Civil Rights Movement
Freedom
Showing posts with label Freedom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Freedom. Show all posts
Monday, August 26, 2013
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Are You Happy?
Are you happy? That is a question I've been asked a lot lately by folks when discussing my transition back to NYC. For the first time in years my answer is unequivocally YES! In all seriousness though, my last few years in LA were mired in stresses. I put on a good facade and made it through (at least I think so), but I was not at my best. Whatever I seemed to do was not working for me and on top of that I missed family. I don't want to blame LA because the first 5 or 6 years there were amazing and I thought I would never leave. I don't know if I changed, it changed or I just missed home (I do consider Brooklyn home now, don't be mad Philly). This is like a second honeymoon with my first love, we will see if it is forever or if I just have on rose colored glasses. Either way I am enjoying this moment and that is what matters most.
I used to look at that question as a loaded one. I would use all kinds of disclaimers and qualifiers. Rarely just answering the question with a flat out yes I am. I feel right now I am very much happy with no qualifiers needed. Things are by no means perfect, but I do not feel the need or urge to dwell on them. Things shift and change so quickly here. Funny things is right now I am in a kind of blah mood as I write this and get ready for work, but I am still happy. It is damn weird. When I get "down" here a walk in the park lifts me up tremendously, going to a gallery or whatever that case may be. My blahs don't seem to last as long now as they did in the past. So yeah, I don't have much else to say. Anything else would feel forced from me and be a qualifier.
Peace,
MAB
I used to look at that question as a loaded one. I would use all kinds of disclaimers and qualifiers. Rarely just answering the question with a flat out yes I am. I feel right now I am very much happy with no qualifiers needed. Things are by no means perfect, but I do not feel the need or urge to dwell on them. Things shift and change so quickly here. Funny things is right now I am in a kind of blah mood as I write this and get ready for work, but I am still happy. It is damn weird. When I get "down" here a walk in the park lifts me up tremendously, going to a gallery or whatever that case may be. My blahs don't seem to last as long now as they did in the past. So yeah, I don't have much else to say. Anything else would feel forced from me and be a qualifier.
Peace,
MAB
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Fork In The Road
So there has been a lot going on in the last week or so that has social networks in a tizzy. From Paula Deen to the SCOTUS folks are in full reactionary mode. I sort of get it but not really. It completely frustrates me that we continuously give our power away. We continuously put our trust in a system that does not return the favor at all. The two party system has been flawed and ineffective for decades now, but yet we come back expecting a change to something that has shown no signs of changing. So then we get a decision like today and we wonder why it happened. We threaten to renew or get new passports and leave this evil place, but then that complacency kicks back in. We go back to our preoccupied lives and wait for the next thing to come along to rile us then pause and repeat the whole process. That was a sweeping generalization of which I usually attempt to stay away from, but sometimes what we see is what we get.
As long as we continue to be reactive as opposed to proactive about how we participate in the political process we (black people, people of color and poor people) will continue to be left behind, and/or dependent upon others to do something for us. We keep looking at the causes but never the root of the problems. Hence we keep coming back to the same place. A few years back people were angry when Troy Davis was executed in Georgia, but how many of us know our candidates position on capital punishment? How many challenged them to change their position on the subject? Personally speaking I will not vote for anyone who supports capital punishment, and this was before the Troy Davis execution. I believe in being an educated voter not just a partisan one. The political, racial and social divide in the country is getting deeper by that day and social networking and mainstream media is helping to usher it along.
I feel that we are in a time of excess opinion, so in a lot of way this blog is a contradiction. That being said I do believe we need more compassionate voices to speak out and stand up. People who have no allegiances to any party or person. People who are willing to look beyond posters and bumper stickers and seek out truth. That doesn't mean I don't believe that people cannot support the two parties. I just believe that we should be willing to challenge those we support as hard as we do those that we oppose, and right now that is not happening. Fundamentalism is running rampant and some folks are clueless as to what they are fundamentaling about. We are being led blindly, and reacting to what we are being told to react to.
I do not have all of the answers, but I have a ton of questions and a lot of passion. I do not believe a system (this system) can truly set us back unless we allow it. When the people put their minds and hearts into genuine change amazing things happen. We can't wait on legislation we have to force their hand. It cannot be a short sighted mission either, two months and then oops back to life as normal. Sustained change takes time and effort. Even on an individual level if we want change we have to stick to it to get results. A new political and social movement won't be had in one cycle or two or three. It may take more than our lifetime but I for one want my descendants to have something better than we do now.
