The Arty Hobo

TAH Reading Room: Little White Lies

THE ARTY HOBO — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 12:59:00 +0000

LITTLE WHITE LIES

The lie that lies in waited state,

The little white lie so innocent to make.

The lie that nips away at truth,

So little could it undo, say you?

But many who utter its spell undone;

In numbers it slips a gaze over one.

And never again shall the truth appear

When little white lies are all you hear.

Written by Xelinda Aïda

@TheArtyHobo

IT'S HERE!!

THE ARTY HOBO — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 13:14:00 +0000

The time has finally come. The Arty Hobo Magazine has arrived! As a literary gastropub for the soul, The Arty Hobo Magazine is dedicated to agitating the mind to free the soul through thought provoking articles, movie recommendations, food explorations and musical musings.

In this issue, we take a different look at the “motherless” label for those of us who grew up without our biological mothers (or fathers), share part of my journey to freedom, true love and real happiness—yes, it does really exists, get some wings with an original mini-play, The Caterpillar and the Butterfly, learn if what’s good enough for the goose is really good enough for the gander and much more.

The blog will continue to dish out some delectable morsels of wisdom in between magazine issues, so please come back. Thank you for reading...the literary journey continues!

For a preview, continue to the The Arty Hobo Magazine Price: Free for a limited time.

Beyonce Ain't Anna Mae...Jay Z Is

THE ARTY HOBO — Fri, 20 Dec 2013 14:12:00 +0000

DISCLAIMER: This blog post is riddled with explicit language, therefore, the following is for mature adults only...which probably doesn't mean you. I wish I didn't have to write this, but in light of art being kicked out of schools, this must be written if only to help prevent the wild-eyed, lynch mob from launching yet another misguided, virtual attack.

Beyoncé and Jay Z have been lambasted by the media for the "Anna Mae" reference in Beyoncé's single Drunk in Love, from her recently released self titled album. For those of you who don't know, Tina Turner is the stage name of Anna Mae Bullock. Back in the 1960's, Tina Turner was in an abusive relationship with her then husband, producer, manager, Ike Turner, as part of the duo Ike and Tina Turner. The movie What's Love Got To Do With It chronicles her journey from Anna Mae Bullock to superstar Tina Turner, and everything in between and beyond.

The lines in question is from Jay Z's rap portion of Drunk in Love:

I'm Ike-- Turner, hold up
Baby no I don't play,

Now eat the cake, Annie Mae
Said, "Eat the cake, Annie Mae!"

Many bloggers have insisted that the rhyme is referring to wife beating and that the reference to "Eat the cake, Anna Mae" which is a line taken from a scene in What's Love Got To Do With It, in which Ike is trying to make his wife, Tina Turner a.k.a. Anna Mae, submit to his demand for her to eat a piece of cake by using violence, is directed towards Beyoncé. This is incorrect. Drunk in Love is actually is an allegory for having great sex with the someone you are massively in love with. It is a hardcore anthem for LOVE not war. Let me explain...

Beyonce's track is riddled with metaphor and euphemisms for all the things done in the bedroom. Not to give the whole song away but that "liquor" is not really the kind found in bottles, "drinking" is more about what you do when you drink than the word drink, her reference to "watermelon" is not about the fruit, and her "surfboard" is really not about surfing, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. But this has seemed to have gone over the heads of many who are attacking the song. Now, on to the rap portion where the real crux of the controversy lies...

Jay-Z tells us that the "D'usse," a brand of cognac, used here as a euphemism because it rhymes with pussy is the shit. And he reconfirms or agrees with himself three times, "If I do say so, myself." He wonders if Beyoncé is really ready to back up what she's been talking about in the car such as "being the baddest bitch thus far" because he "slings Clint Eastwood" which eludes to the actor's .44 Magnum gun in the movie Dirty Harry. In other words, Jay Z's talking about his large penis and if Beyoncé can "handle this curve" (his penis curves to the side).

Their passion is so aggressive that it "fucks up his Warhol," this is a painting by the artist Andy Warhol. Jay-Z goes on about their love making and talks about "beating the box like Mike" he is referring to the ex-fighter, Mike Tyson, and the line is another metaphor for fucking really well, "the box" being the vagina. And then the controversial lines "I'm like Ike-- Turner" he is is iterating that he is "beating it up" or fucking her hard. Then he stops, "hold up," and says "Baby know I don't play." He then TALKS TO HIMSELF, "Now, eat the cake Anna Mae. Eat the cake, Anna Mae!" Which is a twisted metaphor for cunnilingus. Jay Z is not rapping about beating his wife, he is talking about submitting himself to eating her "cake," pussy, vagina, va jay-jay.

All that "eating" has made him nauseous, but he goes on to let us know that to reach his spiritual/sexual high, we "goin' need G3, four, five, six flights" these are private airplanes. He then explains they "sleep tight," and continue their escapades the next morning "your breasteses is my breakfast" because they "be all night," making love all night long.

When looking at the entire rap portion in context with the rest of the song and not through snippets, one can see back and forth wordplay and understand were the questionable lyrics fit in. Jay Z is known for using very controversial allegories because, in the end, it is us that give words meaning not the words in and of them themselves. Some people will still take offense no matter what, but it does make one think and that is the point of most of Jay Z's lyrics. All in all, Drunk in Love is about Beyoncé and Jay Z's LOVE, and how it manifests through their love making. I hope this clarifies the controversy, or not.

Stand Your Ground Law is Unconstitutional

THE ARTY HOBO — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 16:12:00 +0000

Ever since the Trayvon Martin case lit the airwaves, I have been bothered by the "Stand Your Ground" law.   I am very aware of the tough laws which govern the State of Florida, but to me the "Stand Your Ground" law, had an arm of protection for the defense which, in my opinion, was over reaching.   Even if the "Stand Your Ground" law was not invoked by the defense, it didn't need to be because it is Florida Law and effects everything from jury selection, jury instruction, what evidence can and can't be allowed, how the trial is ran, and how the prosecution can proceed during the trial.

The "Stand Your Ground" law has been gnawing at me because there was a lie somewhere, but I could not pinpoint it right away, until the other night when, as I was taking a walk, it came to me. It started when a person posted a question on my Facebook page, after I posted a verdict update article from this blog.   This person basically wanted to know why the picture I used in my article of Trayvon Martin was of him at 12 years-old, and I simply replied that that was the only picture that was available to me when I made the original post back in March of 2012, and there was no deeper reason than that. I then said to myself, "Yeah, he was seventeen at the time." It was during my walk that that statement resonated with me.  Trayvon Martin was seventeen at the time.  That's when it hit me, that was it!

I realized, in that moment, that the lie, the assumption was that Tayvon Martin was also protected by the same law, but Martin's age made it impossible for him to stand his ground if a.) he also possessed a gun that night or b.) if the roles were reversed. And this is what makes the "Stand Your Ground" law unconstitutional, because it does not provide EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER THE LAW as it pertains to AGE, according to the U.S. Constitution, Amendment XIV, Section 1. which states: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." In other words, a state can not make a law that gives protection under the law for one person over another, like a law that protects an adult over a minor.

