Issue 4, Volume 2
Mayoral Ambiguity, The Fall of the Middle Class (Pt.1), Remembering Chi Cheng
Oh, the life of a writer...should I have been one. It's my last day of 'holidays' - I put Bronx IV by the Bronx on my turntable, and then step outside to check the mail. My e-bay order didn't arrive today. I then go to the fridge to realize that I'm out of organic Cola. Here's a plug for the people at Blue Sky Soda, fantastic non-caffeinated real cane sugar cola. Truth be told I wouldn't drink any type of cola because it would hurt my stomach. But not this stuff. This stuff I could drink until I get diabetes - which I'm assuming is less likely from a cane sugar cola than it is from a HFCS cola (not true). But we already had this discussion back in Issue 2, Volume 1. But seriously, should I be a professional writer, I imagine that life would be much like it is today. Just put on some music, lament about being out of organic cola, and sit down and git 'r done. But it's not.
Our On The Streets comes from the vague idea that winter is going to be over sometime soon. This Sub-lime Dodge Dart. Sure, I said it is a 1971, but it really could be a 1970-1972, which is when they started using this particular front grille and bumper, and moved the back bumper into a sloping trunk line. It would be redesigned again in 1973 for federal crash standards, meaning they had to revise the front bumper for 5 mph impacts. This car, well, can't really be dated because I don't believe it's authentic. But it's pretty to look at. The fat rear wheels on Centerlines, the GTS hood with the tach stuck on it, the wild paint, radiused wheel wells, and even a go wing- this car is for fun. We're assuming this car is a 1970 or 1971 because it has a central divider in the grille, assuming that's the original grille. In 1971, the Dart could be had with either of two slant six engines, a 318 V8, or a powerful 340 V8, developed for the 'Cuda in AAR format (for trans am competition). The Dart name has recently been ressurected on the new Dodge Dart, a car actually based on an Alfa Romeo, with a line of Alfa engines. The cars are really related in name only, and their compact stature. The Neon name fell out of favor with consumers, and the Caliber was a different animal altogether, so for sales purposes, Chrysler went back to the swingin' seventies (actually the Dart was made from 1960-1976 but the most recognized are likely the 67 to mid 70's versions) to pick out a fondly remembered name. The best thing about this car, is that I've recently seen it driving around again, meaning it must be just about warm enough to take your collector car out of the garage.
Mayoral Ambiguity - Why Mandel Didn't Indicate His Intent To Run
There is always a time and a place to make the right move. Imagine dating for a second. Why do people wait so long to ask other people out sometimes? I remember for me, there was a hesitation because I thought maybe I hadn't gotten to know someone well enough, and maybe it wasn't the right time. What did timing have to do with it? Well I thought maybe if I waited until I felt that I was confident through some force of the universe, I'd have better chances. That was probably crap, and sometimes I waited so long I ended up doing nothing and the opportunity passed me by (not that I lament it now obviously, but we're drawing a comparison so stay with me). But with political process, timing is everything. Elections happen around and after or before certain events because of the prospect that you'll win if all goes well. And there are several factors that can play into that. Larger governments usually seal their deals around budget promises (the promise to cut tax, the promise to spend on health and education, etc. So when you go to the polls you think, "this party said a tax cut is coming up soon, maybe that won't happen if we elect someone else!" Or on a more extreme scale, how about calling an election after you just called your troops home from war. People might think of you more as the person that brought home the troops rather than the person that left the troops in there for the entire other 90% of your term.
Really, this is why I think Mandel dodged the question of whether or not he was going to run for Mayor again on the mayoral address to the city. Aside from the lingering dissatisfaction about a solid framework for the Arena deal, it was at a time that the city had 600,000 potholes to fill, and winter runoff saw water become super chlorinated and disgusting to drink. Should Mandel choose that time to announce he's running, you'd be thinking, "yeah, but the water is disgusting, and we have a huge pothole problem! Fuck this guy!" But if we should all happen to wait until June, when the potholes are filled, and the water tastes normal, and the weather is nice, you'll probably stop thinking about how bad things were.
I think Mandel would probably just say that he wasn't thinking that, he was just undecided. What I've heard is that being mayor can be a monotonous position. I know this, because I stopped playing Sim City Social entirely. Don't forget that if a politician says they aren't that smart, they're probably lying. Keep in mind, this isn't an accusation of some sort of conspiracy, but the type of slight of hand, and positioning that happens all the time in political circles. We're just not used to it at such a local level.
Of course, we'll have full election coverage when that happens.
Unpublished Material - The Fall of the Middle Class (Pt 1.)
This was a little difficult to do. I have been writing for issue 4 for a few months now, and the idea of packing everything into one part was starting to get ridiculous, and I'm sure you wouldn't want to read all of that in one shot. So I give you previously unpublished material - the fall of the middle class part 1.
The Commercial Revolution Part 1 - Where Are We?
(News Source: Global National)
British Columbia Securities Commission released this week numbers regarding Canadian debt. Donna Friesen on Global National read the lines, "you might be surprised at who's struggling." Actually, I wouldn't, it turns out it is the 'lower spectrum of the middle class earners' who are struggling, which we might have expected. All in all, they found credit delinquencies were down, but most people are only making minimum payments due to their high debt load. BCSC notes that people want instant gratification as opposed to saving for things, thus they're taking on more debt. Here's the part where I disagree.
