The gift

The craziness around President Obama is very disturbing the core issue or reason all of it is here is his race. I am very proud he is our leader and he has done a very good job yes there is much to be done and more to achieve but given the other choice of candidate he gets 5 stars, he wins.
One of the biggest gifts he has given the world is the opportunity to experience what it feels like to harassed because of race. It is possible that for the first time many people can along with the President experience what we of color live with every day. The ignorant painful struggle for simple equality; I am so proud he is here and deeply grateful for the experiences we have had to endure these past three years during his Presidency because it has blown wide open the doors of hate and the pain the accompanies it. The President has allowed you and everyone else in on a dirty secret and a not so nice experience. I hope we can come together and evolve out of it, the need to be better than, the need to diminish and make wrong that which is different. I know “good luck with that” still today everyone out there has had a few moments to imagine what it is like to be under attack and belittled because of ones differences. That gift is priceless, because of this those who would never before know get to know what it is like to walk in his shoes and to face the insanity of his worthiness because of the color of his skin, this is a gift.

Where else will we go?

Yesterday I as I was channel surfing obsessed with the news of late because of the unrest in the middle East which directly impacts us and as I realize with sadness that this administration is only a slight improvement from the hideous Bush Cheney juggernaut it made me think. I was pondering how easy it is to forget countries which are still suffering under horrendous conditions and people are still being slaughtered by corrupt regimes (Somalia, Darfur) because they are not us and they are not white and they are not rich so we let them “die”. I was thinking about our own domestic complex relationship between the races and how all of the right wingers whether Tea baggers or the true conservative Christians who are barely able to contain their disdain for Obama; his race, his family ties; his everything. Mainly his race I was thinking that racism is such a dirty word that even people of color are loathe to utter the word or talk about its impact and it’s prevalence globally. It is everywhere the white against color bias. Asian culture are as bad or worse when it comes to skin tone the lighter and less Asian the better. Underneath it all is cash, the more you have the lighter you appear to be until you are no longer a dirty “something” unless Arab , in that case “dirty” no matter how much cash will always be something you will have to fight or push against because we have continued to separate “you” desert dwelling tribal nomads with dust. It is uneducated and lame and Lawrence of Arabia showed us how lame it was and is and it is no wonder there is a strong dislike over there against the West. Like us Afro American/Canadians with slavery, no matter how much success and fame and fortune we always have the “burden” of our history in America the “stain” of it, when if you think of it, that stain should be shared by the elite white men who still hold most of the money and power in America. I was listening to Tyler Perry discuss his dislike and disapproval of Spike Lee, regarding his success, Tyler’s success, I think it so dated and so silly , anyone say “jealous”? No, we can’t win, no matter what, there will always be some beef about whatever anyone accomplishes of color. Obama cannot win because we need radical change and one 4 year term is not enough time or strength or support to initiate the actual change we need. No one would have succeeded. When I hear about Republican pledges signed by Republican politicians (for campaign financing) to insure no taxes are raised my blood boils because how are we ever going to begin the true rebuild? I remember the voices of reason when they cried out against globalization of industry in the 70’s as jobs flew overseas and factories closed and America rusted into where we are now. I remember “them” who saw this end saying we will regret it and slide into poverty. They never listened as they voted to destabilize and close all American industries. I think we deserve everything we are experiencing and more. Guantanamo must be closed and the men released and pardoned and Wiki leaks treated as a hero by enlightening us the public to the shenanigans’ of politicians and our government. There has never been a security crisis bigger than climate change and yet no one with power is sounding the bell. When we lose the honey bees and the food shrivels up and we are dying by the millions I reckon we will still be banging the same drums. More money, more money, more money, in Somalia where there is nothing but chaos no infrastructure, nothing but death and warlords and feminine and sadness. In Somalia a lone figure dresses in his policemen’s uniform stands on a crate and directs traffic every day same spot. He pulls no salary because there isn’t a police force or city for that matter. The photographer who took a famous photo of him doing his job which he reports to everyday asked him why he bothers. He said someone has to do it and why not him? Where else would he go?

