Category: honesty
Watch “Nick Cannon & The Smear Campaign” on YouTube
Well, guess what?
I finally got an offer accepted and will be moving soon. This whole dilemma will hopefully be behind me. This is the start of the beginning. My wife is excited and I am relieved to know that I will get this process over with.
I told the new agent (that was my former real estate agent’s ‘assistant’) that “You got more done in one day, than some people could do in months. You are a gifted agent.”
Yes, I know I was hella petty, but so what. I hope that he forwarded that text message to him. He is lucky that I won’t write a negative review about his janky ass.
Here’s my celebration song. lol.
No easy way, really.
Recently I seen news that Steve Harvey decided to sit down with Trump, despite originally being against him. Many people considered that as a ‘sell-out’move.
This meeting stirred a lot of disgust among black celebrities on social media. Especially since Steve Harvey has been on record of being against Trump. It looks like Steve Harvey flipped like a pancake.
Another thing, I cringe when people bring up the “WILLIE LYNCH SYNDROME”, which is a completely made up piece of paper that was found in the 1990’s. From what I researched, this theory is completely fabricated. I doubt slave masters adhered to this code. Question everything.
Look I am going to keep it way too 100 with ya’ll. I am not opposed to Donald Trump meeting up with Steve Harvey. I don’t trust that Trump will do anything different in comparison to Obama. I have to ask myself that if Hillary Clinton met with Steve Harvey would this be such a big deal? I don’t think so. I know that Trump doesn’t have black people(s) best interest at bay, we can see that from the open white supremacists that he hired, but fuck it. He still is elected as the President of The United States of Amerikkka, i meant America. Trump is in control of the country, and it appears that as enigmatic as Donald Trump may be, he will at least pretend to listen to black peoples concerns. I am not co-signing Trump, but I know that he at least listened to one of my idols. Dr. Claud Anderson, author of Black Labor, White Wealth, has been in a legal fight against the USA for African American reparations. The Obama administration wouldn’t even listen to him, but the Trump administration did. I cannot pretend to know what Trump has in store. Trump is very unpredictable and impetuous, recently calling out Rep. John Lewis {civil rights luminary} on twitter. Hiring Jeff Sessions, and several other open white nationalists. It doesn’t appear that Pres-Elect Trump would listen to issues that impact our community beyond arresting more of us inside of the “inner-city”– which is a code word for ghetto black area. It appears however, that his actions show that he will attempt to listen. I think many of us, especially black people who hold the democratic party as a shield that protects us from evil racist powers, see President Obama as a celebrity that accomplished the impossible feat. He was a bigger celebrity than many presidents before him. Once anyone black criticizes Obama, you get ostracized as a person who is a coon, or Uncle Tom. The fact remains that Obama is a little bit over-rated in the black community. If Obama was a white man, he would’ve never gotten the pass that he did when it came to issues of police brutality and corporate bailouts. He never held the bankers accountable for corruption, and sauntered and two stepped his swag into black peoples hearts. He is everything we want our sons and daughters to aspire to be, so we collectively never questioned him or his shortcomings at all. Many times he had to walk a tight-rope of not appearing too black, but being black enough to sing motown songs, and reference rap lyrics at formal events. I like how J. Cole speaks about this in his second verse of his newly released single. Starting at the 1:26 mark
I’m going off on a tangent to say, that I don’t see anything wrong with questioning a president’s motives, but let’s be fair in criticizing leadership. Many of these guys wouldn’t be as critical of Hillary Clinton as they are of Trump. Clinton and Trump may achieve the same goals, just in different approaches. Trump may choose to start implementing a law directly, while Clinton may choose to be discreet about it, distracting us with identity politics and popular celebrities. Politicians main objectives are to please the corporations that fund their campaign, not the people who vote for them. Hence, the reason you have super-pac’s that fund politicians to get bills put into law. The bottom line is the bottom line.
Male Homophobia in the Black community (rant)
To understand the toxic relationship of black alpha-male men and black homosexuals in present-day, you must recognize the ideology of hip-hop and its role creating the modern black masculinity concept.
