nick Spencer feels some kind of affinity towards Desdemona, who gets brutally murdered by an uninformed black man.
You do the math.
I just think it a strange allusion to draw for a City like Cincinnati.
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02 Feb 2006 at 02:33 pm | #
Dean:
You have really gone off the deep end. In the anti-Joy Rolland post, you coulndn’t handle being called a “Thomas Jefferson.” But you think it is ok to say racist and inflamatory things about Nick Spencer?
Why do you think it is ok to remove nasty things about yourself but spread those things about other people?
In addition to being a racist, you are a hypocrite.
02 Feb 2006 at 02:39 pm | #
You claim Spencer has self-hatred, but your self-hatred is evident as well. Why else would a grown man go out of his way to publicly degrade others? Why do you seek continual negative attention? It seems like you just can’t get enough.
02 Feb 2006 at 02:44 pm | #
Come on Jason, this one is really reaching. I was able to at least entertain the whole pioneer thing but this one is a bit laughable. I must admit I am new to this blog, but I have noticed you going after Nick Spencer, but where is your outrage on Nate Livingston? And perhaps you have, I just haven’t found it yet.
All I have seen so far is your attacking Nick and defending Nate. Spencer promotes a festival, Livingston promotes a boycott. Spencer attacks the City gov for failing, Nate attacks individuals for helping. We are all judged by our associations, it is clear that you do not support Nick- but Nate? I hope I am missing something.
02 Feb 2006 at 02:44 pm | #
I don’t just say a bunch of things about Spencer for no reason—I actually provide evidence and reasoning to support my claims.
Further, my statements about him relate to an issue. Joy’s complaints relate to nothing save herself.
02 Feb 2006 at 02:46 pm | #
Ultimately, my post is meant to support the conclusion indicated in the last line—and if you disagree with my treatment of Spencer, that can be dealt with separately from my ultimate criticism of the strange allusion.
02 Feb 2006 at 02:50 pm | #
Point taken. Allow me to reword this. Hypothetical-Would you criticize Nate if he held a Othello festival? Would you conclude he was identifying himself with a black man who murdered a white woman. As I said before, I think you are reaching and I do not know Nick and I am not defending him, I just wanted to say this thread seems to be part of a pattern.
02 Feb 2006 at 03:08 pm | #
I’ll play your unrealistic mind game, if you wish.
Please explain to me the nature of this hypothetical “Othello” festival, so I can reach a more informed decision.
02 Feb 2006 at 03:32 pm | #
No mind game, no trickery, no voodoo or hoodoo… just a question.
The nature of the event is the same, only the name has changed and the person saying it is Nate, not Nick. Still just a music concert.
02 Feb 2006 at 03:47 pm | #
Dean
It seems that you are going to quite an extreme to be a dick toward Nick Spenser. Why is his festival doomed to fail. I have worked many festivals that were run by less qualified people. If he lands enough sponsership money and has a good organization this festival should be a hit. Spencer is out doing things while you are at home complaining about them.
02 Feb 2006 at 04:00 pm | #
Redmond:
Why you think it necessary to bring African religion into this through disparaging remarks is quite beyond my comprehensions.
Othello killed Desdemona because he was manipulated and tricked by Iago (an evil white man). So you are asking what I would think if Nate named a music festival after a black person who was destroyed due to being manipulated by an evil white guy…
Well, quite frankly, I would be rather surprised to hear of Nate ever doing such a thing… It wouldn’t make any sense.
But if he were to do it (since I agreed to your mind experiment), then yes—I would surely wonder what must be going on in his mind to take such a strange action.
Spencer/Desdemona makes much more sense than Livingston/Othello.
02 Feb 2006 at 04:08 pm | #
BTW: The Trickster (trickery?) at the Crossroads in an ancient archetype from African religion/mythology. This figure also fits into Voodooism (sometimes through a figure known as Papa LaBas—or in Haitian Voodoo a figure who is also represented as the Catholic St. Peter, who waits at the “crossroads” from this world to Heaven). Voodooism traces its roots to (if memory serves) the West Coast of Africa prior to the American slave trade.
Hoodoo is the Americanized version of Voodoo which was, until very recently at least, widely practiced in New Orleans.
Contrary to popular belief, Voodoo/Hoodoo is not the “evil religion” of poking dolls with needles.
02 Feb 2006 at 04:16 pm | #
Oh, man, Jason, you have really, really lost it with this one.
I know you love posting about me cause it gets you tons of comments, but this is just too much.
Jesus, its bad enough the obsession you have with me-- can you at least leave classic Western literature out of it?
02 Feb 2006 at 04:20 pm | #
"Why [do] you think it necessary to bring African religion into this through disparaging remarks is quite beyond my comprehensions. “
Ok, I’m not that bright, but help me out here. Disparaging remarks? Come on Jason, you can do better than that. I put it right up there with mind games, I love mind games!
“Othello killed Desdemona because he was manipulated and tricked by Iago (an evil white man). So you are asking what I would think if Nate named a music festival after a black person who was destroyed due to being manipulated by an evil white guy…”
I need an asprin after these little talks- had he named it the Iago music festival then you may have a point. Isn’t the victim here the dead girl? And for Nick to promote a festival for dead girls everywhere, well go Nick!
Jason, you are better than this, I hope.
