Well, I think that in addition to stereotypes, we have to deal with corruption in the government of the United States. Now I was not raised to hate anybody, but that does not mean that I should not speak out against this man! He, his father, his brother the former governor of Florida, and many more before him have destroyed the very idea of an American dream,and they have sucked the liberty from our very lives! Remember, since 1619, people of European descent came to the Americas and used "Manifest Destiny" to conquer a territory that did not belong to them. This was at the expense of African and Native American peoples being enslaved or killed(completely wiped off of the face of the planet). Now ask yourself "MY FELLOW AMERICANS"-Is this abbreviated history lesson that I just gave you a reflection of what is happening today? You think about it, and do some extra research to learn more about what I am talking about. That is, if you even care about what I am talking about!

The future looks somewhat cloudy: but thanks be to God!

Well, I predict that black people will still be stereotyped in 2008 and in the years to come! I do not mean to be a person of disbelief, but when it comes to this, it is different! The people must change for this to come to an end!

Also, The Middle East is in turmoil! This is evident because of the recent assassination of Benazir Buhtto. Sad, but true, another person who was fighting for freedom was taken out! This region of the world has had soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much violence and war since Biblical times. I will put it like a friend of mine told me-"They been fighting over there since Jesus left and they gonna be fighting until he comes back!"

The year 2007 is almost over!: A reflection.

Well, the year 2007 is almost over! It is very hard for me to believe that it will come to an end in only 10 days. I know one thing: this year has been a very interesting one. My life has been challenged in many ways ranging from my very long and exhausting summer to schoolwork to everyday college life over the last year.
My journey into adulthood got deeper as I worked in my hometown for the summer. I worked at Rayonier Performance Fibers Fernandina Mill as temporary summer help for the company's department of central maintenance. This was truly a life changing experience because I met new people and developed a special bond with those who I came into contact with while working there. Also, I was glad to honor my grandfather by working at this company because he worked there at the same place for over 40 years! I also honored my father because he worked at the same place for about two years before he became a teacher at Fernandina Beach High School. At this present time, my father's brother works there now, and it was nice to see him there at different times to briefly talk with him on the job. There were also many men out there who looked after me(namely the black men), and that felt good to have veterans of the company help me along the way. One thing that intrigued me was the fact that so many of the employees at Rayonier knew who I was because of my grandfather and the rest of my family. I kept in mind that many of the people that I met for the first time out there had already been acquainted with my family. This job was not bad overall, but I hate waking up early in the morning, and that is what I had to do for the whole summer. In addition, my co-worker was CRAZY! He was a college student as well who was working for the summer at Rayonier. Working with him was a test of faith in and of itself! I can honestly say that it was God that helped me to stay sane while working with him. That guy is a complex character. Believe me: if you had to work with him for a certain amount of time, you would understand where I am coming from! I can still remember the last day at that job this summer as I started to get emotional. As I left the gates of Rayonier I shed a few tears because of the whole experience of being out there on the job. I had never worked in a blue-collar setting in my life, and I learned so much about life being there. There were many times where I felt like quitting the job, but I stayed until the end! To this day I may consider going back to work at Rayonier for another summer as I finish my higher education at Florida A&M University.
One thing that has really turned the tables for my life was my Advanced Composition class at FAMU. That class is the very reason as to why this blog exists! I enjoyed being in the class because I learned so much. I am grateful for being taught by Dr. West-White and for the interesting lessons that she gave to me and the rest of my classmates. I was soooooooooooooooo happy when I found out my grade for her class. I worked very hard to earn an A out of her class, especially when I discovered that I was making high grades on different papers. Through the long, sleepless nights and the sickness that I caught, I achieved what I was chasing for that class!
The most monumental event that happened to me this year was turning 21 on November 20. I just could not believe that I made it to that age in my life. It was nice to be able to come home that week to see my family since that was the same week as Thanksgiving break. Overall I have been doing pretty well while this year has been concluding except for this cold that I developed at the beginning of November.
The one thing that I have been put to the test with this year is my health. I now have full-blown high blood pressure! Yes ladies and gentlemen, I have high blood pressure! Unfortunate: Yes, but will it stop me: NO! There is a lot that I am trying to do and that I must still do to get this out of my system, literally! All in all, I am very thankful to have experienced what I have in this year 2007! I pray that the Creator will allow me to see the new year!