By itself, the "Stand Your Ground" law is not unconstitutional, however, in the context of Florida Law it is, why? Because Florida requires, according to their own gun laws under the "Purchase and Possession" provision that, "A minor less than 18 years of age may not possess a firearm, other than an unloaded firearm at his home, unless engaged in lawful activities."   For Martin to be able to carry a concealed weapon that night like George Zimmerman, he would have to apply for a license, and to do that, he had to be 21 years or older, under Florida's "Carrying" provision. This means that under no circumstance would Martin have been able to do what George Zimmerman was able to do, legally, because he was 17 years-old at the time of the shooting, thus under the legal age to purchase, possess and carry a gun that night.

The "Stand Your Ground" law which is listed under the Florida's gun law "Miscellaneous" provision clearly states: "Under Florida law, there is no “duty to retreat” if you are attacked in any place you have a lawful right to be. Instead, you may stand your ground and meet force with force, including deadly force, if you reasonably believe it is necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm to yourself or others. The "Stand Your Ground" law did not allow Trayvon Martin to do so because he was not allowed under Florida's own gun laws to meet Zimmerman's gun with his own gun (meet force with force) or to even to carry a gun and to use deadly force if he reasonably believed it was necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or others. Since the "Stand Your Ground" law can not apply to Martin or any minor it should not have been allowed to protect Zimmerman in anyway because it is unconstitutional.

Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law violates the civil rights of every minor who lives or visits that state and should have been dealt with BEFORE this trial even started. The Department of Justice has a better case to pursue the State of Florida's violation of Trayvon Martin's civil rights, as a minor, than going after Zimmerman, in my humble opinion, and render the "Stand Your Ground" law in Florida and subsequently similar laws, where age legality are requirements for purchasing and carrying guns, unconstitutional.

Written by: Xelinda Aïda

Shit and Shenanigans™

THE ARTY HOBO — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:48:00 +0000

I've been M.I.A. from The Arty Hobo: Gastropub for the Soul and for good reason. I've been busy with the real life version of the hero's journey (if you don't know what this is please GOOGLE "Joseph Campbell" and get acquainted). In metaphorical terms, I've slayed the dragon, killed the Kraken, and returned balance to the force. I can declare TOTAL freedom for me, the spirit within, which happened three years ago, resulting in the end of the dysfunction of the belief in thoughts-- individually (mind chatter) and collectively (societal indoctrinization). And now the body- my trusty sidekick, avatar, temple, Millennium Falcon (which happened in a cresendo of shit and shenanigans over the last couple of months, resulting in a body, also cleansed of the corruption of thought and limitations imposed on us by a lost society). Now that I have emerged victorious, I will reap the spoils, but as Shakespeare once wrote, "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown," because even though this is a "crowning achievement," my continued journey which envolves trying to explain the human condition through my own experience, is truly a challenge that has only just begun.

With all of this freedom comes many changes in my life namely The Arty Hobo: A Gastropub for the Soul, which apparently grew up while I was gone, is getting a makeover. When I first started writing The Arty Hobo, I didn't really know what this writing experience was going to be. I never thought I'd write a blog, but when the experience came knocking, I was open to it. I didn't have any real goals but to write from a place of truth about some of the things I've experienced since my life altering, transformational shift three years ago. Since then, I can only walk in the truth (love), being wholly (not holy) who I am and the blog was just an extension of that. But since my return to The Arty Hobo, I recognized the blog, which was still in it's infancy when I left, is growing up and manifesting into a real magazine. So as it's steward, it is my job to help The Arty Hobo become an online magazine which will feature some of the old articles and some new ones in the first, few issues. Stuff like TAH Lounge, TAH Kitchen, TAH Cinema will also be reformatted into the magazine which will make for easier reading and archiving. So like everything The Arty Hobo is changing and growing and we appreciate everyone who has been supportive from the start, the ones who pop by from time to time and others who are just joining. /So for the next couple of months The Arty Hobo: A Gastropub for the Soul will be under construction-- please, excuse the dust.

There are many other changes underway in my life, which will be revealed in due time. All I can say is that I am building an ark, a field of dreams and when it is done, you will come.

Written by: Xelinda Aïda

Shit and Shenanigans is a Trademark of The Arty Hobo.

Florentine Gardens

THE ARTY HOBO — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:34:00 +0000

As young person growing up in Los Angeles, Florentine Gardens was the premeire dance club of that time. It was featured every week on KIIS FM and Power 106, and like every other preteen, I could not wait until I was old enough to attend-- heck, I wanted to sneak in! As, I grew older, however, my fansination with that club waned, but the music that reminds me of Forentine Gardens makes me burst out in laughter because it is of a time and place long gone but still dear to my heart. Here's a taste, enjoy!

Academia is Dead

THE ARTY HOBO — Wed, 30 May 2012 17:12:00 +0000

As I wrap up my time here at Syracuse University and reflect on my experience, there are some observations I would like to add as a follow-up to an article I wrote last year when I first began this particular leg in my journey entitled, College... Take 2. Traditional academia is dead. That's right I said it. And yes, I am aware that there are people who have declared many things dead, whether it is God, hip-hop or marriage, however, I make this claim serendipitously though my experience of spending a school year at Syracuse University as an alumnus observer who has spend lots of time in the real world doing real world things, and from my perspective, traditional academia, as I knew it as a undergraduate, is DEAD. Case in point, it now costs $200,000 to attend Syracuse University for four years (undergraduate level). To put this in perspective, when I graduated in the mid-90's the same four years cost $100,000, however, when I checked entry level salaries across several disciplines I quickly discovered that the average salary only rose a few thousand dollars (at most $10,000). At this rate, college has out priced itself, but luckily for most, information is not contained in the university anymore.

As I walked along the rows and rows of dusty books in Bird Library, which has become more of a place for hoarding dead human thoughts than anything else, it struck me that many students do not read physical books anymore unless it's for research or a text book. In fact, the job of librarian has morphed from the sweet, elderly lady teaching the Dewy Decimal System so many of us grew up on, into a tech savvy gatekeeper of information. Syracuse University currently has the number one school in Information Studies which does just that, studies information- how it is collected, how it is shared, how it is kept and how to monetize it. Long gone are the days when thoughts and ideas were found nestled in a book, it is now easily tapped into digitally which makes brick and mortar academia libraries with all of its, microfilm and yellowing pages seem obsolete. Bird Library doubles as more of student hang out, aptly called "Club Bird" and study hall than a library. The Age of Information has definitely changed the game of who can find out how, what, when, where and why and that is opening up the discussion of what we are actually learning or not learning.

Syracuse University's first female chancellor, Nancy Cantor, who the students "fondly" call "Chancy Nancy" and many of the faculty see the writing on the wall and are trying to do everything to avoid what seems to the the inevitable, the fall of traditional academia. [Update 2.2.2014: Nancy Cantor is no longer the Chancellor, she is now the Chancellor for Rutgers Univeristy-Newark] Yeah, I said it again. Through initiatives with the local community, Syracuse University has been aggressively trying to team book knowledge with the real world so that students have an opportunity, if they see fit, to not only build a foundation in their chosen career, but also launch it. To be able to start your career as an undergraduate instead of waiting for someone to give you a job should be the role of academia. The thing is, I only see a few students taking advantage of this reality, but this may change in the coming years. Waiting for someone to give you a job is become more and more obscene, especially since most of the new jobs will not cover the debt that is being racked up by some students. And forget post studies, one can reasonably graduate a half a million dollars in debt (without considerable scholarships), so the old role of traditional academia is considerably outdated and costly.