Peace,
MAB
As long as we continue to be reactive as opposed to proactive about how we participate in the political process we (black people, people of color and poor people) will continue to be left behind, and/or dependent upon others to do something for us. We keep looking at the causes but never the root of the problems. Hence we keep coming back to the same place. A few years back people were angry when Troy Davis was executed in Georgia, but how many of us know our candidates position on capital punishment? How many challenged them to change their position on the subject? Personally speaking I will not vote for anyone who supports capital punishment, and this was before the Troy Davis execution. I believe in being an educated voter not just a partisan one. The political, racial and social divide in the country is getting deeper by that day and social networking and mainstream media is helping to usher it along.
I feel that we are in a time of excess opinion, so in a lot of way this blog is a contradiction. That being said I do believe we need more compassionate voices to speak out and stand up. People who have no allegiances to any party or person. People who are willing to look beyond posters and bumper stickers and seek out truth. That doesn't mean I don't believe that people cannot support the two parties. I just believe that we should be willing to challenge those we support as hard as we do those that we oppose, and right now that is not happening. Fundamentalism is running rampant and some folks are clueless as to what they are fundamentaling about. We are being led blindly, and reacting to what we are being told to react to.
I do not have all of the answers, but I have a ton of questions and a lot of passion. I do not believe a system (this system) can truly set us back unless we allow it. When the people put their minds and hearts into genuine change amazing things happen. We can't wait on legislation we have to force their hand. It cannot be a short sighted mission either, two months and then oops back to life as normal. Sustained change takes time and effort. Even on an individual level if we want change we have to stick to it to get results. A new political and social movement won't be had in one cycle or two or three. It may take more than our lifetime but I for one want my descendants to have something better than we do now.
Peace,
MAB
Friday, April 26, 2013
Friday, April 5, 2013
Labels And The Ties That Bind
This one is about labeling and how labeling can be counterproductive to truth. I've eschewed labeling myself in the past because often times we are caught defending that label and what it means as opposed to finding the truth in the situation. Anyway, just some thoughts on the matter.
Peace,
MAB
Peace,
MAB
Thursday, March 28, 2013
The Light
In our own unique way, I believe each of us are seeking The Light. Whether it be the Light at the end of the tunnel or a light within ourselves that lets us know everything will be okay. We want it and we need it, but we've managed to somehow let that light dim or believe that it is too far away to see and achieve so we've given up. I know on many occasions I've wanted to pack it in and call it a day, but that voice on the inside keeps me searching and seeking that Light! It is not always literal giving up, but many of us wake up every day defeated and resigned to our previous days fate unwilling or unable to see something new and refreshing in this day.
I watched PBS NewsHour last night and it is by far a better news source than anything else out there. I didn't feel manipulated, frightened or worried about my Life while watching it. It was literally just reporting followed by a couple of feel good worthy stories at the end. It had me thinking about other "news" sources and how their quest for ratings has taken the focus away from true journalism into a type of variety show. It dims our Light. It has us fearing the invisible that may or may not ever happen. It doesn't teach us to search for the answers and seek out our Light. It doesn't inform us on how we as a nation and as a people can be of service to others and a healing Light to the world. It leaves us empty, it is calories without substance.
My Light gets dimmed every once in a while! I begin to focus on the things that aren't going right or going the way that I may have wanted them to go, and lose sight of the bigger picture in and for my Life. I intended to write a scathing blog today on people's (via the media) laziness and all that, but in the end it is better to shine a Light than curse the darkness as they say. Go outside today, this morning even and as Richard Pryor said in his autobiography, "let a little sun hit your face."
Peace & Love,
MAB
I watched PBS NewsHour last night and it is by far a better news source than anything else out there. I didn't feel manipulated, frightened or worried about my Life while watching it. It was literally just reporting followed by a couple of feel good worthy stories at the end. It had me thinking about other "news" sources and how their quest for ratings has taken the focus away from true journalism into a type of variety show. It dims our Light. It has us fearing the invisible that may or may not ever happen. It doesn't teach us to search for the answers and seek out our Light. It doesn't inform us on how we as a nation and as a people can be of service to others and a healing Light to the world. It leaves us empty, it is calories without substance.
My Light gets dimmed every once in a while! I begin to focus on the things that aren't going right or going the way that I may have wanted them to go, and lose sight of the bigger picture in and for my Life. I intended to write a scathing blog today on people's (via the media) laziness and all that, but in the end it is better to shine a Light than curse the darkness as they say. Go outside today, this morning even and as Richard Pryor said in his autobiography, "let a little sun hit your face."
Peace & Love,
MAB
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