Open Thread

On this thread nothing is off topic, though the rest of the comment policy still applies. If you want to say something off topic, this is the place to do it.

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I allowed that at first but then within a month the thread became very slow and tended to crash my browser. Unfortunately WordPress now autoembeds YouTube videos. To defeat this put the YouTube link in parentheses, like this:

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q33NlOhBgso)

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799 Comments »

799 Responses

on Sun 4 Nov 2012 at 03:52:12 abagond

A new Open Thread.

The old one, which was getting to long, is here:

http://abagond.wordpress.com/open-thread-2/open-thread/
on Sun 4 Nov 2012 at 03:52:19 abagond

Peanut did a post on her first day in Brazil:

http://blacknotwhitedippedinchocolate.wordpress.com/2012/11/04/my-first-day-in-salvador-brazil/
on Sun 4 Nov 2012 at 09:34:07 B. R.

Hang in there, Peanut

Abagond, note to you, I havent exited your blog at all, Im listening…after being falsly acused of “stalking”, I want to make it plain to you that that was catagoricly false , by not even commenting

I prefer to not subject myself to slander by not participating in the conversation and show that acuasations of me “stalking” are ridiculas

I am enjoying reading your blog
on Sun 4 Nov 2012 at 23:53:18 Peanut

thanks for the kind words b.r and abagond. i’m learning new things everyday. i will be doing another post soon and hopefully posting some pictures too.
on Mon 5 Nov 2012 at 03:31:01 lifelearner

Anyone ever read Medical Apartheid by Harriet A. Washington? It is so horrific the accounts made in the book regarding early medical procedures and the enslaved in the USA. Those MDs were no more than butchers back in the day. I’m not even half way through, but I’m compelled to finish it.
on Tue 6 Nov 2012 at 13:28:56 JT

A meta analysis of polls shows a 91.6% chance for a President Obama victory. Woooooo! XD Please be true….the American people/world deserve a leader with competence, integrity, and humanity.

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/state-and-national-polls-come-into-better-alignment/
on Tue 6 Nov 2012 at 20:43:10 Peanut

my second blog about salvador: http://blacknotwhitedippedinchocolate.wordpress.com/2012/11/06/caring-for-brazilian-children-passive-aggressive-racism/
on Wed 7 Nov 2012 at 13:18:32 larissa

While reading blogs, I discovered new horrors of slavery; the rape of black men, and the lynching of black women. I read about the case of Mary Turner. There are no words to describe the sickness of this filth. Of course none of this is ever taught in schools.
on Thu 8 Nov 2012 at 02:21:19 tehnoun

How long do you all think it’ll take for this one to fill up? It seems to happen faster and faster.

Also, nice posts on your visit, Peanut. Almost makes me want to visit Brazil again.
on Thu 8 Nov 2012 at 03:20:54 mary burrell

@Peanut ; Nice blog nice pictures of Brazil, I had no idea racism was so prevalent. Such a beautiful looking people and ugly spirits. smh..
on Thu 8 Nov 2012 at 03:23:58 mary burrell

Happy we can have our Commander In Chief another 4 years. God bless The Obamas and The United States. Praying for everyone one the east coast. Stay warm Abagond.
on Thu 8 Nov 2012 at 03:28:18 tehnoun

And then Mary reminds me that I didn’t read the second post, and my nice feelings towards Brazil evaporate entirely.
on Thu 8 Nov 2012 at 11:20:02 abagond

@ Peanut

Please keep writing about Brazil!
on Thu 8 Nov 2012 at 13:13:21 B. R.

People, Brazil is racist, discriminatory, has colorisation etc, but, Peanut is writing about her American co workers
on Thu 8 Nov 2012 at 19:46:10 My 2 Cents

i heard brazil was racist they had a music video mockin dark skin women. like alot of other countries with dark skin ppl they treat them different and worship lighter skin. i was shocked to learn blacks weren;t the only ones that deal with light vs dark skin issues.i sometimes see posts where cubans and other light skin latinos will say harsh things about brazilians,dominicans,and puerto ricans.
on Fri 9 Nov 2012 at 15:52:31 lifelearner

I wonder how long before “they” exploit this bright ladies with their hard work and innovation. I wish them well! http://io9.com/5958887/oh-this-just-some-teenage-girls-from-africa-who-invented-a-urine+powered-generator#13524748923403
on Sat 10 Nov 2012 at 07:07:02 Franklin

Sorry for the language, but “Wow….what a friggin’ baby.”

Anders Brevik the “Aryan Champion” (who had to get surgery to look Aryan), is complaining about his “inhumane” prison conditions. Some complaints in his 27 page letter to the guards included that his three section cell suite and coffee are cold, not enough butter on his bread, and he’s not allowed skin moisturizer.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2012/11/09/norway-massacre-breivik-prison-condition-complaints/1695835/

I wonder how much he’d hate the taste of an American, or Developing World prison.
on Sat 10 Nov 2012 at 18:03:49 Herneith

He is ‘superior’, hence his ‘superior’ attitude. You cannot make this s**t up!
on Sun 11 Nov 2012 at 13:14:40 Peanut

pictures of my trip so far: http://blacknotwhitedippedinchocolate.wordpress.com/2012/11/11/pictures-of-my-trip-thus-far/
on Tue 13 Nov 2012 at 02:05:03 cleonette

As of Saturday November 10, 2012, citizens from 15 States have petitioned the Obama Administration for withdrawal from the United States of America in order to create its own government.

States following this action include: Louisiana, Texas, Montana, North Dakota, Indiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, Colorado, Oregon and New York. These States have requested that the Obama Administration grant a peaceful withdrawal from the United States.

http://www.examiner.com/article/15-states-including-texas-have-filed-a-petition-to-secede-from-the-united-states-1?fb_action_ids=10151078848096504&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=timeline_og&action_object_map=%7B“10151078848096504″%3A415461161854039%7D&action_type_map=%7B”10151078848096504″%3A”og.likes”%7D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D

Idiots!!!
on Wed 14 Nov 2012 at 01:22:37 Herneith

http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/allmynotes-organizer/

Nice organizer program and it is free today only!
on Thu 15 Nov 2012 at 15:28:47 JT

The potential for another autocratic Arab regime topped in Jordan:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/14/riots-erupt-in-jordan-the-end-of-absolute-monarchy.html

President Obama’s political influence is far-reaching. Let’s hope that Jordan is able to transition to popularly elected governance in the near future and nothing like Syria happens there.
on Thu 15 Nov 2012 at 18:22:40 JT

http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2012/11/14/president-obama-holds-press-conference

President Obama’s Nov.14.2012 Press Conference.
on Fri 16 Nov 2012 at 12:29:15 JT

Maine GOP Chair charges voter fraud by “dozens of Black people.”

http://www.salon.com/2012/11/15/maine_gop_chair_alleges_possible_voter_fraud_by_dozens_of_black_people/

Just when you thought that the GOP couldnt sink any lower…
on Fri 16 Nov 2012 at 18:34:21 lifelearner

@ Abagond

I would love to hear your commentary of Lincoln. It comes out this weekend. I want to go see it, but I don’t know if my expectations will be let down. Steven Spielberg does have a good track record regarding getting the historical lens (ie. Schlinder’s List, Saving Private Ryan, and The Color Purple)
on Sat 17 Nov 2012 at 09:25:18 abagond

@ Lifelearner

I will not be able to see it this weekend but I hope to see it next week over thanksgiving. I will write a post on it when I do.
on Sat 17 Nov 2012 at 09:33:03 Peanut

i’m flying back to the USA again, my flight anxiety is up again, but I’m looking forward to going home: http://blacknotwhitedippedinchocolate.wordpress.com/2012/11/17/reflections-back-to-the-usa/
on Sat 17 Nov 2012 at 09:34:28 Peanut

i’m praying for safe travel and everything, so my flight is this am 10:50 Brazil time, 8:50 EST.
on Sat 17 Nov 2012 at 13:00:49 Bulanik

@ Peanut

Take courage, take care, and travel safe. I pray that you will arrive intact and happy back home. Looking forward to more of your reflections: great reading.
on Sat 17 Nov 2012 at 13:17:37 Bulanik

@ JT

Up to my eyes working on a heavy project right now and too little time to write here, but would like to share a little Hugh Masekela with you, as I was listening to his trumpet yesterday. Here is one good version of “Stimela” (Ndebele for “coal train” or “running”, I believe).

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPxmmMpfG88&feature=related)

It’s about the working lives of black men in South Africa’s mines.
on Sat 17 Nov 2012 at 16:47:48 abagond

@ Peanut

Travel safe! I loved your posts about Brazil. I hope you can do a few more.
on Sat 17 Nov 2012 at 22:25:00 mstoogood4yall

abe lincoln was racist heres a quote. “I will say, then, that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races—that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this, that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I, as much as any other man, am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.”
on Sun 18 Nov 2012 at 08:17:57 Peanut

hey abagond, i’m back in the USA, i had an incident which involved US customs, I did a post about it: http://blacknotwhitedippedinchocolate.wordpress.com/2012/11/18/i-was-held-up-by-us-customs-officials-welcome-back-to-the-good-ole-u-s-a/

Thank you for your support and your well-wishes everyone, especially you abagond! your blog was like a little piece of home that I could take with me on my travels.
on Sun 18 Nov 2012 at 17:36:01 Bulanik

@ Peanut, you’re so welcome.
on Mon 19 Nov 2012 at 03:18:13 abagond

@ Peanut

“especially you abagond! your blog was like a little piece of home that I could take with me on my travels.”

Wow, cool – and flattering. Glad to be of assistance!
on Mon 19 Nov 2012 at 07:02:44 satanforce

One word. Blackemon. I laughed so hard that I vomited up my rice and peas.

http://tommysotomayor.com/?p=12426
on Mon 19 Nov 2012 at 17:20:03 Peanut

now that i’m back from brazil, i’m so bored…i don’t know what to do with myself… *sighs*
on Tue 20 Nov 2012 at 15:44:05 JT

The significance of the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington and its impact on the drug war in North and South America:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20397335#TWEET378521
on Wed 21 Nov 2012 at 12:42:59 Peanut

abagond, will you be spending thanksgiving with family and loved ones? I know you don’t do personal posts anymore, but I hope everything is going well for you and your wife…you know what I mean. *wink wink*
on Wed 21 Nov 2012 at 13:15:46 abagond

@ Peanut

LOL! Have a Happy Thanksgiving too!
on Thu 22 Nov 2012 at 04:16:00 Peanut

thank you abagond, i hope you have a nice thanksgiving and i hope you’re getting some RIGHT NOW! i’m rooting for you okay!
on Thu 22 Nov 2012 at 04:20:13 King

^ What?? If Abagond is indeed “getting some” he is certainly required to blog about it
on Thu 22 Nov 2012 at 05:55:02 Peanut

i hope he is! i like it when abagond is in a good mood, his blog posts reflect his happiness and that means we always have good things to discuss in the comments section!
on Thu 22 Nov 2012 at 05:55:44 Peanut

plus we’re noisy
on Thu 22 Nov 2012 at 05:56:51 Peanut

oh i’m sorry i means NOSY
on Thu 22 Nov 2012 at 06:51:53 Y.

Just wanted to wish you all a Happy and safe Thanksgiving!
on Thu 22 Nov 2012 at 07:09:21 Peanut

thank you Y. happy turkey day to you too
on Thu 22 Nov 2012 at 14:24:21 mstoogood4yall

happy thanksgiving, but i looked up the real story and its so sad and horrific. In 1637 near present day Groton, Connecticut, over 700 men, women and children of the Pequot Tribe had gathered for their annual Green Corn Festival which is our Thanksgiving celebration. In the predawn hours the sleeping Indians were surrounded by English and Dutch mercenaries who ordered them to come outside. Those who came out were shot or clubbed to death while the terrified women and children who huddled inside the longhouse were burned alive. The next day the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony declared “A Day Of Thanksgiving” because 700 unarmed men, women and children had been murdered.
on Thu 22 Nov 2012 at 15:20:20 King

@ mstoogood4all

Actually the events you describe are from the Pequot War (1634–1638) which began as a trade dispute involving the Pequot and the Dutch and the mistaken killing of a group of English traders who were mistakenly thought to be Dutch. Anyway, the origins of the celebration go back beyond the Pequot War. Early trade association between the English and the Virginia Algonquians peoples were much less troubled, but in any case, the Thanksgiving holiday is not a celebration of the events of the Pequot War.
on Thu 22 Nov 2012 at 21:32:03 Bulanik

President Obama in dreadlocks and the First Lady with many gorgeous curls:

https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/?ui=2&ik=769deb8b83&view=att&th=13b29fe43174dd40&attid=0.1&disp=inline&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P8N3ndITLKP3mshvvibC5py&sadet=1353619643981&sads=Sea4G1QXXs0PmoHAZncOTLeT1ok
on Fri 23 Nov 2012 at 01:09:26 Peanut

abagond? u there?
on Fri 23 Nov 2012 at 06:17:34 teddy1975

Have you seen Africa for Norway?

http://www.africafornorway.no/
on Fri 23 Nov 2012 at 06:47:53 Peanut

abagond you there? u awake?
on Fri 23 Nov 2012 at 06:48:25 Peanut

i have something important to ask you?…
on Fri 23 Nov 2012 at 23:08:29 Peanut

abagond! abagond! abagond!
on Sat 24 Nov 2012 at 03:09:57 Peanut

yay it’s officially the christmas season!!!
on Sat 24 Nov 2012 at 03:12:09 Peanut

abagond, if i paypal you some money…will you do me a favor… and read my story?
on Sat 24 Nov 2012 at 16:34:02 JT

Peanut you are seriously having some Abagond-withdrawal. LOL. Just playing.
on Sat 24 Nov 2012 at 17:47:20 Bulanik

@JT
Did you like the music vid I sent you about a week ago?
http://abagond.wordpress.com/open-thread-2/#comment-151248
(Wow, maybe I try some of Peanut’s methods to get your attention — Only playing.)
on Sat 24 Nov 2012 at 18:10:39 JT

lol – I DIDNT. lemme see whats in the Bulanik mix today.
on Sat 24 Nov 2012 at 18:18:00 JT

Yes. Its gorgeous. The Gen Y-er in me had to fast forward the opening monologue though. But the music is superb. Thanks Bulanik.

On another note a reminder of the voices of the White-Right (wing):

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/24/1163910/-Saturday-hate-mail-a-palooza-pre-election-predictions-edition?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos%29
on Sat 24 Nov 2012 at 18:51:02 JT

Capitalism’s grossest win: The final triumph of Black Friday :

http://www.salon.com/2012/11/23/capitalisms_grossest_win_the_final_triumph_of_black_friday/
on Sat 24 Nov 2012 at 19:48:30 Herneith

Folks, please sign this petition!

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/adopt-bugs-bunny-road-runner-and-alfred-e-neumann-national-symbols-american-people/BQWt23qf
on Sat 24 Nov 2012 at 20:55:35 JT

@ Bulanik,

^^ Oops. I misread your post with my first response. I thought it said “Did you HEAR the music vid that i sent you a week ago?” not “Did you like…”

I missed that post a week ago – thats what I meant when i said that I didn’t (hear it) but that i wanted to see what you had so i was going to scroll up. Then my second response says how i actually feel about it once i had heard it. The saxophone is beautiful as are the vocals.

Very confusing responses on my part. Excuse me.

*puts down the blunt*
on Sat 24 Nov 2012 at 21:03:50 JT

Condoleezza on American intervention in Syria:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/condoleezza-rice-syria-is-central-to-holding-together-the-middle-east/2012/11/23/200e583e-2ebf-11e2-89d4-040c9330702a_story.html
on Mon 26 Nov 2012 at 07:21:21 Peanut

@ JT
abagond was helping me with a short story that i’m writing. the story sucks and i know he was just being nice by reading it, so ever since then i think he has been hesitant to read it because he doesn’t want to hurt my feelings, but he won’t say that.

i know the book is bad abagond…i know my book is bad, it needs a lot of work that’s why i ask him questions.

but abagond goes through this phase where he ignores me and won’t respond to my comments at all and stuff…so i never know what to expect from him.

i try and help and give advice about relationships and respect his personal life and stuff and i wanted abagond to have a nice thanksgiving with his wife, so i waited to ask him to read my story until a couple days after because i thought maybe he and his wife would want some privacy / time to do what spouses are supposed to do etc…cuz i know that is always a concern (And i hope everything went well) but he just doesn’t want to read my story…
on Mon 26 Nov 2012 at 15:52:52 Peanut

some people are just…so not loyal and so not into helping people.
on Mon 26 Nov 2012 at 15:58:13 Peanut

i’m destroying the whole book, i’m just gonna trash it!!! i’m wiping it off my computer deleting the file, i am so upset!!! I’M DONE and i’m a failure at everything!!!!
on Mon 26 Nov 2012 at 16:05:53 Peanut

i support this blog, read and comment and u seriously can’t even do me one favor abagond? really??? wow… the way i look up to you and look forward to your blog posts…just wow…
on Mon 26 Nov 2012 at 16:22:20 Peanut

I’ve been having a bad day so far, i wake up this morning and i have to go to the bathroom and i have WORST diarrhea ever, it’s burning and all uncomfortable and everything! then i go and try and cut open some grapefruit because i’m supposed to be starting my healthy eating today and i CUT MY index finger! then i’m walking around feeling like i got s*domized in my sleep or something cuz that is how bad the diarrhea has burned my butt, so I had to put Vaseline in there and now it’s all jelly and all i wanted was to work on my story and just chat with some people on the blog and i can’t even do that…

i’m upset.

ever since I’ve gotten back form Brazil I’ve been having trouble with my bowel movements…i wonder if i got something…i really hope it goes away soon…i’m scared. it could just be because of all the junk food, i didn’t really have this problem while i was in brazil, it only started after…

i may have to pick up something from the pharmacy, has anyone had a problem like this after traveling???
on Mon 26 Nov 2012 at 17:35:07 abagond

@ Peanut

I almost always get diarrhoea when I travel overseas. In most cases it goes away on its own, but two times it did not. One time it hung on for like two weeks before I went to see the doctor and he put me on antibiotics. A clear liquid diet (soup, juice, etc) helped it to be not so bad till it went away.
on Mon 26 Nov 2012 at 17:39:33 abagond

@ Peanut

I you have not deleted your book don’t! Even if you think it sucks and is going nowhere now, you might be able to do something with it later.

If you sent anything to me to read in the last week or so I have not received it. You will need to send it again.
on Mon 26 Nov 2012 at 17:40:42 abagond

@ Peanut

“But abagond goes through this phase where he ignores me and won’t respond to my comments at all and stuff…so i never know what to expect from him.”

I have been sort of out of circulation since the middle of last week. I was not purposely ignoring you or anything like that.
on Mon 26 Nov 2012 at 17:47:40 JT

@ Peanut,

I think your book probably rocks! Keep writing! It isn’t easy. For anyone. But keep doing it while you develop your voice it will get better and better. Abagond can attest to that I am sure. Good luck! =)
on Mon 26 Nov 2012 at 18:20:15 B. R.

Peanut , I would think that if it was something in Brazil, it would have hit you there , it sounds strange if it came from Brazil that it would kick in after you got back, unless it was the last meals or the airplane food …if its Dengue fever, that kicks in about 10 days later or so, but that would be achy bones and horrible headache…for sure go see a doctor if it doesnt get better…

Ive always been getting sick in South Beach, but, no matter what, anytraveling outside of the country you are accostomed to, has lots of differant bacterias that your stomach has to get used to…good luck on getting better
on Tue 27 Nov 2012 at 02:39:17 Iris

@ Peanut

You had one of those days, huh? If all you have is just plain diarrhoea and nothing else that points to some kind of disease, I had awful diarrhoea for about 2 weeks a while ago. I couldn’t leave home because of it. The doctors just threw pills at me and didn’t tell me what it was. It wasn’t until the second doctor told me to completely avoid these foods: oily (no frying, no butter/margarine on any bread), no dairy products, no meat, no fish. Eating apples also helps. The days of sticking to that were excruciatingly boring because homes here do not automatically come with ovens and grills, so I had to boil everything. Flavourless, soggy and gross… but it worked. If not, I’d recommend getting some anti-diarrhoeal medicine. Hope you’re feeling better soon.
on Tue 27 Nov 2012 at 11:48:09 Bulanik

@JT – glad that you enjoyed that vibe.

JT, on a general note, I’m working on big project now, something that I’ve been preparatory work on, daily, for months, and that leaves me with little time or energy to write much here at present. But I was reflecting about this blog the other day, and said to myself, perhaps I should try to be more attention-seeking (and in more of kiss-up kind of way), and play up to popular more “American” bias, but, you know what? No Thanks. What for? I’ve never commented because I want to be part of any popularity competition. People should be who they are and, what is the price of getting “approval” anyway?

I prefer ideas, getting into other commentary, watching trends, and…being myself (whilst keeping my privacy), rather than copying, following anybody else or repeating myself. Not that I am not humbled by some great, great stuff here. I am. And I learn; some of the commentary makes an impression and influences the way I see the world…it surely does. But I like to use my own filters, and trust myself, ultimately.

It’s been suggested by some of the other commenters (especially the lovely black men on that write on this blog) that I should have my own blog.
But I can’t think what I would write about! My interests are a bit eccentric…

Would I have the time to do it right and actually write well? Being badly dyslexic, writing regularly has forced me to take what I write seriously. To take myself seriously. And also to know when to laugh and leave “serious” alone. At different times, I considered changing my name to make it “cuter”, or putting a gravatar photo up, but, no, I’m done with relying on my looks, and all that…

I suppose having the experience of writing on Abagond’s blog daily for the past year or more has helped me to organize my inner thoughts more, and it helped me to clear my mind for my work outside, too. And that’s apart from how it educated me about US culture and history and outlook, especially in comparison to other places.
on Tue 27 Nov 2012 at 13:22:26 JT

@ Bulanik.

True. You and your tunes are great – keep on posting them (at least thats my selfishness speaking =))

IN my opinion this board has a lot of outstanding commentors and i think everyone feels ignored at sometime.

I know that others and myself have felt the same way.

But that doesnt mean you should ignore the feeling of falling into the background.

I think the idea that you mentioned that some Brothers have suggested of getting your own blog would be kick a$$. There is currently a gap in the internet content – one that has your name on it. Fill that gap if that feels natural.

Thats my pov.

I know ill be reading (even if i dont post all the time). =)
on Tue 27 Nov 2012 at 13:30:31 leigh204

@ Bulanik:

Perhaps you should give blogging a try. Going by what I’ve read of your many contributions here on Abagond, your blog would be insightful and thought provoking.
on Tue 27 Nov 2012 at 14:32:51 Bulanik

@ JT
@ Leigh204

I’m amazed you got what I said with all my terrible typos!!
But, thank you… “insightful and thought-provoking”. Wow, Leigh204.
For my part, JT, I don’t ignore what you say, in fact…I don’t actually ignore anyone who writes here on a regular basis. It’s my loss to ignore the regulars, frequent or not, like Iris or Mira.
They have something to say. That’s why I visit Abagond’s and continue to!

I don’t agree with or understand everything, but there’s a person behind those comments, isn’t there? A mind; thoughts and feelings. That sort of thing.

There’s a pile on my plate right now, and I don’t know if I could really do it, but, that said, *thank you* for the encouragement.
on Wed 28 Nov 2012 at 02:23:48 Iris

@ Bulanik

Wow, I never thought of myself as attracting that much attention nor being very memorable, but that you mentioned me as one of the people whose comments you come to read is very flattering! Especially since I feel very much the same as Leigh204. Often, I find your comments are some of the most interesting and enlightening to read and I think many regulars here feel much the same way about you. I would read your blog, even if it’s posted on irregularly and jumps from one thing to another. Ultimately, whether you want one or not is up to you, though.
on Wed 28 Nov 2012 at 17:22:12 JT

@ everyone,

Just got a great email! Had to pass on the message. I am being examed for a university student government p0sition in immigration!!! Wooo. This is what Ive been wanting for soo long. Dreams do come true!!! Now I have to pass two tests and face-to-face oral exams. Can’t wait to try. =D here is hoping i pass…
on Wed 28 Nov 2012 at 17:24:39 JT

@ Bulanik,

Thanks – looking forward to reading more from you!
on Wed 28 Nov 2012 at 18:50:37 abagond

@ JT

Good luck!
on Wed 28 Nov 2012 at 19:20:12 tehnoun

@JT
That’s great to hear! I’m sure you’ll do fantastic.
on Wed 28 Nov 2012 at 20:11:43 JT

Thanks @ abagond & @ tehnoun,

Thank you kind Sir(s). We’ll see what happens! I would really like to work for the government and help change things in the immigration system from inside out. Obviously, that doesnt start from day 1 but something that would be a long term project…project infiltration …muahah. =) Just playing. Ill follow the rules but with a more progressive bent. Thats all im saying. XD
on Wed 28 Nov 2012 at 23:29:30 Bulanik

@ JT, to quote tehnoun: ” I’m sure you’ll do fantastic.”
Delighted for you, very well done and wish you the best of luck.
I also appreciate what you said in encouragement to me.
on Wed 28 Nov 2012 at 23:57:19 Bulanik

@Iris.

I’m taken aback.

Thank you for what you said.
I can’t do it soon (workload), but I’m thinking I might, when there’s the time/space to think through my own stuff.

I’m not even a particularly “verbal” kind of person! A bit silent, would you believe it? Words get in the way, at times. So, writing takes time, and commitment, sometimes it’s a necessary pain, getting the reader to “see it”, to “see” what you are trying to say if not the first time, then for them to care enough to go back over it again and find out…
on Thu 29 Nov 2012 at 01:11:03 leigh204

All this talk about Christmas-related stuff has saddened me. This is the first Christmas without my mama. I went shopping at the mall today and while listening to the Christmas songs being played in the stores, I became emotional and I broke down in tears. My mom’s favorite song em”Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” came on. When I was a little girl, I would play this song for her on the piano and she would sing. Now my mom’s Filipino accent was very thick. And she was so proud of herself that she could sing this particular song entirely in English without stumbling. Oh, those sweet memories. Gosh, I miss her so much.
on Thu 29 Nov 2012 at 01:13:08 Iris

@ JT

Congrats on getting to do the exams and good luck for all the tests.

@ Bulanik

No need to thank me.

If you do decide to start a blog once you’ve tackled your workload, I’ll be looking forward to reading it!

It’s not too hard for me to believe that you’re rather silent offline. After all, I’m actually very much the same myself! People always complain I don’t talk enough. Writing is far easier than speaking when it comes to putting my thoughts and feelings into words.

Despite what you say about the difficulties of writing, it has always been my impression that writing well comes naturally and easily for you since you explain everything so well.
on Thu 29 Nov 2012 at 01:22:46 leigh204

@ JT:

That’s awesome news! Best of luck in your test and oral exams!
on Thu 29 Nov 2012 at 01:30:18 Bulanik

@leigh204. The first Christmas without your mother… The loss can hit you at any time, can’t it?

This year, if you feel up to, I say play that piano and remember her in your song.

This will my first with my daddy. Thoughts are right there with you, leigh204.
on Thu 29 Nov 2012 at 01:35:32 Bulanik

@ Iris

You are very quiet, too? People also complain to me how very quiet and too softly-spoken I am all the time! That’s so funny. LOL!

We must be the quiet ones people have to be careful of, then! Still waters and silently passionate and all that good stuff!!

I’ll take heart from that, Iris
on Thu 29 Nov 2012 at 01:46:56 leigh204

@ Bulanik:

Thank you for your support and encouragement! I spoke with my significant other just now about what happened and he said he would play that Christmas song in remembrance of her and for the good times we had. I smiled in anticipation.

And I find it comforting that I’m not alone in all this. I know you, dear Bulanik, that you are experiencing the same feelings regarding the loss of your father. This makes us kindred spirits. We’ll get through this. I’m sure of it.
on Thu 29 Nov 2012 at 01:50:55 tehnoun

@JT
Miss, sweetie. Unless something has changed that I wasn’t aware of.

Still, it’s nice to hear things are working out the way you planned. Good luck!

@Bulanik
You don’t give yourself enough credit. Your comments are always some of the most insightful around. A blog by you would be a real treat, but don’t feel pressured to do anything if your workload would make running a blog difficult (which I’m not the best example of, given my horrible update schedule).
on Thu 29 Nov 2012 at 17:23:20 Y.

Trayvon 2.0

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zKxprhqfs8&feature=g-u)
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG5RO1-31Bw&feature=g-u)
on Thu 29 Nov 2012 at 20:15:33 Bulanik

@tehnoun Oh, thank you.
{Bulanik blushes under her ‘tan’. LOL!}
You are so encouraging, I appreciate what you say.
on Fri 30 Nov 2012 at 01:15:33 Iris

@ leigh204 & Bulanik

Wishing you both courage and strength as well as all the love and support you need for the holidays! I’m sure you’ll both make it through.

Bulanik, I think everyone loves you.
on Fri 30 Nov 2012 at 16:32:55 Bulanik

@ Iris. Aw, very kind, and received with gratitude

I think everyone loves you.

LOL, um, maybe, but definitely in different and mysterious ways! LOL.
on Sat 1 Dec 2012 at 03:20:00 Peanut

hey abagond,
Did you read my post that I gave you the password to…Please don’t hate me. Please tell me you don’t think badly of me now…
on Sat 1 Dec 2012 at 03:22:49 Peanut

abagond, i just need you to tell me what you think, i’m embarrassed
on Sat 1 Dec 2012 at 18:28:45 Linda

Time flies when there’s too much work and not enough play.

Anyhow, just have to get this off my chest:

I am so tired of these idiot politicians in the US!

Now that the election is over, these Republican idiots haven’t yet got the clue that everyone is sick of them and everyone just wants them to Shut Up and do their job in Congress…which is –Fix the Mess that You All Created 10+ years ago.

The majority of the population just made it loud and clear that they are sick of Republicans and their big mouths — that’s why they lost the Election in a big way….and as usual they are Not listening.

They keep talking and talking about Susan Rice and Benghazi…before the attack, none of those Republican people (or even half the population in America) could spell the word “Benghazi”, much less find it on the map….all of a sudden–everyone’s an expert and a critic about Libya, Syria and the middle east.

The Republicans started a war in Iraq based on a HUGE lie, which they bold-facedly repeated over and over, and now 10 years later (4000+ dead Americans and 1+ million dead Iraqis later), everyone is supposed to look to the Republicans as the torch-bearers of Truth and Light..
on Sat 1 Dec 2012 at 19:01:27 Legion

Bulanik, little message for you in “Skyfall.” It’s in moderation for now.

Happy Christmas to everyone. I know I’ve gotten under the skin of some of y’all so some of you won’t want to take the Christmas wish, that’s perfectly fine. I’m leaving a blanket Christmas wish because listing everyone I dig would take too long and be tacky as all get out.