02 Feb 2006 at 04:24 pm | #
Thank you for the discourse on Voodoo and Hoodoo and its place in American history.
02 Feb 2006 at 04:29 pm | #
Where da white women at?
02 Feb 2006 at 05:05 pm | #
Redmond
Are you really that much of a sicko?!
02 Feb 2006 at 05:22 pm | #
Redmond:
Who is the victim? Well, that is a question for literary critics. (By the way, I have a Masters Degree in Literature, and I studied my final semester taking a double course load at Oxford University, England—so I’m very much in my field here.)
I’m certain you understand that I did not see fit to issue an entire thesis on Othello in blog comments.
Yes, Desdemona is a victim. She was killed by Othello. But Othello was the victim of Iago, who orchestrated an evil plot which ruined them all.
What do you mean, “Jason, you are better than this, I hope.” Better than what?
I am sorry if you do not know the plot of Othello in detail. Consider reading a summary at SparkNotes to bring you up to speed.
02 Feb 2006 at 05:24 pm | #
Livingston
If that is the only point that you take issue with in this whole thread then sure, take my sarcasm literally.
02 Feb 2006 at 05:27 pm | #
Now crybaby Nick has actually threatened to run away from doing business in OTR if some black business owners who cater to black patrons try to open up a business.
And you all thought I was crazy!
Follow the link and read for yourselves!
02 Feb 2006 at 05:29 pm | #
Nick: How can I leave “classic Western Literature” out of this? You are the one who called the thing “Desdemona.” And, based on your white-flight mentality from your most recent blog post (linked in my comment above), your racism is even more clear. You fear black people, as much as you sympathize with a white woman killed by a black man. (BTW—why so hellbent on making sure we understand that by “classic” literature you also mean “Western” literature?)
02 Feb 2006 at 05:31 pm | #
No, you are right, I just got the basics here;
“Yes, Desdemona is a victim. She was killed by Othello. But Othello was the victim of Iago, who orchestrated an evil plot which ruined them all.”
What is the name of that music festival again? Jesus man, I will just wait for your next discussion on something worth my time.
02 Feb 2006 at 05:35 pm | #
You are the one making this complicated, by asking what I would think if Nate organized this festival instead of Nick, calling it “Othello.”
Both Othello and Desdemona were victims. (And yes, Shakespearean plots can be complex.)
Desdemona was killed by Othello, and he did it due to an evil plot orchestrated by Iago designed to ruin him.
So the bottom line is this: Nick Spencer, who seems to be afraid of black people, wants to name his music festival after a white woman who was killed by a black man.
This is strange. Especially in Cincinnati.
02 Feb 2006 at 05:35 pm | #
Now you are talking my talk.......
“Now crybaby Nick has actually threatened to run away from doing business in OTR if some black business owners who cater to black patrons try to open up a business.
And you all thought I was crazy!
Follow the link and read for yourselves!”
Try following these links also
http://wcpo.com/news/2005/local/06/26/clubritz_witness.html
http://www.wcpo.com/news/2005/local/06/26/clubritz_shootings.html
http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050421/NEWS01/504210349
http://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/4143476/detail.html
02 Feb 2006 at 05:56 pm | #
"So the bottom line is this: Nick Spencer, who seems to be afraid of black people, wants to name his music festival after a white woman who was killed”
Exactly, and in Nicks own words, “Explain why this is such a big deal again?”
02 Feb 2006 at 06:08 pm | #
Oh, of course, its a race thing.
That’s odd, though. Why did I promote the opening of Dream in the District last year? That’s a black-owned business that caters primarily to African Americans. Or why has alchemize hosted so many events by J&J productions, or Dime, both of which draw predominantly African American crowds?
I don’t know where you get that I’m “afraid of black people.” I’m anti-criminal, not anti-black. You seem to have a hard time distinguishing the difference. Those of us who stand up against criminals are sick and tired of being called racists by sick minds like yours.
We have some truly great African American owned businesses in OTR. I’m sick of having my name dragged through the mud on this site in your sad, demented quest for attention and validation. This site is based on childish and baseless accusations, mean-spirited diatribes, and just general idiocy. You’re an absolute embarassment to yourself and your community, Jason.
02 Feb 2006 at 06:16 pm | #
So I guess I haven’t missed out on much…
02 Feb 2006 at 06:18 pm | #
By the way, I have a Masters Degree in Literature, and I studied my final semester taking a double course load at Oxford University, England—so I’m very much in my field here.)
Remember that. It’s Jason’s favorite way of describing his education. Note that he did not attend Oxford College. He just squatted in their dorms while the real students were away on vacation. Jason got a summer school degree from the Loaf of Bread institute, one slice at a time. By “semester” he means “summer”. Usually he mentions that he was the first to take a double course load. Whooptie-do. I don’t know why he left that out.
Actually, Othello is not “black”. He is a Moor. You’d think a race theorist such as yourself might understand the historical difference. Have you ever read the play, by the way, Oxford not withstanding? It’s not the racist diatribe you make it out to be. I don’t think its supports your inference. Nice try though.
Please leave Shylock well enough alone. SOme of us haven’t forgotten your pre-election Antisemitic rants.
This is all because Spencer kicjed you out of his bar, right. You tried to extend him the olive branch of peace and he slapped your hand away, had you bounced. Am I right.
