Celebrating women… Mrs. Dorothy Height’s passing… and women we cannot applaud …what some women won’t do…

I don’t know where you live…but here where I live it’s cold.  And I do mean cold.

This morning before leaving out I made me a bowl of  Cream of  Wheat.  Then I made sure I put on a coat.

Yes, a coat.  Because…    Well, because it is cold.

Though in speaking with one of my mother’s cousin’s I found out that they are having 90 degree weather in Florida.  Wow…90 degree weather already.  It is going to be smoldering there in Florida this coming summer if those kind of temperatures hold up.

But here it has been cold.  And though I had been denying it.

I am now ready to face the hard and very cold facts…it’s cold.  And I am not imagining it.

So, getting off the bus with my mind set on getting in the house and having myself a big hot bowl of  steaming soup, but I decided to head in the opposite direction upon stepping off the bus instead.

Yes, my conscience was bothering me… because I haven’t blogged in a short while.  So, I decided that even if  I just started it tonight then I could finish it tomorrow.  And that would be so much better than not getting started with this at all.

So, that is just what I am doing.   Because I have so much I want to talk about… I just know that there is no way that I am going to be through before this lab closes at 11 PM tonight…and it is just about 7:30 PM now.

First, let me start by mentioning the passing of  Mrs. Dorothy Height.  Though I had never met her, I certainly did know of her.

Mrs. Height along with her many years of work as a Civil Rights activist, and as head  of the National Council of  Negro Women… she was also known for her signature hats which she always sport without fail through the years.

Women upon whose shoulders we their daughters and grand-daughters now stand.  And what I see in these women is a vast amount of humility and a humbleness you do not see in the spirit of  people of  today.  When you view the video clips BELOW of  Mrs. Height you will exactly what I mean.

http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/beth-mar.htm

http://hubpages.com/hub/Freedoms-Sisters–Twenty-Great-Arfrican-American-Women

http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-201_162-10003285-4.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2010/04/20/GA2010042001303.html

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g1wclP0PXt3NaBWLcwbFUjRs9bawD9F73F081

It is odd that I am writing this blogg on this topic today.  I never plan these things and never have any idea where I am going when I first start.  And believe me that some people have written me pointing that out to me.  But I welcome your comments…good or bad…or indifferent feel free to comment or drop me a note or 2.

Since this past Sunday was Mother’s Day…you really would have thought I had planned this.  But I did not.

I love celebrating women…and it has nothing to do with me being a past lesbian.

Maybe it is that my mother was a woman…my grand-mother was one…my great grand-mother was one… and all my aunts and nieces and most of my friends are one.  And I think of them as being phenomenal people…and women.  Clearly, Mrs. Height and all the women that I mentioned above were phenomenal women…but the women I am going to mention now are not.  Some how they both fell well below the mark.

Many times while surfing over the internet looking for things…mostly to buy…I sometimes come across things or an article that sparks my saying something.  And these 2 stories did just that…though one of  them I saw on the Oprah Show.

But this story I came across over the internet.  In reading it …it made me wonder-

“What women won’t do for a man.”

What this women did was insane…and she is not the first.  Though if  I were a  Judge…she would have never been able to walk into my court with such an excuse…though I do not know exactly what her lawyer or lawyers plead for during her court trial.  But if I had been the Judge it would not have been that…because what this woman did and the reason behind it was so sorted and sick …and just  plain selfishness.

This woman was a grandmother…and had been a school teacher…who at the time she committed this heinous crime against a young mother…she was 42 years old.

She was not some uneducated woman out in the streets.  But I guess we may all very well agree that her mind wasn’t half as good or as decent as many of  those women who we so often look down upon, when we come across them.

I will not call this woman’s name…not because I fear being sued or anything.  But I do not want to add to her ever becoming famous or known.  I feel she should go down into the depths without fanfare or pity.  She was indeed evil.  Her mind was without a doubt twisted…and she did it for a man.

This is what she did…she sought out some woman who was pregnant along with a group of  thugs…beat and killed…and tortured.  Then she stole the woman’s infant child to pretend that the child was her’s in an attempt to fool some man…with the hopes of  being able to keep him.

You can read the story if you like…the LINKS are BELOW.  But what kind of  woman would have done such a thing?

And I think what bothered me more about this story is that there are those rallying to keep her from being executed for the insane criminal act which she committed.

I am sorry…and yes I am very much a Christian.  But I have no tolerance for people who allow the devil to use them in such a vile and evil way.  And by judging my her most recent picture she seems to be highly content.

We have all…I imagine…been the recipient of  some vile and most evil thoughts.  The kind of  thoughts that came to us that were so foreign to us.  It was some insane maybe even immoral act…or something that we would never imagine doing.  Something that we  totally rejected even the thought of  it…or thoughts of it.

And yes…I too have experienced it.

I have a cousin who told me of such an incident which occurred with her.  She told me that she used to be an alcoholic, and once while sitting at a table the thought came to her to get up from the table where she was sitting.  She said she was told to take up a fork and begin stabbing a baby…a little infant that was nearby…and to stab it to death.

My cousin told me that at that moment  is when she realized she had to stop drinking.  She recognized the thought at being crazy and that it had frightened her…because the impulse to do it was so strong.  And she said that she never drink again since that night.

In looking up info for this blog I came across information on Malcolm X’s grandson.  The grandson who set his grand-mother on fire while she laid sleeping.  Betty Shabazz suffered for nearly 2 months or more before finally succumbing to those injuries.

I have often wondered about her grandson whom she loved so much…a problem child…and perhaps is still troubled today.  A child that she loved so much that she rather to have him come live with her than to see him placed some place and  locked away, because no one could control him.  And at the age of  12 he killed his own grand-mother.

What I have thought about on the times I have since reflected on him…was what went through his head that he would have done such a thing to someone who loved him so dearly?

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/26/nyregion/malcolm-shabazz-moved-to-center-to-serve-term.html

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/08/nyregion/metro-news-briefs-new-york-boy-who-killed-shabazz-has-made-two-escapes.html

It cannot be argued that some of  toughest demons to resist are those which live inside of us.  It is sad.  But when crazy thoughts come into our minds we must with all our might resist them.  A very large part of  it is learning how to pray…and how to call upon the name of  the Lord.   It is what my cousin did.   And it works…I know it for myself.

Now, on to the story I watched on Oprah last Thursday or Friday.

I had been in New York when the story broke…but like most people over time I had forgotten it.  But if  I thought the woman I wrote about above was evil that goes doubly for Vanessa Jackson…whom one of my brothers informed me was a member of the Church of God in Christ.

Note in the picture above…you will notice that 4 of the children look like something is wrong with them.  They are different from the other children…not quite as well dressed…and if you look real closely you see that they were not as well…

Well, healthy looking…meaning not well nourished.  Because they were not.  That woman and her husband straved those little boys…while she, her husband and their biological  children all eat well and seemed to be quite happy.

I do remember this story when it first broke…

Some neighbors called 911 because late one night they heard a noise outside their window.  And when they looked out they thought they saw what looked to them like a very young child rampaging through their garbage looking for food.

That young child was the boy in the picture to the right of the woman.  The little tiny boy who looks so light and fragile.  He was actually 19 years old and weighed under 60 pounds.  And look at her own children…some of them quite plumb… as well as, she and her husband.

