Prostitutes…the young and the heartless…. 15 minutes…

By now you may or may not know that I am highly repulsed by some of the things that teens today are doing.  But this really turned my stomach…it is a story which came up over CNN.com regarding 2 Arizona teenaged girls who turned themselves into prostitutes then  set about pimping other girls.  

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/25/teen.pimp/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/25/teen.pimp/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

The grandmother is outraged…but there is only one problem.  She doesn’t believe that her little darling is guilty of such a crime…and so therefore she is anxiously awaiting her day in court.  Perhaps it is not the little darling but the grandmother who should be up before the judge.  And dare I ask…what of the mother and father of this child…these 2 girls?

How is it that they would put themselves into such a situation?

How could 2 high schoolers get themselves into such as situation…where they were indulged in such a business as prostitution?  

And had other school mates working the streets too?

Two 16 year old girls…involved in sex for hire?

Madams?

Though the article called them ‘pimps.’  

What could be going on?

 I am sick to my stomach today…I hate reading these kinds of stories.  

Can you imagine…that that man operated a day care center? 

How old were his victims?  

Three?  

Four…or maybe 2?  

….my God.     

I am truly sick to my stomach.

In a 29 city weekend sweep law enforcement officials arrested more than 500 people involved in a child and adult prostitution ring.  They had some 48  juveniles, 464 adult prostitutes…and how many of them do you think had been children before becoming of age?

They arrested 55 co-called pimps…with many more out there somewhere.   And some just like those young girls in Arizona anxious to take their place.  I can think of nothing I feel is worst…than turning children into prostitutes…and ruining the lives of children.  There are some things which I think we should not even waste tax-payers money on…such as taking certain people through the judical system.  Just lock them up in jail and throw away the keys.

 But the problem is…all the wrong people mostly end up in jail.  The crooks and criminals somehow always seem to get less time or little to no prison time at all.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,498287,00.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/23/national/main4821772.shtml?source=RSSattr=U.S._4821772

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/27/child.prostitution/index.html

There is something about these kinds of stories that just turns my stomach.  Perhaps it is because I am a supposed survivor.  I don’t know.   I just hate these type of stories.  I hate to hear about children being abused…or used in such ways as these.  Or children because they had been abused continue the cycle of abuse in their lives.

When I was trying to determine what I wanted to do with my life…you know…the kind of things you think about as a child.

“What do I want to be?”

I had read this book called “The Throw away Children.”

The stories in that book were terrible.  I don’t believe any child is a throw away…or should be considered as such.  But there are some children deemed by society as not having the same value as some others.  And this is absolutely wrong.

So, as I thought about what it was I wanted to do I started discounting things.  Like…becoming a doctor.  I knew I would never be able to stand the sight of blood.  So, that was out.

Then I thought of some other things…and I discounted them too.  Can’t remember what they were…but I knew whatever they were I did not want to be them.  But I soon fell upon becoming a lawyer.  I wanted to do or be someone who would advantageous to my people…black people.  Something that we needed the most…that is why I thought doctor at first…then somehow came to lawyer.

And so I set about to make that happen.  When it was near time for me to enter into the 12th grade…I had already begun thinking about and applying to colleges…mostly black colleges…though I would have loved to have been accepted at University of California Berkley.  The Black Panthers were there…Angela Davis was there…the Soledad Brothers…  Yeah, that whole black thang was going on…and I wanted to be in the midst of it. 

But that book, ‘The Throw Away Children ‘ by  Lisa Aversa Richette…motivated me to want to become a criminal lawyer working in juvenile court.  It was at the time my desire.  I think because I have a passion for children…with particular children who feel lost and have no voice.

While I was a teacher in the high school system…I was often in tune and engaged in trying to encourage my students…as well as other students…some of which I would catch trying to sneak into my classes from time to time.  It was during my time as a teacher that I came to realize just how tough some kids really have it…and there is little wonder why they end up doing much of what they do. 

During the time I taught…I had never been aware of  just how many students were involved in the foster care system before.  For some children this was a great alternative to their own families…but for some (many)…it was not.  It seems that many people turn to become foster parents solely for the money.  And that is very sad.  They never see the greater reward…and that is pouring something of value into the lives of those children…by showing them love and kindness…paying attention to them.

Then there are those children which are left to grow up on their own.  They are like wild little animals…and many people observing them wonder why?  But if they knew where these kids lived…or how they were living…or under what circumstances…and what sexual and other abuses they were subject to…then they would know why the child was acting as he or she was acting.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/02/25/teacher_student_found_in_w_va/

I have no idea as to what is going on with these female teachers becoming involved with young grade school children.   It makes me sick…yes, to my stomach.  Because I can’t see what any grown woman…or for that matter…grown man would see or find interesting in a child.

I know that children become infatuated with their teachers.  I had my share of admirers.  I never realized it at the time…but later on I did in particular one.  He even proposed to me  time after time.  I never took any of it seriously…nor did I indulge him.  But after I had left the teaching profession…this boy began calling me in New York. 

I found out that he had gotten my number from my son.  I wasn’t overly concerned at first…but then he started calling every evening.  It did not frighten me…but I really wasn’t interested.  By this time I didn’t even think it was cute.  I could see that this boy really had an interest in me.  So, I just stopped answering his calls.  And I think he got the message.

What kind of conversation can I hold with a young boy?

Even one graduated from high school…come on, now.

