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Zeros and Ones... Revised

It is rather appropriate that my final Blogger entry should be on this particular topic... and on a Sunday, too. It's funny how things seem to come full circle!

I don't know if I can close this out without going back to the beginning and examining the events of the last... gosh, almost six months.

I joined a couple of online communities around my last birthday. I was tired and yes, lonely and looking to spark up a few interesting conversations with people I'd probably never meet any other way.

The Forum and Personal Messaging systems were an experiment of sorts... an out of character venture into the online world of relationships and personal interaction. It was an experiment that carried me into places that I didn't even know existed (at least not on this scale).

I’ve learned that for many of us the world is a very lonely and isolated place, but like it or not, agree with it or not, zeros and ones bouncing off satellites can address the void left by make-work busy lives. Lives that are filled, in part, with people who simply don’t have the time or inclination to listen to our idle rants and ramblings.

Online I discovered a world of e-families, e-friends, e-enemies, and e-loves. In this microcosm of “real” life I've explored and learned and grown and tackled a few personal issues that needed to be dealt with, knocked to the ground, held down, and controlled.

To my surprise, I’ve found that my heart is bigger than I imagined it to be and my fear is less than I thought it was.

Here’s to growing where we are planted. Here’s to continued exploration through Zeros and Ones!

I Think I May Have Found A New Home

I'm still fiddlin' and faddlin', but I do believe I found a new home!

I found a WordPress template that I like. I had to do some customizing, but once I familiarized myself with PHP (a server-side scripting language designed specifically for integration with HTML and MySQL) things moved right along. I still need to add a few links, categorize my posts, and deal with the misaligned pictures, but I'm hoping to be completely done by Monday!

http://light-n-shadow.com/blog => Come See!

Here's to packing up and moving on.

I'm Thinking About Making A Move

I'm considering moving my Blog. Moving is hard... I feel very much at home here and I like Blogger's look and feel, but I'm concerned about the technical issues plaguing the site. I've got a host and I'm experimenting with Wordpress. This evening I imported all of my posts and so far so good. I'll continue to use Blogger until I'm absolutely sure that I'm satisfied with Wordpress. Of course, I'll let ya know how it goes!

Here's to greener pastures!

Black. White. Episode III

Remember what I said about Little Miss. WhiteGirl and Little Mr. BlackBoy being all right? Well, I take that back. Yes, I think we viewers may find that WhiteGirl is the sole voice of reason in this black/white ensemble, but BlackBoy… Oh, BlackBoy… Oh, boy!

It turns out that Jr. BlackMan is what WhiteGirl referred to as “stereotypical!” The astute youngster pointed out that not only is he stereotypical, but he’s proud of it, and this blogger has to agree with her assessment. BlackBoy ain’t got much in the way of a clue.

When asked what grade he was in, BlackBoy said, “I’m sixteen.” as if that answered the question. It didn’t. After WhiteGirl dug around a bit, BlackBoy admitted that he’d failed both the sixth and eighth grades. He eventually got caught holding a “frrrriend’s” knife and was permanently kicked out of school. Curious WhiteGirl tried to get at the reason BlackBoy had the knife in the first place and the only explanation he was able to offer was that he didn’t really know. “I don’t ask all these questions,” BlackBoy said. Well, doll, here you are sixteen with an eighth grade education and it may be time to ask a few questions.

The other day I ran across an article written last year. In it the author, Charles Johnson, wrote the following:

As tired as one might be of hearing this, the crisis (black men being an endangered species) can be seen as possibly terminal for a considerable portion of black Americans at the dawn of the 21st century. Furthermore, it is not merely an economic or political problem but also a cultural, spiritual and moral one that has at its center behavior and attitudes that make far too many black men noncompetitive… and, perhaps, irrelevant in an increasingly complex multicultural and knowledge-based global economy.

Don’t get me wrong, I have a great deal of sympathy for BlackBoy. He’s not hopeless. He just needs guidance. Clearly, his parents are trying to do just that. As they literally cursed their son out for buying a $150 dollar bling-bling watch, Mom and Dad emphasized that they wanted him to get his GED and go to college. BlackBoy expressed confusion at the thought of education. “Why you want me to go to college?” he wanted to know. See, I guess he does ask a question or two!

