Eye of the Spill

Okay people, this oil spill couldn't have come at such a worst time, you'd think Tony ward was one of the captain planet villains. This spill has brought more species closer to extinction while pulling others into endangerment. If fisherman losing work is bad enough, people are going to be so pissed at BP that they are just not gonna serve the stations. The managers of the stations will lose business, which will just add to the already ballooning unemployment.


Oh, and a tropical storm is approaching the gulf while another storm has already trashed the northeast, surely putting those folks into more debt if any at all. Since predicting the world of 2050 is such a popular trend right now, I'll throw in a bet for "USA as the next 3rd world country".

The Shit over Shirts

As I write this, I'm listening to an aurgument (if you can call it that )

between an UNCG student and a Down Syndrome kid who's there for a special

class. Watching a student spend 40 minutes explain to a kid with down

syndrome that the shirt he (the student) is wearing is not the shirt that

the DS kid lost 6 months ago in another state was worth the watch. As the

Student explained to this Kid, the shirt was not the same size, its newer

than 6 months, and worn by a kid this DS boy has no degrees of separation

from, and he still believes the shirt was his! What's really made the

scene? The DS kid wanted the student to give him the very shirt back (

while he was wearing it).

Down syndrome is an interesting thing.

How to "counter" Racism

This week was the first week of the International Civil Rights Museum.

Located in the original Woolworth store where four North Carolina A&T students started a sit-in, it was the museum's first week

after it grand opening. On of my mother's fellow church member's works

there and invited us on the weekend tour.

The tour began as most would: A guide introducing what was going one in the

world at the time and showing us a transparent American flag that revealed

jim-crow artifacts.

Among the artifacts was a Klanman outfit. I can't mention any faster how

much of a historical gold mine this suit is. Think about it: how many

people are willing to donate a piece of their racists pasts? After oggling

the sheet, the group moved onto the next room, collaged with images of

church bomong victims, MLK jr. and other marching photos. One of the phots

on the walls depicted a victim from a Burmingham church bombing. If you

looked at her out of context you would 've thought the picture was taken in

a war-torn african country. She was laid in a hospital bed with the sheet

bundled up to her shoulders. Her burned eyes covered by square bandages.

As the group moved on, the guide began telling the story of the four

students from A&T. Using a room that held some of the original Dorm

furniture from the time, the group was treated to a projected reinatement

film courtesy of the contemporary A&T Drama Club. The first detail that

caught my attention was her mention of their ages in college: 17. My mother

was the same age her freshman year and that started my mind working. What

was going on back then that had 17 year olds in college? What was wrong

with the educational system today that 17 year old high school seniors were

now more rare? I came back to my thought about the students ages in

college, I asked my mother why so many kids were younger than 18 by the

time they were college freshmen. According to my mother, such an occurance

was typical but eventually some students were found to be emotionally

unprepared so policies were put in place that set a 6 month line

requirement, before . I knew they did that for kindergarderners with late

birthdays but this was a revelation for me.

By the time my mind left that thought for the moment, the group had moved

to the preserved wooloworth's food counter where the students made their

sit-in. Not having seen a genuine counter establishment, I expected

something smaller or more in tune to the Counters of a Silver Diner.

However, this counter stretched from one wall to the next connecting wall

and covered what I think were 25 stools. As for those stools, We saw green

and salmon covers, which werenot originally ther. The guide told us they

were repaced after the original black covers began to wear. Two of the

intact seats are in the smithsonian.

After the counter display, we moved on to another section, which was again

more or less historical items that represented Jim Crow and Black

achievements during said time. There were some artifacts that leaned

towards the absurd side of white supremacy, like a double sided Coca-Cola

Machine. One side had a 5 cent label while the other side had a 10 cent

label covering a 6 cent label. Guess which side was for "Coloreds"? Across

from that Machine was a old Plaque from one of the department stores.

