Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Let America be America Again- 1938

 

Let America be America Again

 Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? 
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home--
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay--
Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again! 

Langston Hughes 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The message of this poem, to me, still applies today. We still haven't gotten what they promised this place would be. We have all been lied to. 


Comment below with your thoughts.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Why are many of my posts on Monday?

Today is kind of a weird day for me. It is Monday October 24 of the year 2010. My left wrist hurts like a motherfucker. I kind of have a weird feeling about people. People I thought I knew and liked, i.e. my friends, i seem to not recognize them. I kind of feel like I do not know anyone anymore. I dont know who I am. What I do. Why? Or anything like that.
Sometimes I feel like I know what I am. But then come these days that make me start from zero again. I forget my reasons, I forget lots of things that made me who I was that day. If there is anything out there that can explain what this is, I wish I knew what it was. But then again, what use would it be? I would forget once again, plus I have never been good with definitions or titles.
I dont understand names, titles, definitions.
If memories make us, then I really do have a problem. I can only recall certain things, on only some days. I change all the time. My memories change all the time. They never seem constant.
What am I?
At one moment I am a friend, at another a healer, at another a savior, at another a musician, at another a poet, at another a sick minded, at another a winner, at another a winner, at another a killer, at another everything, then again i turn into nothing.
I learn things, i love learning. I know that. But what use is it when I seem to forget those things that i learn.
One thing I do recognize, is that for those short-lived times when I see reality I am happy. For those that I cannot see I feel hopeful and challenged for I want to break free.
I want to break free of everything.
I dont want to have friends.
I want to know the reasons behind my behavior.
Right now, memories come back to me of a place where I was, a place where i still am.
Maybe life is bound to change at all times, nothing constant. Always moving, nothing the same. Extreme changes. One day I will go back to that place of stillness. Of warmth. Of brightness. Of innocence. Of knowing about my whereabouts.
But until then I suppose I must play along in the game, I must keep changing. Time is everlasting. As well as me.
Maybe one day I will stop and know where, why, and what am i.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Ahh a post on Wednesday

I am sending this post from the computer in a bedroom in the house in which i live in here in the United States which is in the Continent America here in Planet Earth. That was dumb, anyways its middle of the week and I just felt like taking the Religion off of the Blog. Some might get the erroneous idea that all this blog posts is religion. Naa, religion is not that important to me.

Okay so I know some of you people are still in school some in High School (lucky bastards) and some in College/ University (pobrecitos). I feel you guys, Midterms are here and they are trying to kick our asses but ill be damned if they at least try to!
Me, I'm finished with my Midterms, all I have left to do is a Midterm Paper for Government. I hate Government and I have to take the damn class.

Anyways, seeing as how everyone likes to take a little weight off use the space provided to let it all out!
Don't be shy Punks!
Comment or DIE!!!

Monday, October 18, 2010

Religion Continued

If you have been keeping up with this boring Blog you would know that this is the continuation of a series. Haha, okay! Im actually only doing this as a form of review for my test tomorrow which covers Hinduism and Buddhism. Today, Buddhism!

Buddhism actually emerged from India. The man behind the name, "Buddha", actually named Siddhartha Gautama. He was born into a prophecy which stated that when he grew up he could be two things: a great ruler of his people or lead a selfish life of knowledge as "the enlightened one". His father, a rich emperor of his land, sought to have the rich ruler and try to surround his son with greatness. He grew up with riches, nothing bad around him up until he was about thirty (i think). Dude was married and with kids and everything. One day as he was cruising around in his chariot he came upon four sites. The first site;an old man, he then realized that one day he could become old. The second; a sick man, he saw that one day he could become sick. The third site; he saw a dead man; upon seeing this he knew that one day he would die. The last thing he saw in his trip was a wandering man, a Hindu monk, he saw how calm and care-free he lived and he knew that this was his calling. Eventually he left his house to lead the life of that monk, he wandered around to seek the truth. He became a follower of Hinduism and under the teachings of Hinduism and a few monks he fell. Here he supposedly quit food for SIX YEARS as well as staying in a Lotus position, never to move. Here he became aware of his appearance, one could almost call to mind a skeleton walking. The stories tell that in some of his weak moments he would eat his own shit to quench his thirst and hunger! Anyways, fed up with the bullshit (pun intended!) he left, tried to get up but fell into a river and almost drowned but somehow managed to survive. Now with food, he could see what had happened. After trying to rid himself of all earthly attachments such as food, he had gone to an extreme of almost dying. This, he thought was not the way to live. So he came up with the "Middle Way". Its exactly what it sounds like, living with only the sufficient amount of things.  So this dude eventually taught many individuals in his lifetime, herding up to thousands of followers simply by walking along the country. He eventually dies and is liberated into "Nirvana", the freedom from being reborn.
Basically, Buddhism, is similar to Hinduism. Except that there is no god or gods to venerate. You do re-incarnate, but not in the same entirety. Karma, is the actions that you do that build up regardless of good or bad in this life and in the ones to follow. So, you have basically one chance, that is to be a human and to escape the cycle of life. You must, if you want, follow the path that the "Buddha" followed, he is not a god, he is a person that succeeded. Buddha means the "awakened one".

