Home Sweet Home

http://www.udr.com/

Nearly two years ago, I moved to my current apartment community.  I had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting the only male in the office at the time.  He was snide.  He over compensated for being a straight man in an increasingly gay male profession by flirting with any woman who entered the room.  He was rude. He was juvenile.  He got my UDR relationship off on a sour note.  It was like one of those really bad American Idol audition clips that we have all grown to love.  My prayers were answered early on as this delight of a man moved away to Austin.  I don't recall his name because I had a medical procedure done to block it from my memory permanently.

Then there was James...

James didn't really get a fair shake from me because of that Neanderthal that ended up in Austin.  I figured James was Neanderthal Jr. and would typically steer clear of dealing with him. As fate would have it, there were several times I was forced to deal with James because there was simply nobody else to help me.  I started to realize that James might be OK.  He seemed interested in what I had to say for one thing.  That's always a GREAT way to start.  Then he did something else that took me by surprise.  He followed up.  While that may seem like a really lame thing to be surprised by, the apartment leasing world has changed for the worse over the years.  I've lived in apartments all my life.  I've seen just about every type of leasing "professional" you could imagine.  The chance that one of them would follow up with you on an issue or question is about as great as the chance that you would be hit by a truck-driving nun in a school-zone situated in an all Baptist community.  Let's just say that today's leasing professionals don't exactly measure up all the time.  James has always followed up with me.  If he doesn't have an answer...he gets one.

While all this is noteworthy, there is something that sets James apart from even the rest of the staff here in my community.  He has the uncanny ability of "knowing his audience".  He is able to assess WHO he is talking to and engage them in a manner that shows them that he's paying attention.  When he needs to speak slowly and with regard for his words...he does.  When he needs to "be real" and talk to you straight...he can.  When he knows you need a laugh...he makes you smile.  I've personally witnessed him in action.  He is keenly aware of who he is talking to and is able to present himself just as that person needs him to be presented.  This is a quality that is rare.  Most people are only satisfied with coming to terms with how they interact with others.  It's not often that you find those perceptive people who are willing to meet others half way in order to better communicate and build trust.

UDR should be taking notes.  James has a lot to offer any employer.  His abilities make him priceless.  In case you were wondering, I do not know James.  I don't even know his last name.  There is nothing in it for me except the pleasure of being able to brag on someone who is doing a stellar job at treating people like...well...people.  It's timeless.  It's classic.  It NEVER goes out of style.  James should be considered the "new black" in apartment leasing.  Every apartment community should have a James "hanging in the closet".  He goes with everything.

James:  I appreciate you for treating me like a person and not a lease.  I appreciate you caring enough to stay late on a Sunday to update me on an issue I was having with trespassers.  I appreciate you always taking the time to get back to me.  I appreciate you always going above and beyond for even the smallest things.  I wanted to take the time to say thank you and to make sure that everyone knows what a great person and great professional you really are.  It's because of your efforts that I continue to call my apartment...home.  UDR is lucky to have you.

Sincerely,

David by the pool.  :-)

Politics As Usual

While you may think that this is my lame attempt at a Democratic smear campaign against the newly-elected Republican Senator Scott Brown of  Massachusetts, you'd be way off the mark.  I was not inspired by politics in the sense that you might expect. I was, however, shocked by the glaring double-standard represented in the photo above.

Had this been a female political candidate pictured above, not only would it be front page news, it would be reason enough to sway the vote...and NOT in her favor.  Scott Brown poses nude back in the day and he's called a "beef-cake" or "America's Sexiest Man".  Any female trying to be taken seriously in the political realm would have been labeled as someone having poor judgement or worse.  Every detail of the woman's life and choices would have have been scrutinized by pundits far and wide.  She'd have to explain her reasoning for doing the photo shoot.  She'd be made to dissect every detail leading up to the photo.  All her other decisions would be called into question because of the photo.  It makes me angry that we still live in a world where Hillary Clinton gets talked about for showing a tiny bit of cleavage on the floor of the Senate.  Scott Brown, on the other hand, doesn't really have his judgement questioned at all for posing nude.  For all the Republicans out there... let me give you an example you can relate to.  Sarah Palin... While I am not a fan, I do feel like she was overly scrutinized by the media in a very sexist way.  She was a beauty queen...made top news.  She was photoshopped into a bikini, then had to explain that it wasn't her.  She was referred to as a "m.i.l.f.".  The talk about what she was wearing was endless.  This is the type of sexist ignorance that this country still thrives on and it's truly sad.