Such a little man.
02 Feb 2006 at 06:21 pm | #
How can you disagree with Shakespeare himself? Sounds plausible to me. See Jason, this was the question I was asking early on, I thought you would answer it but Shakespeare himself had to do it for you.
02 Feb 2006 at 06:21 pm | #
I admit I hated Shakespeare in HS so forgive me but couldn’t you also interpret this as being named after a woman who loved her husband no matter what and no matter the differences.
Dean, come on when you say..."I don’t just say a bunch of things about Spencer for no reason—I actually provide evidence and reasoning to support my claims. “
What is your evidence for calling him effeminate or for saying his festival is “doomed for failure.” I read Nick’s blog and I think you can make your point by highlighting things he says and then holding him to it rather than hate baiting.
Lines such as
“It will probably get more national press attention than any event we’ve held here in years.”
“You’re getting a festival most cities would kill for! “ (OK no pun intended here I am sure given the name)
and as you pointed out…
“It will be, I promise, the absolute greatest two days Cincinnati has ever seen. I mean it.”
Remember them. Hold him to it. I think it is great that he is trying, but so many music festivals fail after only a little time
http://www.citybeat.com/2005-01-19/editorial.shtml
So I say, hold him to what he says and does, not input your own personal feelings and snide remarks about him. If he ends up with egg on his face then it will be all the more sweeter for you in the end.
02 Feb 2006 at 06:25 pm | #
Dean - I would urge you to seek help from a qualified mental health professional, your obsession with all things Nick Spencer is unhealthy. I don’t know of any neighborhood in the city that would welcome the ritz, not even Roselawn, where they are now. Is the Roselawn Community Council racist too? C’mon now.....
02 Feb 2006 at 06:26 pm | #
Josh, Where have you been?
It’s all your fault , we need more thoughtful bloggers like you. Get back in the game soldier.
02 Feb 2006 at 06:33 pm | #
"Desdemona” is also a kickass song by John’s Children, featuring Mark Bolan of T. Rex fame.
But what does that have to do with race?
02 Feb 2006 at 06:50 pm | #
We should stop ignoring the obvious. Nick Spencer has a problem with Black people. Nick has now declared war on Andrew Williams and The Ritz and threatened to leave Over The Rhine if Andrew opens a club in the neighborhood. Well, I’m declaring war on Nick and Alchemize to help him with his move.
http://blackcincinnati.blogspot.com/2006/02/nick-spencer-threatens-white-flight.html
02 Feb 2006 at 07:05 pm | #
Nate you wrote in one of your posts
“Shouldn’t the white community respond to Mulligan’s the same way the Black community in Roselawn responded to the Ritz last year? “
While the owners of the Ritz may have a prosperous clothing store, they have proven to at least one community already that they don’t know how to protect their patrons when it comes to a bar that is pretty well self contained in its area.
Why is it wrong to question their ability to open one in another and why shouldn’t whites be able to do the questioning without being labelled? Is it only b/c it is Spencer?
02 Feb 2006 at 07:25 pm | #
Dean, your homophobia shows when you write this:
02 Feb 2006 at 07:41 pm | #
Dear M. Alt… I mean, “Shakespeare Himself”:
Thou art a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy worsted-stocking knave; a lily-liver’d, action-taking, whoreson, glass-gazing, superserviceable, finical rogue; one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that wouldst be a bawd in way of good service, and art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pander, and the son and heir of a mongril bitch.
02 Feb 2006 at 07:51 pm | #
I’m not ashamed of the funny named program I attended: The Bread Loaf School of English. But please give me a break: do you want to have a serious literary debate about Othello? Surely you don’t think blog comments are the appropriate forum, do you?
I know the full name of the play is “Othello the Moor.” What is your point? Don’t like that thought of an old black ram tupping a young white ewe?
I mention my creditials to save time. Do you really doubt my inability to interpret Shakespeare? Really? It is true that I studied at Oxford University for a summer. It is also true I studied Shakespeare under Michael Dobson, who was impressed with my work. So what is your point? I know this stuff. Why are you wasting my time on this front?
Redmond: S.H. has answered nothing. Then again, if you read your own comments closely, you can see that you really fail to cohere most of the time. What are you even talking about?
You ask me a hypothetical question about Nate and an “Othello Festival,” and then you get confused. You act like this is my fault, since you don’t know what has happened in the play at the heart of the allusion here…
Oh, you know what? It is ridiculous to try and trace these strands. I am one man trying to argue with who knows how many people at once—a most impossible agenda.
Even at his best, Nick is silent about his support of black business until he can play that “I have a black friend card” when he uses bandwidth to spew anti-black rhetoric. His most recent white-flight rhetoric is awful. And the arguments I have posted about the psychology at work bolster the claims recently made by Nate.
02 Feb 2006 at 07:52 pm | #
BTW: I actually had a request to start writing about Nick Spencer again from more than one source.
People are asking for this stuff!
02 Feb 2006 at 07:52 pm | #
Bearman
You’ve been around too long to sink to taking my quotes out of context.
I, a Black man, was encouraging the white community to repond to Mulligan’s after a white man was shot in their parking lot, in the same the Black community responded to The Ritz after a Black man was shot on the street near their club. White people don’t like to have a Black person telling them what to do, but they feel comfortable telling Black people what to do, and what we need to do.
