<![CDATA[Breaking News Forums

<![CDATA[Breaking News Forums - All Forums]]> http://www.bheadlines.com/forums/ Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:50:14 -0700 MyBB <![CDATA[kenny george]]> http://www.bheadlines.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=6 Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:13:44 -0700 http://www.bheadlines.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=6

andrew mcauley, kryostega collinsoni, angel lola love, catherine mcphee, alyssa milano poison ivy

The biggest man in college basketball will be out for the season after undergoing a second surgery on his right foot. Kenny George, the 7'9", 370 lb center from UNC Asheville began experiencing discomfort in the foot after the big man camp in Las Vegas last month. It's a shame. George had finally started to come into his own as a player, after averaging 12.4 ppg, 7.0 rpg, and 3.3 bpg last year. He also scored 14 points and grabbed 11 boards in Asheville's match up with the Tar Heels last year (although most people will probably remember him for this).

George's career has been plagued by injuries and eligibility problems. He dislocated his knee and missed most of his senior year in high school, red shirted his freshman year because he was not academically eligible, and then missed most of the 2005-06 season after suffering another knee injury.

Maybe people just weren't meant to be that big.

Code:

http://ballinisahabit.blogspot.com/2008/09/kenny-george-out-for-year.html

andrew mcauley, kryostega collinsoni, angel lola love, catherine mcphee, alyssa milano poison ivy]]>

andrew mcauley, kryostega collinsoni, angel lola love, catherine mcphee, alyssa milano poison ivy

The biggest man in college basketball will be out for the season after undergoing a second surgery on his right foot. Kenny George, the 7'9", 370 lb center from UNC Asheville began experiencing discomfort in the foot after the big man camp in Las Vegas last month. It's a shame. George had finally started to come into his own as a player, after averaging 12.4 ppg, 7.0 rpg, and 3.3 bpg last year. He also scored 14 points and grabbed 11 boards in Asheville's match up with the Tar Heels last year (although most people will probably remember him for this).

George's career has been plagued by injuries and eligibility problems. He dislocated his knee and missed most of his senior year in high school, red shirted his freshman year because he was not academically eligible, and then missed most of the 2005-06 season after suffering another knee injury.

Maybe people just weren't meant to be that big.

Code:

http://ballinisahabit.blogspot.com/2008/09/kenny-george-out-for-year.html

andrew mcauley, kryostega collinsoni, angel lola love, catherine mcphee, alyssa milano poison ivy]]> <![CDATA[richard wright pink floyd]]> http://www.bheadlines.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=5 Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:10:50 -0700 http://www.bheadlines.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=5
Wright died today after a short battle with cancer, said his spokesman, Doug Wright, who isn't related.

While Richard Wright gets credit mostly for his work on the keyboard -- which he taught himself -- he also wrote songs and sang on Floyd classics such as ``Time'' and ``Echoes.''

Wright ``has maintained a low profile throughout the band's history,'' Billboard magazine said in an August 2007 feature. Asked for his take on the staying power of the Pink Floyd's cult- like following, he told the magazine:

``Oh, God, I don't understand it. All you writers need to talk about that. I know we've made some great songs and great music, but I can't tell you why we're so popular.''

Wright was one of five founders of the band, which released its first record in 1967. He met fellow band members Roger Waters and Nick Mason while at architecture school. Co-founder Roger Keith ``Syd'' Barrett died in July 2006.

The band achieved worldwide stardom with the highly experimental 1973 album ``The Dark Side of the Moon.''

In 1979, band leader Waters fired Wright and allowed him to play only as a salaried sideman during live concerts for the album ``The Wall,'' according to the Web site allmusic.com. The group reformed without Waters, and with Wright, for the 1987 album ``A Momentary Lapse of Reason.'' He became a full-time member of the band again in 1994.

He released his first solo album, ``Wet Dream,'' in 1978, and his second, ``Broken China,'' in 1996.

Code:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=aYO4bdt31vs4&refer=canada

]]>
Wright died today after a short battle with cancer, said his spokesman, Doug Wright, who isn't related.

While Richard Wright gets credit mostly for his work on the keyboard -- which he taught himself -- he also wrote songs and sang on Floyd classics such as ``Time'' and ``Echoes.''

