A Shot Across The Bow

I want each of you who watches the above video to take a moment and ask yourself this question: Am I doing enough to make theworld around me better?

Rambling Man

- I should probably start blogging a bit more often. I know I say it every time I blog but I feel that way. I just get lazy and some days dont feel like turning my computer on.

- I got accepted into an Americorps program called Public Allies. I will be working with a community oragnization called WPNPC. I would be doing community development dealing with issues such as ex-offender employment, bringing businesses into the community, and housing rehab. It should be quite interesting.

- Living with the gf has been an interesting experience. I have learned that every battle is not worth fighting. Before saying something I always think "Is this something that I will think about in the morning?" If the answer is no, I just hold my tongue. Sometimes it is just not that serious.

- Sometimes my mother gets on my nerves. I love her to death but I feel thats he sometimes complains because she knows it irks me. Thus, i often just ignore her.

- Friday night I went to a high school classmate's birthday party. The guy was a kid that many people kind of ignored. I always loved him. I found him funny and intelligent. His little bday bbq started off slow but as the night wore on (i.e. he consumed more alcohol) it became more enjoyable. I am glad I went. It was a good time.

- I miss some bloggers like Wise. She never blogs anymore. Her blog entries were nice! I need to call her anyway. I have not talked to her in a while.

- Those town hall health care mobs are a set up by the right wing. Instead of debating it intelligently, they use some disrespectful means to make people scared. This is why citizens need to do their homework. This includes all of you reading. Do some research! If you disagree witht he administration, do so with some intelligence and class. Dont go mobbing politicians. That is not hot in the streets these days.

- Football season cannot start soon enough. GO RAVENS! The bad thing is that my gf is a Browns fan. I promise that I will not start any fights. Maybe I can bring her to the light....

What It All Means.....

This man, Barack Obama, has been chosen by the American people to be our president. At this moment, I am still having trouble fathoming what that all means to me. I am still in shock. I still have a high, euphoric feeling. But I took some time today to reflect on what it means.

We have no excuse.

We now have no excuse. We have no excuse for not reaching our potential. Now, Barack Obama's election does not mean that racism and prejudice has ceased to exist. But what it does mean is that DESPITE racism and prejudice we can achieve anything we set our minds to. Black people have demonstrated, through Barack Obama, that there is no power on this planet that can keep us down. Racism and prejudice only has the power to suppress us if we allow it.

We have no excuse

Now it is time for us to step up. We must not only continue to attack and fight injustice. We must look within ourselves and see if we are doing our best everyday. Barack has demonstrated that we have overcame a lot. Just 43 years ago, Blacks could not vote. Blacks had to eat separately from whites. We had to sit in the back. Look at a white person the wrong way, that could be the last look you make. Just 43 years ago.

We have no excuse

Last night we have demonstrated that in 43 years, we can go from having no rights to being the leader of the free world. We are a resilient people. We are strong in heart and spirit. Now, we must fulfill our potential. We must inhabit the greatness that has been demonstrated last night.

We have no excuse

September 11

And can we please have a moment of truth?
For soldiers and troops away with helmets and boots
And families back home who pray they make it home safe
Hopin' that they don't get hit with a stray or missiles
This is just a moment to let you all know that we miss you
Mommy I'm still here, wishin' I was there with you
Let's take a moment

As day comes and night falls
For the rest of our life we'll miss y'all
And even though life must go on, we'll still mourn
While wishin' y'all were home

Nas - Just A Moment

I reflect about the lesson that September 11th taught me. This is the lesson:

We must stay vigilant

We must stay vigilant. On Sept. 11th, we were caught sleeping. Your average citizen never even had a premonition about a tragedy as close as devastating as this. No one in government expected this to happen. There were no preparations made in case of a situation like this. That is unacceptable.

But as citizens, we must be vigilant. What does this entail? This means that we must watch over our government. We must hold them accountable for their actions, or lack thereof. As citizens, our right to vote can be used as the greatest checks and balance in our government. In the end, we can force, cajole, and convince government officials to change their governing behavior.

