Someone needs to tell me why we are still in the dark ages in Corporate America with Black hair. People, it's 2007. Don't we have bigger fish to fry? Why in the sam hell is this still a big enough issue to be talked about in the corporate hallways and ballroom meetings of America. Good Grief! The following article is taken from The National Law Journal.
Cleary Gottlieb has a bad hair day
Talk about a Glamour don't.
Vivia Chen/The American Lawyer
August 27, 2007
It seemed like a nice frothy summer treat for some hardworking gals at a hard-driving law firm. Instead of hosting another earnest discussion about client cultivation and leadership, the women lawyers group at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton invited an editor from Glamour magazine. The topic: the dos and don'ts of corporate fashion.
First slide up: an African-American woman sporting an Afro. A real no-no, announced the Glamour editor to the 40 or so lawyers in the room. As for dreadlocks: How truly dreadful! The style maven said it was "shocking" that some people still think it "appropriate" to wear those hairstyles at the office. "No offense," she sniffed, but those "political" hairstyles really have to go.
By the time the lights flicked back on, some Cleary lawyers -- particularly the 10 or so African-American women in attendance -- were in a state of disbelief. "It was like she was saying you shouldn't go out with your natural hair, and if you do, you're making a political statement," says one African-American associate. "It showed a general cluelessness about black women and their hair."
The episode also produced a "mixed reaction" along racial lines, says this associate. "Some [whites] didn't understand what the big deal was ... but all the black associates saw the controversy."
Cleary Gottlieb's managing partner, Mark Walker, who heard about the incident from some of the attendees, also saw trouble. Soon after the event, Walker issued an e-mail that denounced the hair commentary as "racially insensitive, inappropriate, and wrong." Calling the beauty advice "appalling," Walker says, "You don't tell people that their physical appearance is unacceptable, when certain characteristics are associated with a racial group." He asks, "What's the alternative? Straighten or bleach your hair?"
As for the identity of the editor, neither Cleary Gottlieb nor Condé Nast Publications Inc. (publisher of Glamour) would say. Indeed, almost all of the half-dozen Glamour editors contacted for this story professed not to have ever set foot in a law firm. "Cleary what?" asked several.
And Walker says he has no idea whether the editor who sparked all this controversy is a well-known fashionista. Not that Walker would know, even if Anna Wintour herself crossed his path. "Who is she?" Walker asks. "I really don't know people in the fashion industry." (If you have to ask, she's the editor of Vogue.)
So did the Glamour editor realize how many feathers she ruffled? Walker says that the speaker was "spoken to by one of the women partners" and that she sent an e-mail apology. "I assume she was oblivious; I doubt she's racist," says Walker. "She wasn't thinking and said something hare-brained."
Or is that hair-brained?
You can find more interesting commentary/discussion about this on Jezebel
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Posh "Infusion" = Neither/Nor
This week, I got an email from a friend about an upcoming event in Washington, DC at a supper club called Posh. The place promised an upscale "Caribbean Night" called Infusion. Infusion promised to be "A Caribbean Affair" – spirited cooking by Paul Yellin. It was sponsored by Mount Gay Rum and Featuring Special Dinner Menu Created by Paul Yellin, a chef "raised and educated in Barbados". It also promised "Special Cocktail Rum Recipes Created by Mount Gay Distilleries Local Brand Specialist Chesterfield Browne", and a Steel Band.
Now, I'm thinking...."this should be a good night out". So I go with a couple of my girls to sample what promises to be yummy, spicy caribbean fare, and listen to some good music. As a Bajan - I'm psyched up that the fellow is a countryman and thinking that he should have some very interesting items on the menu. What a freaking disappointment!
The menu was price fixe. We began with a watermelon gazpacho shot - that pretended to be an amuse bouche. You know, that small wonder of a one bite that sets the tone for the evening...well, it was strange. Not bad, but not great either. One thing was right tho - it was the tone for the entire meal. The appetizer hurricane rolls of shrimp wrapped in a red snapper filet the covered with phyllo dough and fried with a side of scotch bonnet sauce was a poor beginning. The shrimp overcooked, the snapper fish, the phyllo dough soggy - with a sauce that MUST have come straight from a bottle purchased at local west indian market had me in the land of second thoughts before the main dish arrived. My companions fared no better with the pumpkin and lobster bisque. WHERE WAS THE LOBSTER?!?!?! I never saw one single piece. It appeared as if someone made a pumpkin soup and decided that seafood seasoning, would be enough. Even to call this thing a bisque was an insult to the word.
By now, I'm internally nervous about what is coming next from my Bajan brother - and surely, the dinner continued to plow down the same, bland badly cooked road on which it had begun. Hanger steak - completely unseasoned and tasteless. Rice with Mahi Mahi that had to be returned to the kitchen because it was so badly undercooked. Mashed sweet potato with no flavor whatsover. All this for $45 A PLATE?!?!?!? I felt taken advantage of and confused. This from a Bajan chef who has written a recipie book and traveled around the world cooking for dignitaries etc?
For me, there was no saving grace at that table in terms of food. However, I can say that my service was impeccable and that the restaurant itself appealed to the eye. I'd really recommend that the menus that they gave us (which could double as weapons, they are so heavy) be revamped, and that the management at Posh seriously consider their own reputations before hyping up such a non event from a non chef like Paul Yellin. Obviously, this fellow has lost touch with reality and his roots - in forgetting that the food of that region has FLAVOR that is not to be forgotten. If my own Mother does better caribbean food every day than Mr Yellins fine dining experience.....where's Gordon Ramsey when you really need him?
I think I'll avoid all things "Posh" for the forseeable future. I'm willing to give this place one more try for their regular menu. However, I can promise that it won't be on my own dime. As this night added up it was neither "posh" nor "infused" with anything it promised.
Now, I'm thinking...."this should be a good night out". So I go with a couple of my girls to sample what promises to be yummy, spicy caribbean fare, and listen to some good music. As a Bajan - I'm psyched up that the fellow is a countryman and thinking that he should have some very interesting items on the menu. What a freaking disappointment!