Wright ``has maintained a low profile throughout the band's history,'' Billboard magazine said in an August 2007 feature. Asked for his take on the staying power of the Pink Floyd's cult- like following, he told the magazine:

``Oh, God, I don't understand it. All you writers need to talk about that. I know we've made some great songs and great music, but I can't tell you why we're so popular.''

Wright was one of five founders of the band, which released its first record in 1967. He met fellow band members Roger Waters and Nick Mason while at architecture school. Co-founder Roger Keith ``Syd'' Barrett died in July 2006.

The band achieved worldwide stardom with the highly experimental 1973 album ``The Dark Side of the Moon.''

In 1979, band leader Waters fired Wright and allowed him to play only as a salaried sideman during live concerts for the album ``The Wall,'' according to the Web site allmusic.com. The group reformed without Waters, and with Wright, for the 1987 album ``A Momentary Lapse of Reason.'' He became a full-time member of the band again in 1994.

He released his first solo album, ``Wet Dream,'' in 1978, and his second, ``Broken China,'' in 1996.

Code:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=aYO4bdt31vs4&refer=canada

]]> <![CDATA[senate bill 1738]]> http://www.bheadlines.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=4 Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:09:04 -0700 http://www.bheadlines.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=4
As parents it is our duty to not only keep OUR children safe, but ALL children safe. A person who became closely involved with a member of my family was later discovered to be a child predator who spent hours on the computer every night engaging in the unthinkable -- sometimes when my own child was sleeping a room away. It makes me sick to my stomach to think what could have happened if he had had just a few more months to get closer. Due to the overwhelming number of cases, this person has still gone unprosecuted.

I am asking for everyone here to take a moment and follow the steps below to help get this Bill passed. Then, please forward the information on to everyone you can. Thank you in advance for your support.

* jenna's diary :: ::
*

Oprah's web site has a wonderful description of the bill, and an easy to use form letter:

Hundreds of thousands of children are victims of sexual abuse each year. Due to the sheer lack of resources, law enforcement is unable to follow up on the majority of leads they have.

The PROTECT Our Children Act will:

* Authorize over $320 million over the next five years in desperately needed funding for law enforcement to investigate child exploitation.
* Mandate that child rescue be a top priority for law enforcement receiving federal funding.
* Allocate funds for high-tech computer software that can track down Internet predators.

Act Now!
Your U.S. senators will be voting on the bill soon, so it is crucial you contact them immediately.
Go to

Code:

www.senate.gov

to find contact information for the senators in your state. Search for your senator by name or state by clicking on the arrow from either dropdown menu. Contact information is provided here. To send an e-mail, click on "Web Form" below his or her name, and e-mail your letter to make a difference!

Call Your Senators
If you choose to contact your senators by phone, be sure to tell them, "Vote yes on Senate Bill 1738--The PROTECT Our Children Act."

Write to Your Senators
If you choose to write a letter, fax, telegram or e-mail, you may use the following sample letter--and modify it how you see fit.

Dear Senator:
I know that you believe, like I do, that we must do everything possible to protect children from sexual predators. That is why I am asking for your help.

Last year alone, U.S. law enforcement identified over 300,000 criminals who were trafficking in movies and pictures of young children being raped and tortured. Experts say that one in every three of these criminals has local child victims. Child pornography trafficking over the Internet has given us a trail of evidence that leads straight to their doorsteps, but the vast majority of these children will never be rescued because investigators are overwhelmed, outnumbered and underfunded.

As your constituent, I urge you to do everything in your power to pass the PROTECT Our Children Act (S. 1738, Biden-Hatch). This bipartisan legislation passed the House 415-2, but it is now the victim of petty partisan politics.

Now that we know where these children are and how to protect them, there is no excuse for the Senate to fail to take action this session.]]>
As parents it is our duty to not only keep OUR children safe, but ALL children safe. A person who became closely involved with a member of my family was later discovered to be a child predator who spent hours on the computer every night engaging in the unthinkable -- sometimes when my own child was sleeping a room away. It makes me sick to my stomach to think what could have happened if he had had just a few more months to get closer. Due to the overwhelming number of cases, this person has still gone unprosecuted.

