Amerykah has turned a corner and we should all turn with it. I have thoughts ideas and suggestions but I also have patience and desire for us to be whole and one. I have been speaking a lot lately of the human condition and the generations of Black Americans. i will entertain any and all conversation as long as we can be respectful and grown up. Let the healing begin......
I am trying to close out all my 2008 business before midnight and in the midst of that I figured I needed one last post of the year before I start fresh.
This year has brought a lot of changes for me, some good and some bad and some that were both and neither.
In January I did something I had never done before, every year I take a trip to DC for an annual leather convention. I always go with a core group of my ONYX brothers and usually someone else gets all the details and I just purchase here and here and here. But this year I made the arrangements and paid for everything. As a sidebar I met some phine looking men who owned the B& B we stayed at.
Sometime in February my supervisor (who was a real prick) tried to call me out in a meeting. He was really unprofessional and nobody seemed to care. So near the end of the month I gave my notice and bought a one way ticket to Baltimore. (Caution to the wind)
March brought about my goodbye to Chicago and my hello to Baltimore, Maryland. It also brought about my full time relationship to two of the greatest guys in the universe. I also inherited some more family, and for someone from a small family that is always a good thing.
Honestly April – August is a huge blur. I was learning my new city learningmy new family and just getting centered and refocused. It was a great time to just refresh my batteries. It was a perfect time for me to start my new blog, which if you are reading this you have found.
September was my birthday month and that is always a time for celebration. It was also the time I became a lot more political than I had ever been in my life. I picked my favorite politicos and fell in love with Rachel Maddows when she was still subbing for Keith Olbermann.
October brought the realization that I was really talented and I could become a professional writer. Can I just say again that the two hubbies are the best motivators around? Belief you can believe in…..
November- President Elect Barack Hussein Obama (that was enough)
December- I returned to Chicago to say goodbye to my grandmother, to reconnect with old friends and frenemies and even make a few new ones. I also decided to stick around to work on my relationship with my mother.
So here we are as I post this, just a few hours away from the end of 2008. I know there are many people who look forward to the end of a year so they can get to the New Year because they want the old over and done with. But you know all in all 2008 did not treat me so bad at all. Thanks to all who wished me well in my trying times and to those who come around just to “hear” what I have to say. 2009 has already sent me a couple messages that it is going to be bigger and better.
If you have been following my blog then you know that for awhile my Grandmother had been on a steady decline health wise. Well on December 13th at 11:53 pm she passed. I was so lucky to get to Chicago in time to spend time with her in her last days. She went with no pain and no fuss and as comfortably as she could in her home surrounded by her family and her memories. She left behind myself my mother and my uncle.
I know i have been really behind on my postings and I feel really out of touch...
I have been going thru my news sources playing catch up and I noticed a few articles saying Barack is not doing enough about the finical crisis. Let me remind you that Barack Obama is currently unemployed having quit the senate about two weeks ago. We are exactly 45 days from him taking office and George W. Bush (who just informed us that we are in a rescission) is still President of the United States. So in other words BACK THE FUCK UP! Barack on his own has held way more press conferences than the current President has about the current situation. But the truth is George is still in charge.
Sorry it's been so quiet on the window. My Grandmother is ill and I had to fly back to Chicago to see her so my political, cultural,personal, and hate of AIG observations have not been forthcoming. Should be back to regular posting soon!
Oh just to throw this out... AIG is the reason the Big 3 are having such a hard time getting assistance from the government.
Christopher Robert Zorich was born and reared on Chicago's south side, an only child of biracial descent (African American and Croatian) He is a former athlete best known for his six years playing in the NFL.
Ok it’s true that I am not a huge football fan but there is way more to Chris than just being a defensive tackle for the Redskins or the Bears. He is a true example of letting your fame work for you. Yes he was a popular in Chicago but he is also a philanthropist, community leader and lawyer. He has given money to a number of scholarships and has a couple named after his mother. On top of that I have had the pleasure to meet him a few times in person; he just makes you want to hug him because his spirit is so warm.
So Chris Zorich., please accept this invitation to the Dinner party of the year. Your opinion, your diversity, and your warm spirit are more than welcome! (Yes I have a huge crush on him but I would have invited him anyway!)
Today is World AIDS day. It is a day to remember those we have love and lost as well as a day to educate. While AIDS is not a gay disease you would be hard pressed to find someone in the LGBT community who has not lost someone to this disease.
Hank Paulson told media today that he will be going back to Congress to request a few more dollars for the bailout. It seems the 700 billion Congress voted for two months ago was less of a fix and more of an installment and Hank and company now need an additional 800 billion dollars to get the economy going again. It is clear that whatever happens in the future Hank Paulson will be set for life as his friends on Wall Street will be more than happy to scratch his back as he has fully scratched theirs.