The menu was price fixe. We began with a watermelon gazpacho shot - that pretended to be an amuse bouche. You know, that small wonder of a one bite that sets the tone for the evening...well, it was strange. Not bad, but not great either. One thing was right tho - it was the tone for the entire meal. The appetizer hurricane rolls of shrimp wrapped in a red snapper filet the covered with phyllo dough and fried with a side of scotch bonnet sauce was a poor beginning. The shrimp overcooked, the snapper fish, the phyllo dough soggy - with a sauce that MUST have come straight from a bottle purchased at local west indian market had me in the land of second thoughts before the main dish arrived. My companions fared no better with the pumpkin and lobster bisque. WHERE WAS THE LOBSTER?!?!?! I never saw one single piece. It appeared as if someone made a pumpkin soup and decided that seafood seasoning, would be enough. Even to call this thing a bisque was an insult to the word.
By now, I'm internally nervous about what is coming next from my Bajan brother - and surely, the dinner continued to plow down the same, bland badly cooked road on which it had begun. Hanger steak - completely unseasoned and tasteless. Rice with Mahi Mahi that had to be returned to the kitchen because it was so badly undercooked. Mashed sweet potato with no flavor whatsover. All this for $45 A PLATE?!?!?!? I felt taken advantage of and confused. This from a Bajan chef who has written a recipie book and traveled around the world cooking for dignitaries etc?
For me, there was no saving grace at that table in terms of food. However, I can say that my service was impeccable and that the restaurant itself appealed to the eye. I'd really recommend that the menus that they gave us (which could double as weapons, they are so heavy) be revamped, and that the management at Posh seriously consider their own reputations before hyping up such a non event from a non chef like Paul Yellin. Obviously, this fellow has lost touch with reality and his roots - in forgetting that the food of that region has FLAVOR that is not to be forgotten. If my own Mother does better caribbean food every day than Mr Yellins fine dining experience.....where's Gordon Ramsey when you really need him?
I think I'll avoid all things "Posh" for the forseeable future. I'm willing to give this place one more try for their regular menu. However, I can promise that it won't be on my own dime. As this night added up it was neither "posh" nor "infused" with anything it promised.
Friday, September 07, 2007
Why I Continue to Hate Comcast
Didn't we know this would happen one day? It's why I kept DSL. DSL allowed me to keep my independence. No one complains about what I do or how I do it. I always had a feeling that sharing a pipe was a bad idea - it's what happens in the workplace. Everyone is limited because of the sharing of one large connection.
Cable folks....come on back to the darkside, choose dsl.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Shutting Down Big Downloaders
Comcast Cuts Internet Service to Bandwidth Hogs
By Kim Hart
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 7, 2007; A01
The rapid growth of online videos, music and games has created a new Internet sin: using it too much.
Comcast has punished some transgressors by cutting off their Internet service, arguing that excessive downloaders hog Internet capacity and slow down the network for other customers. The company declines to reveal its download limits.
"You have no way of knowing how much is too much," said Sandra Spalletta of Rockville, whose Internet service was suspended in March after Comcast sent her a letter warning that she and her teenage son were using too much bandwidth. They cut back on downloads but were still disconnected. She said the company would not tell her how to monitor their bandwidth use in order to comply with the limits.
"You want to think you can rely on your home Internet service and not wake up one morning to find it turned off," said Spalletta, who filed a complaint with the Montgomery County Office of Cable and Communication Services. "I thought it was unlimited service."
As Internet service providers try to keep up with the demand for increasingly sophisticated online entertainment such as high-definition movies, streaming TV shows and interactive games, such caps could become more common, some analysts said.
It's unclear how many customers have lost Internet service because of overuse. So far, only Comcast customers have reported being affected. Comcast said only a small fraction of its customers use enough bandwidth to warrant pulling the plug on their service.
Cable companies are facing tough competition from telephone giants like AT&T and Verizon, which are installing new cables capable of carrying more Internet traffic.
The cable companies collectively spent about $90 billion in the past decade to improve their networks. And on cable networks, several hundred subscribers often share an Internet connection, so one high-traffic user could slow the rest of a neighborhood's connections. Phone lines are run directly to each home, so a single bandwidth hog will not slow other connections.
As Internet users make more demands of the network, cable companies in particular could soon end up with a critically short supply of bandwidth, according to a report released this month by ABI Research, a New York market-research firm. This could lead to a bigger crackdown on heavy bandwidth users, said the report's author, Stan Schatt.
"These new applications require huge amounts of bandwidth," he said. Cable "used to have the upper hand because they basically enjoyed monopolies, but there are more competitive pressures now."
To trigger a disconnection warning, customers would be downloading the equivalent of 1,000 songs or four full-length movies every day. Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas declined to reveal specific bandwidth limits.
"It's our responsibility to make sure everyone has the best service possible," he said, "so we have to address abusive activities so they won't damage the experience for other customers. "
Companies have argued that if strict limits were disclosed, customers would use as much capacity as possible without tipping the scale, causing networks to slow to a crawl.
Some customers are unaware they are using so much capacity, sometimes because neighbors are covertly connecting through unsecured wireless routers. When they are told of that possibility, many curb their use after an initial warning, Douglas said. Others, however, may be running bandwidth-hungry servers intended for small businesses from their homes, which can bog down a network serving a neighborhood. Comcast said it gives customers a month to fix problems or upgrade to business accounts before shutting off their Internet service.
Joe Nova of North Attleboro, Mass., lost Internet service after Comcast told him that he was using too much bandwidth to watch YouTube videos, listen to Internet radio stations and chat using a Web camera. He and other customers who complained of being shut off said they were not running servers from their homes.
"Sure, I'm online a lot, but there's no way I could have been consuming that much capacity," Nova said.
Other Internet service providers, including Time Warner Cable, Verizon and AT&T, say they reserve the right to manage their networks, but have not yet suspended service to subscribers. Smaller Internet service providers RCN in Herndon, Leros Technologies in Fairfax and OpenBand in Dulles said they do not cap bandwidth use.
Some AT&T customers use disproportionately high amounts of Internet capacity, "but we figure that's why they buy the service," said Michael Coe, a spokesman for the company.
Cox Communications, which provides Internet and cable services to parts of Northern Virginia and Maryland, said the bandwidth demand on its network has doubled every year for the past six years. It has boosted its speeds twice in the past 18 months to keep up and offers tiered service plans for heavier users, spokesman Alex Horwitz said.
