Big Blizzard Blessing

This past weekend I took a little road-trip to Amarillo Texas! I know…I’m such a globe-trotter. After many miles of crops, cows, and cantankerous little towns, I hit the “great white wall”…referred to locally as the Blizzard of 2009! Yes, it was my very first blizzard and I found myself driving right through the “teeth” of it!!!


As I drove through what would later be referred to on local news as “White Out” conditions, I was reminded of how much that experience was like life. Sometimes I find myself surrounded by a "blizzard", barely able to see my way through. One thing is certain though, I have to make sure that while the snow surrounds me, I keep looking ahead…even if it seems impossible to navigate. I must stay focused.


I sort of feel that way right now in my life so this blizzard experience was very helpful to me. I think this was really a continuation of me trying to stay optimistic and look for the good things in my life. I made it through the blizzard. I arrived at my hotel and it was lovely. I know there are great things in store for me. It’s just up to me to see them and remind myself that blizzards are not permanent. They melt away with the morning sun, and what you are left with is a clear day where you can see for miles.

Holy Underwear!!!

As I got out of the shower this morning, I dried off and made my way to the bedroom where, in true bachelor style, I had all my clean underwear dumped all over my bed. Hey I’m single. I have no time to be bothered with order and neatness. I decided that because I am going on a road-trip this weekend that I should wear only underwear that have holes in them to work this week. By my calculations, at least 80-90% of my underwear had holes, so I had to choose carefully. I sat down at the end of the bed and started inspecting my underwear. I made it through the 10 pair that were on my bed. Not a hole to be found in ONE pair!!! I knew that I only had 2 other pair and they were dirty. So it must have been those 2 pair with the holes. That's when it hit me. I was only ever noticing those 2 pair!!! I was under the impression that almost ALL my underwear had holes. I couldn't help but wonder, how long had I been looking at “holy” underwear? Well, I've spent the greater part of the last 6 years looking for imperfections in my underwear instead of appreciating all the pair that were great! How could this have happened? Sure, I've been through medical issues, family issues, work issues, money issues, love (or lack thereof) issues, but I wasn't even concerned with all the good things in my life. This made for a rather miserable version of my former self that I am quite sure nobody really wants to be around…which explains SO many things.


So right then I decided to just STOP it. I'm going to stop looking for all the negative things in life and start taking the positive away from it. Trust me...it took sorting through my “undies” to finally realize that I am a very negative person! It's incredible how taking stock of one's unmentionables can have such a far-reaching impact. I put this new way of thinking into practice today and I can already see the difference.


I even got to wear great underwear to work today! It's going to be a good day…better yet…a good life!

Michael Steele: Another GOP Gimmick

I wish the Republican Party would take this election beating and do something substantial. I reserved making any judgments on Mr. Michael Steele until I had more information and could observe his actions. I was also trying to give the GOP the benefit of the doubt.

As it turns out, it's precisely what I first feared it might be...a GIMMICK.

After all these years the GOP has never had a Black Chairman. Now that we have a Black President they miraculously find a Black man to head the party? That "smells" just like adding Sarah Palin to the GOP ticket as a way to steal female voters left angry about Clinton.

Instead of learning from this election bludgeoning, the GOP's answer to their trials is to offer up yet another gimmick. As if having a Black man chair anything for them is going to make the world forget their failures to connect with the majority. As if this not-so-slight of hand is going to make the GOP look fresh and in touch again. It doesn't. In my opinion it's like dressing up in "black-face" and expecting people to really believe you are black!

The prescription for GOP future is to take about a year to first get their footing again. This would include getting MAJOR "web help" to catch up to the younger generation. Their web effort during the election was pathetic at best. They should also stop scripting their organization so much. Is there nobody in the GOP who is just naturally well spoken and articulate? I get the feeling that the GOP doesn't really want to move forward but would rather repackage old ideas and make them seem new. This doesn't really work with cell phones and it doesn't work with politics. In fact, it ends up more like reusing toilet paper. It's nasty and doesn't work!

My message for the GOP: Don't kid yourself or America. There is a reason you've lost so much ground and it's going to take more than token responses and gimmicks to help you move forward. Spend more time coming up with a plan that makes sense and less time searching for your next gimmick.

Stay Free!

Pelosi's Plane Problem

Dear Mrs. Pelosi,

After recently reviewing public information regarding your continued aggressive requests for use of military aircraft, I have determined that you must have yourself confused with Mariah Carey.

Since I take it you are now working on an album or a tour of some sort please let the taxpayers know if there are any additional funds that you will need from us to accommodate you.

While I'm not happy that you've turned into such a diva, I do understand that you have a certain image to maintain and therefore, flying you and your entourage and family around the country at our expense is just a necessary part life.