According to it's information, the restroom for colored men and colored

women were on the lower level with the White men's restroom. What was

peculiar was the white women's restroom which was all the way on the way on

the second floor. After thinking about it for a while I think they planned

this so that white women could stay as far away from black patrons as

possible while the white male patrons could keep an eye on them. Once again

Racism is a strange thing. The most unusual item was a small pistol which

displayed old legal papers once owned by . Even the tour guide didn't know

why it was there.

I should point out by now that through the collages on the wall, Jesse

Jackson's picture would show up more than one could ignore. Well, he's

there because he attended A&T like the four sit-in guys. As a matter of

Fact, the displays included people who either attended A&T or were from

Greensboro. I mean this IS a local museum, but they kept a lot of focus on

national history, even ending the tour on a display about other groups

throughout the world who fight the same injustices. After the tour my mom

and I went down the street for lunch. At a Diner. At their lunch counter.

Rhinoplastied Genius

I don't consider myself the most optimistic person, but I believe that even in the

some good can come out of the worst of human nature. I mean, the

holocaust may have created a swarm of deniers and neo-hatemongers but it also brought about a generation of people who learned and passed on

the value of human life. I realized that this fact of life exists in the

one situation few ever bother to look.

In july of 2009, I was volunteering at Artscape, the local arts festival in

Baltimore. For my first assignment I worked in Target Art Park assiting

children as they tested their creativity at the painting tables. With me

was an older lady with whom I struck conversation whenever the crowd died

down. Michael Jackson's death was still fresh in the news and we talked

about the posssible reasons for the man's end. We covered the usual bases,

like "The doctor killed him" and the "Michael looked anorexic" angles. In

all it was basically small talk as one could get. However, it got

interesting when she made this statement?: "There was one thing that Joe

did, and that was keep the business in the family." I was a bit confused

but willing to listen. She added that all aspects of the Jackson's career,

from royalties to making deals with other producers to keeping control of

one's own monopoly was kept in the family.

Although I grew up with and still love his music (pre-1995), I admit to

doubting the man's character like everyone else. With that in mind, I did

question her claims at first, but after a year to think about it, I realize

now that she was right, and the evidence was in front of our eyes. For instance, many black

artists (even the Jackson's contemporaries at Motown) died without enjoying the royalties

they deserved. Someone, though, had the sense to get

his boys out of their contract when Gordy's grip was getting too strong. And where

else would michael learn to buy the Beatles'songs away from Paul McCartney?

And where else did he learn to ditch his old man and eventually create his own production

studio? Joe taught him all that, even the backstabbing part. As Michael told

McCartney "that's business."

He even had the education to call Tommy Mottola out on his bullshit

regarding the promotion of his "Invincible" Album:




"Michael's battle with Sony was not about royalties. It was about Tommy

Mattola and other execs wanting him to tour and jump thru hoops just for

them to promote his Invincible CD- as if he was some new artist. They were

trippin' because they'd spent $30 million on the cd (even though they

always spent a lot on his albums). There is a good interview here that two

Sony execs did shortly after Michael died [...] and even threads from this forum when

fans joined his protest in 2002. They discuss the behind the scenes issues

Michael had with them. Mostly though, Michael was fed up with how record

companies treat their artists in general, especially black artists. Tommy

Mattola resigned a few months after Michael's protest, but perhaps if other

artists had the guts to join him (as opposed to complaining privately to

Michael behind the scenes), they would be better off today."


Even after Jackson's death, the music royalties remain in the families'

custody. He had the smarts to create a will that would automatically

transfer everything to his heirs

in the event of his demise. Although the IRS may have

Neverland Ranch and creditors may have his dollars, no one outside of the

family has inherited any music royalities. More importantly, his children will reap the

beniefists that he's sacraficed for. Not a lot of bling-brandishing rappers today can boast

that kind of financial acumulation.

How is Joe responsible for all this? Well, I'm not justifying what he did to michael

and the other kids in any way. Joe was a smart man, but like a greek tragedy, he let his

control issues (among other emotional problems)collapse the empire he tried to build. But

without him being at the extreme "evil", what else would've encouraged michael to push

towards "good"? The eastern religions tell us all the time: bad is neccesary

to define good, And this is the most extreme example since Luke and Vader.