The quote has nothing to do with the leaders of OTR questioning Andrew and The Ritz should they choose to do so. No reasonable person can interpret it to somehow give moral authority to a white bar owner (who has been in a community for less than 5 years) to question and oppose a Black bar owner from moving into the neighborhood.
But, beyond my quote, you ask why it is wrong to question the ability of the owners of The Ritz to open another bar in OTR given that, according to you, “...they have proven to at least one community already that they don’t know how to protect their patrons.” You also asked why shouldn’t whites be able to do the questioning without being labelled? And if my objections are only because it is Nicky doing the yelling.
Let’s take these questions one at a time, shall we.
1. The ability to question the owners of The Ritz depends on who is doing the questioning? If the longtime leaders of Over The Rhine, mostly Black, have concerns they should express them. The question is, who are the established and recognized leaders of OTR? Who do the residents of OTR, not the bought and sold city officials, say is their leader? The leaders of OTR have the right, and the obligation, to challenge not just The Ritz, but all of these white-owned bars that are moving into the community and oversaturating them with liquor licenses. I can tell you this, Nick Spencer and his white friends are not the leaders of OTR.
2. When whites are able to accept direction and criticism from Blacks then, and only then, should they feel free to tell Black people what to do and how our communities should look and operate. All whites are doing in OTR and the West End is disrespecting Black people. They are starting a war. And when Black people have had enough, and I’m in both of those communities enough to know that it’s coming, the communities will explode and everyone will pretend they didn’t see this coming. OTR leaders didn’t sanction Alchemize moving into the neighborhood. They made it clear that they opposed more liquor establishments. But Nick Spencer and his boys moved in anyway over the objection of the people and their representatives. So, why can’t whites now turn around and tell Black businesses that they aren’t welcome into their own fucking neighborhoods?! Because to do so would perpetuate a system where whites are dominate to Blacks and that day isn’t coming back.
3. This isn’t just about Nick, it’s about everything he represents which is white supremacy and the belief that whites should rule any community that they enter.
Now that I’ve answered your questions, why don’t you tell me which white-owned bar Nick opposed? Show me where he fought to keep white tenants off of Main Street. And why don’t you tell me what makes Nick a leader in OTR or why his voice should carry more weight than the thousands of residents who’ve lived in the neighborhood much longer than he? Is Nick president of the community council? Is he president of the chamber of commerce (assuming you accept them as legitimate leadership)? Besides peddling alcohol in the community, even if his patrons aren’t from the neighborhood, what does he do?
---
Let me point out that the Black leadership in Roselawn spoke out against The Ritz. They ultimately lost the fight, but Black people spoke up. For some reason, the white community hasn’t spoken out against the murder at Mulligan’s. Where is the Hyde Park Community Council?
02 Feb 2006 at 08:39 pm | #
Homophobia? What, is Nick gay?
I didn’t know that. If so, I’m sorry my adjective was taken as an insult to his sexuality.
02 Feb 2006 at 10:03 pm | #
Nick Spencer is promoting an arts festival. Why is this a race thing? Why is this a bad thing? Can’t we all just get along?
PS: He chose to move to a hood that is primarily black. Why do you accuse him of hating black folks? Changing OTR is a good thing, for both poor and rich.
02 Feb 2006 at 10:10 pm | #
As hyper-sensitive as you are with respect to racial issues, you are remarkably insensitive when it comes to gender and GLBT issues. It’s sexist to use “effeminate” as an insult, and homophobic to do so to a man.
02 Feb 2006 at 10:13 pm | #
"Show me where he fought to keep white tenants off of Main Street.”
Christ, Nate, sometimes you make it too easy.
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/09/07/loc_mainstreet07.html
http://www.citybeat.com/2003-10-01/news.shtml
I opposed white-owned businesses like Hard Rock Cafe’ and ESPN Zone from moving into the Main Street District.
I’m sure you’ll ignore that, just like everything else that doesn’t fit into your very narrow way of thinking.
02 Feb 2006 at 10:31 pm | #
Nick Spencer:
You have a problem with Blacks and poor people, whether you want to believe it or not. You really do, but your not alone! I have read many of your blog postings and they can be very offensive or at least raise an eyebrow or two.
Your explanations of why your not racist and/or prejudice doesn’t mean jack. Its like the old tired explanation that many non-Blacks, and particularly whites, saying “my best friend is Black”. But the minute that “friend” does something you disagree with, he/she is a Nigger.
QUESTION: Why did you name your festival after Desdemona? What is the significance of the name with the festival?
QUESTION: You said Jason is an embarrassment to “his community”, what community are you speaking of?
02 Feb 2006 at 10:31 pm | #
Nate, I only referenced that quote to emphasize the point that you mentioned only the black opposition to the Ritz. There were white people who lived in Roselawn for a long period of time who opposed the Ritz, yet at least one person I know was called a racist (not by anyone on here) b/c they vocalized the opposition.
I wasn’t given Spencer moral authority yet comparing Mulligans to the Ritz is not Apples to Apples. Mulligans seemingly was an isolated incident. The Ritz had several. Trust me if there were more, the opposition would come out in force. Remember the same time your friends on council gave back the liquor license to the Ritz against the wishes of both white and black residents of Roselawn, they tried to take away the one for McMurphys b/c some residents complained of noise.