Buddhism, in my opinion is a fantastic way to view life. Taken out of its teachings, it is practical and it gives hope regardless if it is true or not.

Comment below on any thoughts you might have!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Time out or ass beating?

Earlier in the week, I had a conversation with my girlfriend about kids at her job being spoiled, throwing fits, and being disrespectful to others (she works at a daycare). I tell her, "if those where my kids id whoop their ass!". She then goes and asks me "If we do get married, and have kids, are you going to whip our kids?". I instantly said "Yes", which she wasn't against it (thank god). What I am trying to say is, whooping your kids is a good thing. Maybe some people out there have a different method of controlling their kid's, which is ok, but once in a while those those kid's need a good ass whooping. I see too many kid's now a days that disrespect their parents in public places and also some in my family and with friends that have kid's. Now don't get me wrong, I ain't calling them bad parent's or judging their way of raising kids, what I'm trying to get too is hitting your kids is not bad. Now I ain't talking about a severe beating, like throwing a chair at them LOL.
Growing up my dad and at times, my mom, would whoop me. I remember some of those ass beatings. Yea I did something wrong, and I deserved them. I grew up with a little fear towards my dad. I would think twice of doing something stupid because of the fear of getting him mad and get an ass beating. Sometimes when I talk to people about it, and tell them that I lost count of how many times he beat my ass, many are shocked of how much he whooped my ass. But I always tell em, as ironic as it sounds, I appreciate all those ass beatings growing up, made me the person I am now. I was a lazy student through out school, but my dad kept my ass in line to finish high school, and now I'm less than a year away from finishing college. And not just because of school, but I would do some stupid things outside the house that would get me beatings. All I'm trying to say because of his strict method growing up, I think I turned out pretty good. Like stated before, I had a little fear towards my dad, but he was also my best friend. I loved hanging out with him, and we have a relationship that I don't see in many. We are always joking around, and we can talk about everything, if it's talking about religion, sports, politics, advice or just his old growing up stories in Mexico. Well I guess, what I am really trying to say is that many people see hitting your kids is a bad thing, many see it as a extremely horrible thing. I can say my ass beatings and how I was raised where a positive impact in my life.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Religion

I decided to make this post about religion, again. Well since it is a very debatable topic and I have a Test Tuesday over Buddhism and Hinduism, I said "ehh what the hey!"
I would like to throw some very cool thoughts about these ancient religions.
TODAY!, Hinduism:

Hinduism, a religion composed of one god (yes, one god) that in many of the stories of the religion takes on different avatars that represent the occasion. It is one of the few religions whose deity is a Chick, or so to say because in Hinduism they are somewhat both, yes they are androgynous. Big word there!
Hinduism is one of the oldest religions of humanity dating back to around 6000 (I think) B.C.
It is said that the ones who wrote their scripts (the equivalent of the Bible) where Rishis ( kind of like priests who could hear the message of god). So these dudes wrote what this god told them. Of the many things that they got out of their messages was the Syllables "OHM". Contrary to misconceptions, this word originates from the Hindu and Buddhist rituals. The word "Ohm" is according to the scripts the word of life. That is, the "breath of god" the word that engulfs everything and anything with life in this world. Well, one thing which is very very interesting about this word is that some time ago Scientist discovered something amazing about the planet that involved this syllable. When earth rotates in its axis, it produces a sound. A sound that is practically impossible to hear without very advanced equipment. The sound that this planet produces sounds a little like "Ohmmmmm".
Coincidence? Very much, too much, if you ask me.
How can this be possible?
Mere Coincidence?
Fake?
Real?

