BURKARD'S BLOG
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20 JUL 03: RAISE YOUR VOICE
A happy National Ice Cream Day to you. Columbus residents can feel free to burn all their Baskin-Robbins flavor lists and napkins, in protest of the chain leaving town.
The weekend started a bit early for me Friday morning - as I went to the laundromat and found the premiere edition of "La Voz Hispana." It's the new local Spanish-language publication. Yet after looking at the cover, I have to ask - since when was Pamela Anderson Hispanic?
The big picture on the cover of the first "La Voz Hispana" shows the U.S. Capitol dome - only with little flags of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Colombia and other nations all around it. In other words, it's Pat Buchanan's worst nightmare.
La Voz Hispana is a bilingual publication, with articles in both English and Spanish. It's an ingenious way to avoid getting arrested, for plotting to overthrow the government.
We looked carefully at La Voz Hispana for one particular name - and yes, Councilor Mimi Woodson IS mentioned once. So much for our theory that manager Jose Ricci is preparing to run for public office....
La Voz Hispana has plenty of advertisements for a premiere issue. Take the full-page ad in the middle for Brito's Market - while somehow the rest of the paper never mentions the recent arrests there for making illegal ID's.
(We won't give away details, but one of the ads in this issue has a hidden offer of free pizza! NOW don't you wish you'd paid more attention in Spanish class during school?)
Among the articles in La Voz Hispana is an interesting interview with business owner Kike Seda. He reveals he's preparing to retire from A-1 Postage Meters - and we can understand why. It must be frustrating making things for other people to turn around and cancel.
(Kike Seda has struck us over the years as the most surprising advertiser on Cottonmouths hockey broadcasts. Did someone trick him into thinking the players spoke Spanish, instead of French?)
La Voz Hispana includes local sports coverage. For instance, did you know Columbus has a local men's soccer league playing games on Sundays? We assume the "Municipal" and "Real Columbus" teams are for players who don't know a lick of Spanish.
(Judging from the newspaper, this league apparently has at least one team in LaGrange. Of course, Harris County won't be able to have its own team until the players find a two-acre field.)
The "deportes" in La Voz Hispana deal with soccer -- and ONLY soccer. This raises a good point, about subtle segregation in local summer sports. The Hispanic community has soccer. The African-American community has "midnight basketball." And the white folks get all the media attention, by playing golf.
I say the weekend started early with this new publication, because it officially begins for me now at 1:00 p.m. Friday. That's when "Ritmo Latino Radio" goes on the air for the weekend. With all due respect to Jim Foster, those Southern Gospel tunes on WMLF during the week are simply not good for dancing.
(BLOG-BLAH-BLAH: What signifies the start of the weekend in the Columbus area for you? Please write us - and we'll post some of your replies in coming days.)
Ritmo Latino Radio's "Viernes Social" program Friday was understandably filled with music by the late Celia Cruz. She truly was the queen of salsa music - and also outrageous wigs. We hope she left all her blue hair to Marge Simpson.
E-MAIL UPDATE: When I saw the title "Blog This," I knew it was trouble -- but I bravely opened it, and found this message:
In response to your comment about News 3 not offering live coverage of Thursday night's troop return [18 Jul] ...the same could be asked of your station during last weekend's coverage... where were you? By the way, pass on to your new reporter Ashley Nix... the Phenix City Mayor is Sonny Coulter, not Sonny Culbert... as she mentioned three times during Tuesday night's live shot.
From your friends at News 3
Oh dear - and I thought News 3 was on MY side.
(Hey, wait a minute - why don't they correct the reporter personally? Their e-mail addresses are shown on the TV screen most of the time these days.)
True confession: I personally have NOT attended any of the welcome-home ceremonies for the Third Brigade. I guess I'm waiting for the big parade Mayor Poydasheff is organizing. How this route is going to go down Veterans Parkway AND pass Lonnie Jackson's Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park, I'm not sure.
BLOG UPDATE: We're pleased to report the Rob Doll Nissan billboard along I-185 at Farr Road is now repaired. [10 Jul] Cissy Doll's face is back in one piece again. Did that take glue - or Botox?
COMING MONDAY:A weekend wrap-up, including one place where a Third Brigade homecoming was unusually quiet....