44th
i’ll leave my critique for another day. this is a beautiful moment in US history.
and Jeezy should be invited to the White House.
human condition
there is no them
our struggles are different
the journey is the same
Sunday afternoon
first poem in 5 months…
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my mom comes home from her shift at Denny’s
she’s surprised my brother is not laying on the sofa watching tv
she’s gotten used to seeing her 28 year old son in that position
his door is lock
she knocks
why is the door locked?
she yells
the door opens
she smells the stench of alcohol
his face is bright red
eyes barely open
she grabs the jack daniel bottle from his hand
walks out hurriedly and emptied it into the kitchen sink
complainin aloud the entire time
what is wrong with you?
all you do is smoke and drink at home
why don’t you think about how hard i have to work?
wait til i die
and then we’ll see what happens
Anthony Hamilton “Cool” feat. David Banner
one of the most consistent artist, period. the song and video is on-point. David Banner is a foo for this line though
“We can call our white friends up and drink a Miller Genuine Draft
Then kick ‘em all out of the house, take us a bath”
haha
Palin for prez
some people think she won the debate…even w/out answering any questions.
rise
“So I will continue to write: about two lovers embracing in the moonlight, near an abandoned mine where they have found the bodies of fifteen peasants, murdered by the military. Or about raped women and tortured men and families who sell themselves as slaves because they are starving. And also- why not?- about golden sunsets and loving mothers and poets who die of love. I want to tell stories and say, for example, that I CARE MORE FOR THE FREE MAN THAN THE FREE ENTERPRISE, MORE FOR SOLIDARITY THAN CHARITY. I want to say that its more important for me to SHARE than to COMPETE. And I want to write about the necessary changes…that will enable us to rise from our knees after five centuries of humiliations.” -Writing As an Act of Hope, Isabel Allende
Election Commentary from Grace Lee Boggs
i wanna share a recent column by one of my sheroes, Grace Lee Boggs. She’s a lifelong anti-racist activist/feminist and has been involved in all major social movements of the past 60 years. She’s in her 90s and is still involve, still writing, still fighting. I read her autobio and it changed my life in ways i’ve yet to understand. i now strive to become a more human human being. Peep her websites:
http://www.boggscenter.org/
http://boggsblog.org/
WHAT TIME IS IT?
By Grace Lee Boggs
Michigan Citizen, Sept. 14-20, 2008
In the wake of the Democratic and GOP conventions, both claiming the mantle of change, we need a deeper discussion of the times in which we live and the kind of changes we need to make — in our way of life and in our politics — if we are to avoid the catastrophe of the “Good Germans” after World War I.
Our times are promising because the presidential candidacy of a visionary African American has energized a new generation of youth and millions of Americans who for centuries have been left out of the American Dream.
But our times are also perilous because it will take more than vision and liberal politics to win over or at least neutralize some of the social forces energized by Sarah Palin at the GOP convention. Overwhelmingly white, suburban or small-town, these Americans are, understandably, increasingly insecure because of the failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, our tanking economy in hock to China, and people of color becoming the majority in many cities.
That is why this “pit bull with lipstick” and a girlish voice was selected as McCain’s running mate by Steve Schmidt, McCain’s new head strategist. Schmidt has been trained by Karl Rove, the American Goebbels whose dirty tricks and rousing of the Christian Right orchestrated Bush’s rise to power.
Before Palin spoke, the GOP delegates were confused and uncertain. But after she ridiculed Obama’s community organizing and lauded McCain as a “war hero”, they were on their feet shouting “Fight, Fight, Fight,” and “Drill, Drill, Drill.”
I was reminded of the “good Germans,” who, humiliated by defeat in World War I and needing a wheelbarrow of marks to buy a loaf of bread, turned to a World War I vet for salvation.
There is no quick solution to this increasingly dangerous situation. But we can begin by acknowledging that the main change we Americans now need to make is in ourselves. As Martin Luther King Jr. warned in his 1967 anti- Vietnam war speech over 40 years ago, we need a radical revolution of values against the giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism.
In a recent interview with Bill Moyers, self-described conservative Andrew Bacevich, a Boston University Professor and Ret. U. S. Army Colonel who lost his son in the Iraq war, reminded me of this MLK warning when he pointed out that, “Our major problems are at home, not out there somewhere.”
“We want to be able to pump gas into our cars regardless of how big they may happen to be, to drive wherever we want without having to think about whether or not the books balance at the end of the month. What neither Obama or McCain can do is persuade us to look ourselves in the mirror, So we rely increasingly on the projection of American military power around the world to try to maintain this dysfunctional system.”
Since the Vietnam War period, Bacevich warned, the U.S. has become an “empire of consumption.” “We refuse to live within our means. So we rely on our military power. We can’t expect Congress to change this situation because ‘the imperial presidency” is its creation. It has thrust all power on the executive branch and now exists primarily to assure the re-election of its members.
The Bacevich interview can be found on the August 15 Bill Moyers Journal. I urge readers to read and discuss it, not only with Obama supporters but with those leaning towards McCain. One way to begin this conversation is by providing examples of how we would be safer and happier if we lived more simply so others could simply live and also talking about the growing urban agricultural movement. To learn more about this movement, see Milwaukeerenaissance.com/