The Bottom Line: 

The world we live in makes unrealistic demands of it's women.  We want to hold women to a higher standard but don't want to empower them to be anything other than centerfolds.  This country lauds it's progressive culture but is responsible for holding women back.  The men in this country who are responsible for the culture of "the boys" should try holding themselves to this other-worldly standard for once.  After all...it's mostly men who are making a mess of this country...last time I checked.

Reflections snoitcelfeR

Girl Before A Mirror (1932)  -  Pablo Picasso

As I sat at a glass table outside today, I couldn't help but notice the grand reflection of the mid-day sky.  It made me think about reflections in general and their parallels to everyday life.  Not only is it possible to see yourself in a reflection but it's also possible to see what's behind you.  It's that "behind you" part that really started to grab my attention.  In life, is what's behind us even more important that what's to come...or what is happening now?  There are many schools of thought about "the past" and if one should spend time dwelling on it or learning from it and so on. While I feel as though there should be a balance in all things, I wonder how good it is to revisit the past.

It also occurs to me that if we spend all our time looking behind us, that we can miss ourselves in the reflection...hell, we can miss the actual mirror itself!  Maybe the point of life's reflections is that we spend time looking at everything reflected in the mirror making sure not to forget the importance of the reflection we see or the importance of having a mirror in the first place.  After all...with out life (the mirror), there really are no reflections(self and experiences).  

Mirror mirror on the wall...

TIME...for God to call Pat Robertson Home

In a world so filled with hate and intolerance, you'd think that nothing would shock me at this point.  Well, leave it to the increasingly senile Pat Robertson to shock me all over again.  It's amazing to me how he has the innate ability to be two-faced.  During a 700 Club "relief telethon" that started airing on the Christian Broadcasting Network, Pat Robertson started going on about a "deal" with the devil that Haitians made many years ago.  He was inferring that the earthquake was some sort of punishment for being anti-god.  So while trying to "help" the people of Haiti with a telethon, he is basically saying they got what they deserved???  He wins the Fake Ass Religious Tool (or F.A.R.T.) Award for 2010.

Below is a "Top Ten" list of ridiculous quotes made by Pat Robertson...

10. "Lord, give us righteous judges who will not try to legislate and dominate this society. Take control, Lord! We ask for additional vacancies on the court." –Pat Robertson

9. "Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It's no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history." –Pat Robertson

8. "I would warn Orlando that you're right in the way of some serious hurricanes, and I don't think I'd be waving those flags in God's face if I were you, This is not a message of hate -- this is a message of redemption. But a condition like this will bring about the destruction of your nation. It'll bring about terrorist bombs; it'll bring earthquakes, tornadoes, and possibly a meteor." –Pat Robertson, on "gay days" at Disneyworld

7. "(T)he feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians." –Pat Robertson

6. "I know this is painful for the ladies to hear, but if you get married, you have accepted the headship of a man, your husband. Christ is the head of the household and the husband is the head of the wife, and that's the way it is, period." –Pat Robertson

5. "I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: If there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God, you just rejected him from your city. And don't wonder why he hasn't helped you when problems begin, if they begin. I'm not saying they will, but if they do, just remember, you just voted God out of your city. And if that's the case, don't ask for his help because he might not be there." --Pat Robertson, after the city of Dover, Pennsylvania voted to boot the current school board, which instituted an intelligent design policy that led to a federal trial

4. "God considers this land to be his. You read the Bible and he says 'This is my land,' and for any prime minister of Israel who decides he is going to carve it up and give it away, God says, 'No, this is mine.' ... He was dividing God's land. And I would say, 'Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the E.U., the United Nations, or the United States of America.' God says, 'This land belongs to me. You better leave it alone.'" --Pat Robertson, on why Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a massive stroke