I was dumbfounded when I listened to Oprah interview the brothers of that boy.

How could anyone be so heartless and so cruel?

These people called themselves ‘saved.’  They took those boys to church with them and their other children every Sunday.   These people adopted those boys.

On the show the boys told how the woman would dress them in 3 or 4 sweaters under their clothes to make them appear fatter.  How we gave them pancake mix to eat…and would tell them that they only had ‘x’ amount of time to eat it.

What kind of  depraved people exist in this world?

Is money that important?

Vanessa Jackson and her husband, who has since died while in prison, went to church where they…I hope…were taught ‘love’…and that it is better to give than to receive.  But somehow they felt that taking and cheating…and being evil and cruel was a better way.

They straved those little boys…and aided in seriously debilitating their growth, physically and mentally.

I could never love money that much.  The world is filled with sick and degenerate people.  I am so thankful to God that He gave me a mind to not to be 1 of them.  And I hope that you aren’t either.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://msnbcmedia4.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/050930/050930_malnourish_vmed_6p.widec.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9547444&usg=__NNUvgADbge3k933xbmjP_w2iniU=&h=373&w=298&sz=23&hl=en&start=3&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=EwgKXTa3Gv80HM:&tbnh=122&tbnw=97&prev=/images%3Fq%3Draymond%2Band%2Bvanessa%2Bjackson%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1R2HPND_enUS361%26tbs%3Disch:1

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/11/nyregion/11starve.html

My Mother’s Day started with my cousin Jean…who loves reading her name in my blogs…waking me up early.  It was then followed by my son telling me to get up and get dress because he was taking me to breakfast.

He greeted with a large bouquet of flowers in a tea cup.  They are so beautiful…and I love my tea cup.

I hope your Mother’s Day was great too…or that you did something especially special for your mom or wife.

And what do you know it is not 11 o’clock yet.   I must be getting better at this…because I am just about finish with this blog.

Well, God bless…and hope that you have a beautiful day tomorrow.

And if it is cold where you are…  Don’t forget about a bowl of  Cream of Wheat before going out…or a nice hot bowl of  oat meal.

And don’t you dare leave out without your coat.

And God bless….

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…”  www.bsmith101.wordpress.com  ©2010

THE BISHOP’S WIFE  is now on sale…

Add a comment May 12, 2010

Corrective rape??? Infant rape???

There is something seriously wrong in South Africa.

I have read some sad and very sick things in the past couple of weeks… but this thing has to make one wonder about what kind of times we are currently living in.

How can you correct something while committing something worst?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/12/eudy-simelane-corrective-rape-south-africa

What is going on with the thinking in South Africa?

And perhaps other places as well.  From the raping of  infants by grown men claiming because they are trying to avoid AIDS????????????     To raping lesbian women in order to correct their sexuality?????

What kind of  thinking  is  that?

The crimes being  perpetrated are far greater  than any fear of AIDS…  or any  woman’s  involvement in lesbianism.

How can anyone be so overcome with fear that they would destroy the life of an infant?

If  I were that fearful of  AIDS…I would cease to have sex.  I would abstine from it…rather than think to destroy innocent babies.   But this kind of  thinking is a perversion…that stems not from fear of  AIDS…but of  desire to have  sex with babies.   The lie of  the  so-called fear…gives those men some kind of  license to perpetrate that evil thing that has seeped  into their very pours yeilding forth their evil perverted mind’s  endowing them with a fetish to go out and commit  such a horrible crime against innocence.  And like mad dogs…or animals…once they have tasted it…seek it out all the more.

STop lying…it is not about protecting themselves against AIDS…but it is a deceitful  and lustful mind that seeks babies to satisfy an evil supplanted need…not for being with a woman but with babies.   Otherwise, there could never be any kind of satisfaction in that.

And corrective rape???

There is no such thing.

Crimminal acts are crimminal acts.  And they should not be allowed nor  tollerated by any country …or  any group of people.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/13/south-africa-corrective-rape

http://www.newser.com/story/66130/congos-new-horror-men-raping-men.html

Having grown up reading  and  hearing about gay men who had been killed simply because….they were…gay.   Having heard the stories from some of the last surviors of  the Stone Wall bar…that marked the beginning of  gay men…black gay men…deciding not to take it any more and began to fight the New York City police back after years of  being raided and put into jail…simply because they were…    Having participated in Gay Pride…walked in the parades…sat on conference panels…and never once having to fear that my life was in danger because I was…who I was…at  that time.

The thing that most parents of gay children fear…is that something will happen to their child simply because…

http://www.stonewall-place.com/

How sad it is that  gangs of men would seek out a woman…gay women in South Africa and rape them.   And kill then…kill them…because they are…

Many gay men and women…came into ‘the life’…and are in ‘the life’ because of some things which happened to them.  And many times it was rape…that brought them there.

So, how could rape ever be corrective?

How can violence of any kind of way be corrective?

Rape is destructive.

And throughout history it has destroyed… many lives… people… families… etc…

There is something sick about these times.

How do good people…decent people sit around watching this sickness…or hearing about it…without doing something?

MOVE!

Somebody has got to do something.   And satan be defeated.

Many years ago…I almost fell victim to gang rape…but by the grace of God…who has more than once spared me.  I was but a child.  I had no knowledge of  what  was going on.  Because I was too young to process it or anything else really.

I was raped by one man only…but there had to been about 20 of  them who would have had me…had not the man who owned the rooming house where these men were staying…not seen the man who had the little girl by the hand and had walked her into that rooming house.

As the man prepared me for himself and his friends…one of them came to the door and told him that the owner of  the building had come.  The 20 blocked the doorway with some type of  wild commotion …while I was quickly ushered through a back doorway.

I recall it well.  And yes it marked me…and perhaps you can tell that it did when you read my opinion on some things.

But I was fortunate…to have  gotten out… that that man…the owner had seen me being taken inside.   Through the grace of  God…I had been spared…stained perhaps…even  tainted…no doubt.     Today, they not only rape children…but kill them too.

These are sad times…but I guess…   I guess…that since the time that sin came into this world  it has been sad times.

I hardly feel like talking about my book now.  But can’t allow any opportunities to get by without mentioning it to you.

Finally completed my book’s trailer…which is kind of  like a commercial…which I put together for youtube.  So, that you can get a feel of  what my book,  THE BISHOP’S WIFE, is about.

I hope you enjoy your day…it is hard to do knowing that there is so much madness in this world.

God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…” http://www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009

 THE BISHOP’S WIFE  is now on sale…CLICK this LINK to purchase my book.  You do not need a paypal account to purchase, and you can purchase using a debit card.  Thank you. 

Add a comment August 9, 2009

Aretha’s diet…losing weight… finding someone

 Didn’t she look good?

Heard her talk about being on a diet…and when she showed up at Barack Obama’s inaugural in her grey suit with her Sunday morning go to church hat…she looked fabulous.

She was most recently spotted here on her way from the White House…pushing a shopping cart in Walmart.  Signed autographs and took pictures…and people crowded around.  I said I wanted to see the pictures…but my son saw them.  And he said-

“Ma, it was her.”