In ’95, I went to L.A. to shop my screenplays.  I had forgotten all about Ojay and his trial…it was months after the shooting had happened.  So,  though when I used to ride the bus from Woodlawn Hills into downtown L.A and see all the remote TV trucks with their huge satellite dishes…tons of them sitting outside of that court.  But I didn’t at the time realize what I was looking at when the bus would drive pass.  It is so funny…because I used to think-

“Wow, there must be a big case going on in that court.”

And what made it even funnier…was that during the whole time of the Ojay case…I was glued to the TV.  I didn’t miss a beat…from day to day…I wast locked in and tuned to every episode of the Ojay Simpson trail saga until they signed off from day to day.

 But when I could not get an agent to represent me or my work…because everybody in L.A. is about who  you know…who referred you…who are you connected to.  And being connected was all they cared about.

It was like you talked to tons of people all in the right place…but if you couldn’t give a name and didn’t have any ties…the conversation stopped right there.  Years later, when I initially went into pre-production with my film, LIFE 101: da real skool…(which is where the 101 in my name comes from)…when I went into pre-production…I started getting all kinds of calls then talking about-

“Let’s do lunch.”

I hated L.A.  

I became so frustrated with L.A. that I decided to give up and not leave the hotel room anymore.   But my friend…whom I had gone to L.A. to spend some time with while her job had sent her there to audit some banks…she kept on encouraging me saying-

“So, what you couldn’t find an agent.  And nobody wanted to see you or read your scripts.  Go see a show or go to one of the movie lots.  You know that is what you are interested in.  So, go check it out.”

And finally, I did.  Only because she kept trying to cheer me up.

It is so funny…because you may not believe this.  The one day that I decided to go the night before I saw an expose on Prime Time or some show like that…about some male teacher who they tracked from New York to a motel down in Las Vegas.  He had taken some very young Jr. High School girl and ran off with her across country.  The television segment on the story was very detailed.

So, the next day, I visited Universal Studio’s movie lot…where a lot of television programs are shot.  At the time I arrived the only thing going in was the audience for the “Leeza Show.”   It wasn’t anything that I wanted but (well, because really I have never watched much television).  But…I was there…it didn’t cost anything…and they were letting people in.

When they tape these shows you never know what topics are going to be featured or discussed until the show begins taping.  To my surprise that guy…that teacher who had gone to Las Vegas with his little school student was the topic…and he was there.

I never went into that taping with any intentions of saying anything or being  a part of any program.  But it is very funny how things just seem to happen.

I sat quietly listening and watching taking in everything about the production…how they had someone warm up the audience before the show…the size of the studio…where the cameras were…all the people who worked in conjunction with the show…just the whole behind the scenes thing.  This is what interested me…but of course, I was also listening to all the  discussion and the questions coming up out of the audience.  But there was something that disturbed me.

As that teacher talked about the young girl…her family…and how he just felt sorry for her…how he was trying to help her out…etc…etc…   The audience all seemed sympathetic to him.   They were eating that garbage up like candy.  Here it was…and that girl was very pretty (and it doesn’t matter what she looked like…she was a kid)…he had engaged in sexual activity with this girl…had kidnapped her and taken her across state lines.  And they were all just sucking it in like he was some kind of hero…a divine saviour.

“Why wasn’t anybody looking at the whole picture?”

“Did he have any responsibility in this matter?”

“Hadn’t he taken advantage of that young girl?”

He was her teacher.  And as described on that expose show by other teachers who had also worked at  that school with him…he was a male teacher who was a little too friendly with many of the female students.

Between segments of the taping they would stop to allow for the commercial break time frame to countdown then resume with their taping.  At this time the program host would walk through the audience searching out the best questions to feature during the resumption of the program taping. 

Finally, the cameras went dead…and Leeza started walking through the audience looking for her next audience questiones.  She came up my aisle seeking for questions.  I wasn’t going to do it…but they had made me mad.  I put up my hand and Leeza walked over to me and said-

“Yes, do you have a question?”

And I said yes.

And she said, “Okay, what question would you like to ask?”

And I told her.   Evidently, Leeza liked my question because she did not move from me.  When the cameras came back up…she said what she had to say and asked me stand and ask my question.

Before I knew it…that guy and me where firing off against one another…and I was winning.  And I did win.

I had made him mad.  But I just could not stand it.  And he was nasciating to me.

He was a teacher.  He did not have any business…no matter what may have or may not have been going on in that girl’s life to become involved sexually with her.  She was an under age child…and he was a 30 or 40 year old man.  I didn’t care how he tried to justify it…there was no justification for it.  And how dare…anyone try to make a movie out of that story. 

Yes, he…that man…ex-teacher was out of jail walking around and making the television rounds because some production company had paid big money for the rights to his story.  This is why the world is in the state that it is in.  This is why many people are doing some of the craziest things…men killing their pregnan wives…teachers running off  with grade school children.  It is sick.

Everybody wants their 15 minutes of fame…and they are willing to do anything to get it.  It is truly sad.  When they see the TV coverage and movie…and book deals coming up out of these sick acts…people with copy cat mentalities figure…why not?

And what is sadder…is that there is a market for this.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/9271398/Report:-Haynesworth,-Redskins-reach-deal?MSNHPHMA

A guaranteed $41 million…included in his $100 million deal.  These guys make tons of money.  You would think that the people who really work for a living could earn at least a tiny portion of it.  It would look nice.

And Michael Vick is soon to be released from prison. 