I know this letter may never reach you because you are constantly making media appearances and taking off early for vocal rest, all the while being exhausted from doing absolutely nothing, but I sure hope that this will find it's way to you.

If you do happen to get this letter would you please consider giving me and my family free tickets to your next show?

Love Never,

You Biggest Critic

"Sexting"...Everyone Else's Fault???

I became just shy of irate as I began to read an article about this "sexting suicide" today. Please understand that I empathize with anyone that has to cope with a family member committing suicide. I don't want to come off as cold here, but I have to say, I am outraged that the answer to this issue is to blame everyone else and possibly sue them! All over America now, teenagers are being sued for child pornography! Really? Teens will do what they are enabled to do. Don't give them cell phones and this particular issue is resolved.



I think Cynthia Logan should take responsibility instead of blaming other students. Her daughter took the photos of herself and sent them to a boyfriend! That speaks to parenting and level of involvement if you ask me. There would have been no stopping me upon first hearing about issues my daughter was having at school. She would have stayed in her room until she came clean about what was really going on. It's sounds like Cynthia did take some steps but in my opinion did not go far enough.




So now, Logan is all over television and news claiming the fault lies with others. She blames the other children and the school officials. Not once do I read about her taking any responsibility in the matter. She's throwing around statistics and percentages of boys who are sending out naked images of ex-girlfriends. Why was her daughter taking those kind of images of herself in the first place? Why is nobody asking THAT question? What was she teaching her daughter? Exactly how involved in her daughters day-to-day activities was Mrs. Logan? Logan was joined by Internet "security expert" Parry Aftab, who made the following statement...

“I’m going to get her (Logan) involved in a huge campaign to allow kids to understand the consequences of this and allow schools to understand what they need to do to keep our kids alive.”


Logan agreed...

You can talk to kids about this kind of thing all day long but if their life and values at home are contrary, you might as well be talking to the voices in your head.




Why is it the school's responsibility to investigate photos being sent on cell phones? How about parents block text or image sending features on their children's cell phones. How about not giving them cell phones at all? Billions of teenagers managed to grow up JUST fine without cell phones. They are not critical to the lives of teens or children. In fact, not having them may be critical to our children's lives. What is paramount is that parents start assuming responsibility instead of expecting the school system to police their children for them. I am a father. So I am not writing out of my rear end here. I take responsibility for my two kids. I make sure I teach them what's right and wrong but better yet, I plan on seeing to it that they don't have such unrestricted access to cell phones and Internet. I think it's about time the parents of America became more engaged in what their children have access to. Kids are growing up WAY too fast and doing very adult things with the tools we readily hand over to them on a silver platter!



Don't "take it out" on the school officials and the students. Take away the cell phones and the unsupervised Internet! There is your end to "sexting"!

Tired Of Living On The Mayflower

Before I begin, let me say the following piece is based upon my observations and experiences and is my belief. While I realize that many will find this controversial, I wholeheartedly stand behind the ideals expressed in my writing.

I have noticed a cultural phenomenon that has been taking hold in the African American community for most of my life and probably well before. An attitude of entitlement, laziness, and irresponsibility has nearly consumed a generation. The community I was born to and grew up in refuses to let go of the past hate that has gripped our nation once again since the inauguration of our first black President. While I understand and more importantly, respect the historical significance of what happened to our ancestors, I cannot understand why some refuse to move on. I cannot begin to fathom why some do not really want the civil rights movement to come to and end. I feel that in some cases the African American community is as responsible for the perpetuation of racism in America as those fools who run around in white hoods burning crosses in people's front yards.

As a community we spend more time picking apart the meaning of a published cartoon than we do teaching our children that they have to work hard and educate themselves to get ahead in life. Our community wants to teach entitlement based on the fact the our people were once slaves. This is just wrong. While we should never forget where we come from, nobody, regardless of color, should feel entitled to anything based up these things.

The most poignant example of how a community should respond to past hatred and trials would be found in the Jewish community. Jews were on the verge of extermination. Did they spend countless years operating on a sense of entitlement? No. They educated themselves, picked themselves up, and moved on while always honoring their past trials. They did not develop into a culture of laziness and entitlement, expecting others to just hand them the good life they felt they deserved. The Jewish community is now one of the strongest there are in America. They are at top levels in the financial world as well as the entertainment industry, not to mention countless others.

