Burrito Madness '09

OK, so my friend Colin got struck by an idea bolt in his mind grapes the other day. He wants to have a Denver burrito challenge where we eat a burrito every week from a different restaurant and rate them. At the end of our exhaustive list of burrito-serving venues, we'll declare a winner.

We'll use a 1-5 burrito scale to rate each tubular, tortilla-shrouded beast. Like so:

• Really good burrito:
• Not so good burrito:
• Best friggin' burrito ever:

You get the idea. There may also be short reviews involved if we're feeling verbose.

The team is currently composed of me, Colin, Anne B., and Mari S. Our first stop will be Illegal Pete's on 2/12. After that we'll be visiting (in no particular order):

• Chipotle
• Qdoba
• D'Corazon
• El Taco de Mexico
• Big City Burrito
• Wahoo's Fish Taco

Why is that burrito-sellers always emphasize that lesser-of-the-handheld-pseudo-Mexican-foodstuffs, the taco, in their names? Come on, muchachos, El Burrito de Mexico and Wahoo's Fish Burrito sound so much more appealing to this gringo's orejas.

UPDATE: This didn't happen. Oh well.

Cause and effect

Cause.

Effect.

There you have it. So if Palin visits your town, just put your mail on your mailbox. You just may live to get the reply.

Here's a handy graph to further illuminate the danger we all now face:

Knocking On People's Doors, Which I Don't Know If I Agree With

A conversation I'm overhearing (and liveblogging) in a coffee shop in Brooklyn between the barista and some customers:

"What did you do this weekend?"
"I went to Philly, did a little campaigning."
"Oh, for the B-Rock?"
"Yeah. I've never done it before."
"What does that entail?"
"Knocking on people's doors, which I don't know if I agree with, personally. It's a bit intrusive."
"Yeah..."
"Because politics is SO sensitive, especially in this race."

We need to change this attitude. I'm willing to bet (nay, guarantee) that it's the dominant one in this country today. Don't get me wrong, it's great that Obama is turning people out to canvass who have never done it before in states they don't even live in. That r0x0rs. Go B-Rock.

BUT! If we're going to take social change to the masses, then regular people need to start feeling comfortable with interacting with other people face-to-face about politics. I think there are two components to this:

1. The annoying salesman problem: Knocking on strangers' doors because you agreed to when asked by someone else to do it (whether for money or altruism or anything in between) immediately evokes the vacuum salesman frame. We should try to shift this to a "meet new people" or "explore and discover new places" frame. White people eat that shit up. "I was back-packing neighborhoods in Philly." Response from all white people in the room: "Wow!" Not that I think minorities wouldn't / couldn't / shouldn't participate. I'm just speaking for my fellow honkies.
2. The religion and politics problem: You know, the only two things you don't bring up in polite company. This one is actually fascinating to me, because one of the things I studied heavily in college was how the evangelical Christianity movement in the U.S. had made Christianity into a totally individualistic religion. It's about whether or not you are saved, how your relationship with Jesus is, etc. It wasn't always like that. So it's ironic that the two "private" topics in this country are religion and politics. Not that that leads to a way out of this frame, I just think it's interesting.

New Orleans

Last week I was in New Orleans for a conference. It was my first time there and I have to say, I was impressed. I'd heard a lot about how great it was, some from people I trust and some from people I don't. Either way, the potential for overhype was great and I was ready for a let down.

Nope. It's sweet.

Remember right after Hurricane Katrina hit and lots of people were saying things like, "They should just pack up and move New Orleans. It's ridiculous to rebuild it." No one who's ever been there would say that. I don't care if we have to build a glass dome over it because global warming makes killer hurricanes run rampant. New Orleans is a national treasure.

Seriously, it's like a white liberal paradise. Culture! Non-threatening minorities! Food! Music! Corner shops, bars, and restaurants where you can find all four! I wanna go back.

Funny cuz it's...

true.