The American Media

American media is completely messed up! I do not like to watch too much of the news on CNN and especially not Fox News! At the end of the day I realized that most of the media is run as a business, and media outlets do not care about the truth of certain issues. All they want is to have high ratings from the American public turning their televisions on and watching their programs. That thought occurs to me as I watch the news. Most of the time I wonder about how they have managed to get a chance at reporting on different stories, and I always wonder about how much of what they are saying is true. This does not leave everyday people out of the equation to inform themselves about what is true on the news. Now, just because people watch the news that does not make them stupid, but they may still be ignorant of the story and what the story is all about. So much of what is reported is only negative and degrading, especially when it comes to African Americans. That is why I study the facts about the subject that is being covered on the news or written in newspapers. So many journalists and newscasters get away with reporting false information on a variety of subjects just so that they can get their paycheck. It is funny to me how political cartoonists are the ones who seem to give the most truth in their publications. Maybe they can get away with that because most people ignore the cartoons. In addition to the lies that are printed and reported in the media, a negative story on African Americans being broad casted daily. I feel that the only way to change that is for African Americans to have their own media outlets that showcase the whole story of what is going on in our community. BET does not count in my view because that station is owned by Viacom. Since the probability of a black-owned media conglomerate coming into existence is slim, the only thing that a person can do is inform themselves about the issues at hand to understand what really goes on in the world. Personally, I hate the corruption of the media in America, and that is why I love the movie V for Vendetta. It directly addresses this issue of the news media as it relates to any place in the world. Maybe V has invaded my mind when it comes to Fox News, but I will always "remember the 5th day of November"!

Spending Habits

Spending habits are only controlled by the individual who spends the money. This discussion was very interesting to me because of the points that came up as a part of the discussion in class. I think it is very funny how African Americans are the biggest consumers and the smallest savers. To me it is sad how we will spend so much money on things that depreciate in value. I can speak from personal experience on spending habits because of my family. My mother loves to buy little things that she considers to be little treasures. I can remember growing up that her spending habits were the basis of the many arguments between her and my father. But over he years I was able to see what my father was trying to tell me about money. He even told me about how money was a determining factor that almost made my parents divorce. I told myself that I did not want to end up in the same position as my parents had when it came to finances. That is why I try to spend the smallest amount of money possible without going over my budget. I think that it is best for me to try and save as much money as possible so that I do not go around broke! My father always taught me that money does not grow on trees, and to this day I can see the importance of understanding that statement.

I Love Video Games!

Video games are one of the greatest forms of entertainment that I have come into contact with since my childhood. I can even enjoy video games as an adult. Since I was a child, I could remember how I would love to play video games for many hours at a time. They used to help me relieve stress by allowing me to go into a virtual world that expanded my imagination. As I got older I enjoyed playing games that were violent, but I knew that violence as a casual activity was wrong. For some reason I had an understanding of what was real and what was fantasy. Yet there are those who have obviously not been taught the difference between the two and that causes many terrible things to happen. This is the response that you get from certain individuals who try and make a claim saying that children are influenced by violent video games to kill and hurt others. I even saw a report myself on 60 Minutes a few years ago where parents tried to blame violence on the Grand Theft Auto video game series by saying that a certain individual who killed people was inspired by the types of crimes that are committed in the game. To me a company that makes video games is not responsible for killings that occur. To me that is not a legitimate excuse for violence. For one thing, video games have ratings, and children under 17 are not supposed to play with games that are rated M for Mature. If children who are under 17 play those kind of games then the parents need to be aware of what their children are playing. I myself played with video games that had graphic horror violence and blood and gore before I was 17. My parents knew that I played with these games, and to this day I have never gotten into a physical altercation that escalated to violent actions being committed. If there is anything negative about video games is that they are addictive and can cause a child to lose focus on what they must do for school. I do not think that video games lead to obesity. If a child who is obese plays with video games they need to have a time to go outside and play for exercise. Regardless of what people with children have to deal with because of video games, I will always love to play a good video game just to have some fun and relax from a tiring day!