3. "Maybe we need a very small nuke thrown off on Foggy Bottom to shake things up" –Pat Robertson, on nuking the State Department

2. "You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war ... We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with." –Pat Robertson, calling for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez

1. "It may be a blessing in disguise. ... Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. Haitians were originally under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon the third, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, we will serve you if you will get us free from the French. True story. And so, the devil said, okay it's a deal. Ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other." –Pat Robertson, on the earthquake in Haiti that destroyed the capital and killed tens of thousands of people, Jan. 13, 2010

It's too bad we can't predict earthquakes...then we could make sure Pat Robertson is there in person to report on things AS they actually happen.  

The Bottom Line: Someone needs to give Pat Robertson a one-way ticket to Shady Pines Retirement Home so that he can regale the old folks with stories of God's hate for everyone except 700 Club members.   

~ To the people of Haiti ~ 

The Lord bless you and keep you.  The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.  The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.  

Negro Nation

Head of a Negro - By Albrecht Durer 1508

As a man of African-American descent, I am confounded by all the drama over race in America.  On the one hand, we are one of THE most liberal nations in the world.  On the other, we are Iran.  Think about it.  We live in a hyper-sensitive, racism-infused culture where people like Sen. Harry Reid are blasted for saying what MANY of us in the world (black, white, or other) were already thinking.

The Statement: President Obama would win over John McCain, because he is "light skinned" and has no "Negro dialect."

While I would not have used the term Negro, we have to remember that Harry Reid is about 150 years old and much more familiar with that term than any other.  I believe he made the statement in the same vein as Asian people being called Orientals.  The terms have all been changed but the meanings are really still the same.  I've said for a long time that the reason people like Jesse Jackson could not win a bid for President is because he was too "black".  I am, however, much more direct when it comes to these type statements.  Jesse Jackson doesn't relate to the majority.  We all know that candidates are elected, to some degree, because of their ability to connect with the American people.  If we think otherwise we are kidding ourselves.  With Jackson, everything is about being black.  Well, in the real world, not every damn thing is about being black.  Sen. Reid's comments about President Obama's lack of Negro dialect is TRUTH.  We speak English in this country, not Ebonics.  Barack Obama shows a stunning level of intellect and eloquence that is evidenced by his CHOICE to speak in an articulate manner.  Notice the word CHOICE.  Ebonics or "Negro dialect" is a choice.  While I see nothing wrong with it, there is a time and a place for it.  Does this mean President Obama can't be "ghetto" when he wants to be?  No.  He's can do that.  He should do that.  It's high time that everyone quit making everything about race and start moving on from this political correctness garbage that is about as genuine as costume jewelry.  We are a nation of people who say what we are supposed to say instead of the truth.  We continue to lie to ourselves.  Is there genuine racism?  Of course.  Should that be tolerated?  No.  Harry Reid wasn't being racist.  He was making what is actually a very good observation about American culture.  I think some people are just bent out of shape because the truth can hurt.  I can't wait to live in a world where white people can talk about black topics without Al Sharpton reminding us all that "we" used to be slaves.  I wasn't on the Mayflower.  I wasn't a slave.  I am NOT a slave.  While I have and probably will always run into racism now and then, I refuse to be defined by it.  I will never forget the profound sacrifices of people like Rosa Parks or Martin Luther King.  I will always appreciate the terrible price that was paid by my ancestors.  In contrast, I will not live in a "me versus the white man" world which is neatly manicured by people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

The Bottom Line:
I am sad to see people like Harry Reid forced to apologize for speaking the truth.  It saddens me more to see others use the opportunity to label someone as a racist who is not.  This was a Negro nation before Barack Obama and will be well after he is gone.  Negroes will always be a part of this nation's great (and not-so-great) history.    Just like the Jokers in a deck of cards... there are only certain games in which the cards can even be played.  It's time to take the Race cards out of the deck and start enjoying the game.