Teach them to swim!

We were out listening to a duo Stew and Heidi of the “Negro Problem” that is their actual show title and one of the songs they played is called “Black men ski” it is a beautiful song that clearly outlines the although rare but actual fact “Black men do ski” and ski well except it’s a small few who do it each year the number is getting larger as more African Americans grow steadily more affluent and so can afford it. Let’s face it most things like a few elite past times (Golf, Tennis ,Skiing) cost money so unless you have lots after basic living expenses well you could find yourself out of luck and un able to say Ski. It made me laugh the song it was intended to be humorous, and it made me sad.
It inspired me to challenge Stew to write about how some women of color maybe more then not don’t swim and conversely neither do their children in fact a huge majority of African Americans don’t swim. It isn’t racist to notice this it’s a fact a sad fact.
I am not speaking about the islanders who live in Barbados or the island of St Lucia people of color in the Caribbean do swim one would hope so because that is a beautiful place to practice the sport. Still in America many people of color avoid the water and females especially because of hair. So a huge majority of children are raised all over America unable to swim and that is just wrong. I have mentioned / blogged about African American children who drown every year because they cannot dog paddle to safety and if by some accident they jump into a body of water; some drown. They drown in less than two feet of water frozen with fear and unfamiliar with the most basic of substances. We are conceived in water our first moments of life are in the amniotic fluid of the womb it seems like a natural divine right to be able to manage swimming but not so. I want to say shame on us for being so vain and so simple and stupid!
We need to learn many things, we would never know to learn and how does one step outside their comfort zone? Mothers barely making end meet cannot put swimming lessons on any list of things to do. Yet the state could? The federal government could, more taxes for the rich could.
I was watching Khloe Kardashian try to teach her adult husband Lamar Odom how to swim; he wasn’t having it he was freaked out. He is not unusual so it is a socio-economical issue. The more money one has the more exposure to places with swimming pools and the higher likely hood that you will learn to swim. It’s a class thing and get this more woman who live under the poverty line pay huge sums of money to look wealthy in order to attract wealth and find a way out yet depriving themselves and their children of rent money , food, clothing, extra curriculum tutoring. I mean the list is long and yet we will find the cash to make ourselves look smooth and sexy and in our social circles “All that”. It’s tragic; I don’t see a change coming anytime soon. Children will keep on drowning for no good reason well maybe it is a good reason because mom didn’t have the time or strength or money to teach junior how to swim. Wow that’s a shame and if you ask me this is as important an epidemic as childhood obesity. Yet because it only affects the economically challenged no one if making a bigger deal about it and that’s a damn shame.Teach them to swim.