Sometimes it takes losing something…even if it is for a little period of time to have an appreciation for it and other things…and to look back and reflect on your blessings. 

Not everybody gifted…or fast…or good at something gets a contract.  Millions dream such dreams whether it be a music deal…or a sports deal…a movie deal…whatever…they dream of.  They work hard to make it happen…and yet it doesn’t.  So, for those that it does materializes for…   Well, they really ought to feel blessed.   They should make the most out that blessing…not only for just themselves but for others around them, as well.

Well, it has been beautiful here for the past 2 days.  I’m feeling spring in the air.

And…oh, yes. 

I was not only on that Leeza Show giving it to that teacher.  But Leeza and her production must have really liked me.  They started featuring me in their commercial for the show, as well. 

You will not believe how many people stopped me in grocery stores to talk about that show with me.   I never would have thought anything like that would have happened to me.  And I certainly never set out to be on anybody’s show…much less in their commercial.

Talking about 15 minutes.  Well, I guess I have had mine now too.

Well, God bless…and enjoy your weekend.  And I have not forgotten that it is still Black History Month.  I celebrate our achievements all the time.  Can’t help but do so.  Don’t know what it is.  But I love me some black folks…(smile).  I really really do.

And oh yes,   I have just added my real photo to my “ABOUT” page of this blog.   Sorry, if it isn’t what you were imagining…but it is what God gave me.    And on that page you can find out more about what I am doing…besides giving you my opinions on things in these blogs.  I am truly a highly opinionated person…just can’t help it.

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

1 comment February 28, 2009

The King Family Matters…continues 4

I have gone into court on many occasions and felt that I should have won where a Judge decided against me.  In life there are many battles.  Though we have to pick and choose our battles…as it is not possible to fight everything all of the time.  And when fighting them…we always have to be prepared to loose.

Loosing is as much a part of the process as anything else.  There are times in life when we loose and there will times in life when we win.  It is a fact.  And if you are in sales…they will tell you that ‘it is the law of averages’…meaning sooner or later either is bound to happen.

Bernice and Martin L. King III were recently in court with their brother Dexter who sued them to have their mother’s letters released to him.  As he claimed his mother’s letters are part of his father’s estate.  Since he negoiated a book deal for $1.4 million for his mother’s memoirs it stands to reason as to why he would want those letters to be in his possession.

At this particular hearing the Judge sided with little Dexter.

http://www.ajc.com/cherokee/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/10/31/coretta_scott_king_letters.html

One of the best things the court has incorporated in it…is the appeal process.  It is not often used as it can be a much harder battle…just preparing the proper paperwork and submitting it as the court requests it to be formatted can be overwhelming in of itself.  But the state Court of Appeals are a near final step…you can always go back into court and ask the Judge to reconsider his discision by setting it aside.  Which many times though you may get a court date, some Judges just won’t change their minds…not unless you really come up with some evidence which can really sway them to the other side…and that is provided that the Judge is willing to listen to it in the first place.  Some Judges can be very difficult and quite hardnose. 

Then, if you are still not satified because the Judge failed to change his mind, you may inform the court that you are going to appeal…and BAM!  You submit the court with your Notice of Appeal.  And you are on your way to the state court to appeal that decision, verdict or whatever the argument or contested matter is of that case.

Now, little Dexter has been busily selling off as much of the King estate as he can while lavashing himself with million dollar property in California…LA to be exact, as he desires to enter into the movie business ad plans on relocating.  Well, he has pretty much actually done that…moved from Atlanta for the sandy beaches of LA.  And also for the stage lights of the Hollywood sets…well, this not quite.  What he doesn’t understand about the movie business…is that he looks too much like his father to make it in Hollywood.  The only person he could possibly play would be his father…and I do understand the magic of make-up and all of that…and there are not enough movies being made about Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. to bring his son’s dream into reality. 

The point I am making regarding casting of movies….Martin L. King’s face is known around the world.  No one would belive or accept a character who looked like Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. as any one else outside of being Dr. Martin L. King, Jr..  In order for it to work his son would have to be able to beat Densel acting, where he could assume a role and make  that role, or character come  so alive in a way that in the viewing of the movie the audience didn’t see Dr. Martin L. King, Jr.  but whatever character Denzel…I mean Dexter was   playing.  And that is not an easy task. 

So, Dexter will never make it in LA as an actor…and you can tell him…I said it.  If it were possible Yolanda King who studied drama and was an actor would have been able to find success in the business.  But even as woman…she looked very much like her father.  In a business where people suspend reality…it is hard to do that when you are looking into the face of Civil Rights icon and trying to imagine or see him as anything else but that Civil Rights icon…and that is exactly what Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. was, and still is…a Civil Rights icon.

The current letters which the court gave Dexter access to are letters written to their mother from their father during the Civil Rights Movement.

Because Rev. Bernice King is supposedly legally over their mother’s estate, it is interesting to me that the Judge would have awarded Dexter with that decision.  And Dexter is in control of the Martin L. King, Jr. Center for Non-Violence and his father’s estate.

You have got to have the right lawyer or lawyers.  And I am going to tell you something that lawyers hate.  Sometimes you have to kick the lawyers to the curb and better go in fighting for yourself…if you have the skill and ability to do it. 

Who better to represent you…than you? 

But without the proper verbal skills or confidence…and the ability to restrain your emotions…you better not try it.  At times in court I have been good…but during family matters I many times  just break.  Family stuff hurts.