But this requires a lot on our part. It requires that we educate ourselves on how our government works. We need to know how it functions in order to participate effectively. We also need to educate ourselves on what our congressmen, state congressman, mayors, governors, etc believe in. The easiest way to do this: look at how the govern, not what they say. Look at how your city council votes. Know that your US Senator voted for or against an updated GI Bill. Know if he only voted present or actually placed a real yes or no vote. The public has done itself a disservice by not being educated. How can we hold people accountable if we dont even know what they doing??

Secondly, we must vote! We must vote! WE MUST VOTE! This is how we let the government know we are vigilant. The only way they keep doing what the people ask is when they know the people are watching. You must actively participate in order to see the change you want. And the easiest way to do this is to vote.

Sept 11th has shown us the need to be vigilant. Our government must be able to provide our security without removing our freedoms (that's even if we have those). And our citizenry must stay awake, must be watching in order to guarantee that this happen. I am vigilant, watching my government. I will hold it accountable for the mistakes it makes by using my way of balancing the power:voting. Never again will it find me asleep. I hope that goes the same for you.

Back In Business

I am good now. No more chickenpox. I am no longer contagious!! I started class on Monday and it actually feels good to be back. That cabin fever started to kick in like none other. I would sneak out the apartment just to get some air. It is difficult catching up however; I hardly did any work while sick.

Graduation is almost here. I have a bunch of friends that are coming up and I am excited!! The freedom train is on the way!

Congrats to Obama! He won N. Carolina by 14 percentage points. He barely lost Indiana but thats ok. I do believe Hillary should quit. Mathematically, there is no way she can win. Also, if she does get the nomination, it would tear the party apart. The perception would be that party leaders, not the people, chose the candidate. And we all know that perception is everything.

We essentially had show and tell for my Archaeological Theory class. We had to bring in a piece of material culture. Our discussion was about how things and humans interact. Objects are manifestations of ideas and relationships. My stripper pole represents a lot. This is what the professor said:

• My social status: It is very expensive and many people chipped in to buy it. It shows my ability to bring in resources, which is very high.
• It also represents in general, my friendship with these people.
• It represents a commercial transaction between men and women
• It also represents gender relations
• It is also represents a power relationship between women and men
• It also demonstrates how I relate to the opposite sex
• There was also a discussion on how the form and the pole itself gives meaning to the object
  

It was quite insightful. I never looked at an object like that. So now I am sitting in my apartment analyzing everything. And there is a lesson in archaeological theory

Political Video

Someone sent this to me. I really do not know how I feel. I am kind of ambivalent towards it. It is filled with various biases.

What is your response?

Hillary

I am really not a Hillary Clinton fan. She seems as if she may be a nice person but I never could find a reason to vote for her. I had this gut instinct that she was dishonest. Nothing specifically happened yet I felt something deep, deep, deep inside that said she was little shady. I guess because all her speeches had this fraudulent emotion. It never seemed genuine.

Now in the past few weeks, my gut feeling was made real. There are two specific instances actually. The first had to do with her trip to Bosnia. She made the claim that she came under sniper fire as the plane landed. Once it was found out that her version of the story was not true, she said she misspoke. I find this difficult to swallow. How do you misspeak about being shot at. Being shot at is one of the experiences that you will always remember. I know people who have been shot and shot at. There is no mistaking gunfire. That is something that is seared into your memory. Yet she flat out lied. Not misspoke, not made a mistake. She lied. That is despicable. There are men and women who are shot everyday in Iraq and you want to lie about it. She should feel sick to her stomach.

The second episode happened recently. Hillary Clinton spoke at my college, Mercyhurst College. She came and told a story. This story was about a woman who was pregnant. The woman had some complications with her pregnancy. She had no health insurance so she could not get treatment. This woman tried several times to get treatment. It was not until she was brought in on an ambulance. She ended up dying due to the complications.

I find it sad that she has to lie. Hillary Clinton lied. People, do your research.

Yes We Can

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality.

Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.

Yes we can heal this nation.

Yes we can repair this world.

Yes we can.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics...they will only grow louder and more dissonant ........... We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea --

Yes. We. Can.