Frederick Douglass (February 17, 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American abolitionist, editor, orator, author, statesman and reformer. Called "The Sage of Anacostia" and "The Lion of Anacostia," Douglass was one of the most prominent figures of African American history during his time, and one of the most influential lecturers and authors in American history. Douglass was a firm believer in the equality of all people, whether black, female, or recent immigrant. He spent his life advocating the brotherhood of all humankind. One of his favorite quotations is: "I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong."
The Future of the Colored Race (1886)
It is quite impossible, at this early date, to say with any decided emphasis what the future of the colored people will be. Speculations of that kind, thus far, have only reflected the mental bias and education of the many who have essayed to solve the problem.
We all know what the negro has been as a slave. In this relation we have his experience of two hundred and fifty years before us, and can easily know the character and qualities he has developed and exhibited during this long and severe ordeal. In his new relation to his environments, we see him only in the twilight of twenty years of semi-freedom; for he has scarcely been free long enough to outgrow the marks of the lash on his back and the fetters on his limbs. He stands before us, to-day, physically, a maimed and mutilated man. His mother was lashed to agony before the birth of her babe, and the bitter anguish of the mother is seen in the countenance of her offspring. Slavery has twisted his limbs, shattered his feet, deformed his body and distorted his features. He remains black, but no longer comely. Sleeping on the dirt floor of the slave cabin in infancy, cold on one side and warm on the other, a forced circulation of blood on the one side and chilled and retarded circulation on the other, it has come to pass that he has not the vertical bearing of a perfect man. His lack of symmetry, caused by no fault of his own, creates a resistance to his progress which cannot well be overestimated, and should be taken into account, when measuring his speed in the new race of life upon which he has now entered. As I have often said before, we should not measure the negro from the heights which the white race has attained, but from the depths from which he has come. You will not find Burke, Grattan, Curran and O'Connell among the oppressed and famished poor of the famine-stricken districts of Ireland. Such men come of comfortable antecedents and sound parents.
Laying aside all prejudice in favor of or against race, looking at the negro as politically and socially related to the American people generally, and measuring the forces arrayed against him, I do not see how he can survive and flourish in this country as a distinct and separate race, nor do I see how he can be removed from the country either by annihilation or expatriation.
Sometimes I have feared that, in some wild paroxysm of rage, the white race, forgetful of the claims of humanity and the precepts of the Christian religion, will proceed to slaughter the negro in wholesale, as some of that race have attempted to slaughter Chinamen, and as it has been done in detail in some districts of the Southern States. The grounds of this fear, however, have in some measure decreased, since the negro has largely disappeared from the arena of Southern politics, and has betaken himself to industrial pursuits and the acquisition of wealth and education, though even here, if over-prosperous, he is likely to excite a dangerous antagonism; for the white people do not easily tolerate the presence among them of a race more prosperous than themselves. The negro as a poor ignorant creature does not contradict the race pride of the white race. He is more a source of amusement to that race than an object of resentment. Malignant resistance is augmented as he approaches the plane occupied by the white race, and yet I think that that resistance will gradually yield to the pressure of wealth, education, and high character.
My strongest conviction as to the future of the negro therefore is, that he will not be expatriated nor annihilated, nor will he forever remain a separate and distinct race from the people around him, but that he will be absorbed, assimilated, and will only appear finally, as the Phoenicians now appear on the shores of the Shannon, in the features of a blended race. I cannot give at length my reasons for this conclusion, and perhaps the reader may think that the wish is father to the thought, and may in his wrath denounce my conclusion as utterly impossible. To such I would say, tarry a little, and look at the facts. Two hundred years ago there were two distinct and separate streams of human life running through this country. They stood at opposite extremes of ethnological classification: all black on the one side, all white on the other. Now, between these two extremes, an intermediate race has arisen, which is neither white nor black, neither Caucasian nor Ethiopian, and this intermediate race is constantly increasing. I know it is said that marital alliance between these races is unnatural, abhorrent and impossible; but exclamations of this kind only shake the air. They prove nothing against a stubborn fact like that which confronts us daily and which is open to the observation of all. If this blending of the two races were impossible we should not have at least one-fourth of our colored population composed of persons of mixed blood, ranging all the way from a dark-brown color to the point where there is no visible admixture. Besides, it is obvious to common sense that there is no need of the passage of laws, or the adoption of other devices, to prevent what is in itself impossible.