I don’t think that I am all that confident…and believe me when you start standing in front of the Judge having to defend yourself it is even worst.  They have terms…legal terms that will fly right over your head.  And I should know…because a few of them have flown over mine.

There were times when I wish I had done or said that…at the time it came to me but I didn’t do it.  Later afterwards…I could have kicked myself time and time again for not having done so…because it cost me the case.  Or I wished I had been smarter.

The first case I ever won was a case I took into Small Claims Court.  I had bought a car.  The ad read ‘great running condition’ etc…etc…  And when I tested the car it ran beautifully.  But the next day when I went back to pick it up and give them my money…the car never ran properly.  I have no idea what it was…or what they did to it…but I ended up buying a beautiful looking vehicle…but mechanically it was not the vehicle I had tested. 

I quickly found the newspaper ad and file my complaint in Small Claims.  Small Claims Court is very much like Judge Judy’s show presents it to be.  You stand up there and tell your side, show what you have to back it up…then the other side talks…and after a while the Judge ususally says you’ll receive your decision in the mail…whereas on TV…Judge Judy renders a decision during the show.

So, I presented my complaint before the Judge and I got my decision in the mail.  And guess what?

The Judge was very nice to me.  I had won.  But I not only won my money back…but the Judge let me keep the car too.  And those people who had sold me the car they paid me all of my money back sending me weekly amounts until I had totally received it all back.  And I got the car fixed.  It was a beautiful Bonneville convertible, 1968.  I could not get out of the car without finding notes on from people interested in buying it from.  But this ended being a very expense lesson for the people who sold me that car.

Judges as a rule are not that overwhelmingly kind or generous.  So, for a very long time I walked around thinking how I was so smart because I had won…and won like that.  But now I have come to realize…that I am not that smart at all…but just exceedingly blessed.  I have a very dear and good friend who sits high and looks low…and sees and knows everything.

I never won that case.  God did…He won it for me.  And many times you go into court…you should really consider Him.  I have had many different outcomes in court…but each one whether I have won them or lost them…I knew that God did it.  If I didn’t win, I knew that there was something in that case that God desired to show me…or have me consider.

I almost always take everything as a learning experience.  I may not always like the outcome of the set of events…but the lessons behind them have lead me not to do somethings again…or seek to do somethings a lot better.  And each time I have always found that they were setting me up for the case…which oftentimes were bigger and more important…like our Appellate case in Carolina now.

The lawyers have a this saying, “Only a fool is his own lawyer.” 

And unless you are a very quick learner and can adapt quickly…and also…this is a very important point…have the ability to speak up for yourself…and can be quiet while the Judge is talking or listening…unless you can do these things think twice of going into court ‘pro-se’…which means representing yourself.  You have to be concise, to the point and extremely well thought out…and certainly able to prove your case for real evidence…whether a paper trail or bills or some type of contract etc…  You must be able to prove your case.  And need to definitely pick your fights.

And if it is a case that you get to make a decision as to whether the jury decides or the Judge…go jury.  Twelve or 6 people give you a better chance at winning.

Recently, I had a case thrown out of court.  I brought it against a local doctor and hospital here.  I knew the probability of my winning the case was low…but I just could not let it go.  For what that doctor did to me…he definitely deserved to be sued.  And though I knew I was entering into a very steep up-hill battle…I decided to file my complaint any how.  Which is what I did…because the way I figured it out even if I lost…and here is another point. 

You have to really be careful at bringing a case that you might loose because the other side will turn around and levy all their court fees, lawyer fees and everything else they can against you.  And you could end up having to pay a lot more than what you thought. 

But I decided to go forward with my case against that doctor.  The case never got very far because to get specialist and all of that costs money…but I knew one thing.  I knew that all legal cases become public record…and that is what I sought to do.  I knew I couldn’t probably win one way…but I got him the other way.  My complaint against him was and is public record.  Now, any lawyers seeking to bring a case against him and are looking for amunition against for another complaint…well, they will come upon my case and be able to read in full detail why I bought that law suit.  That is why I did it.

We are hoping that everything works out well for the King Family with regard to their current battles.  It is very difficult dealing with family matters.  And not all times does the right or the truthful party win.  But one thing is for sure God will work it out for your good.

God bless…and be encouraged all.

Talking about God.  If you read my blog on my parent’s furnace almost exploding.  Yes, I am suppose to be in cold…as the furnace is gone.  But God gave my parents the wisdom not to have the heat and hot water tied into one.   The hot water tank is separate…which mean I still have hot water.  So, if I have to go through the winter without the furnace…I can.  Because I still have electricity and I still have the stove. 

So, God is soo soo good.  And I cannot thank Him enough.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/books/04arts-RULINGISISSU_BRF.html?ref=arts

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/race_relations/jan-june97/king_1-15.html

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/apr/05/cant-stop-a-movement/

http://blogs.bet.com/news/newsyoushouldknow/mlk%E2%80%99s-youngest-son-calls-his-siblings%E2%80%99-lawsuit-ludicrous/

…pass it on…’ www.bsmith101.wordpress.com

Add a comment November 6, 2008

Cleopatra Jones, Yolanda King …and me

Since purchasing my first computer I have found that I actually watch little TV…actually I watch no TV at all now.  Not that I have ever been big on watching television in the first place…because I am always too busy.  But growing up it was one of my favorite things to do.  I sat in front of the television a lot watching ‘Gun Smoke’,  ‘Mission Impossible’,  ‘Secret Agent Man,’ ‘Julia,’  ‘Sanford and Son,’  etc…etc…the Saturday Afternoon Movies, the After School Movies, the Sunday Night Movies etc.  Those were the days that TV actually had something on it. And today with over 100 channels to choose from it is very much not the case.  Of all of those channels that you have to choose from you still can’t find anything good to watch…except maybe re-runs and old television shows…and network TV…which doesn’t offer very much any more either. 