Yo B: Cape goodness.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NfSN5nPNXw)
on Sat 1 Dec 2012 at 19:36:38 Bulanik

@ Legion. You are dug back, and Christmas wished.
on Sat 1 Dec 2012 at 19:40:56 Legion

At different times, I considered changing my name to make it “cuter”

Wow-really? Hm, the social pressures of gender.

Women gotta be feminine and men gotta be manly–hyper manly even.

I don’t know if you know the story (it happened somewhere in Europe) but this was an actual news report that I heard:

The news report went that some guy, in Eastern Europe somewhere, had gotten into an argument with a couple other dudes about which one of them was tougher. The verbal discussion included the usual: number of bedded women, litres of alcohol guzzled. I think they also did some arm wrestling, typical man stuff.

Anyway, according to the news report, one guy just wasn’t done making his point about how tough he was. *Cue drum roll.* He goes and gets a chainsaw and to prove how damn tough he was, the guy cuts off his head with the chainsaw!

Err, you win dude.

(I believed this story years ago, but now…? It took me years to pour alcohol on an open wound without flinching, cutting one’s own head off? I don’t think so, but it’s an amusing comment on the pressure to be the maximum gender ideal.

——————————————-
*google searches*

Ok the account here is different but with the same dramatic ending.

http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin1996-07.html
on Sat 1 Dec 2012 at 20:30:37 Legion

The Republicans started a war in Iraq based on a HUGE lie…

Man, it was embarassing watching Colin Powell with his super awkward self presenting the bullshit case to the UN on Saddam’s utterly terrifying weapons. Anyone who has raised a child, or hell, been a child, could have read that man’s “liar, liar” body language with one eye closed.
on Sun 2 Dec 2012 at 11:05:39 Bulanik

@ Legion…. ay, the social pressures of gender, and speaking of hyper-masculinity, remember the invincible black knight of myth?

“Tis but a scratch” he says when his arm is cut off.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKhEw7nD9C4)
on Mon 3 Dec 2012 at 14:33:43 JT

Funny news of the day:

$150 million dollar fail by Jewish-American magnate to get President Obama out of office:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/03/sheldon-adelson-2012-election_n_2223589.html?utm_hp_ref=canada&ir=Canada

Geez … even i could have saved him money – it was obvious to many that President Obama would be reelected.
on Mon 3 Dec 2012 at 16:38:04 tehnoun

That snow effect startled me for a moment. I thought something was wrong with my monitor or something.
on Tue 4 Dec 2012 at 04:05:33 brothawolf

Everyone,

Forgive me for intruding, but the following is a continuation of a long argument eco is having with a statement I made in a post entitled “Why do whites, hate, demonize, fear and look down on blacks?”

“And why should it matter if others should or should not agree with me, or accept my claims as the truth? ”

Do you consider saying ignorant things as something negative? If you don’t, then you don’t have to care if the things that you believe are true are actually true. If you do, then you might want to analyze which elements of your worldview can be considered true, ‘objective’, and which are a matter of a person’s perspective, their individual experiences and beliefs. Being precise and avoiding talking about large, vaguely defined groups of people would be a nice touch too.

You can’t even answer a simple question, eco. Plus, you have shown not only your arrogance but how inflated your ego is. What I’ve said came from my worldview. Like I’ve said over and over, part of what I said was based on research. Still, this is a personal view that I have of the world.

Whether or not you agree with it or think it’s rational doesn’t matter. It matters less than yet another attempt to pick apart and cherry pick another response to keep the conversation going veering it to a subject about how you – that’s right, you think it’s wrong and the millions of reasons why. None of which matters to me because I don’t care. I don’t see why you do, and yet, you can’t explain why you do.

“So, why are you even bothering to drag this on if nobody, including you, according to you, has a reasoning most appropriate for this conversation?”

That’s not what I said. There MAY be a reasoning better than the one I presented, but such a reasoning hasn’t been put forward yet.

And I have a feeling that won’t accept that reasoning because it interferes with your reasoning. So, what’s the point in continuing this argument? So that you can have the final say? So you can win? What is it?

“I don’t see why this is such a big deal to you. Nobody does.”

That’s true. A lot of people here do not recognize ignorance when the ignorant statement fits into their worldview. Apparently some believe that certain ways of thinking are wrong only when the people they disagree with use these ways of thinking.

That is such smugness. You, once again, are implying that what I said was ignorant. And it is based on what? Whatever it is, it’s based on what you say as if you have the ultimate qualifications to determine what’s what.

Then, you say that most people here, which I assume you mean the regulars of this blog, don’t recognize ignorance if it fits their worldview. If it does fit their worldview, why call it ignorant if they have dealt with complications related to the subject in the first place? In that case it’s only ignorant to those who could not and would not consider that the perspective of others is different from their own only to call it ignorant and wrong.

Next, Some believe that certain ways of thinking are wrong if those ways disrupt the basic human rights which include happiness and heath, among others. If a certain mentality hurts them in such a way that scars them somehow, they have a right to speak up for themselves and say what’s wrong. And that’s what I’ve done in that post. Plain and simple.

You see eco, that’s what white racism does to POC everyday. It is based on nothing more than the notion that white skin tones are indicators of intelligence and strong moral values. So, when POC have something to say about that, those, like what you’ve done in the post, call it wrong, immoral and racist. Yet, those same people will not acknowledge the real power which is white racism. The trolls that you see represent that mentality, and they have same plenty of offensive crap that pours salt into the deep wounds of POC. Why? Because it continues to exist. White racism won’t allow itself to die as long as those with the white racial frame want to keep it alive and going so that whiteness continues to be the false norm and a phony, cheap cloak of supremacy.

Now, I know what you’re going to do, you’re going to keep this going with more redundant questions and more pseudo-logical assumptions. The truth is eco is that you are being highly illogical yourself.

In the first place I don’t want to pull any straws, but how could you know what it’s like to be a POC in a white dominated society? Let’s go a little deeper while being critical, who could you know I was talking about ALL white people all over the world? How do you know I wasn’t just referring to whites in the West? How do you know I wasn’t referring to most or many whites in the West?

You’re basing your arguments on a mere assumption, an assumption you want to take apart and reassemble into something other than what it was.

That is highly illogical.
on Tue 4 Dec 2012 at 06:05:37 JT

@ Brothawolf,

Sounds exhausting. Kudos for holding your ground. I would ban his @$$. Just for tiring me out and thinking he can justify racism as a logical extension of his experience. That is just annoying and probably even trolling.
on Tue 4 Dec 2012 at 06:59:15 Tulio

Looks like we have a Trevan Martin part II brewing:

http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/this_is_no_country_for_young_black_men_20121203/

http://blackstarnews.com/news/135/ARTICLE/8575/2012-12-03.html

I hadn’t heard of this story till today. The woman speech in the video is riveting.
on Tue 4 Dec 2012 at 18:34:35 Peanut

it’s snowing on abagond’s!!! yay let it snow let it snow let it snow!!!
on Wed 5 Dec 2012 at 03:13:13 Legion

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K4zdG0QfOA)
on Wed 5 Dec 2012 at 20:36:33 lifelearner

@ Abagond

Is there a reason why you no longer have the map icon that displays the various countries that visit your blog? It was quite interesting piece of information. Twitter lingo now in its place. I’m guessing a majority of hits are from the USA. I definitely could be wrong
on Wed 5 Dec 2012 at 21:20:23 abagond

@ lifelearner

I got rid of those. I did a post on the traffic on this blog. I has a screen capture of one of the widgets:

http://abagond.wordpress.com/2010/01/19/traffic-on-this-blog/
on Thu 6 Dec 2012 at 15:45:34 eco

@brothawolf

I think our conversation doesn’t belong here. IMO it’s safe to assume that most people who visit this topic are not familiar with the details of our discussion and, more importantly, they do not care.

Oh well… Here is my summary of our exchange of comments…
My point is very simple. People are not supposed to make generalizations about millions of other people they’ve never met and say/pretend their opinion about those millions of people is the truth. It may seem like the truth to the person voicing the opinion, it may look justified, but it is not ‘objectively’ true. It’s an opinion, a belief, their perspective, etc.

Brothawolf keeps bringing up his subjective experiences and the experiences of other people he knows to justify his generalizations, but doesn’t seem to get why that can’t make the generalizations ‘objective’, that in order to be ‘objectively’ true they can’t rely on anyones opinion. I said that people who can’t recognize their opinions as what they are and try to make it seem as if their subjective beliefs were ‘objectively’ true are being ignorant and illogical.

I feel my point is clear, but he keeps trying to present it as something it is not: me attacking his freedom of speech, me telling him how he should think/feel, me protecting white racists, some kind of personal feud, etc. I think he either doesn’t understand why my point is or is trying to avoid a conversation about which aspects of his worldview are ‘objectively’ true.
on Thu 6 Dec 2012 at 17:04:40 JT

@ Eco,

Don’t pi$$ on someone and then tell them its raining. Or if you do, expect that it will come back your way and then some.
on Thu 6 Dec 2012 at 19:03:29 lifelearner

@ Abagond

Cool stuff right there. Now if you only there were a monetary exchange for each hit your received. You would be rich, my friend!
on Fri 7 Dec 2012 at 01:49:01 eco

@JT

I’ve criticized him and constructed a reasonable argument. In return he rants about his experiences and tries to make it look as if I was attacking their validity and the experiences of all other POC. Instead of constructing a rational defense, he is trying to appeal to ‘bystanders’ (in this topic and on his blog), hoping others will accept his narrative, ignore my actual point and side with him because they feel empathy for him. You see that as a strong comeback? Looks more like the Black version of white woman’s tears to me.
on Fri 7 Dec 2012 at 03:55:56 brothawolf

eco,

I don’t care if other people are familiar of what’s going on with his argument or not. I brought it over here because it was making the thread longer and harder to load, and it was veering off course of the topic of the post itself.

Once again, you are bringing up my comment as a case of generalization of millions of certain people. Yet, you have not said one word to the countless trolls who take it upon themselves to do the same thing with nonsensical reasons. I never said that it was objective. I said that there are many POC who share the same sentiments based on their experiences. So, there must be some truth to it. And I’ve brought other examples to back up my case.

My point is clear also. I’ve stated firmly that I will not take it back no matter what you or anyone else says. The only person seem obsessed with trying to take it apart and make someone the bad guy is you. I told I am done. Yet, you continue to beat a dead horse. This is why I think you want to have the last say and win this argument.

Finally, I presented it as best as I can. You are the one telling me in some way or other, over and over that it’s illogical or wrong without any good reasons.

And what good reason is there for me or anyone else not to think you are protecting white racists, that you are taking this personal, and the like? So far, all of the evidence is against you, and you just can’t or won’t see it. That’s why I don’t think you’re being as logical as you say you are.
on Fri 7 Dec 2012 at 04:04:22 brothawolf

eco,

What makes your argument any more reasonable than mine? That is just your opinion and not a fact.

Others have accepted my points many times because they can relate. What I’ve said was identifiable because they’ve had similar experiences or they agree on certain topics.

Does that happen all the time? No. And that’s okay. I don’t try to argue with them unless they bring it in a disrespectful, pretentious way as if to say I don’t know what I’m talking about.

I’m not here to play on anyone sympathies the same way some white women do as you’re brought up white woman’s tears. I’m here because this is the one place online or anywhere where I feel like I can learn and give feedback. I don’t pretend to know more than everyone on a particular subject and act high and mighty especially when they give their opinions. The only time I ever go on the “attack” is when, and only when, certain people start something they can’t finish.
on Fri 7 Dec 2012 at 06:33:27 eco

@brothawolf

“you have not said one word to the countless trolls who take it upon themselves to do the same thing with nonsensical reasons.”

So? Does that make my point in your particular case any less valid?
I have mentioned I do recognize their actions as wrong, but I generally avoid having conversations with people who do not seem reasonable. Why should i waste my time on them? Just so you wouldn’t feel singled out?

“I never said that it was objective.”

You presented your opinion, your generalization, as the only possible conclusion. That implies objectivity.

“I told I am done. Yet, you continue to beat a dead horse.”

We are both replying to each other. We are equally responsible for the fact that this conversation hasn’t ended.

“What makes your argument any more reasonable than mine? That is just your opinion and not a fact. ”

The truth is ‘objective’. That is one fact. Subjective opinions based on a person’s experiences are not ‘objective’. That’s another one. Claiming a cherry picked group can be representative of millions of people is subjective unless a ‘objective’ justification/explanation exists. Third one.
My argument is more reasonable because I’m relying on obvious facts and basic logic and not my personal feelings, opinions or experiences.
on Fri 7 Dec 2012 at 07:03:21 Legion

@ Eco and Brothawolf

Gentlemen, begging your pardon but I fear you are both about to gum up the open thread too…
on Fri 7 Dec 2012 at 08:39:26 brothawolf

Legion,

You’re right. This has gone on far enough.

Eco,

If you haven’t applied your “logic” to the dipstick trolls who have made clearly racist comments regarding blacks but instead leach on to my one and only comment regarding my so-called generalization of whites, that makes you look like somewhat of a hypocrite and someone incapable of having a serious conversation with regarding the issue of race and racism.

I already said my piece, and this case is closed. And in closing, I suggest you stop showing off as if you are some highly logical and morally responsible paragon. I’ve presented my arguments appropriately, staying within the original thread.

I never said that my worldview is objective and you know it. So, don’t try to spin what I’ve said to mold yourself in your self-serving image to satisfy your ego. I said my piece and more.

The only one making a fool out of himself is you because you’re arguing with a man of color that you have NO clue about the subject important to him. You don’t know what you’re talking about and you need to humble yourself and quit putting up a front.

That’s why I’m closing this circus, once and for all. It’s gone off long enough and it’s getting extremely pathetic. You are trying to find illogical flaws in a conversation that doesn’t call for a logic test in the first damn place especially since racism isn’t logical in the first place. You merely are trying to portray yourself in a role that isn’t for you. You can think what you want to think and I can do the same and move on. That’s why I’m saving any more further embarrassment by calling this case closed.
on Fri 7 Dec 2012 at 11:27:15 eco

@brothawolf

I would have been a hypocrite If I applied different standards of logic to you and the trolls. I haven’t. In my first comment addressed to you I have pointed out you are using a faulty thought process they are using too. The fact that I chose to talk to you merely means that I preferred talking to you over discussing this with them.

If you really believe that the fact that you haven’t explicitly called your opinion “objective” and have based it on your unique experiences means it shouldn’t be criticized, then you should apply this to the trolls too. Why should they be criticized? Why are their generalizations (about Black intelligence or violence, etc.) wrong? They are only voicing their opinions based on their experiences. They are not explicitly saying their beliefs are the ‘objective’ truth. Can we know how it feels to be them? Can we know and understand what they experience? Nope. So, can we determine that their generalizations are wrong? Yeah, by knowing how to distinguish opinion from fact. We do not have to know how it feels to be them to be able to recognize that what they are saying just isn’t ‘objectively’ true.

Racism being logical or illogical has nothing to do with it. It’s just a context in which the thought process of the generalizations is being used in this particular case. People can make this kind of flawed generalizations about many other things.

You are right about one thing – I’m not an authority on logic. I just value it. It allows people to draw a line between subjective and ‘objective’ things – to realize what is actually true and what only seems true to them.
on Fri 7 Dec 2012 at 11:47:01 JT

@ Eco,

Why don’t you invest some time reviewing Abagond’s/Brothawolf’s/others archives of SYSTEMIC and PROLONGED WHITE INSTITUTIONAL RACISM. There are probably millions of exhibits of evidence. Instead of relying on Brothawolf to issue all of them to you in the course of a response and then for you to try and pedantically pick them apart to make a conclusion that he is illogical and that SYSTEMIC and PROLONGED WHITE INSTITUTIONAL RACISM does not exist nor ever existed.

You might learn a lot – or nothing – this all depends on how open your mind is.
on Fri 7 Dec 2012 at 14:58:06 JT

@ Eco,

Furthermore, your false equivalence of Black people expressing their dismay with the system vs. the cyber-KKK community (i.e. most whites that wage verbal wars on this subject) is especially LUDICROUS considering the context of the last 500 years of history and the social-economic pit that white people have tried to shove Black people down. It is not hard to see this if you have eyes open. And there are more enough illustrations of this subjugation outlined on this website and others. If you are SERIOUS about discussion, do your homework first and then maybe talk can be had on equal understanding. Right now you are woefully unprepared to come to the table.
on Sun 9 Dec 2012 at 21:41:27 Peanut

when the weather outside is frightful…and the fire is so delightful.

I just read a children’s book called “Christmas in the big House, Christmas in the quarters.”

very educational and touching
on Mon 10 Dec 2012 at 02:48:29 mstoogood4yall

it was a fireball that landed somewhere here in texas yesturday. its lookin like the maya prediction is being somewhat true.anyway the stores are already being packed as hell and christmas songs are playing. i don’t like christmas music that much but i love mariah careys all i want for christmas and silent night.what is everyone else favorite songs?
on Mon 10 Dec 2012 at 02:58:40 mstoogood4yall

i love old school music because it was a story that the artist told and some of the great songs were recorded during jim crow. they were used to show others that blacks loved,laughed,and felt pain too. now music today is just full of ppl that act and are being someone they are not[rick ross] just to get money.the rappers today talk about struggling and im just like what. ppl back then had to struggle because of racism,lynchings,and unemploement and being uneducated, you maybe have to deal with 2 of those things. i like tv one more than bet because it has shows on there that aren’t showing all the sterotypes of black ppl but Bet does. i hope more black ppl wake up and not try to be like the blacks they see on tv.i miss good black shows like the cosby show,sanford and son.and good times. its like 1 step forward 2 steps back. there is punishment for killing blacks now[1 step forward]. now we have ghetto shows like basketball wives and terrible rappers who promote drugs and sex[2 steps back].blacks need more positive shows now more than ever because now we are not held back physically but only mentally if we overcome that we will be on the right track.
on Mon 10 Dec 2012 at 04:18:13 lifelearner

@ mstoogood4yall

My all time favorite Christmas songs are Silent Night by the Temptations, This Christmas by Donny Hathaway (blame my parents, always enjoyed old school music, growing up in the 90s ) and would also have to agree with you on TV programs nowadays. I enjoy TVone as well-Amen, Different World, Martin are some of my favs as well. The only reality TV I do watch is Tia &Tamara, Welcome to Sweetie Pies, and Fix My Life.
on Mon 10 Dec 2012 at 05:32:46 mstoogood4yall

@lifelearner

i love those shows as well and i feel tvone is more for empowering and educating blacks than bet is.isnt sweetie pies the show on oprahs network that has the highest ratings outta all the shows on there, and am i the only one that thinks charles is gay.iylana fix my life is great too that episode with that woman leaving her family for another man was crazy.
on Mon 10 Dec 2012 at 06:08:07 Legion

@Bulanik

I’d like to add my humble opinion to the others who’ve already spoken.

Re: you blogging

• First thing, you should blog if you think it would be productive and contribute to your level of happiness. So, if you blog, it should first satisfy you and others secondarily. This is important just out of common sense but it’s also important because no matter how innocuous or incontrovertible a post of yours might be…

•…you will get “hate/gripe mail”:) You would need to decide how much patience to extend to trolls. Even Mira gets occasional hate mail, she wrote an entertaining post about it.

I’m with Leigh, a blog by you would be thought provoking and insightful, without a doubt. But, perhaps you should write a book instead. Something lasting. Maybe you have a book in you. It’s obvious from your comments that your life has been interesting and that you’re always thinking (and feeling).

If you had a blog or wrote a book would you do so under a pseudonym?
on Mon 10 Dec 2012 at 06:23:34 mstoogood4yall

Abagond i love your blog and i love that i can type how i feel without being moderated. Other black websites i’ve been to have nothing but posts about dumb rappers and swirling like bossip and madamenoire. I cant stand those websites because the posters on there are mostly trolls and say negative things about bw/bm and are rude. The posters here are kind,educated,and enlightening. Even when there is a disagreement they don’t resort to cursing and calling each other racial slurs.
on Mon 10 Dec 2012 at 06:33:30 mstoogood4yall

im thinking of changing my poster name…. any suggestions
on Mon 10 Dec 2012 at 09:59:06 Matari

mstoogood4yall

How ’bout *Good4All* or *Good4U*

: )
on Mon 10 Dec 2012 at 15:23:11 lifelearner

@mstoogood4yall

LOL! about Charles on Sweeties Pies. You are not alone. I thought the same thing. Or maybe he’s just effeminate, he does hang around a lot of women. I support OWN, some folks can’t stand Oprah, but she really is a great role model, at least to me Iyanla show is off the chain, she tells those folk like it TIS!

as far as name change, maybe? *2Good4U* or *MissGoodie* or *2Good2B*
on Mon 10 Dec 2012 at 20:17:08 mstoogood4yall

lol thanks for the suggestions. i had toogood4u as a name b4 but ppl thought i was a boy so i changed it.
on Mon 10 Dec 2012 at 23:19:21 phoebeprunelle

http://www.pawnation.com/2012/12/10/photo-of-panda-flying-business-class-tricks-thousands/
on Tue 11 Dec 2012 at 12:49:38 eco

@JT

You have extremely misunderstood and misrepresented my comments.
on Wed 12 Dec 2012 at 16:10:28 lifelearner

Sign this petition please, “declare Stand Your Ground law illegal” https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/declare-stand-your-ground-laws-illegal-accordance-federal-law-require-states-amend-laws-match/pLR1JYxh
on Wed 12 Dec 2012 at 18:09:07 Bulanik

@ Legion — About blogging.

You say that one “..should blog if you think it would be productive and contribute to your level of happiness.”
Wise words.
I wounder about the time and energy it’d take setting up and managing a blog. I sometimes write to friends (met a few here from Abagond) about what’s on my mind, and theirs, and our exchanges lead to pretty interesting places sometimes.

Haters and gripers? Who needs that drama? I recall Mira said something about the hate mail she gets. How off-putting.

As for writing a book…now, that is a scary thought! I started a book once when I was a very dyslexic teenager. It went nowhere because I didn’t put any “action” in it. So lost hope in it. Of course now I realize books don’t have to be about sequences of “what happened next” as such, to be readable.

As for the name…I think I’m quite fond of my Turkish name, now
Not sure on that one, Legion.
(I nearly missed your comment, thus excuse my late reply.)
on Wed 12 Dec 2012 at 18:14:40 Bulanik

@ mstoogood4yall

I really, really like the name. It stands out.
toogood4yall is probably even better.
I wonder how come it should it matter so much to you if at first you are mistaken for a male commenter?
on Wed 12 Dec 2012 at 18:45:22 Legion

Time and energy in setting up and in maintaining.

BULLSEYE! That’s what I was trying to get at. Will the effort expended be better placed elsewhere? Will the pleasure that comes from writing a blog exceed the energy that goes into maintaining it? What are the benefits of writing a blog? Et cetera, et cetera. All rhetorical questions B, no need to answer them. Food for thought is all.
on Thu 13 Dec 2012 at 05:40:20 Legion

Rest in peace, Ravi Shankar.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/ravi-shankar-was-a-master-teacher-who-influenced-a-star-studded-class/article6273525/
on Thu 13 Dec 2012 at 05:58:40 Bulanik

RIP, Ravi Shankar.

Star of India, and King of the Sitar.
Caught him twice in concert. Unforgettable.
on Fri 14 Dec 2012 at 10:45:28 satanforce

http://sportyafros.com/hair/rhonda-lee-fired-her-responding-to-comments-about-her-natural-hair/
on Fri 14 Dec 2012 at 23:31:14 mstoogood4yall

a gunman killed 20 kids and 6 adults in conneticut pray for the families.this is tragic that kids can;t even go to school to learn without being shot by another studentor adult,or be bullied by both adults and students,and deal with teachers having sex with students.school is definetly not the place it used to be.now they are saying the gunman had mental illness i can figure out his race based on that.
on Sat 15 Dec 2012 at 01:10:42 Peanut

this country has a problem, i may be home schooling my kids at this rate
on Sat 15 Dec 2012 at 01:11:32 Peanut

gun control issues need to be addressed i may write a letter to obama
on Sat 15 Dec 2012 at 01:15:08 Peanut

and we just had a post about jordan davis and i think we can all appreciate the relevance of gun control to that situation as well.
on Sat 15 Dec 2012 at 01:56:20 mstoogood4yall

@peanut

i think gun control is a great idea its just most ppl say its making the good suffer with the bad.i definetely think they need to have mental evaluations on all ppl that purchase guns.if you wanna homeschool your kids go for it. i was homeschooled and am grateful when i see how some of my classmates turned out.
on Sat 15 Dec 2012 at 02:06:03 mstoogood4yall

whites don’t want gun control and say it is to protect against the government and criminals. well where are u gun enthusiasts when ish like this goes down where are your armed militias.thats right their too busy killin young black men instead of killing the real murderers.guns are a part of their history. guns and whites go way back from the killing of natives for manifest destiny to using guns to keep the blacks in line during slavery and jim crow.to the modern of using guns to kill innocent kids.most of these ppl just have guns for the what if scenario but i know more stories of guns being used for bad than good.if the good gun owners must suffer with the bad so be it if it saves lives. if the good gun owners are really good they won;t mind going through more red tape to get or keep guns to keep guns outta the wrong hands. i know the ppl are going to defend guns and say well in china a man stabbed 20 kids and that’s a weapon too. guns are more deadly than knives will ever be just ask the natives and africans that tried to bring a knife or spear to a gun fight against the white man.
on Sat 15 Dec 2012 at 02:37:21 Peanut

“well where are u gun enthusiasts when ish like this goes down where are your armed militias.thats right their too busy killin young black men instead of killing the real murderers.guns are a part of their history. guns and whites go way back from the killing of natives for manifest destiny to using guns to keep the blacks in line during slavery and jim crow.”

AMEN STANDING OVATION!!! STANDING OVATION!!! I couldn’t agree more, you’re so right…where the F-CK are these so called people who are out to protect the innocent…NOWHERE TO BE FOUND WHEN YOU NEED THEM…THEY’RE TOO BUSY SHOOTING BLACK MEN FOR LISTENING TO MUSIC OR BUYING SKITTLES…YOU ARE SO RIGHT!!! ABAGOND I THINK YOU NEED TO DO A POST ON THIS..!!!!

IT’S INSANE!!! IT’S DRIVING ME CRAZY…THIS COUNTRY IS SO HYPOCRITICAL IT’S SICKENING!!!
on Sat 15 Dec 2012 at 03:02:17 Peanut

and forgive me, but i haven’t read the constitution in entirety in years, but if i recall the second amendment is pretty vague about the definition of “bearing arms,” i know at know at one points in history, people went out of their way to keep Black men from bearing arms…even in the post slavery era…so I KNOW that there is some flexibility in that clause…if people could try and keep guns out of Black people’s hands….they can’t make some loophole to keep guns out of potentially crazy and unfit hands…? now all of a sudden everyone wants to remain so stringent on that amendment?
on Sat 15 Dec 2012 at 03:05:28 Peanut

here we go right here:

“After the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1878, most states turned to “facially neutral” business or transaction taxes on handgun purchases. However, the intention of these laws was not neutral. An article in Virginia’s official university law review called for a “prohibitive tax…on the privilege” of selling handguns as a way of disarming “the son of Ham,” whose “cowardly practice of ‘toting’ guns has been one of the most fruitful sources of crime…. Let a negro board a railroad train with a quart of mean whiskey and a pistol in his grip and the chances are that there will be a murder, or at least a row, before he alights.”[81] Thus, many Southern States imposed high taxes or banned inexpensive guns in order to price destitute individuals out of the gun market.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_control

so, we can look at history and see how people can regulate gun control against Black people because we’re just so inherently dangerous…

yet crazy people go around shooting people for buying skittles and playing music…and now we’ve got even CRAZIER people shooting innocent children…without limits….

i just don’t get it.
on Sat 15 Dec 2012 at 03:39:50 Peanut

I AM SO ANGRY ABOUT…POLITICIANS ARE SO F*CKING STUPID WHAT IS IT GOING TO TAKE TO GET THIS THROUGH THEIR THICK-AZZ SKULLS THAT WE GOT A DAMN PROBLEM IN THIS COUNTRY.

INNOCENT CHILDREN ARE BEING KILLED EVERYDAY!!! THINK ABOUT HOW MANY FAMILIES ARE SUFFERING BECAUSE THEIR GOVERNMENT CANT’ GET THEIR ACT TOGETHER AND REGULATE SOME GUN LAWS!!!
on Sat 15 Dec 2012 at 04:11:42 Peanut

i’m upset about this whole thing it’s TOO MUCH, all these senseless killings from Trayon to today, to the countless nameless people who are just gunned down for no reason every day in this country…it’s just too much.

I feel so incredible sorrowful for those families who lost their babies today. Such a loss of innocence and to young children, I don’t know what kind of psychopath would do harm to unarmed, innocent young children and its just messed up to do this around Christmas time and the holidays at that…

this is ridiculous. someone say something to make me feel better cuz i’m angry and saddened by this…

and i can’t believe the politicans are saying “this isn’t the time to discuss gun control or politics…” well if THIS isn’t the time, when IS??? MAYBE IF THE GOVENRMENT ENFORCED GUN CONTROL…WE COULD HAVE AVOIDED THIS WHOLE TRAGIC SITUATION IN THE FIRST PLACE.