FreeTV Channel

There is a channel high in the 300’s(on our TV) that is called Free speech TV channel where I watch everything from Al -Jezeera to Democracy Now and other cool non corporate owned media shows also very good documentaries that focus on real people in the real world. So today there was a documentary spot lighting minimum wage earners which was super depressing yet we couldn’t stop watching it. It highlighted something which I find interesting and think very important aside from the obvious things we need in America like revenue streams, like tax for all things that are rich and tax the rich corporations and deplete big oil incentives. What I found was something subtle yet deeply acute; each of us has a need to be comforted and when we cannot create it in a positive healthy way in our private lives we will succumb to illness and fall into a relationship with the medical community which aside from medical advice offers tenderness and attention and sustenance, comfort even as it costs someone or something millions we get deep comfort from our doctors. We are looking for help which is lacking for millions of people, the simple gesture of relief. So I watched as a super stressed out minimum wage earning single mother of three was being written a prescription for anti anxiety pills because her life sucks. The young doctor speaking in soft tones, encouraging her to get on these drugs because he is happy to provide her some relief, she is happy to get his attention as she gladly takes the prescription. I have a million issues with the way we have a pill for every ill and the half life the effects of being strung out on these meds is another HUGE topic that I will address at another time. She is in need for love and comfort and relief and he can give it to her for 15 minutes. What I saw this morning time after time case after case was the very poor getting hugs and attention and relief from doctors. It concerns me because of course to be American means you have the crappiest medical coverage in the world rated number 45th in the world, that’s low …we suck as far as taking care of each other and our citizens and we are strung out, lonely and hyper dependant on drugs ; what a sick circle. Imagine if we had entitlement programs and free education and proper low cost health care and a higher minimum wage and an enforced saving program and so social security was a supplement to our retirement income because every American had a pretty healthy savings account and the credit card industry was reigned in or better yet held accountable so only the people who can afford it had it. Imagine if those people and corporate entities who have paid a real amount of taxes where our entitlement programs didn’t suffer every election cycle. It would be a safer better America. I am certain Canadians are helped tremendously knowing that they can count on their local doctors and that they can get meds if needed for themselves and kids without being homeless because of it. On top of compounded financial misery we have health and mental health stresses how are we ever going to cope or go forward? I have relatives who will be homeless soon, who need mental health care and cannot get it or afford it. Its grim…we are in a very tough spot. It behooves us each to understand what it means to each of us (personally) if they take away entitlements and continue wars that are unwinnable and allow big business to withhold money from the coffers. The average struggling man and woman doesn’t understand that raising taxes for the rich is the only way…but we can always do more and the fine print. So much reform is needed in America and I will say this and I see it is needed. We lack love and care and comfort we need to be kinder and to be better friends and neighbors here we need to help each other and be generous. Life is tough enough without and we each can afford to give and taxes are a great way to start.

I used to be cute...

I used to be cute as everyone was when they were young and feisty and running “the streets” as my mom would say we did. I am certain I ate and slept back than I just have no memory of sitting down and eating or properly going to sleep in my bed. I must confess I was a gypsy in my late teens and spent a majority of my nights at my friend Michelle’s home until I finally moved out at 15. Today in my middle years I feel decidedly un-cute for natural normal reasons and although it would be lovely to fit in to the same size jeans I wore back than (size 4) it ain’t happening today and I know the work it would take or the terminal illness I would have to be suffering from to get that small. Ugh…I do know playing tennis is my excuse for favoring too short skirts and I play tennis to get away with it seriously. I am so sad to think my body will be forever changed from now till I die. On the other hand as I was studying a photo of the very un-cute Gertrude Stein looking at her made me feel quite glorious. She who was brilliant and gay and rich and cranky and supremely un-cute…maybe not even “handsome” yet she is interesting still but she was frumpy and challenged in the look department, oh but, she was a genius. I am not a genius and I have my definitely frumpy days where I look like my version of Gertrude. This is so shallow to say but… I miss that simple carefree cute because I am young and thin because my metabolism is just so. Okay I cannot complain I have hair like a wild animal that just sticks up and makes a statement, I am different looking because I am an ethnic hodgepodge and that is never dull. I may be chunkier than say someone like Cate Blanchet and not nearly as actor-y or as popular and I have that haunted eerie inkling that if I were whippet thin I would work more, yes people, corporations would hire me for something lucrative. I think this to be true but as I sit with my chunk and my wrinkles which will never see a needle filled with Botox or a scalpel either and maybe soon I will stop shading my hair in my fight against that tired looking grey (maybe) I can’t help but feel happy. Be damned you lucrative contracts that I have missed because I am fat! I welcome aging not as a badge of accomplishment but as a foe that is winning the fight and is much stronger than me. I mean time keeps marching on…and when my sweet supporters say lovely things like you never age I know they are lying in that good white lie kind of way. My chunk, my middle aged spread is exactly my age. Oh it may be firm since I run around like a kid but it is still “there” and even my fat phobic father once compared me to Kirstie Alley because fat is so forbidden in his household and my glorious chubba wubba offended him. I may not be as fat as a Kirstie Alley who I admire by the way and think she is so “out there” and I love her and think her fantastically talented as an actor and doing fabulously well on “Dancing with the stars”. Which by the way I could not do for a million bucks, so leave us alone! I say…let us be and okay it would be nice to get booked for some endorsement or say a lovely role on a major network with a fascinating character to portray every week, I admit it would. Still I suppose I will just have to see if my “kind” ever comes into vogue and if not I suspect life will continue as it does in its sweet, imperfectly perfect way. So yes I will just jiggle my way into the sunset, filled with appreciation for all that I have and love, thank you!