These new ideas have been met criticism as the standard method of ranking universities has yet to catch up with the turning tide resulting in Syracuse University, in true maverick form, slipping in national rankings according to the U.S. News & World Report. The rankings have little to do with the reality of the situation, as many academic institutions have yet to see the writing on the wall and want to maintain the traditional teaching and research practices that their reputation is built on. Founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales has been tapped by the British government to put all government funded research papers on the internet, which might expose the failing system of academic research when compared to daily changing information gathered and shared in the field in real time. With the proliferation of information, it is anyone's ball game and the institutions who figure it out and change will be the ones who stay in the game. Syracuse University is in a interesting position because it's reputation is not built on research but on liberal arts (#1 U.S. ranked schools in their fields of expertise: Maxwell School- Public Policy, School of Information Studies - Information Studies, SI Newhouse School of Public Communications - Mass Communications. My alma mater, the College of Visual and Performing Arts is host to two top 25 world-wide schools in film and drama categories according The Hollywood Reporter: School of Art and Design -Transmedia Department -Film (my major:-) and Drama Department - Drama/Acting) which means it is poised to change in ways others, locked in traditional research, are not.

Some academics are still holding on to the old idea of traditional academia which means they are at odds with Syracuse University's Chancellor because they don't see or don't want to see the bigger picture, change or die. This new academia or meta-academia (beyond academia) won't look like anything it represents today, and I think this is what makes some people nervous. The ones who don't or won't see what is happening are going to be left behind if they don't curtail their syllabus and humble their standings. To think that someone in the community with no prior college experience can (and have) come up with ideas that is on par with the top researchers and best them because of their experience in the field, is a scary thing because it challenges people's perspective on intelligence especially when you have built your whole identity through academia, including grade point averages, post-graduate degrees, publications and tenure, and very little through real world experience. For these people, it is a frightening prospect that one will actually have to venture out into the "real world" and tackle real issues not just ones that can be handle through an economic model, a PowerPoint presentation or data gathering. No, in this new set up, one will have to be more of a guide and an humble one at that, which again is hard for those who have become too comfortably snuggled in the ivory towers. When one feels threaten it is easy for one to attack the very thing that is the perceived threat which is where much of the criticism launched towards the Chancellor comes from. But in the end, I do believe that the true teachers/guides will be left standing and the others will have to venture out to find their true calling.
In my opinion, the transitional future of the "four year" undergraduate degree will have to be more radical than what the chancellor is now implementing and lies in concentrations (taking classes only in your major) which will take less time to matriculate (less costly), will be based even more on real world experience, and very little on required core classes, which are forgotten as quickly as they are taken. Critical thinking will be the norm as ideas are shared and old theories tested and debated. No longer will the old guard of Western thought reign unchallenged because people from different backgrounds and perspectives will be able to share their experiences which will put the old ways of thinking to a test. As young people are getting more and more in touch with their passion or calling and the question of going to college full-time is being raised, this needed change in academia is in line with the reemergence of the artisan-- local, independent contractors or entrepreneurs highly crafted in their sphere of expertize. And along with artisans, we are seeing a return of the the apprentice because there is an increase need for real life experience over easily "Googled" book learned information and this is where meta-academia can shine as a bridge for young students entering the world stage through engaging the local community. Syracuse University has the foresight to not only recognize this need but the gumption to actually take radical, progressive measures to capitalize on the changing times, which is in full alignment with the history of a school that never played it safe.

As I wrote in College... Take 2, the one thing I saw useful, but students didn't utilize to the fullest, were the lectures-- people from around the world pontificating about their experiences or academics presenting their research or ideas to a willing audience. By attending many of these FREE lectures, mostly through the Maxwell School, I was able to put together an eye-opening idea for a documentary. It would have taken me much longer if I had to depend solely on books, and quite frankly, I didn't know what I was actually looking for, so I wouldn't have known what books to read. The lectures provided the serendipitous arena I needed to flesh out the concept for the film. The verbal exchange of ideas is also important because one can actually question a person in way that one can not question a book. I was able to question and challenge some ideas expressed, if only for the benefit for the students who did attend, which helped formulate my own views on the subject I am covering in the documentary and to see things for what they are instead of just sitting back and letting a professor sell me their views or someone else's while I regurgitate them back at a later time. One short coming of the lectures is, in true western philosophy fashion, most of the focus is on solving perceived problems and little time on historical context and differential perspective approaches to situations (in other words, not looking at everything as being a problem that needs fixing and looking at different world perceptions as possible places for ideas) which exposes the lack of progressiveness and inclusiveness in and out of traditional academia. In this respect, an open ideas center that reshapes the lecture/seminar paradigm is where meta-academia can create a more enlightened experience.

Nothing lasts forever, so I don't see this change as a good or a bad thing just something that was bound to happen. Academia was a concept that has evolved and slowly took the place of rituals into adulthood. The acquirement of education or information became valued over learning through experience which made academia very powerful within the construct of the society. However, with the world changing rapidly, the academic rhetoric will have to change or become obsolete either by choice or by chance.

Written by Xelinda Aïda, an alumnus of Syracuse University - College of Visual and Performing Arts - School of Art and Design - Transmedia Department - Film major.

Memento

THE ARTY HOBO — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:33:00 +0000

Many of today's moviegoers know Christopher Nolan for the Batman trilogy and Inception. I chuckle when people think that The Dark Knight (2008) or Inception (2010) are his best films. I personally think we would have go back to a little, gritty film called Memento (2000). Starring Guy Pearce and Carrie Anne-Moss, Memento is a mystery thriller about a man (Guy Pearce) with a short term memory loss disorder trying to find his wife's killer. Though it is not as slick and big as Nolan's current films, it is definitely big on it's ability to stick with you once you've watched it.

Memento is a commentary about the human mind, defining purpose and the bigger human disorder of not being able to let anything just be. This film will keep you guessing all the way to the end. It is best not to know too much about the story and instead sit back, turn off all forms of communication, and watch. I saw this film in theaters and it was hard to get into it at first, because of the repetitive way the story unfolds, but hang in there until the end, it is well worth it.

From Nolan's brilliant script (based on his brother, Jonathan's short story), to the superb acting and the crafty editing, Memento is sure to entertain and have you talking about it for days to come. So, by all means, if you are looking for something interesting to watch, check out this film.

Where to find Memento:
Watch it here through Hulu.com for free (see below).
Rent: Amazon.com NetFlix Blockbuster YouTube
Buy: Amazon.com iTunes Blockbuster

The Trayvon Martin Affect (VERDICT UPDATE: 7/15/13)

THE ARTY HOBO — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 03:50:00 +0000

Trayvon Martin George Zimmerman

Many parents are under the misguided notion that it is their job to protect their children. This might be true for the days before they can walk but after that, the parent role goes from protector to teacher/guide. It is your job as a teacher/guide to prepare your child for life, not the Disney version you have envisioned for them in your mind, but the world they will enter into by themselves one day. Everything that you know you need to teach them, not from a place of fear based on your own hang ups or by repeating what your parents told you, but from a place of awareness so your kids can learn through the truth of your experiences, along with their own observations and experience which will help them develop their own tools for life.