I am asking for everyone here to take a moment and follow the steps below to help get this Bill passed. Then, please forward the information on to everyone you can. Thank you in advance for your support.

* jenna's diary :: ::
*

Oprah's web site has a wonderful description of the bill, and an easy to use form letter:

Hundreds of thousands of children are victims of sexual abuse each year. Due to the sheer lack of resources, law enforcement is unable to follow up on the majority of leads they have.

The PROTECT Our Children Act will:

* Authorize over $320 million over the next five years in desperately needed funding for law enforcement to investigate child exploitation.
* Mandate that child rescue be a top priority for law enforcement receiving federal funding.
* Allocate funds for high-tech computer software that can track down Internet predators.

Act Now!
Your U.S. senators will be voting on the bill soon, so it is crucial you contact them immediately.
Go to

Code:

www.senate.gov

to find contact information for the senators in your state. Search for your senator by name or state by clicking on the arrow from either dropdown menu. Contact information is provided here. To send an e-mail, click on "Web Form" below his or her name, and e-mail your letter to make a difference!

Call Your Senators
If you choose to contact your senators by phone, be sure to tell them, "Vote yes on Senate Bill 1738--The PROTECT Our Children Act."

Write to Your Senators
If you choose to write a letter, fax, telegram or e-mail, you may use the following sample letter--and modify it how you see fit.

Dear Senator:
I know that you believe, like I do, that we must do everything possible to protect children from sexual predators. That is why I am asking for your help.

Last year alone, U.S. law enforcement identified over 300,000 criminals who were trafficking in movies and pictures of young children being raped and tortured. Experts say that one in every three of these criminals has local child victims. Child pornography trafficking over the Internet has given us a trail of evidence that leads straight to their doorsteps, but the vast majority of these children will never be rescued because investigators are overwhelmed, outnumbered and underfunded.

As your constituent, I urge you to do everything in your power to pass the PROTECT Our Children Act (S. 1738, Biden-Hatch). This bipartisan legislation passed the House 415-2, but it is now the victim of petty partisan politics.

Now that we know where these children are and how to protect them, there is no excuse for the Senate to fail to take action this session.]]> <![CDATA[david otunga and jennifer hudson]]> http://www.bheadlines.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=3 Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:06:50 -0700 http://www.bheadlines.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=3
Impetuously, David Otunga popped the question after dating Jennifer Hudson for less than a year. Perhaps in keeping with his "Punk" image when competing for the affections of Tiffany Pollard on the VH1 reality series. On her part, she accepted the diamond ring, made by Neil Lane, who specializes in gems and jewelry for stars like Madonna and Reese Witherspoon.

September is a busy month for Jennifer Hudson, who will release a solo CD entitled "Jennifer Hudson" on Sept. 30. October will also see her star as Rosaleen Daise in the drama, "The Secret Life of Bees."

Code:

http://www.digitalalchemy.tv/2008/09/jennifer-hudson-and-david-otunga.html

]]>
Impetuously, David Otunga popped the question after dating Jennifer Hudson for less than a year. Perhaps in keeping with his "Punk" image when competing for the affections of Tiffany Pollard on the VH1 reality series. On her part, she accepted the diamond ring, made by Neil Lane, who specializes in gems and jewelry for stars like Madonna and Reese Witherspoon.

September is a busy month for Jennifer Hudson, who will release a solo CD entitled "Jennifer Hudson" on Sept. 30. October will also see her star as Rosaleen Daise in the drama, "The Secret Life of Bees."

Code:

http://www.digitalalchemy.tv/2008/09/jennifer-hudson-and-david-otunga.html

]]> <![CDATA[Use of `N' word isn't against the law]]> http://www.bheadlines.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=2 Sun, 25 Mar 2007 23:19:34 -0700 http://www.bheadlines.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=2 Quote:Use of `N' word isn't against the law
Larry Meeks
U-Entertainment
Article Launched:03/20/2007 12:00:00 AM PDT
DEAR LARRY: A friend of mine told me the city of New York has passed a law that makes it illegal for a person to use the "N" word. If that is true, I am not sure I agree with that kind of action.

What will happen if some comedian, black or white, uses the word? I can just see the police coming in during their routine and arresting the comic on stage. What about rap music that uses the word? Are we going to have a mass burning of CDs? Our children use the word - are they going to be made into criminals?