American Lauguage

There is no language that can be called American! America has a blend of languages due to the many different people of various cultures and ethnicities that are represented here. The America that we know of today is English because of the British coming to this continent and colonizing the territory. When it came to Africans being over in America, language evolved within their community by mixing English with the many different African dialects that they spoke from different West African tribes. Ever since that time language has been a touchy subject when it comes to African Americans. Some have argued that we were not smart enough because of how we spoke, calling us ignorant and backwards due to the dialect that we uttered from our mouths. But the lack of proper English that you speak does not make you ignorant and stupid. Over the years African Americans have developed different words in their vocabulary that have shown our bond as a people. As recently as the 1990s, much of our "slang" has been used by white people in many different ways. Our words have been used for marketing hip hop items as well as publishing certain words in updated dictionaries such as "bootylicious" and "bling". That does not mean that America has a language. If you ask me, the appropriation of our words and expressions in this country have only added to the vocabulary of the English language. There are more than one true American languages because of the Native Americans that once thrived on this continent. Today's circumstance serves to remind me that the "American language" of the present-day America is an extension of its mother country England.

Words Do Matter!

I believe in the power of words. I feel that they have the power to heal and the power to hurt. Many people have been in hurtful situations because they were hurt by something that somebody said. One thing that comes to my mind is the n-word. That is the one word in the black community that has done so much damage to our people. Yet today we have no feeling of offense when the word is said. Yet when a white person says the word we get upset. The same thing can be said for the Don Imus situation. When he referred to the Rutgers University women’s basketball team players as "nappy-headed hoes" everybody was outraged. Yet for some reason, a lot of black women have their hair looking tacky and in need of a hot comb! Plus, black people in America always make comments and jokes about their hair. I guess that you could say it is just something that we do. There are other words that have recently been deemed to be offensive in today's society. The B word(bitch) generates so mush controversy, especially among females. It is funny how a man can call a woman by that word and be in trouble, but yet females refer to themselves with that word. To me, if a word is offensive to you, then you should not say it. It is extremely annoying and aggravating to see the double standards that people show when they are discussing how a word is offensive only when somebody who is not like them uses it. Maybe the solution is to say only nice things to everybody that you see!

