I thought people like Richard Ivory and Tiffany Shorter were a myth. But, according the New York Times article, Young, Black and Republican in New York, there really are people like them are real.
Maybe I should rethink my position on Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, and the Loc ness Monster.
Seriously though. I'm all for the separation of race and party affiliation. I've only been bitching about my struggles this presidential season. If I didn't believe in the freedom of choice, I'd be one of "those" voters. The ones who never look beyond party labels to the substance (or lack there of) beneath.
But being Black and labeling yourself a Republican? That's hard to swallow, even for me.
The GOP has never supported minorities they way Democrats have. They have been more homogeneous and self-serving than Democrats or any other "party" in our system. Who jumped aboard the civil rights movement? Who has tried to provide equality and opportunity to the underprivileged?
Minimum wage increases, paid maternal leave for parents, affordable health care, worker rights/protections, etc., etc. etc.
Democrats.
Still, I'm not one of those ignorant friends they talked about having. If I were friends with them, I'd continue being friends with them.
We just wouldn't talk politics. Ever.
09 October 2008
07 October 2008
Conversations with the elderly
Nurse walks in to check on the patient sitting by the window. "Hi there sweetie, how are you feeling today? Do you want me to move you away from the window? You must be getting hot!" Without waiting for a response, the nurse unlocks the wheelchair and moves it in front of the TV.
"There you go dear, you'll be more comfortable here." Leaning forward, the nurse smiles and runs her hands over the soft hair pulled back in a simple pony-tail. "I'll be back to check on you later, okay?"
***
What kind of relationship do you see going on here? Who is this mysterious patient?
You probably are thinking it's a young child in the hospital, or possibly a mentally handicap individual in some care facility.
Unfortunately, this fictional conversation is taking place between a 20-30 female nurse and an elderly woman. This conversation is all too often a reality.
I have known people who think it is okay to speak to elderly people with that same high-pitched, sing-song tone we use with children. They think it is okay to give them pet-names like dear, sweetie, and honey.
And it pisses me off every damn time.
I look at it this way: I'm X age (24). They are Y age. Out of sheer respect for their age, their life experience, etc. I address the elderly as they tell me to ("you can just call me MaryJane"), by their last name (Mr./Mrs. so-and-so), or simply sir or ma'am.
Guess you could say, my momma raised me right.
Did yours?
"There you go dear, you'll be more comfortable here." Leaning forward, the nurse smiles and runs her hands over the soft hair pulled back in a simple pony-tail. "I'll be back to check on you later, okay?"
***
What kind of relationship do you see going on here? Who is this mysterious patient?
You probably are thinking it's a young child in the hospital, or possibly a mentally handicap individual in some care facility.
Unfortunately, this fictional conversation is taking place between a 20-30 female nurse and an elderly woman. This conversation is all too often a reality.
I have known people who think it is okay to speak to elderly people with that same high-pitched, sing-song tone we use with children. They think it is okay to give them pet-names like dear, sweetie, and honey.
And it pisses me off every damn time.
I look at it this way: I'm X age (24). They are Y age. Out of sheer respect for their age, their life experience, etc. I address the elderly as they tell me to ("you can just call me MaryJane"), by their last name (Mr./Mrs. so-and-so), or simply sir or ma'am.
Guess you could say, my momma raised me right.
Did yours?
06 October 2008
Death, Doctors, and Organ Transplants
What would you consider death?
Would it be after your heart has stopped? If so, for how long?
Would it be if you were unequivocally brain dead? But whose to say what that is?
Would it be if you were certain to remain a vegetable?
Interesting questions. Interesting debate remarked upon by the Washington Post.
I had never really thought about it. Like many, I assumed death was after the heart stopped or the brain was permanently kaput.
I didn't know that death was open to interpretation. I thought it just...was. I know that my "interpretation" of death deals with the soul departing, but the soul does not depart without the body's passing.
Or is it the body does not pass without the soul's passing?
Either way, death is no longer simple.
What do you consider "irrevocably dead" and "open for business" for organs harvesting?
Would it be after your heart has stopped? If so, for how long?
Would it be if you were unequivocally brain dead? But whose to say what that is?