It's the little things that matter. We want our kids to be helpful around the house and to obey adults but we also tell them not to talk to strangers. Do you see how your thoughts on not talking to strangers can be pointless to a young child who has only had the experience of obeying adults and helping others? Are you aware that very young children have no idea what a stranger is because the word "stranger" is a mental concept, a definition trapped in your head? Sure a very young child will repeat after you, will mimick you but that doesn't mean they understand you. As a child grows up and the word "stranger" becomes a negative concept in his/her mind, yet the world gets trickier, because there are times when talking to a stranger might be beneficial, but you have set them up to be afraid of strangers. This fear can follow them into adulthood and cause them to put much of their faith in people they know while treating strangers with suspicion and distrust, which can be limiting and dangerous.

Had George Zimmerman been taught differently about strangers, he might have reacted differently to Trayvon Martin that night. Zimmerman might not have pursued and shot an unarmed "stranger" in fear. He might had listen to what the police officers told him to do that night, which was to not pursue and maybe he would have chosen instead to observed Martin from a distance, which would have given him the answer to his question of who this suspicious stranger really was. As many of us are quick and loud to throw on a hoodie and declare that we are Trayvon Martin, most of us will not admit that we are also George Zimmerman, afraid and suspicious of strangers, people we do not know.

There comes a point that we need to stop pointing fingers, stop slinging insults at each other, dry the tears, put aside the anger, take off the hoodie, and pick up a mirror and let Trayvon Martin's death be a wake up call to ask ourselves a few questions:

How well do you know your neighbors? Do they know your kids, your pets?

It makes sense to get to know your neighbors. In a world where people are afraid of strangers, getting to know your neighbors is a way to ease that tension, to know who you're sharing the neighborhood space with and to build alliances for policies that you or they might want to implement.

Is there a neighborhood watch program in your neighborhood? If so, are you a part of the program? If not, do you know the people in the neighborhood watch program? Do they know your children, your pets?

Become familiar with the Neighborhood Watch, and it's procedures including, if patrols can carry weapons and the guidelines for their use. Even if you can't personally join, make sure everyone involves knows you, your family and any of your long term visitors. If you don't like something, question it, get involved to change it.

Do you know the police officers who patrol your neighborhood? Do they know your children, your pets?

Many of us are quick to judge the police but how many of us actually know the people who patrol our neighborhood? They are the ones with the guns, so it makes sense to spend time getting to know the officers at your local precinct, outside of the law, so much so, that it becomes a place where everyone knows your name, your kid's names and your address, since police serve and protect... your property. Besides, it is very hard for someone to shoot someone they know.

How involved are you in local elections and lawmaking?

Some people seemed to be shocked over the guns law in Florida and that a Neighborhood Watch person can carry a concealed weapon. Apparently these people know nothing about Florida or about the other states that have concealed weapon and "Stand Your Ground" laws. Being appalled and voting on the CNN poll about these laws mean nothing unless you live in these states and decide to petition to get these laws amended or removed. Instead, become familiar to what is happening in your neck of the woods, the laws including the pending ones and pay attention to local elections that affect your life more directly than the highly popular presidential race.

How well do you know the American legal system?

I worked for Court TV (now TruTV) for two years covering civil and criminal court cases in Florida, Texas, New York, etc. and I got to learn a lot about the American legal system and how laws affect citizens of different states. I also learned that most people don't know anything about the legal system until they are ensnared in it. Learn the system so that you are not wasting your time doing things that don't really amount to anything. People do not get arrested because you've signed a petition for their arrest. That is the job of the state's Prosecutor's Office which doesn't respond to petition because they need to build a case they think they can win. According to the initial police report (the official longer version takes at least 30 days or longer to file), the police want to charge Zimmerman with "homicidal neglect" with the lesser charges of "manslaughter" and "unnecessary killing to prevent an unlawful act." Lesser charges are filed so that if a jury doesn't believe that he committed homicidal neglect, maybe they will believe he committed one of the lesser charges. As far as I know, the case is still being investigated and this will take time. The number one reason why a person is not arrested is because the law supports them in some way and/or the case is not strong enough against them, YET. I'm not saying that Zimmerman will be arrested or not, but be patient, cases like these are not tied up in 45 minutes like on Law and Order. [Update 4/11/2012: George Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder (which is a higher charge than homicidal neglect) and has been taken into custody. If convicted, he could face life in prison.]

Speaking of which, be very careful of trial by television. News entities do not try cases and you, at home, are not part of the jury. There are many things that are kept from the viewing public that go on in a case and news entities are about ratings and money. Many news entities will do and say anything for you to watch, and if that means you burn down a neighborhood because you disagree with a verdict, based upon the case they weaved for you, so be it, this just means more ratings/money for them.

Verdict Update: On July 13, 2013, George Zimmerman was found not guilty of second degree murder. Some of you think that there is something that you need to do, but the letter of the law is clear. For the case to go to the Federal level, as some are trying to again, wrongfully petition for, but there is something called "double jeopardy" that prevents someone from being tried again once they are found not guilty. Another option for the family is to sue Zimmerman in civil court which has different rules when it comes to burden of proof which is a very important thing when considering a case. Another option is for the Supreme Court to review the case in regards to the "Stand Your Ground Law" to see if the law is unconsitutional. Now, the case needs to be submitted AND the Supreme Court has to agree to review it. This is easier said than done, because a.) the amount of cases that are submitted and b.) the Supreme Court is relunctant to mess with state laws unless it strongly inhibits the rights of another person.  I'm not sure if this law does this.  It might have been easier if Zimmerman was convicted. This seems to be the route Eric Holder is taking with calling on the Department of Justice to do a civil rights case against Zimmerman which is different from trying him for murder again.  This would then set up a path towards a Supreme Court hearing but again, I think this is a tough one.    That said there is really nothing you can do because you are not part of this process. Marching, petitioning and protesting in this case will not change anything.   Only those in Florida and any where else the law exists can repeal the "Stand Your Ground Law," so again, if you don't live in those states there is nothing you can do directly.

The one thing everyone can do is become more aware about your situation and more involved in your community. Laws like these are passed unnoticed because people, for the most part, ignore the less sexy, local laws for the presidential elections. Get involved on the local level, read those ballots, run for office, learn about the system and become active.   There is a truth that will be unmasked in this process, and you can do just that. Asking President Obama for something you should have taken care of yourself is not really fair and not his job. You are not children, put your big kid pants on, and take some responisibility for your lack of involvement in your community.

Update 7/20/13: On July 18, 2013, I posted this article finding the Stand Your Ground law to be unconstitutional: http://theartyhobo.blogspot.com/2013/07/stand-your-ground-law-is.html.

Do you know what do to if someone is following you or something doesn't feel right? Do your children?

When I was younger, I was taught some basic survival tactics by family members. I was taught that if I was ever followed to do several things, if the person is directly behind you, cross the street, get to a well lit, well populated area, if necessary, run in a erratic zigzag fashion (not in a predictable pattern), wave your arms around and yell, "Leave me alone, get away from me, someone help me!" When you get somewhere safe, call 911. The tactic is always to become big and erratic, not in a confronting way, but in a way to bring attention to yourself. A person is less likely to mess with someone who is drawing attention to themselves, thus witnesses. There are many other tactics for different situations learn them and teach them to your kids, not through fear but as a learning tool. At the end of the day, everyone has to make their own choices, and making an informed one is better than making one out of fear.

Do you know how to use 911?   Do your children?