I’M WRITING A LETTER TO OBAMA ABOUT THIS, I’M OUTRAGED…NOT ONLY ABOUT THIS, BUT ABOUT JORDAN DAVIS AND THE LITTLE BLACK GIRL WHO GOT KILLED AND SHOT IN HER HOUSE SOME YEARS BACK THAT ABAGOND DID A POST ON….GUNS ARE JUST OUT OF CONTROL IN THIS COUNTRY!!! people will shoot you for no reason these days!!!

someone say something
on Sat 15 Dec 2012 at 19:36:09 mstoogood4yall

@ Peanut

I feel you and i am outraged as well. The thing that cheers me up is the upcoming days i’m staying in and gettin my popcorn to watch these crazy people go crazy because they think the world is going to end because some ancient ppl said so.Its funny to me how whites say they believe in god but the moment someone says the world is going to end and there is some science involved they forget all about what the lord said about nobody will know the time nor the hour not even jesus himself only the father.So unless the mayans are god their ish is invalid.
on Sat 15 Dec 2012 at 19:53:22 mstoogood4yall

@ peanut

The other thing that i find funny is how everything is whitewashed. Santa is white and jesus is supposedly white. Its like white savior stereotype is everywhere.Behave little black kids and you too will get presents from the great white man known as Santa Claus.Santa will bring your black a.ss a present even if you live in the hood and have been good,but your parents can’t afford gifts.There will be presents under your tree. Child wakes up the next morning no presents.Momma why are there no presents.well child we couldn;t afford them this year sorry. But santa is supposed to bring me presents i’ve been good haven’t i ? Yes you have. Then why didn’t i get presents but cindy lou who is always picking on others that aren’t like her, how come she gets presents. she should have gotten coal. Well sweetie your father and I couldn’t afford to and her parents could.But santa was supposed to bring me a present then. Sorry son but Santa isn’t real. What?!! Then there won’t be a great white man coming to give me presents and take me to white heaven.That is an excert from my upcomin book entitled Behave Little Black Child: A Christmas story. My next book is going to be titled Behave Black Man: A Gun owner’s Handbook.
on Sat 15 Dec 2012 at 23:17:18 Peanut

lol @ mstoogood,

the white santa stuff gives me a roll…i remember when i was little and we used to get pictures with santa, only ONCE did I ever see a Black santa
on Sun 16 Dec 2012 at 01:59:16 Sharina

@ mstoogood

“My next book is going to be titled Behave Black Man: A Gun owner’s Handbook.”—ROFL…Thank you for that. I was about to write a long rant about the shooting and read that and decided not to.
on Sun 16 Dec 2012 at 03:08:03 tehnoun

@mstoogood4yall
After reading your comments, I’m beginning to agree with your username.
on Sun 16 Dec 2012 at 04:28:38 Sharina

@ Peanut

I told my kids straight that there is no santa. Save them from the harsh reality later in life.
on Sun 16 Dec 2012 at 07:35:35 mstoogood4yall

lol thanks yall are too much. i love making people laugh. it is sad what tragedies happen daily in our world but if you can smile you win.i wonder why ppl do tell their kids santa is real. i think its peoples way of manipulating their kids to act right when they won’t listen to them,but that fails when they become teens.
on Sun 16 Dec 2012 at 11:28:15 dave

Ok Peanut so we are to believe that this heavily armed guy dressed in all black with body armor(pretty convenient since he killed himself) brought three guns “legally” owned by his mom. First his mother worked there…. then his mother may have worked there. Look either she did or she didn’t. There should be no may have and if she worked there then why wasn’t she there? and if your beef was with your mom then why go to her “school” and kill all kinds of kids with no motive. Even you guys that think there are white nuts who are prone to be serial killers have to think this doesn’t add up. I mean first they were saying the mom was a teacher then she may have volunteered there. I just don’t get it.
on Sun 16 Dec 2012 at 11:42:10 dave

check it out .. now they’re saying his mom had no affiliation with the school. So first you kill your mom with no known motive… then you go to a school that your mom was at first a teacher then a volunteer then no known affiliation… now “maybe” the shooter went there….. If these fuckers are pulling some funny stuff we need to take action. I hope I’m wrong and there is no conspiracy and the news people were false reporting on some hunches or false reports…. if not I’m very worried.
on Sun 16 Dec 2012 at 15:52:13 mstoogood4yall

how does that not add up.There was a guy a couple years ago that went to a school board meeting and tried to kill the board memebers because his wife was fired.the guy that shot up that conneticut school didn’t need a motive crazy people don’t need a motive.The guy that shot up the movie theater didn’t need a motive either he just did it or do you think he had something against twilight.people don’t need a motive to do terrible things and its not the prosecutors job to know the motive it just helps them make their case sound more convincing.The media is always mixing up facts it doesn’t matter if she was a teacher or a volunteer either way the fact is she had connections to the school.It would be suspicious to me if she didn’t work there and her son had no guns or had an alibi.this case is closed.
on Sun 16 Dec 2012 at 18:04:55 nmaat433

People are saying that all of these recent massacres are a part of a larger orchestrated plan to crack down on personal gun ownership. I don’t know if that’s true but I don’t believe in coincidences and especially not back-to-back stuff like this. Initially in the presstitute they reported a 2nd gunman, what happened to that? In the Aurora shooting intitially eyewitnesses were saying they saw 2 gunmen but you don’t hear about that anymore. Bottom Line: you can’t trust anything the media says and you cannot put anything past the US govt–they have proven time and time again that they have no problem killing ‘innocents’ to move forward a larger agenda, ie: 9/11.
on Sun 16 Dec 2012 at 20:21:02 Peanut

MERRY XMAS:

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Sf8NDWz21E)
on Sun 16 Dec 2012 at 23:11:27 mstoogood4yall

lol peanut that song is funny now its stuck in my head.
on Tue 18 Dec 2012 at 04:41:33 Matari

@ maat433

Manchurian Candidates
Mind Control
Project MK Ultra
False Flag Operations
Managed/Conditioned/Programmed Societies & Populations
Gun Control
Dumbed Down Curriculums
Depopulation agendas
Secret FEMA Concentration Camps
Police State
Genetically Modified Foods, etc..
Biological, Genetic Warfare
Deadly Vaccines
The North American Union/Amero
New World Order
One World Govt
Powerful Lobbies
Bankers, Fiat Money, IMF, WTO
Secret Experiments

…just to name a few things THEY have in mind for us…
even the institutional so-called church has been compromised (they should all echo the message/warnings of Rev Jeremiah Wright)

There are no coincidences, or accidents!
on Tue 18 Dec 2012 at 04:58:33 Legion

Bulanik, may I just say in the least creepy way possible that babe in your avatar pic is hella gorgeous!

*runs for life from feminist hordes*
*wonders if the humour will make it all the way to Ireland*
.
.
on Tue 18 Dec 2012 at 20:30:28 Peanut

hey I’ve got a dirty riddle for yall:

what’s round, jiggly, covered in whip cream with a cherry on top and chocolate sauce…that gets eaten???
on Tue 18 Dec 2012 at 20:36:09 Sharina

Chocolate balls……
on Tue 18 Dec 2012 at 20:37:39 Bulanik

@ Legion…..humour arrived safe and sound.
(And, thank you.)
on Tue 18 Dec 2012 at 20:38:05 Peanut

@ SHARINA LMAO!!! HOW DID U KNOW??? u heard it before?
on Tue 18 Dec 2012 at 20:38:49 Peanut

someone told me that at work!!! isn’t that funny! cuz it’s a chocolate ball like a candy…but it’s also…you know LMAO!!!
on Tue 18 Dec 2012 at 21:30:21 Sharina

@ Peanut

No. I took a wild guess. LOL
on Tue 18 Dec 2012 at 23:43:44 Peanut

lol!! good guess
on Tue 18 Dec 2012 at 23:52:50 tehnoun

@Legion
I am the General of the Feminist Legions. PREPARE TO DIE!

You avatar does look nice, Bulanik.
on Wed 19 Dec 2012 at 00:02:52 mary burrell

@Bulainik; You are just stunning if that’s you in your avatar.
on Wed 19 Dec 2012 at 01:00:55 Bulanik

@ tehnoun, mary, thank you for looking.
The avatar is not a photo of me. 2 of my colleagues found this one and are 100% convinced that it’s the closest resemblance to me possible.
(rolls eyes) LOL.

I’m fond of Legion’s big, dreamy ship on the ocean, and tehnoun’s lovely rainbow rose. Mary, what avatar would you have? Would you have a photo or a drawing of a person or a thing?
on Wed 19 Dec 2012 at 03:17:51 mary burrell

@Bulainik; I want a picture of a weeping angel statue, I think they are beautiful.
on Wed 19 Dec 2012 at 03:20:07 mary burrell

I saw one in a cemetary and it moved me.
on Wed 19 Dec 2012 at 03:20:59 mary burrell

I do love tehnoun’s rainbow rose.
on Wed 19 Dec 2012 at 04:13:51 tehnoun

@mary
You mean like this?
http://f.nanafiles.co.il/upload/Xternal/IsraBlog/07/39/82/823907/misc/26545824.jpg

[/bad reference jokes]

Also, thanks, mary and Bulanik. Rainbows and roses are amongst my favorite things, so I figure combining the two can only lead to awesome results.
on Wed 19 Dec 2012 at 04:20:39 Legion

^lol
on Wed 19 Dec 2012 at 04:51:22 Legion

Daryl Hall and Cee Lo doing a version of ‘Crazy’ that is cooler than a chunk of ice in the rings of Saturn. (Yes, I know, I am awesome at similes )

“It’s gonna be on 4.”

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxmtQvrWUps)
on Wed 19 Dec 2012 at 17:12:48 Bulanik

@ Legion. You can not go wrong if Cee Lo is on the dessert menu!

I’m not wild about Alicia Keys, but this version of “You Don’t Know My Name” with the Moments” makes me smile:
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WkwTQ1rd-U)
on Thu 20 Dec 2012 at 07:42:00 mary burrell

@Legion Macy Gray and Cee Lo doing Crazy. Now that is just totally bananas.LOL!
on Thu 20 Dec 2012 at 08:40:08 Legion

Mary, you’re gonna think I’m thick. I searched to see if they had done a version, but I think what you mean is that that would be an unexpected combo. Just like Daryl Hall and Cee Lo is perhaps unexpected.

I never understood why Macy Grey’s management didn’t get her to do a version of My Way. Her voice is (sorry to say, it’s an opinion anyway) very novelty. Her voice doing My Way would breath a new and different life into that song. Can’t you just hear it … ?
on Sun 23 Dec 2012 at 07:09:05 Peanut

abagond, i have a suggestion for a post how about zwarte piets, the racist black minstrel show

http://www.mimimagazine.blogspot.com/2012/12/from-archives-culture-shock-good.html
on Mon 24 Dec 2012 at 07:12:35 mstoogood4yall

@ peanut

i saw that story on yahoo and the commenters were saying it was a joke and get over and i’m offended that you’re offended.i can’t stand how people expect blacks and other people of color to not be offended by such foolishness.they are on the outside looking in and don’t know how it feels.Even when victorias secret offended the native americans with their parading around in skimpy outfits with a native american headress on people thought they shouldn’t be offended.I’m tired of people telling me or other people if they are allowed to be offended to me that is their way of trying to control people and the way they feel.
on Mon 24 Dec 2012 at 10:44:10 dave

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj30lbc5_mI)

Abagond… Please shed light on this. It will tell me you care for all people not just blacks. Watch the whole video.
on Mon 24 Dec 2012 at 11:17:21 dave

Actually Abagond, delete this I have my reasons. I’ll send you an email… thank you.
on Mon 24 Dec 2012 at 11:42:52 mstoogood4yall

@ Dave that vid reinforces why i don’t trust cops and that vid of them beating up that homeless man in california and killing him is very disturbing too.
on Mon 24 Dec 2012 at 19:59:24 Peanut

148 years ago…I would have been on the slave plantation for Christmas: http://blacknotwhitedippedinchocolate.wordpress.com/2012/12/24/christmas-in-the-big-house-christmas-in-the-quarters/
on Tue 25 Dec 2012 at 01:48:33 Peanut

abagond i deleted about 2/3 of my book…i had 80 pages now i have about 24…i didn’t like it…so i only have a little bit now…it’s just too hard
on Tue 25 Dec 2012 at 01:53:25 Peanut

excuse me i have 28 pages, but i might cut it down some more…i guess i’m just no good at creative writing…maybe i need to take a course on it or something…guess i’m not as talented of a writer as I thought that I was…
on Tue 25 Dec 2012 at 05:19:26 Peanut

abagond ur probably up late getting ready for xmas, i hope ur kids still don’t believe in santa, they’re a little old for that sh-t. i stopped believing in santa when i was 7 years old.
on Tue 25 Dec 2012 at 07:11:22 Peanut

i got my gre scores did well on verbal and essay, but my math was atrocious…who cares about the frickin pemdas stuff anyway…i don’t even use that stuff in my everyday life.
on Tue 25 Dec 2012 at 15:11:51 leigh204

@ Peanut:

i stopped believing in santa when i was 7 years old.

I never believed in Santa. My parents told me from the beginning Santa Claus wasn’t real. They said strange, fat white men aren’t physically able to climb down the chimney bearing gifts to good girls and boys. I think that was my parents’ way of telling me I wasn’t going to get the presents I wanted that year. LMAO! :p
on Tue 25 Dec 2012 at 21:15:05 Peanut

lol @ leigh
on Tue 25 Dec 2012 at 23:07:18 leigh204

OMG, it’s official! I’m engaged! My bf proposed to me today on Christmas Day! That’s the BEST Christmas present EVER!! I’m soooo happy!
on Tue 25 Dec 2012 at 23:14:59 Bulanik

@ leigh204

CONGRATULATIONS AND CELEBRATIONS!
on Tue 25 Dec 2012 at 23:22:46 Bulanik

Leigh … what a lucky man. And a very sensible one!
Such wonderful news; the beginning of happy and good things…
on Tue 25 Dec 2012 at 23:28:44 Bulanik

A little song for you, Leigh: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8raabzZNqw)
on Tue 25 Dec 2012 at 23:40:33 abagond

@ Leigh

Congratulations! What a wonderful Christmas present.
on Tue 25 Dec 2012 at 23:58:48 mary burrell

@leigh204 Congratulations. What a lovely Christmas gift.
on Wed 26 Dec 2012 at 00:10:41 mary burrell

@Peanut; Great post on your blog about Christmas during slavery. Good job.
on Wed 26 Dec 2012 at 00:10:59 Legion

Leigh, that’s an amazing Christmas present. May you know far more happiness than sorrow. May the light be far more enduring than the dark.
on Wed 26 Dec 2012 at 00:16:11 mary burrell

Abagond; Happy Kwanzaa.
on Wed 26 Dec 2012 at 00:26:13 King

HAha!! Congratulation Leigh, many happy years to you!!! I wish you every happiness!
on Wed 26 Dec 2012 at 03:10:58 Iris

@leigh204

Congratulations! What a perfect gift. Were you surprised?
on Wed 26 Dec 2012 at 03:36:53 Sharina

Congrats Leigh!!!
on Wed 26 Dec 2012 at 03:48:35 lifelearner

How exciting! Congrats, Leigh. Maybe you’ll get on one of reality wedding day shows
on Wed 26 Dec 2012 at 04:43:52 tehnoun

@leigh
Congratulations! Your future husband’s a smart man, and I hope you’re really happy together.
on Wed 26 Dec 2012 at 15:31:26 mary burrell

@ Abagond;Did you have to get Staci-Anne Chin’s permission to use her image on your open thread? I think she is an interesting person. I saw on a PBS program called Point of View.
on Wed 26 Dec 2012 at 15:39:17 mary burrell

Oh you know what I just typed her name in the search, I found a post that you did on her. I think she’s cool.
on Thu 27 Dec 2012 at 19:11:12 Legion

There are so many issues in the world that I don’t know about or forget about. Here’s one that sort of fits both deficit categories. I don’t know just how corrupt [international] adoption can be and I often forget about international adoption as an issue in world affairs.

When something is available at too low a cost or too low a standard there’s always excess demand. A 50% drop in suitable adoption applicants, after the Chinese enacted some standards, is amazing. The following quote is from an article:

Among the new regulations, adoptive parents are required to meet certain educational and financial requirements, and must be married, be under 50, not be clinically obese, not have taken antidepressant medication in the past two years and not have any facial deformities.

The interesting article I came across:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/27/why-are-other-countries-wary-of-american-adoptions/?wprss=rss_world&tid=pp_widget
on Fri 28 Dec 2012 at 20:56:24 LookingForAnswers

I have bought at least 2 books based on posts from Abagond. Now I am looking for a book the does a good job of detailing and explaining the institution of salvery in North America from beginning to ‘end’. Can someone make a recommendation? Something you would give a 9/10 or 10/10.
on Sat 29 Dec 2012 at 04:47:57 Peanut

abagond, this may be of interest to you

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-XDaUCvwao)
on Sat 29 Dec 2012 at 05:03:47 mary burrell

@Looking For Answers Bull Whip Days by James Mellon quite compelling.
on Sat 29 Dec 2012 at 05:08:26 leigh204

@ Bulanik:

Thank you very much for the warm well wishes, sweet lady! Oh, and the YouTube clip, too. As always, your sweetness and thoughtfulness are appreciated!

@ abagond:

@ Leigh

Congratulations! What a wonderful Christmas present.

Thanks! I’m on cloud nine.

@ mary burrell:

@leigh204 Congratulations. What a lovely Christmas gift.

Thank you! I’m still finding the whole engagement thing taking a while getting used to.

@ Legion:

Leigh, that’s an amazing Christmas present. May you know far more happiness than sorrow. May the light be far more enduring than the dark.

Thank you so much for the lovely congratulatory message!

@ King:

HAha!! Congratulation Leigh, many happy years to you!!! I wish you every happiness!

Aw, thank you! I’m very happy right now.

@ Iris:

@leigh204

Congratulations! What a perfect gift. Were you surprised?

Oh, thanks! I was definitely surprised. My fiancé was helping me unwrap the Christmas presents when he pulled out an engagement box and opened it to reveal the ring inside. My eyes popped and my jaw dropped.O_O

@ Sharina:

Congrats Leigh!!!

Thank you, girl.

@ lifelearner:

How exciting! Congrats, Leigh. Maybe you’ll get on one of reality wedding day shows

Thanks a bunch! Idk about a reality wedding show. I’m a pretty private person, but a reality wedding show would certainly be interesting.

@ tehnoun:

@leigh
Congratulations! Your future husband’s a smart man, and I hope you’re really happy together.

Aw, thank you for the congrats! Speaking of smart man, my honey’s friends have been telling me the best thing he’s ever done was to propose to me. How funny is that? lol!

Again, thank you everyone for all the wonderful engagement wishes! I’m touched! My fiancé and I feel truly blessed. ^_^
on Sat 29 Dec 2012 at 11:56:41 B. R.

Totaly missed this , Leigh, super congradulations
on Sat 29 Dec 2012 at 22:44:17 Peanut

1. congrats leigh!

2. i just saw django unchained…what an insulting,anachronistic movie…
on Sat 29 Dec 2012 at 22:47:00 mstoogood4yall

@ peanut

what didn’t you like about it.i will not see that movie anyway but what in particular did you not like.i heard they say the n word a lot in that movie is that what upset you
on Sat 29 Dec 2012 at 23:44:35 Matari

Leigh

You deserve this happiness… bask in it.
Undoubtedly your fiance knows he’s getting a VERY special lady. : )))
I’m happy for you both!
on Sun 30 Dec 2012 at 00:28:28 Peanut

@mstoogoodall,

i did a blog post: http://blacknotwhitedippedinchocolate.wordpress.com/2012/12/29/applause-for-django-unchained-my-thoughts/
on Sun 30 Dec 2012 at 04:21:13 LookingForAnswers

@ mary burrell

Thanks!
on Sun 30 Dec 2012 at 17:51:02 leigh204

@ Peanut and Matari:

Thank you two for the congrats! I can’t wait to build our future together!
on Mon 31 Dec 2012 at 02:31:37 Mbeti

So for such a concerned brother no reference to Kwanzaa?!
Interesting.
on Mon 31 Dec 2012 at 18:18:06 Peanut

@ abagond, i sent u an email i had a question about my blog when you get the chance.
on Mon 31 Dec 2012 at 22:55:55 abagond

@ Peanut

Check your email.
on Mon 31 Dec 2012 at 22:59:28 abagond

@ mary burrell

“Abagond; Happy Kwanzaa.”

I do not celebrate Kwanzaa, but thanks. Have a Happy Kwanzaa!
on Mon 31 Dec 2012 at 23:02:05 brothawolf

Mbeti,

That’s the same comment you left me. I’m sorry, but what’s up, man?
on Mon 31 Dec 2012 at 23:44:27 abagond

@ Mbeti

I do not celebrate Kwanzaa.
on Wed 2 Jan 2013 at 00:11:06 brothawolf

Happy New Year all.
on Wed 2 Jan 2013 at 05:41:44 Bulanik

Hey Brothawolf!

Happy New Year to you. And all.
on Wed 2 Jan 2013 at 10:22:35 abagond

Happy New Years!!!
on Thu 3 Jan 2013 at 18:49:11 Bulanik

“Lost my mama, lost my mind”, sing, Kanye….

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4o9AwFyosRM)
on Thu 3 Jan 2013 at 19:14:33 Legion

^Why do I feel a need to listen to track 6, Let’s Get It On, all of a sudden?
Ah, *shoulder shrug,* who knows where thoughts come from?
on Thu 3 Jan 2013 at 19:48:48 Legion

And mothers losing sons and sisters losing brothers, and on …

http://www.asianage.com/mumbai/hang-my-son-he-deserves-it-377
on Fri 4 Jan 2013 at 13:53:01 lifelearner

Happy New Year!! @ All Any new’s year goals?

@Abagond-Are you posting in book recommendations, this year? I’m set to read 30 books for 2013 (I know, it’s not a lot compared to most, but it’s an obtainable goal for myself-with my busy life.)
on Fri 4 Jan 2013 at 15:52:21 abagond

@ Lifelearner

I will later today.
on Sat 5 Jan 2013 at 09:02:13 Franklin

@ Peanut

You actually went into Django, thinking that it was going to be historically accurate? From the first mention of Django Tarantino said that it was going to be nothing more than a Spaghetti Western. You not liking it is your own fault because you didn’t do research into what the film was going to be like. So you went into it while assuming that it was going to be something, that it was never intended to be. It’s just like Tarantino’s movie Inglorious Bastards, where Jews kill Hitler. It’s a Michael Bay movie with a revenge theme.
on Sun 6 Jan 2013 at 17:44:02 Sharina

@ Legion

All I can say is wow to that link you provided.
on Mon 7 Jan 2013 at 13:46:02 Anne

Agabond, have you read anything about this story?
http://www.tracesofthetrade.org/family/
on Mon 7 Jan 2013 at 13:55:30 abagond

@ Anne

No, but it sounds good.
on Tue 8 Jan 2013 at 01:54:20 Anne

Agabond,
I am tempted to buy the video to watch it.
on Tue 8 Jan 2013 at 04:31:03 Legion

Brave marines

In my humble opinion, I fully agree.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/02/1022210/–2nd-time-I-ve-fought-for-my-country-1st-time-I-ve-known-my-enemy-OccupyWallStreet#
on Tue 8 Jan 2013 at 23:57:06 LookingForAnswers

I stumbled across this restuarant looking for a painting of Shaka Zulu: http://www.shaka-zulu.com/

Is it me or is this place awesome?
on Wed 9 Jan 2013 at 01:20:33 mary burrell

@Looking for Answers; That place is awesome.
on Fri 11 Jan 2013 at 17:43:45 lifelearner

Another trash reality show, coming down the pipeline. Please sign this petition “all my babies mama” *SMH* http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/oxygen/?akid=2789.1430754.5E9Qr_&rd=1&t=2
on Thu 17 Jan 2013 at 03:10:24 King

Wow, I think model Cameron Russell says some very true things about race and cashing in on a genetic lottery on her Ted talk,

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM4Xe6Dlp0Y)
on Thu 17 Jan 2013 at 15:27:22 Kwamla

@ King

Thanks for posting this…

This was an honest presentation on the effects of internalized racism as it affects white people. Well, in this particular case, young aspiring to be female models. Its not often we get to hear in the media women in Cameron Russell’s position addressing and speaking out about the false media constructed images of beauty and the inherited legacy of white privilege this confers on white people in our societies. Also, the anguish and fears of insecurity it internally manifests along with this.
on Fri 18 Jan 2013 at 23:40:21 Matari

This beautiful THING speaks for itself!

********

By Denene Millner for Parenting

It’s a ritual I began the first day my girlpie, Mari, started kindergarten. I’d fluff her super cutie outfit, adjust the fancy barrettes in her hair, take her little moon pie face into my hands, kiss those beautiful cinnamon brown cheeks, and pump her up all the way from the garage to the front steps of her school, where she was the only black girl in her class. “You are fantastic, baby girl — the smartest little girl I know,” I’d say, looking directly into her big browns, like a trainer does a sweaty heavyweight champ between rounds in a boxing bout. “Be fabulous, because who are you not to be?”

Kids who hear they’re the best tend to believe it and rise to the challenge — particularly black children. A recent study published in the journal Child Development backs me up on this; the study, authored by Ming-Te Wang, assistant professor of psychology in education at the University of Pittsburgh, and Harvard University’s James P. Huguley, found that when parents promote feelings of racial knowledge, pride and connection, black kids do better in school.

Mr. Wang and Mr. Huguley could have saved themselves some time and research cash; those of us black parents in the know would have happily told this to them quickly and for free.

Affirmations chased Mari and my baby girl, Lila, into classrooms in New Jersey and Georgia for years — encouragement I thought important enough to repeat again and again. For the sake of my daughters. For the sake of their psyches and their self-esteem. For their own good.

They wear the armor.

It’s a brilliant coat of self-confidence instilled in them since the womb, not only because I believe them to be clever and beautiful, but because the world conspires to tell my girls different–to ingrain in their brains that something is wrong with their kinky hair and their juicy lips and their dark skin and their piercing brown eyes and their bubble butts and thick thighs and their beautiful brains and their eclectic culture and black girl goodness. I promise you, some days — a lot of days — it feels like I’m guarding them from a tsunami of “you’re ugly/dumb/fat/incompetent/inadequate/insert-your-racial-insult-here” pronouncements; magazines and TV shows and popular radio and movies and all of the rest of pop culture act as if black girls, teens and women do not exist on most days, and on the extra special ones, we are reduced to hypersexualized, drink-tossing, weave-pulling stripper bullies, climbing our way to the top on the backs of rappers and ballers.

Then there’s the micro-aggressions that feel like death by a million cuts: the teachers who assume my girls are below average, until they discover quite the contrary; the store clerks who follow us — even the 10-year-old — around the store, until we pull out the cash at the register; the silly mothers who practice their “hey, girlfriend!” theater around us, until they find out the hard way that we don’t do Ebonics in mixed company.

Don’t believe me? Spend a little time on children’s channels; my daughters can go, literally, for hours without seeing anyone who looks like them. Then flip over to MTV, VH-1, Oxygen and all the other TV homes of “reality” shows (or any show that’s not written and produced by TV “it” girl Shonda Rhimes, an African-American woman), and watch the necks swizzle and the weaves fly. Come with us to the mall on a quiet Tuesday afternoon. Or a school mom gathering.

I can’t have my daughters thinking they are invisible. Or worse, that they’re ignorant, loud caricatures unworthy of respect. So I make a point of encouraging my girls to own their beauty — on the inside and out. And I demand that they pull and stretch and reach for the highest rung, because they’re capable of being more talented, brilliant and confident than any other kid who crosses their paths, black or white — in the classroom, on the soccer field, on the stage, in all that they do.

Examples of black folks who’ve achieved this abound: I surround my daughters with books by and about people of color who’ve shined a light on the beauty and complexity of us — fill their ears with the music of masters who rep us with their talent and lyricism. Television and movies are watched with a critical eye, our complicated history is explored and talked about and picked through — our culture celebrated through food and travel and relationships. They are told “we are an amazing people” loudly and often, not just during Black History Month or Martin Luther King’s birthday, but every day.

And most importantly, my daughters are made to understand and know that 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year, they are expected to bring home the top grades in their classes. No exception. I’m not all Tiger Mom about it, mind you; just a huge cheerleader and a no-nonsense support system who works hard with my girls to make them understand their true potential.

After all, when a child is told that she is fearfully and wonderfully made, who is she not to be fabulous?
on Sun 20 Jan 2013 at 02:39:36 Legion

@Sharina (and all the women)

Recalling the link on the mother disowning her accused son in the New Delhi rape. The following is very interesting; it takes a moment to read but a longer time to digest. Speaking for myself, I think I’ll need to read and reread it quite a bit actually.

http://www.zcommunications.org/violent-economic-reforms-and-the-growing-violence-against-women-by-vandana-shiva
on Sun 20 Jan 2013 at 03:30:57 mary burrell

@Matari; Thank you and Dene Millner for this. Maybe if more parents had this kind of affirmations for their girls we wouldn’t have these damn discussions about Why are black women thought as ugly.
on Sun 20 Jan 2013 at 05:57:24 Matari

Ms. Mary,

Thank you, but all the credit for this piece belongs to D Millner. This is a great example of why and how we should plant these seeds of affirmations within ALL of our children – girls and boys – beginning in the womb so that they might grow and flourish into individuals that expect and demand nothing but excellence from themselves – and each other..

How else can we break the cycle (meme) of confusion – internalized self-loathing, self-hate, self-doubt?
on Sun 20 Jan 2013 at 07:02:31 Matari

Ms. Mary,

Thank you, but all the credit for this piece belongs to D Millner. This is a great example of why and how we should plant these seeds of affirmations within ALL of our children – girls and boys – beginning in the womb so that they might grow and flourish into individuals that expect and demand nothing but excellence and beauty (in all its forms) from themselves – and each other..

How else can we break the cycle (meme) of confusion – internalized self-loathing, self-hate, self-doubt?
on Sun 20 Jan 2013 at 18:51:02 leigh204

@ Abagond:

Thanks for your “Arab racism against blacks” thread. I’m hoping you’d do a post on Asian racism against blacks in the future. I would like to put in my two cents.
on Mon 21 Jan 2013 at 03:43:31 Bulanik

@ Abagond ^^ Seconded.
on Tue 22 Jan 2013 at 14:17:00 phoebeprunelle

Abagond,

Lovely picture that you are using…it is so refreshing that people are beginning to display the beauty of Blackness.
on Wed 23 Jan 2013 at 16:59:35 lifelearner

This is all in fun, but the thread about “original names” vs. “boring names” made me think of this Key & Peele skit. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gODZzSOelss&feature=player_embedded)
on Wed 23 Jan 2013 at 17:37:15 sharina

ROFL
on Wed 23 Jan 2013 at 18:50:30 sharina

@ Legion

While I have not finished reading your link on the New Delhi rape, so far it is very interesting. It does bring about a concept in regards to Economic growth as a cause.
on Thu 24 Jan 2013 at 01:06:16 Peanut

i hope that abagond does a post on what i’ve been asking for for years
on Thu 24 Jan 2013 at 01:13:49 mary burrell

Yes Abagond I agree with phoebeprunelle I appreciate you are showing the beautiful sisters as well.
on Fri 25 Jan 2013 at 18:42:20 King

Wow, I missed this tragic story about Hurricane Sandy.
Nice folks in Staten Island.

http://axiomamnesia.com/2012/11/02/race-play-role-staten-island-mom-refused-hurricane-killed-sons-video/
on Sun 27 Jan 2013 at 15:48:41 Legion

(http://youtu.be/DZkjoXyexKk)
on Sun 27 Jan 2013 at 21:50:58 Peanut

i have a question do you guys agree with the comparison that people are always making when it comes to women in combat, and the comparison to black men serving in combat during WWII before military was integrated…?
on Mon 28 Jan 2013 at 00:28:09 Peanut

peanut here
on Mon 28 Jan 2013 at 02:32:11 Peanut

peanut in da house
on Tue 29 Jan 2013 at 00:39:43 Sharina

@ peanut

I saw your question and i am trying to think of the best way to respond.
on Tue 29 Jan 2013 at 07:44:41 Legion

Speaking truth to power?

(http://youtu.be/Q0axrjR5rMw)
on Tue 29 Jan 2013 at 08:35:28 Legion

@Sharina

it’s not economic growth in and of itself. It’s some particular policies and manner of implementing economic ‘reforms’ that have various concomitants, they are:

• the increasing implementation of an economic model imposed (not democratically chosen) by a political and financial class on the rest of the general Indian public.