If you read Part 2 of our topic on the Commercial Revolution in this blog, you'll find that's not really the case. History has driven us here. Ultimately, we don't want any more than what our parents or grandparents had. As bank economists weigh in, they say that earning wages are not keeping up with inflation. Thus it's not as if we're necessarily a society of instant gratification; we just want the lifestyle our older family members had, but the idea to save up cash for that is ridiculous. Case in point, Perspectives, a Stats Canada publication on socio-economics wrote in their Summer 1993 issue, that in 1970, the average Canadian wage was $5700 per person. The Average price of a new car in 1970 from the U.S. Vehicle Technologies Office was $3542 (let's say 1:1, and also not forget there's a confounding factor here where people may have purchased more expensive cars, it's not necessarily cetibus parabus). According to the Globe and Mail from Frozen Out December 27, 2012, the average Canadian housing price is roughly 5 times the average yearly income of Canadians, up from roughly 3:1 in the mid 1970's. You know what you'd have cash to save up for if your mortgage payment was only 3/5 of what it currently is? Probably a new car. But wait? Could you? In 1970 your car cost 62% of an entire yearly income. Now? The average price of a car according to the Wall Street Journal in September 4, 2012, was $30,274, while the average wage of a Canadian (non attached male) is $39,900. So the price of a large consumer good like a car has moved from 62% of a current income to 76%. In part two, I've listed some explanations as to why this might be through history, but ultimately the purpose here: to show that we aren't just a society of individuals that need instant gratification. If all we wanted was a similar house and vehicle to what our parents had at our age, our income has decreased wildly in relation to how much those two things would cost.
Not to mention, recently bank economists indicated that Canadians are working longer hours, more hours, and the middle class wage ratio has dropped by 37% looking at 2011 data in relation to the mid 70's. That means, versus our parents, we work 37% harder to get the same things, or face earning 37% less if we work just has hard.
I remember watching Michael Moore's documentary Capitalism: A Love Story, and the saddest part was when he was with his father, a 33 year employee of General Motors, looking at the GM factory that had been shut down. Only Moore's father worked, and he spoke about how after his mom picked up the kids, she would swing by the factory to pick up their father, and they were so excited to see him. You could see in Moore's father's eyes how much he had enjoyed that period of time. Moore discussed how one UAW wage earner could easily afford a house, two cars, a vacation home, to send his kids to college, and had good medical insurance, and a great retirement plan after they were done working. Life was good. Part of feminist advancement in the work place (and I'm not saying this to be anti-feminist, I'm saying it strictly economically) was due to necessity; after recessions in the late 70's and early 80's, and the break-down of the manufacturing sector, it required both partners to work to earn the same amount. Essentially, everyone had to work to stay afloat. And now we're finding we can't even do that, so we're simply relying on credit. As long as our income is still more than our debt, we'll pay it off some time. Right?
Ultimately to say we are just a generation of instant-gratification seekers isn't true. We believe we should at least have things as good as our parents. Unfortunately, with the radical inflation, saving up to have things at least as good as our parents just isn't possible.
Remembering Chi Cheng of the Deftones
We lost a musical hero recently: Chi Cheng of the Deftones passed away, on April 13, 2013. After being in a coma since 2009 (a car crash left him in the state), his heart stopped. There were times when he was making some improvement. Ultimately all fans, family, and friends held their breath and waited. All our prayers and thoughts are with Chi and his family/friends, but at the same time, I think there is a celebration that he can move on to peace, and now, a time to reflect.
Cheng initially joined the Deftones in the late 80's early 90's as their bass player. As the story goes, if I recall, I think it was either Carpenter or Cunningham who had won some law suit, and had spent all the money buying musical instruments. These friends, in their teens, in Sacramento formed a band, and eventually played live around California. Eventually Rick Ruben saw the Deftones live, but traded their demo to Maverick records for the Korn demo. Maverick signed Deftones, and has been their label since, with their first album, Adrenaline being released in 1995. Chi would release Around The Fur (1997), White Pony (2001), Deftones (2003) and Saturday Night Wrist (2006) with the Deftones. In addition to that, he also released The Bamboo Parachute (2000) - an album of spoken word. At the time of his car crash, the Deftones were working on Ethos, slated to be released in 2010. That album was scrapped entirely, and the Deftones went on to release instead Diamond Eyes (2010) with Sergio Vega.
Chi Cheng was always described by those that knew him as a soft-spoken and inspirational person, putting others first. He ran a program in his home town of Sacramento to help aid homeless individuals. He was a Buddhist and a Vegetarian among other things, the latter due to a strong conscience for being environmentally and socially responsible.
Chi's playing style is very fluid, and there is no question he was instrumental in building the Deftones sound, which is a huge inspiration to so many.
If you are a fan of the Deftones, remembering Chi couldn't be done better than on April 20th, Record Store Day, where Deftones will release an album of live tracks from Adrenaline - early recordings with Chi very much involved.
It's sad to lose a great musician, it feels like losing a great friend. But at least we can remember him, and his legacy will carry on due to his inspiration.
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