Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Today, I deleted an important part of my life.

So, yeah.


I could share (emphasis added)
My thoughts
My deepest
Lightest thoughts
If third-party participants
Were platonic,
Understood what was
Meant by love.
Non-judgmental
Non-Self Deprecating
Just utterly and supremely
Unmatched
This love
Unattached from the world
And it's lack of trust
This love.
Unmistakenly rich with the beauty
Of this very love, Love.
And all I really wanted to say was Hi
And I wanted to know, in your words
That you are well.
The world road on your shoulders
I simply walked by your side
Once.
Maybe twice.
Touching fragmented pieces 
of the inner me...
It is nightfall on my dreams 
And they shall be put to rest
Sleeping Beauty
Waiting for her Prince 
The dark
Holds my dreams and reality
Replenishing
The light holds my destiny
Self-fulfilling 
The Moon is my element 
Night Crawler
Unrelenting.
I am She.


What will be, will in fact, be. And that is just the way it is...

And Today, I am at peace.

Rest easy.



Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Yesterday was hard, today was less hard...

This little guy makes me so happy! 


So, yeah. Sometimes you just need to step back, take a deep breath...and keep putting one foot in front of the other.

It wasn't just one thing that occurred or didn't occur it was like 4 or 5 completely separate pieces of my life falling apart. Imagine, the plumbing in your house falters...and then the sink is clogged: same area, possibly same basic root-issue.

Now imagine the same house with both plumbing issues, the roof is actively leaking, there is mold in the basement where you've stored antiques AND you need to update your Constitutional Law notes (Ok, that last one was just a real life issue that I needed to throw out there for prayer...)!

That was my day yesterday. Water works like you would NOT believe, but today? Today was such an improvement. Today, I'm ready to face the music - and the friggin Plumber *angryangrybeaver.

My OOTD had an interview (sans stylish boot wear and hair au naturale...hair was in a pony) & met with a few attorney friends for encouragement because that's how I roll. Lol ;)

I write; therefore I am.


Have you ever felt your heart undeviatingly crack, an ear-splitting break so completely and thoroughly silent, the sound an impending calm screaming with utter stillness so much so that its enormous fissure leaves a gaping so deep that brainwaves will not synapse the proper wording to retaliate, reply, respond or repair, in kind or otherwise, through its deafening eye of the storm, that you literally, and figuratively, had no words?  


Yeah, me neither. 


...the sun will come out, tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be Sun -- Annie (...and Annie wasn't an orphan for very long after that song, now was she...? Ya know why...because she saw the good in Daddy Warbucks, she was given truth and because she believed.)


All you have to do is Believe. 


(I totally want to add that song of Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey singing "If You Believe" ... Wouldn't that be AWESOME?!) 

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Mumia Abu-Jamal

So, yeah...then there's Mumia.

And I'm supposed to have my head in the books. 

And it's 1:32 a.m. but I felt this was really important. 

I often mentally wax poetic and then keep my thoughts o'the day as my own, today is different. It dawned on me as I was reading Con Law (I should so not go off in thought during study time!) that the President of these United States could pardon Mumia. I wonder if that ever goes through his mind...


(www.blackpast.org)
Mumia Abu-Jamal and his  
Political activist and journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 24, 1954. Born Wesley Cook, he took the name Mumia (“Prince”) in high school while taking a class on African cultures. In 1971, he added Abu-Jamal (“father of Jamal”) after the birth of his first son, Jamal. He has been married three times.

Abu-Jamal's first encounter with the police came when he was 14.  He was beaten by a white Philadelphia police officer for disrupting a “George Wallace for President” rally in 1968. Eventually he dropped out of high school and joined the Philadelphia chapter of the Black Panther Party. Jamal was appointed BPP’s “Lieutenant of Information,” putting him in charge of the organization’s media relations and placing him on the radar for surveillance by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He eventually earned his graduate equivalency high school degree (GED) and briefly attended Goddard College in Vermont.

In 1975 Abu-Jamal began working for a series of radio stations, using his commentary on issues of the day to advocate for social change.  Due to his growing popularity he was elected president of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists. Despite his popularity, Abu-Jamal was forced to take a second job as a taxi driver to supplement his income.  

Abu-Jamal became nationally prominent, however, when he was arrested for the murder of Philadelphia policeman Daniel Faulkner.  On December 9, 1981, Faulkner was shot and killed during a routine traffic stop involving Jamal’s brother, William Cook. During the scuffle between Faulkner and Cook, Abu-Jamal also was shot and taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. He was treated and then arrested and charged with first-degree murder. In June 1982, Abu-Jamal was tried.  Despite conflicting testimony from key witnesses, Abu-Jamal was found guilty and sentenced to death. In 1994, Abu-Jamal returned to radio once again as a commentator for Prison Radio and for National Public Radio. His NPR commentaries were compiled in 1995 as part ofLive from Death Row, which resulted in Abu-Jamal’s punishment of solitary confinement for engaging in entrepreneurship from prison.


Thursday, October 10, 2013

Obamacare vs. The Affordable Care Act



The above video is from Jimmy Kimmel Live, HILARIOUS....

The explanation below (beginning at the title ObamaCare in 100 words) is from http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-explained.php and for anyone who would like to make the argument for or against.

The moniker 'Obamacare', simply to inform the masses, was dubbed so to elicit the very above comments. Whether you agree or disagree, the issue is to be INFORMED in order to make a sound intellectual statement/opinion.  It is difficult to break down political rhetoric as they are ALL politicians and can be trusted in no sense of the word, lol and the website Sees the Information and Raises the public Understanding.

Ha! Do you see what I did there? As in poker players, of which I am not one? Poker players say, I see your $1000 and I raise you $1000 more! (Sometimes I like to break it down for ya!)