It is no secret that there is some odd energy between black male homosexuals and black cishet hetero-men. For the most part, hip-hop is a genre of music that is heavily misogynistic. We can all agree that hip-hop is a creation spawned by black culture. It wouldn’t be far fetched to say that there is a large influence of hip-hop in the urban and poor sections of black America. Modern black masculinity therefore is commonly associated with Hip-Hop. To understand the toxic relationship of black alpha-male men and black homosexuals in present-day, you must recognize the ideology of hip-hop and its role creating the modern black masculinity concept.
Many black homosexuals have a negative relationship with alpha or cishet men from the African diaspora. This is usually a result of being ostracized, assaulted, or teased during high school for being feminine in voice, gait, disposition, and so forth. In response, many young men in these situations resorted to befriending young black women. The young black woman represented sort of a maternal protector from many of these cishet alpha black men during conflict, some even willing to fight for the closeted (gay) friend. Socially these black women were mirrored images of their mothers, or sisters. Many gay black men tend to be closer to black women in friendship, in comparison to hetero-black men.
During this symbolic metaphorical sisterhood, the gay male would recognize the shortcomings and failures of many of his black female friends failed relationships. In short, it was usually the fault of hetero-black men. His play-sisters would almost always complain about the same issues many strong single black mothers would gripe about: “This nigga ain’t shit, He don’t wanna pay child support, He doesn’t respect me, He don’t take care of his kids, He trifling, He stay going in and out of jail, He can’t never get his shit together”
With this in mind, the gay black man acknowledges these flaws as a fluid characteristic that is inseparable from black masculinity. This pattern of behavior demonstrated from cishet black men starting from childhood up into adulthood is problematic. Black masculinity as a whole, if not beta, is seen as toxic.
From a straight black male or cishet perspective, protecting your image and masculinity is necessary at all costs. Never let anyone violate your manhood, because in the end, all you have is your word and your balls. If you let another man emasculate you publicly, that is reason for violence to ensue. The worst insult that another cishet black man could hear is anything questioning his sexuality. Insults such as: “Nigga, you’s a bitch, you are a fag, you pussy…”
In hip-hop, his favorite artists taught him that ideology, directly or indirectly, and these lyrics have shaped his views on life. His entourage of brothers relate to these hip-hop artists and the way he feels. His circle “don’t hang with no gay dudes”, and his squad will not be taken lightly because of that.
Another avenue of masculinity is taught the traditional route. Being effeminate in any way is cause for scolding by men who are in the family tree. These could be uncles, cousins, brothers or fathers who see weakness or vulnerability in a male relative. For example, one child decides that he won’t fight back a local bully at school. Being soft, or not seeking retaliation for this physical assault, is cause for reprimanding. The older male relative when catching wind of the situation will usually respond aggressively like “Son, if you don’t go back and find that boy that did this to you, and kick his ass, I’m gonna kick your ass! We are Jackson (last name) men, we don’t play that shit!” 😠
In weekly Sunday mass, he also is confronted by a religious leader who condemns homosexuality as a ticket to hell. To be a gay man, would be akin to suffer a punishment worst than death itself: an abomination to God. To believe in Christ, in the formal sense, is to denounce these “acts” as immoral.
In short, the alpha black man has been taught conventional masculinity. The homosexual black man has been shunned from all areas of black manhood. The gay man matures into adulthood with a caustic relationship towards alpha black men. The collective assaults and taunting during adolescence, boils to a head in adulthood. This is why I suspect many homosexual men are tightly bound to LGBTQ issues over race issues. The black homosexual men who are about racial discrimination, also conflate homosexual prejudice into the equation. “We can’t talk about white supremacy, unless we confront the bigotry of homophobia in the black community. They are ALL connected!”. Herein lies the reason for black feminists, who also may be (gay) lesbian and face similar quagmires in the black community, or black women who have been mistreated by black men, to confront alpha black masculinity as well as the fight against racism. This ideology is called “intersectionality”.
From these frustrations, the #BlackLivesMatter group arises and gets funded to become a digital revolution. By reading the #blacklivesmatter mission statement, it is apparent that this group is not solely a movement for hetero cishet black men.
The #blacklivesmatter movement can be seen as anti-alpha black male. They are against traditional black marriage, and look to re-affirm queerness as true pro-blackness, not “toxic” black masculinity.
