Because It's Friday

and i mentioned how i'd been on a creative kick lately, i thought i'd share some pieces with you:

"StrongMen" (inspired by poem of same title by Sterling A Brown)




"what dreams are made of"





"kiss this"

Take A Look Around

So I realize that I’m not always the best at giving those constant, up-to-date blogs. Blogging on a regular basis is like a full time job – hats off to those who do it and do so well. I’ve been off in the world just handling some business and dipping back into my creative side yet again. It’s interesting how my creative energy intensifies when I’m in the midst of other creative spirits. Ah…and on a not so creative note, I took my GREs, and I guess you can say I’m on step closer to applying to grad school. Woot. Though truthfully, sometimes I wonder what life has in store for me and how I’m to balance my interests, talents, and desires…but that could be another post in and of itself.


No no my friends, I’ve come to you today to just put some stuff out into the universe…let me preface things by stating quite simply that I try to be in tune with my surroundings. I try to ‘feel’ and absorb the world…don’t ask me why, I just do. With that said, I think it’s suffice and rather redundant to say that America has a race issue *duh* but what tickles me is that some people seemed to have forgotten that. Michael Richardson, Don Imus, the situation in Jena (talking about the nooses AND the in-justice system), the recent revival of using nooses as a form of intimidation and hatred, and now with Dog the Bounty Hunter’s most recent outburst (though his comments were said in private)….It seems as though too many have forgotten that race is an issue in this country.

To paraphrase Marcus Mabry in his book “White Bucks & Black –Eyed Pease: Coming of Age Black in White America” he muses that while race relations have changed materially, they haven’t changed spiritually…What I take from that is that, although we minorities have access to opportunities that our predecessors did not, the larger society still has an inherent issue with us. We are still resented, feared, and looked upon as being different (as a negative). It isn’t until that spiritually ill is improved that we can say that racism and all its bastard children (discrimination, prejudice, unwarranted hatred, etc) no longer exist.

It’s all jumbled y’all…no matter how hard you work, how much money you make, you will still be seen as ‘lesser’ and as the ‘other’ by society. Any one have any ideas as to how you go about collectively working on the ‘inner man’ of your fellow human beings? I, for one, am at a loss. Race is such a touchy issue that it makes it hard for a good deal of us to talk about it rationally without getting emotional and losing our point along the way. There’s such pressure to outwardly be PC and say the ‘right things’ so as not to offend anyone, but what do is that if we really don’t fully understand why it isn’t right to say those things? Or how saying those things might make others feel? Shouldn’t we at least be able to honestly discuss what has been going on here? If you take a look around it isn’t that hard to see that opportunities and advantages in this country are skewed based upon race and a system of privilege and inheritance that was (again) established upon racism, discrimination, and slavery. It’s all connected, all linked, and so today to talk about race and discrimination without addressing past wrongs and how they have all compounded upon one another to get us to the situation we are in today is rather illogical and changes the make-up of the discussion to make it appear to be a lot less worse than it really is. Racism isn’t just an individual’s problem; we can’t just point at one person or one group of individuals as we shake our heads in disapproval, content with our own self-righteousness…we need to instead realize that the slurs and acts of hate that have been surfacing recently are indicators that the American society isn’t as accepting and understanding as we’d like to think.

Ideally, we’d all be able to sit and talk about some of these issues in a way where everyone’s opinions can be heard and we’d all be informed as to the history of discrimination, disenfranchisement, and prejudice that have helped to shape this country and American society. Ideally. I’m no fool, so to think that this day will magically appear isn’t going to do me or anyone else any bit of good. Still, a girl can dream can’t she?

Hold it Right There Sister

"Last weekend, a YouTube video emerged of televangelist Juanita Bynum asking her partners to sow an emergency seed -- any seed you can sow: $300, $500, $1,000 -- because she has been led by God to a new "threshing floor."

The new property, 30 acres of land with 12 acres of lakefront, will be used for the new Juanita Bynum Ministry. The property costs approximately $200,000. (more here)"

You’ve got to be kidding me. Seriously…God told you you needed a $200,000 threshing floor? While I think it very sad and unfortunate that Sista Bynum is going through so much turbulence in her life right now, I don’t think that asking the public to ‘sow a seed’ of 20 g’s is going to place her in a better spiritual and emotional state. What people need to do is to sow a seed of prayer and love for this hurting woman and her husband – both of whom are obviously troubled.

Televangelists, false prophets…slay me. I’m sorry, I don’t see how a $200,000 room will help you get any closer to God. I know Paul and the other disciples got closer to God in their rags and in jail cells than they would have in palaces with fine silks and linens. This exploitation of folks and their money in the sake of religion needs to be stopped and this woman should really be ashamed of herself. What makes this even worse though, is that I can just feel that somehow someway people will chip in their money so that she can get this room. What about sending that $200,000 to Africa to help with AIDS relief? Or down to New Orleans to help those who are still struggling to get their lives back on track?

What is it about the nature of man and God that has made us so blind to reason and rationale in the sake of ‘faith’? It really makes me wonder if we really know our Creator at all. I can’t propose that I do, but I just feel in my own spirit that the lengths to which people will allow themselves to be manipulated and duped by those claiming to be messengers of the Most High bespeaks of some kind of emptiness in their own lives.

I believe that God speaks to us in many ways and while He/She might instruct us to do many things…somehow…this just doesn’t feel right to me. We need to wake up out of this paralyzed state we’re in and stop trying to make God the reason for our less-than-godly actions and desires.

Bless
CBrava

Been A Long Time

yea...yea i know...my bad. things have been a littlebusy around here, with my little sis moving down here to attend college. it's lovely to have fam in the area, and ive been doin the big sis thing and makin sure she's settled and taken care of.

that being said...you've been on my mind. my blog...and those who read it...i know i havent been the best lately at keeping things current, but on top of being busy i fell into another quiet spell. hate it when that happens, but the mind needs time to process new info, and hell...sometiems i just wanna be quiet.

im not thinknin of keepin a video blog in addition to my blog here, and so you can always go and subscribe to mzkre8tivity over on youtube or keep reading here (ill be posting vids here too). my 1st 'episode' is about the Jena 6 'movement'/peaceful demonstration in DC. i couldnt make it to Jena, but the NAACP arranged for somethinin DC as well. wasnt what i expected, and so here's the 1st part of the video:



go to my user account on youtube to view the other two parts.

Many Blessin's
CBrava