Comment below, Please!

Monday, October 11, 2010

Sunny Monday Blues

I was listening to some BB King on this new I pod Touch that I got handed down by my rich consumer whore brother who just bought the newest I pod Touch. And I downloaded this song called "Rainy Monday Blues" by BB King. Man that dude can play the guitar, and man does he know the Blues.
I wasn't a big Blues guy until I kind of got into it by Hendrix and Vaughn. These guitar giants where the ones who introduced me to this melancholic genre. Well if I take it back to the original roots I would say Jose Alfredo Jimenez and Javier Solis kind of got me into it.
To me this is equivalent of Rancheras; Blues.
Well why do I have the Sunny Monday Blues? (Sunny, because in contrast to the title of King's song its sunny here)
Its kind of weird, these past few weeks I have been very happy on Mondays, very very happy. So happy that in comparison to the punks that are in my classes they look dead. Seeing these individuals with sad faces and down spirits kind of get me into the Blues. These chicks and dudes are practically dead, they do not interact in classes nor do they make the effort to laugh. Its like their mission on the one day that I am happy is to make me feel the same. Well sometimes it works but writing here about that makes me feel a little better.
I feel bad for the people that act like a vegetable come Mondays, to me Mondays is a fresh new start. Its a great way to start a week; happy.
But thats whatever, I stay strong! (mentally that is)

Ever had a case of the Monday Blues? Drop it like its Hot!
(Comment Below)

Saturday, October 9, 2010

The Complainer

Whoa, its late and I'm still online. I couldn't sleep so I decided to give a shot at this blogging thing that my nikka David invited me to write on. I just finished a whole day of studying and reading for some midterms I have this week coming up. The usual time, that every college student hates, midterms and or finals. I gotta say I hate it too, because I rather be chilling watching some sports on TV, but I'm stuck reading about regionalism in Japan (damn that shit is so stuck in my head that I'm even posting it on a damn blog. Any ways I guess my first blog is related to studying and school. All of us are in college trying to better ourselves and become something in life, and honestly its not easy. Nobody said it was going to be easy, but what I cant stand is those people that bitch and complain so much about school. I'm talking about the person that is in college and has been in college for some time already, and every time midterms or finals come up they start bitching and complaining. "Omg I have so much studying to do" "my head hurts I feel sick" "omg ima have to stay in all weekend just to study" "I have all this studying to do and I'm sick". Honestly all i hear is "bitch bitch bitch blah blah". Its college sweetheart, its not easy, so just take it like a champ and do it. I guess I cant stand people who complain, I mean I have my times of complaining but there are some people that complain for any little thing out there in life. And its all good if you keep it to yourself, but when u make it public and bitch to other people it just gets annoying, especially with college students. I don't know, I guess I have that mentality were I just set my mind to it, shut up, and just do it. Whats the point of complaining about something you have to do? I guess all this came the day i was sitting in class and this guy and girl where going back and forward and complain about the amount of work, studying, and reading we had to do. The literally sat there for 10 min before class started and complained, like it was a competition on who had it worst. One time when I was bitching and complaining, someone told me "College ain't easy, if it was easy everyone would go and graduate from college" the person who told me that was my girlfriend, and that has always stayed stuck in my brain, and that has been a quote that I have loved to repeat and say. When things get tough with her I tell her the same, and its true. College ain't for everyone, and most people cant stand it, but if you feel that you can and take on the work and responsibility, stop bitching and complaining and just do it. And that goes with anything in life......

Voss Girl

Voss Girl

I was riding in the silver car
I saw you coming out of Walgreens
Before I knew it you where right besides the car
You were hispanic, cute, and in jeans

You looked decent and I imagined how your life was
In this bad side of the city, you walking provocatively thru traffic
A beauty amongst machines, shaking that ass
Judging by your walk I thought you were listening to some music
But no, no headphones here or there

What was it about you
That got me to think about how life was
We all live inside a pouch like a kangaroo
Some might not want to see, others see it all the time
You made me see that

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Hello Residents of the Internet

Well today I am going to leave the blog up to you guys.
I wanna know what religion you where raised with.
Do you still practice such religion?
What do you think about this religion?
Have you ever doubted your beliefs?
What do you suppose your parents would do if you ever decided you were curious about another religion?
Your friends? Significant other?