• the implementation of economic policies/model that are not value free (as has been pretended in the west for years if not the last couple centuries, but is now being pretended by the Indian govt.) but have embedded patriarchal biases.

• a model that is seeking to liberalize everything or damn near everything. What does that mean “to liberalize”? It means to commodify fucking everything!

“An economics of deregulation of commerce, of privatization and commodification of seeds and food, land and water, women and children unleashed by economic liberalisation, degrades social values, deepens patriarchy, and intensifies violence against women.”

As the author incisively notes, economics is not some vacuum, some pure thing that you add to some abstract entity called “the economy”. No, economic reforms touch all spheres of life:

“Economic systems influence culture and social values. An economics of commodification creates a culture of commodification, where everything has a price, and nothing has value.”

• the “subverting of democracy” and increasing “privatization of government.”

the author’s thesis is that the above and the increase in rape have all been concomitants of policies ostensibly labelled as “growth policies” or “reforms.”
—————————-

um … , perhaps I should simply let you finish the article.
on Tue 29 Jan 2013 at 10:11:59 Bulanik

@ Legion, thanks for that clip where Noam Chomsky said:

“I don’t like the phrase ‘speak truth to’. We don’t know the truth – at least I don’t. We should join with the kind of people who are willing to commit themselves to overthrow power, and listen to them (they often know a lot more than we do), and join with them to carry out the right kinds of activities.”
on Thu 31 Jan 2013 at 16:56:54 lifelearner

@ Abagond,

Google sketch of today was Jackie Robinson. Pretty cool homage.
on Fri 1 Feb 2013 at 20:37:45 Legion

Does it have to be ‘racist’? Whites who write articles on this sort of thing are destroying the meaning of the word. The commercial is a promotion of stereotypes amongst the dominant group North American group. If they were trying to sell their car in the Caribbean they damn well wouldn’t do it this way. I’m so embarrassed for everyone who brainstormed and then produced this ad; they all thought it was such a great idea, it’s just stupid and weird.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/news-video/video-is-this-volkswagen-super-bowl-ad-racist-or-harmless/article8013316/
on Fri 1 Feb 2013 at 20:41:33 Legion

Don’t these fools remember Mary J Blige’s dumb ass ad with the fast food chicken?
on Fri 1 Feb 2013 at 21:17:42 lifelearner

Fail, that ad. What’s the point of the Volkswagen ad? Cultural appropriation at its best. I think commercial executives should remember this adage, “if you have to ask the question-Is this offensive or not? 9 times out of 10 it probably is- Don’t do it.
on Fri 1 Feb 2013 at 21:54:09 tehnoun

That as is just beyond terrible. I have a feeling a lot of alcohol and controlled idiocy went into that monstrosity.
on Fri 1 Feb 2013 at 21:54:40 tehnoun

*ad.

tehnoun, master typist at work.
on Fri 1 Feb 2013 at 22:43:37 Gen

@ King

I had a hard time even looking at the pic with the two boys. That is sick. I don’t believe she tried to break the door without even shouting repeatedly for someone to let her in and this is why I don’t believe the homeowner actually thought she was a man. Even if the person asking for help is male, so what? It’s a life and death situation. He seemed more concerned with not looking like a sack of sh!t on camera.
on Sat 2 Feb 2013 at 03:36:28 leigh204

Who are they kidding with that Volkswagen ad? Unreal.

Anyway, Happy Black History Month!
on Sat 2 Feb 2013 at 03:47:20 mary burrell

That volkwagen advertisment is so ridiculous. If you got to ask is it racist, It probably is. Epic major fail on the part of Volkswagen and the geniuses at Madison Avenue. SMH. What a bunch of idiots.
on Sun 3 Feb 2013 at 04:06:31 mstoogood4yall

volkswagen and cocoa cola can remove their dumb ads.volkswagen should have just stuck with darth vader.coca cola did an ad with an arab on a camel and had a poll on their website of who should win the race to the coca cola bottle and they didn’t have the arab as an option.these ads are just dumb and offensive.i’m not jamaican but that ad reminds me of whites trying to sound ‘black’ and making fun of an accent.i bet if people made an ad with americans running around with a german accent and swastika on their clothing they wouldn’t like it too much.i can’t stand people who don’t treat others the way they wish to be treated yet think they are entitled to respect even when they haven’t earned it.
on Sun 3 Feb 2013 at 04:22:40 mstoogood4yall

@ peanut

I don’t agree with the comparison.It seems whites want to compare their struggle to blacks all the time.The white women did it the gays did it and now this.Black men in the military before the U.S. was integrated were sent to war on the front lines,whereas with the women in the military its the opposite they are trying to keep them off the front lines.they are comparing apples to oranges.Black men would fight for a country that didn’t want them and would not be treated as war heroes.The women are being kept from combat whereas the black men were disposable and sent into combat.Everybody wants to be down with the black struggle only when it can be used to gather support for their struggle. Its like look we are struggling like the blacks did so give us support.all i can say is good luck with that because blacks didn’t get the support they deserved back then so don’t expect to get better treatment.
on Sun 3 Feb 2013 at 04:44:01 King

@ Gen

He seemed more concerned with not looking like a sack of sh!t on camera.

EPIC FAIL!
on Sun 3 Feb 2013 at 05:22:20 Peanut

i do not feel like it’s a fair comparison either mstoogoodforyall
on Sun 3 Feb 2013 at 06:13:39 fiamma blu

@ Interested Parties:

Though I’m an uneducateded American NegroI currenty go buy the username of FIAMMA BLU; It’s means ‘Blue Flame’ in Italian”.

I’m growing tired of it so you won’t be incumbered of it much longer….Grazie!
on Sun 3 Feb 2013 at 06:26:15 fiamma blu

Yeah, that did not work out like I hoped. It rarely does actually.

To clarify: my current username is ‘fiamma blu/.

It means ‘Blue Flame’ in Italian. I’m tired of seeing it mangled so I will be changing it shortly.
on Sun 3 Feb 2013 at 08:10:09 Legion

^How ’bout Phoenix? You could keep the icon (or change it to red).
on Sun 3 Feb 2013 at 22:21:53 Peanut

superbowl will be starting in like an hour, i’m nervous and excited
on Mon 4 Feb 2013 at 00:15:31 leigh204

To all the lovely ladies on Abagond:

Does anyone know a make-up line that does NOT contain titanium dioxide? It seems most brands have it. Even though I apply a product sparingly, I get this ashy look, and I really dislike it. Any recommendation would be appreciated.
on Mon 4 Feb 2013 at 00:35:30 mstoogood4yall

i don’t really care about the superbowl my team didn’t make it[steelers].anyway i just love the commercials lol.
on Mon 4 Feb 2013 at 00:41:27 Bulanik

@ leigh204

Omg!! My sister was talking about this the other day! She says foundations for skin with light golden undertone are either too grey or too pink.
Why not try something organic? This is one she liked the sound of:
http://www.miorganicproducts.com/

My sister also prefers the light coverage of a mineral makeup (blending in some protective sunscreen with moisturizer beforehand underneath of course): http://www.holisticbeauty.net/Earths_Beauty_Products.htm

Not sure, but is it the sunscreen factor that contains the titanium oxide?
on Mon 4 Feb 2013 at 03:04:20 Peanut

i’m on the edge of my seat, God help me please
on Mon 4 Feb 2013 at 03:05:03 Peanut

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NONO NO NO NO NO NO OMG RAVENS PLEASE!!!!! NOOOOOOOO RAVENS PLEASE PULL THROUGH OMG OMG OMG!!!
on Mon 4 Feb 2013 at 03:06:04 Peanut

OH ABAGOND, I THINK I’M GONNA BE SICK!!! this is why i hate football, it keeps me on my seat too much now i’m all stressed out, I CAN’T DO THIS!!!
on Mon 4 Feb 2013 at 03:07:28 Peanut

someone please make me feel better, I don’t wanna hear anything about San Francisco right now…
on Mon 4 Feb 2013 at 03:08:45 Peanut

COME ON RAVENS!!!
on Mon 4 Feb 2013 at 03:10:34 abagond

it ain’t over yet.
on Mon 4 Feb 2013 at 03:15:12 Peanut

see they’re showing all these stupid 49ers commercials, that’s not fair, that is biased because they don’t show ravens commercials
on Mon 4 Feb 2013 at 03:16:26 abagond

They are are still leading but what a nail biter.
on Mon 4 Feb 2013 at 03:26:03 Peanut

nail biting is an understatement i’m going crazy
on Mon 4 Feb 2013 at 03:30:34 Peanut

that damn power outage
on Mon 4 Feb 2013 at 03:45:25 Peanut

RAVENS HAVE WON!!!!!!!!!!!!! QAHHHHHHH!!!
on Mon 4 Feb 2013 at 03:45:42 abagond

RAVENS WIN!!!
on Mon 4 Feb 2013 at 03:56:51 Peanut

DRINKING MY CHAMPAGNE!!! I LOVE YOU ABAGOND, FELLOW RAVEN FANS YOU ROCK!!!

I LOVE YOU RAVENS!!!!!
on Mon 4 Feb 2013 at 09:09:30 mstoogood4yall

@ peanut

lol im happy yall ravens won because the 49 didn’t need to win that would have put them with 6 rings like us steelers and we can’t have that.Enjoy your victory
on Mon 4 Feb 2013 at 23:04:35 tehnoun

My girlfriend proposed to me!

I mean, technically we won’t be legally married (Florida is silly about that), but I’m way too happy to give a crap. Woohoo!
on Tue 5 Feb 2013 at 00:25:24 sharina

Congratulations Tehnoun!
on Tue 5 Feb 2013 at 00:45:12 mary burrell

@tehnoun; Congratulations, I hope you two are very happy in the coming years.
on Tue 5 Feb 2013 at 01:04:34 Bulanik

@ tehnoun

Congratulations and jubilations. Then there shall be 2 roses in your gravatar! I wish you a lifetime’s happiness.
on Tue 5 Feb 2013 at 04:51:00 Peanut

congrats tehnoun
on Tue 5 Feb 2013 at 04:52:28 Peanut

hey guys guess what??….
on Tue 5 Feb 2013 at 04:55:50 sharina

Are you by chance engaged too?
on Tue 5 Feb 2013 at 10:55:26 Dahoman X

I feel like sharing some music right now.

“Kangaroo” by Tic Tac & Batman, a.k.a. the proof that Ghana is the REAL country of the Kangaroo.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qbb_sMbrpgo)

And for the ladies, the return of Makmende in “Ha He” by Just A Band :
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mG1vIeETHc)
on Tue 5 Feb 2013 at 11:09:23 Legion

@Tehnoun

Congratulations, it’s a blessing to find one’s partner. Wishing growth and happiness for you both.
on Tue 5 Feb 2013 at 23:12:04 leigh204

@ Bulanik:

@ leigh204

Omg!! My sister was talking about this the other day! She says foundations for skin with light golden undertone are either too grey or too pink.
Why not try something organic? This is one she liked the sound of:
http://www.miorganicproducts.com/

My sister also prefers the light coverage of a mineral makeup (blending in some protective sunscreen with moisturizer beforehand underneath of course): http://www.holisticbeauty.net/Earths_Beauty_Products.htm

Not sure, but is it the sunscreen factor that contains the titanium oxide?

Thank you, Bulanik for the suggestions. I checked out both links and I think I’m going to go with the holistic beauty one. I read some of the products are titanium dioxide free.

@ tehnoun:

Congrats to you and your lady love! This is great news!
on Wed 6 Feb 2013 at 08:00:51 Peanut

@ sharina,

oh sorry i forgot that i commented on this page…NO I’m not engaged…yet, but something really nice did happen to me….I had a sexual experience that was really really nice, but i won’t go into details here
on Wed 6 Feb 2013 at 09:40:46 Iris

@ tehnoun

Congratulations! I don’t know much about the laws in the US, but is it possible to tie the knot in another state?
on Wed 6 Feb 2013 at 16:55:36 sharina

@ peanut
You go girl!
on Wed 6 Feb 2013 at 20:10:20 mstoogood4yall

Congrats tehnoun on the engagement

and congrats peanut on….gettin some lol.maybe u can write a post about it for us virgins here to give us hope lol
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 00:27:58 Peanut

my legs are still shaking
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 00:47:15 Peanut

@ Mstoogoodall,

I’ll say this there wasn’t actual penetration, meaning vaginal intercourse, so “technically” i’m still a virgin…
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 00:52:35 Peanut

hopefully i’ll be able to write about that experience soon though, cuz i want to do that more and more everyday, it’s like i’ll be 25 this year…i think i was 19 or so when i started following abagond’s blog and i remember getting into this fight with thaddeus blanchette because i wanted to wait until marriage and he attacked me for it…

ideally, i still would want to wait for marriage, but when i wrote that stuff years ago i honestly thought that i would be either in a serious relationship, about to be engaged or married by the time I was 25…so I guess how i see things has changed a bit since then, i have desires too, i’m only human.
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 00:53:25 Peanut

when it does happen, i’ll do a blog post about it though. but at this point, i’ve done other sexual things that i’ve enjoyed a lot i’ll be honest.
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 01:52:37 mstoogood4yall

ty peanut im about to be 19 on the 22nd of this month i do plan on waiting but there are temptations out there.Right now i’m just stressed and mad dealing with my family issues and don’t have time for any of that.
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 01:57:33 mstoogood4yall

Peanut u seem like a great person and i hope you do find someone who will treat you like the queen you are.Even some married people aren’t satisfied or have that real love that i hope to have one day even my parents don’t but thats another story.sometimes i just don’t think i will find that.My mom is a great woman but sometimes i feel like my dad lets her down and me down.I don’t want a man like my dad i want a man like my uncle who is kind,patient,and listens.I don’t know how to tell my dad that he wasn’t all that i needed sometimes.I feel so much hurt right now because of what just happened.
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 02:12:31 Peanut

i’m sorry to hear about your family issue mstoogoodall, my parents have problems sometimes too, everyone does, but it can be tough on kids when parents have their own baggage.

don’t worry though msstoogoodall, you’ll probably meet someone…even though i was ur age and thought i’d meet someone, but i still have some time to get married and so do you, but in the mean time i may as well physically get some pleasure…it gets harder to stay a virgin the older you get and that’s just reality for me. i may have thought years ago i could wait and wait, but realistically i doubt i’ll be 30 and still a virgin, i just don’t see that…married or not.

it just feels good when you have a sexual release, i’m not gonna lie…it’s like and this may be a little graphic, but have you ever felt so wet and open that it’s like you have a donut hole down there or something…and it’s like you have an orgasm and i really can’t think straight it’s like i’m not thinking about anything BUT how good it feels and it’s a merciless pleasure that you feel like you’re about to lose complete control and you don’t like feeling like you’re out of control, but at the same time you can’t stop how good it feels…

if that’s too graphic, sorry…but that’s what an orgasm feels like…it feels good to say the least and i do feel like i’m in a better mood when i have on i’m not gonna lie.
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 02:17:23 Peanut

and i like the feeling of having the weight of a man on my body, even if we’re not actually having sex, it feels good to be in that position where you’re completely vulnerable and weighted down and then the warmth that radiates between you is nice too…
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 02:22:40 mstoogood4yall

lol peanut u got me blushing.i never did any of those things except masturbation.i know i’m definetly not ready for love or sex because i need to deal with my own issues and emotional baggage from childhood.
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 02:25:45 Peanut

i’m sorry mstoogoodall, i promised i wouldn’t go into details on this blog lol. i hear though, sometimes it’s best to just take some time out of yourself when you’re dealing with emotional turmoil and then sometimes it’s nice to be alone, but other times when you want some companionship it’s can be nice to have someone just to hang out with, whether it’s sexual companionship or just a friendship, a serious romantic relationship or the ideal combination of all of the above.
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 02:34:13 Peanut

but physically, i don’t think my body has ever experienced such a good feeling…physically that was and is the best feeling that I’ve ever had. i’m really trying to think if i’ve ever felt something physically better than what i described to you and i don’t think i have at this point.
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 02:36:17 mstoogood4yall

lol well i want all the above in one person someday that would be nice.idc if you go into detail its all natural,im not gonna lie it gives me insight into what to expect
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 02:50:43 Peanut

well i am by no means an expert, but i wonder if other women have experience that level of an orgasm or if maybe that was a unique experience because that was….good…that felt really really good i’m not gonna lie i can’t stop thinking about it and it’s making me want to go to the next level, i wanna know what it feels like to have my man make love to me, not just fool around…although fooling around feels good

i mean i don’t understand how some women can never orgasm, how do they not orgasm???
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 02:58:10 mstoogood4yall

peanut idk how they never orgasm and it baffles me how some will have sex and not orgasm yet don’t want to try pleasuring themselves or oral because they think its dirty.If i ever have a man and he can’t get me off i’ll put that mouth to work lol or get our the toys
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 02:58:47 mstoogood4yall

lol out not our typo
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 03:04:32 Peanut

oral sex is wonderful
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 03:06:26 mstoogood4yall

i wouldn’t know but i’ll take your word for it lol
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 03:08:07 mstoogood4yall

peanut i was on your blog and saw that erotica article you did umm was that really about your experience
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 03:08:21 Peanut

but if oral sex feels so good, i wanna know what it feels like when that *hardness* is inside, i wonder if the intensity of the orgasm would increase or decrease…
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 03:09:41 Peanut

which one?
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 03:10:45 Peanut

the one with the white guy? i’ve haven’t had intercourse with anyone yet if that’s the story that you’re referring to…
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 03:12:55 Peanut

or are you just referring to the part of the story with the oral sex?
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 03:14:58 Peanut

i am not currently involved with a white guy so outside of the oral sex that story has nothing to do with me
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 03:16:48 mstoogood4yall

yes.I don’t know if it feels better during intercourse than oral because its different.the clitoris has more nerves and some women need their clit stimulated to reach orgasm during intercourse.
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 03:19:00 Peanut

you know what mstoogoodall, i think if you have anymore questions you can email me, i’m getting a little too personal now. just comment on my blog and i’ll email you.
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 03:19:39 mstoogood4yall

not trying to be too graphic but maybe u should try a dialator or sticking fingers in there to see what its kinda like.I tried once and it hurt a little so i stopped.
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 03:27:24 mstoogood4yall

ok peanut
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 03:38:42 Peanut

i kinda want the real thing though, i’ve been fingered before, i don’t think it’s the same….but let’s finish talking on email i don’t want ot get too graphic
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 04:23:25 Fiamma

Seems like an excellent time to post a link to an 80′s fave: “Don’t Disturb This Groove” ~ The System

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7pZZGHLQfw)
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 04:53:35 Peanut

lol good song, but we can’t forget marvin

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Spi9N4aSFdY)

sometimes i wish that i was in my prime in the 1970s
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 17:35:35 Legion

Premiered in NY on Feb 1st.

(http://youtu.be/KtPpxuhOyY0)
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 17:44:20 Legion

Football (as called in America)
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 18:09:40 Legion

A protest in Indiana for the right of working people to form and maintain Unions.

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/2/3/occupy_the_super_bowl_indianas_new?autostart=true&get_clicky_key=suggested_related
on Thu 7 Feb 2013 at 20:04:27 mstoogood4yall

wow a former lapd cop is hunting other cops that he says cost him his job.The story is he was let go for making false statements about his field training officer of brutalizing a mentally disabled man.The mans father said he noticed bruises on his disabled son and said he was kicked.Now the cops are trying to find him and they’ve already shot 2 civilians thinking it was him.smh. black men in LA definitely need to stay indoors because these cops will shoot and ask questions later thinking they all look alike.THe cops in la think all black men look alike while the cops in new york mistake wallets for guns.smh
on Fri 8 Feb 2013 at 14:46:15 charmonium

Hi,

Can anyone recommend books related to Britain and race, historical or contemporary? Preferably written by people of color. So far I’ve read the autobiographies of Mary Seacole and Olaudah Equiano, both well worth reading. I know I need to learn a lot more about colonialism, and whatever else people recommend.
on Fri 8 Feb 2013 at 23:54:34 dave

another hate crime against a white man that didn’t catch national news….. Just raising awareness. Not trying to cause a fight.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1YWd4lk54I) What makes this important to me is there are plenty of black men dating white women walking freely on any street in America. This man is just walking down the street with his girlfriend. Seems like the national news would be all over this if it was the other way around.
on Sat 9 Feb 2013 at 01:55:18 sharina

@ dave

Would it? I know of some crimes the other way around and it is not national news and if it concerns you that much, then blog about it. What it seems like you want is for blacks to sympathize or for us to feel bad for crimes committed by bad people who are black. I didn’t commit the crime and I did not raise the individuals who did, so why is it my problem? If they are guilty then they should be in jail (which is likely where they would be). I assume that is what happens to criminals. Once you realize that skin color does boy dictate criminal behavior, then the better off you will be.
on Sat 9 Feb 2013 at 02:03:13 sharina

And before you misconstrue what I am saying. I don’t agree with it and the men responsible should and probably will go to jail, things don’t just not make national news because of the color of the parties involved skin. I will say in some cases, but most of the time they look for things that will give long term ratings. Not so much the “he did it!” “Case closed” type. News is about profit like everyone else.
on Sat 9 Feb 2013 at 03:36:14 Peanut

@ dave,

that story is old news
on Sat 9 Feb 2013 at 08:38:22 Legion

@charmonium

Me, myself haven’t a clue. And no one else has said anything yet. Poke around on Amazon. This one looks heavy and this one looks interesting.
on Sat 9 Feb 2013 at 19:44:18 mary burrell

Regarding the Christopher Dorner the ex LAPD officer. I believe the L.A. police department is corrupt and this man probably witnessed a lot of corrupt activity in that department. He probably tried to go through the proper channels and was ignored. There are many missing pieces to this puzzle. The media is playing into the black brute sterotype portraying Dorner as the ultimate monster. I don’t trust the media and the distorted way they put out information. It will be interesting how all this pans out. I think Dorner will not allow them to take him alive. Or they will kill him on sight. He is a dead man either way.
on Sat 9 Feb 2013 at 19:54:51 mary burrell

An addendum to my previous thread we all saw how back in the 80′s how corruption of the LAPD was during the Rodney King incident.
on Sat 9 Feb 2013 at 20:03:28 mstoogood4yall

@ marry

Yeah he is a dead man for sure.I can’t believe they haven’t found him yet.Its kinda ironic that he is roaming and is painted as the threat to civilains yet the lapd shot 2 civilians that they thought looked like him .I believe his story as well,its a shame the military and the law enforcement are so corrupt that even if someone does report things they get told to shutup and are the ones who get fired.Basically its like they say its your duty to report but only if its someone who is low ranking and disposable not the higher rank because they are soo important.Its something really wrong when a black man gets fired for reporting corruption but white men just get desk duty for shooting unarmed black men or jokin about killing the first lady.

I saw another story about a black family going to disney land or was it world.Anyway they had pics with the rabbit from alice in wonderland and he didn’t hug or touch their kids,but a white family came and took pics with him and he was hugging them and putting them on his lap.I’m glad the black family refused those extra tickets and instead want an apology and that person fired.
on Sat 9 Feb 2013 at 20:09:20 mary burrell

@mstoogood4yal: I hear you. The Disneyland incident was crazy too. Disneyland and a mofo in a rabbit costume this is how this idiot makes his/her living and they are being racist that is so pathetic to me.
on Sat 9 Feb 2013 at 20:18:50 King of Trouble

At Mary, He probably went through the proper channels and got harassed like hell. LAPD not fun at all. It is the only place a cop dared me to go to the police station to report him. Which I did, which they said I didn’t have evidence and then I pulled out my recorder and played the whole thing for them. They had the nerve to ask for the recorder I told them they’d get the recorder but it was only a copy and I took out my other recorder with missing tape then they filed the report. I’ll never trust them as far as a baby can throw. They think people were born yesterday and he is a dead man. He just counting down the time till they shoot him shoot him with a pat, pat, wink, wink.
on Sat 9 Feb 2013 at 20:26:14 mary burrell

@mstoogood4yall: That little 6 year old boy and his brother got their first taste of racism. I’m not surprised by this. Walt Disney was racist.
on Sat 9 Feb 2013 at 21:38:12 charmonium

@Legion, thanks, I’ll have a look at those.
on Sun 10 Feb 2013 at 00:37:58 mary burrell

Abagond: I would like to make a suggestion. I was introduced to Damali Ayo. And now I’m a fan. Now i would like to see a post on Nancy Gilies she is one of my favorite commentators.
on Sun 10 Feb 2013 at 01:54:09 King

I will not forgive Dorner for killing the daughter and her fiancé of the lawyer who represented him at his LAPD hearing. When he did that he WAS in fact, being a brute.

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Sports/2013/02/04/Fullerton-Women-s-Asst-Basketball-Coach-Shot-to-Death

I suspect that LAPD did was up to their usual crap, but I simply cannot let pass the murder of two young people who had nothing to do with it.
on Sun 10 Feb 2013 at 02:41:39 mary burrell

I don’t condone him killing inocent people.But something happened and he snapped. I think he has dirt on some people there.
on Sun 10 Feb 2013 at 02:55:17 King

Well, if you want proof of how LAPD rolls, a protective detail was guarding the house of a Cop that they thought Dorner might be after. So the paper delivery truck pulls up to toss the newspapers on the front porch and are shot without warning!

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2013/02/cops-opened-fire-on-mother-daughter-during-dorner-manhunt.html

It turns out to be some poor hispanic lady and her 71 year old mother. Of course, the truck is riddled with bullet holes. So it wasn’t the same model of truck, it wasn’t the same color, and it had two small Latina women in it rather than a Large Black man. This gives you an idea what really goes on with LAPD. If this had been a black teenager on an average night they would have said that he tried to run them over and then run away, so they had to shoot him. The whole thing would have been played out to the benefit of the officers and to the detriment of the victim.
on Sun 10 Feb 2013 at 03:08:14 Linda

“Charmonium@
Hi, Can anyone recommend books related to Britain and race, historical or contemporary?”

One contemporary writer that I always liked was Caryl Phillips – he’s a tad bit cynical but still touches the heart of the matter when it comes to Britian, Europe and race.

Two books I’ve read: “The European Tribe” and “Foreigners”

He has other books that you may find interesting
on Sun 10 Feb 2013 at 04:52:39 dave

@sharina… I’m not looking for sympathy… just balance. If people wanna jump on the activist civil rights band wagon when the perp is white and the victim is black…. then if you want credibility from me then you should be just as outraged on the other way around scenario . I realize that 99.999999% of decent blacks wouldn’t do something like that. But I just want the people on here to realize when a white hatemonger acts up that 99% of whites wouldn’t do that either. In fact I’m a business owner and my black clients are cooler on average then the white ones. … and that’s coming from a white man’s point of view.
on Sun 10 Feb 2013 at 05:11:51 sharina

@ dave

I cant speak for everyone and I am just guessing, but blacks have shared outrage with whites on almost every tragedy that has made news, but if it was vise versa…..only a few whites care to sympathize. Some blacks are just tired of caring for that very reason. There is balance but you often time go out of your way to look for black on white crime. With the “look see” attitude and often ignore the vise versa. Stop trying to look at crime in skin color. A criminal is a criminal.
on Sun 10 Feb 2013 at 05:17:27 Iris

新年快樂! Happy lunar new year to all who celebrate it.
on Sun 10 Feb 2013 at 06:37:50 dave

fair enough sharina. I hear ya.
on Sun 10 Feb 2013 at 07:55:59 Peanut

@ sharina

well said
on Sun 10 Feb 2013 at 08:00:53 Peanut

about the disneyland rabbit,

how do they know for sure the rabbit was racist as opposed to just tired of hugging people? i am not saying the rabbit wasn’t racist, it’s likely that he or she was, but we have to be careful not to assume things. i need to know more about the story, did they watch the rabbit for a while and did he consistently only hug the white kids and not hug the black kids, if more than one incident of this occurred then i’d say they had a good case, but just one case of the rabbit not hugging a black kid, i don’t think they’ll get much money out of that.
on Sun 10 Feb 2013 at 08:07:11 Peanut

and finally, i say black people IF the white rabbit doesn’t want to hug you and Disney won’t take ur concerns seriously, then F-CK Walt Disney don’t support them financially. after that fiasco with the princess and the f-cking frog movie where she was a frog for 90% of the movie coupled with song of the south, i think black folks would get how Disney sees us by now…go to a Black-owned amusement park or an African-american owned kids gym or something and support people who want our business only. i say we learn to play the game, hit where it hurts…in the pocket
on Sun 10 Feb 2013 at 13:18:03 King of trouble

Argh, looking for African American Lullabies for my Son. So far only Brown Baby sung By Diana Ross, and Odetta singing all the Pretty Little Horses. My Mom was absolutely no help. Does anyone have any suggestion? I even tried looking it up on the internet but the results were so sparse I had to check I didn’t make a spelling error. Maybe African American Lullabies isn’t the right phrasing for the search.
on Sun 10 Feb 2013 at 17:49:53 mary burrell

@ King of Trouble: No luck, I saw the same thing you did. I think that is all you will find. Sorry.
on Sun 10 Feb 2013 at 18:09:40 King

Hey King 0f Trouble, there are some here, but I don’t know if they’re the kind of thing that you’re looking for.

http://mamalisa.com/?t=ec&p=2150&c=187
on Sun 10 Feb 2013 at 19:28:09 mstoogood4yall

@ peanut

I read the story and the family had pics of their kids and the rabbit and they showed pics of white kids on the rabbits lap and huggin him,they said those pics were taken after their kids.
on Sun 10 Feb 2013 at 19:34:30 mstoogood4yall

@ peanut

I never went to disneyland or world.Idc. shoot if that was me i wouldn’t care about that rabbit from alice. Who the hell goes to disney and wants to see an old dusty white rabbit anyway,he should have been grateful for someone even wanting to take pics with him.Most ppl go to see the princesses and mickey mouse.Me personally , i would have been chillin with princess Tianna.I would’ve been asking princess tiana what it is like to be the first black princess and if i can join her.Then i’d ask her if prince naveen and her are still together,if not then i’d be like can i have him.
on Sun 10 Feb 2013 at 20:09:37 vanishing point.

@King of Trouble:
http://www.amazon.com/Lullaby-Black-Mother-Langston-Hughes/dp/054736265X/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_2
I also like Miss Lou’s Jamaican poems too!
on Mon 11 Feb 2013 at 02:19:55 King of trouble

@ King, thank you so much my son gets all the Japanese part of lullabies and we have done mother goose, and the rest of those CD’s are disney. I want my boy to also have his other heritage and be comfortable. I remembered as a child I didn’t know a single lullaby made by blacks except Brown Baby. This will certainly help he’s only 6 but there is no time like the present to let him explore his culture. Besides if I hear another version of rock-a-by baby…
on Mon 11 Feb 2013 at 02:29:00 King of trouble

@ Mary, I just assumed that there a lot we’ve been around for a while and we have famous black singers who have children. I thought I could find at least one cd that focus on that. A while back I say on the internet a book of Hush Songs but you can’t get it here in Japan. So looks as if I am going to have to get some friends together find the songs and do some recording.

