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Archive for 2006

Rant

Okay, so I know that young adults are not widely respected by our older counterparts. We're accused of playing our music too loud, driving too fast and having no ambitions except to play PS2 and stay on the Internet blogging and downloading music for our iPods. As a 24-year-old recent graduate, I have to vent. I have to let it be known that it is not easy being young. First and foremost, I can't get a job. We graduate high school and go to college because everybody's telling us it'll be easier to get a job and we'll make more money. We graduate college and go to grad school because we still can't get a job but with a Master's it'll be easier to get a job and we'll make more money. So now what?? Not enough experience. Maybe, it has to do with the fact that I've been busy going to school for the past 20 years. And, why do I need experience to get experience (Common on a similiar topic: "Why do I need ID to get ID?" -The Questions) Nobody's willing to train anybody nowadays. How am I supposed to get a job when all the jobs ask for 10 years experience? Right, so I should have started on my career path at the tender age of 14. Guess I'm just a late bloomer. This is wild. Okay, so as a result I don't have health insurance. Don't get me started on this one. But yet, there are endless polls and articles about how a new trend is emerging of young adults not having insurance. Even if I had a job, I'd probably have to wait 6 months for my insurance to kick in. What else?? Oh yeah, no job=no money. You guys can help me here. I'm trying to take preventative measures, meaning avoiding anything that may cause unexpected expenses. Please, stop throwing trash out your car windows, especially anything that can puncture my tires. When I get pulled over for doing the young adult thing AKA speeding I don't want to have to pay a speeding ticket AND have to buy at least three new tires because mine now have leaks in them. No, but for real, the amount of broken glass on the Beltway's shoulders is ridiculous. Also, no money means that I'm still part of the group of young adults who still live with their parents (because we can't afford to move out) that you read about in Newsweek. It's apparantly the newest trend *whomp whomp* And one more thing, no money means I can't afford to pay back the million and one dollars and fifty cents that I owe Sallie Mae for my BA and Master's that were supposed to get me a job that would allow me to pay for my BA and Master's. And really, it's not helping that the administration decided to raise student loan interest rates to like 9% What's really going on?? Between paying almost $4 for a gallon of gas to put in my car, to drive me to the Metro where I'll pay $10 to park my car and commute to my "job" that doesn't pay me but is giving me experience that's not quite enough to get a paying job, I was barely able to make it to the polls yesterday to vote some people into the government who may sympathize with my plight and help me. Really, I just need minimum wage raised. Maybe, I can get a job at McDonald's. But you know what's ironic, when I applied for a part time position at Claire's I apparently had too much experience. You can't win for losing, huh?? But you know what's even worse than all of this?? And maybe somebody can answer this question for me, they select prospective jurors from the list of registered voters, right?? I've been summoned three times...in the past year. The last time being today, the day after I voted. I'm thinking I may be tired of doing the right thing.

"I want to be free to live, able to have what I need to live" - Dead Prez 'Police State'

United We Stand??

I was listening to Russ Parr's morning radio show this morning and happened to tune into an interesting interview. U.S. Marine's Sgt. Jason L. Thomas was recounting his experiences at Ground Zero on that fateful day five years ago. Although the American public has not heard much about this brave, black man, he is a hero. His story was told in "World Trade Center," the movie that was recently released. The catch is, his character was cast as a white man. I'm torn by this little-known fact just as Parr and his morning crew were. They were emphasizing the fact that Sgt. Thomas' ethnicity should have been a well known fact because the movie was created by one of the victim's he rescued. They also were concerned with the fact that this movie may become the official "transcript" of what happened and it should be correct in every way. Sgt. Thomas was being very patriotic and kept asserting that this was a travisty for all of America and he thinks the movie should still be seen. I applaud Sgt. Thomas for his humility but urge him to recognize that this is bigger than him. This goes back to the thinking that victors get the final say on what gets recorded in history. Unfortunately, we're all American and supposed to be standing united. Why, even in a time a tragedy, are we letting something like race divide us? When those planes hit the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, they didn't discriminate. So, I guess we have another incident of depriving our children of their history. We can add Sgt. Thomas' name to those like Garrett A. Morgan and other important African Americans who are never recognized but whose contributions to this country were life-changing.

MIA

I know I've been inconsistent with my postings as of recently and I don't have any breaking news today - "just some thoughts" as usual. I was reading the paper about a week ago and ran across an interesting article. Somebody polled people in countries such as Russia and Egypt to find out what they thought about America's occupation and attempt to democratize other countries. An overwhelming majority of polled countries think that America is doing more harm than good. All I have to say is, Bush is president over the United States of America, not the world. Who is he to decide how the government should be run in another country??

Mass Confusion

Food for thought. If individuals who are not part of the mainstream (by mainstream I mean majority) adopt mainstream standards but individuals who are part of the mainstream find beauty in ethnicity doesn't that leave the non-mainstreamers right where they started?? It's time to find beauty within ourselves and stop looking to others for confirmation.