The real reason behind this movement is white feminism, and racist gay whites who don’t wish to associate homosexuality or feminism with minority struggles. Michael Sam, the first openly gay player to be drafted by the NFL, came out earlier this year in an interview, and spoke out against racism in the lgbt community. White feminism has always been mum on racially charged issues, often writing pieces on HUFFINGTON POST that have always been centered on sexism and politics. Many cishet black men have been the scapegoat of society. We are America’s largest problem, for some reason. We are the enemies of white men, white women, black men, and black women. The only safe haven of black manhood is in the barbershop. To be alpha male in this current environment, is to risk being labeled sexist or ignorant about the black woman’s struggle, or insensitive to the plight of homosexual black men.
I don’t deny the ignorance and toxic environment of cishet black masculinity. There is a lot of misconceptions of homosexuality, most notable is that it considered a choice. “You can’t be born gay! What kinda shit is that?!” or “I don’t agree with that lifestyle my nigga, I’m straight.”
I don’t think we are born straight or gay. We honestly are just born and grow attracted to whomever we are attracted to. I happened to always have an affinity for females. My cousin who is an open gay man, has always been feminine. Most boys will grow up and like girls, but some boys just won’t. I played with teenage mutant ninja turtles and wrestling figures as a kid, some boys will play with dolls. It’s against my belief because I don’t feel like kids should be sexualized too young. A child’s mind is very impressionable at an early age. They aren’t fully capable of understanding sexuality at such a young age. A young boy may only wish to play with dolls because he is curious about a woman’s anatomy. A liberalized adult may interpret their son wanting to play with dolls the same way they would if a friend decided to reveal himself coming out of the closet. They may go into buying a child a dress and heels before he or she knows their abc’s. Give a child time to grow and decide what their identity is before convincing them its okay to be gay at 4 or 6 years old.
Here are a few examples:
I do believe that there is an agenda to make black men more docile. The new generation after me, are definitely part of a more feminine culture. The jeans young black men wear are so tight that their women’s clothes look baggy. Young Thug, a popular rapper, recently made history by breaking gender norms, wearing a dress on his album cover, despite incessantly flaunting guns and claiming heterosexuality. He constantly calls his homeboys ‘bae’ and uses homosexual behavior to confuse the masses and spread confusion among fans, which only promotes his name and music via gossip. This serves as free promotion to him, because nowadays money trumps integrity.
In my humble opinion, there is no reason to have any animosity towards homosexual men. Number one, I got love for them if they are black, and secondly we need to assimilate against the bigger issue, which is white supremacy. There is no enemy or issue bigger than that. If you don’t realize that first and foremost, than we can’t agree on anything else.
The MIDNIGHT BRAIN STORM (11-19-16)
I must say that in a hypothetical world where Hillary actually won, there still would be some white backlash from people below the bible belt who would’ve been upset that Trump lost.
Kanye West says if he voted, he would’ve voted for Trump. West also says we need to get over racism, because he thinks racist is separate from racism. Twitter lost their damned minds and let him have it.
He went from this:
To This:
Stop complaining about Racism, but he went on this rant about being shut out of the fashion industry, because of his race. A few years back, talm bout! “We’re all slaves!!”
The industry changes people. If you voted for Trump as a black man, you are a sellout in my book. Trump ran a copy+paste version of ‘the southern strategy‘, which completely blamed minorities for the world’s problems, and resuscitated the ku klux klan back to life. He promoted the black brute myth, the latino’s are bringing this country down myth, and pandered to people below the bible belt. Hillary doesn’t give a damn about black folks either, but voting for an open racist like that is no bueno.
However, I must say that in a hypothetical world where Hillary actually won, there still would be some white backlash from people below the bible belt who would’ve been upset that Trump lost. Either way, someone has hell to pay for being a ‘n***er lover’ or other racial slur. I hope that if you live in a racially segregated town as a minority, you consider leaving to an interracial town. I just read a story in Louisiana somewhere, where this 8 year old boy got his arm broken.