Gender

Gender is one of the most interesting topics in human life. Of course, in the world, we are either male or female, and both sexes have differences. In order to understand the roles that each gender has to play in life, one needs to look at what makes both sexes.
Growing up I knew what it meant to be a male. I never went to a school where students were broken up into different groups based on gender. I was always in a mixture of boys and girls, and I did not have a corrupted perspective on what it meant to be one or the other. I did have a sense of what each gender is responsible to do. With that said, I did not come from families that advocated abusing and using a significant other in a relationship. My father's family is made up of a lot of males, and my mother's family is made up of a lot of females. In my mother's family the women like to be dominating and in control, but my father's family believes that the man is the leader of the house. Also, my father's family believes that a man and a woman have a shared and equal responsibility when taking care of the house. My opinion is in my father's family beliefs.
That does not mean that either gender should try to control or dominate each other. For a long period of time, women have been the victims of domestic violence and verbal abuse, but that does not mean that a woman is not capable of abusing a man in the same way. To me,in this day in age, it seems that feminism has taken over the planet. In other words, feminism is no longer expressed by interest and support groups alone that fight for women's rights, but all women have in one way or another have taken on a position of feminism that has done this country and the world a great disservice. I feel that the whole idea of a woman being independent is foolish. It is interesting to see how this sense of feminism has been a probable cause for relationships falling apart. I think that if a woman wants to be independent and not taken care of by a man, then she does not need a man. I have seen this attitude of feminism in my family for too long now to not be telling the truth about what I see. For example, my mother's family is always trying to tell her father what to do and what not to do from her mother to her two sisters. My father says that this is why my grandfather is known as a "henpeck". For more information on that term here is a link: http://www.answers.com/topic/henpeck.
When I think about what this term means I can think back to certain times when this definition showed its presence in my family. There was one time at my 21st birthday party when this happened. It was ironic how this happened because both sets of my grandparents were there to help me celebrate my birthday. We ate at a restaurant for that night, and when the time came for cake and ice cream the problems arose. My mother's father wanted ice cream with his cake, and then my mother's mother and my aunt said "NO"! This was shocking to me when it happened. I, my father and his parents just looked down and shrugged. I am pretty sure that we were all saying "LET HIM EAT THE ICE CREAM IF HE WANTS TO" when this was happening. The whole reason as to why they did not want him to eat the ice cream was because they said that he would have bad gas and he would need to go to the bathroom. They had this fear because of a previous situation that occurred. In the summer of that same year, my mother's family traveled to Maryland to see my cousin graduate from high school. On their trip they stopped by McDonald's one time and my grandfather ate their ice cream. After that they had to stop so that he could use the bathroom and, according to my mother, he was in the bathroom for a long time. You would expect that from an elderly person though. I felt that my mother's family was acting immature on my birthday night because of the fear from a previous time. What was so sad about it was that the restaurant was less than 5 minutes away from my mother's parents' house. If he would have had any problems or complications from eating the ice cream he would have had the use of the bathroom of his house at his disposal. That incident of that night will forever be a reminder of the drama that is caused by gender in my family. I still have an open mind when it comes to the occupations that a female and a male can have. There are some jobs that I feel are suited for only men and only women, and I do not mean jobs that are based in a biological or reproductive sense. It would not make sense for a woman to apply for a job that requires lifting heavy objects. It would not be suitable for a man to work for a toy company dressing up as a female to market a new doll to young girls! To me occupational searches are determined on an individual basis.
Now there is another issue that sticks in my mind when it comes to gender and that is transgendered people. OK...to me this is nasty, especially when there are men who want to be women! Tyra Banks had an episode on her show where she featured transgendered men who had starred in a new documentary about a beauty pageant for these kind of people called Trantasia. On that note, all that I can say is that I try to keep up my duties of being a man and I will always stick to that!

Genetics

The topic of genetics is an interesting one for me because of two reasons. First, advances in genetics have made a ray of hope for African Americans who are caught up in the corruotion of the American justice system. Secondly, genetics can show me what my heritage is and where I come from.
Before genetics became more advanced than what it is today, it was difficult for certain crimes to be solved. In many cases the person who was arrested for a crime did not commit the crime, but they fit a stereotype that was used because of prejudice against certain individuals. With the advances of genetics, many people have been found innocent of the crimes that they were accused of committing. This is because of DNA testing. A person's DNA is their scientific identity. It can identify a corpse at a crime scene and it can show who committed the crime at the same crime scene. Several things contain a person's DNA, including blood, semen, and skin. More than likely a person will leave behind some of their DNA when they commit a crime. If a crime scene investigator picks up even the smallest amount of a criminal's DNA, then they can use it to confirm who the person is who committed the crime. It is interesting to see that the CSI shows are a reflection of what can really be done in America.
When it comes to genealogy, genetics is an improtant factor in discovering their family's past. With the complex history of America there are so many people that have a mixture of different ethnicities in their heritage. DNA tests can be used by a person to find out who they ar eand where their families come from. Several people have done these tests including Oprah and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. For a long time I have been interested in finding out where my family line comes from and I will definitely be doing the test in the near future!