Which means I am going to have to find some black artist that are up for it. I have abandoned most of my musical contacts when I came to Japan because I felt the industry was so slimy. I like the muscians I do not like the record companies. However, I will get over my dislike for my son. We’ve done the Disney songs but disney keeps doing things like this. I don’t want my Prince to enter the hostile Kingdom.
on Mon 11 Feb 2013 at 03:08:37 Iris

@ Charmonium

I wish I knew some good books to recommend to you as I have actually been wanting to find some myself. However, what I want to research right now would focus on the colonisation of Hong Kong and the daily lives and experiences of the people living there at the time and of the early Chinese immigrants to the UK (e.g. The sailors who married British women, had children and then were ordered back to Hong Kong without their families being told anything). Through my own searching, the vast majority of books on the topic of race are from the US. If they are from the UK, it often focuses on the perspective of South Asians or Black people. It can be tough to find something about a group that is all too often a `forgotten minority’.

I also tried searching the databases of all libraries in my home county and none of them have anything on the topics I wish to learn about…

Don’t suppose anyone knows of any good books?

@ Linda

This looks like fiction, but sounds interesting. Would you say he is a good writer?
on Mon 11 Feb 2013 at 03:18:34 mary burrell

@ King of Trouble: Maybe Vanishing Point’s suggestion will help you. If nothing else you can read the beautiful words of Langston Hughes. I’m into Langston Hughes this month. I am reading his book of short stories The Ways of White Folks and The Best of Simple stories. I bet Japan is cool. Are you in Tokyo?
on Mon 11 Feb 2013 at 03:48:15 King

King of Trouble, Emmylou Harris’ “Didn’t Leave Nobody But the Baby” was supposed to have been adapted (rewritten) based on lyrics from an old Black lullaby… I guess it depends on how you look at it whether this would qualify.

Here is the altered version of the lyrics:

Go to sleep you little baby (go to sleep you little baby)
Go to sleep you little baby (go to sleep you little baby)
Your momma’s gone away and your daddy’s gonna stay
Didn’t leave nobody, but the baby

Go to sleep you little baby (go to sleep you little baby)
Go to sleep you little baby (go to sleep you little baby)
Everybody’s gone in the cotton and the corn
Didn’t leave nobody, but the baby

You’re a sweet little baby (you’re a sweet little baby)
You’re a sweet little baby (you’re a sweet little baby)
Honey and the rock and the sugar don’t stop
Gonna bring a bottle to the baby

Don’t you weep pretty baby (don’t you weep pretty baby)
Don’t you weep pretty baby (don’t you weep pretty baby)
She’s long gone with her red shoes on
Gonna need another lovin’ baby

Go to sleep you little baby (go to sleep you little baby)
Go to sleep you little baby (go to sleep you little baby)
You and me and the devil makes three
Don’t need no other lovin’ baby

Go to sleep you little baby (go to sleep you little baby)
Go to sleep you little baby (go to sleep you little baby)
Come and lay your bones on the alabaster stones and be my ever lovin’ baby
on Mon 11 Feb 2013 at 03:53:52 mary burrell

I remember that from O Brother Where Art Thou. That’s a good song. I think it’s from a black slave song. I think I read that somewhere. Anyway I like that song.
on Mon 11 Feb 2013 at 07:19:56 King of trouble

I would like to thank everybody, I will work on it. I have a steel pan band that is interested in recording something. I also have an orchestra that feel they are up for children’s tunes. I hoping my singer friend from Trindad and Tabago will join. Will see if I can push a CD through or at least a personal one through. Anyway I will be heading back to the states soon and hopefully there I will be able to gather more things together. I wanted to get “Wade in the Water” but my wife says it is too loud to calm him so I guess I will have to find a composer and get it hushed a little. Anyway I need to find the right people to get it together I think even those songs that little black girls use to jump rope and do hand rythms are great. So I guess I will have to find an african american children’s choir and try to get it recorded. There is always a lot of work but hey it is well worth it to see a smile on my boy’s face.
@King thank you I can work with the song.
on Mon 11 Feb 2013 at 13:47:45 Vagabond Abscond

The Pope has resigned, and his most likely successor is a black African man, Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson from Ghana. I would love to read JA’s thoughts on this matter! Personally, I think it would make sense to have a pope from one of the world regions where the Catholic Church is really thriving right now, as it is in Africa (or so I hear). Europe is not even that religious anymore, at least as I understand it.
on Tue 12 Feb 2013 at 02:34:43 lifelearner

@King of Trouble,

My kiddos enjoy this one, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnzywl8FXXQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player)
on Tue 12 Feb 2013 at 14:32:56 Herneith

@Vagabond:

If a black man wins the pope-ship, there will be a mass exodus of whites to Protestantism.
on Tue 12 Feb 2013 at 14:47:38 abagond

@ Vagabond

Demographically it should go to a Latin American – but he can be black too! Like with the Secretary General of the UN or the Olympics, it should rotate.

The cardinals vote for pope. Not sure how demographically well proportioned they are. Based on past popes, Europe, and Italy in particular, seem to have an oversupply.

As far as I know Europe still has more Catholics than Africa but, like with whites in the U.S., that will not last for much longer.
on Tue 12 Feb 2013 at 23:48:11 mstoogood4yall

They have the lapd ex cop surrounded in a cabin.This is not going to end well.Another officer just died from the gunfight they had.
on Wed 13 Feb 2013 at 00:26:26 mary burrell

The young earl grey tumblr. is just too adorable. I saw that somewhere else it just stole my heart. I loved Micheal so much and I was equally sad about Whitney. Thanks Abagond.
on Wed 13 Feb 2013 at 00:32:30 King of trouble

@Lifelearner, you put a smile on my boys face thank you.
on Wed 13 Feb 2013 at 04:37:49 Kiwi

I thought this wouldn’t be an issue but oh well.

Kiwi=kiwiitos

Sometimes I auto-login and I get the default name which I don’t want. Anyway, you can tell I’m the same person by the avatar.
on Wed 13 Feb 2013 at 05:09:46 Fiamma

Actually, I thought ‘Kiwiitos” was a different commenter altogether, albeit one who liked your username and then decided to use a variant of it….It’s not at all unusual. I’ve seen several glaring occurrences of this phenomenon on this blog since I’ve started following it. It’s even happened to me once in the 17 years I’ve been cruising cyberspace, even though I’ve always had the habit of choosing somewhat obscure /non-Anglophone usernames.

I suspect that some people intentionally use a variant of established usernames, while others do so unconsciously.
on Wed 13 Feb 2013 at 13:09:04 charmonium

@Linda and Iris,

Thanks for the replies. I’ll check out Caryl Phillips.

e.g. The sailors who married British women, had children and then were ordered back to Hong Kong without their families being told anything.

I only heard about this a year ago, from George Alagiah’s Mixed Britannia Documentary. It’s such a horrible story. There’s an interview with the daughter of one of the couples in this episode; the section starts at 14.47.
on Wed 13 Feb 2013 at 14:33:01 lifelearner

@King of Trouble

No problem. It’s nice to know other parents are trying to instill a LOVE for our culture at an early age. We are doing our best as well. Here’s a great resource too for AA authors/subject matter for young readers –> http://thebrownbookshelf.com/
on Fri 15 Feb 2013 at 02:13:25 Peanut

valentines day sucks everyone.
on Fri 15 Feb 2013 at 02:19:01 Bulanik

Sorry to read that, Peanut. It’s only one day in the year, so maybe there will be other days to make up for today.
on Fri 15 Feb 2013 at 02:35:41 Peanut

arrrrgh funnel cakes!
on Fri 15 Feb 2013 at 02:37:59 Peanut

@ bulanik, i know there will be cuz i’ll make sure of that
on Fri 15 Feb 2013 at 02:38:50 Peanut

you know what tomorrow i’m going to get up early and go to the gym
on Fri 15 Feb 2013 at 02:51:49 Bulanik

Now, that sounds good, Peanut
on Fri 15 Feb 2013 at 02:52:31 mstoogood4yall

@peanut lol

i’m single for valentines day too.Even if i wasn’t i think i’d still hate it.I’d rather be appreciated everyday than just for one day.I went to the store with my mom and got some junk food so i’mma eat my self to sleep lol.Anyway i hope abagond is having a good valentines night. *wink* *wink*
on Fri 15 Feb 2013 at 02:54:52 mstoogood4yall

i would love to hear what everyone else’s valentines is like.I just love a good love story lol.tell me what ur significant other did for you today
on Fri 15 Feb 2013 at 03:04:17 mstoogood4yall

@peanut and my fellow singles on v day

here some ideas to get through this lonely day

1 get drunk
2 hang out with friend who tells u they don’t need a man
3 buy yourself a gift
4 or to surprise yourself buy a gift while tipsy and hide it
5 sober up and try to find where your drunk arse hid the gift
6 just cruise around on the blogs and thirst at pics of celebritity crushes

for yall info i’ve done number 6 and 3 because im not old enough to do 1 and 4. enjoy.
on Fri 15 Feb 2013 at 03:15:21 tehnoun

Valentine’s day was mostly just eating an expensive dinner (partially paid for by a friend of mine because she’s a sweetheart <3) and coming home to find one of my roommates has filled the apartment with about a million flowers in order to impress his girlfriend. Going to be irritating to clean, but at least it smells nice.

I don't plan on talking about what happened next because my sex life is private, thank you very much.

(I really hope this doesn't sound as egotistical as I think it does)
on Fri 15 Feb 2013 at 04:04:27 mstoogood4yall

omg i don;t know how to post a clickable link forgive me for the double post
on Fri 15 Feb 2013 at 04:19:42 mstoogood4yall

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96LOLbCzb50)
on Fri 15 Feb 2013 at 11:11:01 Iris

@ Charmonium

Thank you for the tip. I think this may have been where I first heard of it, too. It’s such a shame I cannot find more information. I have only found one book on Amazon.

@ mstoogood4yall

I’m married and we rarely do anything on Valentine’s day. Why should showing our love and appreciation for one another be celebrated then? Why not, for example, the anniversary of the day we met? Then it is unique and special in its own way.
on Fri 15 Feb 2013 at 15:33:45 lifelearner

Yep ditto-what Iris mentioned about V-day. It’s a joke. The hubster and I have our own special day to celebrate “our love.” We often say Valentine’s day is for the amateurs of love. We do celebrate it with our loved ones (i.e family/friends)
on Fri 15 Feb 2013 at 16:25:12 mary burrell

I’m sure a movie on Lifetime movie channel will be made on Christopher Dorner. L.L.Cool J. would be perfect in the role.
on Fri 15 Feb 2013 at 16:31:07 Peanut

@mstoogoodall,

thanks it wasn’t sucky because i was single, it was sucky because i got into a fight with someone who is selfish, i’ve always hated valentines day though.
on Fri 15 Feb 2013 at 16:32:29 Peanut

lol poor LL Cool J
on Fri 15 Feb 2013 at 18:07:03 King

Did anyone else see this feature on the Hymn Lining tradition?
on Fri 15 Feb 2013 at 18:07:34 King

Would help if I included the link, eh?

http://screen.yahoo.com/hymn-lining-disappearing-african-american-182216113.html
on Fri 15 Feb 2013 at 18:19:12 mary burrell

@ KIng: No I didn’t see this. Thanks for this. So that’s what those elderly people would be doing in church at the opening song. Hymn Lining. I can see where it would have it’s roots in slavery. I guess it’s like call and response. So many things in music have their roots in black spirituality. So much of our history is disapperaring. It goes with Black History month. We need to study our history everyday.
on Sat 16 Feb 2013 at 03:55:15 Herneith

valentines day sucks everyone.

Not to me it doesn’t! I am looking forward to the sales on chocolate!
on Sat 16 Feb 2013 at 04:04:40 mstoogood4yall

@herneith
amen i love me some snickers,twix,and babyruth but the stores mostly have reeses on sale lol
on Sun 17 Feb 2013 at 04:16:51 Linda

Iris@ Linda: This looks like fiction, but sounds interesting. Would you say he is a good writer?

Linda says,
I guess so. I read his first book, “European Tribes” back in the 80’s — which was an autobiography of his travels. Even thought I liked it, I thought he was a little too pessimistic.

His more current books are fiction, mixed in with true events—I think his writing style has gotten better – still a cynic but he is able to bring together all the little nuances of living in the “Mother country”.

@ Charmonium

You’re welcome. Enjoy the read and good luck finding other authors.
on Mon 18 Feb 2013 at 05:29:06 King

Lol! I couldn’t help myself.
on Mon 18 Feb 2013 at 07:31:24 Legion

“I’m sorry, [pause for emphasis], but this is America.”

That degree of ignorance/denseness is something that either leaves me speechless and grinding my teeth or raising my voice to cut through the sediment in the speakers brain!!
on Mon 18 Feb 2013 at 23:06:20 abagond

BREAKING NEWS!

Mississippi has ratified the 13th Amendment outlawing slavery:

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/mississippi-ratifies-slavery-ban-after-lincoln
on Mon 18 Feb 2013 at 23:21:55 SomeGuy

Damn, looks like I’m going to have to sell my tobacco plantation!
on Mon 18 Feb 2013 at 23:33:41 tehnoun

Mississippi sold out? NOW what are all those crazy redneck militiamen going to do? They can’t possibly stage a coup on the government without the infinite wealth provided by Mississippi’s… er… whatever it produces!
on Mon 18 Feb 2013 at 23:53:30 Fiamma

SomeGuy, Welcome Back !
on Tue 19 Feb 2013 at 00:41:28 SomeGuy

Thank you.
on Tue 19 Feb 2013 at 01:28:54 Herneith

@Abagond:

Are they insane? that’s absurd, really, it sounds like something out of a satirical magazine.

@SomeGuy:

How are you doing dear?
on Tue 19 Feb 2013 at 01:47:52 SomeGuy

I feel like granulated dog feces, but still alive and kicking.
on Tue 19 Feb 2013 at 01:50:35 SomeGuy

By the way, has anyone ever taken one of those “ethnicity” DNA tests?
on Tue 19 Feb 2013 at 02:02:20 Fiamma

SomeGuy,

I took the Genographics 2 autosomal DNA test. Sent it off in October and got the results online (3 months later) in January. The company 23andMe claims to give faster and more thorough results, including health-related genetic info.
on Tue 19 Feb 2013 at 02:10:00 Fiamma

Until further notice the price of the 23andMe “spit kit”, excluding S&H, is only $99. As a heads up, it is illegal to mail the kit from NY though, due to restrictions from the NY Department of Health.
on Tue 19 Feb 2013 at 04:51:23 SomeGuy

@ Fiamma

So far, I have taken the AncestryDNA test and thought about doing the 23andme one. I’ve gotten some surprising results and a second opinion with another company would be great.
on Fri 22 Feb 2013 at 09:16:47 Legion

Don’t read it if you’re at work; you’ll have to suppress feelings and reactions that as a human being you should allow.

http://www.alternet.org/i-went-undercover-homeless-shelter-you-wouldnt-believe-shocking-abuses-i-found-there
on Fri 22 Feb 2013 at 18:00:56 anglesanddimensions

I’m dumping my off-topic post here. I just want to thank Abagond and all of you on the site. I have learnt so much from this blog. It is such a treasure trove of information, and the views here have helped me widen mine. Thank you all so much!
on Mon 25 Feb 2013 at 13:43:00 Anne

Random topic for future posts:

Why is it that we are told the human race is equally violent and racist but at the same time unequally intelligent or attractive?

Why do people use interracial relationships to prove the superior attractiveness of one group yet ignore the fact that both parties are mutually attracted to each other. Doesn’t that negate the superiority of either party?

How is it that a group of people who are supposedly more intelligent than everyone else could not foresee the cultural effect of colonization on their society?

How do you explain the existence of a multiethnic nation with a strong economy that is not governed by Europeans?

Also how do you explain the fact that there has yet to be any ethnic conflict in this country despite the different groups that live there?

Just suggestions.
on Mon 25 Feb 2013 at 20:44:51 Legion

@The women who read the blog.

I don’t think “invisible” is the right description. I think another technique of marginalization is occurring and I think a certain social molding is being attempted by the dominant group. To say “invisible” makes it seem that the black women are marginalizing themselves and takes focus off of who is really doing the marginalizing and agenda setting. I may be off somewhat or dead on; I skimmed the article quickly. I’ll need to reread it. In the meantime I thought many of you might find it of interest.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-social-thinker/201012/are-black-women-invisible
on Wed 27 Feb 2013 at 05:53:51 Thomas Conlon

i don’t know we need to have factories and shit in like reading and philly thats is all im about also who i am i have this thing for job opportunities for the un-hireable
on Wed 27 Feb 2013 at 07:02:32 SugarKiss

@ Legion

I read that article. Great find, It’s very telling, but only from the aspect that it was recorded “statistical” information presented for reflection and debate by everyone. Still, glad it’s out there.

“To say “invisible” makes it seem that the black women are marginalizing themselves and takes focus off of who is really doing the marginalizing and agenda setting.”

~I agree. But it doesn’t take away from the subconscious assimilation of our historical depiction. (the nappy head, dark skin, big lipped, wide nosed, loud, troublesome female)

It’s really damning for us, especially when we try to be upwardly mobile. And even to be seen by the white media, you have to be vetted, non threatening and definitely not too “ethnic”looking. I’m sure we have heard and seen that term before…

Unfortunately, I see the absence of black women all the time currently in the media having meaningful, loving relationships, in places of authority, making important decisions, running nuclear households, her absence as desirable for a mate or even the attraction of sex…

And the “dark-skinned” woman?

Palleeaaasseeee…

I am actually battling this “invisibility” complex at my job. No matter my years of experience, impeccable performance history, vast knowledge base, trust among my peers and even the leadership qualities I have been told by others to exhibit..

I am no more than the “worker bee” who should be “happy and grateful” to be working at all…utilized overwhelmingly for my qualities until it’s time to promote somebody. I know I’m not the first and won’t be the last…

Then their eyes just start blinking, words become stuttered and they will look anywhere else for a leader than to the the capable black professionals they work with everyday. White authority (at my workplace) typically have no interest in developing black professionals, they will just hire nice, vanilla, barely competent ones or an ‘acceptable’ minority (that would be a great post abagond–especially in the workplace) to be typically accepting and non argumentative while promoting workplace hierarchy.

Well, a house Negro, I am not. And as far as my issue of “invisibility”… I’m up for the challenge.

SK
on Thu 28 Feb 2013 at 09:29:40 Legion

I love him dearly.
on Thu 28 Feb 2013 at 18:03:04 Legion

@Anne

Also how do you explain the fact that there has yet to be any ethnic conflict in this country despite the different groups that live there?

There was a genocide against the Indians.
on Thu 28 Feb 2013 at 18:56:34 Thomas Conlon

eh yeah we wore our shorts in the 40 degree fairenheit weather in upstate ny miss teresa asked me today you have no jacket on you must be high as hell i said no white people we have different temperature sensors?
on Thu 28 Feb 2013 at 18:57:05 Thomas Conlon

that is all
on Thu 28 Feb 2013 at 20:07:27 Bulanik

Legion, you said:

@The women who read the blog.

I don’t think “invisible” is the right description. I think another technique of marginalization is occurring and I think a certain social molding is being attempted by the dominant group. To say “invisible” makes it seem that the black women are marginalizing themselves and takes focus off of who is really doing the marginalizing and agenda setting. I may be off somewhat or dead on; I skimmed the article quickly. I’ll need to reread it. In the meantime I thought many of you might find it of interest.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-social-thinker/201012/are-black-women-invisible

I agree. It’s subtle, but that’s how it works.
The article itself is speaking in a “passive voice”:
it makes black women “the object” and marginal to the the discussion about THEM, reinforcing that THEY stand alone, unpopular, sometimes reviled and ignored, as custom…

There are many examples of this, but let’s take the example of intellectual presence. Sexism and racism works together to perpetuate an iconography of the black female on cultural consciousness as All-Body, No Mind.
That cultural consciousness lives in all of us. It is internalized like the way racism is internalized. No different.

In that set up, black women are on this planet primarily for the purpose of serving others. From slavery to the present, the black female body has been seen in Western eyes as the quintessential symbol of a “natural” female presence that is organic, closer to nature, more sensuous…

I’ve had that rubbed in my face once or twice in discussions when my focus on the subject under discussion must have been perceived as over-cerebral and “white” and plain unnatural and wrong… enough to incite anger and resentment.
on Thu 28 Feb 2013 at 20:40:18 Legion

@Bulanik and others

Ugh! I just clicked the link for the article to read it again. I couldn’t get past the title this time:

Are Black Women Invisible?
————————————————
Abusive husband speaking about wife:

How does my wife provoke me?
on Thu 28 Feb 2013 at 20:43:00 Legion

Bulanik,

if your so inclined, you could email the author a critique of what she wrote. Her response would be interesting. Only if your inclined, my dear.
on Thu 28 Feb 2013 at 20:58:28 Legion

*you’re

*smacks forehead*
on Fri 1 Mar 2013 at 00:20:41 Bulanik

@ Legion, I’m not sure right now. There’s so much going on in my life, and I’m really, really tired. I might pull out of commenting for a time.
On top of that, I don’t read enough.
on Fri 1 Mar 2013 at 05:12:24 Peanut

abagond, i really need your help and some advice with a very serious concern. when will you be available to read and reply to my email so i can send it?
on Fri 1 Mar 2013 at 07:32:01 Legion

@Bulanik

I understand. The same thing is happening with me and I will be limiting or halting my activity on the blog in a short while.
—————-
B, please check the Aquinas thread. I addressed you and Abagond. He is being reticent, but you might want to say something.
on Fri 1 Mar 2013 at 10:52:08 Bulanik

@ Legion

That is an interesting question you put.
I will try to answer it when I have time/energy. I really hope that Abagond does too, as I never understood his reticence on the subject either.
on Fri 1 Mar 2013 at 14:21:02 abagond

@ Peanut

Sunday is best.
on Fri 1 Mar 2013 at 22:37:04 Peanut

i sent it, but you can read it on sunday
on Sat 2 Mar 2013 at 16:46:42 leigh204

Exactly one year ago today, my mom passed away from cancer. Many of you have read my postings of the times I was taking care of my mom, and I just wanted to post a tribute to my mom for this one year anniversary. I found this poem I’d like to share with you all. It’s called “A Daughter’s Promise” by Allie B. Quaglieri.

A Daughter’s Promise

Every time that I smile,
Every time that I sigh,
I think of your face,
And a tear escapes my eye.

You were my world,
My inspiration and my heart,
But when you left me,
I thought I would fall apart.

You were my best friend,
My one true ‘confidante’,
And that’s not all you were,
You were also my mom.

I didn’t want to live without you,
But you would have wanted me to,
And if there’s anyone I want to make happy,
That anyone is you

I would have given anything to have you back,
But I know now that it was meant to be,
For you are still watching from up there,
And I know you’re watching me.

I’ll make you proud mom,
I’m going to fulfill your wish,
You’re going to see me and smile,
That’s a daughter’s promise.

Dear Mom,

Not a day goes by that I don’t think about you. No matter what I do in my life, you will always be in my heart. Gone, but not forgotten. I love you and miss you dearly, mom.. <3 <3 <3
on Sun 3 Mar 2013 at 18:44:10 mstoogood4yall

@ leigh
I’m sure your mom is watching over you and smiling at the beautiful,smart and,confident daughter she raised.
on Sun 3 Mar 2013 at 23:33:21 Matari

That’s a beautiful poem, Leigh!
: ))
on Mon 4 Mar 2013 at 00:03:51 mary burrell

@Legion I really appreciate what you have been sharing with me. I value your viewpoints and opinions.
on Mon 4 Mar 2013 at 00:04:57 mary burrell

leigh 204: Lovely sentiments. I’m sure your mom is proud of you.
on Mon 4 Mar 2013 at 00:45:04 King

@ leigh

Through the the things that you shared, we remember her with you. A lovely poem for a lovely Mom. I’m sure you know that your Abagond family supports you
on Mon 4 Mar 2013 at 05:37:47 Fiamma

@Thomas Conlon

I’ve seen white men walking around in below freezing temperatures while bundled up on top, but wearing only shorts and sandals on bottom. I’ve never been able to wrap my mind around that phenomenon….
on Mon 4 Mar 2013 at 15:11:26 lifelearner

@Leigh – a lovely poem *the mother-daughter bond is truly a special connection* thanks for sharing! I’m sure your mother is quite proud of you.
on Tue 5 Mar 2013 at 01:42:31 Bulanik

@ leigh204 That’s a lovely poem.
It’s 8 months since my Dad died, and I feel that whenever you talk about your mother this way, it helps me to come to terms with my own bereavement.

You make your mom proud.
Some of the words of this song remind me of a mother’s love:
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq8TasNsgKw)
on Tue 5 Mar 2013 at 04:33:01 Legion

@ Leigh

You honor her by moving forward everyday. By spreading love in the world in whatever ways that you do. It must be that she was with you just long enough to help bring you to blossom …

@ Bulanik

Grieve fully, to heal fully. It does not mean that you’ve forgotten him.
———————————

Enough from me now. Thank you for feeling safe enough to let us semi strangers (for lack of a better term) see a little of both of you.
on Tue 5 Mar 2013 at 04:46:01 Legion

@ mary burrell

Thank you Mary for seeing value in some things that I say. Thank you for mentioning it too.
—————————————————-

King and Bulanik both set a high standard for the way in which discourse is conducted on this site. Bulanik’s example cannot be ignored. And that bastard King told Adeen to listen to a bunch of different people here, including me! Tied my damn hands, he did.
on Tue 5 Mar 2013 at 04:48:16 King

@ Bulanik

Thus spoke Gertrude the Queen to Hamlet upon the death of his father:

Do not for ever with thy vailed lids
Seek for thy noble father in the dust:
Thou know’st ’tis common; all that lives must die,
Passing through nature to eternity.”

We who are grieving the passing of our parents have to stick together
on Tue 5 Mar 2013 at 04:50:15 King

Haha!! Legion you are well worth listening to.
Let’s hear no more nonsense about you going on comment hiatus!
on Wed 6 Mar 2013 at 23:06:10 Peanut

abagond, can’t you do a post on your favorite commenters….you can put me at the top of the list.
on Thu 7 Mar 2013 at 03:17:12 abagond

@ Peanut

Haha. I am not going there!
on Thu 7 Mar 2013 at 03:25:48 Thomas Conlon

you know being a interracial person it means hearing it from your family the other ones family everyone you know dont be hatin
on Thu 7 Mar 2013 at 21:28:31 Thomas Conlon

@fiamma cross country running is a fall sport
on Thu 7 Mar 2013 at 21:29:58 Thomas Conlon

no but mmy frosh year at st bonnies it snowed from september to april it was warm? declarative interrogative its called in california
on Thu 7 Mar 2013 at 21:32:04 Thomas Conlon
on Fri 8 Mar 2013 at 00:42:50 Thomas Conlon

all due respect
sorry abagond the commies and socialists is more like phenotypically neutral even muslim jawns x post soonest
on Fri 8 Mar 2013 at 04:42:54 Peanut

thomas conlon you’re interracial? u look just white to me, u mean that you’re in an interracial relationship or that you’re BIRACIAL yourself?
on Fri 8 Mar 2013 at 06:20:16 Legion

From what I can tell Steinham never wanted a more just world. She simply wanted a world where white women get to do the same things as white men. That really is the feminist movement to me.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/162754/hbos-gloria-steinem-doc-glosses-over-race-and-fails-assess-second-waves-legacy#
on Fri 8 Mar 2013 at 06:26:01 Legion

Of possible interest:

http://greedylyingbastards.com/
on Fri 8 Mar 2013 at 07:17:15 Legion

King,

you will, perhaps, find this very difficult to believe. Perhaps I shouldn’t mention it at all …

Your most recent comment in the open thread about me not going on comment hiatus.
I nearly responded by leaving the Ecclesiastes passage for you that you left for Adeen.
I decided against doing so to avoid seeming too self important, or something. But I thought about it.

I swear this is true. Strange coincidence.
on Fri 8 Mar 2013 at 07:24:35 King

Haha!!

Well, as you can see, I have no such quibbles about my own self importance!

Serendipity or something else…
on Fri 8 Mar 2013 at 07:42:49 Legion

Oh no! Your use of it was quite nice; it was about Adeen. My use of it would have been about me and maybe too dramatic. That was all I meant.

G’ night man.
on Fri 8 Mar 2013 at 08:34:02 dave

Abagond, did you see any of the Rand Paul 12 hour filibuster in the Senate on 3/06/13?

If so I’m curious of your opinion. Maybe a post on it? The absolute support of Obama by democrats and the media has really made me worried lately. It’s funny how they roll people out there on MSNBC and no one seems to have any alternative view point. I know there are alot of black people who have been critical of Obama, but they disappeared during the election. I’ve said this before but there were some districts in philly where Romney received zero votes, not 0% but a count of zero.

I feel like he’s a president who wants no due process and wants to be able to push any agenda he wants.
on Fri 8 Mar 2013 at 09:53:20 abagond

@ Dave

Obama is off the chain. MSNBC has ceased practising journalism. They need to hire someone to design cheerleader outfits.

I did not see the filibuster and do not plan to post on it. But I will do a post on MSNBC.
on Fri 8 Mar 2013 at 11:16:31 abagond

@ Dave

I agree. There is little serious, reasoned critique of Obama in the mainstream media and that is bad for everyone, except maybe the rich.
on Fri 8 Mar 2013 at 11:50:15 Anne

@Legion
I think your response to my topic suggestions is referring to the wrong country. Try somewhere smaller and further south where the population takes pride in their liberty.
on Sat 9 Mar 2013 at 08:10:19 Legion

@ Anne

Uhhh, ok, I don’t get it. Are you special? Like everyone knows what you’re talking about except me and I need to guess which country you’re talking about so I can be “in”? Tell you what, I finished with “in” way back in high school. If your looking for someone to play “Guess Anne’s super-duper-awesome riddles”with, I’m afraid you’ll have to try someone else.