So, then what are you wasting all your money on?

Which is why I have really never had cable.  If I bought cable I would have to sit in front of the television all of time just so I could feel I was getting my money’s worth.  As shameful as it may be, I am that kind of person.  I need to feel I’m getting my money’s worth.

While my son was going to school in North Carolina, I had gone down to visit him which is something I did usually once a month…just to double check that he was taking care of all of his bills.  As I had to get him an apartment since his campus didn’t have any dorms…which meant that he had for the first time in his life he had utility bills and rent to be paid among other things. 

So, I would go down to make sure that everything was being taken care of…which really is something  you should do when your children are just graduating from high school and going off on their own for the first time in their life…as was the case of my son.  Because for one thing…since they never had to pay for anything…particularly bills…they start off not being very good at tending to their priorities.  Which really was the same way we were growing up.

While down in North Carolina on this particular trip, my son took me to some buffet where you could eat all you could eat.  It was some place that he liked but I thought it was a bit high.  And if you know about buffets…for some reason or other after spending all that money you find out that you really aren’t very hungry.  Then there is this other thing too…for some reason these places all seem to have the very best bread on the planet.  So, you sit and sit…eating bread…and lots of it.  So, by the time it comes to the food you have no place to put it.

But this place was expensive…and I just was not going out like that.  I had spent all that money and I felt that I needed to at least eat my money’s worth.  If I had had a couple of plastic bags on me things might have been very different…I would have eased some food into the bags and taken it home…but I didn’t have any plastic bags or anything else.  So, I had to eat it.  I was determined to get my money’s worth.  And I did.

I became so filled…I was sick.  I tried drinking some water hoping that it would force the food down…but it only made it worst.  I had no room for nothing…and the little water I drank made me feel sicker.  I was filled from all the way where the stomach begins up into some place near my tongue at the back of my throat.

I told my son, “I think I’m going to be sick.  We need to leave.”

I was so stuff…I was miserble.  I wanted to do anything that would give me relief…but nothing was working.  I was doubled over and definitely not feeling well.  And the ride in the car back to my son’s apartment only seemed to make me feel worst…and I felt like I was now getting nauseated. 

I was terribly miserable that day.  And of course…I learned my lesson in a very big way.  I don’t care how much it costs…I am not going to try and kill myself eating anything.  It is one of the worst feelings.

I am not a big eater.  My problem is and has always been…that I eat at the wrong times…usually right about before going to bed.  During the course of my life my  schedule has always been too busy for me to want to break it up going to lunch.

When you’re in LA working on a project or outside of LA working on a project (film or pushing out a script)…all the vendors and movie studio people will call you (if they know you are working on something) saying-

“Lets do lunch.”

They do this because everyone wants to be a part of your project.  They either want you to spend money with them…or as in the case of the studios and acquisition people…they want “first look”…meaning they want to see your movie first…before anybody else…in case it is really worth buying.

But who has time when they are trying to complete a film project…or get it up off the ground…to be sitting around and having lunch with a bunch of people who really want to take from you.  That’s LA, baby.

Most of my life I have been involved in the creative arts particularly when I started editing.  I would go into a editing session early in the morning and literally leave out when they kicked me out sometime later that night when the facility would be closing. 

During my editiing sessions which were from Monday thru Saturday…I never got up to go to the bathroom or eat anything.  Because once you are involved in the creative process of editing you never want to break up your momentum…(really that goes for anything that takes a lot on concentration)..and you just never seem to have enough time as time always seems to fly by so quickly.  So, you never want to waste one moment of time by getting up to do anything…and you don’t.

But having this conversation with my friend, an elderly woman from our church…the one whom I informed you in my blog entitled ‘Losing a friend…’ where I state that we believe she is in the process of passing…she informed that I had to change my eating habits or otherwise I would ruin my stomach.  There is nothing like wisdom…hearing that made me immediately consider my eating habits and make an adjustment in them. 

I try now not to eat anything after 7 PM…whereas before I only ate one time a day and it was usually after 11 PM…just before I would crawl into bed…to get up and go back to editing, or writing, or to the radio station, or film classes or whatever it was I was doing the very next day until 11 PM the next night.

The one thing about me…whatever I am doing I become grossly involved in it. I sank all of my energy into what I am immediately involved in.  I have been told I have tunnel vision…meaning when I am involved in whatever I am involved in or doing something…it consumes me and all of my attention.

This was never more apparent than when I started my advertising business, Queen Bee Multi-Media Advertising Agency and Consulting, Inc..  It is so funny…because I would go to bed and iterally dream up ad campaigns for clients…really.  And amazingly could remember them that morning upon awakening.  I was so engrossed with creating work…creating whole advertising campaigns for my many clients…that I eat, drank, slept and dreamed the thang.  I loved it…and still do.  There is something about the creative process that is highly intriguing to me.