"We don't spend a lot of time enforcing [bandwidth] caps, but we contact customers when their usage is egregious enough for it to impact the network," he said. "Instances are few and far between."
When Comcast canceled service to Frank Carreiro, who lives in a Salt Lake City suburb, he started a blog about the experience. His wife and six children then relied on sluggish dial-up Internet access until a phone company offered DSL service in his neighborhood.
"For a lot of people, it's Comcast or it's nothing," he said.
Bob Williams, director of HearUsNow.org, a consumer Web site run by Consumers Union, said the vagueness of Comcast's rules is "unfair and arbitrary."
"They're cutting service off to the people who want to use it the most," he said.
Schatt, the ABI Research analyst, said he expects cable companies to spend about $80 billion over the next five years to increase network capacity. In addition, they may acquire airwaves at an upcoming federal auction and could lay fiber-optic lines over their existing cables. Switching to digital-only programming could also help conserve capacity.
Comcast, Cox and Time Warner say they have more than enough capacity to meet demand and are adding new technologies to strengthen signals. Bruce McGregor, senior analyst at Current Analysis, a research firm in Sterling, said the bandwidth bottleneck is not yet a crisis for cable companies, but it could intensify with competition from phone companies.
Companies like Comcast "need to address people who are major drains on the network" without angering consumers, he said. "They're not the only game in town anymore."
Cable folks....come on back to the darkside, choose dsl.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Shutting Down Big Downloaders
Comcast Cuts Internet Service to Bandwidth Hogs
By Kim Hart
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 7, 2007; A01
The rapid growth of online videos, music and games has created a new Internet sin: using it too much.
Comcast has punished some transgressors by cutting off their Internet service, arguing that excessive downloaders hog Internet capacity and slow down the network for other customers. The company declines to reveal its download limits.
"You have no way of knowing how much is too much," said Sandra Spalletta of Rockville, whose Internet service was suspended in March after Comcast sent her a letter warning that she and her teenage son were using too much bandwidth. They cut back on downloads but were still disconnected. She said the company would not tell her how to monitor their bandwidth use in order to comply with the limits.
"You want to think you can rely on your home Internet service and not wake up one morning to find it turned off," said Spalletta, who filed a complaint with the Montgomery County Office of Cable and Communication Services. "I thought it was unlimited service."
As Internet service providers try to keep up with the demand for increasingly sophisticated online entertainment such as high-definition movies, streaming TV shows and interactive games, such caps could become more common, some analysts said.
It's unclear how many customers have lost Internet service because of overuse. So far, only Comcast customers have reported being affected. Comcast said only a small fraction of its customers use enough bandwidth to warrant pulling the plug on their service.
Cable companies are facing tough competition from telephone giants like AT&T and Verizon, which are installing new cables capable of carrying more Internet traffic.
The cable companies collectively spent about $90 billion in the past decade to improve their networks. And on cable networks, several hundred subscribers often share an Internet connection, so one high-traffic user could slow the rest of a neighborhood's connections. Phone lines are run directly to each home, so a single bandwidth hog will not slow other connections.
As Internet users make more demands of the network, cable companies in particular could soon end up with a critically short supply of bandwidth, according to a report released this month by ABI Research, a New York market-research firm. This could lead to a bigger crackdown on heavy bandwidth users, said the report's author, Stan Schatt.
"These new applications require huge amounts of bandwidth," he said. Cable "used to have the upper hand because they basically enjoyed monopolies, but there are more competitive pressures now."
To trigger a disconnection warning, customers would be downloading the equivalent of 1,000 songs or four full-length movies every day. Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas declined to reveal specific bandwidth limits.
"It's our responsibility to make sure everyone has the best service possible," he said, "so we have to address abusive activities so they won't damage the experience for other customers. "
Companies have argued that if strict limits were disclosed, customers would use as much capacity as possible without tipping the scale, causing networks to slow to a crawl.
Some customers are unaware they are using so much capacity, sometimes because neighbors are covertly connecting through unsecured wireless routers. When they are told of that possibility, many curb their use after an initial warning, Douglas said. Others, however, may be running bandwidth-hungry servers intended for small businesses from their homes, which can bog down a network serving a neighborhood. Comcast said it gives customers a month to fix problems or upgrade to business accounts before shutting off their Internet service.
Joe Nova of North Attleboro, Mass., lost Internet service after Comcast told him that he was using too much bandwidth to watch YouTube videos, listen to Internet radio stations and chat using a Web camera. He and other customers who complained of being shut off said they were not running servers from their homes.
"Sure, I'm online a lot, but there's no way I could have been consuming that much capacity," Nova said.
Other Internet service providers, including Time Warner Cable, Verizon and AT&T, say they reserve the right to manage their networks, but have not yet suspended service to subscribers. Smaller Internet service providers RCN in Herndon, Leros Technologies in Fairfax and OpenBand in Dulles said they do not cap bandwidth use.
Some AT&T customers use disproportionately high amounts of Internet capacity, "but we figure that's why they buy the service," said Michael Coe, a spokesman for the company.
Cox Communications, which provides Internet and cable services to parts of Northern Virginia and Maryland, said the bandwidth demand on its network has doubled every year for the past six years. It has boosted its speeds twice in the past 18 months to keep up and offers tiered service plans for heavier users, spokesman Alex Horwitz said.
"We don't spend a lot of time enforcing [bandwidth] caps, but we contact customers when their usage is egregious enough for it to impact the network," he said. "Instances are few and far between."
When Comcast canceled service to Frank Carreiro, who lives in a Salt Lake City suburb, he started a blog about the experience. His wife and six children then relied on sluggish dial-up Internet access until a phone company offered DSL service in his neighborhood.
"For a lot of people, it's Comcast or it's nothing," he said.
Bob Williams, director of HearUsNow.org, a consumer Web site run by Consumers Union, said the vagueness of Comcast's rules is "unfair and arbitrary."
"They're cutting service off to the people who want to use it the most," he said.
Schatt, the ABI Research analyst, said he expects cable companies to spend about $80 billion over the next five years to increase network capacity. In addition, they may acquire airwaves at an upcoming federal auction and could lay fiber-optic lines over their existing cables. Switching to digital-only programming could also help conserve capacity.