Good luck with your suggestions.
on Sat 9 Mar 2013 at 23:13:12 lifelearner

@ All

I’m in the middle of a really interesting book, called ” How To Be Black” By Baratunde Thurston. Two thumbs up thus far…maybe Abagond if you read it..might do a post on it.
on Sun 10 Mar 2013 at 03:10:03 v8driver

hi test post ima blackout drunk have me own blog now too irrirl.wordpress.com
on Sun 10 Mar 2013 at 20:26:48 Peanut

i was wondering if anyone had heard of this incident that was caught on camera with the white man cursing/assaulting the black women on film this past september.

here is video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CORjNucfUM)

http://atlantablackstar.com/2012/09/25/louisiana-woman-spit-on-and-called-n-word/
on Sun 10 Mar 2013 at 20:30:30 mary burrell

@Peanut: Yes I saw that. It was horrendous. He had some sorry excuse for his messed up behavior. He is a major turdpile for sure. I don’t think anything was done about that incident.
on Mon 11 Mar 2013 at 05:36:18 Fiamma

My but pugs are CUTE DOGS!!!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uuqXXT7VYo)
on Mon 11 Mar 2013 at 06:08:49 Linda

Ricky Smiley show — “things Jermaine Jackson needs on tour for his hair” — funny, it had me in tears!
on Wed 13 Mar 2013 at 03:13:49 King

Racism = Insanity

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/05/11/irate-man-shouts-racist-obscenities-strips-naked-on-6-train/?src=listicle
on Wed 13 Mar 2013 at 08:18:41 Legion

So moved was I one day when I gave Transmission a really good listen. The song is about ignoring the things that matter in life, and instead participating in the frivolous things of life, while moving headlong into destruction.

(http://youtu.be/FnWPGSQjFUc)
on Wed 13 Mar 2013 at 09:25:35 Matari

King,

Increasing unemployment, homelessness, cost of living (rent/food/energy/etc), segregated communities, growing inflation, higher taxes, racial animus plus a feeling of general hopelessness is steadily creeping into the cauldron that is the Big (rotten) Apple!

Word to the wise. Get out of NYC!

Life in NYC = INSANITY
on Wed 13 Mar 2013 at 23:35:27 v8driver

@peanut no i’m a white dude, now i’m single but i date outside my race hence inter-
on Wed 13 Mar 2013 at 23:38:55 v8driver

i only date black women pretty much that’s how i got here, pretty much looking for some answers and did i get a lot!
Ima do a piece on the philly magazine ‘being white in philly’ –it’s atrocious — and i want to do one on white stereotypes but like funny, kind of, surfer, golfer, like that, eh a lot of the new blog is also since processing what was ultimately summed up by me to not be self-hate but cultural competence after a lot of drunken facebooking, crying, blah blah, you guys really helped me learn a lot here and i wish to expand in my own direction yet still maintain friendly relations if that makes any sense at all.
on Wed 13 Mar 2013 at 23:39:32 v8driver

just sayin
on Wed 13 Mar 2013 at 23:43:51 v8driver

it also concides with me being not able to get better from my addiction be being ‘private’ and crap and oh well it’s just all public on fb and you know whatever a 5th step, i give up, i need to write, it is something i did for a lot of my life but was blocked for so long
on Wed 13 Mar 2013 at 23:50:59 Herneith

I just came home from a delicious meal consisting of salmon sashimi, salmon and tuna maki(plain and spicy) complimented by miso soup with pickles and wasabi. Jealous?
on Thu 14 Mar 2013 at 00:04:55 v8driver

and sorry about switchin avatars now logged in to wordpress because i’m still need a little motivational something or other to write it will not cross authenticate with my facebook thingie so i dont know how to fix that (yet)
on Thu 14 Mar 2013 at 00:06:52 v8driver

eh ima let it go at this a long ways back on here i been said i was finding my voice, thats done now i just need to remain reasonable sane and sober and let it flow, through appropriate channels
on Thu 14 Mar 2013 at 00:07:30 v8driver

and thanks.
on Thu 14 Mar 2013 at 03:32:35 King

@ Matari

Life in NYC = INSANITY

Hmm.. I see what you mean!
on Thu 14 Mar 2013 at 10:47:58 Kwamla

@ Abagond

I think you really need to revise your policy of simply deleting comments without explanation or warning. It simply sows and breeds feeling of animosity.

And it is certainly not an open and democratic way to administer a public forum. It may be your blog but showing simple courtesy to frequent commentators should never be beneath you.
on Thu 14 Mar 2013 at 10:56:30 abagond

@ Kwamla

Thank you.
on Thu 14 Mar 2013 at 11:35:03 Kwamla

Your are welcome Abagond!
on Thu 14 Mar 2013 at 11:48:05 v8driver

facebook has been just deleting stuff for years
on Thu 14 Mar 2013 at 20:21:35 grin and bear it

Abagond, please give us some insight about Detroit. I think there was a bit of OT discussion of it on one of the threads, but I’d love to get your perspective on what’s happening there and how it got to be that way.
on Fri 15 Mar 2013 at 00:26:07 v8driver

i’m mostly irish that’s what i identify with and scottish and british and italian and some other who knows man
on Fri 15 Mar 2013 at 22:02:34 v8driver

@legion you never lived in a homeless shelter?
on Sat 16 Mar 2013 at 14:00:55 abagond

Does anyone have any opinions, good or bad or mixed, about Iris Chang? She is best known for writing “The Rape of Nanking” (1997).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_Chang

http://www.amazon.com/Iris-Chang/e/B000AR7W7W/
on Sat 16 Mar 2013 at 14:07:28 King of trouble

@ Abagond here is a subject that living in Japan it is blacklisted to talk about. I would love to talk about it though.
on Sat 16 Mar 2013 at 15:03:49 abagond

@ King of trouble

What do you mean blacklisted? They teach it at school, right?
on Sat 16 Mar 2013 at 18:00:23 Sharina

@ Abagond and King of trouble

I would be interested in hearing more about this.
on Sat 16 Mar 2013 at 21:44:43 Herneith

Does anyone have any opinions, good or bad or mixed, about Iris Chang? She is best known for writing “The Rape of Nanking” (1997).

Apparently she committed suicide leaving behind a daughter and husband. Some say she committed suicide because of depression. Anyhow I understand why the Rape of Nangking wouldn’t be taught in Japanese schools. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese were slaughtered by the Japanese in Nanking. For some truly stomach turning situations, go to some historical sites dealing with Nanking and the Japanese occupation in China during WWII. They were equally vicious with the Korean comfort women.
on Sat 16 Mar 2013 at 22:21:57 mary burrell

She was battleling bipolar disorder maybe that is what caused her demise. She was leading a charmed life otherwise.
on Sat 16 Mar 2013 at 22:51:09 mary burrell

This is all very cloak and dagger to me. It appears that Iris Chang removed the band aid from the sore and started the pus and drainage, that the Japanese government wanted forgotten. Maybe the government had something to do with her demise. She described in graphic detail the horrors of this event. Maybe they didn’t appreciate her writing this book. And as did her in as payback. This is all speculation on my part. I can see why the Japanese government wouldn’t want this taught in schools. They are probably ashamed of this horrific incident and want it forgotten.
on Sat 16 Mar 2013 at 22:54:36 mary burrell

* As payback did her in* Forgive typos.
on Sun 17 Mar 2013 at 18:20:34 Legion

Re: India gang rape. (again)

This is the most recent case.
Disclaimer: I have not read the story yet but will do so.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/17/india-swiss-tourist-gang-rape
on Tue 19 Mar 2013 at 03:47:54 mary burrell

@ Legion I read that as well; That is horrific. I wonder what is going on over in that part of the world were the sexual assault of women tourist is happening quite frequently?
on Wed 20 Mar 2013 at 15:19:44 B. R.

We lost one of the great black Brazilian song interpreters, Emilio Santiago

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebw3U_gWPAI)

RIP Emilio
on Thu 21 Mar 2013 at 01:30:59 Peanut

oh my goodness abagond, you had a birthday last week. happy belated birthday!
on Thu 21 Mar 2013 at 02:05:59 Peanut

@ BR RIP Emilio
on Thu 21 Mar 2013 at 04:17:33 B. R.

Yeah, Peanut, Emilio is a galan, isnt he? What class..(ha belated happy bday Abagond)
on Thu 21 Mar 2013 at 05:36:33 Legion

@ mary burrell. I’ve since read the story. Yes Mary, I can’t get my head around it either.
on Thu 21 Mar 2013 at 05:40:29 Legion

Abagond, why did you ask for opinions on Mrs. Chang. What did you think of her work and the circumstances of her demise; both the lead up to and final end?
on Thu 21 Mar 2013 at 06:41:32 jefe

^ I am also very curious about this focus on Iris Chang.

BTW, I met her in person in 1998. My Aunt was president of the OCAW (Organization of Chinese American Women) at the time and they honoured her with their outstanding woman of the year award. She gave a speech (about why she did the book), did a booksigning and I also spoke briefly with her.

Anyhow, I heard about all the ruckus in China after that book came out – about how Japan has “whitewashed” the whole thing.
on Sat 23 Mar 2013 at 02:21:11 King

Rest in Peace, Chinua Achebe.

I will never forget Things Fall Apart as a very necessary step in my intellectual journey in my thinking about race.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/23/world/africa/chinua-achebe-nigerian-writer-dies-at-82.html?_r=0
on Sun 24 Mar 2013 at 14:37:50 teddy1975

This might be of interest to the ones interested in American Black (rather than US-Black) History

http://ancestors-unknown.org/
on Mon 25 Mar 2013 at 17:11:40 Legion

Well Abagond, won’t you tell us your opinions on Chang’s demise?
on Mon 25 Mar 2013 at 17:23:30 Legion

It’s either gonna tear us apart or bring us together and I just can’t figure out which way things will go.

Like this?

Or like this?
on Mon 25 Mar 2013 at 17:37:29 Legion

We need each other. <—-A totally trivial insight that can never be repeated too often.

The latest repetition: here.
on Wed 27 Mar 2013 at 14:12:04 B. R.

“Let’s face it, BR.
I simply get under you internet skin because you consider me anti-American and cannot beat me down, and want to badly. Maybe you don’t like encountering females on line who read books, and can’t get personal info about to bash them with. LMAO.

Abagond lets you get away with so much I could not.”

hahhahahahahaha this is a hilarious joke, right? I mean , when we do clash, its because you have made some weak arguments that beg to be smacked down, I have proven many statements you have made on here to be catagoricly false..Abagond just deleted my comments also…grow up,really

Abagond, you ought to make the “B. R. versus Bulanik” thread, like the broken record thread…it will be the most popular of all

Or maybe just start the “African drumming” thread….
on Wed 27 Mar 2013 at 14:26:52 B. R.

And your take on calling me “stalker” is ridiculous, you play the game of telling me not to talk to you, yet , did your little digs in your posts at my postions, i didnt address you, I anwered your digs in a round about way

YOur position above about how our interaction is going down is absolutly hilarious

what really is happening is that you are so eager to show the blog how you can bag a “white American male”, that you keep breaking your face on the wall because it just doesnt stick
on Wed 27 Mar 2013 at 14:31:18 B. R.

my two statements are direceted at Bulanik

yeah, Abagond, the “B. R. versus Bulanik broken record” thread….there is an idea whose time has come

or the “African drumming” thread , now there are some ideas that are really incredibly special and blatently big and important
on Wed 27 Mar 2013 at 18:22:12 Legion

@B.R.

I have proven many statements you have made on here to be catagoricly false

Many?

How many? An approximate number will do.
on Wed 27 Mar 2013 at 18:33:39 Legion

@ King

The amazon reviews and product description of Things Fall Apart are pretty impressive.
on Wed 27 Mar 2013 at 19:40:42 B. R.

” It is wrong when commenter B.R. does it by emphatically claiming that Che Guevara was a racist, in order to get people on this blog to ignore Socialism or the details of Castro and Guavara’s politics and revolt and against American power.”

Legion, you cant be serious about this, I mean, I have brought in some serious information totaly incriminating the social health progams in Cuba,and, I have seen Castro rail about the prostitutes under Batista, but, I just read an article on the prostitution and child prostitution with gringos in Cuba right now…

I am questioning directly , the pristine noble characterisations of their health programs, and, I definitly am questioning directly their Marxist politics . I dont have anything against Socialism that doesnt feel it has to blab dribble about American Imperialism , you can beleive Castro and Fidel were practicing Imperialism as well.I am so happy the Che call for a thousand Viet Nams in South America didnt happen. You know, the people hated the military dictatorships, but, even more, they didnt want a Marxist revolution, they didnt support it at all.

I also dont have anything against rejecting American hedgomy in the Ameicas, but, not under some Marxist ideology…Are you going to try to tell me Fidel and Che werent Marxists? Or is everything ok with you as long as they bash the USA
on Wed 27 Mar 2013 at 19:44:04 B. R.

So, I want you to get it real clear that, I am not against Socialism, I am not against rejecting American hedgomy in the Americas, as a matter of fact, I say dont trust Americans, make them have to earn it, but, I wouldnt bend over in the shower just because the USA isnt in there…I reccomend dont trust anyone
on Thu 28 Mar 2013 at 01:57:02 King

@ Legion

I LOVE that book!
on Thu 28 Mar 2013 at 02:06:40 King

@ Mbeti

Followed over from the Melanin thread.

https://abagond.wordpress.com/2013/03/20/melanin/#comment-166220

At what point do you stand and when do you just let it go.
This forum seems most appropriate to expressing and critiquing opposing ideas,unlike live talk you get a written public record as well as your own personal copy.”

Well, I think it depends on what you mean. If you believe that someone is attacking you with their religion, then that’s one thing. But if someone simply holds a belief, I’m not sure why it would have to be dealt with. I’m not saying that one should never ask questions, or point out inconsistencies, but as a general rule, trying to change someone’s religious beliefs is not likely to be achieved with an argument on the internet. Don’t you agree?
on Thu 28 Mar 2013 at 03:53:34 King

My viewpoint is we live in a universe that at its fundamental level is the same for everyone everywhere eternally.”

That would be difficult to determine while sitting on one continent on planet of 8 in a solar system that revolves around a star that is one out of 300 billion stars in the this galaxy, which itself is one out of a trillion galaxies in the observable Universe. Exactly how would you know if things were the same everywhere or not?

I find science to be our current closest approach to this truth and religions as immature attempts at the same thing.

Science is very helpful and quite needful in our understanding of reality, but it is not all that there is. Certainly some room must be left for things that seem to defy scientific appraisal.
on Thu 28 Mar 2013 at 11:24:16 B. R.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OHTEllmS0s&feature=em-share_video_user)

An open air pedestian maul gig where I produced a music dance festival with great examples of : samba, breaking, tortinho, locking, candomble , popping and Wayne Shorter songs…Im not playing a full drum kit, but, the Brazilian percusionist is wicked

This is multi culturalism and Afro diasporic grooves and dances on display
on Fri 29 Mar 2013 at 03:53:31 King

I think this is too cool

http://www.naturalgirlsunited.com/natural-hair-dolls.html
on Fri 29 Mar 2013 at 04:00:54 abagond

^^ Me too.
on Fri 29 Mar 2013 at 04:04:45 King

^ Nice header
on Fri 29 Mar 2013 at 04:32:52 Bulanik

Abagond, love the header.
King, nice one! I like your taste
on Fri 29 Mar 2013 at 05:25:33 mstoogood4yall

i love the first doll on the second row.
on Fri 29 Mar 2013 at 05:39:38 King

@ Bulanik

Partial payment for that African belly dancer girl you got me hooked on!

@ mstoogood4yall

She is fierce I must say

http://www.naturalgirlsunited.com/uploads/1/9/0/4/1904865/4700075_orig.jpg
on Fri 29 Mar 2013 at 13:27:16 lifelearner

Diggin’ the new masthead Abagond. The doll in the top row 3rd from the left is best representation of my natural hair. Loving it!
on Sat 30 Mar 2013 at 17:19:16 Peanut

abagond, i will paypal you $10.00 if you help me with what we talked about in the email? please i really need help…
on Sun 31 Mar 2013 at 16:50:36 tehnoun

Happy Easter, for those who celebrate it.

If you don’t… well, chocolate!
on Sun 31 Mar 2013 at 18:07:15 abagond

Happy Easter!! To all commenters, trolls and lurkers!
on Sun 31 Mar 2013 at 20:00:34 mary burrell

Happy Easter to everyone.
on Sun 31 Mar 2013 at 20:01:25 mary burrell

I just love the dolls.
on Mon 1 Apr 2013 at 19:54:46 Herneith

Folks, I am going to have the initial start of my Human Rights complaint on Tuesday. It is to set dates for a hearing. Wish me luck!!!
on Mon 1 Apr 2013 at 20:08:00 Bulanik

Herneith, the very best of luck to you!
on Mon 1 Apr 2013 at 20:44:44 mary burrell

@ Herneith Best of luck to you. I hope things go in your dfavor.
on Mon 1 Apr 2013 at 21:40:41 King

Good luck Herneith!
on Mon 1 Apr 2013 at 23:17:06 Herneith

Thank you, Bulanik, Mary and King!
on Tue 2 Apr 2013 at 02:38:19 B. R.

i hope you win, Herneath , great you are fighting for your rites
on Wed 3 Apr 2013 at 03:41:13 Anne

Agabond, are you going to write something about the recent shootings in Texas and Colorado?

http://wonkette.com/509700/slow-news-day-except-for-those-seemingly-coordinated-nazi-attacks-on-public-officials?onswipe_redirect=no#idc-cover
on Wed 3 Apr 2013 at 19:44:01 lifelearner

@ Henrieth

Hope the hearing goes in your favor and there is a huge $$$ settlement for you!
on Thu 4 Apr 2013 at 00:23:27 Herneith

Folks, my case is going to a full hearing. The procedure chosen is to my advantage. But then again, they do not have much of a leg to stand on!
on Thu 4 Apr 2013 at 00:33:37 mary burrell

@ Herneith; I am praying that everything goes in your favor. And that you get justice.
on Thu 4 Apr 2013 at 01:12:02 Herneith

Thank you Mary!
on Sat 6 Apr 2013 at 19:12:44 Cece D

@Abagond & everyone else

Have you all seen this British documentary before?
(http://youtu.be/s7EwXmxpExw)
on Sat 6 Apr 2013 at 22:43:36 Bulanik

@ Cece D

I put forward that documentary (or something similar) before on Abagond’s Suggestions thread a while back, just after one of yours.
http://abagond.wordpress.com/open-thread-2/suggestions/#comment-117354
on Sat 6 Apr 2013 at 23:42:50 Cece D

@Bulanik

AH yes! But it was hard reading that thread since all the videos kept making my browser lag
on Sat 6 Apr 2013 at 23:57:24 King

Have you all seen this British documentary before?”

Good documentary.

http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/sc50e0dae5.jpg
on Sun 7 Apr 2013 at 03:35:18 Vagabond Abscond

Four girls are fighting to end a racially segregated prom system in their hometown:
http://www.wsav.com/story/21866654/macon-students-fight-segregated-prom

A black girl was elected prom queen by the student body, but could not attend the whites-only prom.
on Sun 7 Apr 2013 at 03:37:06 Vagabond Abscond

Oops, I meant she won for homecoming and couldn’t attend the same one as the king. Still ridiculous.
on Tue 9 Apr 2013 at 01:01:27 Peanut

@ vagabond abscond,

wow.
on Tue 9 Apr 2013 at 01:07:04 Peanut

hey guys,

I want to have intercourse with a man soon. I can’t decide, why do I have to be so sexually repressed??
on Tue 9 Apr 2013 at 01:12:27 B. R.

Hang in there, Peanut, wait for the right guy…you deserve it…

there are lots of ways to enjoy your sexuality and not have to have direct intercourse with a man
on Tue 9 Apr 2013 at 01:17:05 Peanut

I hope by this time next year, I would have made love for real.
on Tue 9 Apr 2013 at 01:20:55 Peanut

but, i want the connection with a man. I don’t want to just be sexually satisfied. I need to feel close to someone. i’m sorry but m*sturbation doesn’t do that. I know this is probably really personal to talk about on here, but sex is part of life. i don’t think you understand how i feel B.R because you’re a man and men are wired differently when it comes to sex.
on Tue 9 Apr 2013 at 01:21:44 Peanut

i feel a post coming.
on Tue 9 Apr 2013 at 02:25:42 King

@ Peanut

If you’re really anxious to have sex, then that is very likely to get in the way of your whole “connection with a man thing.”

It’s kind of like going to the pound to pick out a dog that really seems to like you, but you’ve got a t-bone steak hanging around your neck. Strangely enough, ALL the dogs seem to like you!!!

If you want to connect with a man you’d better do it BEFORE the sex card is out, because it’s going to be hard to determine exactly what he’s connected to after that.
on Tue 9 Apr 2013 at 04:08:51 Bulanik

@ Peanut

I think I get that you want to feel safe and that it’s the right move, but I feel that King’s right.

Peanut, sometimes you might also find that you can “connect” with a man, but the sexual part doesn’t work in quite the way you’d hoped for when it gets to it.
The connection is a chemical/electrical thing. And it doesn’t always simply flow smoothly from a meeting of minds and emotional bonding, etc… so, certainly, it definitely helps if you know your body and mind well beforehand, through masturbation and fantasy )and the non-penetrative sex as BR suggests).

You might also ask yourself about your own repression.
What you enjoy about “withholding” like that. You’re not unusual in this sense.
A man that understands and controls that tension in you could be rather exciting.
on Tue 9 Apr 2013 at 11:35:40 King Of Trouble

I read this and I thought wow, I can’t believe this is real, then I read it again and thought how is this possible.
http://news.msn.com/us/georgia-high-school-students-unite-to-fight-segregated-prom
Have I missed read this or is it because parents pay for it. I really didn’t think you could have segregated proms or the likes of it.
on Tue 9 Apr 2013 at 11:36:35 King Of Trouble

oops Vagabond beat me to it.
on Thu 11 Apr 2013 at 01:06:28 v8driver

yet another test post
on Thu 11 Apr 2013 at 01:56:22 v8driver

the takeaway from doin cable tv in nj for 2 years is how many americans able to afford private housing dont have one book in their house
on Fri 12 Apr 2013 at 22:00:40 King of Trouble

v8driver, I know what you mean as a teacher I visited a lot of my students homes and many of them didn’t have any books but the tv was like an altar. Before I left I brought all 180 of my books to the school and told my students to take them. A lot did but many couldn’t see where the books had value. You can’t eat it, hard to sell it, and maybe they could read it one time maybe not was the answer I got. High School is too old to install a love of reading you have to get them in kindergarden and grade school.
on Fri 12 Apr 2013 at 22:05:39 King of Trouble

On another note, another teacher gets in trouble trying to make students imagine they are on the dark side of history. Instead of slaver driver they were asked to be a good little Nazi
http://news.msn.com/us/ny-high-school-writing-assignment-explain-why-jews-are-evil

I am shaking my ruler on how this teacher didn’t know something like this would get him in trouble. I wonder if it was poor communication skills or just plain ignorance?
on Mon 15 Apr 2013 at 01:31:13 Vagabond Abscond

@King of Trouble

I couldn’t believe the segregated prom thing either. Also, have you heard about this new song “Accidental Racist” (http://ideas.time.com/2013/04/11/viewpoint-you-cant-be-an-accidental-racist/), where slave shackles are equated with jewelry? Since I started reading this blog I have started to notice racism all over the place.
on Wed 17 Apr 2013 at 09:51:25 Legion

@ Cece D

I posted part one of that documentary in the previous open thread. I said somethings about it being awesome too. I seconded Bulanik’s suggestion for a propaganda/Bernays post.

Yes, the suggestion thread is like tar and gum now. I mostly don’t attempt to load it anymore; I am probably not alone on that count…
on Wed 17 Apr 2013 at 10:06:46 Legion

@ Herneith

I have not been able to achieve justice for myself time and time again. Therefore, I can well empathize with the course of action and courage you are taking.

You said something inspiring (but realistic) a long time ago that still encourages me to this day. (I’m not going to mention what it was; I wish to stay private about it.) Therefore, I simply must wish you success in your hearing process and what follows from it.
on Wed 17 Apr 2013 at 10:43:34 Legion

Re: A man that understands and controls that tension in you could be rather exciting.

You, correct me if I’m wrong Bulanik, but to put things more nakedly (not intentionally punning), you are talking about:

• seduction
• and dominance

oui ou non?
————————–
Peanut, in lieu of forming a connection, would you “settle” for being skillfully seduced? Connection will come one day but it might not be the first guy who you sleep with.
on Wed 17 Apr 2013 at 11:11:22 Legion

@King of Trouble

High School is too old to install a love of reading you have to get them in kindergarden and grade school.

The kids are not “too old” by high school. They’re too jaded to be sold the curriculum propaganda being offered by the state. When they are tykes, they assume the adults around them are telling the truth, later (some) realize this isn’t so.

“A love of reading” is one of those socially conditioned type phrases. If someone has a love of acquiring useful/accurate knowledge, then one will read as necessary or seek experience or a mix of both. When someone, particularly a teen, is being praised by an adult as having “a love of reading” you just know, nine times out of ten, the teen is reading a shitload of socially accepted doctrine.
on Wed 17 Apr 2013 at 23:19:47 Herneith

@Legion:

Thanks Legion! My case is coming along, I will say they are f88ked and know it! All signs are good! Fight the power is all I can say. The more the merrier. Educate yourself as to how white supremacy works, there are academic disciplines and legal aspects such as critical race theory. Document anything which you feel may not be right(it probably isn’t). Email the clowns if you have any concerns(they hate putting things on paper!). Try not to depend on witnesses if possible. Many will ‘secretly’ support you but when it comes time to testify, will conveniently ‘forget’. Try to depend on documents ie, the systems, policies and procedure, that is where I got them! Anyhow don’t obsess on it but at the same time do not let these turds walk over you. I could go on ad nauseum but I won’t. I prefer hilarity and absurdities. Laughing at these fools is also a great boon! I will say that this has caused me to divert myself away from things I wish to do as it takes work. I had no assistance nor support except for a couple of people when I initialize my complaint yet I persevered. A higher being was definitely looking out for me! Take care!
on Thu 18 Apr 2013 at 22:19:47 v8driver

oh man i need to go to a alcoholics anonymous meeting there is only one around here and its like 25 blocks away i’m not supposed to smoke cigarettes either the doctors told me
on Thu 18 Apr 2013 at 22:31:12 v8driver

there’s this old new jersey saying, “yeah, right?” … it can mean anything based on tone and inflection too
on Thu 18 Apr 2013 at 23:40:07 Fiamma

Lol. I’ve certainly used “yeah, right!” in my time. Didn’t know it came out of Jesrsey. I’ve typically used it when I was faced with some thing or something someone said which I personally perceived as being false.

The phrase “I know… right!?” seems to be used in a different way than “yeah, right!”
on Fri 19 Apr 2013 at 00:18:22 Vagabond Abscond

Bangladeshi man beaten for looking Arab after Boston bombing:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/bronx/bx_idiots_beat_up_arab_in_revenge_76qKozmZwDUpLUbacqqP3O
on Sat 20 Apr 2013 at 08:30:44 Legion

i’m not supposed to smoke cigarettes either the doctors told me

You’ll forgive me… but Doctors need to tell you that? E-freakin’-gads!

Thank god for those “doctors”, wherever would we be without them? Advice to not smoke is exactly the same as advice to not drive shards of glass into your flesh. I mean honestly …
on Sun 21 Apr 2013 at 17:16:30 Legion

This one is for the ladies of the blog:

What attracts women to men?
These women said the following:
(http://youtu.be/BdLfHJFcaYk)

What do the rest of you say, hmm?
on Sun 21 Apr 2013 at 17:29:07 Herneith

He must be breathing and earning a paycheque. He must be willing to hand it over on pay day. He must be willing to be in a woman led relationship!

What attracts women to men?
Triple Ds’!
on Sun 21 Apr 2013 at 22:47:19 v8driver

test post again eh i snapped
on Sun 21 Apr 2013 at 23:30:17 mary burrell

Herneith, Was wondering how things were going with your case?
on Sun 21 Apr 2013 at 23:33:09 mary burrell

Herneith I didn’t see the above comments but am still lifting you up in prayer.
on Mon 22 Apr 2013 at 02:12:38 Legion

@ Herneith

I knew you’d answer the call!
on Mon 22 Apr 2013 at 14:13:55 Bulanik

@Legion

Busy (traveling) now and for the next couple of weeks, but will answer you (and a bit more, when I return to Ireland). Take care, my dear.
on Tue 23 Apr 2013 at 12:45:20 v8driver

“sorry” aint really my style, but i apologize, as you know i’m not supposed to use alcohol for any reason whatsover but i do, and then i get on the internet well i guess its better than running around getting in fights. its not easy finding anyone to even have a freakin normal conversation that doesnt revolve around someone elses pharmacological needs around here, in the hood, and its getting to me. have a blessed day
on Tue 23 Apr 2013 at 14:21:01 lifelearner

Definitely “share” worthy
on Tue 23 Apr 2013 at 14:28:32 lifelearner

@ Abagond- can you fix and make apart of above post-thanks

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=D-eVF_G_p-Y)
on Tue 23 Apr 2013 at 15:05:01 Legion

@Bulanik

Be safe cherie.
on Tue 23 Apr 2013 at 15:46:00 Sharina

@ lifelearner

I think you just posted my favorite video. I loved that. He spoke the truth. So many thoughts are running through my head, but it was amazing. Thank you so much for that.
on Tue 23 Apr 2013 at 23:30:34 mary burrell

#Legion you are such a man. Articulate and well read. And you challenge a sister to think more critically. I nominate you Sir..
on Tue 23 Apr 2013 at 23:33:04 mary burrell

@ Bulainik, Kiss lots of leprachauns. Be safe. Come back soon.
on Tue 23 Apr 2013 at 23:40:19 mary burrell

@Legion I was feeling cheeky.
on Wed 24 Apr 2013 at 08:08:49 Legion

^Naughty girl…
on Wed 24 Apr 2013 at 13:47:46 lifelearner

@ Sharina

I know right! Keeps me grounded regarding raising critical thinkers. I hope his parents are proud. His creativity speaks volumes.
on Wed 24 Apr 2013 at 19:33:52 Peanut

@ abagond,

have you ever heard of heartiste blog (aka roissy, i believe) would u ever be able to do a post on his views of black women?
on Wed 24 Apr 2013 at 23:01:49 Peanut

@ abagond
on Thu 25 Apr 2013 at 00:12:14 v8driver

eh well i am too annoyed with myself to pick through accidental racist and black girl dating part 2 and 3 most of the comments was to abagond anyway he had to have read em if they got pulled too. like i just let stuff build up its some psychological defect but damn if i didn’t go out there and go to the little town meeting last friday all tuned up and confronted my schiz no fighting no new charges can’t beat that. well i cant say it improved my station any but it happened i still think round the way girl is the ish
the other thing is maybe you can see it’s not so great to be white they shoot anybody now you can see when pulled over like the pickup truck in california two women and dbr? it is i. have a blessed day.
-tc
on Thu 25 Apr 2013 at 00:20:39 v8driver

and im not with that whoever was sayin there more enlightened sites out there i am out of extreme necessity trying to define a more than thuggish hood persona and believe me i got the arrest record to back that up i find myself really addicted to this blog but in a good way it is nice.
on Thu 25 Apr 2013 at 00:52:34 Peanut

abagond!! you’ve been ignoring my comments for weeks seriously what did i do?
on Thu 25 Apr 2013 at 01:52:31 abagond

@ Peanut

I have been kind of ignoring everyone lately. I would not take it personally.