Free AI WEI WEI

Ai WEI WEI a living treasure, China’s most valuable asset (to the world) an artist, he was part of the team that designed the Birdcage stadium. Ai has been detained, arrested in China. This is wrong and yet…inevitable since he has been very outspoken and if a hair on his body is touched there will be a revolution if one isn’t already brewing as I write this. We have millions of African American men festering in prisons country wide some for good reason many for dubious reasons Jim Crow laws and minor crimes and shoddy police work nonetheless some of the men are very guilty and yet one or more have been wrongly accused. It isn’t right and it is racial and it is complex the prison debacle for African American men in America. More… The water rights in Michigan a part of the US A under economic siege for longer than two decades because corporations who have been subsidized by our taxes (big breaks) our government allowed them to move jobs overseas…and now Michigan is a wasteland struggling to find another industry to fill it’s bellies. YET it has one thing the world will need and immediately corporations are moving in to own the substance and that is WATER. Oh the mystery of life…where one thing disappears another moves in. We have so many fish to fry, fires to put out and details to sort out and understand and still it boils down to simplicity…if we simplify our lives we can see a brighter future if we maintain the status quo we will suffer. FREE AI WEI WEI...NOW!!!

17

Goodness is a matter of perspective and the fellow in Florida who burned the good book of a billion people is not good he is evil. He whom I will not name because I think underneath it all is a sick need for attention and I will not contribute to it here. Still I do want to comment that if he isn’t held accountable there is no justice.
I think freedom of speech in this case has definitely gone too far, why? Creating chaos threatens lives and security, because unbalanced violent radicals are waiting to act against all things American. People who unfortunately want to disable the United States. Doing something as provocative as burning their “Bible” is unconscious and unacceptable and he should be held personally accountable for inciting violence against innocent people and costing us money. I reckon they are looking at pressing charges for the guy in Florida. The recharged vigor with which “they hate us” the renewed violence in Afghanistan against our soldiers is painful and unnecessary and it further entrenches us in an unwinnable war. Thanks “Pastor Ass-hole” you have done us a huge disservice. It’s not as funny now thinking about the impact of a miserable few but I do enjoy when Chelsea lately teases Florida for having the dumbest people in America if not the world. I now think she is on to something.
We went to see “Source Code” which is out this weekend. It was enjoyable but not outstanding in anyway but what was intriguing was the concept that great destruction in America will most probably be a home grown “operation” and it will be about our corrupted political system and it’s entrenchment , how nothing will ever get done that will be meaningful unless something “big” happens. The movie has a point the system has been corrupted like a computer hard drive and nothing short of complete overhaul will jar us out of the corner. It’s no wonder when we think of power in Washington it’s not a cohesive Congress and Senate who are guided by the Constitution. No its base is back room lobbying and bought politicians. Politicians as untrustworthy as a bank robber in fact actual tax thieves; its tax payers that carry the brunt, looking at our policies and the corruption of every Corporate tax loophole makes it clear there is no way in our life time with the way things work in Washington that anything of substance will get done. NOTHING will change no matter how hopeful we all want to be unless we completely overhaul policy. Rip the tax incentives for big business out of the mix. Who are we kidding? The movies villain is a (White male) radical who is sick of the mess and thinks erroneously that only complete destruction will facilitate change. It is a mediocre film that presents a very real dilemma, fascinating. I personally don’t think millions dying is the answer and we saw how eager the last administration was to create a bill (Patriot Act) that gutted civil liberties across the board in the face of terror, opportunists everyone of them. Still we are not seeing change that means anything real or helpful to our future and that is very scary.