In other news Sage Steele went in on a football player for kneeling, and caught hell on social media. She immediately went into victim mode and wrote a long post on Facebook about the criticism she faces for being bi-racial, and being married to a white man. She even threw her kids into it. Not everyone bought it on social media.
I have no issue with interracial relationships, but I’m not praising a white man for choosing a beautiful bi-racial woman. She wishes to live in a color-blind society while uplifting a white man for accepting her black side, but condemns black people for not living in a united color-blind world. I can really go in on this topic, but it would be too long to get into. The main point I will make is that white men have been choosing black women for a loooong time. Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of this beautiful country we live in, couldn’t get enough of that mulatto love. He fathered six kids with a woman named Sally Hemings, who was bi-racial also. White men have no problem getting busy with sistas, especially mulatto’s. One of the first interracial couples was Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. Sage Steele, reminds me so much of that damn character that was in that bar conversation on black unity.
On a positive note. This tweet below is the exact reason it is very important to educate our kids.
As you can see, this girl is maybe 15 or 16 years old max, but she is more intelligent than the damn teacher. The teacher is using all of these stormfront.com talking points that white supremacists use, and she shuts him down at every corner. He thinks he has her with the “How can you complain (about white supremacy) when our president is black?” and her rebuttal leaves him speechless. We need more young educated maniacs like this young woman in our school system. She should’ve been teaching the damn class instead of him. A lot of these teachers that come from different backgrounds view black children as inferior. Being at a predominately black school, most teachers automatically assume, because of statistics formed by the (racist) bell curve theory, that black kids under achieve because they are genetically inferior. That is a complete myth. If your child can memorize a song, they can retain information in a book. The U.S. education system has an implicit bias towards black kids. Our children are most likely to be misdiagnosed with ADHD, and stigmatized with behavior disorders due to these biases. It is truly up to us as a race to produce educational maniacs like this.
Inside Eddie’s Daydream #5
America is starting to realize the past of Christopher Columbus and considering changing his holiday into “Indigenous People Day”. All I can say about this is wow. Native Americans have caught the short end of the stick, and I would be elated to see America make that change.
In other news, I checked out Nate Parker Birth of a Nation movie. It was a great movie that tweaked some changes from the original narrative. However, it was still an award winning performance by Nate Parker. I went inside of the theater, and much to my surprise, there were barely any black people supporting this movie. I noticed one African American mother coaching her daughter on the importance of this film. As me and my wife passed, she spoke even louder to include us, but we continued to our seats. This movie had a powerful ending and I was very emotional as a black man walking out of that theater. Parker captured all of the idiosyncrasies of slavery, from slave catchers to the use of Christianity by slave owners as a tool to quell disgruntled slaves. Black people were believed to be the cursed sons of ham. I dont wish to go too deep, but he hits the nail on the head about the myth of the ‘benign slave master’. The slave revolt is a small part of the film, and even when the killings take place, it still feels like a losing battle for Nat Turner. I was impressed with the film so much so, that I yearn for a film that explains the Haitian revolution.
I could go on and on, but i dont have enough time in my daydream to type. I will say this though. We all have our personal takes on Nate Parker, but ‘The Birth of A Nation’ is a great film. Whether you choose to see it or not.
I also saw ‘Girl on the train’ and Emily Blunt nailed the character Rachel perfectly. Despite not being overweight and unattractive, Blunt owns the character and is completely convincing. I believe in all my heart that she deserves an Oscar for this film. The film is located in New York instead of the UK, and there is virtually no people of color in the movie, not even the south asian therapist, despite having an Indian name. Great film though.
We Aren’t living in a Post-Racial society! Part One (rant)
The issue I have with race in America, is that we cannot act as if race is not an issue because we may not face the same injustices. We are so inundated with the idea of individuality and responsibility, that we lost focus on the ugly realities of racism. Forgetting an issue and glossing over it, is not the same as getting rid of it. If you are diagnosed with a disease, and refuse to treat it, than you must either get on board with solutions, or suffer the dire effects. As Blacks, we need to figure out a salient process of making things happen. The reasons I am here nor there about these presidential candidates, is that they have no incentive to help the black community.