Comcast, Cox and Time Warner say they have more than enough capacity to meet demand and are adding new technologies to strengthen signals. Bruce McGregor, senior analyst at Current Analysis, a research firm in Sterling, said the bandwidth bottleneck is not yet a crisis for cable companies, but it could intensify with competition from phone companies.
Companies like Comcast "need to address people who are major drains on the network" without angering consumers, he said. "They're not the only game in town anymore."
Ipod madness
A 30 second rant here to go along with the post from article clipped from the Washington Post below.
What the hell has gone wrong with these people? Hey, it took me a long time to convert to Appleland, and get an ipod - even upgrading to the very cool video version. However, Mr Jobs - what I need now is not a complete revamp BUT MORE SPACE ON MY DEVICE. Ok, a bigger screen would be nice - however, what I really like about this thing is that it can be an entertainment center in my pocket. I like that it can store SO MUCH data and give me access to all of my own content. I don't want Wi=fi OR the ability to buy tunes on the thing - I can do that at home. What I want is really not that complicated.
Why would anyone fall for the newest Ipod (released in the UK) at 8 or 16 gig for approx $300 bucks! It's a sad imitation of the iphone at best. Personally, I like my click wheel - it works. I really don't need a touch screen that I have to keep wiping finger prints off of before I watch a movie.
The new shuffle is kinda cute - but do you really want 2.5 inches of a movie? Does want want 2.5 inches of anything? Sorry, I digress. My thoughts are devolving now. I'll quit while I'm ahead.
What the hell has gone wrong with these people? Hey, it took me a long time to convert to Appleland, and get an ipod - even upgrading to the very cool video version. However, Mr Jobs - what I need now is not a complete revamp BUT MORE SPACE ON MY DEVICE. Ok, a bigger screen would be nice - however, what I really like about this thing is that it can be an entertainment center in my pocket. I like that it can store SO MUCH data and give me access to all of my own content. I don't want Wi=fi OR the ability to buy tunes on the thing - I can do that at home. What I want is really not that complicated.
Why would anyone fall for the newest Ipod (released in the UK) at 8 or 16 gig for approx $300 bucks! It's a sad imitation of the iphone at best. Personally, I like my click wheel - it works. I really don't need a touch screen that I have to keep wiping finger prints off of before I watch a movie.
The new shuffle is kinda cute - but do you really want 2.5 inches of a movie? Does want want 2.5 inches of anything? Sorry, I digress. My thoughts are devolving now. I'll quit while I'm ahead.
Poked in the i
By Eugene Robinson
Friday, September 7, 2007; A21
If I were an iPhone owner, I'd be hopping mad. I'd be iRate.
Just 10 weeks ago, otherwise sane individuals were camping overnight in long lines for the privilege of paying $599 for a mobile phone. These people were fully aware that most wireless companies will give you a basic phone for free, but the object of their ardor was anything but basic. It was a lifestyle choice. It was an advertisement for oneself. It was a shiny little slice of the future, a thin slab of cool. So what if it cost, gulp, 600 bucks? How could anyone get hung up over anything so prosaic as the price?
But when chief executive Steve Jobs announced Wednesday that Apple was slashing the iPhone's price by a third -- meaning that owning a slice of the future now sets you back only $399 -- the iPhone Internet forums lit up with buyers who felt they'd been taken for chumps.
On the everythingiPhone forum, someone with the screen name "Silverado" posted: "So much for a consumer-oriented company. This was my first Apple product and it will be my last." And on the macrumors site, "mac17" wrote that he intended to e-mail Jobs a harangue that begins, "As a loyal Apple customer I feel like I and other iPhone customers are being treated like dirt."
Jobs didn't go out of his way to make them feel any better. "That's technology," he told USA Today. "If they bought it this morning, they should go back to where they bought it and talk to them. If they bought it a month ago, well, that's what happens in technology." Stung by the reaction, he did offer Thursday to give early buyers a $100 store credit -- but no cash refund.
Still, you've got to hand it to the man for knowing his customer base. Better than anyone else in the silicon-based industries, Jobs understands that people adopt new technology not so much because of what it does but because of what it promises. And he understands that as long as you promise something that no iWhatever can possibly deliver -- a changed life, basically -- then you can keep the customers coming back.
What the iPhone does is package a lot of functions into one sleek device -- telephone, music, e-mail, Web browsing, photos. What it promises is that it will simplify and unclutter your life. We go through each day being bombarded with inputs from every direction; we're always having to come up with data -- phone numbers, e-mail addresses -- that we've left somewhere else, on some other machine; we leave the laptop home and wish we'd taken it, or we lug it around all day without using it. Here, according to the promise, is an elegant little machine that can serve as portal, organizer, window on the world. Here, we're promised, is control.
The few people I know who own iPhones seem to love them, but they haven't reported a marked improvement in the quality of their lives. They still have too much work to do and too little time; they still can't quite find that one piece of information they need right now. But, hey, maybe the next-generation iPhone will do the trick -- and you know that Jobs has one on the drawing board.
The fact is that in terms of miniaturization and number of features, some gadgets are already reaching their practical limits. I have big fingers; there is no way I could possibly thumb out an e-mail on a keyboard smaller than the one on my BlackBerry. The same physical limitation applies to cellphone keypads. And a 10-megapixel digital camera is no better for taking family snapshots than one that shoots a mere six megapixels.
Occasionally, there's a real breakthrough. But mostly what we're getting from the purveyors of electronic devices are incremental advances and improved packaging. Jobs was quick to realize that you have to sell image along with the gizmo.
This time, though, he has failed to live up to one clause in his implied contract with iPhone buyers. The sky-high price was supposed to guarantee a decent period of exclusivity. For a time, if you bought an iPhone, you were supposed to be the envy of your friends. The ability to show off all the neat things it could do was your compensation for the fact that the iPhone didn't really change your life.
Eventually, you understood, everybody would have one -- as happened with the iPod. But after spending $599 for a cellphone, the aura of supercool should have lasted longer than a couple of months.
Sorry if you feel cheated. As the man said, that's technology.
Friday, August 17, 2007
From SOBA - Judge Hatchetts Speech
I never watch her on TV - but her comments in this venue are worth a listen.