When you call 911 make sure you give as much detailed information as possible. Speak clearly, this is a recorded message and can be used later for evidence. Go over this with your child.   However, don't become overly dependent on 911 to the point that you jeopardize your safety waiting for the police to respond to your call.

At the end of the day, we are all responsible for ourselves and can only make choices for ourselves, so make sure to learn then teach instead of living in fear and reacting irrationally.

Written by: Xelinda Aïda

Digital Download Trivia (pt. 2)

THE ARTY HOBO — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 06:08:00 +0000

This funky, fun 1981 classic by Frankie Smith moves you uptown and downtown via a boogieing mass transport system named after a jumping school yard game. Miss it and you will have to walk to work, Sugar. Name the tune.

Scroll down for the answer...

The Missing Link

THE ARTY HOBO — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 07:01:00 +0000

Defiant Ones, illustrated by Gustav Rehberger

People don't like to talk about race. It makes people uncomfortable, angry, defensive. In the age of the überbrand, and thoughts spelled out in 140 characters or less, race relations is just not sexy, and attempts to repackage it with hyperbole like "the race card" and "reverse discrimination" have enter the lexicon with a resounding thud. Attempts to whitewash the past by trying to remove what was done from history has brought an unintended lens back to the history and it's explicit ugliness. Nobody likes to talk about it because no one knows where to start. The ones who left this legacy are long gone, but the blood-soaked inheritance keeps on giving in a perpetual round-robin system created for the advantage of their offspring. On the flip side, the ones who bear the striations are endowed with the baggage of pain past and expected to keep up the dwindling flame of a struggle that has become more imagined than real. Both sides are blinded by their perceived realities of themselves and each other and are chained together on a mental slave ship, rowing face to face, locked in a stalemate of inferior and superior complexes. What we don't realize is that we are not looking at the enemy of an opposing side, but in the mirror of our opposing self, a cranial confusion of not knowing that one is not outside of the other, but one is the other.

“No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.”

- Frederick Douglass

The classification of the races did not always exist. Race classifications came about from western thought and rationalization and were born out of the wars between the Irish and the English who started to see each other as separate from themselves. This lead all of Europe to classify themselves as separate people. This is why in Europe today there is a strong emphasis on the differences between the European nationalities. This coupled with the idea of "survival of the fittest" has produced a warped thought process, a kind of battle royale we continue to follow today, that is harming people all over the world. This idea of "surviving" really has no merit past the fearful thoughts of a few Europeans who then worked themselves, and overtime, the European collective, into a frenzy supported by the idea of Western Civilization, cultivated by the Greeks, which started out as an inferiority complex to be more powerful than the (renamed) ancient "Egyptians." These thoughts have morphed into the self-propelled, Western perception of power and material wealth by "controlling" the people and lands that host the natural resources of the world.

Now, the issues of the human condition goes further back than the Europeans, however the current way of the world has to be put into a historical perspective to understand how things have gotten to the current state. That perspective traces back to Europe and western thought, western civilization, and the lie that affects all peoples today, regardless of race.

“Education is indoctrination if you're white -subjugation if you're black.”

-James Arthur Baldwin

Race shifted gears from national identity to skin color during the Atlantic Slave Trade where race played an important part in rationalizing the use of Africans as slaves. When white slaves in the new America, later called " indentured servants," would escape there was no way to find them because they assimilated into the society undetected. The idea was to use Africans because a.) the Europeans were going into Africa anyway to destroy any evidence of past civilizations and history (to proliferate information and bolster Western Civilization) and to find any natural resources (at that time land, gold, diamonds, copper, etc) that would fit their needs and b.) Africans solved the issue escaped slaves due to their skin color. So to rationalize this idea, the Europeans simply proclaimed that Africans were not only "savages," the Western perception of the indigenous connection to the natural world, including animals, plants and the environment, who needed to be "saved," or "civilized," but were also less than human. Just like as when certain Europeans declared that non-Christians and Jews were pagans in early Europe in order to spread Western thought through the guise of Christianity. These derogatory terms work first as a seed in the minds of the collective to separate the "them verses us," which then supports the use of violence through invasion, coercion, subjugation and cultural annihilation, which would later be rebuilt though Western perception, reinforcing the illusion of greatness and power of the Western world. By the way, many past and present genocides were born out of this process of thought.

“At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races throughout the world."

- Charles Darwin

In 1858, the thoughts and perceptions of Charles Darwin were published as a scholarly work called On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life which theorized that evolution was born out of the natural selection, a competition between species (which he called races at that time) for resources and that only the fittest would survive. Darwin theorized that humans evolved from gorillas and that Blacks had the dominate gene when it came to race. Well, some then theorized that that could only mean that Blacks where the first humans to appear and they evolved from gorillas (animals who have been previously theorized to be a lower life from than humans) and since Europeans are white which is the opposite of black then surely they must be more evolved than anyone else, right? But the TRUTH still remains that there is no proof that we humans have evolved from any other animal or that animals are indeed a lower life form than us, these are theories born out of a Western point of view, thus the INCREDIBLY HUGE missing link. Ignoring the glaring truth is nothing when the education system is supported by your own theories and public reception of a theory can quickly become fact. Therefore, by the stroke of their own pen the Western world declared that black people, supported by their own Western science, were now "proven" to be inherently less human than whites, approximately 3/5 less, scientifically speaking, which in turned, convinced the masses of what these Europeans wanted to do, which was enslave massive amounts of Africans. So scientific illusion is a manipulation tool that has been used over and over again because it always fits into a real nice package that circles back to what was previously theorized and later changed into a fact, even if it is not true. And if some people question these theories, they are ridiculed, called ignorant, unintelligent, usually by other indoctrinated "scholars," and the weak minded are shamed into accepting these smoke and mirrored theories. Over time, the theory is passed along to the public through education as fact and the grand illusionary beast of "greatness" which is Western Civilization keeps trudging along. Race is not something that actually exists it is something that was perceived for the benefit of those who perceived it.

Africans lost most of their African heritage to take on a creolized variant of European culture. This absorption process really is cultural assimilation at work where a minority group, either through force or voluntarily, surrenders it's cultural traditions to become enveloped into a different and invariably dominate culture.

-E. Franklin Frazer

After the end of slavery, black people, collectively, were thriving in the Western world and this didn't sit too well with people who had been indoctrinated in the myth of superiority. This discomfort turned into a new fear of being be "taken over" or "survived by" the black race which spawned the Reconstruction period of Jim Crow laws, which ultimately stripped black Americans from the dominating culture's rites of land, money, and male voting and governmental privileges. This redefined role was then reinforced by random acts of violence through lynchings, arson and beatings which sent black Americans into a downward spiral of mental subjugation which has proven to be more damaging than the physical form of slavery itself. But instead of purging and rejecting the American way, black people chose to fight to be accepted by, to be recognized as equal to, not the spiritual sense which was projected, but more importantly in the mental sense, by the adoption, consumption and propagation of the Western way of life.

"I do believe that there will be a clash between East and West. I believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the systems of exploitation. I believe that there will be that kind of clash, but I don't think that it will be based upon the color of the skin."

