Are U Smarter than ... Anybody?

WOW! It's been a minute since the last time I've blogged here. So I will just delve right into my topic.

There is something that I want to do but I don't know just how to go about doing it. I want to instill some pride and sense of accomplishment in my black brothers. I have been on this planet for more than 5 decades, so I have been thinking about this for a long time. And, by "accomplishment", I mean things that are worthwhile and that show intellect, intelligence, and education. You may not agree with the terms I've just used, but I'm reaching, I'm grasping for straws; help me out if you can. You can call it by any name(s) you please, but I'm referring to all of the things that produce leaders on the national and world stage. We have a most noble and great example in our Black U.S. President. But we could use millions more. We just need a way to polish those lumps of coal into the brilliant diamonds that they can become.



But the first thing that I believe we need to do is to demolish (somehow) this long-standing thinking that we can only achieve prominence, greatness, riches, and fame through entertainment. I don't know if you have ever taken a serious look at this but you might be surprised to find out that this type of thinking permeates our entire culture in Black America. And it's been that way for as far back as I can remember, although the extent of it has grown and spread considerably in the last couple of decades. I wish that I/we could get the masses of professional Black athletes, singers, dancers, and actors to understand this first, then they could use their influence to direct most of our boys and young men to embrace education, intelligence, and intellect and (at least temporarily) reject the pursuit of the entertainment fields as vocations.



You may not see it the same way as I do yet but I implore you to take a serious, open minded look at what our people consider to be important in life and thus what they pursue. I think that it is terrible for us to strive for entertainment (almost exclusively) but what's worse is that it seems like we have reclined into believing that this is ALL that we can excel in and this is ALL that we can attain the pinnacle of success in!



And then finally, now in this age of "audio, video, and text" communication via our phones and computers, it looks like we're on a course of getting worse and worse. Far too many of our young (and not-so-young) brothers and sisters regularly use these media for vulgarity and filth. They use it with such ease too. The older adult friends and relatives of these abusers should respond and reprimand them at every opportunity. This is not acceptable and should not go unchallenged! People, let's wake up! You need to know that many of these boys, girls, and young adults simply do not realize what they are saying and doing - they think it's somehow noble and bold or grown up and mature or even cute. Those of us who know better should step up and speak up.

We need help, indeed with do. But I believe that there are at least a few of us around who were taught to have faith in God. Therein lies the answer. And I don't mean this contemporary faith that flourishes today - I'm talking about the "old landmark". Yes, I am old fashioned and I make no apologies for it. As I said I am old enough to have grown up in the fifties and sixties. Therefore I was a first hand observer and recipient of Grandma's Hands and Grandpa's (heavy) Hand, if you know what I mean. Yes We Can "do all things through Christ, who strengths us".

YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, MR. PRESIDENT

This is a great country isn't it. I mean just look where we are now. For the first February in our country's history that we are celebrating Black Heritage, President's Day, and a Black Family is occupying the White House, all at the same time. This was unthinkable just ten years ago. In fact for most of us, it was unthinkable right up to the day it happened.



So now all of the (black) African-Americans in this country can be proud. They can be happy that the playing field is now completely level and all of their troubles are over. The White people in America have fully accepted the fact that there is a Black man in the Oval Office. They too are proud of this accomplishment. The Obama family has now spent a full year as the first family of the United States of America.



DON'T YOU JUST LOVE OUR PRESIDENT!

We're all one big happy family. White America is beaming with joy because a Black man has come up through the ranks.

After all, who wouldn't be proud to be represented by a gentleman with the credentials of Barack Obama?

