Nine for Ya Mind, Part 2
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Open Pamphlet says:
For friends concerned about the 9, I recognize my fault in the holdup. Life happens, right? It got busier and busier, and now i'm whelmed (I refuse to claim overwhelmed...b/c that would imply I couldn't handle it, and that's not truth). Recognize that this anger at black folks that I have ain't goin nowhere, its just on simmer. But the ish doesn't translate as poetically for me...so you get real talk. "It’s a heavy burden we carry" says the Dean of Student Services. "We as minorities?" asks the pissed off student. Uncomfortable giggles pass through the room of minorities students gathered to talk a/b grievances and suggestions. Uncomfortable hemming and hawing by the Dean who expects minorities to do everything from recommend minority teachers to recruit minority applicants. Am I making folks uncomfortable? Good.
The Writer of this Blog knows how I feel a/b education. But that burden gets heavier at each new level of education that I achieve. So why do so few of us step up? Myself included. Any why doesn't that shared burden lead to collective action? Instead, we see ignorance, pettiness, and backstabbing heifas. Drama and rumors, posturing and politics are the rules of this new game. But at this level, are the stakes higher...or just different? Are the folks more important...or just richer? And by richer I mean poorer (Doc - is that a line from one of your poems?). Dollars taking away from family time, from community, from the very soul of the black man and woman. Folks measure themselves by who they rubbed elbows with last night instead of whose elbows they rubbed - I'm thinking their 5 year olds with lotion, get your mind out the gutter! I'm not sayin I'm turning away dollas - that's something hard to ask and I ain't that strong. But I keep folks in my life that keep me humble - dollas + humble, anger + power - that would be one heck of a combo, yes?
There's this recurring theme in my life (for folks who missed it): Angry Black Woman. All my white friends think its entertaining (yea, I said all - I'm not racist, I have white friends). I'm not talking bout white folks right now on purpose (sorry Doc) - don't want to scare you away because my anger at them matches my anger at us. But why isn't anger the recurring theme of all Black folks? Anger, not indifference, which I see so often. And don't mistake anger for violence. I'm still feeling the King. But one pissed off person isn't going to cut it. Two might - somebody wanna join me? Oh, and Doc, lol @ thinking race ain't the problem. One day maybe - but until I can stop differentiating actions and treatment based on race, its a problem. Until other folks stop looking at us differently, its a problem. Until more than just equality in name exists, race is a problem.
The common bond amongst the black folks that I knew in a past life and the folks in this life: The Itis and CP Time. Ice asks "when an individual is given poor options, what can they do but make poor choices? Poor choices is another common bond - But in my past life it was poor options. What is it in the present?
-Open Pamphlet
Sidenote: I was walking down the street minding my own business last night. This restaurant I pass usually has its specials on a chalkboard sign on the sidewalk. Last night, one of the specials was: "Chicken Noodle Soup (soda not included)." Enjoy that, doc. Nope, not black-owned.
--------------------
*short intermission*
--------------------
Iceman says:
Why is it so hard to just get to work?
It all began when I was playing too much Final Fantasy, neglecting my work. Then, I would realize that my schoolwork as unacceptable, and grades lacking, so I stop playing FF altogether. Not only that, I have a difficult sleep pattern, a lack of appetite, and no interest in socializing (like hearing “How are you doing?” when you know they really don’t want the details).
During this point, I actually want to do my work…but I am in such a bad mental and physical shape that I have to struggle just to accomplish nothing. However, when I finally begin to feel normal again, where I can eat, and am ready to enjoy more balance, what’s the first thing I do? That’s right, cop out of responsibilities.
I know I want to do better, I know I have this great opportunity to succeed, and would be a moron to pass it up. But I still can't shake the laziness that I've instilled in myself. As I continue to grow, and meet other people with my situation, and see them convince themselves that up is the way to go, I'm hoping that this positive peer pressure will steer me in the right direction.