-Malcolm X

Western Civilization is less about race (even though race, along with violence, science and religion, has been used as a vehicle to propagate it), as much as it is about a thought process, which after World War II produced the new American Black through the equals rights movement and subsequent laws which enabled Black people to mentally assimilate further into Western thought without question and without purging the subjugated relationship between Blacks and Western perception. Many non-European countries that were once under European rule became "independent" while keeping many of the Western philosophies and systems in place. These groups have unwittingly become "subjugated agents" of Western proliferation through what psychologist would call the Stockholm syndrome. Having been ween on the tit of Western thought for hundred of years, these groups identify with the oppressing culture, it's thoughts and systems to the point that we think we have arrived, and are falsely proud of anything we do that emulates the Western perception of the world, it's educational practices and self-promoted, perceived accomplishments. This need for acceptance and recognition for shedding the "savagery," the natural connection to nature-- the animals, plants and environment, we were taught we were being saved from, has led us to now look with contempt at anyone who is not following "the rules" and making our "race" look bad according to the standards set forth by Western thought.

The once totally subjugated now proudly stand side by side (or at least tries to) with the indoctrinated as we instruct others how to correctly use the proverbial fork that is the Western perception of civility. Most of us will go to college, if only to prove how intelligent we are in mastering Western perception. Our stern belief in Western science which has further separated, categorized and dissected the natural world, without really knowing what is what, has pitted humans against their own environment, through industrialization and the continued accelerated overuse of natural resources, to the point that we now believe that we are adversely affecting the very ecosystem that sustains our life. Many of us go to pre-approved Western churches every week to prove that we are not heathens (heathen means you are not a Christan or a Jew and goes back to the term "pagans" used by the Christian Church in Europe as a derogatory term to separate people who were not Christian or Jewish and to get them to join the church while they backhandedly commandeered so called "pagan" practices), without any thought or question of what we are following, and how it came to be. We go to work everyday trying to get paid, committed to the hustle, the grind, honoring our real G-O-D, the Almighty, the D-O-L-L-A-R, working towards our real God's plan, the 401k, the retirement plan. The Western machine keeps people in a constant mental round-about not knowing why we do what we do and neglecting what it is we are suppose to do-- our calling, our bliss, the reason why we chose to be in this existence in the first place.

“I freed a thousand slaves I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.”

-Harriet Tubman

We are so coked up on what we should look like, who has what, what some celebrity is doing, and what profession is considered good or bad that we have missed the whole picture. We are so desperate to prove we are not lazy; we are a respected people, a productive member of the society, that we will do anything to get into a room that used to be restricted to us, just to be a part of something, because we are too afraid to stand on our own, in our own light, in our own glory. We want an American dream that is so elusive to most, even to those who have found material wealth, a dream that was never real in the first place because it is centered on exterior encroachments and not interior enlightenment. Western thought has entrapped both Blacks and Whites (and everyone else) in a wicked web of deceit, neither knowing that they are living someone's thoughts, someone's fears, someone's lies, and it has gotten out of control.

It is only when the shock of a James Byrd Jr., an Amadou Diallo, or a Trayvon Martin death enters the conscientiousness that both white and black Americans are temporarily awaken from their Western induced coma to face the reality of the festering disease of indoctrination and subjugation based upon symptomatic inferior/superior perceptions we have yet to remedy. The more we continue to see ourselves as separate we will never see the natural connection that is there and has been there. There is no such thing as to conquer anyone, there is no such thing as to have power over anyone. Because the idea that one can conquer or have power over, mentally binds us to that person and puts us into a prison of our own doing. Likewise, when we live under the spell of someone else's fear, we start to see the world in that fear, and become a victim of an illusion born out of a mental sickness of not knowing who we truly are. And because we are like stubborn, lost people on a road trip refusing to ask for directions, we keep going and going and going, making up excuses and remaining lost, to no end.

“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.”

-Friedrich Nietzsche

One can not think that the very system of Western thought that has subjugated and indoctrinated us into one way of being will be the same system to free us, no. One must first purge Western thought from the mind through questioning. First ask your self, who am I? Everything you know of yourself you have been told. As children we were taught to think. We were given words and problems to memorize and told these are the things that make one intelligent. But is that true? What is intelligence? And why is it always measured by a standardized test administered by someone who is deemed that a certain number of correct answers makes one intelligent. Why do we all agree with this notion? Question how can we have something called carbon dating when calendars and years are made up? Just because you call something a complicated Latin name doesn't mean you know what it is. Simply observing something without experience it does not give one more insight or new knowledge than someone else. What is education and what are you being educated on? If man got the idea to build the dam from a beaver, who taught the beaver? What is intelligence and who has a lock on that definition? How is it the humans have figured out so much about the world but don't know where thought comes from? How do you know that what you are told is true when you have not experienced it? How do you know you are not looking at the world through someone else's lens and have become a mental slave to someone else's thoughts? QUESTION EVERYTHING, even everything I have written and let the answers find you.

Written by Xelinda Aïda

Re:Generation Music Project

THE ARTY HOBO — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 23:53:00 +0000

The Re:Generation Music Project documentary is spearheaded by the Grammys and teams top DJs with classic genres and sees what happens. The first time I heard of the Re:Generation concept was a few years ago when I came across the Re:Generations Nat King Cole album and fell in love. I am a great fan of the original Nat King Cole songs and the remixes were, to me, phenomenal, but I do think you have to start with an open mind.

The Re:Generation Music Project documentary shares the remixing process as it follows DJ Premier, Mark Ronson, Skrillex, Pretty Lights and The Crystal Method who lend their craft of remixing to the classic sounds of, classical, jazz, rock, country and RnB musical genres and for any music lover or artist the various processes are a joy to watch. You can also download the soundtrack for free on their website. So sit back, relax and enjoy!

RE:GENERATION MUSIC PROJECT (complete movie)

Music from the film:

DJ Premier "Regeneration"

Mark Ronson "A La Modeliste"

Pretty Lights "Wayfaring Stranger"

The Crystal Method "I'm Not Leaving"

Skrillex "Breakn' a Sweat"

Brazil - Escola de Samba

THE ARTY HOBO — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 12:22:00 +0000

On of my most wonderful experiences is Carnival 2004 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I can't stress the amount of fun and adventure that I had being in such an interesting place with wonderful people who know how to party, terrific food and wonderful sites. Many things about Brazil are part true, part myth and you would have to experience it yourself to discern which is which.

Now the parade in the Sambadrome is insane. There are 13 samba schools and each of them spend, at that time, $3 million on their parade which features thousands of people each. Every school have their own theme and original song and take about an hour and a half to two hours to complete their run. I got to see four schools perform over two days. Let me just say, you have not seen a parade until you go to Carnival in Brazil. Anyway, it is the music of the schools that I remember the most. The people pour their hearts into the performances and you can feel the millions of spirits sing in the Sambadrome with song and dance both in the parade and in the stands. The local women taught me to Samba and I did, everywhere I went.

Here is some of the music from my experience, including the winner of the competition, who received a cash prize that basically recouped their expenditures. I will return to Rio, but until then, I will dance to the music of the Escolas de Samba. Hope you enjoy.

The 2004 Winner:

Beija-Flor

These are my two favorite songs and two of the schools I saw perform:

Salgueiro

Unidos Da Tijuca

Battle Royale

THE ARTY HOBO — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 11:11:00 +0000

I saw this film many years ago, and I have included it because, though it is very violent, I think it speaks to the human condition and how we, as a society and individuals, deal or don't deal with fear.