Unfortunately, BlackMan in his paternal role gave sonny boy a cliché response. Between cuss words he noted he wanted the boy to have a better life. Stop cussin’ at the boy, Dad! Give your son a few facts. Tell him that UC Berkeley's 2004-05 freshman class had only 108 African-Americans out of 3,600 students, with less than 40 males, and not one black among the 800 engineering students. Tell him that 1/3 of black men in their 20s graduate from high school with an eighth-grade level of proficiency in math and reading, tell him about the numbers in prison, on probation or on parole. School your son! Stop cussin’ and start teachin’!

Now, to be fair Mom and Dad do have a problem on their hands – a sixteen year old who’s failed school and doesn’t seem to “get” it is not easy to handle. To their credit they are certainly trying to help their teenager find the “path”, however, Dad’s emphasis on racism maybe misplaced. Now, this ‘ere blogger thinks lessons in racism should be pretty far down on Papa’s list of required study. BlackBoy has more pressing problems. In this particular case, I have to agree with columnist William Raspberry as he urges black people to resist becoming trapped and limited by antique narratives about their lives.

For the first time in black American history, what we do is a greater determinant of our future than what is done to us. We need to teach that and preach that and shout that--to our young people and ourselves.

Teach, preach, and shout, BlackMan! Don’t you think this is what your son needs to hear?! Doesn’t he need to hear that “he” can make better choices? Doesn’t he need to hear that those choices can break the stereotype he’s living?

Oh, and what were WhiteMan and WhiteWoman doing during this black family moment? Well, Whiteman was stretched out on the couch thoroughly enjoying hearing BlackWoman call her son, “Neeeeegro!” And WhiteWoman was off somewhere recuperating from cursing at her own child and, of course, getting her cry on!

Here’s to not drowning our children in foul language and actually teaching them to navigate life’s difficult waters!

Just Askin'

Today, I’m going to ask these questions in some of the forums I frequent!

1. Where is the line between sexual banter and vulgarity?



2. Should that line be crossed?



3. Setting aside the fact that it is illegal and assuming no minors are present, should you masturbate in the middle of a crowded mall?

Here's to just askin'!

I Thought About This Song The Other Day!

Has HBO's The Sopranos Jumped The Shark?

Has the show fundamentally and permanently strayed from its original premise leaving Tony and crew to their water ski moment? Should series fans be cringing as a comatose version of our favorite mob boss flails around in a nightmarish Vegas with the wrong wallet? Are we about to witness, in its final season, the decline of the New Jersey nasties? My God, will it end with a dream sequence?

Did you know that little AJ couldn’t act?

Oh, so many questions.

Here’s to the writers pulling their pens outta their… oooops, sorry. Here’s to Happy Better Days!

Taglines

I like taglines.

Simple phrases that sum up and define purpose.

Have you noticed that LightAndShadow’s Journal has a tagline?

No! Well, take a look. Over there in the sidebar under "About"! See it! That’s right… right there. Ummm hmmmm, The Things I Think! Yep, that’s the one.

See I chose that as my motto for a very specific reason. I’m beginning to understand that where the mind goes the man follows. If my thinking is twisted and rooted in unhappiness and dissatisfaction, I’m likely to remain locked in unhappiness and dissatisfaction. That’s just the way it seems to work. In the final analysis, attitude is everything.

I like the expression… Check Yourself!

I created this blog to so just that. I created it to capture my thoughts. Not just to get ‘em out there, but to lock them down so that I could go back and examine them later. I wanted to check myself by tracking my fleeting thoughts, chronicling my quiet musings, giving voice to my crazy rants, laughing out loud at the foolishness around me, all the while solidifying my values.

Why? Once again, where the mind goes the man follows and I wanted to know where my mind was leading me.

I hear you! I know you’re saying that with or without writing everything down I am in a position to know precisely what’s own my own d@mn mind, right? Yes, right! Absolutely correct, but…

My blog makes me… it makes me accountable.

There it is. Everything, well… almost everything I think right out in the open… easily examined and peeled back. Unhidden. It is the public nature of recording my thoughts that makes them so much more powerful than just leaning back in my chair and thinking them.