What is good wordpress family? It has been a minute since I have last posted. As for me I am still going through my dilemma that I previously spoke about. More importantly, there have been many issues that have been impacting the African American community. With the recent technology of body cameras and phone cameras, America is starting to see the racial ugliness that has been taboo come to the frontline. I could post on and on about the senseless killings that have been happening in the Black community, you can see these atrocities in graphic detail on Shaun King’s timeline.
Things are starting to feel like the 1960’s all over again, with tensions flaring over Trump vs. Hilary Clinton, police brutality, racial tensions are becoming the norm on social media. If you follow some of the trending hashtags on twitter, you can easily see the ocean of internet trolls making racially insensitive remarks. For some people, it has even costed them their job. I am on neither candidate’s side. Whoever wins the election, wins the election. There has been deception on both sides of the politics game. Fear-mongering has become rampant throughout both sides of the media. There seems to be this tacit implication that Hilary Clinton has the poor black vote, the converse can be said about Trump, easily winning the poor white vote below the bible belt. Donald Trump is an overt racist, and Hilary Clinton will do anything to gain a vote. Im still reminded of the super-predator remark that was aimed at young black men in the early 1990’s.
I have been reading books like crazy about African-American history and I am finally “woke” to the injustices that happens to my race as a whole. I cannot 100 percent say that I am behind the “BLACK LIVES MATTER” movement as well. The whole movement is great as a vehicle to get the message out, but I feel that digital hashtag protests are not the solution. I have read the mission statement from the original website, and there is a lot of intersectionality going on. If you choose to fight for a cause, it should mirror the civil rights movement. The civil rights movement stood up for injustices that made it to the supreme court and caused incredible changes. BLM is a movement that is strategically flawed. When a non-black person hears “BLACK LIVES MATTER”, they immediately digest the meaning as saying their lives matter less. This title automatically causes a person of a different race to become defensive. The naming of the movement is wrong, if you wish to have laws change in the courtroom. Imagine if the civil rights movement chose to go by a moniker such as “STOP KILLING BLACKS!”. I am quite certain that circumstances may have turned out different. While I support the families of victims who suffer from police brutality, I cannot support a movement that only feels a keyboard will cause change.
So, what are the solutions Eddie? To be honest, there are no solutions, this is a process. Solutions happen overnight, processes take time. Racism is insidious and exists in every human being, whether you admit to it or not. How we respond to these emotions and stereotypes, makes a huge difference. Racism is a quagmire that will exist as long as humans exist. Stopping racism is like trying to stop dishonesty. There is no qualitative approach that will make it change. Movies and T.V shows, continue to show Blacks in an inferior state. If most black men you see on television are either rappers, athletes, or actors portraying drug dealers and slaves – what will you automatically perceive the obnoxious black kid, wearing a hoodie with sagging pants as? How will you view the dark skinned black man with a lean muscular build, dreadlocks and tattoos as? You aren’t technically racist if you hold these thoughts in your mind, but rarely in public spaces would you vocally admit these things, because that would be deemed “politically incorrect”, it is nevertheless true. The fear of black men has existed since slave insurrections of the past. To rationalize these claims, many right-wing advocates will easily point to the ill-savagery of black on black crime. Which would be asinine to deny, however, Black on Black crime is an issue that police can’t resolve themselves. This is the rapist blaming the rape-victim for being sexually promiscuous. Not the act of rape itself. The protests have always happened in black neighborhoods. Go to any funeral of any victim of these senseless gang-related or happenstance crimes, there will be a pastor or bishop screaming at the pulpit for the “young brothers and sisters to get saved, and get their act together, come to Jesus, while the lord has blessed you with another day”. How many mothers, fathers, uncle’s, aunt’s, and strong upstanding black people who told their kids how to conduct themselves when police approach the vehicle? How many black mothers and fathers told their kids not to hang around with “those boys and that crowd, cause I’ve heard about them”? What are the working class citizen black families to do, once their child is a victim of violence? Jump in between the bullets of the murderer and victim, while being 11 miles away at their second job? This is an impossible and unrealistic feat. Being poor in a poverty stricken community, you will confront a reality of desperation and violence. In any country, city, or community where you find poverty, you will find violence, it is synonymous. Blacks are among the poorest race in the nation. Another retort to black on black crime is what about before it existed? Before black on black crime, there were justifiable lynchings of black men who tried to own businesses, accidentally gaze at a white woman, or loiter past 9 p.m. in sundown towns. There were people who looked at Emmett Till and said, “that boy should’ve never whistled at no white woman.” And the justifications for police executions in broad daylight on camera, still happen to this day.