I just can't wrap my mind around the prevailing attitudes in my community. I had great hopes for my current generation to do an about-face and recognize that anything is possible if one applies oneself. For every instance of discrimination there are a dozen ways around that. We have so many examples of African Americans who've done this. Why do some refuse to see these shining examples? Why do we use the past as a crutch? There will probably always be racists somewhere in this country...people who also refuse to move on from past ideals. Why should these things hold us back? Better yet, why should we dwell on them? The best way to defeat racism is to be educated and successful. It's not necessary to silence every single perceived racist remark that is ever made or written in order to progress. Our lives provide all the evidence to the contrary that we will ever need. What we do with our lives will supersede archaic ideals and past or present hatred. It's not a dream...it's a reality now.

It's Time...

It's time for us to stand up and take responsibility for our station in life and stop blaming others...or the past...or racism. It's time to realize we are not entitled to anything that we do not work for. It's time to teach our children the value of learning whether it be formal or self-taught. It's time to accept that not one person in America owes us anything but the respect that we earn. It's time we admit that respect is indeed earned and not something owed to us because we woke up this morning. It's time for our fathers to return to their children and take the high road. It's time we teach a desire to work hard for what we want. It's time we stop letting petty people, places, and things distract us from our goals. They are of no consequence to us if we make up our mind that they are not. We can do anything. Just look to President Obama...Oprah Winfrey...Maya Angelou...Condoleezza Rice...Colin Powell...Whoopi Goldberg...Rosa Parks...Thurgood Marshall...Marin Luther King Jr....Nina Simone...Shirley Chisholm...Moorfield Storey...do I really need to go on? I could.

It's time we add our own names to the long list of those who came before us as well as those who are still shining examples of what anyone can accomplish here in America, the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Stay Free!

What's The Big Damn Deal???

I AM of African American descent and even I don't find this cartoon offensive. I think as a country we've just entered into a new era of over-sensitivity. While I am well aware that African Americans were referred to as monkeys in the past...I do not believe that this was the intent of the cartoonist. I think to say that he did mean it racially is a "stretch". One can see whatever meaning one wishes, if one tries hard enough. Obama did not write the stimulus bill alone and therefore the depiction of a monkey being shot being Obama really makes no sense.

I also find it disturbing that leading the cry of "racism" is the Rev. Al Sharpton - Opportunist Wind-bag Supreme. I am a firm believer that he, along with Jesse Jackson, will take up any cause that gets them air time. I also believe they are caught up in a civil rights movement of old. While racism and civil rights are still VERY much a valid and pressing issue in this country, I believe it is vastly different than it was when both Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton were growing up and first getting involved in the movement. They refuse to change with the times and have "money-motivated" aspirations in play. I, for one, "ain't buying it".

I think this cartoon points out that there are a bunch of crazed monkeys writing legislation these days. Moreover it speaks to the lack of thought that goes into a lot of the legislation that is being signed into law. I think people should remember that this country was founded on free speech and stop trying to turn everything into an automatic racial issue just because we now have a black President. Maybe the people freaking out about this should check THEIR perceptions of other black people. If monkey makes them automatically think of a black person then there is something a little "off" there if you ask me.

P.S. - I voted for Hillary...then Obama. Just in case any of you are wondering. :-)

Stay Free!

Endless Expectation

It's just shy of a new day here in my dark and quiet apartment. I've just finished providing advice to someone who means the world to me. He's 10 years my junior and starting to feel the effects of a jaded world and culture. His life shows so much promise and potential. He's educated, charming, strong, committed, and focused. He is starting to miss these things when he glances into the mirror. My prayer and hope for him is that very soon he will come to realize his own worth and reason for being alive.

I WAS this person at 19 years old. My world was telling me what I should believe, where I should learn, who I should love, and what my goals in life should be. In all honesty, I caved in to those demands. I assumed their beliefs, their schools, their goals, their love. Now, at 32, I find myself conspicuously void of all those same people in my life that were pressing my heart for every drop of blood. They have all vanished. As if my heart was a mighty ship taken out to sea and left with no crew or captain, to drift endlessly on the raging seas of life. Water water everywhere and not a soul to save the ship.

How often we forget about our own dreams. Others' dreams somehow become our own. In the process we are weighed down with what others think our lives should amount to.
Moments away from being set adrift in an Ambien manner, I struggle to stay upright long enough to see the discovery. I have almost seen it. It was like the reflection of the sun on a watch. Or maybe a bird soaring past at great speeds. It could even be just behind me...or dare I say it? Right in front of me? Or is it me? Damn, I almost had it. It was almost mine. I wake up from my dream now and I am still falling...falling. When will the falling stop? I want the falling to stop, so that I can rest. All I want is rest and yet not even the two Kings of Ambien will allow it. They allow me only to ask more questions for which there are no answers. A shame indeed that with rest comes no answers.

Endless Expectation, all around. Ah, but what do you want?

Stay Free!