I spent a lot of time developing concepts, sitting with artists and discussing client ad campaigns, and planning new stragies, figuring out rates, where I wanted commericals slotted, which publications we were going to buy etc…  But every moment was worth it…and New York provided with an wide open playing field.  Bud I just loved the work…and besides all the projects represented a part of me.  They were me. 

I love the creative process…seeing a beginning and an end of a thing.  Something that starts from nothing…an idea then blossoms into radio spots (commercials), magazine and newspaper copy, booklets, journals, posters, sold out venues, concerts, plays, screenplays, radio dramas, television programs, radio programs, and other various types of productions, film stuff…etc..etc…  It is…exciting…just seeing the end product, figures, responses etc…   Hearing what the copy sounds like, or reads like etc…amazing.

Everything I have ever done…I have to perfect it.  I have to get to be the best at it…which to me means putting in the time required to make that happened.  And that is just what I do…I live, sleep and eat it…until I perfect it. And I constantly keep challenging myself…by taking whatever it is that I am doing…to the highest levels of mastery.

When I learned video editing…and I am proficient in the use of all 3 of the top professional softwares…Advid, Premerier and Final Cut…but when I learned it I nearly slept at the editing facilities where I was working.  After a time people would walk by and begin asking me-

“Ooooh, how did you do that?”

Then they started saying-

“When I shoot my footage I want you to edit for me.”

My belief is…if you are going to do…then perfect it.  Become proficient in everything you do and take pride in your work.  And always work towards excellence.

Just a quick story.

Once I was a manager…one of 8 at this particular place where I was working.  I shared with you earlier in another blog of mine how one day while in downtown Brooklyn, I ran into one of our employees whom I hadn’t seen in while…who hugged me and I said-

“I thought you didn’t like me.”

And she said-

“Yes, but you were fair.”

You can read that blog somewhere amidst my now many blogs…right here @ www.bsmith101.wordpress.com   …pass it on.

At any rate…When you have so many managers in a small high paced space…the atmosphere becomes very competitve. 

Since I am a person who works towards excellence in everything I do…so, on this job I was not very well liked.  Because my way of working really meant that all the other managers would have to step up in order to contend with my overall job proformance.  I, of course, never realized that…because I had never encounted that type of thinking before.  And since I was the new kid on the block…meaning I was new on this job compared to them…they weren’t having it.  They liked things just as they had been…not that I was trying to change anything.   I…well, I just worked differently from them.  And somehow they felt threaten by that.

At first I thought it was because I had the highest level of education among them…but over time I came to find out it was that too,  but more so…that they just didn’t like me because I was me…a person who sought to do her job ‘well.’

I was not trying to show anybody up…nor was I trying to impress anyone.  But it was just how I worked.  I worked towards excellence.  It is the only way I know how to work…even on my own projects.  I commit myself.

On this job I was the one who hired all the new employees.  To do this properly sometimes (actually on almost 1 day of all of my 2 days off I would go in to inview folk)…as I would usually have to hire as many as 30 to 40 people at a time to keep up with the company quota for our location.  So, to do this I usually went into work on one of my days off.  As I not only had to hire them but I would also have to train them, issue them their uniforms and in many cases have them ready to hit the floor the next day.  I did not mind using one of my days off to do this as I felt it was something I had to do in order to keep up with the company requirements in term of staffing.  But the other managers…looked upon me as an over achiever.  And they did everything they could to sabotage me…including forging my name to company documents. 

The whole affair was quite disconcerting to me.  I had never in my life been anywhere where people didn’t like me.  But I did my job any how…and I continued to do it the only way I knew how…with excellence.  And in the end I won. 

At some point I am sure I will share that whole story.  But God has been exceedingly good to me.  He took me out of that situation…but not before making the company pay me.  And He made them pay me well.  From August of 2000 that company has been paying me…and I have not had to work one day since.

Through all the problems on that job, all the lies, deceits and falsehoods…I continued to be me.  I continued to be the worker I had always been…someone who goes in to her job to get it done…and to do it to her best ability.

My bantra is…do it well.  Don’t do it good…but do it well…to its highest level…the best that you can do it.

If it is anything worth doing…and you should only be doing things worth doing…then why not do it well?

As stated earlier I am not much of a television watcher…so therefore I was surprised when somewhere over the internet I ran across the fact that  actress Tamara Dobson had died in October 2006.  She was absolutely beautiful and I had thought that I had heard she had gotten into ministry.  But during the last 2 years of her life she was in a nursing home suffering from MS, Mulitple Sclerosis.

That was very hard to read considering how tall she was, 6’2″, and knowing the debilitating affects of MS…having lost a good friend to it.

My friend had just completed college…and a group of us were in Jersey for a wedding of another college friend when someone said to me-

“When was the last time you’ve seen___.  I think you need to go see her.  I hear she’s drinking or something.  They said that she was pretty tore up when they saw her.”

For the whole wedding that stayed on my mind.

I loved my friend.  She had been the very first person in my class whom I had met on the campus…we met my first day on campus and we became very close friends.  When we started hanging out…she took me to this club in Connecticut called “Mr. Peas.”   That place was fabulous…black lights, bubble machine and the best music.  I was, of course, a wall flower…and I had never been in any club or disco anything until my friend brought me to Mr Peas.  And I was quite a wall flower…but that was okay…I didn’t mind it.  I loved the place…I found the disco thang exciting…but my friend…well, she was beautiful…so, she was always on the dance floor.   We always had fun…and I loved it at Mr. Peas.  Neither of us were drinkers so we didn’t drink at all.   It was a lot of clean fun.  