I thought it interesting when I saw that Obama’s oldest daughter made sure she got a shot of Aretha with her camera during the inaugural ceremony.  Those Obama’s are teaching their children well.   She knew Aretha and who it was she was looking at…and she wasn’t going to let Aretha get pass her without grabbing a picture.  Smart girl.

I didn’t know that Aretha had signed up with Jenny Craig back in 2007.  She might have lost some pounds…but evidently had like most…put them back on and then some.  But at the inaugural she really looked great.  And I was happy to see that she had shed lots of that extra added bagage…those dirty little pounds. 

Her plan was this…

I heard her comment on some show that…she eats what she’s suppose to for 4 or 3 days…then on 3 days eats whatever she wants.  I think that is a great plan…because it seems to be working for Lady Re.’  

Now, I have just found out what it really is.   She has a new somebody in her life.  It will make you want to do something… and real quick.   Get somebody…and see if you don’t want to make sure he only has eyes for you.  Oh, yeah…you’ll start losing real quick.  

And don’t have him look good.   Because if he looks good…you will want to look good with him.  No self-respecting woman would think any differently.  And Aretha is the real r-e-s-p-e-c-t woman…didn’t you know?

I just hope that this one is the one she has always been hoping for.  After 3 or 4 prior marriages…a bout with the bottle (many many years ago)…one of her mansions burning down…and some local legal worries.  I think it is about time…for plenty of happiness in her life. 

And I certainly wish you well, Lady Re.’  

One thing about Aretha Franklin…no matter what…you can always say that she has been a class act.  I remember when I had considered her for a concert gig…the price tag, however, was a bit too much for this little ol’ country girl…$65,000.00 with a quarter of it up front…and I think maybe a precentage.  Now, that is business.

But that whole diet thing is mind over matter.  If your mind is not there…then save yourself from the bother.  It won’t work. 

But if you can get your mind there…you have won before you start.

I know some people who did the gastric bypass and a few other things.   Though I must say…my friend who did the lap band raved about.  And she truly did look good.  But she told me that before she did it she went to meetings and read lots of information on it first.  And she said she spoke in great detail with the doctor who was going to handle her surgery…and she too told me she was on her way to the altar once again. 

I must admit to admiring women…and men who don’t want to just lay around with everybody.  And then find out that have nothing. 

Marriage is good…and if you are going to be with somebody then let them marry you.

But that gastric bypass…I have a sister who did it.  She can’t eat anything without getting sick to her stomach.  And the worst part is…though…yes, she lost lots of weight and even though she can’t keep much down…she is still over weight.  And it is all due to not having gotten her mind to where it needed to be.  Sick or not she eats and then throws up some of everything she eats.  I would hate to live like that.

If you really want to lose weight…learn how to put the fork down first.  And believe me…you won’t need anything else.

http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2007/05/30/aretha_franklin_chooses_celebrity_diet_t

http://www.singersroom.com/news/entertainment-story-841.asp

It’s Black History Month…so enjoy…

Wow…the kids do not have anything compared to this.

I hope all of this downloads properly…and doesn’t take too much time. Guess I got a bit carried away.

Enjoy your day…and this weekend. It’s freezing cold outside…but the funny part is that the house doesn’t seem quite so cold to me any more. Guess I must be getting used to it. My father would smile. All of my life I have been cold…because I am extremely anemic. I, in fact, am suppose to be taking iron tablets everyday…and I do when I can remember. But I have to really work on that.

Since, so many people have so much more to take by way of medication…and if I desire not to join them… Well, you know…   I better take what I have to right now. Because based upon what they say having a low number of red blood cells can be very unhealthy.  And I do not want anything to sneak up on me.

Between yesterday and today…it has looked like snow. In fact, there were flurries this morning. Might be too cold…it can’t snow when the weather is too cold. But I guess even in that we are doing okay…because Vee, my friend’s daughter in Chicago…had told me that Chi-town was definitely freezing.

Well, God bless…

THE BISHOP’S WIFE  is now on sale…CLICK this LINK to purchase my book.  You do not need a paypal account to purchase, and you can purchase using a debit card.  Thank you. 

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009

11 comments February 21, 2009

Appalling…

Last night I started thinking about something and it began to strike me as being funny.   And yes, the funny ha-ha kind of funny.   I thought –

“Wow, if I told my gay friends this they would fall over and die laughing.”

And they would.

So, then I tried to call one of them…one of my gay women friends but she wasn’t home.

So, then I thought to call another friend…and finally I called a cousin of mine who I knew would understand what it was that I had found to be so humorous.

I should preface this first by saying…I have never been funny.  I couldn’t tell a joke if they gave me all of Oprah’s money to tell one. 

This is what I felt was so humorous.  As you may or may not know I am saved and have been so now for at least six  or so years.  But during this time…I have run into some very strange things in the church.    Here in lays the joke…when I was in the club and hanging out I understood what it meant if I exchanged my phone number with someone.  It was one of the main reasons we hung out. 

Since having come out of gay life…I do not find it necessary for me to want to exchange my phone number with any woman and particularly any woman I don’t know.  Don’t know her name…and do not share anything in common with…just somebody out of the clear blue sky.  No.  

 And if you have ever been stalked…you too soon learn.   No.

While in the school library computer lab a couple of days ago, this woman who has stopped to talk to me on a few occasions came and began a conversation with me again…near the end she asked me for my phone number so she could call me.  Before I could think about what it was I was going to say…I blabbed out-

“No, I’m not giving you my number.”

To which the woman just grinned at me and asked me why not?

I had not meant to sound so…I don’t know what.  But I thought I had been a bit harsh in my response so I soften a bit.

Then the woman offered me her number…grabbed up a piece of paper and wrote down her number and gave it to me…to which I told her I would not be calling her.

But I recanted…somewhat and said…

“But if you want here is my number.”

And she gave me a piece of paper to write it on.  While I tore up her phone number and handed it back to her saying-

“Here.”

And with that the woman was gone.

I never thought anything of that incident until last night…and then I started laughing.  I have all of my life been naive.  It is something that all of my friends can clearly tell you about me.   It had never dawn on me from the moment that woman started talking to me…I don’t even know how long ago…that she was trying to hit on me.   It is funny but last night…while doing something…I can’t remember what…but that woman asking for my phone number came back to me.  And I started laughing…it struck me humorous.

Once while in church, I was called into one of the church hallways by a very older church mother.  I had no idea what she wanted to say to me.  From the point I had joined this church I had been friendly towards this very older woman.  I respect and have a great love for older women.   I loved my own grand-mother very dearly.  But the thing that this older called me into the hallway to discuss with me horrified me.  I was shock…and …and…   And…oh, I don’t know…insulted.  

Yes, I was insulted…that some woman older than my mother and grand-mother could have possibly thought that I was interested in her.  A woman who was very exceedingly old…with…with…     Well,  with false teeth…and…lots and lots of  wrinkles…and…   And…she was real old…and a church mother too?

It was absolutely appalling to me.  Who would expect such a thing from an old church mother?

What could have been going on in her mind?

 How could she have possibly have thought such a thing? 

This was so far fetch…and yes…again…absolutely appalling to me.  That when our conversation ended…where she had called me out into a hallway to talk to me… I went immediately to my friend, the one I wrote about in a blog earlier who passed, another church mother in this church with whom I had become very close to.  She was a friend… a confidant… a counselor…and  an ear to me and for me…and I told her.  The blog that I wrote about her was back in August 2008…if  you go back through the calendar to the right of this blog you can go right to it…if you would like to read it.

