Why I'm Moving from Facebook to Blog
From this day forward, rather than posting my thoughts, concerns, and daily theme song on Facebook, I will now post them on my blog. My reasons are outlined below. It’s time I take back ownership of my thoughts, my history, and my “newsfeed”…
What Exactly Do I Stand For
In April, 2013, the Environmental Protection Agency calculated that fifty-five percent of monitored waterways in the United States are impaired by pollution, meaning they are too polluted for healthy recreation, public drinking water and subsistence fishing. Twenty-five percent of the nation’s beaches are under advisories or closed at least once per year due to water pollution.
Voice in My Head Today: Acceptance
You need to stop doing what you think is expected of you, and start doing what you want to do in your heart (note: drugs, video-games and Facebook are definitively not included). Accept the arbitrary human rules and the fact that they are going to slow you down, and forge ahead despite the hurdles you don’t want to bother with…
To the Marriott Organization
During my last car-camping therapy trip, I was caught out in the rain and hesitantly booked a last-minute hotel room, choosing only among those that Hotwire had given ribbons (or stars or whatever) for Covid preparedness. I only stayed one night, but it made clear to me that the hotel service in America is hardly being held to high standards with regard to air circulation and ventilation…
Election 2020: On Being Asked to ‘Chip In’
Every political ad imploring me to ’chip in’ pisses me off - it doesn’t matter which candidate ‘approved this message’. What a horribly dysfunctional Capitalist country we live in. At the end of the day, they don’t need our money, they need our votes…
The Ironic Story Behind My Sweet Bessie Van
Eight to ten years ago, back when I lived in a South Durham Home Owner's Association (HOA), my neighbor across the street complained about the chalk drawings on our driveway, then my Obama signs, then our vegetable garden - all of which resulted in violation letters and my presence before the HOA board of directors to defend my actions…
Re: Trump paid more in taxes to foreign countries than to US
To the Trumpians who are shouting False News, as well as the ones who are proclaiming how smart Trump is, all I can say is: Time will Tell. ‘Course Trump could clear all this up by releasing his tax returns, like Romney did when Reid falsely accused him of not paying taxes…
To Amazon
Below is what I put in the 'description' box of the second Amazon Seller 'support case' I filled out after sifting through heaps of obscure help links and pages. If you have experienced similar problems with Amazon, please take the time to type up your frustrating experience and post it - if not in the comments here, then somewhere else. If we have learned anything in recent years, it's that even small predatory practices should be called out. Better late than never :-) …
Get up off of our knees...
I think about the horrible division, greed and just plain hatred boiling in our collective consciousness right now and remember it's been simmering throughout history and will simmer again. Then I come across the video below. "Open your eyes to my heart, Lord" the song repeats. I think God knows our hearts all too well and that he is desperately trying to open our eyes to His…
Upon being pressed to look deeper behind the Covid “smokescreen”
Looking deeper... I see a government that is fine with letting hundreds of thousands of citizens die because they refuse to impose simple medically advised procedures (masks and social distancing) that would enable businesses to open safely; I see a government that refuses to require registration, background checks, and commonsense laws to protect it’s most vulnerable population from gun deaths that profit gun sellers, manufacturers, and lobbyists; I see…
Despite Psychopathic Capitalism...
Mark Zuckerberg makes a disgusting amount of money by appealing to the ids in all of us that demand instant recognition and gratification and, thanks to Facebook etc., now get it. This makes me angry at times and hopeless more often. How can a person joyfully prey upon and purposefully amplify the baser side of humanity just for money and personal glory? If this is the way our world works, then why even set the alarm clock?
Citizens Must Demand Transparency
…Jim Wise’s “Curious Eye” toward Durham County’s disappearing transparency (Durham News, Mar. 7) shouldn’t be taken lightly. The backroom dealings could set a dangerous precedent for NC, especially Triangle jurisdicSons and Jordan Lake. Let me elaborate.…
Why I'm Voting (Again) for Durham County Commissioner Wendy Jacobs
…Unlike me and since I first encountered her, Wendy has responded to situations that don’t make sense to her with calm, objectivity, and pragmatism: “How can we make this better for all of us in the long run, even if it takes time and a lot of work, and even if it's not perfect?” She also has stick-with-ed-ness…
Yegor Zhukov: My New Hero
I would have preferred Masha Gesson had not mentioned the current US President in her article about Yegor Zhukov in the New Yorker, but the words of Russian college student Yegor Zhukov are music of the eternal kind. This man is my new hero. …
Society Rewards Psychopaths
Psychopaths make up about 1 percent of the general population (sociopaths make up3-4%), yet at least 1 in 5 CEO’s are clinically psychopaths. Sadder still, the same proportion (~20%) of prison inmates are diagnosed as psychopaths…
*Proposal to SAVE THE CATSBURG STORE in Durham, NC*
I first saw the Catsburg Country Store on February 24, 2019, when I was on my way to Eno Valley Elementary School, shortly after we adopted a beautiful and intelligent black cat named Kale from the Durham APS. I pulled over, took a picture of the place, and made it my cover photo on Facebook with the following accompanying text: “At Hamlin and Old Oxford Roads. Someone must open a cat-prioritized local pet store and cat cafe here.”
Trump's Rallies and Then Some: Open Your Eyes, Complacent White *Christ*ians.
I don't care what party you belong to, if you can't see the similarities between Trump's most recent rally and Hitler's rallies leading up to WWII, then you are purposefully not looking. Anti Semitic!? The guy doesn't even know the meaning of the words. And if you call yourself a CHRISTian and you have no problem with the way these nonwhite American Citizens and likely fellow Christians are being treated because they disagree with the establishment, then you, my friend, are a hypocrite and a heathen…
Root the Hate out of the System
Despite a multi-million-dollar budget surplus this year, NC Senate Republicans have eliminated funding for three of the six staffers who work for the state’s top judge. If this happens, she would be the only appellate judge in the state with just one law clerk, according to Floyd McKissick (D, Durham). Meanwhile, the budget funds six new federal prosecutors around the state…
Algae, Red Tide, and the Future of our Water (includes links to lesson plans)
Last Night's PBS News Hour story on the Red Tide that's killing millions of marine life off the southern Florida Coast is yet another harbinger of the dangerous stormwater neglect occurring in North Carolina and across America. Anyone who walks around my inner-city Durham neighborhood during a big rain event will quickly see how much our little municipality, alone, is contributing to the communal problem…
Looking for a GREAT documentary? Check out Wild Wild Country on Netflix
You HAVE to watch Wild Wild Country on Netflix. It's a multipart documentary regarding an Indian Buddhist leader named Baghwan Rajneesh, whose (largely American) followers planned and (literally) built an Ashram city (for upwards of 10,000 people) on 60,000 acres of ranch land they purchased in a tiny town in the middle of Oregon.