So the million dollar question is whether Reece et al were acting in a racist fashion against the white bar owner while cowtowing to the black bar owner. Or is it the opposite. Were they selling out the middle class folks in Roselawn and cowtowing to the mid/upper class in Oakley/Hyde Park?
Sorry I can’t. I wasn’t putting Nick on a pedestal. I don’t know the man so I can’t say what he does. My point was that he should have the right as a resident, no matter how long he has lived there to HAVE an OPINION. His is NOT more valuable or relevant than anyone else either in the neighborhood or elsewhere.
02 Feb 2006 at 10:53 pm | #
Seriously,
Bizarro World
02 Feb 2006 at 11:41 pm | #
Dean:
You may despise Joy Rolland, but the two of you are very similar. You both spew hatred to anyone who will listen.
02 Feb 2006 at 11:47 pm | #
Dean,
I wish you well but I am going to have to agree with Quim and Anon. I always like a good debate, but this is something else. I hope you work things out, good luck.
03 Feb 2006 at 12:18 am | #
Dean:
1. You are NOT BLACK no matter how much you wish that you were. That makes you a wigger.
2.What have you done with this ‘illustrious’ education of yours? From what I know you are an unemployed former school teacher.
3.You, Nate rhymes with Hate, Michael Bailey (aka “General” Kabaka Oba), Nicole Davis (aka “Brigadier General” Nikki X), “Delegate of the Black Fist” Terry Summers and Joy Rollands should all be forced on a boat and ‘repatriated’ to mother africa. After a few weeks in the heart of darkness let’s see how ‘down with the bros’ you are then!
03 Feb 2006 at 12:49 am | #
Interesting that the only symbolism that you extract from Othello is that of racial tension. You ignore the religious tension (Christian v. pagan), the sexual tension (virginity v. spoilation), the immediate moral tension (honesty v. deceit), the overarching moral tension (good v. evil), the marital tention (fidelity v. adultery), etc.
Spencer may be focusing on the name for its associations with purity… after all, as a music festival, isn’t purity/fidelity to the music one of the key points? The promotion of bands that haven’t “sold out” (a nebulous concept at best) is one of the cornerstones of most large festivals, such as MPMF or Bonnaroo.
Quit jumping all over someone who wants to do something else besides bitch and moan about the city (a la Nate) and work for a change. (Is it just me, or is this eerily reminiscent of the urban pioneer kerfuffle?)
03 Feb 2006 at 02:41 am | #
Huh? Its not like I’m disagreeing with them about their choice in decor or something. I’m opposing this bar because The Ritz is the most violent, dangerous nightclub in the city. I don’t want that in OTR. I don’t understand why this is being turned into a race thing. I really could care less what the ownership’s skin color is. I HAVE opposed white-owned bars moving into the District too, as I pointed out in a comment above. I have also been supportive of African American-owned businesses in OTR, and have posted about them positively on my blog.
I really question the assumptions some people make about my posts. It seems like when I write about drug dealers, prostitutes, and agressive panhandlers, you equate that with black people. Which is odd, because I have to call the cops on plenty of white people for doing those things. In fact, the worst incident I ever had was with a guy named Steve Forehan, a white guy who’d been convicted on plenty of assault and drug charges.
So, to me, the racism is really when a few of you immediately picture a black guy when I mention a crime that happened at the bar or something. I actually just did a post where I explained my theory on who commits crime. In my opinion, it has nothing to do with race, class, education, or background, but rather how permissive the environment is to criminals.
I believe in personal responsibility, and I refuse to make excuses for people who commit crimes. That doesn’t make me a racist.
QUESTION: Why did you name your festival after Desdemona? What is the significance of the name with the festival?
God save us if Othello starts getting boiled down to a black/white thing, with all our modern baggage thrown onto it. That would be nothing short of tragic. Jason knows that, but he’s so desperate to get attention that he’ll post this stuff just because he knows it’ll get him more hits and more comments. He goes into overdrive every time I DO something, because it frustrates him to no end that I actually try to do positive things instead of just bitching constantly.
Othello is a Moor, certainly black by most standards. However, the context of race in the period of the play itself doesn’t hold any fair comparison to the current state of race relations in the U.S.
Desdemona is probably the most sympathetic character Shakespeare ever concieved. She’s just likeable. As someone mentioned above, she is representative of purity and truth. Othello is, after all, a morality play about honesty more than anything else. And, as its been pointed it, the antagonist of the play is clearly Iago, a scheming white person. I don’t really think Shakespeare was trying to make a big point about race; its all about understanding the concept of truth.
I don’t really like to spell this stuff out, but somebody basically already did, above. I chose the name because I was looking for a term that conveyed a sense of purity… so many festivals keep raising their ticket prices, bringing in bigger and bigger acts, and (in my view) losing that excitement that comes with just being about the music. Desdemona was an easy choice in that regard, being a character who, regardless of what happens, clings to her core beliefs and feelings.
The CINCINNATI community. God. I am not race-obsessed. I don’t see everything through some black and white lens. I think its sad that so many folks around here do.
And yeah, as someone else pointed out, I do find it interesting that Jason made the “effiminate” comment. But I think we’ve all learned that he doesn’t really have any problems with hateful and derogatory comments about gays or jews, hence his hero worship of Nate Livingston.