At any rate…I told mother about what the other  older  woman had just said to me.  I had thought about telling it to the pastor.  But mother said no.  She counseled me to not tell anyone and she told me to stay away from that  woman.  There is something which can be said about wisdom…it is wise….and wise always.  I did as mother told me…and have continued to do it even though that older woman seems to changed towards me somewhat…and though my friend has since passed.

In another blog I told you of another church woman…whom following the end of an evening service I offered her a ride home along with someone else.  I have always offered people rides…I do it as this is how I have been trained…my mother taught us.   When we were growing up before church service my mother had us up and out picking up people from the nursing homes and nearby towns to bring them to church.  And at the end of the morning service those people would go home with us to have dinner and then return back to church for the evening service…after which my mother had us take them back to their nursing homes or homes in nearby towns.  So, if  I am driving and I know I am going to pass near somebody’s house and that they do not have a car…I offer a ride to them and to as many people who can fit into my car.

But as I told you in a prior blog about this woman…as I drove up to her apartment.  And it was just me and her in the car…as she started to get out…suddenly  this woman turned back to me and gave me this kiss that even when I was in gay life I never allowed anyone to kiss me that way.  You know that all in the mouth…tongue…everything.    No…it was horrible.  I withdrew from her…and acted like I had not noticed…if you can believe that.

So, last night I thought of  the woman who wanted to exchange phone numbers with me…I thought of the very old church mother…and I thought of that woman who after service I had driven home…and I started laughing.  I thought-

“If my gay friends only knew this they would die laughing.”

Here it was I had gotten out of the life…meaning gay life.  And this was happening to me.

So, I called my cousin because none of my gay friends were home to hear this story…and I…I felt that I just had to share it with someone who could…and would understand what I was talking about.  So, I called my cousin.   And yeah…she understood.

She enjoyed hearing it and began to share some things with me as well.  And by the time I had laid down to go to sleep following my conversation with my cousin I had started to regret having called her at all.

She had taken too much pleasure in my little stories. 

But here is one of the stories she shared with me.

She told me of a church she used to go to where there were a group of older women just like the old church mother I had told her about in my story.  The only difference was…was that they had all become involved with a very good-looking young male who also went to their church.  As time went on the young male died…and he died from AIDS.   Thus the story broke about his involvement with some old church women in the church who were in their latter 70’s and 80’s.

Since Viagra…I understand that the nursing homes have gone crazy.   But the church too?

Though women do not need viagra…or anything else.

If you have been really reading any of these blogs which I have written…then you would know I find all of this absolutely shocking…appalling really.  It is unthinkable to me…that such older women would be behaving in such a way.  And the other part about it  is that they are so loose…that they don’t care who knows.

In hearing this, I said to my cousin-

“You know some people are just in church because their mother is or was in the church…or their father was in the church…or because they just grew up in the church and have nothing else to do.  Some are in the church because they want to find a husband…some because they want to find a good wife…some because they view it as a great networking opportunity.  So, they are just sitting in the church but they have nothing in them…they are just there.”

And I came to find out as we continued to talk that was also true of my cousin.

I had oftentimes admired her for how she could quote scripture and knew where stuff could be found in the Bible.  But I found out last night that that was about it…she could quote it.  Because she sure wasn’t living it.

Awhile back, she had told me of a guy in her church with whom she had a flirting relationship…but she kept saying-

“I just thank God for keeping me.”

This guy sent her pictures of himself…in the nude via their cell phones.  That right there spoke volumes to me as to character of the guy.

So, last night since my cousin had not said anything about this guy for a while, I asked her about him. 

 Yes…the flirtation was over.  She had done it…and that in of  itself was not what was shocking or appalling to me…because I knew it was going to happen.  She had told me how she had gone to Victoria Secret…well, need I say more?    

She had all the while been preparing to do it.   This mind you while she was thanking God for keeping her from doing it.  Yet, she prepped herself to do it.   So, yes…I knew she was going to do it…sooner of  later she and that guy were going to end up in bed with each other.  And they did…and evidently not with the results she had been hoping for either.

She is in her 40’s now…and she sometimes speaks about how she would like to get married.

It seems that very few people save themselves for marriage any more.   And that is quite curious to me.  I would think you would only want to give your husband the best.  Not something used up and all ran through already. 

Isn’t that suppose to be part of  the beauty about  marriage?

I guess I am just old fashion in my thinking. 

But then my cousin went on and commenced to tell about her female supervisor for which she would love to go to bed with…and that is when I started regretting having called my cousin. 

It is hard to believe that she is an active church member and is readily carrying on in such a way.  But her state is not unusual only to her…there are many fallen pastors to go along with all those old church mothers who seem to not be too old to want to get enough of sex either. 

It is disheartening to me…but it does not sway me.  I intend to stand.   I know that everyone may not know what that means…but there are many who do.

Talking about something that is also somewhat appalling.  Blagojevich.

You do remember him don’t you?

Well, he is rather hard to forget since the guy is popping up all over the place.  If we thought he was insane for trying to get paid-off for selling off the Obama Senate seat of the State of Illinois.  We  know now for sure that he is. 

He seems to be getting a charge out of his 15 minutes of fame that is what is really unbelievable to me.  It just goes to show that some people have no shame.  And Blagojevich is one of the biggest of them.   What ah…ah…(I hate to say this)…but what a fool.  And everybody is inviting him on their show…and he is loving every minute of it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2009/02/04/VI2009020401667.html?sid=ST2009020301282

And yes…   Why is it that people who know that they have issues which will probably be found out…such as having not paid their taxes. 

Why do they accept positions when they know that this information is going to be sought after and checked?

Is it that they secretly hate the people who approach them and say-

“Hey, have I got a great job for you.   And I believe you are the best person for it.”

Do they really hate these people so much to want to embarrass them for having asked you in the first place, Tom Daschle?

I don’t know who Ann Coulter is but clearly she either has issues or she lacks a large amount of understanding.  I had heard this interview with her on the View before…but at last I get a chance to comment on it.

It is interesting to me to hear any white person be critical of a black person for celebrating their blackness…or being African-American… or being a non-white person in America or anywhere else in this world.  Or celebrating the lives and legacies of other black folk.   

After years of  black folks trying become more like ‘them’ and less like us.  I think it was great for Halle Barry to accept the Academy Award in remembrance of all the black women who had stared in movies and never received anything…not even a nod in their direction for their great work.  And there were some truly highly fabulous and talented black women actors who had done some outstanding work…both on stage and screen..and now are little known for those efforts. While everybody knows Bette Davis and their other white counter-parts of the screen.

I also think that it is equally as great for Barack Obama to celebrate his blackness and to be proud of who he is and the forces behind him which have all aided in him getting to where he is today.

If Ann Coulter had grown up as a Halle Barry or a Barrack Obama…when people looked at them and didn’t see screen actor or president…but a little black girl or little black boy whom they didn’t want their little children associating with…much less playing with.   Then maybe Ms. Coulter might have a clue as to why they celebrate their blackness…which has and has always been a prominent part of their everyday lives.   (Also just DOUBLE CLICK on below screen to see and hear Halle make the best acceptance speech of the Academy of all times…and ignore the text that appears.)