I remember once how my friend…how she had bought us these matching glittering tops to wear to Mr Peas.  It was fantastic.  It was like we were sisters or something.  She was the best…my friend.  I would have never have thought to buy her anything…but the sheer thought that she did in regards to me meant so much to me.

She was a lot of fun…but after graduating from college, I later found out following the conversation at the wedding, that she started having problems holding onto things.  Pencils and pens would just fall from her hands…and gradually the problems continued to grow.

After that wedding I sought my good friend out…whom I had not seen in a while.  When I visited her…I cried.  As I have already stated in another blog of mines…I am not the best person to go and see anyone who is sick…because I become too emotional.  I just cried.

She did not look anywhere close to the person whom I had known.  She was confined to a wheelchair now and didn’t have the strength in her legs to keep her from falling much less walk.  Her eyes were going in 2 different directions. 

I could do nothing but cry. 

But she was strong…and kept trying to console me.   I could still understand her somewhat…as her speech was a bit slurred…but later on I could not.  And even then she was trying to console me as best she could.  Imagine…her trying to console me…and she was the one who was dying from that disease.  That was the kind of person she was…and had always been.  She was beautiful.  And I am happy to have been graced by God to have known her as ‘my friend.’

They say that MS is not hereditary…but not only had my friend had it, but come to find out her sister also suffered from it and has since passed too only a few years ago…and most recently I have found out that my friend’s daughter, her only child, now has MS also.

When I think of them, my friend, her sister and her daughter…whom I keep continuously in my prayers…I think of the electric reactors I saw by her apartment when I went to visit her on that first time following the wedding conversation.  For some reason when I looked over and saw them across the street from her house…I don’t know what I thought really…but for some reason those things stayed in my spirit.  And now as we become more informed…we have to stay away from areas that have large energy sources.  They just look unhealthy…and they are.

There is just no way that this stuff cannot affect you…if you live somewhere near it.  All this energy is going through your body and is being absorbed into your body.  That being the case it stands to reason that sooner or later it is going to affect you healthwise. 

And most of the time these things are located where the poor people live…electrical receptors or contaminated waste dumps…the folks whose lives are put mostly into jeopardy by such installations are poor.

When I used to walk around with all the video equipment, cameras and things…as I would walk pass the television at home it would mess with the reception…just because I had passed it.  I knew from that that all the equipment I was operating and sitting around in the televison studios and editing suites for all those prolonged hours really could become potenially hazardous to me. 

My body had soaked up some of that energy…enough to radiate off of me and distrub the television signal whenever I neared the television.  I didn’t think about that at the time…but I do now.  I recognized it…and what was happening but it had never dawn on me what overall effect it could have upon me physically or mentally.

It is energy and your mind is made of electronic impulses sending signals to various areas of your brain which enable you to speak, walk, talk etc…etc.  Inducing other electric signals into your system could technically cause it have some type harm or malfunction…or interruption.  Which in case if you haven’t been listening or reading over the internet…they are saying that your cell phone could be hazardous to your health…for the exact reasons I have just laid out. 

There are all kinds of nervous disorders…and some of it can be attributed to the meats and other things we eat…some to where we live and what we live near…some to (hold on to your seats) the microwave or your cell phone etc.  I didn’t think that you would want to hear that.  Not about your microwave…and cell phone too.

They are saying that about the cell phone now…but I do believe that in a few years we will hear how the microwave causes health problems too…because that process is just not natural.  Think about it…microwaving causes the molecules to speed up and rub against one another at such a rate that it generates heat causing that generated heat to cook or warm up your food (depending upon how you use your microwave).  I use microwaves very little…because I just don’t trust them…they have a tendency to change the texture of the food and alter its taste…and I just feel that that is not only un-natural but also will prove to be quite unhealthy.

When I think of MS…I always think of my friend…and I also think of  Congress Woman, Barbara Jordan, who was quite an eloquent speaker, being highly gifted in oration and as well as well educated.  It was during one of her speeches that I first heard the word ‘xenophobia’…but she also early in her life had to battle the crippling affects of Multiple Sclerosis.

Who gets MS…women mostly between the ages of 20 to 40.

Symtoms of MS…blurred vision, eye pain, possible double vision, lack of coordination, weakness of muscles, partial or mild paralysis, slurred speech, involuntary contraction of muscles (jerkiness), partial numbness, pain without apparent cause etc…

Now, that I have given you these symtoms please don’t go around trying to self-diagnose yourself.  That would be a foolish thing to do.  Sometimes we can work ourselves into a state just believing we have something…when we don’t.

If you care to read more on Multiple Sclerosis please CLICK on the LINKS below.

http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/mssymptoms.html

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/multiple_sclerosis/detail_multiple_sclerosis.htm

Well, today I finally opened up some mail I had put off opening for a couple of weeks now.  Sometimes I just don’t want to read anything that I don’t think is going to be good news. 

Well, I finally read a letter that came to me fromt the North Carolina Court of Appeals.  I thought it was a letter informing me that the court was rejecting our appeal…but it was not.  But the letter only gave me 10 days to respond…and I had sat on it for 2 weeks before opening it…(you do the math). 

I was late. 

Yes, I was.  And very late…which meant I had to really kick it into gear and get going on it.

So, I immediately called the court trying to get an extension of which I was given 7 days…this meant I had to interrupt my vacation today. 

