We, As Americans, Are Responsible to Know The Truth

It has been too long and I'm not happy about it. I'm deep into the Anxiety Road podcast trying to lay down information that can be useful. That sucker + a work week + doing other stuff makes for a lonely blog.

But I do want to put this item into place so that it can be found six months or six years from now.

You see, I recently saw a video of a speaker having a roomful of white Americans recite that they are not responsible for the actions of their ancestors, that they have nothing to be ashamed about and are proud to be who they are in this space and time.

Before you can disclaim responsibility you have to know what your ancestors did to native people, Africans, Asians, Latino/Hispanic people and a whole bunch of other folks.

You have to know what you are trying to separate yourself from, and when you do understand what your ancestors did then you might feel a little twitchy about what is going on right now with some of your peers.

Now there are reprints of the magazine from NYT but that shipping cost is twice the cost of the magazine. Not to worry. The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting has the magazine posted as a pdf and other educational materials to aid in your education.

For those of you that would like to listen to the content there is an audio series by NYT being delivered by podcast at https://www.nytimes.com/column/1619-project

The second part; they have nothing to be ashamed about.

Dude and Dudette, if you are an American citizen, you need to understand this is a shameful part of our collective history. When you take on being an American whether by birth or choice, you take on part of the shame, no matter who you are. These are fact that cannot be smudged away with with emotional feel good blinders.

Now I know that there are folks that do not cotton to reading. Not to worry. There is a podcast for your alternative access to information.




NPR interviews Nicole Hanna Jones on the 1619 Project.


As to the third item. I can't speak to that.

So yeah, I'm gonna dive in because I know I have culturally induced patches in my historical education. And I am still and American, unless somebody starts messing with an amendment and then yeah, we'll have a situation or two if that happens.

Don't let it happen. 

I Don't Want This to Get Lost

Because people make the case all of the time for what they know. Only much of what they know is by exclusion.

Exclusion of what was actually happening.

Exclusion of the people that were kidnapped and murdered along the way.

Exclusion of other people in the world who had a voice and vision for the world long before Europe as we know it.

Ok, ok. Deep breath. @sam_kean wrote a piece for @sciencemagazine about how European science was largely made possible by the #slavetrade. Sure. But the LANGUAGE IN THIS PIECE is irresponsible and it hurts!!! A thread...https://t.co/mDBWI2jfAX

— Rae Wynn-Grant, PhD (@RaeWynnGrant) April 10, 2019

Making history whole means telling the whole history. And because I don't trust people anymore, I'm going to post a photo of it just in case:

https://twitter.com/RaeWynnGrant/status/1116076320188981250

Fighting the Fear Bots Anyway I Can

So, a FB friend posed something and somebody reported it and it was removed.

Happens everyday.

Happens to people I know and care about.

And it doesn't mater if it was a bot or a human censor; this was her page, her post and somebody didn't like it and had it removed.

I'm going to set a photocopy of it right here.

So it doesn't get lost again.

Now to me this is more like announcing water is wet. But not everybody understands the concept of water. When you do understand then you want to tell somebody.

Messing Around With Pixlr X and Fastcut and This is What I Got

I had a bunch of old photo that I never threw away but didn't know what to do with them. Time marched on and I have Fastcut on my computer and access to the newer quick photo editor Pixlr X.




Now, the thing is that bothers me is that I had limited input. I did pick the photos.

I changed some of the aspect ratios, rotated or colored the images.

But the animation is based on the music. Change the music and you have a different animation style and effects. That can render a different video each and every time.

Still, I can see some uses for this and I am delighted that Autodesk is replacing the original Pixlr Express.

Trying to Erase Me Will Not Work

I have learned not to responded to each and every dumb ass thing the ignorant belch. Not enough hours in a day.

Let's just say that I've been reading comic books, graphic novels and sequential art for a very long time. 

Longer than some of the craptacular haters have been alive.

I read when I wanted to. I read when it was not cool. I read when my soul told me I needed another infusion of a super hero because I didn't have any near by.

And yet we have grown men telling others that women don't read comic books and they never did. 

There was no such thing as a girl nerd. There was no such thing as a life long female fans of comic books.

Let this be my marker to the haters that want to pretend that they know the past, present and future.

You don't.
You can't even see past your own fears.

Excelsior!

It Become Real Only When You See It

I went to a convention. I had a little time so I walked around the neighborhood of the hotel. 

This is what I saw:

Old school newsstands were wooden and filled with magazines and newspapers. Maybe some chewing gum to help you break a dollar for the bus. 

If you wanted to know who got whacked or the story of the day you either went to a grocer, a box or a newstand. 

And this is what it is now, one or two copies of the Daily News and Inquirer.

I felt bad. 

Like a ghost passing through time.

But where do I get my news?

Where I live there are no newstands. Almost all of the news boxes are gone. There are some retail places that sell the Sunday papers. Places I rarely shop or visit.

I subscribe to one newspaper online but have to remember that I do have a subscription. It is my friends and relations that alert me to new stories that I check out.

Yet, something indeed has been lost. The solitude of reading at your own pace and reflecting on a story. 

She Was Tweaked But She Was Not There

I have often said that if you are a writer you need to ride public transit.  You will never lack for ideas.

Daisy got on the bus. She had no purse. She had no wallet and very few coins.

She was clean but kept holding on to herself and rubbing her skin as if ants were on it.

"I'm trying to get to downtown."

Metro buses pass through a number of cities with downtown areas.

"Where do you want to go?" the drive asked.

"The Valley."

The Valley is not downtown.
She fake fumbles for looking for change as she puts one or two coins in the box.

The driver, seeing this type of behavior before has to make some quick decisions.

He could throw her off the bus.
He could let her beg for a fare donation.
He could tell her to sit down.

He tells her to sit down.

Daisy goes to sit down but she doesn't stay down for long.

Three stops later, asked the driver how to get to 6th and Broadway.

The driver says he doesn't know.
Cuz, there are more than one.
It is that city thing.

Daisy gets upset with him.

"How do you not know? You are a bus driver. Why don't you know all of the routes of Metro?"

For those of you that drive, do you know each and every street in Los Angeles County?
What is on each street? How many Broadways there are in which city?

The driver asked again, "Where do you want to go?"

"6th and Broadway but I don't see why you don't know how to get there! That is ridiculous."

He opens the doors and she exits the bus to a city street that is not near 6th and Broadway or the Valley.

Still holding herself.
Still scratching.
Still lost.