Of course this result will not be reached by any hurried or forced processes. It will not arise out of any theory of the wisdom of such blending of the two races. If it comes at all, it will come without shock or noise or violence of any kind, and only in the fullness of time, and it will be so adjusted to surrounding conditions as hardly to be observed. I would not be understood as advocating intermarriage between the two races. I am not a propagandist, but a prophet. I do not say that what I say should come to pass, but what I think is likely to come to pass, and what is inevitable. While I would not be understood as advocating the desirability of such a result, I would not be understood as deprecating it. Races and varieties of the human family appear and disappear, but humanity remains and will remain forever. The American people will one day be truer to this idea than now, and will say with Scotia's inspired son:
"A man's a man for a' that."
When that day shall come, they will not pervert and sin against the verity of language as they now do by calling a man of mixed blood, a negro; they will tell the truth. It is only prejudice against the negro which calls every one, however nearly connected with the white race, and however remotely connected with the negro race, a negro. The motive is not a desire to elevate the negro, but to humiliate and degrade those of mixed blood; not a desire to bring the negro up, but to cast the mulatto and the quadroon down by forcing him below an arbitrary and hated color line. Men of mixed blood in this country apply the name "negro" to themselves, not because it is a correct ethnological description, but to seem especially devoted to the black side of their parentage. Hence in some cases they are more noisily opposed to the conclusion to which I have come, than either the white or the honestly black race. The opposition to amalgamation, of which we hear so much on the part of colored people, is for most part the merest affectation, and, will never form an impassable barrier to the union of the two varieties.
So Frederick Douglass, please accept this invitation to the Dinner party of the year. Your opinion, your verbiage, and your intelligence are more than welcome!
It seems that the realities of the various situations are starting to hit home for some of those with big pockets. Last week Richard Wagoner, CEO of General Motors, appeared before Congress. He was joined by the CEO’s of Ford, Alan Mullay, and Chrysler Robert Nadelli as they sat with top hat in hand and requested a financial bailout t the sum total of 25 billion dollars. Too bad Congress saw them coming...literally.
The three big wigs all arrived in DC via their own separate private jets and they were immediately roasted by the panel of Congressmen like in flight peanuts. With the many transgressions of AIG and the egg on the face feeling many people on the hill have behind that fiasco, it was made clear very quickly that this was the very type of behavior that was unacceptable.
Well Richard Wagoner clearly got the message and his office has announced that when he returns to Washington next week it will not be in a private jet. No word on the other two of the big three but my hope is that they follow example.
It has been a long time since I have told my coming out story.
I came out over 15 years ago right before being gay was really a gateway to being cool and interesting. When I was growing up I was that quiet moody but oh so bright kid that didn’t seem to make many friends. Not only was I a social misfit in school but because of test scores I skipped the 5th grade so everyone was a little older than me for a lot of my school life. On top of that, I was gay. I knew it and I think my mother knew it too. But somewhere along the way we had both made a pact of secrecy to never ever bring it up. I remember trying to talk to her about it once I had to be about 13 years old and her eyes literally pleaded with me to not have the conversation so I back peddled. I stuffed it all deep inside me and sat on it. Every time I thought it might come up I threw food on top of it so now I am a fat social misfit.
It took me another 7 years of torment and torture to get myself to a place where I just didn’t give a damn anymore. My mother was the first family member I came out to, luckily she too had grown some and when we had the conversation she didn’t beg me not to. My grandmother was a very different story. Now for those that know me outside the internet machine know how much I love my grandmother. A psychic even told me once that she and I have shared many past lives together and I am inclined to believe that. So imagine how hard it was for me when she could not accept her gay grandson. Not only did we have a huge fight followed by a series of smaller ones but we pretty much spent a year away from each other. And while her reasons were not biblical she just could not understand why I would choose to be gay. That statement told me more about then and still holds true to this day about how straight people tend to see gay people. And I guess that is why even if I have told this story 100 times I should tell it 500 more, just for those in the cheap seats.
As I told her that day in a rather sarcastic manner (hey I was 20) when she asked me why I would choose this I responded with “ I am a young intelligent black man in America, I feel I didn’t have enough strikes against me so I figured if I was gay I might win some kind of Nobel prize!”
Coming out is rarely easy for regular folks, I have seen and heard of people getting disowned, thrown out of their houses, beaten etc and that is from family member. People who are suppose to love you and have your back. And while I am sure it is hard all over I can speak from experience how hard coming out is in the black community. I picked my Tuesday invite to go out to Wanda Sykes because she did something quite courageous. She came out as a black lesbian. She just lost a third of her audience. She may never be cast in any of the African American orientated Christmas or church movies now (on the surface not a bad thing) but this will affect her career. My only hope is that others will follow suit and join her on this side of the closet.