Wow, having said all of that…and I am just realizing that it is “Black History Month.”   February will never be the same.

Well, I had to shovel some more snow today.   And I am not tired of it yet…though it was very cold out today.  But it is winter…and we haven’t had a real winter in such a long time.  This winter is making up for those past few years.  And I just love…just wish I could lite a fire in our fireplace.  But I rather be safe than sorry.   For now I will just enjoy looking over at my parent’s fireplace and dream ‘fire.’   Smile…and enjoy.

 THE BISHOP’S WIFE  is now on sale…CLICK this LINK to purchase my book.  You do not need a paypal account to purchase, and you can purchase using a debit card.  Thank you. 

Well, God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009  

Add a comment February 5, 2009

Done! #1 Female athlete…Serena Williams… Michael Steele… Obama…

She clinched it.

She won her 10th Grand Slam title Saturday…and she is all smiles now.   It was a simple walk in the park for Serena Williams who won by delivering up back to back game points of 6-0, 6-3.  Soak and wet by the time it was over…she battled in the intense heat…had a series of faults…errors but she did it any how.   She won.

Serena Williams won the Australia Open Women’s singles championship.

She is now the all-time number one female athlete prize winner in the world.   Serena is the Tiger Woods in sports on the women’s side…after having just pocketed $1.28 when she took the women’s single championship on Melbourne, Australia, which put Serena over $23 million in prize winnings.  That does not even include the Williams sisters sponsorships and endorsements such as Nike, Puma, Revok  etc…etc… which was one of their first major contracts when as little girls Rebok gave them a $9 million endorsement contract.  And laden with Nike’s swoosh on everything she was wearing during the tournament…and Wilson’s ‘W’ prominently displayed on her tennis racquet.   It was definitely not hard to see just who and who is heavily invested in her ability to win and continue to showcase their products and merchandise. 

You can read more by CLICKING on the LINKS below.

 http://www.fanhouse.com/news/tennis/serena-williams-wins-australian-open/310168

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12110_4876271,00.html

And yes…Serena and Venus won the women’s double also while they were busy playing around down there in the deep ‘down under.’            

CHA- CHA—CHING!

I am so happy for them…and their family. 

What a family…those Williams are.   And somebody said competition in a family is a bad thing.   I guess so…if it is used wrongly and as a negative rather than as a positive thing.  But just look what it can do when all that negative stuff is removed.  Just look at what these young ladies are accomplishing together and separately.  They have managed to become the darlings of the courts…and thousands fill arenas to watch them play.

I think that it is interesting how after Barack Obama having been elected President of the United States and for the first time in their history the highly conservative political party known as the Republican Party of this country has now chosen…at this time…to elect a black man to head their national committee…calling it the ‘winds of change.’  

Clearly, this is a move on the Republican side to start to re-vamp their political party…and image.   I am also very sure that seeing 2 million plus poured into Washington, DC regardless of the freezing cold…to celebrate the inauguration of President Barack Obama did in many ways have an awful lot of impact  in the making of that decision…along with the phenomenal record numbers of votes that Barack Obama received in the Presidential election…including the vast number of Republicans who turned out and also aided and supported Obama in that win.  And least we should forget the number of Red States that turned Blue also throwing their support behind Obama…this really must have been a real crusher for the Republican Party. 

Yes, that all being so…I would say the Republicans are going to have to conjure up some mighty powerful wind storms to assist in creating the type of change that needs to come about in order to blow the bad taste of George Bush for 8 years out of everybody’s mouth…and mind…if indeed they want any immediate future wins.  Yeah, I would say the Republican Party is in dire straits right now…and nobody put them there but themselves.  And it all started in November of 2000 when they decided it would be easier to steal the  Presidential election from Al Gore rather than to fairly win it.  I have always quoted this saying that I guess I learned in church-

“A thief never prospers.”

Clearly, the Republican Party has learned that the hard way.

Oh, I am happy for the brother, Michael Steele, Republican Governor of Maryland…and I know nothing about him.  So, I can’t bad mouth him.   But I view it merely as being a political tactic on the part of the Republican Party for coming political elections.   By putting black faces in key positions in the hope of reaping large numbers of black votes for future elections on the side of the Republicans.  It is called ‘eating away at the numbers.’

It is a fact that many people…particularly those in political circles have an ever non-ending belief that black folks vote largely on color lines.  Which for the most part of last semester while sitting in my class on elections…I argued against.  But it was to no avail…because it was written in the text books which had been required for the class that it was so…and this notion was accepted broadly by the class including by the instructor as law and a given.  Which I felt was insulting…and I knew it to be a lie. 

Black folks are not dumb…and because of our history through slavery…black folks have long been torn down certain lines which white folks have no understanding of…and may never understand.  But the one thing  that all black folks know…who have any sense of who they are and the things that black folks in America have gone through.   They know this beyond anything else…‘all black folks ain’t black.’

So, therefore, ploys to get large number of black folks to shift from being Democrats…and to cross over to the other side.  Well,  it would  take a whole lot more than the Republican Party putting up a few black faces in high place here and there…e.g. Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas.

The Obama effect…is not going to wash across the board.

For years black Republicans have been trying to sway larger number of black folk to cross over to the Republican side…simply by trying to point out that this would  aid in the Democratic Party to stop taking the black vote for granted.   Which is another point that those text  books in my election class clearly also stated.   Meaning that because the Democratic Party could always depend upon the black vote…as stated in the text books used in my election class (of which I thought had a very limited scope on the subject because the text was based upon white men and their thoughts not the actual thoughts of black folks).   But anyway, those writers felt that the Democratic Party realized that it did not have to do anything by way of  work to ensure the black vote because it was a given.    A point in which I was seriously at odds against…as it is not true.

Even black politicians have to work for the black vote.  I will never forget while living in Chicago that one day my boss, Dr. A. L. Reynolds, Jr., had an appointment.  I had scheduled the appointed for him but never had a clue as to who the man was even upon meeting him when he showed up in the office for his meeting with Dr. Reynolds.

Dr. Reynolds was the Pastor of Sixth Grace United Presbyterian Church located at Cottage Grove Avenue and 35th Street in the heart of the South Side of Chicago just a few blocks below  the Chicago White Sox’s baseball stadium.  The gentlemen who had come to meet with Dr. Reynolds was not someone I was familiar with as he was not a member at 6th Grace.  Following the meeting as the gentleman exited the church and began walking towards his car parked out front…Dr. Reynolds came out of his office and said to me-

“See that man there,” he said pointing out the window towards the man.  “He wants to be mayor of Chicago.”

At the time that didn’t mean anything to me…but years later when that man won and actually did become mayor of Chicago.   I    remember that day in Dr. Reynolds’ office when he had come to speak with Dr. Reynolds as he was making his rounds from church to church trying to solicit the support of the city’s black clergy. 

That man was Mayor Harold Washington…and like Obama…he made it happen.  He became the first black mayor of Chicago…as Barack Obama has succeeded in becoming the President of the United States.   I have no doubt that they both must have met being both residents of Chicago…and as each at some were both ‘community organizers.’