He was educated in the American school system and heroically scaled the great peaks of the institutions of higher learning. He has distinguished himself immeasurably by spending his early (post college) years serving the poor and underserved masses in the community. He then moved on serve at a different level through the legislative body of the state of Illinois. He worked long hours as a state legislator and sought to bring about unity and civility between opposing political parties, while crafting bold and insightful measures to meet the needs of his constituents. In order to do more for his country, he set his sights on the White House, where he could lead the greatest country to meet it's greatest challenges. This conquest was achieved because Mr. Obama put together a most superb coalition of workers and orchestrated a dynamic campaign that met and overcame the fiercest challenges and fiery darts imagineable. Oh, and by the way, he met (in college) and later married one of the smartest, intelligent, intellectual, talented, graceful, and beautiful women in the world. They are the parents now of 2 young ladies who seem destined to follow in the President and first lady's footsteps and possibly exceed them. It's no wonder that White America loves this man so and want nothing but the greatest success for him and his family.

And just for good measure, let me point out why the Religious Right loves him too, perhaps even more than the rest of us.



For the first time in recent history, we have a leader who leads by example. I mean, he tries to find kind words whenever he speaks about any of those in opposition to him, whether they are on the campaign trail or otherwise.

"He is long suffering and kind; He does not brag on or promote himself, but others instead; He is not puffed up; He does not behave himself unseemly and is not easily provoked; He does not rejoice in confusion, but rather in truth; He believes, hopes, endures troubles, and holds on even when it seems all hope is gone.

WHO WOULDN' LOVE A PRESIDENT LIKE THAT?

Me and Barack Obama

HERE'S AN OLD ONE THAT'S WORTH A RE-READ!

Visible Man - By COLSON WHITEHEAD - Published: April 24, 2008 -

I try to keep a low profile. Maybe you see me in the hallway but don't know my name. Say hi to me in the coffee room but don't really know me. I break my silence now because of this election mess. Before the primary in Pennsylvania this week, Bill Clinton was doing magic tricks — now you see the race card, now you don't. Geraldine Ferraro and Bob Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television, have been complaining that Barack Obama is leading in the Democratic presidential campaign only because of his skin color. Multimillionaire TV pundits are lecturing “the common man” on how outraged they should be about Mr. Obama’s elitism. It’s all hokum, and I should know. For it is I, The Guy Who’s Where He Is Only Because He’s Black.
Most folks don't know much about me, apart from the feeling of injustice that hits when I walk into the room with my easy charisma and air of entitlement. I understand. It’s weird when your government passes legislation, like equal opportunity laws, that benefits one single person in the country — me, The Guy Who Got Where He Is Only Because He’s Black.
People think I have it easy, but it’s surprisingly difficult being The Guy Who Got Where He Is Only Because He’s Black, what with the whole having to be everywhere in the country at once thing. One second I'm nodding enthusiastically in a sales conference in Boise, Idaho, and the next I'm separating conjoined triplets at the Institute For Terribly Complicated Surgery in Buchanan, N. Y., and then I have to rush out to Muncie, Ind., to put my little “Inspector 12” tag in a bag of Fruit of the Loom.
It’s exhausting, all that travel. Decent, hard-working folks out there have their religion and their xenophobia to cling to. All I have is a fistful of upgrades to first class and free headphones. Headphones That Should Have Gone to a More Deserving Passenger.
Guns? I wish I had a gun! Ever run out of truffle oil before a dinner party and have to go to Whole Foods on a weekend? It'll make you want to spread a little buckshot around, that’s for sure.
Look, we're all hurting, trying to make ends meet. I have serious overhead with all the résumés I send out. The postage is one thing, but I also like to print my résumé on a nice creamy bond. I think it sends a message. Then there’s the dry cleaning and the soap — I prefer to be clean and articulate in my interviews, put my best foot forward. I think it’s working. People are responding to how I present myself.
I know some folks feel bitter about me, as bitter as the first dandelion greens of the season. Yet these people are not without hope, hope that is drizzled on those dandelion greens like a dash of sweet pomegranate vinegar. Do they begrudge the scorpion its sting, or the duck its quack? How can I be other than what I am, The Guy Who Got Where He Is Only Because He’s Black?
Frankly it’s a lot better than my last two gigs, The Guy Who Left the Seat Up and The Guy Who Took the Last Beer, although I do suffer from a lot of work-related injuries, as you can imagine. For all this jibber-jabber about how I don't understand a working man’s problems, you should take a look at my medical chart. I have carpal tunnel, tennis elbow, miner’s lung, scapegoat rash and vintner’s dropsy, and just last week I burned my thumb making horseshoes. The funny thing is, I didn't want to be a blacksmith. But I heard they had an opening and I couldn't help myself.
I put in a good day’s work, unwind with a little Marx, and then settle down for some well-deserved rest. I have a nice bed. It is a California king. It is stuffed with gold doubloons, the treasure I have accumulated by gathering the bonuses and raises that would have gone to Those Who Would've Gotten It Except for That Black Guy. The bed is quite comfortable. I sleep O. K.
It makes the head spin, this talk of who’s elitist and who’s not. I'm confused, myself. For years, they said you can't have this because you're black, and then when you get something the same people say you got that only because you're black. I mean, here I am, The Guy Who Got Where He Is Only Because He’s Black, and yet the higher up you go in an organization, the less you see of me.
It’s as if Someone Out to Prevent Me From Getting What I Worked For is preventing me from getting what I worked for. If only there were something — a lapel pin or other sartorial accessory — that would reassure people that I can do the job.
Some people say Barack Obama and I get everything handed to us on a silver platter. But we don't let it bother us. We're taking those silver platters and making them our canoes. Then we'll grab our silver spoons and paddle to a place where people get us. North Carolina, maybe. Or Indiana. I hear Oregon is nice this time of year. We'll paddle on, brother, paddle all the way to the top.