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Stupid Criminal Tricks
Is it me? Or is everyone just getting MORE crazy?
Woman Arrested in Fudge Robbery After Assault Claim
By Joe Holley Washington Post Staff WriterFriday, August 3, 2007; 3:58 PM
A sweet tooth proved to be the undoing of a Greenbelt woman visiting Annapolis this week.
Shortly after midnight, Thursday morning, the Annapolis Police Department received a call from a clerk at the downtown Maryland House Hotel, who reported that a woman had come into the lobby and said she had been the victim of a sexual assault.
Officers met with Greenbelt resident Catherine Anne Delgado, 35, and determined that her assault claim was unfounded. During the course of their conversation in the lobby, the officers noticed that Delgado, wearing slacks and a sleeveless white blouse, had large slabs of fudge bulging out of her pockets.
"Smudges of fudge showed up very well on her hands and white blouse," Officer Hal Dalton said. "You don't see something like that every day."
On a hunch, an officer walked over to the nearby Fudge Kitchen on Main Street and found that the front door was unsecured. The Fudge Kitchen owner told police that since closing time a large amount of fudge had disappeared from the store's window display. He did not know why the door was unlocked.
Meanwhile, back at the hotel, Delgado had used the restroom during her interview with police. When a female officer checked the facility, she found that Delgado had tried to flush a large amount of fudge down the toilet, so much, in fact, that the candy clogged the toilet.
Delgado was arrested and charged with burglary. She was being held on $100,000 bond.
Woman Arrested in Fudge Robbery After Assault Claim
By Joe Holley Washington Post Staff WriterFriday, August 3, 2007; 3:58 PM
A sweet tooth proved to be the undoing of a Greenbelt woman visiting Annapolis this week.
Shortly after midnight, Thursday morning, the Annapolis Police Department received a call from a clerk at the downtown Maryland House Hotel, who reported that a woman had come into the lobby and said she had been the victim of a sexual assault.
Officers met with Greenbelt resident Catherine Anne Delgado, 35, and determined that her assault claim was unfounded. During the course of their conversation in the lobby, the officers noticed that Delgado, wearing slacks and a sleeveless white blouse, had large slabs of fudge bulging out of her pockets.
"Smudges of fudge showed up very well on her hands and white blouse," Officer Hal Dalton said. "You don't see something like that every day."
On a hunch, an officer walked over to the nearby Fudge Kitchen on Main Street and found that the front door was unsecured. The Fudge Kitchen owner told police that since closing time a large amount of fudge had disappeared from the store's window display. He did not know why the door was unlocked.
Meanwhile, back at the hotel, Delgado had used the restroom during her interview with police. When a female officer checked the facility, she found that Delgado had tried to flush a large amount of fudge down the toilet, so much, in fact, that the candy clogged the toilet.
Delgado was arrested and charged with burglary. She was being held on $100,000 bond.
Friday, August 03, 2007
Images of Africa
These are just a few of the images I captured on my recent trip to Tanzania. I'm still thinking about the slideshow - and what should go in and out...and about what I'm going to say behind it. However, in the meantime, as I go thru the shots - I'll post a few here and there. This first one is "two girls on the road to ngorongoro".
"What are those crazy Americans up to now?"
African Animals
Here are just a few of the images I captured of the local wildlife.
The zebra at the Ngorongoro Crater
"I LOVE YOU MOM"
(really, it was more like, "Yum, whatcha eatin mom?")
Who's watching who here?
Random African Images
These flowers are everywhere in the area we were staying. Our nearest town was USA River. Now, thats not U.S.A River (as we first thought when we saw the sign years ago) It's pronounced ooooosah.
How long did I have to watch this flower before the bee came along? Please - don't ask.
The children are fabulous - all you have to do is say "Chekka" - (smile) and a big grin usually breaks out.
You know this bird KNOWS how beautiful he is.
Snippets of Africa
"I'm too sexy for this roof"
"Please don't hate me cuz I'm beautiful"
"Hey! What the hell is going on around here?"
More of my fabulous Tanzanian friends.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Our kids
I know it looks like a bunch of mugshots - however, this was the day that we took ID pictures for our kids. This is the first group of selected children. The kids were scared, there was a lot of buzzing going on around them and I'm sure a few of them didn't really have a clue as to why all the fuss was going on. No matter what I said, I got bupkis in terms of a real response from them. No matter, we love 'em anyway.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Back from The Motherland
(Havilah Village's first residents move in)
Finally back from our trip to Tanzania. Havilah is open! The dedication went off swimmingly. After much praying, prepping, painting, shopping, tweaking, sewing, sweeping, planting, planning - the house was finally ready. There's a lot I want to talk about in regards to this trip, but also a lot I'm not sure I should put in this blog. I'm still debating which parts to out and which parts to keep.
But on the which part to "out" - It was a big day for all those who have worked so hard to see this project from dirt to destiny. Having been a part of the thing since the dirt days 3 years ago, to see the house setup so beautifully was very moving. These kids will live in a standard far from what they've ever known. I'm just praying that we don't end up raising a bunch of selfish brats - as is known to be human nature.
As I watch this project, I see a kind of grand experiment. Nothing like this has ever been done before. What happens when you give children who have so little, so much? How do you guide them into the realization of their blessings and the obligation that because they have these blessings they MUST grow to serve their community with honor and dignity. They must give back. It's not optional. How do you teach that? I watch parents in America struggle with the communication of those values every day. So, I wonder what the plan will be to communicate that big picture message to these kids as they grow. It's a deep thought - and I welcome comments on it. How do you make sure that you raise great Tanzanians - and not American wannabes?
Now on to dedication......
Dedication day began cloudy and cool, but because of much prayer ended up sunny and even hot! There was a stellar lineup of speakers..... African church leaders, the village chief (we love Loti!), the leadership of Global Vessels, and of course, the local African dignitaries.
First and foremost, we began by asking God's blessings on the homes and all who work and dwell there.Then came the lineup of speeches.
As you can imagine, there was a lot of talking. There were the dedication speeches,
(here's Bob Wallace with the dedication to his mother).And the dedication of the second house by Pastor Gene Donaldson of the Capitol Hill SDA Church in Washington, DC to Gilda Allen's mother.