Cultural Identities

When my group presented the topic of Cultural Identities in class, we covered the history of cultural appropriation and minstrels, light skin versus dark skin in the African American community, and the relationship between African Americans and Africans. I presented the history of minstrels because I felt that this was the beginning of our culture being imitated(Appropriated) that portrayed us in a negative light. When you look at hip hop today it is enjoyed by people all over the world, but it is still a reflection of the negative aspects of our community. In both time periods these were the cultures that specifically identified us as a people. Because of being in America we have had many aspects of our culture being mocked and portrayed as negative. Yet when other people take our culture we do not benefit from it. Throughout history there have been many things that have crossed cultures and helped humanity as a whole, which makes it hard to sometimes identify who created something first. As technology continuously advances, more historical documents are found and an accurate explanation of the origin of certain things can be expressed. We as Americans have a fine example of cultural appropriation in this country: Italian food. For almost one hundred years, Italian food has moved into the cuisine of America and become a part of the staple foods that people in this country love to eat such as pizza and pasta. Regardless of whether or not you like those foods is your choice, but for the population as a whole, these foods are eaten by us. Yet these foods will always have their identity rooted in Italy. Americans borrowed these foods, but they will never be authentic when made by someone who is not Italian. Today, the Italians still get respect for what they have created. People of African descent have not gotten that respect yet for many things. For example, hip hop was created by black people yet other people want to take credit for its existence, and if we must suffer for our culture and not be acknowledged as the creators of that art form then there is a problem. With that said, there are many factors that play into what a culture is and how people can identify with that culture. Ultimately, when a person can identify in a general sense with a culture then they have a sense of belonging to a group that is bigger than them.

Social Networking

I have a Facebook and a Myspace account. I guess that means that I am a bad man, right? Well, I am not trying to hook up with girls half my age or younger, and I am not trying to do something completely stupid on the world wide web! My goal is to meet up with people who have the same interests as I do, and to also share and exchange information on different world events. That is why I believe in social networking. It allows you to have this kind of human interaction with others that you might not get if you did not have a computer. With that said, I do not abuse my ability to have these online profiles. In the news of the last few years, I and the rest of the American people have seen many things about the negative effects of social networking online. In my opinion, these negative things happen only because of the people who do not know how to use these websites correctly. Back home in Duval I have seen some stories on local people who have had bad experiences that started on Myspace, but they should have known better to not hook up with people online. When I here about how relationships start online, I cringe and I make my mind up about the person who is doing that. Personally I do not think it is stupid to try and find love online. Trying to get a booty call online is another thing. Recently I saw a couple of episodes of Dr. Phil, and there was a girl who had been trying to hook up with a man in Palestine since she was 16. She made two attempts to see the man. The first one failed because she could not leave the country at the airport she was to depart from due to her mother reporting her to the FBI. Then once she turned 18 she made another attempt to go to Palestine, and she was successful and met up with this man from the Middle East whom she thought she was in love with. In the end he turned out to be an abusive man. My question is: HOW IN THE HELL DID HER MOTHER NOT KNOW THAT SHE WAS CHATTING WITH THIS MAN ONLINE? That really bothered me to see her nearly cry her eyes out on the Dr. Phil Show about her daughter trying to hook up with this Middle Eastern man. Then she had the nerve to talk about the possibility of her daughter being killed or never seeing her again. Maybe this would have been avoided if the woman would monitor her daughter's online habits! Check this link out for more information about that story: http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/base/news-48/1196210049210800.xml&storylist=newsmichigan
This is where my issue of social networking comes up. If people are so concerned about the things that their children are exposed to on websites such as facebook and myspace, then they need to monitor what the children are doing online. It really aggravates me and pisses me off to hear people like that make an attempt to criticize these websites and outlaw them for the rest of the people because of what they have experienced. This same argument can be used for the whole Internet when it comes to child pornography being broad casted on different websites. But just because there are perverts who like to sexually violate children, that does not mean that the Internet itself is bad. That is why there are many options to protect children from pornography when they are online from pop-up blockers to parental controls for a home computer. But even then a child can sneak over to a friends house whose parents do not regulate computers in their house, and they can view certain things over there. Maybe Facebook and Myspace could use a system for parents to monitor the online behavior of their children to stop the problems that exist in their lives because of these websites. I do not care! As an adult, if I want to meet people and get acquainted with people who think as I do then that is my business! Now this does not mean that I will just put any kind of information and pictures of various activities on any of my social networking profiles. I have heard the stories of people who have been fired because of certain pictures on social networking profiles that show them doing things that they more than likely had no business doing. That really bothers me because there are countless individuals that I know who put their party pictures on their Facebook profiles. They obviously do not consider the things that they do before they do them. I know that if I was fired from a job because of pictures from wild college nights I would be highly upset!. Still every individual must be careful of what they do on a website for social networking. If you try to hook up with people for the wrong reasons on these websites, it might be your last time looking at a computer screen!