The over the top, Japanese thriller, Battle Royale (2000) is not a film for everyone, but a film everyone should see. If you have heard about this film you will know why. The subject matter is, well let's say, pretty graphic. The film is set in Japan, it's the not so distant future and the situation is grim in the world of man. Unemployment is at 15%, which means about 10 million people are out of a job, but after 800,000 students decide to boycott, which frightens the "authoritative powers," a.k.a. the adults, the government enacts the Millennium Educational Reform Act, a.ka. the Battle Royale Act (BR Act). The Battle Royale Act picks a class of students, takes them to an island, gives each student a bag of random tools and tell them they have three days to kill each other until one of them is standing or they will be killed. The whole event is broadcast to the rest of the public as a form of entertainment through reporters. Part Lord of the Flies, the film follows several students, who are part of a class that has been chosen for the Battle Royale, and how the "game" effects them on a psychological level and how they choose to deal with the situation.

Kinji Fukasaku decided to direct this novel, by the same name, written by Koushun Takami, turned film because of his own experience in Japan as a child during World War II when the government militarized the general public. He and his classmates worked in a munitions factory that later came under artillery attack. The children ducked under each other to avoid being killed. He and the other surviving classmates helped bury the kids who passed on. This incident, along with finding out that the government had lied to the children, left Fukasaku with a very negative view of adults for many years to come. So, like my last recommendation, the Best Years of Our Lives directed by William Wyler, we see another director who uses his real life experience to bring a film to life, and Fukasaku does just that.

Battle Royale illustrates just how far people will go when affected by fear and how that fear can easily turn into something grotesque on the collective and individual level. Fear is usually triggered by the feeling of being out of control and instead of dealing with that feeling and the direct circumstance, for example in this film the unemployment rate and the the student boycott, the individual (or the government) enacts more rules that they think will control the situation through fear, in this film the Battle Royale "game." This reminds me of what happened after 9/11 when the American government enacted the Anti-Terriorism Act which really didn't address what happened on 9/11 but put in place these baseless rules (Remember the Orange Alert?), and infringements on citizen rights (wiretapping of phones and spying on so called "suspicious citizens" without a court order or a real reason) that seemed to take control of the situation but really instilled fear and suspicion to control the public. Counter that with the President George Bush encouraging people to go out and shop and the gratuitous, voyeuristic state of our news as entertainment, and you can see the recipe pretty clearly, as in the film, fear and entertainment equals control and placation of the populous. Remember Battle Royale, the movie, was released in Japan in 2000 (the book in 1999), 9/11 happened in 2001, so though Battle Royale has nothing to do with 9/11, it speaks to the the human condition of fear and how we, as a society and individuals, tend to react to it. It is the story of the individual students in the film, however, that speaks to the notion that no matter what, we still have choice in how we deal with any situation, including one dripping in fear.

Battle Royale is in Japanese so there are subtitles but it is worth it. You if you dare to watch this film, it might make you take pause the next time something "bad" happens and the government (or you, in your personal life) decides to make up "rules" and "Acts," instead of actually dealing with the situation at face value.

To find Battle Royale go to:

Online: Nexflix

In store: Blockbuster

The KONY 2012 Experiment

THE ARTY HOBO — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 22:11:00 +0000

Joseph Kony

A couple of days ago, a video showed up in my Facebook news feed entitled KONY 2012. The video is made by an organization called Invisible Children which, according to their website, "is a movement seeking to end the conflict in Uganda and stop the abduction of children for use as child soldiers." The organization's goal in making this video is to make Joseph Kony, the leader of a rebellion resistance in Uganda and the Congo in Africa, famous. It is said that Joseph uses children as soldiers to help in the rebellion. Now the only thing I know about this situation is from US and European sources the very system that Kony is fighting so, right away I must question the information. Based on history, I don't believe anything coming from the US and Europe when it comes to Africa. The western forces like to paint anyone in Africa with a broad stroke only to find out that that Europe and America have manipulated the situation for their own financial gain. So in terms of the Joseph Kony story, I DON'T KNOW. But for the purposes of this post I do know the KONY 2012 video is manipulative.

I attended film school at Syracuse University where I made short films and studied the moving image. I have worked on Hollywood-made films, been in the industry for over 10 years, am currently a filmmaker and also worked in news, so I know a thing or two about how to put images together. I know manipulation when I see it. It only took me the first minute of this video to know that the KONY 2012 video, that has gone viral on Youtube and Facebook, is extremely manipulative and has nothing to do with capturing Joseph Kony. But it has everything to do with enforcing the thoughts of the Invisible Children organization. I mean think about it, do you really think that by watching a video and sharing it on Facebook, while you sit in your office or home in the U.S. is really going to get Joseph Kony arrested? Many organizations become very desperate when they want to do whatever they set out to do, (I see the same kind of thing with PETA) and will use various ways to do that, including manipulative video.

To break the video down is very easy, start out with video that everyone can relate to, in the western world it is white faces... no matter what race you think you are, most in the western world under western thought have been brainwashed to believe in the white facial image as the image of innocence, no matter what history actually states. Babies are good, human babies, animal babies, this will pull your heartstrings. The next step is to tell people just how important they are to the cause. What cause? The human cause. You know the cause that makes us all human on planet Earth, which you are naturally a part of, right? That will quickly dissolve into the organization's cause, which is always aligned with the human cause since the organization is made up of humans. And even if you are not part of the organization or their cause, they will tell you you are because you are human like them; this usually instills a sense of belonging and purpose without having to do anything but continue to watch the video. Once the organization has you invested, the rest is easy-peasy, for shock value, show the hard stuff, the uglier the better, show the stuff that brings home the message, that this is evil and you are good and must help by stomping out evil. This video has some prior help because it is set in Africa, whose image has been manipulated in the western world for centuries as being that mysterious place over there filled with savages. This was in your psyche way before you even sat down to watch the video. Therefore, anything bad or evil coming out the Africa continent is automatically believable to the western eye. By now you should be riled up in your seat at home or in your office ready to go do something, but what? The organization will help you with that, they will give out simple instructions, "Share this video," so that the organization's thoughts about the situation can be spread without question, without a retort by the accused, by the one-way news station of you. You, my friend, have just been had. This organization wasn't trying to make Joseph Kony famous, they are trying to make themselves famous. Mission accomplished.

Like I said, this video has nothing to do with Joseph Kony, but everything to do with what people are willing to believe based on no known information, prior brainwashing and a very good story. What I have learned in my life so far is that the truth doesn't need a song and dance for it to be known, and in order to change something, you have to be actually involved in the situation, not a mere spectator. So, be careful of what you believe in, and be very careful of highly packaged videos with manipulative imagery passing themselves off as truth, if you can spot them. Question everything, even this post.

