The Power of Words

Hello. How was your weekend? Mine was...eventful. I'm still recovering. I'm sleepy and tired and behind in my work. Also, I haven't been paying any attention to you because I haven't had the energy to spare.
Does that happen to you too?

Sometimes you have just about enough energy to keep breathing and that's it. Ugh, speaking of breathing...I'm not doing that so well either.
Anyways, so I want to talk about words today. Words have power. They can cause revolutions, break hearts, change minds, elevate the spirit, or depress it. Kill. Hurt. Heal.
And yet we use them so carelessly every day, don't we? We fling them about like confetti, letting them land as they will without thought to consequences or impact. We're just talking, just joking, just being honest...

On Sunday my son and I went for dinner at a nearby hotel because we were too lacking in energy to cook. When we got back home, it turned out that my son had left the house keys at the restaurant. I'm sure many of you are familiar with that surge of irritation that happens when someone else is careless with our stuff. What do we tend to do about it?
Berate.
Belittle.
I was reminded of (spoiler alert) Jamie Fraser when Claire got lost on her way from a birthing. Her horse threw her and then disappeared so she was alone in the forest in a major downpour and with no way to get home. Anyways, bish bam boom, Jamie, and Ian found her and took her home. And as he was giving her a bath, he tells her that while he's aware that it wasn't her fault, he still feels like giving her a scolding to relieve his feelings. So Claire tells him to scold her in Gaelic because she'll only understand about half the words anyway. And that's what he does.

Back to my son.
So he says he left the keys, and I feel that surge of irritation. But just as I'm opening my mouth to tell him what a careless buffoon he is I pause. And I ask myself, who would you be helping by shouting at him? The deed is done. You can see by his face that he's expecting the word vomit you were about to pour on him. So instead I just held up the 100 bob I had in my hand and said: "Well go and get it."
I was still irritated so I called him a whole bunch of names in my head. Then I settled down and waited for him to come back. Just by his posture, and the way he moved fast to do anything I asked of him that evening and the next day, I could tell he was...relieved? that he hadn't gotten The Lecture. And it took me back to my own childhood and the endless lectures about every little wrong thing I ever did. And I resolved to always think before I opened my mouth, to anyone. Because what could be relieving feelings to one person might be a lifetime of trauma for somebody else.

Do you think Kevin Spacey thought about the impact of his words when he wrote that struggle apology? I think that he did. I think that he was thinking that if he said he was gay people would hesitate to come for him about Anthony Rapp because they would be scared to be labeled homophobic. And for sure, most news outlets led with the "Kevin Spacey comes out" part of the story and not the "Kevin Spacey molested a 14-year-old boy."
I have been Anthony Rapp and the way he says he feels even now was so familiar, I was like yeah, that is exactly how I would feel if I came face to face with that guy again. You're transported right back to that age, that level of fear, that level of helplessness. I'm glad I haven't seen him again. I can't imagine how it must be to see someone's face on TV every day. But back to the power of words; Kevin knew just what his words would do; he was trying to take the wind out the sails of Anthony's words. I'm glad people didn't let him succeed.

My son told me that three boys in his school were expelled for homosexual behavior. So I asked him "if they were caught having sex with girls would they have been expelled?" Because seriously, people being denied their education over their sexual orientation seems a bit harsh to me. And to think that gay people already have all these problems and Kevin Spacey is adding to them by saying, "Oh by the way, when you're drunk and you're gay sometimes you molest small boys" is just not helping.
So watch your words. Think before you speak and all that jazz.

Speaking of using my words, the National Gay and Lesbian Human rights commission could use your help. Whether you subscribe to the idea that gayness is wrong or right, surely you can see that to suppress someone's human rights because of their perceived immorality is not only hypocritical but just plain wrong. Hopefully reading In Search of Paradise will make you see that people are just people, regardless of who they love. Pre-order period is winding down. Three days and it's awverr. See you on the other side.

Madness Everywhere

So we just had elections last week and surprise surprise, the incumbent won.