So to you, I ask please keep doing you, waking up blessed each morning, doing big things for yourself. Real black people understand that it's going to take a few success stories for us to improve the situation for all of us, so I am jealous of nobody else. Leave that rap battle mentality for the industry.
Iceman aka Bobby Drake
--------------------
*short intermission*
--------------------
11th Letter says:
A friend recently asked me the following:
Will we step up and do something or will we continue to sit back and laugh (at Chicken Noodle Soup, Fry that Chicken, etc.)?
I responded with:
Why be angry with isolated thunderstorms when the world is raining cats and dogs?
I believe that Christians understand what the world's problem is; it's the fact that the world and its inhabitants are separated from Him and what He wants for each of us.
It's the above statement that transcends race, class, money, all of the things that put this world in the dire state that it's in.
I believe that we are blessed in the fact that we have outlets, whether online or otherwise that we are able to encourage a dying world, and even moreso blessed when we take advantage of those outlets.
Truth is, some of us that aren't laughing, and haven't laughed in a while.
I recently washed down a day of adversity with a viewing of Spike Lee's "When the Levees Broke", a cold, wry view of the events of Hurricane Katrina, which only accentuate my belief that this can't be life, we can't be so absolutely powerless as not to be able to help the helpless, to depower a powerful government.
But in some ways, we are.
We are because our faith is shaken at times by the fact that it's raining cats and dogs in this world, but aren't as effective as we can be because we worry about the isolated t-storms.
Yes, it's raining, but I believe the solution is to continue to trust God and to work that much harder to bring people out of the rain; into a warm shelter where they can find the love that they search for in a pair of shoes, a nice haircut, a warm plate, or sexual relations, just to name a few outlets that people look toward for their little piece of mind.
I hope you all don't take this as an attack on your beliefs or anything of the sort; in fact, I applaud your passion and desire to do something.
I only hope that this serves to inspire you and renews your faith in God.
I love you too much,
(11th Letter)
--------------------
Open Pamphlet says:
For friends concerned about the 9, I recognize my fault in the holdup. Life happens, right? It got busier and busier, and now i'm whelmed (I refuse to claim overwhelmed...b/c that would imply I couldn't handle it, and that's not truth). Recognize that this anger at black folks that I have ain't goin nowhere, its just on simmer. But the ish doesn't translate as poetically for me...so you get real talk. "It’s a heavy burden we carry" says the Dean of Student Services. "We as minorities?" asks the pissed off student. Uncomfortable giggles pass through the room of minorities students gathered to talk a/b grievances and suggestions. Uncomfortable hemming and hawing by the Dean who expects minorities to do everything from recommend minority teachers to recruit minority applicants. Am I making folks uncomfortable? Good.
The Writer of this Blog knows how I feel a/b education. But that burden gets heavier at each new level of education that I achieve. So why do so few of us step up? Myself included. Any why doesn't that shared burden lead to collective action? Instead, we see ignorance, pettiness, and backstabbing heifas. Drama and rumors, posturing and politics are the rules of this new game. But at this level, are the stakes higher...or just different? Are the folks more important...or just richer? And by richer I mean poorer (Doc - is that a line from one of your poems?). Dollars taking away from family time, from community, from the very soul of the black man and woman. Folks measure themselves by who they rubbed elbows with last night instead of whose elbows they rubbed - I'm thinking their 5 year olds with lotion, get your mind out the gutter! I'm not sayin I'm turning away dollas - that's something hard to ask and I ain't that strong. But I keep folks in my life that keep me humble - dollas + humble, anger + power - that would be one heck of a combo, yes?