This list can go on and on. I hope you get my drift. - M.E.

Dear M.E.: The city of New York did not pass such a law. It passed a non-binding resolution that encourages its residents to stop using the "N" word. One of the city's council members, who happens to be black, said people are denigrating themselves and disrespecting their history.

I agree wholeheartedly with the city and the councilman. It is about time some politician spoke up and did something.

I pray the rest of the nation's politicians speak out and make it very uncomfortable and not PC to make that word part of our vocabulary.

Dear Larry: I do not understand why most of black America does not support Barack Obama for president. I have read that Hillary Clinton has more support from black America than Obama.

After listening to black

America complain about not being part of the real power structure for the last 40 years, one would think this is an opportunity to get a black in the White House. I think blacks would flock to his

support.

Their lack of support is very confusing to me. I would appreciate any insight. - Jason

Dear Jason: Before the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, I believe most of black America was united in its support of one another for the good of all African Americans. Since his death, a number of self-appointed black leaders have risen. They have made a fortune playing the race card with civil unrest and extorting white Americans.

These leaders keep their jobs by convincing their followers that things are hopeless without their leadership. These leaders keep putting forth the myth that the door to opportunity is closed because white America is racist.

They excuse any black failure by saying white America is racist. The myth continues because all the leaders speak the same message - white America is racist.

White America is complicit in this myth, because they are too timid to challenge the big lie. Any unbiased look at the social change will reveal the door to opportunity is wide open.

If a black man like Barack Obama is elected president, it will be a severe blow to the black myth and the self-appointed black leadership. It will be very difficult for black leaders to make demands to a black who does not participate in their rhetoric.

I believe black leaders know Hillary Clinton will continue to support their leadership as they continue the myth and deliver the black vote. All of this equals money in their pocket while the masses languish.

Larry Meeks' column appears Tuesdays in the features section. To find out more about him, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at
http://www.creators.com.
http://www.dailybulletin.com/entertainment/ci_5474325]]> Quote:Use of `N' word isn't against the law
Larry Meeks
U-Entertainment
Article Launched:03/20/2007 12:00:00 AM PDT
DEAR LARRY: A friend of mine told me the city of New York has passed a law that makes it illegal for a person to use the "N" word. If that is true, I am not sure I agree with that kind of action.

What will happen if some comedian, black or white, uses the word? I can just see the police coming in during their routine and arresting the comic on stage. What about rap music that uses the word? Are we going to have a mass burning of CDs? Our children use the word - are they going to be made into criminals?

This list can go on and on. I hope you get my drift. - M.E.

Dear M.E.: The city of New York did not pass such a law. It passed a non-binding resolution that encourages its residents to stop using the "N" word. One of the city's council members, who happens to be black, said people are denigrating themselves and disrespecting their history.

I agree wholeheartedly with the city and the councilman. It is about time some politician spoke up and did something.

I pray the rest of the nation's politicians speak out and make it very uncomfortable and not PC to make that word part of our vocabulary.

Dear Larry: I do not understand why most of black America does not support Barack Obama for president. I have read that Hillary Clinton has more support from black America than Obama.

After listening to black

America complain about not being part of the real power structure for the last 40 years, one would think this is an opportunity to get a black in the White House. I think blacks would flock to his

support.

Their lack of support is very confusing to me. I would appreciate any insight. - Jason

Dear Jason: Before the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, I believe most of black America was united in its support of one another for the good of all African Americans. Since his death, a number of self-appointed black leaders have risen. They have made a fortune playing the race card with civil unrest and extorting white Americans.

These leaders keep their jobs by convincing their followers that things are hopeless without their leadership. These leaders keep putting forth the myth that the door to opportunity is closed because white America is racist.

They excuse any black failure by saying white America is racist. The myth continues because all the leaders speak the same message - white America is racist.

White America is complicit in this myth, because they are too timid to challenge the big lie. Any unbiased look at the social change will reveal the door to opportunity is wide open.

If a black man like Barack Obama is elected president, it will be a severe blow to the black myth and the self-appointed black leadership. It will be very difficult for black leaders to make demands to a black who does not participate in their rhetoric.