See, if it is just me in my head it’s easy to become disconnected from the way my thoughts are impacting my life, but once those thoughts find their way into the zeros and ones of blogging, I am forced to carefully examine them. I have to ask myself… Is this true? Is this the way I want to feel? Is this the way I wish to be perceived? And if the answer is no, then I must ask myself where I should change my thinking.

Why? Because if I don’t want to be seen in a certain light, than I can’t live there. Period!

To my discredit, I must say that my mind doesn’t always go where it should. To my credit, I can also say that I am fully aware of this and I’m working on it… consciously breaking old patterns and attempting to establish better ones. And that, in a nutshell, is what the blog is all about!

My blog not only makes me accountable, but it encourages me to change my mind and, as a result, my destination.

Here’s to the things I think! Oh, and have I told you how much I appreciate our time together?!

Black. White. Episode II

All right people, who’s watching this pseudo-documentary reality show, Black/White?! I caught last week’s episode on TiVo and I got stuff to say.

Surprised, right?

Look, I don’t know if it is the editing (that is always suspect) or if they’ve chosen the most paranoid black family on the planet and the stupidest white people in the world.

Before I begin my analysis let me say that we can extract the youngsters from my vent. Little Miss. and Little Mr. are just fine. It’s the PARENTS!

Help me, Jesus!

I’m here to tell you that these people are coming off as complete idiots.

First, we have the eye-rollin-I’ll-go-there-if-I-have-to black woman.

Next, we have the you-don’t-understand-how-hard-it-is-for-a-brutha brother man.

Followed up with the cry-me-a-river-I-didn’t-mean-it-when-I-called-you-a-bitch white lady.

And finally, a white-man-can’t-jump-but-Ima-get-real-hood-on-yous white guy.

Now, tell me this isn’t a recipe for disaster. Stereotypes and Cliches! Yes, folks misunderstanding abound!

In last week's episode WhiteMan set out to prove to BlackMan that ain’t nobody thinkin’ ‘bout him.

See what happened was…

The black guy dons his white disguise and he and WhiteMan go to a white bar. Now, WhiteMan made it fairly clear that he intends to draw the Caucasian patrons into a discussion on race. He’s trying to show that even if alone and without witnesses white folks aren’t sitting around droppin’ “N” words. See what I’m sayin’?

So, they sit down like a couple-a white guys looking to bend the elbow and WhiteMan starts asking not so subtle albiet exceedingly dumb questions… he asks if the patrons would date black… they would… they had. He follows that up with a “so even though black men are notorious for abandoning their family you’d still date one” question, and a “oh, by the way is it true what they say about penis size” query.

Well, the patrons weren’t impressed. They were clearly uncomfortable and basically let WhiteMan know his inquiries weren’t appreciated.

Good, right?

Naw, not really!

Ask me what this little encounter showed BlackMan dressin' as a white man? Well, he told his wife that WhiteMan was revealing his prejudice with the types of questions he asked.

Huh, WhiteMan told you he was going in there to start some racial mess? What makes you, BlackMan, think he was expressing some inner belief that you ain’t up to par.

Sigh and Shake My Head!

But that ain’t all…

We gotta discuss the dialect coach and all that bitch foolishness!

See what happened was…

BlackWoman and WhiteWoman were in Black/White training. The dialect coach was helping them practice speaking each other’s language… there is a difference.

Anyway, the word B.I.T.C.H was on the study sheet. Please, don’t ask me why! I thought the fact that the word was there at all was pretty telling, but I digress!

Back to the scene - WhiteWoman practicing black dialect said, “Yo, Bitch!” to BlackWoman. Well, sistah girl didn’t cotton ta that. No, She Did Not. She reared back and essential told WhiteWoman… who was of course in tears… that she didn’t know her like that! You know what WhiteWoman thought?… she admitted to thinking “bitch” was a term of endearment used by sister girls great and small.

Huh? It’s what?

Have mercy!

Look, everybody in this little episode was jacked up… Black/White… didn’t matter… e’rybody (another word on the dialect coach's list! He had the children practicing that one. Like I keep sayin’… Mercy!)

I know I probably shouldn’t, but I’ma stay turned to see what happens next!

Here’s to e’rybody lookin’ like a nutcase and not dealing with the honest to goodness race problems we have in America!