Monday, October 4, 2010

El Blog

Man, its Monday yet again. And before I decided to begin writing I was going through many things here on the Interbuttz. I saw that I have comments :( but I also saw Other Blogs. Other peoples blogs are so cool. I swear, mine has to be some of the ones that look boring with nothing but letters. Oh well, as I have said before this place is only for me to vent my thoughts.
A dude I know, (well half-ass know), added me on Facebook. I will call him, "4" so I ask him who he was. He kindly responds to tell me over Facebook chat that he we knew each other from a certain page. I finally remembered, it was around three years ago. Back when I had nothing else to do. I was most of the time surfing the webs. And like any other teen, well I did my share of "research" (wink). But that was not what took up most of my time, nope. I was at the time addicted to this page where we posted things about say, "Rugby". It was fun, it kept me busy, I learned the meaning of trolling, failing, etc... By the year I had acquired the reputation of a respectable, yet interesting dude. I was quite happy living like this. Having two personalities. (Although my "avatar" was very similar to how I behaved in real life.) But I started to notice that other users where really affected by this online phenomena. They really took it to heart. Huge arguments came and went, people left never to share their opinions; but I always stayed the same. Yes, I must say that a few times I did change my name but always left clues so that the people who knew me knew that it was me. I certainly had fun just messing around with other people like me. Then came the time where I was really passionate about something else, something that really existed. I left the place for a good time. There still existed the time when I had time and joined in the Chat room. This is where what I had seen on the Ruby page reinforced. I saw kids online for more than twelve hours. Obsessed with online games.
These games consisted of the chatters just randomly typing things that had no real contribution to any real topic. Well anyways this friend of mine, 4, always rooted for this team of his.
The beginning goal for the Chat room was to chat freely about Rugby. But then everyone got bored and being the kids that everyone was, we all messed around.
I sometimes played along. But to be honest, things became very disappointing.
These individuals called their fellows "Friends", it was as if in fact they thought everything was real.
Long story short, "friendships" came and went, disputes over imaginary things came also. Everything in fact was imaginary, nothing was ever real.
What started as a past time for some, became life for them. That second personality became the dominant, they seemed to believe themselves.
Dignity was depleted for some.
The internet is one of the most dangerous weapons in our time, especially for teens.
I really hope that if someone ever reads this they reflect upon their life. And of how they manage their time, does life revolve around their online life?
These social pages and chat rooms, etc. can consume time, and in essence our lives.
Yes, they are helpful; but if used in excess; they can practically take over our minds.
Psychologists should examine such behavior, I know that I am not one for sure, but I am already writing about these experiences in an effort that someone can relate to and see for themselves the problem.
I am Dave, and I am a recovering Internet addict.

Please share your thoughts below, Thanks :)

Friday, October 1, 2010

El Perro

Man this week has been so great! I hope everyone else has the same attitude. Usually when one hears such comment, one cannot stop but to deeply guess, "How the Hell?" Well it was awesome for me because I finally remembered many things I had forgotten about me. Things that with the years one kind of pushes aside with the many problems and things encounters. Its almost as if you forget who you are and become what life makes you become. Anyways, this week was great. Monday I got to rescue a dog. Kept the dog. Then a couple of guys and I made the first step in creating the first Philosophy Club in our College. Today, I returned the dog to its family. Damn was he Happy!
Some might argue as to why the hell did I give back such beautiful dog. My reason is; I was only keeping him for the time being. It was never mine, why should I keep something that I do not own. Frankly, I believe that animals should be their own owners, I believe that they should be free. Yes, they have family or friends, but not owners. Anyways, some of my friends were pissed off. They thought I was a dumb ass for giving him back to its "shady" owners. I saved him once from being taken by animal control, and being put down. I helped him, now that his family has thought things through and realized that they could have lost him forever, I am happily returning that dog. I dont know if anyone will ever comprehend my reasoning; its a little special. I guess I am a little of a Stoic, in the way that I view life.
Im glad I helped that animal. I am glad I met him. He is now my friend. Its a great way of thinking things. Maybe we should all think the same way. Perhaps everyone would benefit if we all took the Stoics way of thinking.

YOU tell me, how was your week. Tell me how you view life in general. Also tell me what you are wearing ;)