I will take a look at Heartiste. It does seem like a Roissy joint. Do you have particular posts in mind?

I did do a post on Roissy:

http://abagond.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/the-roissy-syndrome/
on Thu 25 Apr 2013 at 03:18:10 Peanut

how about this: http://heartiste.wordpress.com/2013/03/06/was-satoshi-kanazawa-right/
on Thu 25 Apr 2013 at 11:16:36 v8driver

heartiste? wow that is harsh… “i am an alpha male but i have a blog and waste time ego-tripping on lesser life forms” i just checked that out for the first time and it makes me just want to step away from the computer and go outside
on Thu 25 Apr 2013 at 22:04:43 darqbeauty

@ Abagond

Hey, how do I find those adorable Black dolls you have featured in the banner up top of your site? I tried looking under Black barbies, but none of them have the awesome hair of the dolls you have up top. Help! Thanks in advance.
on Fri 26 Apr 2013 at 00:31:09 v8driver

@legion yeah man about 3 doctors and at least one dentist told me not to smoke but here i am with a newport 100 and well hey it’s not heroin
on Fri 26 Apr 2013 at 00:47:22 v8driver

@abagond and you know what the eff i be talkin about dude
on Fri 26 Apr 2013 at 00:51:58 v8driver

eh a lot of my cultural competence and btw havin a pulse is due to the eternal search for decorum
on Fri 26 Apr 2013 at 01:15:29 lifelearner

@darqbeauty

King posted a link further up. Here it is, http://www.naturalgirlsunited.com/natural-hair-dolls.html

I’m definitely going to support this business in the near further.
on Fri 26 Apr 2013 at 03:53:17 v8driver

its not 400 years wife is stretching it
on Fri 26 Apr 2013 at 12:47:19 v8driver

yay i got some posts through last night, i guess my who’s team do you want to be on is rhetorical because abagond lives in the us. so asked and answered. with the polemics, ac130 gunship…
but to keep it 100% because i really dont feel like reading and writing right now, but i was on the track of something last night.

as us ‘well-meaning’ at least quasi-enlightened ‘white people’ you should not be so critical of white guilt it is a way to process you know relations i guess in a general sense, it is what i feel when you know, you talk to a black american and they can’t tell you about their family before two generations or so, and not due to out of wedlock blah blah but you know, slavery, it was an undeclared war, again, the tricky part… not all of us were involved, i mean there is a way through all this
on Sat 27 Apr 2013 at 18:45:57 Vagabond Abscond

The young women who were fighting for an interracial prom achieved their goal! It will be held tonight, Saturday the 27th. I wish them all the best; they have earned it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/democracy-now/love-has-no-color-georgia_b_3163360.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
on Sat 27 Apr 2013 at 23:25:17 v8driver

@abagond you’re comin up in the blogosphere
on Sun 28 Apr 2013 at 12:42:49 v8driver

@abagond and i know i can be a little rough, tryin to get there, man… eternal search for decorum
on Sun 28 Apr 2013 at 17:05:06 Peanut

abagond is my homie
on Mon 29 Apr 2013 at 09:42:25 v8driver

yep.
on Mon 29 Apr 2013 at 09:46:59 Bulanik

@ Peanut

Did you see what I said to above? Are YOU just ignoring ME again?!!
on Tue 30 Apr 2013 at 01:24:10 Randy

Cornlia:

Randy, I would say that it is the never abating work of mostly African-Americans who have understood how this system works. You can call it Affirmation Action, I call it never giving up and sacrificing a lot for a just cause. It’s not “race” that has achieved anything, it’s beating them at their own game. It seems to me.

From: http://www.pacificcitizen.org/columnists/james-kumpel/asian-americans-and-higher-education

“Specifically, to have equivalent probability of admission as a black student with an 1100 SAT score, Hispanic students would need a 1230, white students would require a 1410, and AAs would need a 1550 (fully 10% higher than whites and 40% higher than blacks)”

I would not characterize this advantage as resulting from “never giving up”, but rather from selecting a particular race on a college admission form.

Linda is right about this line of discussion being off topic to the SSA post which is why I’ve placed this comment in the Open Thread.
on Tue 30 Apr 2013 at 01:29:01 v8driver

honestly that what i want a nice black girlfriend with a southern accent not too fat drives a stick even on a truck not too much to ask right? like just be nice to me.
on Tue 30 Apr 2013 at 01:54:47 v8driver

water seek it own level
on Tue 30 Apr 2013 at 06:46:56 dave

(http://townhall.com/columnists/kyleolson/2013/03/12/wisconsin-education-officials-want-students-to-wear-white-privilege-wristbands-n1531315)

This is a very bad idea. It’s reminds me of nazi germany pointing out jews.
on Wed 1 May 2013 at 07:20:07 v8driver

oooh i didn’t know if i should put this in white american music
“sample slim shady”

wiki wiki wiki
10 minutes most days
500 words or less
let my viewpoint through
i’m a member of the press

i will classify your schiz
and write about it too
and we’ll let the mob decide
are you disadvantaged too

well stats can reveal the truth
if you read the book just right
but you know i already saw that
on tv last night

i’ve done everything just right
i’ve done what you should too
i got my kids from that psycho
where do yours go to school

dont worry bout where i live
or how i have fun

my name is my name is
none of your business

rollin down the turnpike …
rollin down the turnpike …
on Wed 1 May 2013 at 12:10:45 satanforce

Aren’t Heartiste and Roissy the same the person?
on Thu 2 May 2013 at 01:46:04 v8driver

ah man here we go again this is how my wordpress credentials got afu… hostilesector.com it is a game between that and facebook
on Fri 3 May 2013 at 05:02:36 Legion

What’s the meaning of the new masthead?
on Fri 3 May 2013 at 07:51:53 v8driver

@legion even i get that one
on Fri 3 May 2013 at 08:26:33 Legion

@v8driver

Congratulations, you’re more insightful than I am!

I’d like to hear from Abagond, he put it up, not me. I want to know what the masthead means to him. I could say what I think the masthead means, but that would just be something like a Rorschach blot test demonstration, but you knew that, because you’re insightful that way.
on Fri 3 May 2013 at 08:27:48 Legion

…it’s late, and I’m overly snippy…
on Fri 3 May 2013 at 08:32:04 v8driver

@legion hey well no problem… you may have notice my plate is full at this time.

https://www.facebook.com/V8Driver/posts/10200961547909487
on Fri 3 May 2013 at 08:46:01 v8driver

also from my groovy little fb thread:

another thing i learned over at abagond excepting that im a [explicit words alert] freak!

is i’m mostly irish, but i’m not irish, but i identify as irish. huh. how’s that for higher learning
on Fri 3 May 2013 at 21:52:13 abagond

@ Legion

The masthead is about the feeling of being the only black person when everyone else is white. It comes from here:

http://abagond.tumblr.com/post/49451916496/beautifulblacksheep-thetpr-bana05
on Sat 4 May 2013 at 01:09:12 Peanut

abagond did u hear about Lil Wayne and emmett till?
on Sat 4 May 2013 at 21:47:43 mstoogood4yall

lol that guy in the pic looks like come save me!!!! everyone else is laughing and having a good time he looks miserable. Everybody hates chris.
on Sat 4 May 2013 at 21:55:58 mstoogood4yall

For $10 a day you can help this poor black man surrounded by whites.The survival kit includes: a blanket,a flashlight,a little black friend,a black doll,a night light,and some ramen noodles. So please don’t delay pick up the phone and help,he needs you. call 1800helpme thats 1800-435-763 or go to http://www.helpthisman.org but wait if you call in the next 5 minutes we will send 2 kits for the price of one and you will get a t shirt.please time is running out. Thank you
on Sat 4 May 2013 at 23:01:25 Kiwi

@ Abagond

Wow. I know exactly what that feeling is like in the masthead. The first time I was in a room full of only whites, I was terrified to death. I was petrified and couldn’t even move my eyes until everyone was gone. I thought I was going to die. At the time, I didn’t understand why I felt that way, but now I do.
on Sat 4 May 2013 at 23:04:48 Kiwi

The person at the bottom-left looks possibly Asian. Honorary white, perhaps?
on Sun 5 May 2013 at 19:03:15 Bulanik

@ Legion — hey!

I made this comment earlier to Peanut:

@ Peanut

I think I get that you want to feel safe and that it’s the right move, but I feel that King’s right.

Peanut, sometimes you might also find that you can “connect” with a man, but the sexual part doesn’t work in quite the way you’d hoped for when it gets to it.
The connection is a chemical/electrical thing. And it doesn’t always simply flow smoothly from a meeting of minds and emotional bonding, etc… so, certainly, it definitely helps if you know your body and mind well beforehand (through masturbation and fantasy and the non-penetrative sex as BR suggests).

You might also ask yourself about your own repression.
What you enjoy about “withholding” like that. You’re not unusual in this sense.
A man that understands and controls that tension in you could be rather exciting.

Yes, I am talking about types of sex and sexuality here, but I don’t see an answer from Peanut. As I recall, when I have talked about sex before, Abagond has deleted my comments.

Nevertheless, I DO see that Abagond has posted a couple of posts now on gender and “sex”.
Or, rather, “porn”, which really, really ain’t the same thing.

I never worked in the sex industry directly myself, only indirectly. But I met some lovely people who were sex workers, etc. I wonder, though, whether I should dip into that thread or leave it alone?

Legion, I don’t have all the time to read all the exchanges, but could you tell me what has been going on here in the last few weeks? Nothing will substitute for reading it all (argh!!), but I’d value your summary.
on Mon 6 May 2013 at 03:20:50 Iris

I don’t know why I am doing this or what I am hoping for, but here it is.

I am so very sad and angry right now. No one has passed away, but in a way I almost feel that would have been better than the actual situation.

My father is one of the most intelligent and well-read people I know. He has worked hard all his life. He managed to become head of one department in a company. He made a lot of leaps forward for the company and raked in huge amounts of money for them, but never went above that position. Never even got close to the 30K a year salary. I was still a kid when he was suddenly fired and life became more difficult. He went from going to work in a suit and tie to going to work in a cleaner’s apron. He, the hard-working East Asian employee, soon became the mule of the company. Covering everyone when they were away, doing extra hours without extra pay, staying up all night because if he didn’t, they would make up some complaints some people had about his cleaning. They knew he needed the money. He was in charge of all other cleaners, but received no more than minimum wage. The other cleaners knew that if they felt too lazy to come in, he would do their work for them. They took advantage as often as they could. When the boss heard he was trying to set up his own cleaning company, they fired him.

He was working three jobs (my mother, two). Salesman, cleaner, taximan. No weekends. No holidays. I never get to talk to my father. Even when I visit them and stay in their house. The only reason my parents could pay the rent and buy food was because of cash from his taxiing. Everything else is swallowed by other bills and paying off old debts. His boss was corrupt, though. Charging every taxi driver weekly payments to buy the car they were driving. By the time he would have owned the car, he could have bought five of them and it would be so old it would be useless, but when you need money and no one else will give you a job, what can you do? With three jobs to do, he didn’t have the time to taxi and cover those fees. They said he owed 4K. They took his car and fired him. He’s nearly 60. No pension. Now has to walk 3.5km every day to and from his sales job. Can’t pay the rent. Being taken to court. Threatened with repossession when there’s no money available to pay. Can’t get any benefits because after paying their bills, they have 1 pound for rent and food per week and that is apparently `sufficient’ and means they should be fine… And that was before he lost the taxi job.

The company he sells things for are awful, too. He was part-time and came second in a country-wide competition for person who sold the most. The winner was full-time. So, in theory, he is the best salesperson in the whole country if he can come second, part-time, against a full-time worker. They gave him a `full-time’ job as a reward (which he had been asking for for years), but it was basically the same part-time hours rearranged with the same minimum wage. And for all the extra hours he spent covering for other people and doing over-time and consistently being top seller for months on end while coughing up blood from a persistent chest infection, they gave him… a piece of chocolate.

I feel so helpless and useless because I have no money to send and it is illegal for me to work in the country I am in. Compared to UK wages, my husband’s salary is nothing, so he can’t help either. I can’t help. I can’t do anything. I can only watch and wait… And it is one of the most awful feelings in the world.
on Mon 6 May 2013 at 08:27:57 Legion

@ Bulanik

Hi babe!

First things first! I hope your travels were safe and fruitful (it was all work related, right?) Get some rest, hey– you’re not indestructible (none of us are). Ok, enough of that from me (sounding like your grandma, ain’t the most alpha male thing in the world, so I’m gonna stop now. )

• Well, Peanut didn’t answer my question either. It’s easy to clam up about sex and sexuality. But perhaps she thought (is giving thought) about what you said, and so it’s helpful you made your comment.

• Hmm summaries?
Give me a couple days to get back to you.

But as a quick response:

* I’d recommend the Trans gender trilogy. The porn thread looks like it will be a patchwork quilt of statements rather than a dialogue. (Which is not a criticism.)

As you’ve seen B.R. is urging everyone’s inner perve to make an appearance but without much success. Cornlia appeared to try and make the thread into an academic symposium right off the bat (my personal take, and Cornlia I’m not trying to offend you, I just felt that thread would be a fun time out from race discussion, etc, I was wrong.)

Some of what I direct you to will just look like narcissism on my part (and at the subconscious level maybe it is ), i.e. places where I commented. But the reason for that (conscious anyway) is because I haven’t been following the blog in a general sense and I haven’t read a lot of discussion.

* Linda left an Ivan Van Sertima vid in the SSA racist term? thread. Perhaps you’ve seen it by now, but if not press play, it’s very good. King has not been around so you have not missed any of his excellent commentary. I don’t think Sam (who, of course, is also pretty excellent) has commented since the Margaret Thatcher thread.

* I thought you might like the most recent post in the “just world doctrine” thread, it’s a 30 min vid (so when you’ve got time). I could have put it in political left/right but i chose that thread, i should re-watch it actually.

A reminder:

Don’t forget the India thread.

P.S.

Seeing your name in the sidebar in a few different threads, I’d say you’re up to date anyway. Uh, and my response ain’t as brief as I thought it would be, LOL.
—————————————

Let me be first in welcoming you back luv!
on Mon 6 May 2013 at 08:41:01 Legion

Iris,

I could not read that and say nothing. I don’t know what to say though. For what it’s worth I’ll add you and yours to my prayers.
–Faith–
on Mon 6 May 2013 at 11:00:24 Bulanik

@ Iris. Thank you for writing that.
Sometimes, you just have to speak up about what you feel and describe an injustice. It’s always painful to read about this kind of suffering: I am angered and saddened by that situation, too. It’s utterly cruel. I can only say my thoughts are with you and yours.
The feeling of not being able to help gets to me, too.

Iris, if you can, write updates about this, please. Take care.
on Mon 6 May 2013 at 14:30:06 Legion

I was thinking … I probably wasn’t the first to welcome you back, but so what. Welcome back anyway.
on Mon 6 May 2013 at 17:29:32 Bulanik

@ Legion

Thank you taking the time to write that summary, and thank you for the welcome. That’s really sweet of you.

The transgender trilogy? Sounds cool! Haven’t dipped into that one yet!
I already passed by the porn one. A mistake? Omg (haha). I think it’s quite possible to insert some thoughtfulness into that subject, don’t you?

No, haven’t seen the Ivan Van Sertima vid in the SSA racist thread yet. Yet, I must say that since Linda has been commenting more regularly, she’s compelling. And, no, I don’t think if you suggest a thread or convo you participated in, Legion, that it is some kid of narcissistic thing. It’s less impersonal and I like seeing how a particular commenter thinks about various subjects.

Hope King and Sammy make appearances again in the future. I love reading their comments, too.
on Tue 7 May 2013 at 01:22:00 lifelearner

@ Iris,

It sucks not being able to help. Sounds like your father is a great man with a tremendous work ethic. Maybe you can find some solace in this, once one hits rock bottom, the only way is up.
on Tue 7 May 2013 at 01:30:32 mary burrell

Welcome back Bulanik. Hope you had a great trip.
on Tue 7 May 2013 at 14:46:17 lifelearner

Check out this clip regarding Amanda Berry. Charles Ramsey’s was speaking nothing but The Truth! Check it out, especially 2:30 couldn’t help but LOL!!! “DEAD Give away!!” http://youtu.be/gcLSI3oyqhs
on Tue 7 May 2013 at 15:34:58 Legion

@ Bulanik

Abagond didn’t call it a trilogy or announce it would be three posts but that’s what he did. Janet Mock then Trans attracted men then Trans women then CeCe MacDonald, uhh…., which actually is four. So, the quadrilogy<——yeah, totally not a word.
on Tue 7 May 2013 at 16:03:35 phoebeprunelle

@lifelearner,

I saw that too. His statements about “when a pretty little white girl runs into a Black man’s arms…something is wrong” makes me wonder if this is the media’s newest attempt at character assassination of Black men?

I don’t believe anything the media puts forward is accidental.
on Tue 7 May 2013 at 16:36:42 Bulanik

@ mary, thank you, sweetie!
on Tue 7 May 2013 at 16:50:25 lifelearner

@ phoebeprunelle

I feel ya. But look at him, he’s an avg joe Black man and he went to help someone in need. Charles Ramsey was speaking truth, that girl had to be in trouble! Under normal circircumstances a little white girl wouldn’t dare ask a Black man for help so she must have been in dire need. Amanda Berry didn’t care about race at that particular moment she wanted to be free.
on Tue 7 May 2013 at 17:04:36 Peanut

obama zombie target: http://newsone.com/2439838/nra-obama-zombies/
on Tue 7 May 2013 at 17:25:45 phoebeprunelle

@lifelearner,

I guess there are alternate views…but are they really “little” girls though??

The whole thing reminds me of the post Abagond did called “Missing White Woman Syndrome”…
on Tue 7 May 2013 at 17:43:42 lifelearner

@phoebeprunelle

Yeah I know about the syndrome and I agree with Abagond’s commentary *2007* ( wow, I wonder what post was your first one Abagond?) I digress.

Yep she wasn’t even “little” so you are right about that. There are so many subliminal messages in that clip, there could even be a post about it. But I must give Mr. Ramsey props for being a hero. I’m sure the media will gloss over the fact that a Black man was involved with the safe return of this family member.
on Tue 7 May 2013 at 17:52:19 phoebeprunelle

lifelearner,

I did not post here until last year, but commentators have revisited that thread since i started…

There are plenty of subliminal messages in that clip, but here is where i disagree:

I’m sure the media will gloss over the fact that a Black man was involved with the safe return of this family member.

On the contrary, I think the media is having a field day with the fact that he is a Black man who rescued a “little” white girl:

http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/05/07/a-pretty-little-white-girl-ran-into-a-black-mans-armssomething-is-wrong-here/

http://abcnews.go.com/US/video/cleveland-hero-charles-ramsey-says-something-is-wrong-here-19125172

I’m not making a big deal out of it, but what else is new…
on Tue 7 May 2013 at 18:06:09 Fiamma

lifelearner writes:

“Charles Ramsey was speaking truth, that girl had to be in trouble! Under normal circircumstances a little white girl wouldn’t dare ask a Black man for help so she must have been in dire need. Amanda Berry didn’t care about race at that particular moment she wanted to be free..”

- – -

I totally agree; and under similar circumstances, I myself might even seek assistance from a young white guy with tattoos and his hair in a very low buzz cut, whereas I would otherwise make it my business to avoid him!

Regarding the usage of the word “little”: while it is often used to indicate the person in question is either a child or even just small in stature, it can also be used colloquially to mean that the (often young) adult person being described is quite a bit younger than the person using the term. I used to hear it used in this latter way occasionally as I was growing up — mostly by transplanted Southerners.
on Tue 7 May 2013 at 18:47:38 lifelearner

Well I’m sure there will be an autotune coming down the pipeline. Just like the ones that have come before him ( i.e. “Sweet Brown” and Antoine Dobson)
on Tue 7 May 2013 at 19:02:05 phoebeprunelle

^Yeah…15 minutes of fame LOL!
on Tue 7 May 2013 at 19:18:43 Legion

Fiamma said:

Regarding the usage of the word “little”: while it is often used to indicate the person in question is either a child or even just small in stature, it can also be used colloquially to mean that the (often young) adult person being described is quite a bit younger than the person using the term.

True.
on Tue 7 May 2013 at 19:22:39 Legion

As has been noted in the comments, Sylvia Browne ‘predicted’ that Amanda Berry was dead and “in the water” in 2004. She said that to her mother on the Montel Williams show!

Browne is an evil amoral fraud, and Montel Williams is a repulsive enabler.

From phoebeprunelle’s first link.
on Wed 8 May 2013 at 00:02:34 Cornlia

This is in relation to a conversation here

http://abagond.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/my-adventures-in-porn/#comment-169639

and above this comment by Mbeti.

Bulanik, your writing is good in its own right (don’t know if this means something ?) and also and mostly because you do have things to say !
on Wed 8 May 2013 at 04:55:19 Franklin

I know it’s a little silly, but someone actually remixed the interview into a song.
on Wed 8 May 2013 at 12:16:23 phoebeprunelle

@Franklin,

I saw that this morning…i’, smh all the way…

But, this whole thing about those women and what that guy is saying just doesn’t add up!
on Wed 8 May 2013 at 14:05:33 Cornlia

Guys, I don’t have time to read the comments above now, but I see you were talking about this kidnapping thing. Yesterday, we (I and husband) were wondering about this all out focusing on only the woman called “Amanda Berry”, as if she had an importance that overshadowed her other co-kidnappees… Is it because she is “white”, we wondered…
on Wed 8 May 2013 at 14:18:02 Cornlia

Iris, sorry about that.
This is unfortunately the way this world works more and more… “progress” is nowhere to be seen, except in the benefits stockholders make, on the back of others.
My husband works in a big American firm, and he is telling that he sees that they are laying off more and more Indian/Pakistani Engineering, which they used to praise, simply because they want to keep jobs for Americans. They are switching from “real” so-called “diversity” hiring to hiring (American) women, who are also counted as “diversity”. Which is not changing the numbers, but the “diversity” concept is doing what it was invented for: benefiting “whites”…
Talk to your dad to tell him you admire him… That will probably be one of the best things he’s ever been expecting without knowing it…
on Thu 9 May 2013 at 03:19:15 phoebeprunelle
on Thu 9 May 2013 at 22:07:08 Fiamma

(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/09/angel-cordero-amanda-berry-neighbor_n_3246169.html?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D310818)

It seems the man Charles Ramsey had mentioned seeing running towards the house where the kidnapped women were being held, is his neighbor, Angel Cordero, who lives across the street from the house in question.

Mr Cordero, who doesn’t speak any English, states in an interview conducted in Spanish that he is Amanda Berry’s actual rescuer, as he was the one who arrived at the house first, and that he was the one who kicked in the bottom of the door, allowing Berry’s escape.

He claims that Charles Ramsey, as well as other neighbors, arrived moments AFTER Berry had already been freed.
on Thu 9 May 2013 at 22:38:11 mary burrell

I am probably wrong for this. But this handling of this Charles Ramsey fellow is embarrassing to me. I hate the mainstream media and the way it handles black people living in urban communities. I am glad the young women are safe. But by the same token it rankles me the way they are using this Charles Ramsey fellow. I feel they are making him look foolish. I don’t know, but I am feeling some kind of way about this. It seems the media is creating a buffoonish character of Ramsey. That’s just my opinion.
on Thu 9 May 2013 at 23:00:41 mary burrell

@ Legion; I have always believed Sylvia Browne was a charlatan. I always felt she was pulling the wool over peoples eyes. Montel Williams has always been disgusting to me. I never was a fan of his.
on Thu 9 May 2013 at 23:03:34 mary burrell

And yes, I concur this is Charles Ramsey’s fifteen minuets of fame. But wait he may get a reality show out of this. Maybe Oprah will give him a spot on the OWN network. Maybe him and Tyler Perry will get together.
on Fri 10 May 2013 at 01:29:20 lifelearner

Re: Charles Ramsey meme-ification, this commentary sums it up pretty well. http://www.illdoctrine.com/2013/05/t-paining_too_much_the_meme-if.html
on Fri 10 May 2013 at 05:44:53 v8driver

all that sex crap is all mixed up in my head it’s a real problem and it’s not well received by the neighborhood
on Fri 10 May 2013 at 05:45:20 v8driver

then again who cares what a prostitute says bad against you or a drug dealer or crack smoker
on Fri 10 May 2013 at 07:36:37 Legion

@ mary burrell

Yeah, I’ve been hearing some off things about S. Browne for a couple of years now. Problem is she still has a lot of momentum off of fame that she somehow put together over her career.

I don’t think psychic phenomena should be written off but one must be aware that charlatans abound. There is a great book you might like covering psychic phenomena like precognition and groundbreaking exploration in medicine like for example curing cancer. The name of the book is The Field by Lynn MacTaggert, it’s really good Mary, not untested crank stuff but accounts of serious work by serious scientists who were interested in studying things not approved by the orthodox establishment. The guy who found a cure for cancer was fired from nearly every university post he had because one is not supposed to be able to cure cancer. This gentleman’s name is Fritz Albert Popp he is an Austrian physicist.

You may be wondering how a physicist gets involved in cancer cures or remedies. My post is getting long so here is the short version.

Popp’s specialty was working with light. He found that if he targeted certain wavelengths of light on very carcinogenic substances he was able to neutralize those substances, a feet which amazed him! Understanding that plants are nature’s technology for storing light, he devised a diet of certain plants and vegetables that would reverse cancer in certain patients at various stages of disease progression, he met with successes. His work is amazing on the one hand but on the other hand it tells us all what we know deep down: that we should eat what nature provides and a good deal of it should be vegetables, banal and amazing all at the same time.

The never ending pink ribbon campaigns for so-called cancer research to “find a cure” are so misguided and corrupt. Serious work toward a cure has been done already but whenever I mention Popp to someone, they’ve never ever heard of him.

Anyway, it’s a great book, I highly recommend it.
on Fri 10 May 2013 at 08:01:47 Legion

@Bulanik

I said: Hmm summaries?
Give me a couple days to get back to you.

Well, I think it will suffice to stay with the summary I gave you. Couldn’t think of anything else.
on Fri 10 May 2013 at 09:53:46 Kwamla

I thought this might be of interest here…It seems science is finally catching on!

“…Researchers establish link between racism and stupidity…”

http://m.ucanews.com/news/news/researchers-establish-link-between-intolerance-racism-and-stupidity/41572
on Fri 10 May 2013 at 11:43:07 Bulanik

^^ Kwamla, sometimes you point out things that break my sides!!
on Fri 10 May 2013 at 12:25:43 Kwamla

You’re not alone Bulanik it had me in stitches too!
on Fri 10 May 2013 at 18:32:37 Peanut

ABAGOND,

I have a request. I would really like it if you would consider doing a post on booty dancing and the different types around the african continent and in the african diaspora. what with all the hype about twerking i think a post on the history/shared commonalities in the different types is in order. I’d really like it if u did it because you’re so good at researching stuff and i also know that you’re of west indian descent so no doubt that you have seen it many times yourself.
on Fri 10 May 2013 at 19:57:04 abagond

@ Peanut

Great idea. I will research booty dancing. If all goes well, the post will go up this coming Wednesday.
on Fri 10 May 2013 at 20:06:39 Bulanik

@ abagond

Thanks for doing that post on The Tasmanians, as I suggested
I’m quite open to conversations with you about ideas and whatnot.
Also I’m giving serious thought to my own blog; you’re one person I might turn to about that at some stage, but I am not sure if you’d be prepared to talk to me.
on Fri 10 May 2013 at 21:38:15 v8driver

what is that ajax that is so slow here on wp it is not really keeping up with the excessive 500+ posting
on Fri 10 May 2013 at 21:38:32 v8driver

and flash needs to get open sourced bye bye
on Fri 10 May 2013 at 21:50:22 v8driver

the thing about those dna tests is that you are in the database once you get it domestic relations in PA was very sketchy and vague about their information sharing policies
on Fri 10 May 2013 at 22:01:46 v8driver

and with the cameras it’s a little different taking pictures of black people vs. white people even with the digital ish dont know what that’s all about there was that thing with the xbox software too on some real ish
on Fri 10 May 2013 at 22:02:33 v8driver

fb cleans my pics up up some but can’t balance both
on Fri 10 May 2013 at 22:12:40 Cornlia

Mary Burrell I felt the same about Charles Ramsey… I don’t think you’re wrong. They’re using him, pretending they are “letting black people express themselves”, while filming him (always up close, for instance, almost with the camera in his nose, outside, never quietly sitting somewhere with a dimmed light) in such a way that it shows it’s not what they are doing.

They definitely don’t treat him in the same way they do most other witnesses. I’m pretty if he had had well trimmed hair and beard, glasses and an suit, we would never even have learnt from him…
on Fri 10 May 2013 at 22:58:13 Peanut

yeah, i am happy that the young women are finally going home. God Bless and may they find healing and may the man who did this be brought to justice… but they are treating Ramsey the same way they treated the “hide yo wife, hide yo kids, they rapin everybody up in here,” antoine dodson

“run and tell that!”
on Fri 10 May 2013 at 23:07:03 mary burrell

@Legion; That’s for the information. I will certainly check it out. The cancer pink ribbon business is suspicious to me as well. All that money for research where does it go. Something is definitely rotten in Denmark where that is concerned. Again thank you for responding to me.
on Sat 11 May 2013 at 01:31:26 v8driver

btw someone was trippin on romulus and remus a while back it’s like moses but this wolf mother found the twin boys and raised them as her own
on Sat 11 May 2013 at 04:52:31 Legion

@ mary burrrell

I hope I didn’t spew too much info or go too far afield. I couldn’t remember the psychic stuff in the book clearly enough to talk about it but Popp I remember well. Plus the psychic material in the book is a little involved (to talk about not to comprehend).

I remember some of the discussion on precognition seemed to maybe have some link with time. Meaning test subjects who were getting information about events that had not yet happened were maybe somehow interacting with time in a way that most of us don’t or are not aware that we do. I hope you find it a good read if you do check it out.
on Sat 11 May 2013 at 05:27:35 Fiamma

Thanks you for the book recommendations, Legion.

I myself have had a few minor run-ins, so to speak, with precognition, as well as other forms of ESP/PSI phenomena.

Instances such as physically sensing (not just knowing alone) that the phone would ring moments before it does, and physically sensing, as well as knowing, that I would win a drawing (the prize turned out to be a few Sham-Wows rolled up in a rubber band lol) seconds before my number was called (this latter case was sort of an unpleasant / nauseating *quickening* sensation where everything appeared sort of wonky and surreal just before my ticket stub was pulled and number called

There have been a few other incidences, also, none of which I had any real sense of control over. Mostly they were things that just happened rather than things which I MADE happen.
on Sat 11 May 2013 at 20:47:21 Cornlia

Abagond, do you think my comments are relevant to your blog ?