I remember him so well…Harold Washington.  He did not come with anyone.  No fan fair nothing and he was already a member of the Illinois Senate.  He was so unsuspecting to me.  I never would have guessed who that man was…or that he was working his way up the Illinois political  ladder.   That is the thing about great people…they do not play great.   They tend to be quiet people whom you would walk right by without ever knowing who they were or are.  Juxtapose…to those who want to pretend that they are more than what they really are.  I really do prefer the latter.

I of course was not familiar with him because I had just arrived in Chicago seeking my fame and fortune in the radio industry…which never opened up its doors to me in Chicago. 

So, you see…to a degree that may have been so about the Democratic Party taking black votes for granted…but it does not mean that Democratic candidates do not have to earn our votes nonetheless…just so that we will show up to cast them. 

Since for the most part…the same could be said for all other voters as well…when you are left to vote for the lesser of 2 evils…that is to say…when voters did not have  much to voted for except for the person whom they perceived would do them the least harm or  wrong.   And for the past years this is exactly what going out to vote had come down to…until Obama gave us all a better reason to show up in the ballot booth.    Which those text books for my election class when they talked about low voter turnout totally overlooked as  a possible reason. 

 There is no doubt that since the election of  Barack Obama the value and power of the black vote will never again be under-estimated…and spoken of flippantly such as to say-

“Oh, they don’t turn out and vote.” 

Oh, don’t we?

And particularly in record numbers when we have something or someone we really want to vote for.

Yes, the winds of change have swept into the land.   That is to say…never under-estimate a people who become tired.   Tired of injustice…unfair treatment…and of being overlooked.   Because it will bring about a change…including a change of attitude about getting out to vote.

http://news.aol.com/article/michael-steele-becomes-rncs-first-black/322054

I remember listening to Mrs. Lilly Ledbetter speak at the Democratic National Convention this past August, where President Barack Obama made his nomination acceptance speech as the Democratic Candidate for the race to the White House.  At that convention many people were allowed to participate at the convention by telling their own personal stories to the American public.   Many people watching clearly understood and may have well also been going through what those people were talking about since they all talked on various problems that plagued the United States.  The stories ranged from accounts of foreclosure, health care family problems, small business and the economy etc.    All the stories were sad…and came from people who had been suffering due the affects of the bad polices and the mis-direction of the Bush Administration.

Mrs. Ledbetter’s story touched me…as many years I had worked in a highly male dominated industry…radio…communication.   Everything to do with media or entertainment…really is this way.    And at one time all businesses were too…every office, factory…etc…etc…everything. 

 Today, you see woman sitting in many various capacities but this was not so in years past.    And never had women ever received the pay bonuses, retirement plans etc.  much less the pay of their male counter-parts in any industry or company.  

But Mrs. Ledbetter’s story was about when she found out and tried to file suit and discovered she could not because of the clock…the legal clock had run out.  In the court they call it statutes of limitation…when the time to sue had tolled.   And that was an outrage…and I felt her feelings of having been cheated because she had given the Goodyear Corp. 19 years of her life only to find out that many men who did not had her qualifications nor experience had been paid considerably more than her, received better pension plans, higher social security payments etc .

In the court system…it is important to know that for most cases…but not all…the clock begins to toll from the time the plaintiff first realizes something to be wrong.  But this is not always the case…and for most cases you have a 3 year time frame to file suit.  Once that time lapses…then it is too late.  But for every state these things are different…but simple to find out simply by going to your local legal library which can be found down in your local court house or at a nearby law college.  And by researching that information through the appropriate law book and under the correct topic.

But having worked mostly under men…in a highly male dominated  cheated industry was not always easy.   I grew to hate being referred to as ‘babe’…’baby’…and whatever else name men call women that is devised and designed to keep us in our place and recognized as not being equal to our male co-workers, associates and bosses.   Like Mrs. Ledbetter, I had had far more experience and exposure than most of my male counter-parts.  But they were, however, paid considerable more always.  And many times the companies catered to them…they became the program directors, the music directors, the general managers etc. if these positions became open…which in radio they did and quite often.

So, I clearly understood how all those women on Capitol Hill felt as they looked on with eyes filled with tears…as they crowded around President Obama as he  signed the Fair Pay  Act into law.  It is a measure way past due…and it gave an extension to the time in which to file suit.  Bravo.

 http://womensrights.change.org/blog/view/putting_fairness_first_obama_to_sign_fair_pay_acts_into_law

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/obama

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=11810278&ch=4226716&src=news

http://www.girardgibbs.com/discrimination.asp?_kk=fair%20pay&_kt=d71f700e-7c51-4264-a885-1517a1fc80ac&gclid=CPv0yrqJu5gCFQu-GgodiiGubQ

http://news.aol.com/article/pro-labor-obama-executive-orders/322642

Well, I got up and out early yesterday morning had to crack some ice.  The sidewalk in front of the house had been frozen solid.  I had thrown out some more salt upon it last night before going in…and the sun was shining this morning so I knew that was a good sign.  And yes it had started to melt…enough to allow me to crack enough of the ice to clear more than a large enough walkway for people. 

But there are mounds and mounds of snow everywhere.  And I know that I am bless  because the house could be a whole lot colder due to the furnace being blown.  But thank God it is not…and I have plenty of food…and really it is very pretty outside.  It really really is.  But it is too bad I can’t light a fire in the fireplace…maybe next winter after I get it cleaned out by a chimney sweeper.   I guess they still have chimney sweepers…don’t they?

Well, God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009  

Add a comment February 1, 2009

College girls…and grade school girls…Where’s the Pride?

While in the lab working on a class project.  I happen to overhear a conversation between one of the male college students and one of the female college students. 

For all that he was saying to her…I would have gotten up and slapped him.  But this girl took it with such ease.  It did not phaze her none in the least.

The boy was talking to her like she was nothing but a tunnel down there…and you probably know where and what I am talking about. 

Though she was none in the least embarrassed, I was embarrassed for her.

She lacked any understanding of herself and why this boy and what he was saying to her should have been offensive to her.

After thinking about it for a while, I now understand why. 

Those very girls and boys which I had discussed in prior blogs “Teen Pregnancy Pact” etc…those are the same little boys and girls who were mothers and fathers in grade school.  Well, maybe not exactly them…but it wasn’t for a lack of trying.  They just didn’t get caught…meaning ‘they had not gotten pregnant.’   

Well…well, these are those people today….they are entering college.  And this girl…well, she is a product of that mentality.

This girl whom the boy in the lab was talking to…well, they spoke so….so casual…ly.   She to him and him to her.  That one would have thought that such blatant and insulting conversation was the norm and alright.

And if any of you says it is…I will strongly beg to differ.

It is not.

That young girl is an example of what is emerging out of the school system where kids get to talk about sex and act out in ways…which…which frankly should never be allowed.

No man should ever call a woman a tramp (even in an around about way…or in mild causual conversation)…unless he first stops acting as one himself.   And even then it is not allowable. 

And believe me…there was nothing ’round about’ in the way this boy was talking to that girl. 

But why are women so degraded?

Why are we the ones ‘de-valued’?

The young girl would not be one among many of the campus whores…and I am very sorry to say that…and it really hurts me to have to call it as such…but it is true…if the male population were carrying themselves a lot better too. 

You would have had to have heard the conversation to know what I am talking about.  And for her to sit there talking with him as he laid out all her whorish shortcomings…espisode after episode…to her without so much as a grimace or a sidewise glance from her? 