Would it be if you were certain to remain a vegetable?
Interesting questions. Interesting debate remarked upon by the Washington Post.
I had never really thought about it. Like many, I assumed death was after the heart stopped or the brain was permanently kaput.
I didn't know that death was open to interpretation. I thought it just...was. I know that my "interpretation" of death deals with the soul departing, but the soul does not depart without the body's passing.
Or is it the body does not pass without the soul's passing?
Either way, death is no longer simple.
What do you consider "irrevocably dead" and "open for business" for organs harvesting?
28 September 2008
Atlantic.com: Empathy for Sarah Palin?
This article on the Atlantic.com by Ta-Nehisi Coates is something that I have been thinking and feeling for some time now (hat-tip J'myle!).
The comments below come from many camps—some who found themselves identifying and feeling sorry for Sarah Palin and others who said she brought it on herself and deserved no pity.
There is one comment I find myself struggling with, and that is, that since she [Sarah Palin] knows she is so far out of her league, she should tell McCain that she can not run as his VP. Easy as that.
Except not. Should she have said no from the get go? Hell yes. But how many times have we not said no to something, the found ourselves in some nearly impossible situation from which we saw no out?
If she says "No more VP" to McCain now, that will bring all sorts of trouble for her and for him. He will have to find another running mate (not an easy search), the GOP party will seem to be in disarray and uncoordinated, and mismanaged (not saying they aren't but they are trying to put on a good face) and that could be enough to cost them the election.
If that we to happen, guess who all of GOP America would blame? None other than Governor Sarah Palin. She could never run for public office again, and her "betrayal" of the party would be (likely) unforgivable.
She's stuck, as so many of us find ourselves to be in situations that are out of our control: Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
So yeah, I feel bad for her. Not as a politician, but as a suffering human being.
The comments below come from many camps—some who found themselves identifying and feeling sorry for Sarah Palin and others who said she brought it on herself and deserved no pity.
There is one comment I find myself struggling with, and that is, that since she [Sarah Palin] knows she is so far out of her league, she should tell McCain that she can not run as his VP. Easy as that.
Except not. Should she have said no from the get go? Hell yes. But how many times have we not said no to something, the found ourselves in some nearly impossible situation from which we saw no out?
If she says "No more VP" to McCain now, that will bring all sorts of trouble for her and for him. He will have to find another running mate (not an easy search), the GOP party will seem to be in disarray and uncoordinated, and mismanaged (not saying they aren't but they are trying to put on a good face) and that could be enough to cost them the election.
If that we to happen, guess who all of GOP America would blame? None other than Governor Sarah Palin. She could never run for public office again, and her "betrayal" of the party would be (likely) unforgivable.
She's stuck, as so many of us find ourselves to be in situations that are out of our control: Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
So yeah, I feel bad for her. Not as a politician, but as a suffering human being.
26 September 2008
Russian Roulette with the future
I had plans for this blog. It was supposed to be my corner for conversation on random world events and things I see in the news that interest me for good or for ill.
But, since the debacle that is our presidential election, it has turned into my corner to develop as a conscious voter.
Recently, my mother and I were talking about the candidates, foreign policy, terrorism, and Islam. My mother is two things: 1. The most knowledgeable about Islam as a religion, culture, and way of life than anyone who hasn't earned their degree in such studies, and 2. very opinionated.
She is, I think, going to vote for Senator McCain in November. Her reasoning for this comes down to security:
1. Nothing else matters if America is, as she will likely be, attacked again.
2. This future attack will come from the hands of Islamic fundamentalists who want to watch the West burn.
3. This attack will be better orchestrated and more powerful and more lethal than those of 9/11.
She believes that Senator Obama is naive and does not fully appreciate the threat posed by Islamic followers and states. She believes that Senator McCain has a better understanding, and will take those threats more seriously, and will be more likely to do whatever it takes to ensure America's safety.
I am torn. I want to elect a president who will take care of Americans first by improving health care, by improving chances for education, by reducing our foreign debt, by promoting green initiatives, etc.
But what good is all this if there are forces out there hell bent on destroying or subverting our way of life and very existence?