Our Pastor, Marcellus Robinson gave congratulatory remarks on behalf of the Emmanuel SDA Church in Ashton, Maryland.
The Chief of the village of Ngongongare- Loti Nnko - made his remarks as well.
My personal favorite bunch of fellow musicians helped us praise the Lord with music.
"Unity Singers" from the University of Arusha
And Rebecca Trotter, the new housemom (Mama T, as she will be known) was introduced to the village.
After all the praying, speechmaking and praising....the ribbon was cut. Havilah Orphange Village is declared open by Virginia and Frazier Mathis.
Then came the food and the tour. EVERYONE in attendance (more than 300 people), sampled what had been provided, and then toured the facility. It was truly a day of celebration for all!
HAVILAH ORPHANGE (House No 1.)
Here are a few pictures of the
house interior spaces...furnished and ready to go.
This beautiful artwork is set in the tile at the entrance to the house
Here's our new dining room. This one's fit for a king.
Bunk beds anyone? The girls get Dora the Explorer.
This ones for the boys..
There's a room for Mama T (Rebecca Trotter, our housemother)
And here is a "themed activity room"- all about reading
Thursday, July 05, 2007
For the Fourth of July
Frederick Douglass gives one of his greatest speeches. . .
July 5
Frederick Douglass
*On this date in 1852, Frederick Douglass gave the speech "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro".
The abolitionist was invited to address an audience in Rochester, New York at Corinthian Hall. That day Douglass delivered the following indictment of a nation celebrating freedom and independence, while keeping slaves.
“Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men, too; great enough to give frame to a great age. It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. The point from which I am compelled to view them is not, certainly, the most favorable; and yet I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. They were statesmen, patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory....
Fellow citizens pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us? Would to God, both for your sakes and ours that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Then would my task be light and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold, that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man.
In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the "lame man leap as a hart." But such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me.
This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrevocable ruin! I can today take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people!
"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yea! we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there, they that carried us away captive, required of us a song; and they who wasted us required of us mirth, saying, sing us one of the songs of Zion. How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth."
Fellow-citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, "may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!" To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world.
My subject, then, fellow citizens, is American slavery. I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Standing there identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July! Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America. is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future.
Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the constitution and the Bible which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery the great sin and shame of America! “I will not equivocate; I will not excuse"; I will use the severest language I can command; and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slaveholder, shall not confess to be right and just.
But I fancy I hear some one of my audience say, "It is just in this circumstance that you and your brother abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. Would you argue more, an denounce less; would you persuade more, and rebuke less; your cause would be much more likely to succeed." But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? That point is conceded already. Nobody doubts it. The slaveholders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. There are seventy-two crimes in the State of Virginia which, if committed by a black man (no matter how ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of the same crimes will subject a white man to the like punishment. What is this but the acknowledgment that the slave is a moral, intellectual, and responsible being? The manhood of the slave is conceded. It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read or to write. When you can point to any such laws in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. When the dogs in your streets, when the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute, then will I argue with you that the slave is a man!
For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Is it not astonishing that, while we are ploughing, planting, and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver and gold; that, while we are reading, writing and ciphering, acting as clerks, merchants and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators and teachers; that, while we are engaged in all manner of enterprises common to other men, digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hill-side, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives and children, and, above all, confessing and worshiping the Christian's God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men!
Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? That he is the rightful owner of his own body? You have already declared it. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Is that a question for Republicans? Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to be understood? How should I look today, in the presence of Americans, dividing, and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to freedom, speaking of it relatively and positively, negatively and affirmatively? To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven that does not know that slavery is wrong for him.
What, am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, is wrong? No! I will not. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply.
What, then, remains to be argued? Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? There is blasphemy in the thought. That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! Who can reason on such a proposition? They that can may; I cannot. The time for such argument is passed.
At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. O had I the ability, and could reach the nation's ear, I would, today, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.
What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.
Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.
Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented, of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country. There are forces in operation which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. "The arm of the Lord is not shortened," and the doom of slavery is certain. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. While drawing encouragement from "the Declaration of Independence," the great principles it contains, and the genius of American Institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age. Nations do not now stand in the same relation to each other that they did ages ago. No nation can now shut itself up from the surrounding world and trot round in the same old path of its fathers without interference. The time was when such could be done. Long established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence themselves in, and do their evil work with social impunity. Knowledge was then confined and enjoyed by the privileged few, and the multitude walked on in mental darkness. But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind. Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. The arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. It makes its pathway over and under the sea, as well as on the earth. Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered agents. Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. From Boston to London is now a holiday excursion. Space is comparatively annihilated. Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic are distinctly heard on the other.
The far off and almost fabulous Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. The fiat of the Almighty, "Let there be Light," has not yet spent its force. No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light. The iron shoe, and crippled foot of China must be seen in contrast with nature. Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. 'Ethiopia, shall, stretch out her hand unto God."
Reference: The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass,
Volume II, Pre-Civil War Decade 1850-1860
Philip S. Foner, International Publishers Co., Inc.,
New York, 1950
July 5
Frederick Douglass
*On this date in 1852, Frederick Douglass gave the speech "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro".
The abolitionist was invited to address an audience in Rochester, New York at Corinthian Hall. That day Douglass delivered the following indictment of a nation celebrating freedom and independence, while keeping slaves.
“Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men, too; great enough to give frame to a great age. It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. The point from which I am compelled to view them is not, certainly, the most favorable; and yet I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. They were statesmen, patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory....
Fellow citizens pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us? Would to God, both for your sakes and ours that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Then would my task be light and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold, that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man.
In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the "lame man leap as a hart." But such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me.
This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrevocable ruin! I can today take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people!
"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yea! we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there, they that carried us away captive, required of us a song; and they who wasted us required of us mirth, saying, sing us one of the songs of Zion. How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth."
Fellow-citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, "may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!" To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world.
My subject, then, fellow citizens, is American slavery. I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Standing there identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July! Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America. is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future.
Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the constitution and the Bible which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery the great sin and shame of America! “I will not equivocate; I will not excuse"; I will use the severest language I can command; and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slaveholder, shall not confess to be right and just.