I believe black leaders know Hillary Clinton will continue to support their leadership as they continue the myth and deliver the black vote. All of this equals money in their pocket while the masses languish.

Larry Meeks' column appears Tuesdays in the features section. To find out more about him, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at
http://www.creators.com.
http://www.dailybulletin.com/entertainment/ci_5474325]]> <![CDATA[Does the n-word have a place in theater?]]> http://www.bheadlines.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=1 Sun, 25 Mar 2007 23:14:54 -0700 http://www.bheadlines.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=1 Quote:Does the n-word have a place in theater?
It's hard to say and harder to hear, but the n-word uttered in a theater context has an important meaning.
By John Moore
Denver Post Theater Critic
Denver Post
Article Last Updated:03/24/2007 07:33:57 PM MDT

One word, so loaded it cages centuries of hatred and fear, somehow reduced to a single, incendiary letter: n ... as in, the "n-word."

Its offensiveness is finally so widely acknowledged that only those who were once its targets dare utter it in polite, contemporary America. But its shameful place in history is affixed in chains - any honest depiction of the black experience in America that shies from it is a lie.

The n-word is prominent in two current high-profile area theater productions, for very different purposes.

In "Ragtime," at Boulder's Dinner Theatre, an Irish firefighter repeatedly hurls the epithet against a black man as a hateful reminder of how the bottom rungs of the 1906 social ladder were ordered.

In "Pure Confidence," opening Thursday at the Denver Center Theatre Company, a Civil War slave jockey is called the n-word by his owner nearly 30 times in the first scene alone. Not as an epithet. As an identification, however thoughtless. As an acknowledgment of a historical truth.

"That's just being honest," said playwright Carlyle Brown. "That's what black people were called."

Gavin Lawrence, who plays jockey Simon Cato, "can feel the audience tightening up their spines at the sound of the first n-word," he said.

"And I think that's great, because if people aren't ready to acknowledge that's the way it was, then we can't talk about slavery, much less racism, much less race relations today."

Director Kent Gash said the play's opening volley of n-words sets the audience on notice, calling into question our own use of the n-word outside of the play's historical context.

"I mean, it's said so many times as to be absurd," said Gash, a 1978 graduate of George Washington High School now living in Atlanta. "And yet, it sometimes takes the audience a while to understand that it is being used to provoke us, and to make us laugh and to see the extreme absurdity of slavery - the very idea of it.

"The more it goes on, hopefully the more you understand the human ramifications of turning any group of human beings into owned property."

Whites, blacks squirm at word

"Pure Confidence," the hit of the 2005 Humana Festival of New American Plays, was co-commissioned by DCTC artistic director Kent Thompson, then with the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. It's an epic story that depicts the unlikely friendship between the slave jockey and the colonel who profits off him ... and calls him the n-word. A lot.

"It is hard for audiences to hear, both black and white," Gash said. "But right away it ties us into the knots of the human relationships, and all the cultural and identity questions that are being asked in the play."

Brown admits the prevalence of the n-word in the play is no accident.

"It works for me because, hey, it gets people to pay attention, and in some perverse way, for me, it's fun," he said with a laugh. "You go into the theater and you look at audiences, and as soon as the n-word comes up, you can see it: white people looking at the black people for permission to laugh. Black people looking at the white people and thinking, 'What the (expletive) are they laughing at?' It kind of gets into everybody's case.

"As a writer trying to be provocative, I'm an equal-opportunity employer," Brown said. "I can offend black people as much as white people, I don't care. We all need to think about these things, because at the end of the day, we are all in this (expletive) together, really."

If it's hard for the audiences to hear the n-word, even in an artistic context, imagine what it must be like to have to say it. A.K. Klimpke was never less happy to win a role than when he was cast as Irish thug Conklin for BDT's "Ragtime." He has to spew the n-word nine times a night - in the worst possible context.

"And it's uncomfortable every time," said Klimpke, who said his verbiage draws audible gasps from audiences every night. "I dread having to do it. On the very first day of rehearsals, when we all introduced ourselves, I said to the group, 'I get to play the bigoted racist, and I don't know a lot of you yet, and so I would just like to put out a blanket apology now for all of the n-bombs I am going to be dropping for the next four months."