It is summer and I am on vacation.  I don’t even leave the house unless I have to.  After all, I spent all of last semester, Spring Semester, carrying 21 credits of school courses…dealing with foreclosures, courts, got arrested and wrote a book…all of which you can read about in some of my other blogs.  So, clearly I need a break.  And if I say so myself…I am definitely entitled to one.  So, I was taking it…but now today…

So, today I had to interrupt my vacation and leave out of the house…because it was paramount that I get that Appeals Court information to Charlotte and then on Raliegh, North Carolina.  And I had to do it today…via express mail.  Because I had no intentions of missing my 7 day deadline…not if I could help it…now the court…well…the judge has to sign it, it has to be entered into the record, then sent to Raliegh…I’m praying on it because that means that there are whole a lot of other people involved and they may not have my resolve in handling this matter.   But I did what I had to do…I got out and got it do done.

Now, I have to follow up with Charlotte to make sure my package made to that court and that they get what I need done and out to the court in Raliegh hopefully all within the same day.

In a prior blog I told you how the car I had purchased so my son could get around while in school down in North Carolina…how that vehicle had gotten hit and was virtually totalled  in that accident…which caused us to have to file suit against Allstate Insurance Company and the car dealership, Parks Chevrolet, who was suppose to do the repairs.

In that blog about the trial I informed you how when we finally got around having our court date…the actual trial…how the other side tried to steal our case from us…you have really got to read that blog.   Which is how we were forced to appeal the case by taking it into the Court of Appeals to have our dismissal overturned.

My son tells me…that I don’t do anything but sue people.

But you know what?

Some people need to be sued.

Allstate and Parks Chevorlet needed to be sued…if for no other reason than they knowingly endangered the life of my son.  Of which I just could not let that go.

You can read more on my trials and tribulations with Allstate and Parks Chevorlet in my blog entitled ‘Tired…’   And also please keep in mind to share this blog address with your friends, neighbors, co-workers…just everybody…. www.bsmith101.wordpress.com    pass it on….

You do have to pick your fights…there will be some you fight and some you just have to pray over (and I guess that really goes for all of them).  There will be some that you just want it on the record but know that you won’t win (don’t go into any case that you know you won’t win with a lawyer)…but your putting on the record (because all court cases unless they are sealed by the judge are public record).  

However, since I handle all of my own legal affairs…I do not have to worry about lawyer fees and things like that.  If you can’t handle it yourself…and most people can’t…and I am not great at it either (because they try to make it very hard on you so that they won’t have a bunch on non-lawyers handling their own cases running all over the court…and they will do nothing to help you).  For the amount of time and effort you would have to put going to a law library and researching whatever information you need to know to handle your case as properly as you can…takes up an awful lot of time and diligence. 

But if you can do it and know that you might not win…because believe this too…nothing beats a failure but a try…you may win…if you back up whatever you want to sue over…if you have concrete evidence…but believe me that putting it on the record goes a longs way and can be a powerful weapon.  It may not be all that beneficial to you if you decide it is a battle you have to take on but may lose.  Doing so may make you feel a little better over the situation…but one thing is for sure…you are exposing someone or a company for what they are and that could prove to be very helpful to someone else.

Most recently I had to file something in small claims also.

After having all those problems with Allstate and car I bought for him to take to school down in North Carolina…my son finally bought himself a new car.  But not having any credit meant getting one of those ‘no credit or bad credit’ deals.  Which when you get it…you are just happy for the transportation and that you finally got something that you needed.

But with these people who financed this SUV for my son…they would never credit us properly.  My son would always pay more than what his monthy amount was for…and usually before its due date.  But the company would always call and say-

“Well, you’re 30 days late.”

Or they would say, “You are 61 days late.”

How could this be when he had just finished making a payment…and it was before the due date…and far more than required?

It was by continuously rigging their books to seem that what they were saying was true in order to make it appear that we were always behind in order for them ‘the company’…United Consumer Finance…to pad their pockets.  Which is illegal and considered by law an ‘unfair trade practice.’

My son was trying to build his credit so that he would not have the problem a credit problem the next time he wanted to buy something or another car.  

But these ‘bad credit/no credit’ deals are not as good as they seem.  Going into a deal with them and getting a vehicled financed by these kind of people who prey upon the needy…may just work against you rather than work to your benefit.

The company, United Consumer Finance, never credited my son’s account with any of extra money he was paying against his car loan.  Nor did when he paid off his car loan…which he paid it off in advance of its due date by several months…but the payoff amount was no lower than had he made all the payments through to the duration of the loan.  And then during the course of time my son had had the loan…each month they charged him late charges though he was overpaying his monthly payment and was usually sending in the payments ahead of their payment date. There was not one month that a late fee had not been applied to my son’s account.

And on top of all of that…they ruin my son’s credit too.

I think this company, United Consumer Finance, deserves to be sued. 

Don’t you?   

So, I filed the papers on them.  Later this month we will meet them in court.  I will keep you posted on the outcome.

Smile…and have a beautiful day.

Oh, yes…not only had I not known that Tamara Dobson, Cleopatra Jones, had died…but I was never aware that Yolanda King had also passed.  I was shocked in fact to read that story.  To have lost her so close on the heels of losing their mother, I know had be hard on the entire King family.  Be encouraged.

I hear the thunder outside.  So, I guess we are in for a rainy day. God bless… ©2008

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