MY OPINION ON BODY IMAGE

Body image was the first issue that our class covered from the book. It was very interesting to hear about how people view their body image in relation to the rest of the world. I believe that in America, body image is taken too seriously. I think that has something to do with white supremacy having a strong grip on the mindset of the people in this country. When you look at television, read magazines, and get exposure to random images of beauty in America, you see a skinny white woman with her bones almost poking out of her body. This is because many of the clothes, makeup, and modeling companies in the fashion industry are controlled by European people who like that image of a "super-skinny" white woman. This is why certain body image issues affect the Caucasian community. Then these people (mainly white girls) will go to extreme lengths to make sure that they are skinny, trying their best to exemplify what they perceive beauty to be. Starving oneself and making oneself vomit are the two main ways that many young white girls try to achieve this "superficial" image. But this leads to many health complications, including death. This whole quest for white women to be skinny also causes severe paranoia. I have seen too many instances of white women, most recently on the Tyra Banks Show, who think of themselves as being fat, overweight, and ugly. It makes me sick to my stomach to see these girls crying and complaining about how big and fat they think they are when they are skinnier than a toothpick! When I think about what I just said, it sounds as if young white females have strong, psychotic thoughts when they go through this. But I also see a huge double standard when it comes to body image and the entertainment industry. On one hand, there are those who tell young women that they must lose weight in order to be attractive, just to get a job in the entertainment industry. Celebrities love to go on special diets and exercise plans that will make them lose weight in two weeks. I do not think that little white girls realize that only celebrities have the time of their lives to live in a gym for two straight weeks just to look like a "goddess". Then you have tabloids that love to pick on people whether they are too fat or too skinny. This is where my problem is in this issue. It seems to me that young women do not have pride in themselves, and they let outside forces determine how they feel about themselves. I think that that is one of the many mistakes that have been made by America. This country has not taught women to feel good about their bodies, whether it be parents or modeling agencies, but to me that is no excuse for a person to STARVE AND/OR VOMIT THEM SELF TO DEATH! Ironically, the African American community does not seem to deal with this, but that does not exempt us from life problems. While white women occupy their time walking around as living skeletons, the black community suffers from obesity at a rate that seems to increase by the minute with the onset of High Blood Pressure and Type 2 Diabetes. Now that means that we must go to the gym and get a workout! Of course that does not mean that blacks must go on a fast and starve themselves, but it does not mean that we should let our health continue to suffer. When you think about it, health is actually the real issue at hand. regardless of whether you are big or small, without optimal health you cannot model, you cannot walk onto a photo shoot and give a bright smile, you cannot walk on a runway and be a fashion diva, and you cannot live a meaningful life. I fell that people should focus on how the inside of their body is instead of people looking at how they are on the outside.

The introduction yo my response of America Now.

In my advanced composition class, we read a book entitled America Now: Short Readings from Recent Periodicals by Robert Atwan. As the class read the book, we had discussions on 10 different subjects that deal with issues that affect the American people. It was our responsibility to give a personal response to every topic that was discussed on this blog, and that is what I will begin now...

THE OPENING STATEMENT FROM MY COLLEGE CAREER FALL 2007

This blog was started by myself for a class that I took at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Florida. The class was Advanced Composition taught by Dr. Clarissa West-White. I have decided that this will be a blog that I will maintain long after the class has ended by the fall of 2007. I made this decision because the issues covered in the class are relevant to the world and its problems. Since my career outlook is in the realm of social science(African American Studies) and social work, I feel that this will help me to have a mindset to observe the global community on a local, national, and international level. The class started with readings from the main textbook entitled America Now: Short Readings from Recent Periodicals, 7th Ed. (2007) by Robert Atwan. Learning from this book was one of the the first real steps towards finding my future goals, and now I want to share this with the world and hope that some change will come from the opinions that I have. With that said, this blog officially begins now!