There's this recurring theme in my life (for folks who missed it): Angry Black Woman. All my white friends think its entertaining (yea, I said all - I'm not racist, I have white friends). I'm not talking bout white folks right now on purpose (sorry Doc) - don't want to scare you away because my anger at them matches my anger at us. But why isn't anger the recurring theme of all Black folks? Anger, not indifference, which I see so often. And don't mistake anger for violence. I'm still feeling the King. But one pissed off person isn't going to cut it. Two might - somebody wanna join me? Oh, and Doc, lol @ thinking race ain't the problem. One day maybe - but until I can stop differentiating actions and treatment based on race, its a problem. Until other folks stop looking at us differently, its a problem. Until more than just equality in name exists, race is a problem.
The common bond amongst the black folks that I knew in a past life and the folks in this life: The Itis and CP Time. Ice asks "when an individual is given poor options, what can they do but make poor choices? Poor choices is another common bond - But in my past life it was poor options. What is it in the present?
-Open Pamphlet
Sidenote: I was walking down the street minding my own business last night. This restaurant I pass usually has its specials on a chalkboard sign on the sidewalk. Last night, one of the specials was: "Chicken Noodle Soup (soda not included)." Enjoy that, doc. Nope, not black-owned.
--------------------
*short intermission*
--------------------
Iceman says:
Why is it so hard to just get to work?
It all began when I was playing too much Final Fantasy, neglecting my work. Then, I would realize that my schoolwork as unacceptable, and grades lacking, so I stop playing FF altogether. Not only that, I have a difficult sleep pattern, a lack of appetite, and no interest in socializing (like hearing “How are you doing?” when you know they really don’t want the details).
During this point, I actually want to do my work…but I am in such a bad mental and physical shape that I have to struggle just to accomplish nothing. However, when I finally begin to feel normal again, where I can eat, and am ready to enjoy more balance, what’s the first thing I do? That’s right, cop out of responsibilities.
I know I want to do better, I know I have this great opportunity to succeed, and would be a moron to pass it up. But I still can't shake the laziness that I've instilled in myself. As I continue to grow, and meet other people with my situation, and see them convince themselves that up is the way to go, I'm hoping that this positive peer pressure will steer me in the right direction.
So to you, I ask please keep doing you, waking up blessed each morning, doing big things for yourself. Real black people understand that it's going to take a few success stories for us to improve the situation for all of us, so I am jealous of nobody else. Leave that rap battle mentality for the industry.
Iceman aka Bobby Drake
--------------------
*short intermission*
--------------------
11th Letter says:
A friend recently asked me the following:
Will we step up and do something or will we continue to sit back and laugh (at Chicken Noodle Soup, Fry that Chicken, etc.)?
I responded with:
Why be angry with isolated thunderstorms when the world is raining cats and dogs?
I believe that Christians understand what the world's problem is; it's the fact that the world and its inhabitants are separated from Him and what He wants for each of us.
It's the above statement that transcends race, class, money, all of the things that put this world in the dire state that it's in.
I believe that we are blessed in the fact that we have outlets, whether online or otherwise that we are able to encourage a dying world, and even moreso blessed when we take advantage of those outlets.
Truth is, some of us that aren't laughing, and haven't laughed in a while.
I recently washed down a day of adversity with a viewing of Spike Lee's "When the Levees Broke", a cold, wry view of the events of Hurricane Katrina, which only accentuate my belief that this can't be life, we can't be so absolutely powerless as not to be able to help the helpless, to depower a powerful government.
But in some ways, we are.
We are because our faith is shaken at times by the fact that it's raining cats and dogs in this world, but aren't as effective as we can be because we worry about the isolated t-storms.
Yes, it's raining, but I believe the solution is to continue to trust God and to work that much harder to bring people out of the rain; into a warm shelter where they can find the love that they search for in a pair of shoes, a nice haircut, a warm plate, or sexual relations, just to name a few outlets that people look toward for their little piece of mind.
I hope you all don't take this as an attack on your beliefs or anything of the sort; in fact, I applaud your passion and desire to do something.
I only hope that this serves to inspire you and renews your faith in God.
I love you too much,
(11th Letter)
--------------------
posted by The Good Doctor at 11:30 PM
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