Why

…does man determine his self-worth by his career or financial situation? Is it really necessary to introduce yourself as a doctor outside of the office? Is it worth it to continue to remind everyone that your a writer with every post? Or does not the post itself justification enough? We all have bills to pay true, but perhaps if our self-worth wasn’t so wrapped up in titles and prestige we can enjoy life better and we won’t be so depressed all of the time. My books may sell and they may not but that’s the experience and I am in love with that process. You see we get so confused about life because everything is out of context, we have forgotten those things that are really important. When it’s hot we’re complaining that it’s too hot. When it’s cold we start complaining that it’s too cold. When it rains we are mad that it’s raining but when there’s a drought we curse the sky.

It is necessary to enjoy the sun rays instead of complain about how hot it is outside.

It is necessary to appreciate the stillness instead of complain about being bored.

It is necessary to love the fruit of the womb instead of complain about how bad your children are. Or have you not stopped to discern that some people cannot have them?

It is necessary to love the man or woman in your life if you have one.

In short, it is always necessary to pay attention to how you spend your time, for it will soon be just a memory.

Writing Distractions

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A surge of consciousness spills over your thoughts like a stream of mighty waters. Waves of ideas that suddenly dance upon the mental workspace of your brain, a wide collection of inspiration collectively manipulating ideas, images, and symbols. Together they battle against one another to see which is fortunate enough to make it on the page. Will they splash onto the screen or get caught between blue lines? These are the concerns of words who dream of nothing but getting out of your head. Who, if any, of these ideas will transition from thought to word and from word to living persona? Your fingers are excited by the mere contemplation of it and proceed to structure the foundations of a blank page. That is until something happens. It is usually at this point that someone knocks on the door, the telephone rings, the children are awakened, or a question is asked. Sudden interruptions startle your words out of their skins and they run into hidden spaces and behind writer’s blocks. I don’t know what it is about writing, but it is so easy to be distracted from it. It takes so much concentration and focus that sometimes I find it hard to get back into the swing of things once interrupted. It is an art indeed, a pictorial inscription; a steady stream of carefully arranged thoughts that must glide from the mind to paper without interruption. Any break in this stream may cause the artist to abandon his work until a more appropriate moment. Sometimes I find it hard to even explain this to people! Some just cannot understand how easy it is to break into that mode of concentration. ESPECIALLY if we’re talking about poetry. I can be sitting at the computer immersed in a very pivotal moment and then someone starts talking and then its like, “OK, but can I finish this stanza first?“

Launch Date Reveal!

One of the most exciting aspects of Self-Publishing is being able to build up suspense for the next project at your own pace and I have (finally) set a date for the release of my next book. As many of you already know, it releases this month but I had not given an exact date. So, without further ado, please Follow This Link to view the flyer that reveals the date for the release of “Beyond The Colored Line.” The flyers came out really nice and I’m going to enjoy sending them off.

Launch week for this blog is gonna be off the chain, yaaasss. 🙂

Encouraging Womanhood

I remember being given the permission to date at a certain age. Even if not literal (I don’t remember being told), by the age of 15, 16, and 17 it was understood I have at some point begun dating, and as such there was a silent acceptance of this change. As I’m running errands and trying to escape the triple digit scorch that’s got it’s body spread all over Louisiana, I thought about womanhood. d8998d4994ed3993c8d8df56c8e9ebcf What is womanhood? The question hangs over the heads of our daughters with anxious anticipation. The youthful mind dividing itself into sections of experience: puberty, first date, first love, marriage, and children. We split ourselves into portions and gamble off pieces that do not fit. We grow old and still we find this question lingering against the frontal lobe of our minds, and occupying the mental space of our thoughts, “What is Womanhood?” It is a question we believe can be answered just by purchasing cigarettes, buying liquor, engaging in sexual intercourse or the entering of the club scene. As my thoughts spread out and I take these snap shots of my own past, I thought about this generation and how disappointed I am in a lot of today’s youth. Their minds seem to be so far gone from basic fundamental teachings that drive adulthood. My thoughts grew to include preparation and how little of it is present in many of our communities. That is the preparation of our young people and most especially, of our young women. Instead of encouraging our daughters to get boyfriends, it is time we start to prepare them for womanhood. In this way, when they begin to engage in relationships, when they do find a man, they’re not little girls. Because we have not prepared our daughters, a generation of children occupy grown-up bodies and little girls have over run our households and are producing babies they don’t have the tools to teach. What happened to the womanhood training our grandmothers instilled in our mothers fifty years ago?

Sandra Bland & Black Hypocrisy

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I know, I said I was resting. I also said I was a workaholic. I am resting but before I dig in deep and disconnect from the internet, I thought I’d give you something to ponder over the weekend.

What kind of woman was Sandra Bland? Can anyone tell me? Did she pray often? Did she love those around her? Who was she? Personally, I don’t know.

I’m always saddened by the deaths of anyone and the things I see taking place within the black community. However, what annoys me is when black people allow themselves to be driven by emotion and disregard common sense. It has been said that she was dead in her mugshot, for instance. Have any of you ever seen a dead body or a rotting corpse? Have you examined lifeless bodies or studied the difference between someone living or dead? How then do you know what kind of state the woman was in when she was photographed? Must we ignore the marijuana they found in her system or is she automatically granted immunity for being black? We have turned Sandra Bland into a hero, even though no one can tell me what kind of woman she was.

How do we know for certain that she didn’t kill herself? Is this conclusion a result of a personal study or are we making decisions off pure emotion? Maybe she was murdered or maybe she committed suicide but what does it mean?

It’s sad, of course. How can it not be? But the question black people should be asking themselves is why? Why do these things continue to happen to you of all people?

Why is there a greater outcry against the killing of Cecil the lion than the death of one of yours? We are killed in the streets every day. Why are you continually treated like less than a human being?

These are the kinds of questions we should be asking ourselves, not whether or not Sandra Bland killed herself. The question is not if she did it or not, the question is….why?

I am not without compassion, but I cannot allow my emotions to surpass the truth. It’s hard to sit back and watch your people die but this woman did nothing to be considered a heroine of mine. I don’t know what her life was like to be granted that title or to make that kind of a decision.

You see the truth of the matter is that a lot of people are unconscious, especially within the black community. We have no idea of what’s going on around us or in front of us. We have no understanding of who we are, who we are not, and why as a result it has led to our position or lack thereof in this land. We continue to be slaughtered in the streets under the rule of a black skinned president but you’ll hear nothing about that. Funny how dark skin can deceive dark skinned people. Blinded by the hypocrisy  we cannot see the truth for what it is. Many of you, because you wear the title of African American, completely disregard any wickedness that comes from your blood line and the consequences that happens as a result of that disobedience. This woman is filled to the brim with weed but this is your Queen. I am not Sandra Bland’s judge and her death is sad, but she has done nothing for me to admire. Oppression is real but many of you are blind to the part that you play in that same oppression. This too is futility and it is hypocrisy.

Deu 28:20 “YAH sends on you the curse, the confusion, and the rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the evil of your doings by which you have forsaken Me.