Vanity

I could never eat spaghetti without cheese until I decided avoiding dairy products would help preserve a more youthful appearance.

Movement

Sometimes a move to another location is necessary, but only a movement in perspective makes the change real.

Flow

Weeks ago a simple tweet caught my attention. The content of the tweet isn't important, but the subtle tool the universe used to speak has put a book at my fingertips, a football player in perspective and a movie depicting historical events on my must see list.

These three, and possibly more to come, random subject matters are all speaking a unified message. It is amazing how random these things, events and people are yet the universe has managed to amplify the commonalty each shares and its relevance, specifically to me.

I'm still listening and deciphering the message the universe is currently speaking, but had I ignored that nudge, that that tweet conjured in my being, I wouldn't be able to hear the symmetry of randomness. It's an amazing sound! It's like listening to your favorite song for the first time. That wonderful thrill of hearing something so perfect, makes you want to listen over and over again.

The point is life is always talking, but we are not always listening. Paying attention to the little, seemingly unimportant things that get our attention, can lead to phenomenal discoveries.

I Wonder

When I read W.E.B Du Bois, James Baldwin and Richard Wright, I am able to grasp life through their experience.

A place and time that is very different from my own, yet somehow still resonates in my experiences of 2017.

Times have changed, people have changed, life for the average African-American has changed yet somehow that color line that supposedly disappeared still exists.

I wonder if one day we will every truly live in a color blind world. I wonder if anyone, even myself can really see through my color. My beautiful, my controversial, my identifying color?

Separation

  Separating the past from the present is acknowledging hope for the future.

Patterns

Wearing strips in a world of plaids is like 1+1=3.

Once I thought a solution was revealed for the above labyrinth...expand your vision. It seemed plausible till I realized I didn't know the meaning of plaid.

What is plaid? I wanna enjoy this syncopated flow.

Beginnings

I recently watched a movie staring Denzel Washington, "Devil in a Blue Dress."

I actually enjoyed it this time.  I've seen this movie several times before, but I never really liked it.  I thought it was at the least mediocre and at its worst boring.

I would always catch the movie in the middle. I just recently saw this movie from the beginning and finally understood the fullness and motivation of Denzel's character.

All this to say, if you find yourself in a place you don't like, seek the beginning.  Things might be a lot better than you initially thought.

Possible anyway...

Discovering Truth

600 to 300 years before Christ walked the Earth, man finally was certain that the Earth was indeed round.

Prior to accepting this knowledge, man thought the Earth was flat and that the Sun was rising and setting about the Earth. Now we know that it is indeed the Earth that revolves around the Sun.

I used to think I was the center of my own universe, then I discovered I am one of many.

Yet I still haven't discovered what indeed I revolve around. But this much is true, I revolve around the Sun, and its gravity that keeps me in rotation.

*photo credit pixabay.

Listening

Listening recently got my attention. It required me to passively and actively participate with my interlocutor.

Real listening was a brave exercise for me, it made me feel vulnerable because I didn't judge the words as they are spoken.

Hearing a person sometimes feels risky, yet can be a liberating experience.

*photo credit pixabay

Concerned!

I'm concerned about the protests happening in America. Most recently and thus far the most disturbing is the "I'm a Muslim" movement.

This nomenclature that is irresponsibly being disseminated through social media, written on protest signs, in the papers, voiced by influential celebrities and political figures is contemptible.

Muslims and other immigrants came to this great country, America to find freedom, some came to escape poverty others seeking political asylum and various other reasons. In other words they sought independence from a bondage that repressed them.

Yet we as Americans speak back to them, "we are you?" No! We are supposed to be exercising our rights as citizens to be individuals and lovers of freedom.

The Statue of Liberty was, and in many cases still is, the first glimpse of anonymity, justice and freedom many immigrants see when they enter our country. This isn't to say all Muslims are immigrants, many are already proud Americans.

Lady liberty says "give me your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..." This itself, The Statue of Liberty, was built to symbolize the freedom of American slaves and the hopes of the French wanting to emancipate themselves from oppression.

Are we as Americans so arrogant to think Muslims, foreign or native, need our help or empathy! We are individuals with our own identities in the United States of America. Let FREEDOM ring!

*The New Colossus, by Emma Lazarus (written on the Statue of Liberty)
*picture credit Pixabay

Teachers

I am currently enrolled in "Puttin' it In" University. My favorite teachers are Jay Z, Drake, Bill Gates and Noam Chomsky. My favorite subjects are economics, literature and philosophy.

My current GPA is very low. I'm getting a 'D' in every class because I'm so far behind with the required reading, and the professors won't slow down and let me catch up. They are on a mission.

I respect their decision to progress and continue reading at a steady pace, as the end date for each class isn't yet determined.

I appreciate their insights along the way and constant motivation towards the emancipation of self.

