Essay 4583

Fame is a four-letter word in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Sen. Larry Craig was inducted into the Idaho Hall of Fame on Saturday. “I hope in a very sincere way that the attention that’s been brought to me has not lessened the honor you receive,” said Craig, addressing the other event honorees. The senator, referring to a Brad Pitt quote that stated, “Fame’s a bitch, man,” later remarked, “My fame of the last month, I would liken to the definition Brad Pitt gave it.” Craig also probably hopes to someday meet Pitt in a toilet stall.

• Rapper T.I. was arrested in a weapons sting after his bodyguard allegedly sought to purchase machine guns and silencers from an undercover ATF agent. The bodyguard said he was buying the stuff for T.I., who was busted mere hours before a scheduled performance at the BET Hip-Hop Awards. Guess no awards show is complete without the threat of firearms.

• The success of Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Indians has brought new protests over the team’s Chief Wahoo mascot from the region’s American Indian community. “War bonnets. Face paint. Feathers galore. It’s really being thrown in our faces right now. … There’s a lot of native people in this community who like baseball. Unfortunately, we really can’t enjoy the game like everybody else,” said the chairman of the Committee of 500 Years of Dignity and Resistance, a local indigenous-rights group. The founder and director of the American Indian Education Center of Cleveland added, “If you called the team the Cleveland Negroes, the Cleveland Jews, you would have a problem. But it’s OK to say Cleveland Indians? No, it’s not. It dehumanizes us.” A team spokesman responded, “We believe it’s an individual perspective issue. When people look at our logo, they think baseball.” And when they think baseball, they likely think historical exclusivity, insensitivity and racism.

• A new government report indicated 7 percent of full-time U.S. workers battled depression in the past year. The highest depression rates were reported at 11 percent among personal-care workers. Coming in second at 10.3 percent were people who prepare and serve food. This could explain the sour demeanors of most Mickey D’s employees.