Revolutionary Mind.

Welcoming a new life.

Holding this creation in my arms for the first time makes me re-evaluate all priorities. It’s as if all that was substantial before becomes less substantial.

 Chalk it up to hormones, or call it a phenomenon; it’s a miracle.

My good friend Lindsey Lunsford, who is currently running for Miss Tuskegee spins the phrase “not a platform but a purpose” as she treks through her campaigning journey. That phrase rings so relevantly in my life; purpose. Though I have ambitiously tackled schoolwork as I journey toward “success”, now purpose surmounts success. A small, helpless and beautiful child now leads my way through academia, life and home. 

Revolution has been something I’ve screamed from the mountaintops, now Kwest Michael gives me even more purpose behind my Revolution.

   KWEST (Knowledge Will End Suffering and Tyranny)

Are you revolution ready?

ojeasy

without technology you’ve entered…

 the blackhole.

After a much needed conversation with dad, I was enlightened on several key issues, as well as endowed with a much needed epiphany. A full four days after the horrifying earthquake touched down in Japan, I still didn’t even know it had happened. Tucked away in my little cable less house, with no radio or internet access, I realized how much technology keeps one in tune with the world. All the arguments about how technology does just the obvious faults and withers when I find out about a catastraphic world event almost a week after everyone knows!

   Possibly meditation could have sent signals to a highly tuned in individual. Maybe they would have felt the vibrations of the 8.9 cataclismic earthquake followed by the huge wave. Maybe only the Buddha and tibetan monks can achieve that type of fine tuning.

  Despite, the point still stands… technology (no matter how annoying, cumbersome and overbearing it can be), keeps us human in that it easily connects us to others.

ojeasy:)

so i’m showing my moms my blog…

wish me luck.

;)

ojeasy

The Element of Truth: a letter to a black woman

LABELS. [throw the crazies behind bars]

The Tucson shooting devastated the nation as yet again another showing of obscene and senseless violence. William Galston, author of the short article “ The New Republic: A Need to Reform Mental Health” along with many others believe that it was a mental illness that was left ignored that most certainly caused the lead up to the shooting. It seemed throughout the article that it was not the devastation of the shooting itself that most angered Galston, but the ignored signs of mental illness that he most emphasized. Galston traces the lead up to the actual shooting, pinpointing the various, noticeable signs that pointed toward dangerous mental illness and its inevitable effects. In summation, Galston points aggressively toward governmental reform in regards to “involuntary incarceration” of those citizens who revealed signs of “mental illness”. Though the stance that Galston takes is understandable it completely dismisses the importance and requirement of individual rights for various reasons. He also dismisses the responsibility that the community has to its citizens. His talk of legislative reform remains deficient in the horizon of a community that is not willing to take responsibility.

William Galston believes that anyone who shows any signs of a mental disturbance, whether slight or severe, should be immediately taken off the streets and involuntarily incarcerated. He supports his beliefs in light of not onIy the Tucson shooting, but other shootings in the span of American history. He references the shootings of various US presidents, emphasizing that those who were wielding the gun undeniably suffered from severe mental illness. While his use of example is provocative, any unprofessional evaluation of mental instability should undergo a professional evaluation before any incarceration takes place. In short, amateur evaluation of what any layperson may believe to be a “mental illness” or “disturbance” does not, in any light justify “involuntary incarceration”. In light of the current legislation, anyone with “mental disturbance” should in addition pose a threat to the society in which he/she lives in. I believe that Galston fails to convincingly prove his point because his argument remains completely one-sided in its entirety. He isolates a couple of incidents as a justification for “involuntary incarceration”, which is not enough to violate the individual rights of so many other citizens.

Secondly, William Galston’s argument stands solidly on the shoulders of community protection. Yet, he does not propose a community-oriented solution or response to mental health. All while arguing against what he called “rights-based hyper individualism”, he leaves the commitment of mental health disturbances up to the individual. If one or two individuals are solely responsible for the handling and care of those with mental issues, then this immediately endorses the “rights” of individuals. Rather than proposing a community-based solution or approach to both preventing and catering to those citizens with mental health issues, he casts them from the confines of their citizenship and demotes them to the place of a child who will no longer be able to control the circumstances of their whereabouts. Not only does he not produce a community-oriented solution, he relingquishes all responsibility from the community. The community as a whole took an active part in the events leading up to the Tucson shooting. Yet, this same community left the responsibility of solving the various problems that Loughner presented to law enforcement and the parents. The Tucson shooting rather than being the sole occurrence of ignorance of a mental issue, it was also a blaring example of a “diffusion of responsibility” in which no one takes up the “reigns” to help their fellow citizen. One cannot rely on governmental intervention alone. If we, as citizens, want protection from individuals and illnesses that might possibly harm us, we must take responsibility of protecting ourselves.

While Galston makes a compelling argument on securing the community against those citizens that are mentally disturbed, he leaves out a vital piece of the community puzzle. Like the days of the village raising the child, when will the community be truly held accountable for its citizens. It is quite simple for Galston’s argument to be lost on the ears of simple citizens like myself when he urges to protect the same community that quite honestly should some of the blame. In detailing the journey of Loughner’s journey to the shooting. He fails to point out what all of those failed attempts truly meant. The community, while it does attain the right to be protected also has the responsibility of protecting itself. Most importantly, Galston’s sentiments also ring discriminatory against those citizens that do experience mental disturbances, but who do not need “involuntary confinement” but quite the opposite. What Galston seems to ignore or dismiss in his discussion of legal reform are the causes of “mental issues”. Not only that, he does not seem to have a deep understanding of the differentiation between various kinds of disorders. He makes a sweeping generalization (which is unconvincing within itself), and seems to want to remove all of “the sort”, off of the streets in the name of those citizens who do not want to be bothered. There is nothing wrong with wanting to change the way things are currently, especially if things are an effort to constructively reform things, yet it is ineffective to be discriminatory or prejudicial all the while. Galston unmistakably falls into this trap. If someone were tor ead the article with a grandmother with bi-polar disorder or an uncle with schizophrenia would by no means disagree with Galston’s “involuntary incarceration”. In his attempt to convince, Galston should have remained cognizant of those who are affected by mental illness in their everyday lives. On the contrary, protection should be a group effort, from the citizens all the way up to the president.