But I fancy I hear some one of my audience say, "It is just in this circumstance that you and your brother abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. Would you argue more, an denounce less; would you persuade more, and rebuke less; your cause would be much more likely to succeed." But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? That point is conceded already. Nobody doubts it. The slaveholders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. There are seventy-two crimes in the State of Virginia which, if committed by a black man (no matter how ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of the same crimes will subject a white man to the like punishment. What is this but the acknowledgment that the slave is a moral, intellectual, and responsible being? The manhood of the slave is conceded. It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read or to write. When you can point to any such laws in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. When the dogs in your streets, when the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute, then will I argue with you that the slave is a man!
For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Is it not astonishing that, while we are ploughing, planting, and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver and gold; that, while we are reading, writing and ciphering, acting as clerks, merchants and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators and teachers; that, while we are engaged in all manner of enterprises common to other men, digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hill-side, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives and children, and, above all, confessing and worshiping the Christian's God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men!
Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? That he is the rightful owner of his own body? You have already declared it. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Is that a question for Republicans? Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to be understood? How should I look today, in the presence of Americans, dividing, and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to freedom, speaking of it relatively and positively, negatively and affirmatively? To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven that does not know that slavery is wrong for him.
What, am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, is wrong? No! I will not. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply.
What, then, remains to be argued? Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? There is blasphemy in the thought. That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! Who can reason on such a proposition? They that can may; I cannot. The time for such argument is passed.
At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. O had I the ability, and could reach the nation's ear, I would, today, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.
What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.
Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.
Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented, of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country. There are forces in operation which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. "The arm of the Lord is not shortened," and the doom of slavery is certain. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. While drawing encouragement from "the Declaration of Independence," the great principles it contains, and the genius of American Institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age. Nations do not now stand in the same relation to each other that they did ages ago. No nation can now shut itself up from the surrounding world and trot round in the same old path of its fathers without interference. The time was when such could be done. Long established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence themselves in, and do their evil work with social impunity. Knowledge was then confined and enjoyed by the privileged few, and the multitude walked on in mental darkness. But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind. Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. The arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. It makes its pathway over and under the sea, as well as on the earth. Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered agents. Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. From Boston to London is now a holiday excursion. Space is comparatively annihilated. Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic are distinctly heard on the other.
The far off and almost fabulous Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. The fiat of the Almighty, "Let there be Light," has not yet spent its force. No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light. The iron shoe, and crippled foot of China must be seen in contrast with nature. Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. 'Ethiopia, shall, stretch out her hand unto God."
Reference: The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass,
Volume II, Pre-Civil War Decade 1850-1860
Philip S. Foner, International Publishers Co., Inc.,
New York, 1950
Africa - AGAIN
Yes, yes, I am preparing to go to Tanzania for the third year in a row. Believe me, I'm not sure how this happened. All I can say is that it must be God's will. On the steps of a clinic in usa (pronounced oooosah) river last year - I asked the team Dr. if she'd miss me. She pretended to be "appalled" and began to inform me that since I've been infected by the service bug - I would never be the same, nor be able to quit doing it. Apparently, she's right. This year, I had no money and decided that I would hand my entire participation in this project to God. I asked him to provide the funds if he wanted me to go. I indicated that it was all on him this time. He provided more than I could have hoped for - and not a cent came out of my pocket (not that I had it anyway). I have experienced generosity and my faith in the individual (mind you, not in society) has been restored. Good people want to do good things. I'm proud that I have good people around me.
We leave on July 10th. If I can, I'll update this blog from there. If not, pray for us. It's the grand opening of Havilah and we have a lot planned. There will be approximately 60 people on this trip to Tanzania - all going to lend a hand in the continuing building project of this great orphanage project. This time, there are 3 houses completed. We'll be working on the administration building and meeting the new kids that will be moving (or have already moved) into the house. If you've been a part of this project - stay tuned, great things to come.
For Global Vessels and Me - I say, Assante Sana to you all.
We leave on July 10th. If I can, I'll update this blog from there. If not, pray for us. It's the grand opening of Havilah and we have a lot planned. There will be approximately 60 people on this trip to Tanzania - all going to lend a hand in the continuing building project of this great orphanage project. This time, there are 3 houses completed. We'll be working on the administration building and meeting the new kids that will be moving (or have already moved) into the house. If you've been a part of this project - stay tuned, great things to come.
For Global Vessels and Me - I say, Assante Sana to you all.
It's all about Jesus
It’s All About Jesus
by John Fischer
“When I came to you … I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:1-2 NIV)
The Gospel message has gotten a little foggy these days with all the attention being paid to politics, family values, and culture wars, and a lot of folks have lost track of the fact that it’s all about Jesus. Ask the man on the street what a Christian is today and you’re likely to ask a long time until you hear anything about Jesus or the cross. Our message, from beginning to end, is Jesus – who he was, what he said, and what he did.
The last recognized revival in this country was a movement primarily among baby boom youth in the early 1970s that was quickly dubbed the Jesus movement. It got that name because everything was focused around Jesus. When you think about it, Jesus was the ultimate hippie – he wore long hair, sandals, and he was against the establishment – and a generation of ideological kids embraced Christ, even while they rejected religion and the institutional church. Jesus was the central figure in all of this. What is now called Christian music was originally called Jesus music. Christians were called Jesus freaks. Now I’m not suggesting we all go back to tie-dyed T-shirts, bell-bottom pants, and Jesus rock, but I am suggesting we could learn something from this emphasis that transcended politics and religion.
Our message is all about a person, and our mission is to share that person with the world. God made us to belong to him; we wandered away; Jesus is the way back. A whole generation of young people found that out 30 years ago and nothing’s really changed about the heart of the message. It’s a personal message. It’s non-threatening. It’s all about a meaningful relationship with God that comes to someone by way of a meaningful relationship with them. There’s not a lot of baggage here. Our main concern is to introduce ourselves to people and in doing so, to introduce them to Jesus, because, as far as we’re concerned, that’s who it’s all about.
Jesus came to save us, unite us, and teach us to love one another. We’ve added a lot of other stuff to this and I’m not so sure it’s helping us do what we’re supposed to be doing. If it makes you more loving to your neighbor, then it’s probably a good thing. If it makes you your neighbor’s enemy, then it’s probably not. If it’s all about Jesus, then it’s definitely “right on!”