03 Feb 2006 at 05:03 am | #
The “effiminate” comment simply aligns Spencer with his favorite female character, who was innocent (as I have said above) and therefore pure—but one does not need to boil this down to simplicity: my overall criticism remains.
Why name this thing “Desdemona”? While Desdemona was pure, she was destroyed, killed by a Moor. My entire point has been to show two things: firstly, Nick will alternate between this being a big deal and then saying that most of Cincinnati won’t care; secondly, Nick has chosen a very strange name given Cincinnati’s racial climate.
You can’t argue your way out of this one. The name stands.
K, I know all the things Othello is about. And they are not contrary to my claims.
And finally, to think that Shakespeare had no understanding of racial conflicts is to think ignorance. Othello is not the only text where he dealt with black bodies:
CXXX.
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask’d, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
CXXXII.
Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me,
Knowing thy heart torments me with disdain,
Have put on black and loving mourners be,
Looking with pretty ruth upon my pain.
And truly not the morning sun of heaven
Better becomes the grey cheeks of the east,
Nor that full star that ushers in the even
Doth half that glory to the sober west,
As those two mourning eyes become thy face:
O, let it then as well beseem thy heart
To mourn for me, since mourning doth thee grace,
And suit thy pity like in every part.
Then will I swear beauty herself is black
And all they foul that thy complexion lack.
03 Feb 2006 at 05:06 am | #
To draw an analogy between me and Joy is fallible. I do not insult Nick just to be doing it—I raise questions about his actions because his behavior is troublesome.
This is a weird name for his festival. That’s all.
And calling me a “wigger” just shows the depth of some of your racism.
03 Feb 2006 at 05:12 am | #
And finally, Nick loves when I post about him. I am fully aware of the fact. It brings attention to him and his program.
I have caused a buzz about his festival. That is what he wants.
It is no coincidence that I stopped writing about him the closer we got to Council elections. There is no such thing as bad publicity in a situation like this.
But the name still is a poor choice, reflective of Nick’s poor character.
03 Feb 2006 at 07:06 am | #
Dean, Use your power for good!
03 Feb 2006 at 08:45 am | #
You’re losing it, Dean. I hope Spencer stops responding to your taunts; you’re not worth the time.
03 Feb 2006 at 09:08 am | #
Jason,
You have some serious mental health issues. You obsess about Nick Spencer the way an destructive stalker cum jealous lover would. And you infantilize African-Americans. Seriously, if you’re after some boy meat, head on down to the Dock. Get it out of your system. Then stop embellishing your “credentials” and hit the pavement. Surely somebody will hire you, even if you do come off as a pompous little twit.
03 Feb 2006 at 09:16 am | #
To Jimmy Joe Meeker,
Maybe they should call themselves ‘Dean and the Weenies’!
Cheers,
Reginald Van Gleason IV
03 Feb 2006 at 09:27 am | #
Twelve (12) inches of paradise.
03 Feb 2006 at 09:35 am | #
What Does The Term Moor Signify?
It is not just the title that identifies Othello as a Moor External link - opens in new window ;the term is used in the opening scene, insistently and abusively, by Iago, Roderigo and Brabantio. For the original audience it may have signified, in an undifferentiated way, someone with a different skin colour. It may, if one chooses to accept Iago’s crude descriptors, have signified a black African (a negro). It may also have suggested an Arab, like the Moorish Ambassador who visited Queen Elizabeth from Barbary in 1600 to propose an alliance against Spain, and this interpretation of Othello’s race is supported by textual references to a Barbary horse, a Barbarian, and Mauritania, the home of the Moors.
In the 1603 edition of his Epitome of the Theater of the World, a series of maps with commentaries, Abraham Ortelius describes ‘Barabarie’ and some of the characteristics of its inhabitants:
The people are generalye all tawney, moores, verye sturdye and stronge of bodye… They are very jealous of theyr wyves… and very hardlye can they forget any iniurye offered them… The countrye swaynes are better, more lovinge, and patiente, but so simple that they will beleeve any incredible fiction.
Shakespeare, and his audience, may have been well aware of such stereotypes.
For the plot, and the creation of dramatic tension, the most important signification of ‘Moor’ is to reinforce DIFFERENCE.
03 Feb 2006 at 09:46 am | #
Yes, and a difference that is, however you cut it, related in part to skin color.
It is very impressive, Loaf of Bread, how you were able to copy and paste from this website (or one just like it).
But next time, when copying a link, make sure it doesn’t copy as the actual phrase “External link—opens in new window.”
Some scholars will even try to turn Othello completely white. This is one front of the culture war. That’s why scholars like Dr. Arthur Little give shocking names to critical studies—to draw attention to this cultural front (as with his book Shakespeare Jungle Fever).
In fact, many people read Antony and Cleopatra as a love affair between two whites, and many even imagine Egyptians to be white—though we are talking about a place in the continent Africa. Even modern Egyptians are brown-skinned, just like the ancient artwork depicting them.
03 Feb 2006 at 09:50 am | #
But the American black/white obsession (especially your own) is not the same as the 17th Century English conception of otherness. Othello is an arab rather than a “black”.
Did that “external link” get in the way when you went to google the entire passage?
