This is a letter to the editor I published at the Daily Advance. Posted here for posterity, since they have no online archive:

I need to challenge an assertion made in last week’s interview with music industry veteran Jerry Heller that gangster rap artists are portraying the “reality of their way of life.” Of NWA’s four members, Easy-E was the only real-life gangster. Dr. Dre and Ice Cube were actually just posers, with the Cube now starring in mainstream family-friendly comedy films. There was nothing cool about Easy-E’s demise, wasting away on a hospital bed infected with A.I.D.S. was a far cry from going out in one of those exciting gunfights he always sang about.

Ganster Rap defends its moral depravity by claiming it represents a lifestyle, but the music actually pushes a stereotype of all African-Americans as criminals and thugs. Chuck D., leader of the brilliant and politically-charged rap-band, Public Enemy, attacked Gangsterism in rap music as, “a pirating of our culture,” further lamenting, “Intelligence is being downplayed.” Spike Lee satirized gangster rap music as the modern-day blackface performance in his film “Bamboozled.”

Several different Elizabeth City residents have told me that drug-related crime activity and street gangsterism did not exist here a decade ago. Gangster Rap, with its message of homophobia, misogyny, promiscuity, lack of morality, racism, materialism, and hopelessness, came onto the music scene in the late 80s, long before Elizabeth City’s problems emerged. Life is clearly imitating art, not vice versa.

“Don’t Believe the Hype,” was Chuck D.’s catchphrase, a message to his fans concerning his own band, urging them to look past Public Enemy’s controversial outward appearance and into their politically challenging ideas. Gangster rap fans need to look past the thugs making a few measly dollars, dying of A.I.D.S., drug addiction, and street violence to the wealthy white men, like Jerry Heller, who push them onto consumers, exploiting African-Americans and getting wealthier by selling them derogatory caricatures of themselves.

This is a letter to the editor I published at the Daily Advance. Posted here for posterity, since they have no online archive:

Now that Israel has withdrawn from Lebanon after inflicting $3.6 billion dollars worth of damage and leaving hundreds of civilians dead, Hezbollah, apparently funded by Iran, now takes up the cause of rebuilding the war-torn country, handing out $150 million in cash to compensate people for an estimated 15,000 homes destroyed. These people will surely vote for the terrorist organization in the next round of elections and Lebanon’s democracy will crumble into dust. Israeli and Arab newspapers both view the conflict as a win for Islamic extremism as the Muslim world cheers what they consider Hezbollah’s victory against Israel, which they call “America’s proxy army.”

Now compare the above scenario to America’s interactions with the largest Muslim country on the Earth, Indonesia, which is also the most tolerant of Western culture among all Muslim states according to a recent PEW poll. Indonesian newspaper editorial sections marveled at the non-violent and civilized way Americans resolved the 2000 election disputation, seeing us as the role model of peaceful democracy to emulate. In 2003 the number of Indonesians who viewed America positively jumped 25 points in direct response to our outpouring of aid to the tsunami disaster relief effort.

Bombing one country shatters a fragile democracy and brings a terrorist organization into power. Flooding another country with humanitarian aid and leading by example defuses hostilities toward America and convinces people to continue giving democracy a chance. Democracy wins where people are convinced of its superiority over totalitarianism on the battleground of ideas, not the ruins of a war zone.

This is a letter to the editor I published at the Daily Advance. Posted here for posterity, since they have no online archive:

Shirely Powell recently wrote, “The well-being of a few water moccasins shouldn’t be put above that of our people,” referring to flood problems that cannot be alleviated because the EPA may be preventing a swamp from being cleared out to improve drainage.

Living in a flood zone myself, I completely sympathize with Powell’s complaint. Elizabeth City Public Works recently came in and bulldozed down the nice park right across the street from my home. In its place, they planted a swamp, a small nature preserve. Since then, the street in front of my house, Hunter Street, spends about 25% of its time underwater. I once had to rescue a catfish that got stranded in my yard during low-tide, and don’t even get me started on the mosquitoes.

Perspective is important here. If we remove that swamp and those “few water moccasins,” then we also remove the family of raccoons that took up residence there, the carolina raptors, falcons, herons, ducks, and frogs that shelter there. Remove other swamps and we remove the black bears, bobcats, bats, mink, grey and red foxes, rabbits, and grey squirrels. Not to mention, the population explosion of rats, mice, and insects that would occur when their natural predators are removed.

The problem is that removing these habitats because “People must come first!” has been the status quo for so long that now when we harm our environment we are making people secondary to conspicuous consumption. Putting people first now means preserving clean air, water, biodiversity, and environmental sustainability for all people, including future generations.

Jared Diamond, in his bestselling book “Collapse,” speculated on the human-made ecological disaster that drove Easter Island’s civilization into extinction. What were they thinking as they chopped down the island’s last tree?

Was it, “People before trees?”

This is a letter to the editor I published at the Daily Advance. Posted here for posterity, since they have no online archive:

I am outraged at the International Astronomical Union’s ridiculous decision to demote Pluto to the status of “dwarf planet.” The new criteria defining planets, that the celestial object has a clear orbital path, is vague, inconsistent and scientifically sloppy.

According to this new definition, Pluto is not a planet because its orbit crosses Neptune’s orbit. Then doesn’t that mean Neptune is a “dwarf planet” for crossing paths with Pluto? Galileo must be spinning in his grave at this illogical and highly political decision.

Of the IAU’s 10,000 members, only 4 percent were present for the vote, which was cast on the last day of the conference after many members had already left. The vote was essentially hijacked by a group of dynamists: astronomers who study the motion and gravitational effects of celestial objects, who were offended that planetary geologists had so much influence on the previous week’s definition, which added three new planets to our solar system, rather than eliminating a heavenly body we’ve accepted as a planet for 76 years now.

Pluto, Charon, Ceres, and UB313 all have sufficient gravity to pull them into a round shape and they do not orbit other planets; therefore, they are planets. The IAU must reinstate Pluto as a planet immediately before its credibility suffers and future generations of scientists look back on the 2006 conference as the day scientific integrity was abandoned because of intellectual hubris.

RYAN SOMMA

Elizabeth City