%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |
Looks like I may have a ton of these, so this is collection 1 of Reflections |
| On the surface it has nothing to do with race... BUT if you delve deeper, it has everything to do with race. Near the surface it's a matter of Socio-Economic STATUS UNFORTUNATELY minorities make up a MAJOR bulk of the "lower" class (I would say 'mid to lower' but the middle class is dying out). My Tweets: Can't wait for a black cop to do this to an 'unruly' white girl. I'm sure all of the comments will be exactly the same. #SVHS #sarcasm I DON'T think the cop should lose his job. I DO think ALL disruptive kids deserve this, but I also think there's a double standard. #SVHS Me, I'm ALL for corporeal punishment. I think students get away with WAAAAYYY too much these days. I wish we didn't need officers in schools but if you take away a teacher's right to effectively discipline then all you have left is the law. So, in a nutshell: I have no problem with what the officer did to what sounds like an entitled child rejecting authority. I DO have a problem with the fact that not all schools are equal and they should be. http://thebertshow.com/too-much-or-warranted-student-violently-arrested-at-sprin... |
| Day 2 Halloween Controversy - Many Christian Churches encourage their congregations to boycott Halloween Celebrations. What is your opinion, is Halloween pure evil? http://reviewofreligions.org/5071/halloween-harmless-or-harmful-fun/ PandaPaws-Bewitching Bear (182) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- God Bless my mom for trying to instill Christian beliefs in me at an early age. In most ways she succeeded but it always baffled me when she said we couldn't go trick-or-treating. Thankfully there were always "Fall Festivals" at the local church that we attended otherwise I we were bound to revolt. What confused me the most was that I remembered very vividly going trick-or-treating back in Baltimore before my parents moved to the south and I guess rediscovered their religion. I even remember her encouraging me to go down the hill of our apartment complex and ask the creepy neighbor that was all decked out in full costume and creepy makeup, banging on a drum and staring at us without blinking. If I were a weaker child I'd say that event scarred me but in reality it was just memorable. I don't remember any of the other houses we visited that day. To answer the question: I don't think the holiday in itself is pure evil. Like anything, it's what you choose to do with it and how you decide to celebrate that can make any day/holiday/event evil. Though she'll never admit it, my own mother knows this but is afraid her kids will pick up some bad habits I guess.... I mean call me crazy but how can she tell us not to watch Harry Potter or read vampire books but she loves Hocus Pocus and Charmed?! At the end of the day I think my mom just liked to go with the Christian flow so to speak and did her best by my brother and I. Will my kids go trick-or-treating? Probably, but we'll also be attending the church's fall festivals. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Prompt: Is there an image, a story-line, or a scene that keeps coming up and persisting in your writing? Do you know why? Do you put it there knowingly or does it show up on its own, unannounced? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Great question.........never really put much thought to it. I would say 'no', at least not at this point in my career. I do lean toward girl protagonists b/c I don't think there are enough of those and of course: GIRL POWER! |
| Benicio del Toro is great as always. Josh Brolin is ...well Josh Brolin and I love Emily Blunt for taking on the role but....think the script wasn't very kind toward women agents and perhaps just women in general. Overall LOVE the movie and the thought provoking messages that came with it. However, as is often the case, the things that irked me have a way of metastasizing over my entire view of the movie. Maybe after I get them out here I'll just be left with the tasty remains of a really honest and well crafted film. Basically I hate how weak they portray Blunts character. It's believable and all but we've seen enough of the weak heroin that can't seem to make it on her own. SPOILER ALERT! My first issue comes when Kate (Blunts character) can't muster up the courage to demand more information for herself. She has to get her partner Reggie (Daniel Kaluuya) to do it for her. [I could rant about the only black character being portrayed as an ever anger black man but whatever, I'll let that slide. Perhaps he's just angry from his Iraq tour.] Not a major faux pax in the grand scheme but it irked me. Next we have Kate demonstrating just how green and hopelessly naive she is by going against Matt's (Brolin) better judgement and stalking into a bank thus getting her (and her partners) face on camera. I'm no cop/detective but even I can see that the BIG picture is what she should be after, not the peanut of a case she could build from the bad bank accounts alone. On to issue number 2.2: She brings a decent dude (nice Jon Bernthal cameo) back to her place to blow off a little after Juarez, Mexico trip steam. All seems well, after all her own partner vouched for the guy. He turns out to be connected to the bank deal *mild shocker* and Kate loses her S! I mean talk about absolutely no poker face! Kudos to her for getting a little aggressive in her fight/flight reaction but point is she'd be dead if not for Alejandro (del Toro). *pause, will finish later* |
| Eat, Pray, Love guru: Gurumayi Chidvilasananda cult lead? https://www.google.com/search?q=Gurumayi+Chidvilasananda&oq=Gurumayi+Chidvilasan... "It's Almost August! Time to Consider....Everyone Please Read" 
2. Ensure you have a set of guidelines for people to follow about what you want them to put into your journal. You may have them include whatever you like: information about themselves, recipes, artwork, culture, etc. Guidelines 1. Middle name (story behind it if you know) 2. Favorite food 3. Random memory (either a fav story, most interesting, or just plain random) 4. Dream job (still working on mine) 5. Favorite animal/pet (and/or) |
| Picturing myself on Conan being silly and making him laugh histyrically then apologizing to Mom b/c goal is always to "not act a fool in public" b/c black ppl in general tend to take themselves too seriously b/c they feel they need to show a modicum of respect for themselves since the world will tear you down enough so I made up a 'saying' that Mom used to say: "give them no quarter, give them no time; guard yourself daily, sweet child of mine" or "give them no quarter, give them no time; give them no reason, sweet child of mine" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljz5uqYt2Xk |