Threat to behead Canadian Prime Minister
60 Hindu's Killed in train fire
Homeless man beaten for eating during Ramadan
Father stabs daughter and crushes her head with a rock for seeing her husband
What do I do?
But, since the debacle that is our presidential election, it has turned into my corner to develop as a conscious voter.
Recently, my mother and I were talking about the candidates, foreign policy, terrorism, and Islam. My mother is two things: 1. The most knowledgeable about Islam as a religion, culture, and way of life than anyone who hasn't earned their degree in such studies, and 2. very opinionated.
She is, I think, going to vote for Senator McCain in November. Her reasoning for this comes down to security:
1. Nothing else matters if America is, as she will likely be, attacked again.
2. This future attack will come from the hands of Islamic fundamentalists who want to watch the West burn.
3. This attack will be better orchestrated and more powerful and more lethal than those of 9/11.
She believes that Senator Obama is naive and does not fully appreciate the threat posed by Islamic followers and states. She believes that Senator McCain has a better understanding, and will take those threats more seriously, and will be more likely to do whatever it takes to ensure America's safety.
I am torn. I want to elect a president who will take care of Americans first by improving health care, by improving chances for education, by reducing our foreign debt, by promoting green initiatives, etc.
But what good is all this if there are forces out there hell bent on destroying or subverting our way of life and very existence?
Threat to behead Canadian Prime Minister
60 Hindu's Killed in train fire
Homeless man beaten for eating during Ramadan
Father stabs daughter and crushes her head with a rock for seeing her husband
What do I do?
05 September 2008
Barak Obama vs. Sarah Palin
Some of you may be appalled to know this.
I was actually considering crossing party lines this election.
Oh, did you already get that indication from the mass of blog posts regaling you with my distaste, distrust, and discomfort for Barak Obama? Then I guess the above statement isn't much a surprise.
Try this one on for size:
I'm voting for Barak Obama.
It's true. I was either going to cross party lines or write in Hillary Clinton. Now, before you try and label me some ultra-left wing, man hating, rabid Clintonite nationalist, remember this: I believe the duty of every American is to vote their conscience. My conscience said to vote Mrs. Clinton because she was (is) the most qualified and ready.
But now, in light of Mrs. Sarah Palin being nominated as John McCain's VP running mate (mistress), I feel it is my duty to make sure (s)he doesn't win.
Mr. McCain is old. He could keel over November 5th if his wife said, "honey, lets have sex to celebrate your win!" Suddenly Maverick McCain is stone cold dead, and "lifetime member of the NRA, anti-right to choose, abstinence education is all children need to know about sex, we're fighting God's war in Iraq, crazy right wing religious zealot" Sarah Palin is President of the USA.
Dear God no.
I do my part in the name of lesser evil: I vote for Barak Obama.
I was actually considering crossing party lines this election.
Oh, did you already get that indication from the mass of blog posts regaling you with my distaste, distrust, and discomfort for Barak Obama? Then I guess the above statement isn't much a surprise.
Try this one on for size:
I'm voting for Barak Obama.
It's true. I was either going to cross party lines or write in Hillary Clinton. Now, before you try and label me some ultra-left wing, man hating, rabid Clintonite nationalist, remember this: I believe the duty of every American is to vote their conscience. My conscience said to vote Mrs. Clinton because she was (is) the most qualified and ready.
But now, in light of Mrs. Sarah Palin being nominated as John McCain's VP running mate (mistress), I feel it is my duty to make sure (s)he doesn't win.
Mr. McCain is old. He could keel over November 5th if his wife said, "honey, lets have sex to celebrate your win!" Suddenly Maverick McCain is stone cold dead, and "lifetime member of the NRA, anti-right to choose, abstinence education is all children need to know about sex, we're fighting God's war in Iraq, crazy right wing religious zealot" Sarah Palin is President of the USA.
Dear God no.
I do my part in the name of lesser evil: I vote for Barak Obama.
03 September 2008
Watershed moment for African Americans in the USA
"You really have to give credit to the American people for being able to look past Obama's skin color to see the Harvard educated smart-ass underneath."Historian Dr. Woodson.
Amen Dr. Woodson, amen.
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