It was appalling. 

This speaks volumes as to how far off the mark these young girls…young ladies…and yes…I guess….young women have fallen.  They are far off course.  And all the sex education in the world has done nothing for them…but allowed them to feel more and more like sexual objects.  And very much for lack of saying it in any other way…and they “get down with that.”

For them it is okay.  And  even seems as though they enjoy it…being known as the ‘girl who will throwdown’ or ‘go down on anyone.’   UGH!!!!!

I wish someone would dare to talk to me as if I were common.

I am not common.

I am not going to be common.

And no one is going to ride me like a horse.

Only to cast me off and turn me out to pasture like some old broken down nag.

And then have them laughing…and talking about me?

No.

These young girls have no pride.  And many older women do not either. 

Maybe, it is that I think too much of myself?

But this thing is really ashame.  And the problem is…is that the same standards are not allotted towards men.  Throughout history the male speices if you will…has been given a free ride (excuse the pund) when it has come down to issues of morality.  If this had not been the case and was not the case today there is a chance that this topic and the approaches to it would be different in our world today.  But since the beginning of time for men in almost every country the standards have differed greatly from those applied towards women.  Morality has never stretched both sides of the aisle.

However, this would not in any more way justify such talk…but it could create a level of standards on both party’s part.   The boy in the lab, who was maybe all of 24, clearly didn’t see anything wrong in the behavior of either himself or any of his friends who were hopping on top of this girl.  Nor did he think it disrespectful to her to speak so loudly so that the entire lab could hear that sickening conversation.  And nor did she in her own ignorance care whether everyone heard.

But why should she be any more of a whore then they?

Are they not all engaged in the same thing?

Will there ever come a time again…when men protected women’s valor rather than trampled all over it?

Oh, yes…by the way…that conversation was not between a black male and black female student.  As typically many people believe that only certain groups carry on in certain ways.  This issue of sex…pre-martial sex…sex in grade school…etc…etc…is a very big issue…and it involves everybody. 

I am appalled because I have young nieces and nephews coming up in a culture that believes everything is alright…as long as it feels good.  Everything is not…alright.  Whether it feels good…or not.

As old fashion as this may sound…what it really does boils down to just one plain thing…‘self-respect.’   I don’t know how many times I used to overhear older people say that when I was growing up…but not today.  I haven’t heard it in years.  But it is what we have to teach our children, nieces, nephews etc.  They must learn how to respect themselves first.  Then they will be able to ensure and enforce that respect among their friends and peers. 

That may sound like a too simplified cure to such a big and overwhelming problem as responsible living and sex given todays sexual culture…but self-respect is the beginning root to a successful life.  Without it how does one grow, accomplish or achieve anything in life?

Well, we are inching closer to the finish line…Election Night 2008.  It will be a big and exciting night for many reason.  May God bless America!

 Even the little ones support Obama!

 Even the little ones support Obama!

 Even the little ones support Obama!

It gives me such hope for this country.  It really does.

There is no country like this one. 

There is no place at all…like the United States of America.

Through all her adversities, contradictions…missteps…and fall downs…American is great.  And she is beautiful…though there have been times in her history when people, Presidents, groups didn’t always act justly, fairly or truthfully.  But through it all she has maintained her beauty…and she is worth everything we can do to save her.

In closing…let me take this time to clarify once again…that Barack Obama is not just a phenomena because he is black. 

No, it is far greater than that.  

He is a phenomena because he is who he is.  

That is what America has much to be proud of…because he is a product of her.  It has taken us much and a long time to get here.  But we are here.  And at the end of the day…it does matter.  It really really does…for everyone’s sake.

Perhaps a decent wholesome Obama family in the White House is what this country is in dire need of to get her morally back on the right track, as well.  The kids certainly need other role models other than the ones they follow in Hollywood and the Rapp world…and certainly other than the likes of a Britney Spears to pattern themselves behind.

Please be sure to share this blog site with all your friends…family…just….just….everyone!

Tuesday….Tuesday….Tuesday….

Add a comment October 30, 2008

Detroit, Chicago, Abortion, Choice, hotels…

Well, it is 8 something in the morning and we’ve just gotten back into town. After Detroit we drove on into Chicago and stayed at the most fabulous hotel. But we drove and drove until 5 a.m in the morning trying to find a hotel outside of Chicago…because Chicago hotels are just too expensive…any hotel really inside a reasonble distance of a major city is. So, we really had to hunt for some place…and it got later and later and later. And after a while we were just pretty much burning gas.

But we continued looking. We drove and drove…all the way back into Indiana (which isn’t that very far, but seems endlessly long in the wee hours of the morn when you are very sleepy). We pulled in anywhere we saw a hotel sign. And there were times when we wished we had not even bothered as trying to get to some of them was just so convoluted with barren and long darken dangerous looking passageways.

Bates Motel…

The first hotel we pulled up to did have rooms but it just didn’t look clean and the cost was high. But it was the look that cancelled it out for me. Who wants to stay in a hotel room where you will be itching and scratching all night because you loathe the place?

And having just heard a news item over the radio about the number of hotels which have bed bugs…really didn’t help.

So, we continued our search for a nice clean hotel at a decent price.  After that first hotel everything was booked solid.

Well, it was Friday night…so, what really could you expect?  On weekends hotels load up like crazy. After hitting at least 10 hotels..and not a room in the bunch was available except for that dump where we had first stopped at and some other dump shortly after that…and they even wanted more money than the first dump…so, we were getting pretty flustered. 

Finally, I decided to drive out to O’Hare Airport knowing that we would be able to have our pick of hotels out there. And the first hotel we drove up to was this large grand looking hotel, Marriott Executive Suites Hotel, that I just knew we were not going to be able to afford…but I decided we would try it anyways.

It just goes to show what God has for you no man can put assunder.

At the lowest price offer of the night, under $100, and an extended check out time because we were checking in so late…we ended up in one of the most fabulous hotel rooms I have ever stayed in or seen or knew that they had. First of all you would really have to see it to believe it. But I will try my best to describe it to you.

This hotel room was like walking into someone’s very expensive one bedroom apartment on the lower East or Upper West side of New York City or something. It had 2 televisions, 3 rooms, 2 glass doors leading to the bedroom section, a separate room for the closet which had French doors, combined with 2 sinks and a long mirror in it.  The bathroom had a tub and a shower area separate of each other, and it was quite large with a beautiful Italian Marble floor.  The bathroom all by itself was huge and gorgeous.  I just kept staring at the bathroom floor wondering how much would it cost for me to have my partent’s bathroom done like that.  I loved it.  

In the bedroom were 2 large very very comfortable beds with the crispiest sheets and a view of the planes flying in and out of O’Hare Airport…which you could lay on the bed and just watch through a big floor to ceiling length window that ran the whole width of the bedroom. And this hotel room, our room, was a corner room…so, imagine the views.  Fantastic.

In what would have been the living room area of an apartment, there was a beautiful sleeper couch, coffee table, 2 arm chairs, and a large desk…which still had enough room for a few more pieces of furniture. And, of course,  the room came complete with an under the counter refrigerator and few other things like that.