That kind of well-intentioned concern, Brown says, is endemic of white liberal guilt, and that, he says respectfully, is part of the problem.

"Everybody wants to fixate on that word," Brown said, "because we don't like to talk about the real issue.

"Black people have been called all kinds of things throughout time," Brown said, rattling off a long list of historical epithets. "But at the end of the day, these people were slaves, and the American society and its economy were created on their backs. That's the point. It doesn't matter what they called them. What, are they going to call them 'sir,' and that is going to change the dynamic of that reality? I don't think so.

"My response to people who say they are offended by the use of the n-word is that they are just as morally confused as the people who say that they will kill to save the unborn. Anybody who says, 'I want to save the unborn, but I am for capital punishment,' is morally confused. That's the real problem in America. Not the n-word."

The n-word resonates in different ways with different people and in different contexts. And that speaks, Lawrence said, "to where we have not arrived as a country in talking about race."

Many black Americans, especially younger ones, have taken ownership of the word, much to the chagrin, Lawrence said, of older blacks. But by reclaiming the n-word and changing it to finish not with "er" but "ah," Lawrence said, "that's taking away the power that white America has given it."

Nothing "cool" about it

The n-word is all over August Wilson's plays, usually exchanged between black characters. The n-word is now prevalent in pop culture from rap music to such TV shows as "The Wire." But that doesn't mean everyone can use it. Far from it. Just ask Michael Richards.

"I work in schools, and it's funny for me to hear so many white kids calling each other the n-word now," Lawrence said. "They mean to sound cool and hip because they want to be part of that hip-hop culture. But in that context, the word has no meaning - and it should. I have a hard time with it, I must say, so I try talking to them about what that word really means. But white kids can never understand. They just can't."

There's more permission in theater to use the word in its most vile context because there is presumption of purpose and the possibility of enlightenment. So you'd think audiences would be more receptive to considering the n-word in a theater. That hasn't been Brown's experience.

"Some people just don't want to hear it," he said. "It's an unconscious thing, but we have been so fixated with 'the lie' for so long - this myth of who were are as Americans, that we don't want to face the fact that we don't really have the courage to face how flawed we are, at least in this moment in time.

"The n-word? That's the easy out. In, some ways it's just a distraction. If that word bothers you, then I say, let's get down talking about the institutions where it was ever OK to say that word.

"Have you had those conversations?"
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_5499548?source=rss]]> Quote:Does the n-word have a place in theater?
It's hard to say and harder to hear, but the n-word uttered in a theater context has an important meaning.
By John Moore
Denver Post Theater Critic
Denver Post
Article Last Updated:03/24/2007 07:33:57 PM MDT

One word, so loaded it cages centuries of hatred and fear, somehow reduced to a single, incendiary letter: n ... as in, the "n-word."

Its offensiveness is finally so widely acknowledged that only those who were once its targets dare utter it in polite, contemporary America. But its shameful place in history is affixed in chains - any honest depiction of the black experience in America that shies from it is a lie.

The n-word is prominent in two current high-profile area theater productions, for very different purposes.

In "Ragtime," at Boulder's Dinner Theatre, an Irish firefighter repeatedly hurls the epithet against a black man as a hateful reminder of how the bottom rungs of the 1906 social ladder were ordered.

In "Pure Confidence," opening Thursday at the Denver Center Theatre Company, a Civil War slave jockey is called the n-word by his owner nearly 30 times in the first scene alone. Not as an epithet. As an identification, however thoughtless. As an acknowledgment of a historical truth.

"That's just being honest," said playwright Carlyle Brown. "That's what black people were called."

Gavin Lawrence, who plays jockey Simon Cato, "can feel the audience tightening up their spines at the sound of the first n-word," he said.

"And I think that's great, because if people aren't ready to acknowledge that's the way it was, then we can't talk about slavery, much less racism, much less race relations today."

Director Kent Gash said the play's opening volley of n-words sets the audience on notice, calling into question our own use of the n-word outside of the play's historical context.

"I mean, it's said so many times as to be absurd," said Gash, a 1978 graduate of George Washington High School now living in Atlanta. "And yet, it sometimes takes the audience a while to understand that it is being used to provoke us, and to make us laugh and to see the extreme absurdity of slavery - the very idea of it.