| Prompt: "Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself." George Bernard Shaw Do you agree? Ooooo that's deep...yet also kind of shallow. Typically, I can see both sides, but perhaps that's because they both could really mean the same thing. On one hand "finding" yourself auto makes you think that your personality is already concrete at birth and you just have to figure out how to maneuver yourself. Like a soul dropped into some random contraption and told to 'figure it out'. Whereas of course 'creating' yourself is all about control and power. I think this just may be a matter of passive vs agressive; meek vs forceful; pessimist vs optimist and any other amalgamation of characteristics that describe both an "it is what it is" and a "I got this" view on life. Both have benefits as well as pitfalls. If you believe you have to "find" yourself you may not take full responsibilities for your action. You may be the "this is just the way I am and it's not going to change" stagnant type. On the plus side there is solace in 'knowing' who you are and understanding how your mind/body work naturally and in response to stimuli. Counter-wise, if you consider yourself a "self-made" man/woman you may be a bit of a control freak. I imagine this would make it difficult for you to accept any natural shortcomings which could lead to rage/alcoholism/pseudo-psychotic breaks, who knows? Then again 'go-getter's are our worlds most successful and innovative people. There's nothing wrong with deciding not to take 'no' for an answer when you're willing to personally and morally strive for that 'yes'. Like most things, it's all about balance... ----------------------------------------------------------------- From 7/21/2015 We get many material uses out of trees. Are there any other intangible, artistic, or philosophical uses of them that come to your mind? Wow, these prompts are killer. Other than shade and hammocks? Too hungry to get philisophical but I do love a good tree nap...o and I want a killer tree house one day. Intangible, I like to imagine the earth imbuing me with it's energy on a nice sunny day. I think the plants/trees can contribute to that. |
| Honestly Mack you're not doing me any favors b/c regardless of whether or not you call me and Mom 'bitches' (in your head or out loud) if you call ANY female that you're doing us a disservice b/c people hear you say that and they rightfully assume you don't respect women/females at all and that falls on us. Respect is way more than just your words, it's your actions, bot in and out of our presence. ------------------- "It sounds foul, but every girl I meet to go downtown/I'd open every cell in Attica, send em to Africa." - NAS ft. Lauryn Hill If I Ruled The World This makes me think...GREAT IDEA! If the United Nations ever chose to take the US to task for jailing the most people in the world it would be AMAZING for them to set up a "prisoner swap" type thing where most of our prisoners were given the option to serve their time in other countries with the option of becoming a citizen if they so chose. It's an epidemic, why not try and cure it? |
| Thought of the Day: I'm in the winter of my writing career. I haven't been on much both b/c I'm intent on writing a book before doing more fun writing. A super honest and constructively critical reviewer once told me (in kind words) to stop writing little things and get on to the big stuff. But also because I've started this new 'career'/job that I LOVE (relatively speaking). But I'm forgoing my Masters this coming fall in lieu of stockpiling/rebuilding my bank account. Unfortunately independence and moving out of my mothers place needs to take precedence. So yea, after listening to Bert Weiss (http://thebertshow.com/) talk about his take from the Bruce Jenner interview, how it's never to late to "find your happy". At 28 I have to constantly remind myself that "there's still time". I try not to do that too much b/c it can be an excuse for procrastination. But I also have to prevent myself from being too complacent. To giving up and only seeing/viewing/doing this as a hobby. I told my mom I was taking this Poetry class (https://learn.canvas.net/courses/641) and she made an off hand comment about how I really enjoy that 'hobby'. She didn't mean anything by it but it stung all the same. Until I get something published I can't truly call my self a professional CREATIVE writer. So yea, my reality is leaving me kind of cold and I find myself consistently searching for the warmth of a pen and the scratch of paper (Sidenote: My sis and I went to the Inman Park Festival this weekend and one of the vendors had fountain pens for sale. I know nothing about calligraphy but I vow to learn one day! Right around the time I finally get back to my Snail Mail group pen-pals -SORRY GUYS!) but the spring will come soon enough and I look forward to sharing the thaw with you guys. See "Note: Thought of the Day: I'm in the winter of ..." |
| When it comes to taking care of your skin, people always worry about the sun. But you need to think about what you EAT too. Here are the five worst foods for your skin: 1. Sugar. It causes something called glycation. It’s when sugar molecules bond with the collagen molecules in your skin, and make it less flexible. It also happens with foods that get broken down into sugar by your body, like bread and pasta. 2. Potatoes and grains, partly because they get broken down as sugar. But also because your body has to use certain minerals like zinc to metabolize them. And a lot of those minerals are important for your skin. 3. Fast food. Because it’s loaded with trans fat and hydrogenated fat. They make the cells in your skin stiffen up, and also cause inflammation. Fried food has a lot of it too. 4. Processed meats, like hot dogs and lunchmeat. They’re high in salt, which makes you bloated. And your body has to use a lot of vitamin C to deal with them, which is bad for your skin, because you need vitamin C to create collagen. 5. Alcohol . . . again because it’s sugar, and it robs your body of vitamins and minerals. But it also dehydrates you, which makes your skin age faster. Caffeine dehydrates you too, so you should have one glass of water for every cup of coffee you drink. The water in the coffee doesn’t count. http://thebertshow.com/the-five-worst-foods-for-your-skin/ |
 Log in to Leave Feedback |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
I just hope they can see it that way.