After I showered and finally laid down between my wonderfully crisp sheets, I slept like a new born baby right up to 12:30 in the afternoon…though I had intended to get up early and go to church. But it just was not to be…we had been on the road most of day and night as we had done some sight seeing in Detroit before leaving.

Finally got to go to Motown and walk through that building. We arrived there just about the time it was closing. But the gentleman who met us in the hall virtually gave us our own personal tour of the place. It was interesting learning that the artist walked through that house, which today is a museum called ‘Hitsville U.S.A.’, to go to the garage in the back where the recording was done.

It was also very interesting to find out that as his company grew Berry Gordy bought all the houses next door to him to expand his business into, and each house represent an individual arm of the business. One house was artist development where they trained and polished the acts. Another house was for bookkeeping and clerical duties…and I have forgotten what the other houses were for. But they were all in a row right next door to each, about 6 or 7 houses all together. Oh, yeah…they had a house for the musicians, a house for wardrobing…Gordy had it set up almost like a movie studio lot with its various production houses.

Undoubtedly, Barry Gordy was a very smart man. He developed and grew an empire out of his garage, called Motown from which sprang forth a bunch of super stars the likes of Diana Ross and the Supremes, the Temptations, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson 5, Lionel Richie and the Commandors, the 4 Tops, Martha and the Vandellas, the Marvelettes, Jr. Walker and the Allstars, Gladys Knight and Pips, Mary Wells, Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell, the DeBarges etc…etc…just to name a few. And I just had to go by there and see that little house…and little it was but my oh my…look what came out of it.  From $800 which he borrowed from family members Barry Gordy launched the careers of many a super stars and himself.  What a success story.

I didn’t say much in my blog about Black Music Month, last month, but Motown more than makes my statement for me…what a history when you consider Motown, the Philly Sound, those who came out of Chicago, New York City, Louisiana and everywhere else.  And that is not including gospel music…or jazz, swing, blues etc.

After going to Motown we had to go into Canada which is right across a bridge or through a tunnel depending upon which way you want to travel. And Ontario is that part of Canada which is right across the Michigan River from Detroit. It was clean and very much set up for tourism with lots of restaurants and little shops to walk into all along its tiny little streets. But it is the coming across or going back which might present a problem if you are not properly prepared with an appropriate ID and your birth certificate.

When we got into Chicago it was late and I just had to drive down onto Lake Shore Blvd as soon as we hit Chicago…something I have always loved doing. It is so beautiful with the city to the left and the lake to your right, I have forgotten what great lake that is…it has been a long time since I have been in Chicago…but amazingly I still remember how to get around in it. I remembered all my stops on the “L”…that’s short for elevated train (Detroit doesn’t really have a subway system…but they have this thing they call “The People Mover.” It only circles the main points in downtown Detroit.)

While in Chicago, I would have loved to drive by Oprah’s production studio…just to see what it looked like. But when I tried to call friends and ask them…no one picked up. So, I didn’t get to see it.

For the most part we only had beautiful weather during last week straight through to the 4th and into the 7th. But Chicago was much hotter than Detroit and it was also very much congested. And I could see tremendous growth in the size of the city, its skyline and that Chicago is booming as opposed to Detroit which is suffering from urban blige. Almost every other building in Detroit was boarded up and abandoned…both commercial property and resdential property.

When I asked our long lost relatives which I had just met while there in Detroit, they said that it was due to foreclosures and closings at General Motors and Ford. You would really have had to see this to clearly understand what I am talking about when I say it is like every other house is boarded up on all the streets…and on along all the major road ways sometimes the entire line of stores, gas stations, beauty salons, grocery stores etc…

You see it on the news but we don’t really get the full sense of it when they show those signs sitting out on people’s lawns reading ‘for sale.’ It is terrible that so many people have lost so much. I have never equated the closing down of whole plants or the relocation of companies with the lost of property due to not having a job that vanished into the thin air shortly after you just purchased it. Now, when I hear over the news that Ford is considering laying off another 2,400 people or shutting down another plant…I will equate that announcement with realizing that it means that those people…those ex-workers may well loose their homes, automobiles etc. because their company is downsizing or moving and leaving them with nothing.

While in Detroit our church convention was being picketed somewhat outside by a small group of people who were anti-Obama because of his stand on abortion. As we pulled to a stop at a stop light just outside of Cobo Center, the location of our church convention, I spotted the sign and a picketer, a pastor, whom I asked if he had picketed outside the courthouse against R. Kelly a known paedophile?  Of which he said ‘no.’  Not intending to be rude, we started to have somewhat of an exchange as to how he could pickete against Obama while living here in Detroit with a known paedophile, (though I now remember R. Kelly lives in Chicago)…someone who could pose some type of danger or possibly hurt to some child in his church, or one of his nieces or daughter, and he had not gone to the court to pickete against R. Kelly a known sex offender and paedophile and was yet out picketing in front of our church convention against Obama.  Needless to say, I thought his priorities were a bit out of order…but I was not overly obnoxious.

The issue of abortion, I know, it is a heated topic. But God gave us choice…the ability to choose right from wrong. And God has given us all choice in everything that we do…why then should a few try to restrict others by limiting their choices about anything when God has not?

Secondly, Obama did not write the legislation on abortion. He had nothing to do with it. It was written into law many years before him.  When that law was written and passed there were many many women seeking out abortions in back alleys and butcher shops etc…and for the most part these women were poor and they were loosing their lives in large numbers behind blouched abortions.  While rich women could fly aboard and have abortions done safely and return home to America where here at that time abortions were illegal.

In this day and time when so many women were so pro-Hillary for being a woman and a likely President…but yet so anti-women making such an important choice as to bare and bring forth a child or not to…on their own accord shows some lax in thinking.  If a woman can stand up and make all kinds of decisions concerning this country…then why should she be denied the right to make her own personal decisions as well concerning issues dealing with her body. 

I am certainly not for abortion but I am for women’s right to have a choice and freedom of will.

There are many things that I don’t agree with but I don’t try to go around and force them upon others. We all have to live with the choices that we have made…good and/or bad. Every day we make choices…some of us moment by moment. Now, who would I be to try to hinder you from doing that?

In the same token if I knew that you were doing something wrong and I failed to say something in order to have you consider your options…then I would be wrong in not doing so. But the choice is yours…as well as the costs, or penalties, or benefits. And if I were to try to impose my will upon you, I would be wrong in trying to take from you something which God himself has clearly given onto you…your ability to have freedom of choice. It is God given. He only asks that we endeavor to make the right choices.

I have a lot more to say…but I can’t think of it right now.   I’m tired.

Oh, yes…I heard Venus won Wimbledon on Saturday.  I was too sleepy to watch though I had on the TV…but it was mostly watching me.  Besides the match started off really slow and wasn’t very interesting…hopefully it picked up and that if you watched Venus and Serena on Saturday, hopefully you enjoyed them.  And I hope and trust that you all had a good 4th of July. 

And before I close let me say that my prayers are with Rev Timothy Wright and the entire Wright family as I along with entire COGIC Family and the gospel world mourn with them…when I heard the news of the car accident Saturday morning I immediately began to pray and hoped that it was not true…but so sadly…it was.

The Bible says that we are only here but for a twinkle of an eye…and that no man knows the hour…lost hurts and senseless lost all the more.   We pray for the parties involved.      God bless…  ©2008

4 comments July 8, 2008