"The more it goes on, hopefully the more you understand the human ramifications of turning any group of human beings into owned property."

Whites, blacks squirm at word

"Pure Confidence," the hit of the 2005 Humana Festival of New American Plays, was co-commissioned by DCTC artistic director Kent Thompson, then with the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. It's an epic story that depicts the unlikely friendship between the slave jockey and the colonel who profits off him ... and calls him the n-word. A lot.

"It is hard for audiences to hear, both black and white," Gash said. "But right away it ties us into the knots of the human relationships, and all the cultural and identity questions that are being asked in the play."

Brown admits the prevalence of the n-word in the play is no accident.

"It works for me because, hey, it gets people to pay attention, and in some perverse way, for me, it's fun," he said with a laugh. "You go into the theater and you look at audiences, and as soon as the n-word comes up, you can see it: white people looking at the black people for permission to laugh. Black people looking at the white people and thinking, 'What the (expletive) are they laughing at?' It kind of gets into everybody's case.

"As a writer trying to be provocative, I'm an equal-opportunity employer," Brown said. "I can offend black people as much as white people, I don't care. We all need to think about these things, because at the end of the day, we are all in this (expletive) together, really."

If it's hard for the audiences to hear the n-word, even in an artistic context, imagine what it must be like to have to say it. A.K. Klimpke was never less happy to win a role than when he was cast as Irish thug Conklin for BDT's "Ragtime." He has to spew the n-word nine times a night - in the worst possible context.

"And it's uncomfortable every time," said Klimpke, who said his verbiage draws audible gasps from audiences every night. "I dread having to do it. On the very first day of rehearsals, when we all introduced ourselves, I said to the group, 'I get to play the bigoted racist, and I don't know a lot of you yet, and so I would just like to put out a blanket apology now for all of the n-bombs I am going to be dropping for the next four months."

That kind of well-intentioned concern, Brown says, is endemic of white liberal guilt, and that, he says respectfully, is part of the problem.

"Everybody wants to fixate on that word," Brown said, "because we don't like to talk about the real issue.

"Black people have been called all kinds of things throughout time," Brown said, rattling off a long list of historical epithets. "But at the end of the day, these people were slaves, and the American society and its economy were created on their backs. That's the point. It doesn't matter what they called them. What, are they going to call them 'sir,' and that is going to change the dynamic of that reality? I don't think so.

"My response to people who say they are offended by the use of the n-word is that they are just as morally confused as the people who say that they will kill to save the unborn. Anybody who says, 'I want to save the unborn, but I am for capital punishment,' is morally confused. That's the real problem in America. Not the n-word."

The n-word resonates in different ways with different people and in different contexts. And that speaks, Lawrence said, "to where we have not arrived as a country in talking about race."

Many black Americans, especially younger ones, have taken ownership of the word, much to the chagrin, Lawrence said, of older blacks. But by reclaiming the n-word and changing it to finish not with "er" but "ah," Lawrence said, "that's taking away the power that white America has given it."

Nothing "cool" about it

The n-word is all over August Wilson's plays, usually exchanged between black characters. The n-word is now prevalent in pop culture from rap music to such TV shows as "The Wire." But that doesn't mean everyone can use it. Far from it. Just ask Michael Richards.

"I work in schools, and it's funny for me to hear so many white kids calling each other the n-word now," Lawrence said. "They mean to sound cool and hip because they want to be part of that hip-hop culture. But in that context, the word has no meaning - and it should. I have a hard time with it, I must say, so I try talking to them about what that word really means. But white kids can never understand. They just can't."

There's more permission in theater to use the word in its most vile context because there is presumption of purpose and the possibility of enlightenment. So you'd think audiences would be more receptive to considering the n-word in a theater. That hasn't been Brown's experience.

"Some people just don't want to hear it," he said. "It's an unconscious thing, but we have been so fixated with 'the lie' for so long - this myth of who were are as Americans, that we don't want to face the fact that we don't really have the courage to face how flawed we are, at least in this moment in time.

"The n-word? That's the easy out. In, some ways it's just a distraction. If that word bothers you, then I say, let's get down talking about the institutions where it was ever OK to say that word.

"Have you had those conversations?"
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