Without doubt, William Galston makes very good points on passing reform on mental health. Yet, the point wavers at whether he convinces the reader effectively and wholeheartedly. As a reader with a background in Psychology and experience with various citizens who experience mental disturbances, I found his arguments to be compelling and almost convincing. But it is what his argument lacks that leaves me unswayed. Though many readers that come into contact with this article might be a diehard proponent of mental health legislation reform, in favor of the involuntary incarceration of anyone who shows signs of mental illness, Galston’s argument alone would not have been the selling ticket. Also, his tone of discrimination and dismissal of community blame creates a ring in which many citizens would not be included. If he is trying to convince people based on a community concept, I find that he misses out on the community he should have truly tried to target.

The Forgotten People

  A good friend of mine has become filled with the questions of a people and a history as he delves deeper and deeper into the ‘Autobiography of Malcolm X’. Over dinner, he made one of the most interesting statements I think that I have ever encountered followed by an intriguing question.

   ” I find it hard to believe in fate if 300 years ago our people were slaves. Do you think we’re better off now today than we were when we were slaves.”

   I quickly wanted to make him feel absurd for asking me such a question. “WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO BE A SLAVE?” But then another consciousness that I possess took over me and led me to the train of thought that I express to you today. Though our ancestors were held down by physical chains and the quips of Southern agriculture, they might possibly have been better off then we are today.

   “But no!”

 We have been glamourized by the superficial struggles of today’s society where the most recent fight is with the “fashion police”. We strut around with European fashions that employ slaves still today. Possibly what we suffer from today is chains that choke the shit out of our minds. Mental slavery has become our new disease; it’s symptoms an undeniable ignorance that lurks in the shadows of our existence.

   Our journey into the midst of American society has been one where we hide our nappy roots and brown skin from the richness of the sun in order to relinquish w

Blame yourself?

   Critiquing yourself is not an enviable task. In fact, to be critical period is probably not one of those activities marked under fun. Yet, lately my observations have brought me to be critical of me and mine. As I pass through this wonderful institution at times flourishing, at others fishing for what is not there, I have made a disturbing discovery.

   Are we ourselves guilty of the worst kind of racism and sexism? As I sit in various classes related to my major, I detect varying degrees of respect.

 At times I get chills. How is it possible, that we invest so much into getting an education, yet we disrespect those guardians of a knowledge that we long to receive. In short, we don’t know anything; and it doesn’t seem like we care. I find young, eager women disrespecting female professors who no doubt carry the burden of being a woman in higher academia.

 I see Black women, nonetheless, hold discourse throughout an entire class session, seemingly ingnorant to the fact that they came from wherever they came from to hear and benefit from whatever these professors had to say.

  I migrate from disgusted to astounded.

Must I conclude that many of us here are number guilty of the worst kind of racism and sexism, not only to those guardians of knowledge, but also to ourselves. Symbols of what we want to be stand in front of us, while we learn NOTHING of what they represent.

   It’s time for us to re-evaluate our purpose.

Sometimes you feel like a nut.

You know how sometimes you feel like a nut? 

     Well, on occasion I feel like a super hero. After a 21 hour semester and especially after I have my first child, I think I’ll have successfully gained my kryptonite.

Then my mom, who’s a superhero for sure, busts my bubble and says I have a long way to go.

 I’m still revolution ready though ;).

The Depths of My Thoughts: Make-Up Queens of a Concrete Jungle

Tuskegee University Homepage

Forseeable Change?

In the aftermath of what may seem like the second most historical inauguration behind Booker T. Washington’s himself, the school buzzes with forseeable change? But despite the convincing and loft words of our new President Dr. Gilbert L. Rochon, are these promises of change simultaneously promises of reality? As a tradition, an instiution that has grabbed itself by it’s own bootstraps and pulled itself to become the victor of change not only in the Black community, but also in all of America, positivity is in the natural order of things. But amidst the inevitable possiblities of what may come, what if these things do not come to fruition in due time?

What if?

Hypotheticals are useless in the scheme of things. It is our responsibility as students to control those same what ifs and compromise possibility into reality for ourselves. It is now time for us, as Tuskegee University students, to become the right arm of the administration. We can no longer sit back rely and complain. 

   Tuskegee University is well known for having some of the best-dressed and most spirited students any institution could produce. We study hard, play hard and most of all dress as if the Yard is our runway. Yet, I feel in the light of great change it is time for us amplify our keen sense of fashion taste with a hunger for school involvement. It is no longer our right to complain about things that we can change.

We want change in the cafe? on the yard? in the gym? in the offices of finance and accounts? in the offices of aids and admissions? WE need to change what we are seemingly so displeased with.

So on the horizon of possibility turned reality; can Tuskegee rise to even higher heights, or are we stuck on this plane of mucky legacy, unable to transcend levels. We can not live on the shoulders of our past forever, we have to add to our legacy somehow.

  Are we revolution ready?

Oj