I am getting a little tired of either the personal stuff or the “you’re white and shut up” things.

I am not here to interact that way, to “justify” my “self”, but to give my humble but convinced opinion on the things you offer to discussion.

There are too few places in this world for non-racists (and non-racist classified as “white”) to express their opinion freely and I know why.

It makes me a little sad that people would perceive “me” (because it’s seldom what I say that gets pointed to) as they do, but they have their “reasons”, I guess.

If you tell me my comments don’t bring any particular perspective, I’ll stop posting and will unsubscribe, because I actually put some time in this and I think (¨thought”) it was time spent positively.

Thanks.
on Sat 11 May 2013 at 20:54:41 mary burrell

@Legion; Thank you so much. I always appreciate your input and commentary.
on Sun 12 May 2013 at 03:43:54 Legion

@ mary burrell

Thanks Mary. I always read your comments and appreciate what you have to say or a perspective you have on a topic.

@ Fiamma

You’re welcome. (re: book recommendation)
I can’t hold a candle, I’m afraid, to even you’re minor run ins with things psychic. It’s an interest of mine but I’ve never had any psychic experiences myself.
———-
Fiamma, did you get around to checking out Chomsky?
on Sun 12 May 2013 at 05:59:55 Matari

The MURDER BLACK PEOPLE “system/network” is just rollin’ along – exactly as designed… Another case of DEATH by cop, and “oops, sorry … wrong house, … of course race had absolutely nothing to with this!”

Especially in Nashville, Tennessee.

{{{ Yeah, right. }}}

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=95475&page=1&fb_source=message#.UXvQ_EpNXOv

White people with guns – and their enablers – are hazardous to the well being of Africans.
on Sun 12 May 2013 at 10:32:21 Bulanik

Cornlia,

You asked Abagond:

…do you think my comments are relevant to your blog ?

I am getting a little tired of either the personal stuff or the “you’re white and shut up” things.

I am not here to interact that way, to “justify” my “self”, but to give my humble but convinced opinion on the things you offer to discussion…..

If you tell me my comments don’t bring any particular perspective, I’ll stop posting and will unsubscribe, because I actually put some time in this and I think (¨thought”) it was time spent positively.

Cornlia, may I ask you to continue sharing your mind?
It is a fine and broad one! You do not intimidate me with it. In fact, the opposite!

For myself, I have difficulties reading, and read slowly, but I love to learn and think about other ways of seeing the world and people, etc. When I read from people who’s first language is French, I find that they write in a more “poetic” way than in the hard, literal Germanic ways of the British and the Americans.
So, it takes time to get into it. But I think it’s worth it.

It IS tedious being picked at.
I’ve had a fair bit of shade thrown my way, too. But that tells more about the source of it than my own PoV. Look, there are all sorts of motives and alliances here, like in the “real” world. That’s obvious, and there are reasons for this, a few are petty and personal, as you know, but others are political and cultural. I say to you “bugger that”, and continue. Work on your instrument, and Carry On regardless.
on Sun 12 May 2013 at 13:16:54 abagond

@ Cornlia

I value all perspectives, even (or especially) those I disagree with. When offering an honest opinion there will always be people who do not like it. I hardly let that stop me.
on Sun 12 May 2013 at 13:36:52 leigh204

A day like today is making me miss my mom very much right now. Happy Mother’s Day to all!
on Sun 12 May 2013 at 15:42:03 mary burrell

@leigh204; I am sad as well. My mother passed last month on this past Good Friday. Happy Mother’s Day blessings to all the mothers.
on Sun 12 May 2013 at 16:45:22 Legion

@ mary burrell

I am sorry for your loss Mary. I hug you, a very big hug.
on Sun 12 May 2013 at 16:54:50 Bulanik

@ Mary. So sorry to read this news. My best to you.
on Sun 12 May 2013 at 16:59:03 Sharina

@ Cornlia

I agree with Bulanik. Don’t let people get you down. If you believe in something stick by it and fight harder. Most of the time those people look like fools anyway. We all have had our share.

@ Leigh and Mary

I am sad to know you guys will not be sharing this special days with your mothers, but rest assured that they are looking down on you and love you.
on Sun 12 May 2013 at 17:04:27 Sharina

I don’t think that last sentence came out right. They are looking down from heaven at how amazing their daughters are and love you.
on Sun 12 May 2013 at 23:26:43 King

Abagond, have you covered this one on your main site yet?

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwINn5DEL1c)
on Sun 12 May 2013 at 23:50:42 mary burrell

God bless everyone today.
on Mon 13 May 2013 at 00:40:59 mary burrell

@Sharina and all Thank You.
on Mon 13 May 2013 at 04:06:06 Kiwi

For Mother’s Day, I celebrated with my mom and my extended family my admission to the University of California at San Diego as an Electrical Engineering major. I visited with my mom the day before and the campus and city were so beautiful and modernized.

I don’t mean to toot my horn. I just hoped to give any of you a positive newsworthy event for Mother’s Day.
on Mon 13 May 2013 at 05:54:10 King

I’m waiting for this to get Michael Vick coverage>

http://www.baltimorenewsjournal.com/2013/05/07/harford-county-public-schools-employee-stephanie-mikles-indicted-on-bestiality-charges/
on Mon 13 May 2013 at 11:09:18 Matari

Police State news:

http://gizmodo.com/5890507/police-drone-crashes-into-police

****

As predicted, the LOCAL police/military forces are IMPLEMENTING DRONE technology on AmeriKKKan soil (and in her skies).

*What they do to people overseas, they will do to us over here.*
on Mon 13 May 2013 at 15:24:54 Legion

OPEN APPEAL:

Legion is having a rough time kiddies, like a really rough time. I won’t get into details though.

Anyone who wants to send me a silent well wish, I sure could use it.
on Mon 13 May 2013 at 15:30:38 Bulanik

@ Legion

I am sorry to hear that….
I wish you strength and patience. Sending positive thoughts, good vibes and all that. Keep all posted.
on Mon 13 May 2013 at 16:28:49 B. R.

Legion, you have been acting like an a hole to me , but, I hope you get through your rough time
on Mon 13 May 2013 at 18:01:10 B. R.

…and , Mary, may your mother rest in peace…hang in there
on Mon 13 May 2013 at 22:57:24 Bulanik

Has anyone seen the latest Star Trek film?
The Arch Villain was Khan, Khan Noonien Singh, who is a superhuman from India, and for some reason (?) Khan looks like blue-eyed blond actor, Benedict Cumberbatch: http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3745886976/nm1212722

I like Benedict Cumberbatch. He was great in the role, and I enjoyed every bit of the film, but having a white person play an Indian is whitewashing.
Someone Indian, like Sendhil Ramamurthy, Naveen Andrews, Sacha Dhawan, Kal Penn, John Abraham, Hrithik Roshan, Akshay Kumar, Arjun Rampal, Aamir Khan, Kabir Bedi — could have played him. All are competent actors.

John Abraham:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:JohnAbraham.jpg

Arjun Rampal:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Arjun_Rampal_12.jpg

Zoe Saldana played Nyota Uhura, and Zoe also blacked up to play Nina Simone. So, mainstream film and casting choices is full of this sort of thing.
on Mon 13 May 2013 at 23:23:29 mary burrell

@Bulanik; No, I haven’t seen the Star Trek films. But I think Naveen Andrews is HOTTT!!!! I loved him on Lost and The English Patient. He is super sexy.
on Tue 14 May 2013 at 00:37:03 Bulanik

@ Mary, I know, I know.
He’s not bad (cough).

I like him best with his hair long:
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ma2sryr0uc1qi5uyeo1_400.jpg

He also looks good in formal suits, don’t you think?
http://media.tumblr.com/72e74e4c511c60c882ec97aab11c70ce/tumblr_inline_mmp6jiNG1a1qz4rgp.jpg
on Tue 14 May 2013 at 00:46:37 mary burrell

Yeah, He’s just yummy. LOVE HIM!!!!
on Tue 14 May 2013 at 02:53:24 King

Hang in there Legion. Best wishes to you.
on Tue 14 May 2013 at 15:47:11 v8driver

good luck legion i’m goin thru it too obviously, but i didn’t go ballistic last friday first time in a while. the whole porn thing, it’s like some psychic cyst got lanced and drained no freudian slip intended. br’s funny he is like a pittie with a locked jaw. my current strategy is to avoid everyone i am not even really posting on fb it is time to turn this slight calmness into a wider entity of peace. thanks everyone on some real ish
on Tue 14 May 2013 at 16:09:14 Sharina

@ Legion

I am late with the well wishes but hang in there.
on Tue 14 May 2013 at 16:10:16 Sharina

@v8driver

I wish you luck as well.
on Tue 14 May 2013 at 16:19:44 v8driver
on Tue 14 May 2013 at 16:45:39 Bulanik

@v8driver — what did you say up there? (Bulanik wishes she understood American terms more…LOL!)
You don’t have to explain, but I have a feeling that there’s a laugh or 2 inside what you said.
on Tue 14 May 2013 at 20:16:38 v8driver

right, well i didn’t go insane vis a vis ranting and drunkin posting last friday; that’s an improvement. Friday has been my day to sort of explode from poorly constrained stress. Posting about my sex issues is a step towards healing. BR is ‘stuck’ as we say or somewhat attached to the porn thing; a pit bull dog has jaws that will lock if the animal’s lower jaw goes past a certain point when it’s biting and it can’t be removed excepting with the animal’s death. An ‘analogy’. And I’m avoiding people because mostly, they want to get high here in my lovely neighborhood and I’m done for now, feeling peace-ish, good karma, namaste, all that! cheers!
on Tue 14 May 2013 at 21:08:00 Bulanik

Okay, v8. I’m definitely with you about taking care of the stress you’re under.
Keep looking after yourself.
on Tue 14 May 2013 at 21:38:29 Fiamma

I’m sad to hear of your mother’s passing, Mary. You have my sincere condolences.
on Tue 14 May 2013 at 21:42:47 Fiamma

Legion, you’ll be in my thoughts, and I hope that everything turns out for the best.
on Tue 14 May 2013 at 23:23:49 mary burrell

@Legion I will lift you up in prayer to the Father in my daily meditiations my friend Blessings to you. Mary
on Tue 14 May 2013 at 23:24:52 mary burrell

@ Fiamma; Thank You.
on Wed 15 May 2013 at 00:10:18 v8driver

thanks bulanik
on Wed 15 May 2013 at 02:11:39 Iris

@ Legion, Bulanik, lifelearner & Cornlia

Thank you for your kind comments and support. I really appreciate it.

I spoke to my parents recently. They had applied for working tax credit as they are not entitled to any benefits. Despite several people they know who get it earning MORE than them, they were denied. My father insists what they have currently is enough to cover rent and food, but I am afraid.

I really did think for a long time that, once they hit the bottom, the only way was up. Yet so many times they went one step forwards only to tumble two or three steps backwards due to some random awful event immediately following any good news. The other issue that holds them back is a bad credit rating from when he first got fired. Once you’re in there, you fall deeper and deeper. No one wants to give you a job. No one wants to have you renting their property.

It’s a shame that is the way the world works. I wish I could do something, but I don’t know what…

@ Cornlia

If it means anything, I am always interested to read what you have to say.

@ mary burrell

I am very sorry to hear that. May she rest in peace.

@ Legion

I am sorry that you are also going through a rough time. I hope that there’s something you can do to improve the situation. Wishing you all the best.
on Wed 15 May 2013 at 02:23:34 mary burrell

@ Iris; Thank you. I will be think of you and your family during my meditation and prayer time. Blessings to you.
on Wed 15 May 2013 at 14:07:28 lifelearner

@ all
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=39c_1368515756

A bit of comic relief, now just imagine if the childbirthing was up to the males. The human race would be extinct! LOL
on Wed 15 May 2013 at 14:49:37 abagond

@ Peanut

My studies in bootyology proceed apace. I have not forgotten! I will have the post up tomorrow, God willing.
on Wed 15 May 2013 at 15:11:01 B. R.

Yeah, well Im girding my loins for battle on that one , Abagond
on Wed 15 May 2013 at 15:14:57 Bulanik

Is that why come here, to fight?
on Wed 15 May 2013 at 15:23:45 B. R.

gees , its a joke, meant to be funny, and at the same time, not knowing what kind of uptight commentary that could take it into “capatalism, racism, sexism” could be lurking….
on Wed 15 May 2013 at 15:48:06 Bulanik

No joke.
on Wed 15 May 2013 at 15:59:40 v8driver

@abagond you are confusing me
on Wed 15 May 2013 at 16:50:05 abagond

@ B.R. (and anyone else):

What kinds of booty dancing do they have in Brazil? What do they call it (in Portuguese) or the different kinds of dances? Where does it come from? How far back in time does it go? Are there any good studies on it or stuff online? What do you remember of it in the U.S.? If you want to send an email you have my address. Thanks for any help you can give.
on Wed 15 May 2013 at 16:53:01 abagond

@ v8driver

I am working on a post on booty dancing.
on Wed 15 May 2013 at 22:07:22 Herneith

Make sure you include some man booty dancing for the girls!
on Thu 16 May 2013 at 05:14:43 Fiamma

Here is a citing concerning views on ethnicity in the UK:

“A study conducted for the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) in 2005 found that in England, the majority of ETHNIC MINORITY (emphasis, mine) participants called themselves British, whereas INDIGENOUS ENGLISH (emphasis, mine) participants said English first and British second.”

Also, according to the link, the UK Census breaks down its white population as follows: white British, white (other) and white Irish. Non-whites are listed as being neither British NOR English nor Scottish nor Welsh nor Northern Irish; they are listed according to their actual ethnic / geographical origins: Black Caribbean; Black African; Indian; Bangladeshi; Pakistani; Chinese et cetera.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_groups_in_the_United_Kingdom

I won’t be returning to the Briticisms thread. Straw man arguments, appeals to emotion (‘Blacks and Browns died for England’ — I can die for Mars; it won’t make me a native Martian) and insinuations of my being racist against Black and Brown Brits (absolute nonsense) are rampant over there and all because I view non-English ethnics, regardless of race, who were born in England as being ‘British’ (which is actually a common descriptor for ALL citizens of the UK without regards to race or ancestry) rather than as ethnic English people.
on Thu 16 May 2013 at 05:49:47 Fiamma

Oh, and Abagond, please do something about the obvious examples of plagiarism which pop up in quite a few commentaries on your blog. If I’m aware of them, others are too. I’ve been guarded about saying anything concerning it here for months now, but the problem is never addressed despite it being so apparent.

One recent example can be found in the comments under the Tasmanian Genocide post. The thoughts and wording which a particular commenter claims for self were actually words taken from the author of another blog. The link for said blog is contained in one of my posts in that thread (unless that particular post has been deleted for some reason, of course).

There are many other examples, and I can point them out with proof if need be. This is why it is important to cite sources and/or provide links. Looking up info as a refresher to knowledge already acquired is one thing; lifting entire articles with a reorganizing here or a minor rewording there, and without citing sources, is another. My apologies, but it needed to be said.
on Thu 16 May 2013 at 07:25:00 Legion

Bulanik, B.R., King, v8driver, Sharina, Fiamma, Mary and Iris

thank you guys! Thank you sooo much, really!

Still a little choppy in my world but starting to see some improvements. The initial burst of trouble was quite unsettling, holy crow!

I’ve been getting a subtle message to learn from the painful warning/problem I just got. I should heed the message; I will try to.
———————————————————————-

• B.R. , Well ok, but hasn’t it been going both ways (the a. hole thing)? Let’s call truce/peace. I appreciate your well wishes.

• Mary and Fiamma and all,

perhaps you’d be interested in another book recommendation. (I was reminded of this old book by reading your comments, so, “sharing is caring” as they say )

– The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot

this book basically picks up on quantum theory and supposes about the nature of reality based on the then current ideas in quantum physics (some of the ideas might be out of date, but not the main one about the illusion of reality) and documented unexplained phenomena like the effects of prayer. Whatever one’s religion prayer seems to reach right into the physical world and change things. A case is built for the world being more malleable than is commonly thought, hence the title of the book. Mary there is a stunning account of a person who ought to have died due to massive blood loss in a bad accident. Prayers to Jesus were made and some sort of miracle took place, despite the lack of a suitable blood donor. Lot of other cool things in this book too. It’s a dense little book. I’ve had it for a number of years but have not read the whole thing. I got it around the same time I got The Field. The Field I read to completion but then Talbot’s book was like reinforce overload at the time. But it’s very good and maybe I’ll finish it this year.

The book is interesting but I don’t want to be remiss: The West is now saying things that were said thousands of years ago in India. The Yogis were scientists too; their laboratory was their own human mind.
————
v8driver, you might find the writings of Wayne Dyer to be useful as well as comforting.
————

• Blessings to all of you.
on Thu 16 May 2013 at 07:32:39 Legion

I’ve had to slow down the last several days. I pulled an old album to play a particular track of solace. Some of you will know it (and remember it fondly?).

Enjoy:

(http://youtu.be/ux3u31SAeEM)
on Thu 16 May 2013 at 07:36:42 Legion

Khan should have been played by an Indian.
on Thu 16 May 2013 at 09:14:27 Bulanik

@ Fiamma

I won’t be returning to the Briticisms thread. Straw man arguments, appeals to emotion (‘Blacks and Browns died for England’ — I can die for Mars; it won’t make me a native Martian) and insinuations of my being racist against Black and Brown Brits (absolute nonsense) are rampant over there and all because I view non-English ethnics, regardless of race, who were born in England as being ‘British’ (which is actually a common descriptor for ALL citizens of the UK without regards to race or ancestry) rather than as ethnic English people.

I answered you what you said about this here:

“NO.
You are wrong about this, I am not “looking” for something.
Nor do I believe you are trying to slight or ever slighted or “persecuted” anyone, or would do so, because of their being brown or black!
I have read your comments for a good year or 2, and this is not your way.
No one is picking on you, doing a witch hunt or whatever.
Please stop this stuff. We can contradict each other, and even though you have studied and read, haven’t others too? Perhaps I should have said nothing.

What I have tried to convey is both the experience of being a black or brown person in Britain and tried to be clear about the perceptions that are imposed if one is not. There’s a history that goes with that.”

http://abagond.wordpress.com/2013/05/15/style-guide-briticisms/#comment-170723
on Thu 16 May 2013 at 09:55:36 Bulanik

@ Fiamma, you then followed up this…

“Oh, and Abagond….”

… please do something about the obvious examples of plagiarism which pop up in quite a few commentaries on your blog. If I’m aware of them, others are too. I’ve been guarded about saying anything concerning it here for months now, but the problem is never addressed despite it being so apparent.

One recent example can be found in the comments under the Tasmanian Genocide post. The thoughts and wording which a particular commenter claims for self were actually words taken from the author of another blog. The link for said blog is contained in one of my posts in that thread (unless that particular post has been deleted for some reason, of course).

There are many other examples, and I can point them out with proof if need be. This is why it is important to cite sources and/or provide links. Looking up info as a refresher to knowledge already acquired is one thing; lifting entire articles with a reorganizing here or a minor rewording there, and without citing sources, is another. My apologies, but it needed to be said.

Now I’m intrigued.
Why don’t you say what you really mean?
Why not point out — please — who that commenter is — if it one particular commenter you taking your aim at and wish to expose ? Go on. Why be so coy about it since you feel moved now, to do this?

Re: the Tasmanian thread — do you think others commenter might have read the Lyndall Ryan book on the Tasmanians as well? Or like you, might they read (and studied) a wide variety of things over the decades? Could that be possible! Some people remembering parts of books, periodicals and articles with great vividness, whilst totally forgetting others (especially if they are dyslexic, remembering very, very clearly from slow and repetitive reading)?

Fiamma, just say what you REALLY mean. Why apologize.
Pointing the finger simply isn’t enough. Give us some meat and show us the findings from your suspicions.

I say be frontal and really go after another commenter.
Then you can do your bit to supplement the witch hunt that was interrupted on them, or, that you would like to see inflicted on them because you think they deserve it (because they read, like you). Ugh.
************************
When I read other commenters here, there is much which is familiar, especially if there is a ring of “being researched” or thought-through-ness about it because that commentary is based on learning and thinking. Sometimes it will sound familiar but contain no source reference because the commenter has no idea where it was said, or even that it exists in that way.
For myself, I remember I’d cite sources, and regularly do, and being asked to stump up with a source-reference. The last commenter to ask me to do that was Legion.
on Thu 16 May 2013 at 10:11:44 Bulanik

Fiamma, you can show as many CRE studies and Censuses — and cite Wikipedia — as much as like, people still use the words English and British to interchangeably.

You’ll even find people who otherwise call themselves British just nodding and calling themselves English if and when they live outside the UK. Other nationalities will simply say “English”, and that’ll be the end of the discussion.
That’s what I’ve found. No source reference for that one, though.
on Sun 19 May 2013 at 04:50:56 SomeGuy

I need friends my own age.
on Mon 20 May 2013 at 01:04:56 lovelygirl

Hi. This website is a bit scary. I’m a young black women from USA. I was planning on studying abroad in the UK at the completion of my program, but after reading this website…I’m not so sure anymore. It looks like the UK is just as racist as the US. I don’t know if I want to spend extra money to be treated like crap over there, when I get treated like crap here for free.

I actually found this site after looking for advice regarding some racist white women at my job who are trying to get me fired. Only to find that the place I’m eager to travel to (England) will treat me the same way. I don’t know what to do…I really want to travel abroad. Can any black women suggest some countries for me? I’m a bit upset, actually:(
on Mon 20 May 2013 at 02:48:29 v8driver

@abagond you must have been typeing that just as I was commenting…
yeah i kinda think someone else too has seen lately grouping of 3-4 threads that has some definite flow-through in there, i got it roughly at the time i was posting that more or less, and it’s interesting how i guess as sort of a late posting from the charles ramsey thread, the vogue thing came up. Damned if I say it, more damned if i don’t but a lot of ‘white folks’ wouldn’t even dream of seeing that hulking brute meme in the vogue picture, i know that for a fact, and there is a real disconnect there in perceptions.

my thing is sort of refining again, my motivations to be here, i have to admit truthbetold makes me feel some kinda way like you know because i’m white, i guess it’s analagous to ‘white shame’ ie that there really aint much i can do but i have a relatively clean conscious and so if it don’t apply let it fly i said so before…

and everyone talks about what they like in a sex partner, and their most likeley either married and probably bear little resemblance to the original body style into which they entered that sacred union, or are lonely and pining away into their computer monitor, i’m just looking for one who’ll give me a damn chance, not too fat, black, southern accent be nice but not required, and drives manual transmission, not too much to ask, right?

she out there.
on Mon 20 May 2013 at 11:22:20 v8driver

@legion I’ll check out Wayne Dyer, thanks, goin to the library today as a matter of fact…
on Tue 21 May 2013 at 01:50:05 Legion

@v8driver

i have to admit truthbetold makes me feel some kinda way like you know because i’m white …

If you think it’s necessary to go through some kind of white shame phase, at least let it be someone sensible who makes you “feel some kinda way.” Read The Autobiography of Malcolm X. You will like the part that covers his trip to Mecca. YOU HAVE TO READ THE WHOLE BOOK TO “GET IT”.
on Tue 21 May 2013 at 02:33:07 mary burrell

@lovelygirl; I think you should travel and have your own adventure and experience. Racism will always be here no matter where you go. But I don’t think you should let that deter you. London is really cool. I would like to to go back there in the future. Maybe Bulaink and Legion would show me around some places I didn’t get to see. London really is cool. I think you really should travel abroad. To be well traveled is a great experience for a young woman.
on Tue 21 May 2013 at 15:10:42 Cece D

Well….thoughts? Anyone else read about this?
http://newsone.com/2465709/real-bronx-tours/
on Tue 21 May 2013 at 18:48:06 Legion

@ Cece D

I’ve spent a little time in the Bronx. The people I met in the Bronx were (mostly) friendly. My first visit to the Bronx, I needed directions to some place and I asked a beautiful black woman. She gave me the directions with a big smile and a lot of warm energy and then gave me a “God bless you!”

There was a criminal element were I was but if you stayed clear of it they let you be. The one thing I did feel forced to do was change my style of dress so that I would look like I was from there. I didn’t want to do that but if I hadn’t I might have become a target.

I watched a good (Ken Burns produced I think) documentary on New York’s bankruptcy of the late 70′s, I believe. As far as I know, this is when the Bronx went into massive decline. There were these famous arsons by property owners looking to collect their insurance payouts for buildings that no longer earned profitable rental income. This destroyed landscape was not put to rights for many years. I think the Bronx (part of it anyway) became synonymous with urban blight during this time.

——–
The “entrepreneurs” running the tour are treating the Bronx as though it is a human zoo.
on Tue 21 May 2013 at 23:43:45 lovelygirl

Thanks, Mary Burrnell. That’s encouraging. I should not let racist systems/people keep me from doing what I want to do in life. That is giving them power over me.

I also read the “invisible black woman” article. Black women in USA are not invisible; it’s more like people choose to ignore us.
on Wed 22 May 2013 at 00:41:50 v8driver

@legion i read the autobiography of malcolm x in about 1992, i remember it pretty well. I’ve always maintained that’s one thing about true communists or true muslims they respect all races.

and don’t mind me too too much, my depression is pretty severe even when i have a breakthrough as i have on a couple items here, it only lasts for a little while, like a pink cloud vis a vis “recovery concept”, but the pills they give me make it worse…

in terms of clarifiying my motives, i certainly don’t want to become some type of ‘know-it-all’ with regards to black culture, like a cocktail party socialite (yeah right), a wonk if you will, i suppose i identified that as a possible offshoot of participating here, not that being knowledgeable is bad in and of itself, but most of the women i have dated (yes, black) were not so much about history and stuff and perhaps moving up in a ‘class of understanding’ of black culture may put me in sort of a context of people that are more aware of race and the problems we have and maybe more reluctant to socially and/or emotionally bond with a white person, but then again this is philly…

in any event, uber-libs up!
on Wed 22 May 2013 at 05:18:24 Fiamma

Bulanik writes:

“What this musician/shop owner told me and believed, was that the lute developed in a culture that started to favour polyphonic chordal harmony while the oud developed in a culture that started to favour greater micro-tonal complexity. There was no need to eliminate frets for the lute, but much need to do so with the oud.”

(extracted from Is the term sub-Saharan Africa racist? comment #159493)

————————

The above was plagiarized from the following site:

http://silpayamanant.wordpress.com/2011/11/06/when-music-became-complex/

Excerpted from the site itself:

“The lute developed in a culture that started to favour polyphonic chordal harmony while the oud developed in a culture that started to favour greater micro-tonal complexity. There was no need to eliminate frets for the lute, but much need to do so with the oud.”

This is not a singular incident. There are many more. Even Wikipedia articles, which are easily accessed, have been plagiarized by this commenter….
on Wed 22 May 2013 at 05:47:45 Fiamma

“Wichita Lineman” is, like, a perfect song. The lyrics describe the loneliness that a man feels while he works and his longing for an absent lover. It paints a word picture of someone working high-up. The words alone are poetic and resonant.

The phrase “singing in the wire” always stuck out for me.
I thought it referred to the sonic vibration from by wind blowing across small wires / conductors, making them whistle or whine like a harp. In the recording itself, the orchestral arrangement is the effort of the violins and keyboards to mimic these ethereal sounds and morse code, and the words, “I can hear you through the whine” further alludes to them.

white-american-music/#comment- comment #160909

——————————–

Plagiarized excerpt:

“The lyrics describe the loneliness that a telephone or electric power lineman feels while he works and his longing for an absent lover.

The phrase “singing in the wire” can refer to the sonic vibration commonly induced by wind blowing across small wires and conductors, making these lines whistle or whine like an aeolian harp. It could also, or even simultaneously, refer to the sounds that a lineman might hear when attaching a telephone earpiece to a long stretch of raw telephone or telegraph line, i.e. without typical line equalisation and filtering.[10] In the recording, a notable feature of the orchestral arrangement is the effort of the violins and keyboards to mimic these ethereal sounds and morse code, and the lyric, “I can hear you through the whine” further alludes to them.”

Uncited source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wichita_Lineman
on Wed 22 May 2013 at 05:49:18 Fiamma

http://abagond.wordpress.com/2008/04/19/white-american-music/#comment-160909
on Wed 22 May 2013 at 05:55:08 Fiamma

^Link to comment ^

link to other plagiarized comment follows:

http://abagond.wordpress.com/2013/01/14/sub-saharan-africa/#comment-159493
on Wed 22 May 2013 at 10:54:54 Bulanik

Bulanik
@ Fiamma

“This is not a singular incident, there are many more.”

Then let’s have them then, since you’ve been collecting and waiting.
This is how you spend your days…

Let me give you an insight into this commenter” and what she remembers. She remembers imperfectly sometimes, through slow and repetitive reading over many years, and it stays in her head like a photo copy and comes out as they are remembered when she writes.
She even remembers spoken dialogue this way.
Recollecting interviews and spoken commentaries.
Regarding the lyrics, she recalls a country singer remarking on those Glen Campbell songs.
So what?
Has Fiamma never encountered people with that minds that recollect and record?

***********************************************************************************************

I have said enough times already, I’m dyslexic, learning to read late.
I compensated by drawing/etchings and recording things in my mind as they appeared, seeing them in my head first, and later had a teacher who took the time to train me in the use use of image association to remember what I had read and record them when I later wrote. That is how I learned, that is how I studied, that is how I write. In fact, I read and studied a wide, wide variety of subjects long before the internet. Which means I collected a large amount of info, most of which I do not recall where I first read, or saw.

When I mentioned “What this musician/shop owner told me and believed”,
“the lute developed in a culture that started to favour polyphonic chordal harmony while the oud developed in a culture that started to favour greater micro-tonal complexity. There was no need to eliminate frets for the lute, but much need to do so with the oud ” — Is Fiamma suggesting that I never went into such a musical instrument shop and there was no Chinese shop owner who told me such…..?

Or that no one else in the world knows about how the oud developed in East or West? This shop was in Camden Town, North London. I spent a long time with that guy over the course of a couple of years.
Is Fiamma suggesting “this commenter” made that up?
Fiamma, since you are knocking yourself out, why don’t you go further and tell me what you think I made up about what I did and know and studied?
on Wed 22 May 2013 at 13:03:21 B. R.

Good point, Fiamma, there never has been a connection between you and me…but I noticed Bulanik seemingly quoting word for word from African Holocaust…..you are very obsevant
on Wed 22 May 2013 at 13:28:10 B. R.

And I really find it funny that Bulanik, with her ability to bring past posts by people forward from the past, cant even bring in the post where I supposidly “belittled her as a blakc woman”, which she accused me of doing
on Wed 22 May 2013 at 13:38:49 B. R.

I find this very strange trying to push a connection between me and Fiamma, I have hardly had a discusion with her, and she never really defended any position I took…..I mean this is bizzarre