And for all my religious friends out there who are going to use the bible against me when it comes to homosexuality I am posting one of my favorite scenes from the West Wing.
Sorry all had to take a few mental health days, I found myself just blurring out on anything that had anything to do with anything important. I think it was my post election come down. Luckily for me Bravo showed all 7 episodes of “The Real housewives of Atlanta” in one sitting and it completely pushed anything and everything serious out of my mind. Several things on my notepad to write about so check back throughout the day.
Wanda Sykes was born and raised in PortsmouthVirginia. She is comedian, writer and an actress best known for her commentary on life, current events, and the battle of the sexes.
For the record, I have always found Wanda entertaining, even though I have questioned some of her choices in roles. However realizing how limited choices are out here for black actors and comedians I gave her some slack. I also supported her when she was attacked by Dr. Bill Cosby for her brand of comedy. She was a writer on the Chris Rock show and made guest appearances on several shows before landing a co starring role on the CBS show “the New adventures of Old Christine.” Her filmography includes “Monster In Law” ,”Pootie Tang”, “My Super ex Girlfriend”, “Clerks II” and several others. Recently Wanda has made headline news for outing herself at a anti prop 8 rally in Nevada.
So Wanda Sykes., please accept this invitation to the Dinner party of the year. Your opinion, your outrageousness, and your courage are more than welcome!
I like spa treatments! And I would have loved that view! Ok I don't play golf i would have stayed in the clubhouse I could have swam all day long. All these pictures are post initial 85 million bailout money They didn't take me with them, but I sense I paid for it.
If you need anymore proof that the past Presidential election was a long one, it has only been four months since Phil Gramm uttered those unforgettable words “You’ve heard of a mental depression; this is a mental recession”. He then went on to call Americans a “Nation of whiners” which caused John McCain to have to “disappear” him from the campaign. The unemployment number rose this month to reflect about 10.1 million whiners...err I mean Americans without jobs. The good news is that it’s all in your mind.
It seems AIG had a “training meeting” at a resort in Phoenix recently. They met at the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort in Phoenix in which no signs ,no media, no anything had the initials “AIG” on it. They said it was because they were cutting cost by having no signage. But we all know the truth, you didn’t want to get busted again. I don’t get it, I have watched the CEO of AIG Edward Liddy on Larry King as he tried to explain away what happened. It was feeble excuse after feeble excuse about how the cost is not going to be absorbed by AIG and this was purely training to prevent things like sub prime mortgage bust from happening again. He also stated that many outings and meetings and such had been canceled already because of the fallout of the week long getaway back in September.
The pictures from the hidden cameras told a different story however. It showed businessmen sitting poolside sipping drinks and making calls (they were in suits), having a cocktail party, and of course there was the dinner at McCormick & Schmicks. So let me get this straight, you cut cost by not having any signs with AIG on it but you went to McCormick and Schmick for dinner and met at a resort? What is wrong with Holiday Inn’s meeting rooms and Red Lobster with cheddar biscuits? Mr. Liddy it is clear that your head is so far up your rich ass you have no idea what it actually means to go no frills. I understand Congressman Elijah Cummings is asking that perhaps you should step down. Well I have to agree with him. Your company has put it’s hand out three times in three months for my assistance and these are just the things we know about. I want to say that AIG needs some new leadership but the truth of the matter is it should just die. AIG is clearly to steeped in it’s own shit to do anything but drown, and take our money with it.
Does anyone else feel that they have been screwed with their pants still on? Henry Paulson Treasury Secretary (for at least 67 more days) announced today that even though one of the main selling points of the October Bail Out plan was that some of that money would be going to help “Main Street” it has been determined it would be better put to giving it to the banks. The exact opposite thing it was intended for. I mean is this not why we all went up in arms over the whole “I want a blank check” thing when all this first started?
Henry you keep asking me to trust you but then you do the exact thing I told you I didn’t want done. I am sorry that your friends in the banking industry may have to move from a twenty bedroom mansion to a ten bedroom mansion. I know that downgrading is difficult and harsh on the psyche, but for real you are asking for trouble.
I don’t know if you have read the paper lately but it is a new day and people are not just sitting on their hands and letting you do whatever.
"I don’t feel I have done anything that is idol worthy but I learned a long time ago that it is the little everyday things you do that people notice, so be the best you you can be." DJ
"If you don't tell your story someone else might, and they may not tell it as well" The Monkey
"Let he who is without dogshit on his sneaker, take the first step on the white rug!" Whoopi Goldberg
