Goodbye Harbinger, Hello Jack

It is obvious that this blog, like so many before it, has puttered out.

There are various uninteresting reasons for this.

If you enjoyed anything you read here, please turn your browsers to: http://jackvalentine.net

Delightful satire

http://barackobamaisyournewbicycle.com/

Enough said.

More on the “ghetto” discussion

I stumbled across another excellent post on this topic. The intro is non-sequitur, the substantial writing begins at, “I personally am fed up with folks using ‘ghetto’ as an adjective…”

Check it out for another perspective on the issue.

Cynthia McKinney, will you be my Valentine?

Cynthia McKinney is running for president under the Green Party ticket. Here is Mumia Abu-Jamal’s endorsement. Click here for the full text.

If you’re not familiar with McKinney, check out the film American Blackout (torrent). If you read this blog, you know my thoughts on the election. McKinney is worth voting for, not because she’ll win the office, but because she deserves it.

Wisdom in the recipe

I am committed a life of working for change. Looking at my life, however, there is very little evidence of this. Like-minded friends have even made comments which hint of disappointment. Their critique is valid, for the standards against which I am being judged are my own. Lately, I have been finding the energy to start thinking about action I might take to walk the talk, and slowly plans are coming into motion. The question, then, is why has it taken 6 months to get the ball rolling?

I used to think that realizing the problems with one’s situation was tantamount to solving them. This is not the case. Even three months ago I was writing about the struggle to build the life I want, so realization is clearly far from remedy. The real answer to the question is a little Maslowian common sense: can’t worry about social change if you’re worried about affording groceries.

Really, it’s just now–after 6 months–that I am getting settled into a neighborhood where I want to live, with a job I want to have, and energy left over for projects. All along I have known, on a cerebral level, what my ultimate goals are. But when my more base needs were not met, I had neither energy nor desire to work towards them. My mindset was actually much different. Without the requisite conditions, I could not manifest real action.

The wisdom, then, is in the recipe. I didn’t have the will to work towards my ultimate goals, but I did know what conditions were lacking, and so I could work towards those. Now that those conditions are present, I am finding not just energy for working towards higher goals, but also a sense of urgency to do so. It is a strange thing to notice one’s own mindset transform. Six seemingly idle months are as unimaginable to me now as had been the steps I am currently taking while I was worried about base needs.

It is difficult to behold a flower in a cloud, and yet it is there. The flower will not manifest until the required conditions are brought together, but it lies dormant within each of them. The gardener patiently brings these conditions together, and waits for the dirt to sprout something beautiful. In the same way we must till our lives, not grasping desperately at our final goals, but patiently bringing together the conditions which will allow us to grow into what we want to be.