The issue I have with race in America, is that we cannot act as if race is not an issue because we may not face the same injustices. We are so inundated with the idea of individuality and responsibility, that we lost focus on the ugly realities of racism. Forgetting an issue and glossing over it, is not the same as getting rid of it. If you are diagnosed with a disease, and refuse to treat it, than you must either get on board with solutions, or suffer the dire effects. As Blacks, we need to figure out a salient process of making things happen. The reasons I am here nor there about these presidential candidates, is that they have no incentive to help the black community. Mass incarceration is real, jail recidivism, police brutality, predatory loans, poverty, lack of home ownership, lack of businesses within our community, lack of black support of black businesses, lack of business loans, weak and fluctuating job employment, and inferior educational standards are issues that all need to be addressed. If black people keep voting for candidates who can do a popular dance move, rather than implement laws that will immediately impact African Americans, what is the point of voting. Yes, we should vote for local figures in our community, vote on laws and measures that may impact our community, but the voting out of fear, has no merit in my books. There has to be an incentive for a candidate to wish to do something for the said community. The LGBTQ community are making enormous strides and are forming super-pac’s to make sure change happens. The Latino community has done the same. The black elite aren’t concerned with the black issues enough to stick together and form a super-pac that will help the less fortunate. They may tweet, or even publicly declare how they will sit down with police officers and have dialogue, some may even tell the black community that we need to “fix” our selves before receiving help, but most of them are invested in retaining the wealth they have earned. Many of them will blame the same communities they come from as victims of their own destruction. Many of their non-black friends will tell them, “look at you man, you are a prime example of someone who started from nothing, and made something happen. You are an example of America and how far we have come.”, buying into this, they easily forget where they come from, and the tactic of using tokenism to hide the hideous realities of black America.
Public vs Private School: Which is better and why?
At the time of this writing, my daughter is only the tender age of 3. Me and my wife are currently debating whether we should put our daughter in a private school. Being a child raised in the public school system, I was vehemently opposed to my daughter going to a public school. My wife grew up in a private school system. She is ambivalent, as to what is the best decision. According to my wife, she liked going to a private school, but feels like there are good public schools in the area that we already reside in.
In my mind, I picture a good private school full of angels who have never committed a sin. The kids all wear white uniforms and plaid skirts, never swear or do drugs, they are the prime example of what a child should be. My wife told me that I am naive as a virgin. She told me that most private school kids behave just as bad, if not worse, depending on what school you go to. Prescription drugs are a thing in private school, and some private schools don’t rank as good in certain subjects.
One day, me and my wife decided to check out the local school ratings by checking Great Schools. Our local public school had very high rankings and the local private school located across the street was ranked lower. I always take reviews with a grain of salt, due to the fact that competition may attempt to incapacitate one another. However, the catholic school had complaints of bullying, while another parent griped about how their child is struggling in high school with math and science.
The pros of private school are the fact that private schools tend to be a tight knit community. Classes are usually smaller, which means a child can get the proper attention he or she deserves. Most of the parents are like minded individuals who want the best for their child. You get to feel more involved by participating in school events, which ultimately makes you feel as if your opinion truly matters. Private schools provide an environment and culture that is conducive to learning; if you know your parents are paying for your school, you inherently feel a sense of responsibility to not disappoint them. If your friends are doing well in classes, you know that you have to perform equally well in order to stay in school. Uniforms eliminate the unneeded facade of a fashion show.
The cons of a private school are that you have to pay a good chunk of money for your child to attend these schools. If you wish for your child to be secular, at a religious school, you will certainly have to pay more. Uniforms, books, and other accessories are not included with tuition. Neither are the penalties for not participating at the private school events. Fundraisers are separate as well. The money adds up and there are no guarantees on how your child will adapt to a rigid environment. In the private high schools, a lot of kids are into more complex drugs: adderall, percocet, vicodin, cocaine, and marijuana. Here is the link to what I am stating. Though the statistics from the studies back up my claims, the results are anecdotal.
