None of your business

 
I have a friend at my former job in Milwaukee Wisconsin named Alex. I envy him. I know nothing about him except: when he started working at the insurance company he was taking a break from law school, that he's Nigerian, that he likes reggae, that he has a twin sister, that his family moved to Milwaukee when he was fifteen, that his father is a cabdriver and his mother is a nurse. Other than that I know nothing. At first I thought he was just being standoffish, but he was cool with me. We were on the same work schedule and I was his mentor. We'd talk (vent) about work, and that was it. I do know that he dated a woman on the 4th floor. I’d see them together on the weekends out at club or restaurant or the mall, holding hands. I never felt he was hiding anything. He just felt that his business was his business. He was always on a need- to- know basis.


I remember when she was pregnant. She told me about it. She was so happy. They had twin boys. Through the months I observed her stomach getting bigger and bigger. He never talked to me about it. My coworkers were frustrated because they couldn’t get any intel on him. Anything they knew about him came from lies and assumptions that had to be made up since they didn’t know the truth. I don’t know why some people find it necessary to know everything there is to know about everyone they know.

I envy him.

No one knew his business. He controlled what people knew. Too many times I've confided in people and regretted it. Too many times I've opened myself up to people, to hear it being repeated to me by that person, or people I don't even know or like. And once you let something out, it's impossible to bottle it up.

I envy him.

If it wasn't for Linkedin, I wouldn't even know that he completed law school and works at a law firm in Milwaukee Wisconsin. I knew he still lived there because we have texted each other from time to time. He just felt that his business was his business. I have always known everything there was to know about my coworkers, most things I wish I never knew.



From now on I aspire to be like Alex.

Oprah's Theory of Relativity

So, I didn't have the winning $600 million Powerball ticket, which can mean alot of things. The most important of which is: people don't have to come out of the woodwork to remind me that they're related to me (not by blood of course since I'm adopted) or to reminded me that we're friends. They can  continue to forget that I exist until the next funeral, or wedding or other social event, or when a mutual friend comes back to town who wants to see us all together-

Oprah calls this the Theory of Relativity.

The simple act

The loneliest people are the kindest. The saddest people smile the brightest. The most damaged people are filled with wisdom. All because they do not wish to see anyone else suffer the way they do.
                  --Timothy Delvecc

Burn: Singe

what are my words echoing into? are they even stretching beyond and thru time? what myths am i buying into?

why do i compare

with the lie

when im not

what voice wins more battles?

to what end do i have this?

Burn through. Become the light. You are not yet done.

                  --excerpt from Once, and This Time With Passion, by alexgeorge  

This is a repost

The Poser

Are you one of those?

Tiptoeing around

                       over

under

neath 
 (friendship)

t h e r e  a b o u t  
sneaking away from
(honesty)
                                                                                                             running  in the opposite direction

and never ever

-walking on

               in

               through  (
                                      the truth                  ) ?

is it you?

--Alexgeorge

Dammit Janet!

This is how 47 looks

The Amen of The Universe

Love works magic.
It is the final purpose
Of the world story,
The Amen of the universe.
-Novalis

Note to self

Got Privilege?

You know the invisible knapsack of privilege  is obvious when you're the only black man in the department and even your white male coworker notices and mentions that you're being treated differently than him and the others in the department without you having to even bring it up.

I wonder

A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.

                        -- William James

Blacks outvoted whites in 2012, the first time on record

Washington (CNN) – A new Census Bureau report provides more evidence that the changing demographics of the United States are having a deep impact at the voting booth.

The report on the 2012 election found that for the first time on record, black voters turned out to the presidential polls at a higher rate than whites. More than 66% of eligible blacks voted in the presidential contest that pit President Barack Obama against Republican nominee Mitt Romney. Only 64.1% of whites turned out to vote.
The report was released Wednesday.



This the first time since 1968 that blacks turned out at a higher rate the whites.
In addition to blacks turning out at a higher rate, the number of Asian and Hispanic voters grew from 2008 to 2012. Hispanics added 1.4 million people and Asians added over 500,000. Between 1996 and 2012, blacks, Asians and Hispanics all saw their percentage of the voting population increase.
"Over the last five presidential elections, the share of voters who were racial or ethnic minorities rose from just over one in six in 1996 to more than one in four in 2012," said Thom File, the report's author.
The highest turnout of blacks, in addition to the growing number of Hispanics and Asians, could also explain Obama's success in defeating Romney.
According to CNN exit polls, 93% of African-Americans, 71% of Hispanics and 73% of Asians supported Obama over Romney.

User Friendly

put me  high up on the shelf of things you don’t see everyday.of things out of reach.of things you don't need  but  shouldn't  throwaway

until the next time you need me to do the heavy lifting

(        give good  references,

 help you  carry items from IKEA to load in your truck,  help you move, pick you up from the airport, write a poem,  bake something,  and what not

)

.then remember where you left me and why you put me there. remember that I exist. retrieve me. take me off the shelf . brush away the dust.

remove any rust.

check to see if the necessary parts are still working.
ask me to do you a favor.
tell me how good a friend I am.
then put me back on the  shelf.

when you're done using me.

& forget I exist  until the next time you need me again. 

that is all.

that is all.

-alieux george

Either / Or

To be honest, I don't know who I admire more.  You all know how I feel about Halle Berry, but when I see Salli Richardson-Whitfield, I like her more.

Do you?

WE wear the mask that grins and lies,
    It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
    This debt we pay to human guile;
    With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
    And mouth with myriad subtleties.

    Why should the world be over-wise,
    In counting all our tears and sighs?
    Nay, let them only see us, while
            We wear the mask.
    We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
    To thee from tortured souls arise.
    We sing, but oh the clay is vile
    Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
    But let the world dream otherwise,
            We wear the mask!
                             
                                           -- We wear the mask,   Paul Laurence Dunbar

Just a thought

With the exception of my mom, my best friend , the friends I go to lunch with on thursdays, my boss and coworkers, and my landlord, would anyone even notice if I moved to Paris?


Just a thought