Colson Whitehead, a fellow at the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, is the author of the forthcoming novel “Sag Harbor.”

How Did I Ever Learn To Speak English?

Can you read these right the first time?

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let's face it - English is a crazy language.

There is no Egg in eggplant, nor Ham in hamburger; neither Apple nor Pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while Sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write-but fingers don't fing? Grocers don't groce and Hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you have left? Is it an odd or is it an end?
If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.
PS. - Why doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "quick" Here's more for you lovers of the English language . . .

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is "UP."
It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?
We call UP our friends. And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car. At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special.
And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.
We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP.
When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP.
When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP.
One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now my time is UP, so............ Time to shut UP.....!
Oh...one more thing:
What is the first thing you do in the morning & the last thing you do at night?

U-P

Hail To The Chief

Don't forget to watch/listen to President Obama's 1st State of the Union Address this week (Wednesday).
I may as well take advantage of this opportunity to give my opinionated assessment of his tenure thus far.
IT HAS BEEN A SMASHING SUCCESS! Yes, I know that is not what his opponents nor, perhaps most people in general, would say. But just look back as what was inherited from the previous administration and compare it (realistically) with where we are today.
-This the first year in recent memory that we have not been bombarded with news stories about how the military has been forced to extend and unfairly repeat the tours of soldiers in Iraq. -In fact, the Iraq situation is slowly winding down toward non-occupation of that country by U.S. troops. -The war in Afghanistan has now gotten more focused in our government's sight and will thus be in the wind-down mode before the end of Obama's 1st term. -The world no longer distrusts the U.S. and it's motives toward our foreign neighbors. -A great deal of respect has been restored to America. -The terrible economic conditions in this country (and perhaps abroad) have been stabilized and thus will now have a good chance at improvement in the not-too-distant future.
There have been a few things that I have not personally agreed with this administration on, but so what. If I were President, I suspect that they would not agree with everything decision I made either.
Above all, I am so grateful to God that we have such a exemplary man in the leadership position of this nation and world. Over the years we have had a number of persons who flaunt themseslves before us as Godly men. But in Barack Obama, we have the most distint display of Christ-like behavior, since Dr. King. He does not talk about it, he just lives it. And that should be a lesson to us all.