The pros of a good public school are that there is usually a healthy mix of diversity. A child will meet other races and become comfortable around different cultures. The bulk of the kids who attend the public school, will be local kids who live around the neighborhood. Being a local kid around the neighborhood, most of the kids in the neighborhood will know who your child is. No obligations of tuition, book fees, and participation penalties; any funds that are contributed are ancillary and optional. A lot of teachers and aides must be state certified in public schools, for some private schools that is not the case. Many local county and state programs work with public schools on after-school programs, which provides kids with extra-curricular activities. Many of these programs include transportation to and from school to assist parents.
The cons of a bad public school are limitless. Drugs and gang violence are common. Sexual activity among teenage girls are higher, and the environment of constant danger is imminent. Many of the teachers are lackluster, because the school which has a bad reputation, is usually seen as a punishment, or as a mean of “paying dues”. Imagine trying to teach a classroom full of kids who are addicted to cell phones, and cannot stop talking about the last episode of “Empire”(Fox) or another housewife reality show. That is nearly impossible to do, especially with a bunch of kids who don’t value education. These are schools who test so poorly that the staff has a high turnaround rate. Teachers can barely build a rapport with the students, before being re-assigned or flat out quitting. This is obviously the worse option.
My wife and me are still debating on what decision to choose. My mother-in-law is adamant on us putting our child in a private school. I am leaning towards placing my child in a public school, and involving my child in extra-curricular activities to expose her to different avenues in life. I feel that this is what most people fail to do as parents. You never expose your child to the different elements of life, and then when the child becomes 18, they are expected to automatically know what they are going to be. The decision also depends on your child’s personality. My child has an alpha personality that could handle public school. Your child may be mild mannered and stoic. Private school may be a better choice. Or, you may choose the school that is the opposite of your child’s temperament. At any rate, I hope the decision that I make is the best decision for my child.
Life’s too short for boring books
For the past 3 years, reading has become my new hobby. For certain books I read the actual text via e-book. Other times, I use audiobooks. In this quest, I have given many books the time of day. If a book cannot capture my full attention with meaningful substance within a chapter or two, I am out. I have thugged it out with some of the most celebrated books, just to say I have read it. In my mind, I will one day go to some pretentious wine party. At this festivity they will serve wine and cheese, with caviar and crackers as appetizers. We will have a conversation about the greatest books ever, and they will ask me if I have ever read “Ulysses” by James Joyce, or Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. And I will reply with “Why, Yes. Madam, may I suggest The Great Gatsby or Mark Twain?”
Get the hell out of here!
On the other hand, I don’t wanna be that guy who reads the baseless books that are no better than an American infomercial. “Hey, Eddie! have you read the Kim Kardashian Selfie book?”
Im not trying to be a snob, I have no animus towards the Kardashians. I am just saying that we can’t have a civil conversation about books, if you’re coming at me with these kind of book suggestions. Saying you read a selfie book, is like saying you take medical advice from Dr. Oz.
There are way too many books out there that I haven’t read to be reading mundane books. I have read books that were absolute money grabs. I just read a book today that talks about how athletes are performing better. I am reading the book under the impression that he will provide an aspect that will change what I already know. The ultimate point of his book was that they challenge the odds. 7 hrs of book reading, sums up to him writing about different athletes, who said they were gonna challenge the status quo. Another historical book with 4 star reviews, talking about how immigrant meat factory workers were in disease and death plagued workplaces. Sounds interesting, only problem is that it is written in an antiquated style that takes the strength of 2 Adderall pills to understand. I completed another book of a celebrated cocksure guru, who writes in a book to “Give maximum effort, to achieve maximum results!”. Not only does he give common sense advice, he talks to you like a Pop Warner coach while doing so. I can go on and on. Books are anecdotal. Hence, whatever book causes an epiphany for you, may not cause a breakthrough with me. This is why those “20 greatest books” lists always pisses readers off. No more tedious books for me. I hope you gather the courage to discontinue books that don’t inspire reflective thoughts.
Eddie Star Blog 