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Imus and the ensuing madness
I read this essay in the Washingtonpost today. I'm with the quote from the Rutgers Team Captain.
"What is revealed by a crack in the Good Person Facade"
....from the Washingtonpost.Com essay.
It's wrong when we co-sign (with our money and time and interest - or dance moves in the club) our people denigrating each other...and it's wrong when folks of other ethnic backgrounds do it as well. However, all we can do as individuals use the power of the dollar to cast our votes - and most importantly, teach our children the values that would help them cast the right vote as well. If we and our children don't stand firm for something - then as part of the larger society, we will continue to fall for anything.
I can be upset with Imus - just as upset as I am with everyone that denigrates not just African Americans, but all other societal groups as well. I can turn the channel on my radio, I can refuse to watch BET, MTV, VH1 or any other channel that routinely promotes misogyny, sexism, racism, or extremisim in any form. I can definately refuse to purchase anything that is created by the parties that contribute to these philosophical ideas, and I can be some kind of standard in my sphere of influence by not allowing jokes, comments or verbal insults of these kind in my presence. I don't have to be nasty about it, but I can refuse to be party to it. So I speak out.
I speak out especially because of the context that Imus spoke in. What he said was personal. He directed his comments not in the name of "ART" (as they do in the music industry to the general and wide population). He directed his comments to a specific group of young women. Most of us won't fight when someone says that "black people are _______(fill in the blank) - cuz you think and know that the comment does not apply to you specifically - and might just roll your eyes and walk away knowing how ignorant the comment is. You might blow it off because you don't feel like justifying it with a response. But you will definately fight if someone says, "You (your kids, your family is ___________". That's what makes this even more inflammatory. It's personal...
..and it's why I think Imus should be FIRED.
"What is revealed by a crack in the Good Person Facade"
....from the Washingtonpost.Com essay.
Some have pointed out that young women are routinely and unfortunately called "hos" in some rap lyrics. "That doesn't make it any more right for anyone to say it, it doesn't matter if you are African American, Caucasian, Asian, it really doesn't matter," said Rutgers team captain Essence Carson at a news conference yesterday. "All that matters is it's wrong."
It's wrong when we co-sign (with our money and time and interest - or dance moves in the club) our people denigrating each other...and it's wrong when folks of other ethnic backgrounds do it as well. However, all we can do as individuals use the power of the dollar to cast our votes - and most importantly, teach our children the values that would help them cast the right vote as well. If we and our children don't stand firm for something - then as part of the larger society, we will continue to fall for anything.
I can be upset with Imus - just as upset as I am with everyone that denigrates not just African Americans, but all other societal groups as well. I can turn the channel on my radio, I can refuse to watch BET, MTV, VH1 or any other channel that routinely promotes misogyny, sexism, racism, or extremisim in any form. I can definately refuse to purchase anything that is created by the parties that contribute to these philosophical ideas, and I can be some kind of standard in my sphere of influence by not allowing jokes, comments or verbal insults of these kind in my presence. I don't have to be nasty about it, but I can refuse to be party to it. So I speak out.
I speak out especially because of the context that Imus spoke in. What he said was personal. He directed his comments not in the name of "ART" (as they do in the music industry to the general and wide population). He directed his comments to a specific group of young women. Most of us won't fight when someone says that "black people are _______(fill in the blank) - cuz you think and know that the comment does not apply to you specifically - and might just roll your eyes and walk away knowing how ignorant the comment is. You might blow it off because you don't feel like justifying it with a response. But you will definately fight if someone says, "You (your kids, your family is ___________". That's what makes this even more inflammatory. It's personal...
..and it's why I think Imus should be FIRED.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Another Amen for Religious Liberty
I regularly "check-in to the WashingtonPost.Com's discussion pages on faith. This struck me as something I should share. Ignorance is not really bliss, is it?
(Posted by Stephen Prothero on March 19, 2007 11:31 AM to the WashingtonPost.Com's "On Faith" Section)
The United States may be one of the most religious nations on earth but Americans know woefully little about their own religions, or the religions of others.
Religion was a purely private matter, this sad situation would matter only to religious people—to Catholics trying to raise up the next generation of priests and nuns or to evangelicals or Jews hoping to raise up their children in church or synagogue. But religion is unrelentingly public—a fixture of both American publics and international affairs, one of U.S. and world history's prime movers. So religious ignorance is a civic problem.
At home, U.S. presidents quote routinely from the Bible, and the Congressional Record is replete with references to the Good Samaritan, the Golden Rule, and Armageddon. Abroad, religion continues to move people to wage both war and peace. Neither Iran nor Iraq, India or Sri Lanka can be understood if we are blind to the effects (for good and for ill) of religion. Therefore, to choose to ignore religion (as many public school districts and colleges currently do) is to choose to ignore the real world.
In a religion quiz I give my Boston University students every year, I am told that Paul bound Isaac and Abraham was blinded on the Road to Damascus. Catholic students are unable to name even one of the Seven Sacraments of their faith. Protestant students think "God helps those who help themselves" is a Bible quote (sorry, it's Ben Franklin). And Hindu students cannot tell me even one Hindu scripture. This ignorance absents millions of Americans from religiously inflected political debates (about abortion, capital punishment, the environment), imperiling our public life.
As I argue in my new book on Religious Literacy, we need both public school courses on the Bible and the world religions and college courses in religious studies. We need both because we need to reverse the fall into religious ignorance that has led us to produce entire generations of Americans lacking in the most elemental religious literacy. We need high school courses because to say that high school students who can't name the four Gospels are educated is to tell a dangerous lie. We need college courses because to certify BA recipients who don't know the difference between Sunnis and Shiites is a scandal.
Those who have a vested interest in perpetuating the culture wars will fuss and fume when it comes to education about religion. Those on the crazy right will say that only their religion can be taught in the public schools. Those on the crazy left will say that no religion is too much. But there is a vast middle in American life, and those of us who occupy it are weary of the culture wars.
Academic instruction about religion is a project about which all reasonable Americans, however atheistic or evangelical, can and should agree.
(Posted by Stephen Prothero on March 19, 2007 11:31 AM to the WashingtonPost.Com's "On Faith" Section)
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