03 Feb 2006 at 09:58 am | #
From the English speaking white perspective in 17th Century England, Othello was a dark skinned racial other.
And in that capacity, things are not so different in regards to American concepts of racial otherness, particularly as we conceive of whites thinking of blacks.
Besides, thinking of “blackness” was not alien to Shakespeare. Just read the poetry provided above.
03 Feb 2006 at 10:20 am | #
What is the name of your Music Festival, Jayson?
Yea, I thought so…
03 Feb 2006 at 10:20 am | #
What does the 12 inches of paradise sigify ‘dean’? Are you saying that you are Ignatius Reilly? Sounds about right to me!
-Reginald Van Gleason IV
03 Feb 2006 at 10:25 am | #
I do not have a music festival. I have a media project, called “The Cincinnati Beacon.”
Not everyone can have the same hobbies…
03 Feb 2006 at 10:45 am | #
What is your vocation Dean? Surely running the Beacon does not come with a paycheck.
I have read that you used to be a teacher for CPS but were fired. You seem to have a great deal of education; what are you doing with it?
03 Feb 2006 at 10:48 am | #
TNJ -
Quit harping on Jason’s employment status. Does it affect the value of his ideas? No. One wonders what occupation you have, that allows you to play online during the day. By all means, spell out your qualifications.
03 Feb 2006 at 11:22 am | #
Dean -
“The Cincinnati Beacon”? How insensitive a title!
I take issue with the inclusion of the word “Cincinnati,” and I demand that you denounce it and quit using it entirely.
“Cincinnati,” of course, is derived from the name of the city in which you live. Cincinnati was originally named “Losantiville” by John Filson, but was re-named “Cincinnati” by General Arthur St. Clair, then-governor of the Northwest Territory, who renamed the settlement in honor of the “Society of the Cincinnati.” (Some people, including Congressman Chabot, refer to the group as the “Society of Cincinnati” instead of the proper “Society of the Cincinnati”.)
St. Clair was one of the founding members of the Society of the Cincinnati, along with George Washington, General Henry Knox, and Alexander Hamilton. It is open to dispute whether Cincinnati is the proper Latin plural of “Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus,” the storied Roman soldier.
The Society was harshly criticized by Republicans of the time as an “aristocratic military nobility,” and several groups---including the famous Tammany societies---were founded to oppose it. As per its constitution---drafted by Knox---membership in the Society was restricted to officers of the Continental Army, certain officers of the French army, and the male descendents of both.
Why is this relevant? Officers of the Continental Army and the French Army at the time of the Society’s founding were white men. The Society is based on heredity, so African-Americans were excluded. Only male descendants were permitted to join the Society (the eldest male child at that), and so the Society was also rampantly sexist.
Thus, you have named your media project after a racist, sexist organization. Congratulations, you’re as bad as Nick Spencer. I demand you rename your website immediately.
(See how absurd this naming debate can get?)
03 Feb 2006 at 11:29 am | #
Jayson made his own “credentials” an issue with that Wonder Bread Summer Festival he attended in Oxford, England. Did you get that? Oxford. He was there. Double course load his last Summester. First ever. Michael Dobson liked his paper. Gave him double stickers. First ever.
Blackness does not equate to Blacknuss. A couple sonnets about ruddy dugs does not level the world of difference between your pseudo-intellectual racist obsessions and Elizabethan England’s public imagination. It’s an other otherness altogether. It’s not racial, either. That would come later. Neither is the moral of Othello (or Desdemona, if you will) that big strong sexualized black men are dangerous. Iago is the bad guy.
If you want to pursue this analogy, I propose casting you in the Iago role. The duplicitous scoundrel pitting black against white.
Tragedy or farce?
03 Feb 2006 at 11:53 am | #
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/994/593/1600/waldo.jpg
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/994/593/1600/waldo.jpg03 Feb 2006 at 12:04 pm | #
Great point, K—let’s get the name of the City changed back to Losantiville—or the City across from where the licking river kisses the Ohio.
03 Feb 2006 at 12:04 pm | #
k,
I am home with the flu. What’s your excuss?
And I will not relent on the Deans vocation; he made it an issue as far as I’m concerned by flounting his credentials about.
03 Feb 2006 at 12:05 pm | #
The “mistress” whose eyes are nothing like the sun has brown breasts and hair like black wires.
Sounds pretty non-white to me!
“Beauty herself is black”
--Shakespeare
03 Feb 2006 at 12:46 pm | #
TNJ:
You would like to know my “vocation”?
I have been called to speak truth to the world.
03 Feb 2006 at 01:01 pm | #
Filson made up “Losantiville”, and it’s a fairly horrific merger of languages. Romanticizing it with “where the Licking River kisses the Ohio” goes a little too far; it originally just meant “the town across from the mouth of the Licking.” The initial L stands for Licking, os is Latin for “mouth”, anti is Greekfor “opposite”, and ville is French for “town”.
General St. Clair is reputed to have said “What in the hell is the name of this town anyhow?” upon first visiting Losantiville, and promptly changed the name. The town was named Losantiville for only two years (during which noone really knew of the town). Filson himself was killed by Native Americans while the town was still being surveyed; this may be an indication of what they thought of the name.
03 Feb 2006 at 01:16 pm | #
Make good money at the dean? I think you are an over educated, buffoon. If you were worth a damn you be an employed educator. Since you’re not your opinion is moot.