Whether Frick won or Frack won, Kenyans were fucked so I wasn't too concerned. Shit happens, elections are a control device used by those in power to make those they rule feel empowered. I get it. If it actually made a difference they wouldn't let us vote.
Which is why it makes me triply sad when people get themselves hurt or killed over these niggas. (I can call these ones niggas coz they're my people). Between 18 and 24 people are confirmed dead according to various reports. Frack would have you think that they're about a hundred but he is definitely Seth, God of Chaos in this analogy. It's not even analogy. The guy likes chaos as long as the result is that he gets what he wants. He's selfish like that. I don't know why people don't see it.
I almost prefer the petulant, vindictive, criminal baby that is Frick.
Almost.
It's Joffery vs. Little Finger...who is worse?

I was just telling my beta how helpless I feel by it all and she said, you're not helpless, you're a writer.
True dat huh?
Of course, these are not the only horrible things happening this week. Inadequate and childish leadership is a worldwide problem these days. I blame your parents, clearly, they neglected to raise you. So Kim Jon whatever is threatening to bomb Guam with nuclear weapons.
Nuclear weapons.
And of course, Donald Trump gave the Chuck Norris response.
You know my book, The Post (working title) is about a post-apocalyptic world, where damage from an asteroid is compounded by nuclear waste set loose upon the earth. It's beginning to feel like my book might come true before I have a chance to finish it. Like.for real though.
I would really like to ask those people who allegedly voted for Trump to shake things up, is it going how you imagined or...? Like really, how do you even sleep at night?
Oh, wait, I know, with opioids.
I'm surprised nobody's made the connection between the opioid crisis and the current state of the union but oh well, what do I know, right?
Has someone tried to superimpose the drug map with the map of how people voted? Someone should try it.

Anyways.
This post was about Colin Kaepernick and the fact that him taking the knee has resulted in him being blacklisted by the NFL. Now while a bunch of old men deciding that Kaep is not good enough for them does not surprise me, what did - and I don't know why it did because I should know better by now - was the no-response response from so called...anybody. Civil rights leaders, Black Lives Matter, twitter warriors...no one except Charlemagne tha God was speaking about this atrocity. Oh, and Shaun King. I mean really....

Worse than that, black men were at the forefront of condemning his actions and supporting the NFL blacklist on the premise that Colin 'brought it on himself'.

Black American people are their own worst enemies.

I saw this post on Instagram yesterday about Michael Rappaport condemning the #Charlottesville and I was curious about what would be said in the comments in response. Would people be happy? Supportive? Because also yesterday I saw a lot of posts from the Guardians of Blackness admonishing white people for not speaking up. So here is a white guy, really white, like pale, speaking out. Calling those demonstrators 'dorm room dumb fucks' and 'losers' and basically condemning them to the furthest pits of hell.
So.
What do you think the most prevalent comment was?
"Isn't that the dude from higher learning? Didn't he portray a skin head?"
So.
An actor, acting a role, in a movie...speaks out against white supremacy. But instead of adding your two cents maybe to that condemnation, or having some other positive, relevant response, you look for anything you can shade him for.
Like...

I'm not even going to pretend to understand the mindset. But I do know that the current status quo is taking us nowhere. Maybe we need to stop pointing fingers outward and just really work on ourselves? Be a better you? Start with the man in the mirror? All a' dat crap.
Also here's an excerpt from Child of Destiny which also deals with a lot of themes to do with discrimination and mind sets and seeing the other point of view.

It's All About the Nuances

You know where I learned the real meaning of the term 'nuance'?
Supernatural.
There's nothing like that show for having an entire conversation in a look.
A few days ago, a Somali policeman shot a white woman who had called 911 asking for help.
THEE OUTRAGE.
I am just watching these headlines on twitter and the words of Philando Castile's mother ringing in my head.
"First they come for us, then they come for you."
And they have.
So, is this justified?
Is this a shooting for which 'we don't know the whole story?'
In this case, should we imagine that 'maybe she raped your mother or your sister or another member of your family'?
p.s. These are actual things that people have said to me online when the victim is black.
Well, here we are.
Nuance.
Now that you've taught police that they can shoot and kill without consequences, well...they forgot to mention that that only applies to 'people of color'. It's in the nuance.
Apparently, the cops didn't get that.
Apparently, sometimes you gotta lay it out for them.
You can shoot anyone you want and get away with it...except white folk.
Nuance.