*photo credit pixabay 

Puzzle

As I examine various parts or pieces of my life, I often wonder how they all fit together.

A puzzle, unlike life, has a picture to follow. If you look at the pieces, separate the colors, put together the corners, create a frame and fill in the center, keep building upon your work, eventually you complete or put the puzzle together.

I was looking at life and putting the pieces of it together based on a picture I don't understand. In other words, how did I get here? And really, as I think about it, is the picture I've been using even correct?

The picture I've been using is my life as it looks now. If I complete my puzzle based on this, it falls short of the ultimate destination. I can only complete a chapter of my life this way.

I think I'm going to choose a different strategy. I think I will put the pieces of my life together with the picture of me smiling, beautiful and glorious.

This way, each piece, good, bad or indifferent, makes me smile because it's me, Donna!

New Discoveries

I've been introduced to some really marvelous things these past few days. The amazing thing about each one of them, I didn't have to leave my living room chair to find them.

Which leads me to my first discovery...

1. In addition to phone service for low income people and families, there's also Internet services. This demonstrates how essential the World Wide Wed is to communication and our place in the world.
2. It is actually possible to print human body parts! This has astonishing potential and will impact many lives in incredible ways.
3. Gates Notes! Book reviews, the most current information about the world's events and rich, intellectual insights from Bill Gates, himself.
4. A morsel of understanding about monetary policy.

Understanding

I used to think that reading for understanding was a slow process, as opposed to reading for enjoyment, which seemed much quicker.

However, I now realize, that I was mistaken. Reading for understanding isn't slower, it's simply a different process, that sometimes takes a little bit more time.

It's the details that can't be overlooked that make the difference.

People

Some people are similar to impulse purchases. You are compelled buy, yet when you get it home you wonder, "why in the hell did I get such and such..."

Others are just sources of joy that make you smile every time you encounter them. You can't even find words to describe them, they simply bring you unspeakable fulfillment.

I am thankful for all the people that I've met, in each category. Each one of them has taught me something about myself and I continue to learn; while still acknowledging, that I am in one or the other category in other people's lives.

People make the world go round, indeed!

My Pillow

Last year at this time, every part of my pillow was different. What a journey.

Note to Self: read Shel Silverstein's "Where the Sidewalk Ends."

Can you hear me?

Uniqueness

As I pondered the earnest words President Woodrow Wilson's father graciously spoke to his son:

 "the mind...is not a prolix gut to be stuffed...It is not a vessel made to contain something; it is a vessel made to transmute something(Berg 36)."

I began questioning the possibility of original thinking. Is it possible to mull over another person's thoughts and then from their work create your own unique thoughts?

Einstein's theory of relativity, George Washington Carver and his peanuts, Edison with the light bulb, what were these brilliant people thinking of when eureka said hello? Countless other examples of unique works exist in literature and the arts as well.

Did this idea of uniqueness inspire Plato's Realm of the Forms?

Were the above works uniquely created or simply inspired through our connection with the universe? Another way to define this universal connection is one all knowing mind, if you will grant me this suggestion.

If we can truly have unique thoughts, each one of us is a separate individual. If however our thoughts are inspired through a immutable mind, and we somehow connect with its essence, we are individuals with one common connection. I believe this question has wet many appetites.

Is racism a fallacy if we are connected to a central intelligence? How many wars have been fought based on one's answer to this question?

Food for thought...

Maybe I should go on a diet...😒

    Berg A.S. (2013). Wilson. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.

Shoes!

If shoes could talk...

What stories they could tell.  My, My...

Stretch

I love a Good Morning streeetch!
Especially the ones that make my bones CRACK!!!

Dracula

I recently read Bram Stoker's "Dracula."  It's the first sci-fi book I've read in years.

I expected a gory, bloody tale similar to the many movie adaptations, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Dracula's character is more complex than the bloodthirsty ghoul portrayed in many movies.

His life and each character in the book, was abruptly interrupted by the curse of the undead.

The temporary detour, from a normal life to a surreal, suspended existence, transformed all of their lives forever.

Through their dark night and knight, the human characters became extraordinary! Corrupt forces summoned valor from within them. They learned friendship, love, loyalty, perseverance, determination and gratitude.

Dracula was the predator. His existence allowed the humans to grow. Without him they would of been mediocre.

I took perseverance from this book. I learned in the midst of turmoil peace is waiting to embrace me.

Thanks for the ride Mr. Stoker. It was an uncommon adventure.

Are You Listening...

My soul spoke today and made beautiful silence...

What an inexplicable presence, what a gifted moment!

Can you hear me?

Reading

I've been reading a lot lately and it is wonderfully, satisfying!

It's funny how the things we loved as kids, and one of my favorites was reading, can still bring us such joy!

Ahhh!!!!