03 Feb 2006 at 01:33 pm | #
I never said I was NOT an employed educator…
03 Feb 2006 at 01:36 pm | #
I guess that flipping burgers is employment....
03 Feb 2006 at 02:00 pm | #
The “mistress” whose eyes are nothing like the sun has brown breasts and hair like black wires.
Sounds pretty non-white to me!
“Beauty herself is black”
--Shakespeare
And how does that tie in, Jayson?
03 Feb 2006 at 02:24 pm | #
Mission control, the shark has been jumped. Over.
03 Feb 2006 at 03:12 pm | #
Dean you’re an idiot. Othello was a MOOR, not a black person. You’re clearly rascist and think all people of color are the same. Go join the klan.
03 Feb 2006 at 03:29 pm | #
In modern usage, Moor or Moorish (Italian and Spanish: moro, French: maure, Portuguese: mouro) is used to designate people whose native tongue is the Hassaniya dialect of Arabic. These Moors live mainly in Western Sahara and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, from which the latter country derives its name.
Ethnically, the Moors ar divided into two main groups: White Moors and Black Moors. White Moors (Arabic: ???????, transliterated: al-b???n?) are nomads of Arabo-Berber origin with relatively fair skin colour. Black Moors (Arabic: ???????) are thought to be descendents of slaves of the White Moors who have adopted the customs and language of their former masters. The Black Moors do not identify themselves with other black populations elsewhere. According to some reports slavery is still practiced in parts of Mauritania and elsewhere. Slavery being officially abolished today, most Black Moors live an independent life, although some remain underprivileged and repressed.
03 Feb 2006 at 04:06 pm | #
all but two members of the bond hill/roselawn community council (approx. 23-2 vote) supported the revocation of andrew williams’ (club ritz) liquor license which should have been enough to slam the doors. but steve & alicia got involved (lakita, too), supported williams by aiding in his undeniable lies about spending $100,000+ a year on security and conned council into a non-recommendation of liquor license revocation.
there’s no telling what amateur lobbyist/shakedown man reece extracted in the deal with williams, but those in the know - and this one time i’ll include nate livington - recognize the shameful and self-serving politics practiced by the reeces, who’re done in local politics, thank god.
”alicia is evil”, said nate during the blog run-up to the november elections.the news links have already been provided in this thread, so there’s no need to rehash all the violence and turmoil club ritz polluted upon roselawn/bond hill.
just like his destructive and chaotic sunday evening events in eden park, back in the 1990’s, livingston thrives on promoting loud, raucous and, at times, violent all black youth crowds. then he challenges nearby residents who complain of disturbance by characterizing them as bigots.
there’s no reason to believe the club ritz formula will yield a more peaceful & less violent result in OTR.
please remember, this whole spencer/ritz issue is the by-product of two local pariahs & & blog sicko’s jason My Main Man, who also has posted his share of anti-semitic remarks on his & other blogs, AND nate, a career criminal and social agitator. jason could never get a writing job for a respectable publication and nate will never rise to any political position other than his self-created and disorganized polygroups.
misery loves company!
03 Feb 2006 at 04:59 pm | #
Bearman
So little time to respond to so many lies and distortions. You’ve really lost it haven’t you, Bearman? Were you having a brain cramp when you wrote:
Alicia Reece was my friend on Council? What exactly do you mean by “friends on council”? Is this some sort of racial crack? Are all Blacks friends now? I think anyone reading the Beacon knows that Ms. Reece was never a friend of mine. When you include stuff like this in your comments you lose all credibility.
03 Feb 2006 at 05:08 pm | #
Nate,
What does that have to do with Shakespeare? You are such an idiot.
03 Feb 2006 at 05:26 pm | #
Desdemona just because
You’re the daughter of a man
He may be rich he’s in a ditch
He does not understand
Just how to move or rock and roll
To the conventions of the young
Desdemona, Desdemona,
D-D-D Desdemona Desdemona,
Desdemona, D-D-D Desdemona
Lift up your skirt and fly.
Just because my friend and I
Got a juke joint by the Seine
Does not mean I’m past fourteen
And cannot play the game
I’m glad I split and got a pad
On Boulevard Rue Fourteen
Desdemona, Desdemona,
D-D-D Desdemona Desdemona,
Desdemona, D-D-D Desdemona
Lift Up your skirt and fly.
Just because Toulouse Lautrec
Painted some chick in the rude
Doesn’t give you the right
To steal my night
And leave me naked in the nude
Well just because the touch of your hand
Can turn me on just like a stick.
Desdemona, Desdemona,
D-D-D Desdemona Desdemona,
Desdemona, D-D-D Desdemona
Lift up your skirt and speak.
03 Feb 2006 at 05:49 pm | #
Eat ship My Main Man.
03 Feb 2006 at 06:03 pm | #
Since most of the time that I post I don’t log in, I couldn’t edit my entry. I meant to put quotes around the words “friends” I was trying to be facetious since I know you and Reece DON’T like each other. I forget the sarcasm in my head doesn’t always come across in a blog.
It was not a racial crack? Based on what I have written in the past, I think you know me better than that.
04 Feb 2006 at 09:13 am | #
Above...should be a ! after “It was not a racial crack” Damn I gotta start logging in.