Enjoy, Explore, Learn

Couple of video recommendations for you. 

I'm just now discovering this man here. Better late than never. This is a trailer for the full video that I was able to watch on Hulu.comhttp://www.hulu.com...



Warning: this is just as heartbreaking at times as it is inspiring and insightful. The language can be pretty rough, so careful around the children.

***

Next, the wonderful video "Let the Church Say Amen." Described on Hulu as: World Missions for Christ Church in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of Washington, D.C. I wasn't able to find a trailer on YouTube, but I did notice  Film Movement is listed as the Network/Studio for the film & checking out their channel on YT, they seem pretty interesting.

Last, the video "Random Lunacy" surprised me. At first, I thought it was silly, but I realized that it deserved paying attention to the people and ideas presented. Very interesting. Again, the full video is over on Hulu. Here is a preview that I found on YT:




Peace
--Free

Blessed Are

Last night I had the weirdest dream. I can't remember much of it, but when I woke up this morning, it was as though I had had an epiphany about my life. (Of course, I woke up with some kind of cold/virus bug this morning. Yay. Maybe my dream was sick-induced...)

Anyway. About that dream I can't remember - or at least the epiphany:

I think that I have lived my life the wrong way. A friend of mine told me more than once recently that I am "too nice." She would hear me relate how I have ended up in the circumstances I am in and she'd shake her head and say,"Girl, you can't go through life being that nice and trusting of ANYbody..." And she'd remind me that I can look around and see that other people aren't that nice and trusting. I would tell her how I've done this or that for someone else and she'd say, "I bet they are better off than you are now." Or she would be really blunt and say, "And where are they now that you need them?"  Or she would get kind of pissed and say something about how it's a good thing I believe in Heaven because I sure messed up the whole life on Earth thing. (Yeah, she pulls no freaking punches, this lady.)

Would I like to think that my friend is wrong? Sure. But I don't think that she is.

If I could live my life over, I wouldn't be mean or nasty, but I think that I would put myself first more than I have. All my life, I had a herd mentality. You know, all for one & one for all, and together we stand... blah, blah, blah... In the end, though, when push comes to shove, people are going to look out for themselves first, then the ones they cherish next,  and if there is any left over, they will share with the rest of us. I was always one to share first & then take what was left. (As a curious side-note, it's been the ones I've done the least for who have done the most for me - including my blunt, no-nonsense friend.)

As someone I know once said, "What's being good ever done for ya?"

In my life, I have given up money, cars, time, convenience, etc. I never thought that I would come to feel bitter about it. I never thought I would ever have reason to. But life is ever surprising.

I'm afraid that my girlfriend might be right. You can be too nice and too giving. 

So. I'm not going to stop being nice, but I am going to be a lot more nice to myself first. Everyone else can get the leftovers. I don't think God ever said that looking out for yourself was a sin.

Peace

--Free

Their Eyes Were Watching God (thank you, Zora)

What an under-appreciated book.

Every single time I read this book, I get something new from it. Ms. Hurston didn't just tell a story made up of words, but she painted pictures of every mood, feeling and point. I keep asking myself why this is not required reading in schools?

Here are some of my favorites lines (& I'm doing this from memory, so don't hold that against me!):

"There are years that ask questions and years that answer"
"They'd look with envy at the things and pity the man that owned them"

I can't remember off-hand, but there was another great line about talking to the uneducated with "jaws full of books."

Wow. Amazing. Beautiful.

The story itself is empowering and wonderful, but the way Zora tells it... *smh*... Just something to experience. Truly.

You can check out a limited preview at Google books here. If the direct link doesn't work, do your own search at Google Books. (And when you do, pay attention to the very first line of the story. It will give you a big idea of how wonderfully the rest of the book reads.)

Peace
--Free

Old School Romance vs New School Bragging

Back in the day (as the saying goes), I remember being taught a couple of things by older women:

1.  Be a lady in public and not in the bedroom, and
2. Don't share your everything with everyone. Leave some things to the imagination

Well, apparently, those lessons are not being taught anymore.

The last few days I've been hearing so much about a song by a young dude named Trey Songz that I had to go and check it out. Title: Neighbors Know My Name.

Okay. I'm thinking the song is maybe about a guy and girl getting closer in their relationship & he's over at her place so much that the neighbors are starting to get to know him.

Not.

The song is all about their sex life being so hot & noisy that the neighbors can hear her calling out his name.

WTH?

What is with this whole thing of sexy and romantic love songs going from being subtle and enticing to just being all out there? Don't get me wrong - I am not saying  that I don't just love a good love song to set the mood. I came of age when Marvin Gaye was causing a baby boom with "Let's Get It On." And we all know that Barry White caused a LOT of heated bedroom action without even being present.

I guess I'm just old enough to still appreciate not being turned on by a man telling me things so much as showing me. And I don't really want everybody having a window of knowledge into what happens in my bedroom. If you're grown and fairly normal, it's an automatic assumption that you're having sex. How you're doing it and who you are doing it with is between you and that whoever. Why do you need to talk about it so much?

Here's another lesson I learned back when I was younger:

Talking ain't doing. Or  better put (and this is from my friend Keen Ya just the other day): Mouth can say anything.

And not to be snarky, but have you noticed that all these popular artists who are writhing around in their videos and talking about how they're "getting it in" (not a sexy phrase to me at all, by the way), are always fighting off rumors? Rumors ranging from how lousy they are in bed (thanks to their groupies) or that they are swinging with transvestites and same-sex partners while not owning up to it?... (And I am NOT singling out any particular artists, just saying that so many get hit by rumors.)

I'm just saying.

Yeah, so, give me a song with some music that fuels the senses and lyrics that talk about getting it on instead of getting it in. "Getting it in"... Sounds kind of surgical, or like talking about using a feminine product. Please stop.

How about this? Go back to "old school" and study some Lenny Williams, Barry and Marvin, Smokey - anybody who knew how to use real music and voice talent to enhance the romantic setting without giving people step-by-step instructions. Unless you need instructions, I guess.

Peace
--Free

I Try. Seriously.

Damn.

Thanks, Ms Macy, for putting music and words with the feeling