The Duke Lacrosse Rape Scandal

Recent news stories concerning the alleged rape of woman [FN1] by the three Duke Lacrosse team members has sent the small town of Duhram into a frenzy. No charges have been filed, but the lacrosse team's season has been cut short by the President of the Universitiy's decision to await the fruit of further investigation.

As someone who loves the game dearly, I think this is a real shame on all accounts. Playing college lax were, tritely speaking, some of the best years of my life. It's too bad Duke Lacrosse had the feel the brunt of the pain. Not only the unduly nominal tarnishing of the school's reputation, but also the physical pain endured by 46 of the 47 team members [FN2] who received DNA samples by "swab checks".

It would only be fair to point out that rape is not new to the sport of lacrosse. I am not proud to say it, but I can remember several occasions of being raped on the lacrosse field by top ranked SSU Lacrosse Team during my tenure at UC Davis. To my eternal torment, I can remember a particular game thinking, "Wow, J-Dub you just got raped big time in front of all these people and your defender now has an assist thanks to his fast-break efforts. "

And even off the field, rape accusations are not new to men's lacrosse. For those of you who the man J-Dub, I'm sure you have head my tirade about my buddy Magnus who was charged of raping a girl [FN3] at a lacrosse party and later acquitted at trial after a year's bitter torment of preparing testimony against her sorry ass. (This event, incidentally, led to J-Dub rap debut.)

From the reports, here's how I see it: it's too bad this is about the only publicity lacrosse gets. It really is a kick ass sport.

Further, the woman who consensually agreed to entertain the lacrosse team with her services was a female escort. To make matters worse, she was an escort without a body-guard. Isn't there some kind of unwritten rule against this, abrogating the written rule is is meant to prevent? I think it's completely outrageous that a girl can claim rape, and immediately everyone points the sour end of guilt at the man. It is exactly this sort of jumping to conclusions that ultimately led to the Davis Police breaking down Magnus' door the next morning and throwing him into a cop car, slamming the door on his toe and breaking it, injuring our star player for the rest of the season.

Further still, least shocking to all else but most to me is that the annual tuition for Duke is $43,000. The annual tuition for Phnom Penh University in Cambodia is $500. Doing some quick math, over 320+ students can have B.A.'s in Cambodia for the price of a single Duke graduate. Wow... $43,000 a year - the authorities should be investigating Duke University on similar rape allegations.

~J-Dub

[FN1] The woman who alleges the misconduct is black, and I refuse to make this a racial issue. It very well may be, considering Duke is in the South, but for the record: racism is not cool. I will leave it at that.

[FN2] There is one black man on the Duke Lacrosse Team and he did not have to undergo swabbing because the woman says the perps were white.

[FN3] By all accounts, this girl was crazy. She looked like a man. She played women's rugby. She stalked Magnus for about 1 month. And was easier to berate in a rap than Dick Cheney or the Catholic Church.

Things you only see in developing countries

The setting is mid-day and the temperature sultry. Motorbike (or bicycle) is the main mode of transportation in Cambodia and on this occasion my moto was out of gas. Getting gas is extremely easy around town, because people sell gas right out front of their homes along with assorted snacks and cigaretts. Gas is sold in empty Johnnie Walker bottles and thus easily transportable [I think due to the fact that it's not taxed coupled with the fact that gas stations are rare]. The girl who sold me gas was dressed in nothing more than pajamas. Now that I think about it, I don't think the picture even needs prose.

[clicking on the photo to see enlarged version recommended]

~J-Dub

And the belated Oscar goes to... Brokeback Kong

It's Funny Because It's True

So J-Dubb has cleaned up his act and told you the truth on this one... I did in fact land my first modeling/acting job. Hell, I wasn't even looking for it. I was at a bank one day when a short stalky Thai woman (who I first thought was a short stalky Thai man) stopped me to ask if I wanted to model. I instantly thought, "dude, I'm not gay" but then realized this little chubby being with a butch hair cut was a woman. She goes on to tell me that she is a model agent from a proper agency, and then I think "this is the lamest pickup attempt..." until she produced a card.

After much negotiating over the next several days (with me pretending like I know what the hell I am talking about) I agree to sacrifice my Saturday for a pretty low wage - mostly just to see what it is all about. I show up at the studio just to find out that it was not for a photoshoot as I had thought, but for a tv commercial! Yes, the product was Head and Shoulders, and I was to act the part of a scientist who "after years of scientific research finally hits the pinicle of his carreer because he and his team have finally figured out how to stop Dandruff." Awesome. Probably the cheesiest commercial out there, but if you are in Australia in a few months, look for me... I'll look a bit like below, but with a lab coat and glasses:

Yeah, so it turned out to be a 13 hour day where I had plenty of time to meet my fellow actors/models and learn their whole life story while the other groups were being filmed (they shot the exact same commercial three separate times with different ethnic groups: Asian, Indian, and Caucasian for Australia - 5 out of 6 with blue eyes). I learned during that time that the agency was paying me double what they were paying two other guys for the exact same thing. And, fortunate for me, one of the veterans to the trade told me key points about standards of the industry in Thailand, which earned me another 50% that I wouldn't have known about for them running nearly 3 hours overtime.

By the end of the day, I had cards and numbers for 5 different agencies and learned that a tall, thin white guy can make great money doing fashion shows here - because tall people aren't that common. Who would have thought? It was a long and dull day, but don't let anyone tell you it is very hard. Sure, I'll admit - I'll probably give it another go. I can sure use the money to go towards my next photography purchases, and the experience was kind of fun. But don't worry, I won't let it go to my head... and shoulders.
~Bear

It's Hammertime: Double Exclamation Point

There will always be a soft place in my heart for Hammer (formerly known as MC Hammer). His CD along with DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, were my first two CD's I ever owned. I always thought the latter was the better of my choice, but there's just something about Hammer that makes you want to dance. I mean, get down and hump the floor, dance.

Well, the good Hammer has a blog. Thoughly entertaining and enthousiastic is the good Hammer's blog. Just take for instance this comment from eddie green:

"Hammer, i'm english, i live in bath, england, and have a 7" copy of can't touch this. it's amazing. thank you."

Wow, Eddie, that's a lot of personal information for anyone, especially the Hammer.

~ J-dub

Thank You Scientist and Screw You Dandruff. I'm Clean and Balanced.

Well, it seems the joke is on me; sort of. After contriving a couple libelous posts about Bear being an Abercrombie model, it seems the tides have turned, and in fact, Bear is now officially a male model. Granted he's only done one gig - a TV commercial for Head and Shoulders airing in select Austrailian markets - where Bear dressed up in a white lab coat playing a scientist. Bear now has an agent, a bonifide agent, who claims Bear can make way more money if he does runway modeling. Wow, Bear, looks like my assing off has paid off. I hope you post more about it.

~ J-dub