Lol, I kill me. I really really do.

ObamaCare in 100 Words

The Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) increases the quality, accessibility and affordability of health insurance. In exchange most people, who can afford to, must obtain health coverage by 2014 or pay a per month fee. The law eliminates pre-existing conditions, stops insurance companies from dropping you when you are sick, protects against gender discrimination, expands free preventative services and health benefits, expands Medicaid and CHIP, improves Medicare, mandates larger employers insure employees, creates a marketplace for subsidized insurance providing tens of millions individuals, families and small businesses with free or low-cost health insurance, and decreases healthcare spending and the deficit.




ObamaCare Simplified Explanation in Bullet Points

Here is a simplified ObamaCare explanation of what every American should know about our new health care law. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) does a lot, luckily most of us don’t need to know the details, let's take a look at what we do need to know:
• ObamaCare does’t create health insurance, it regulates the health insurance industry and helps to increase quality, affordability and availability of private insurance.
• Most people who currently have health insurance can keep it.
• Young adults can stay on their parents plan until 26.
• If you don’t have coverage, you can use the new Health Insurance Marketplace to buy a private insurance plan.
• Open enrollment in the Health Insurance Marketplace goes from October 1st, 2013 to March 31st, 2014.
• If you don’t obtain coverage or an exemption by January 1st, 2014 you must pay a per-month fee on your federal income tax return for every month you are without health insurance.
• In 2014 the fee is $95 per adult ($47.50 per child) or 1% of income, whichever is higher. The family max is $285.
• The cost of your marketplace health insurance works on a sliding scale. Those who make less, pay less.
• American making less than $45,960 as individual or $94,200 as a family of 4 may be eligible for premium tax credits through the marketplace. Tax credits subsidize insurance premium costs.
• If you are able to get qualified health insurance through your employer you won’t be able to receive marketplace tax credits unless the employer doesn’t cover at least 60% of your premium cost, doesn’t provide quality insurance or provides insurance that exceeds 9.5% of your families income.
• If you are able to get qualified health insurance through your employer you won’t be able to receive marketplace tax credits unless your employer doesn’t cover at least 60% of your premium cost, doesn’t provide quality insurance or provides insurance that exceeds 9.5% of your families income.
• Up to 82% of nearly 16 million uninsured young U.S. adults will qualify for federal subsidies or Medicaid through the marketplace.
• You don’t have to use the marketplace to buy insurance, but you should fill out an application to see if you qualify for assistance before shopping for insurance outside of the marketplace.
• The ACA does away with pre-existing conditions and gender discrimination so these factors will no longer affect the cost of your insurance on or off the marketplace.
• You can’t be denied health coverage based on health status.
• You can’t be dropped from coverage when you are sick.
• Health Insurers can’t place lifetime limits on your coverage. As of 2014 annual limits are eliminated as well.
• All new plans sold on or off the marketplace must include a wide range of new benefits including wellness visits and preventative tests and treatments at no additional out-of-pocket cost.
• All full-time workers who work for companies with over 50 employees must be offered job based health coverage by 2015. Employers who do not offer coverage will pay a per-employee fee.
• Small businesses with under 50 full-time employees can use a part of the marketplace called the SHOP (small business health options program) to purchase group health plans for their employees.
• Small businesses with under 25 full-time employees can use the marketplace to purchase subsidized insurance for their employees.
• Medicare isn’t part of the marketplace. If you have Medicare keep it!
• Medicaid and CHIP are expanded to provide insurance to up to 16 million of our nations poorest.
• When you apply for the marketplace you’ll find out if you qualify for free or low-cost coverage from Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). You’ll also be made aware if you qualify for Medicare.

Friday, August 30, 2013

So, yeah. 

This happened.

And of course the Daily Show with Jon Stewart expressed their take on it (This video may or may not have been recorded in Boston, MA.  Protests occurred in many cities across the country).

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-august-1-2013/pay-mas---fast-food---minimum-wage



K.O. wearing his own U.G.C. shirt, proudly.

He may not work in the Fast Food industry but he fully understands the struggle.  Most of the hard working individuals employed at these establishments are not the 16-year-old worker spoken of on Fox 25 News in Boston this morning (how thoroughly elitist and out of touch), simply trying to gain experience and a bit of cash; they are the 28-year-old unemployed-due-to-the-unfortunate-economy worker with rent, bills, and children to care for on a continuing basis.

My specific politics are not of issue, what is of issue is the struggle, and the responsible of which my beautiful bouncing baby boy is choosing to express his. He gets it; and he does something about it. Not only is it his job, it is also the make-up of who he is and who he is not.  In the music (Kash Tha Ovadose) he creates, there he expresses the struggles.  He also speaks of some other things a young man of his lifestyle sees and is involved with, and in, on a daily basis.

I said it once (or one million times) and I'll say it again: My son is just THE MOST...

Let your voice be heard, Pa...the people have no choice but to listen.

Monday, August 5, 2013

Good Morning, August!


So, yeah. This #thuglife* is happening. Lol.

July was a good month in some ways, sadly unjustified in others. I did spend time with my grandad and my favorite twin cousin (Mufasa, Sarabi, and Simba) aka Eric, Nikki, and EJ, lol. 

And a man who committed murder walked free through the hands of man but not in the eyes of the Almighty one, Only God Can Judge him now.

Hello, August! You beautiful month, you! Let's see what awesome opportunities you have in store ;).

*Caveat: No bandanas were harmed in the taking of this mini photo shoot. And yes, I am still thuggin...it's Monday. Even Nelson Mandela thugs it out on a Monday! 

Be well, Mr. Mandela, be well.


A Wolf in Wolves Clothing

iAm We are      but humans for the world to see There’s millions of others But this world, in this moment Is between only you and little ole...