"The Most Wonderful Time of the Year"


Mardi Gras. I must admit, I wasn't expecting it to happen this year. I have mixed feelings about it not being canceled. I understand that it is probably one of the biggest sources of income for the city. And why not make money to rebuild the city while having a good time?? All the festivities could bring a breath of fresh air after the tragedy that happened in New Orleans this year--a sense of normalcy. On the flip side, there are people, who don't live in the French Quarter, who are still waiting for their homes to be rebuilt or repaired. They can't share in the sense of normalcy that is Mardi Gras. I have to wonder if the money that was supposed to be used to help these people is instead being used to fund Mardi Gras. It is a good investment if it will yield profit BUT is it fair to ask people to wait any longer to return home just because their homes aren't in the French Quarter?? That's like saying, "They've waited this long, it won't kill them to wait a little longer." It's not right. Especially when the government is spending more money to rebuild cities overseas (it wouldn't have to rebuild them if it hadn't destroyed them) than it is spending on rebuilding a city within its own borders. I guess it's relying on taxpayers to pick up its slack. Nothing unusual there.

Randomness

Okay, so since it's been a while since I written, I have two unrelated topics to talk about. The first is about the terrorist plot to use shoe bombs to high-jack an airplane and fly it into a library tower in Los Angeles. I'm very skeptical about this one. I mean shoe bombs?? A library tower?? Come on. It seems like a fabricated story created to show the American people that all the money being sucked out of our pockets is being put to good use. National Security thwarted a plan involving shoe bombs, we can't be mad about that right?? They've more than made up for what they didn't do on 9/11. "It's the things that make you go hmmmm" Secondly, what's with the latest budget cuts?? $39 Billion cut from Medicaid, Medicare, and student loan subsidies. Who is that going to affect?? Apparently these programs are the cause of the $1.3 trillion deficit that we'll be facing by 2010--The Express reported that the cuts are "an important first step to restoring discipline on spending." How much do you think America spends per day on "the war??" Once again, this is a case of the people who need a break being punished for things they have no control over.

"My people steady losing while the rich keep winning" -The Roots Why (What's Going On)

Literally, just some thoughts

I've been thinking, we need to give our parents' generation much more credit. For instance, the frustration we feel when trying to explain something like Instant Messaging and they don't grasp the concept...yeah, we need to get over it. Think about it, we grew up with computers, pagers, etc. When our parents were growing up, maybe one person in the neighborhood could afford a TV...and it was black and white. How well do you think you could grasp every new piece of technology when it's progressing that quickly?? I think they're remarkable because they're the bridge between simpler times and now.

"Politics As Usual"

Most Americans are under the impression that education will greatly improve their standard of living. I am not sure if this is true anymore. When Hurricane Katrina struck, a lot of people thought race was the determining factor in how quickly affected residents received aid. I think people have to be extremely careful when using the race card; 95 percent of the time, it is used incorrectly. I've said it before and I'll say it again, socioeconomics was the determining factor during this disaster and in most decisions made by people in power. Americans might as well be living in a caste system. Think about it. In the past, higher education meant a career and a lush lifestyle. At the same time, only the well off could afford to send their children to college. In modern times, scholarships, loans, etc. allow for most anybody to attend institutions of higher learning. All of a sudden, an undergrad degree has lost its value because a lacking job market is offering only jobs that graduates may have gotten before receiving their degrees. As a result, people who really couldn't afford college to begin with are stuck repaying loans for 15 years while earning an average salary. I'm not saying that education is bad or that your status will in no way improve, I'm just saying that it probably won't give you elite status. So, the rich remain in the top percentile because there aren't any newcomers and the rest of us continue with our daily grind. And to top it off, we're pitted against each other by an illusion of racial supremecy. So, while members of the working class are busy fighting to grasp anything that may distinguish them, even something as trivial as the color of their skin, the rich and famous are united in enjoying life and ensuring that they continue to enjoy life. Is it safe to say that our reality is fabricated by those in power?? Oh yeah, did anyone else hear that gas companies made a $36 billion profit in 2005 (up from $11 billion in 2004) I thought the American people were told that increased gas prices were a result of a shortage caused in part by Katrina. I didn't major in economics but I thought the law of supply and demand wouldn't allow for a $25 billion increase in profits...

Priorities Part 2 (0r 3)...

I apologize for coming back from my leave of absence still droning on about priorities but it has to be done. My generation of African Americans has become too complacent with its status. We do not realize that we are just coming up...as recently as 50 years ago (I'm talking about our parents here) we were not given the opportunity to live so luxuriously. For real, we need to get it together and invest in something worthwhile. We can't keep laying up on our parents; the only reason they have given us what they have is because their parents couldn't do it for them. We can not become complacent. We have to continue in the tradition of making life better for each successive generation. I want to share a story: About two months ago I was running to class and was oblivious to anything going on in the lobby of the building I was in. As I got on the elevator, I noticed this old woman just as the doors were closing. She could not even stand without balancing herself on tables or whatever was around yet she was dusting the wood in the lobby. She was well past retirement age but obviously she had to work because somebody in her family still relied on her. My point in telling this story is that our ancestors understood what was important in life. These people worked hard for something they knew they would probably never benefit from but they did it for us. We have to continue the tradition

"I know I can't afford to stop for a moment, that it's too soon to forget" -Mos Def

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