Written By: Xelinda Aïda

The Best Years of Our Lives

THE ARTY HOBO — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 13:42:00 +0000

When any film about Word War II comes out, I always think about one of my favorite films,
The Best Years of Our Lives (1949). Most war films are directed by filmmakers who have never been to war so sometimes the films have an overt patriotic spin without much truth about the war experience. Not this film. This is director's William Wyler first film after returning from World War II as a major. He took war footage and made two documentaries one of them was about the last flight of the Memphis Belle, lost hearing in one ear caused by his experience flying in the B-17, and one of his camera crew passed on from gun fire while shooting air battle. So needless to say, he experienced the complexities of war first a hand. What is interesting is that Wyler made a film prior to going to war called Mrs. Miniver and for those of you who are filmmakers (or not) you should actually watch that film first, because it has the kind of filmmaking of a director who has yet to experience war and exhibits the overt patriotic spin I am speaking about. Wyler's direction of The Best Years of Our Lives is by someone through his experience was able to capture the trials and tribulations of the post war experience. The story slowly unwinds and peels away to a core that is anything but a pretty, stylistic, slick flick with catchy one-liners. No, this film hits hard at the core of the human condition and all of its proclivities as it pertains to the cutting, bitting truth about war and more subtly about as it pertains to gender roles post war.

Although Wyler, a multi-Academy Award winner, is known for introducing film-goers to some of the most famous faces in Hollywood and for his widely popular films such as Ben-Hur(1959) and Roman Holiday (1953), it is his early dramas I connect with the most because of his striking insistence of truth telling through the art of film making, instead of making films that solely mirrored society. And because of this, Wyler's films tend to be ageless. Also, anyone who can do Roman Holiday, a romatic comedy and then make Ben Hur, a large scale action adventure film, and then make The Collector (1965), a somewhat strange, indy-type film, staring a very young Terrence Stamp, I have to tip my hat to. I will be recommending some of his other films at a later time.

So, if you get a chance, go watch The Best Years of Our Lives, for an experience which will surely inspire you to think differently about war and it's place in our society.

Watch The Best Years of Our Lives:
Rental: Netflix, Blockbuster
On DVD: Amazon.com
.

CakeMan Raven

THE ARTY HOBO — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:04:00 +0000

A perfect balance of a rich, spongy, bright red cake with a creamy, sweet frosting, the heavenly taste of Cake Man Raven's red velvet cake has inspired me to write this post.

This is a special post dedicated to someone who is very passionate about cake, CakeMan Raven. I was introduced to CakeMan Raven's cakes in the winter of 2009 when I was in New York City on a business trip and staying with someone who lived out Long Island. She kept on raving about this red velvet cake she would drive to Brooklyn to get. Now, I've had my share of red velvet cakes and people telling me how good it is and frankly I never got it. The eyes see the red color but the taste is chocolate cake, and no matter how many times I've tried it, the taste buds and the belly kept yelling, "This is just chocolate cake dyed red!" So, I figured here is another person who is talking about something that is probably just some red chocolate cake. So one day when she had a piece, I ask her for a bite just to try it and she says, "No, you need to get your own!" Which kind of reminds me of Gollum guarding his "Precious" from the book/movie Lord of the Rings. So at this point I start to wonder, "Wow, okay, maybe there is something to this cake, hmmmmm?" Well, eventually, I do get my own slice, and without any expectations one way or the other, I take my first bite, and all I can say is, "Wowalicous!" It does not taste like red chocolate cake, no it is exactly what I imagine a red velvet cake to taste like. The experience is nothing short of divine, a confectioner's delight.

CakeMan Raven a.k.a Raven Patrick De'Sean Dennis, III, is a Harlem, NY native who was taught, as a child, how to make cakes by his grandmother, in Lynchburg, SC, and you can really taste the love. CakeMan Raven has other scrumptious flavors such as pineapple coconut and lemon, but I keep coming back to the red velvet, with the pecans. So if you are ever in the Fort Greene area of Brooklyn you must got to 708 Fulton Street to a lilttle shop called CakeMan Raven and have a slice of that wonderful red velvet cake with or without the pecans. And if you ever see me eating a slice, the answer is, "No, get your own!"

UPDATE: Cake Man Raven has moved and changed the name of the store and has a new website:

CakeVille International
2914 Atlantic Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11207

www.cakemanraven.tv

I Am Not A Woman

THE ARTY HOBO — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:14:00 +0000

I grew up during the feminist era, "I am woman hear me roar...," and "I can bring home the bacon... fry it up in a pan... 'cause I'm a wooooman-- W-O-M-A-N!" were anthems that were a part of the musical tapastry of my childhood. However, in my mid-twenties, I started to examine my life juxtapose to the idea of what a woman is suppose to be. I saw boys encouraged to seek out multiple women before settling down while girls were taught to be nice and save it for marriage. I saw women clamoring to be with in relationships that were far gone, some that never seem to take off, working hard to stay attached as though it was a badge of honor. In my own relationships, my ex-boyfriends expected me to act like the image of the woman in their head according to the past actions of their ex-girlfriends, but that image had nothing to do with me.   I watched my friends get married and have kids, but I just didn't want what they had. I saw the games that were played, the tears that were cried and then the ring with the question that seemed to make everything all right. To me that wasn't true love. So I kept searching.

Many woman get their validation from being with a man and having kids, and I didn't want that. It never felt right to me when a boyfriend questioned our future and why I didn't seem anxious to get married or bare his kids. There was no karat for them to dangle in front of me because I was disinterested. Deep down I had a yearning for something more. Something more authentic. Something deeper. So I kept searching. I was warned to hurry up and do this, or I was going to miss out on that. Things I really didn't even care about because I hadn't found what I was looking for. I wanted to be free, to travel, to explore, to taste the world, to do the things that were expected of men but limited to women, if only in our minds, because it was considered dangerous or uncool for a woman to travel alone or do anything alone. So, I started doing the things I yearned for on my own, slowly at first, and the more I did, the less I connected with that word, that abstract concept that seemed at war with my true nature. I decided to ditch that suffocating cloak and face the fact, I am not a woman. I am much more than that.

Now, I have since abandoned all labels, and I don't adhere to any language mainly because it is made up and separates us from what is. When you are mentally locked in and believe in the meaning of words and their power, you are effected by these words and their meaning. I use language as a tool in order to communicate with you, but since I am no longer locked into the mental-sphere of the manmade world, none of these labels have any effect over me or govern me. When the word woman ceased to be of any meaning to me, it, along with a whole cast of players, played a pivotal role in setting myself free to reunite with the truest of love found within and realizing I, along with everything, am the undefinable.

Etymology is the study of words, their meaning and their origin. Because words are constantly changing in definition and, many times, the definition includes the word, a derivative of the word or circles back to the word, the etymology helps in understanding where the word originally came from, thus its original intent. So to understand the how the mental-sphere, governed by words/language effect our reality, here is etymology of the word, woman.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, woman (first known use before 12th century) means "an adult female person, a woman belonging to a particular category (as by birth, residence, membership, or occupation) —usually used in combination <councilwoman>, womankind, distinctively feminine nature, womanliness, a woman who is a servant or personal attendant, wife, mistress, girlfriend." Now, the etymology for the word woman comes from the Old English word wifman, a female person; wif is the shorten form of wife, and man is short for person or human.

So the word woman comes from the concept of a wife person. Which at this point has nothing to do with marriage. So what is a wife? The etymology for wife (first used before the 12th century) is wif and goes back to the Tocharian B word for kwīpe meaning "female pudenda," which is the plural version of pudendum meaning "female external genitalia." The etymology for pudendum goes back to the Latin verb pudēre which means "to be ashamed." So the word wife leads back to "ashamed female external genitalia."

According to the Marriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of a wife is "a woman acting in a specified capacity, a female partner in a marriage." Now, since the definition of woman has nothing to do with marriage we will only look at the definition of "a woman acting in a specified capacity." What is a "specified capacity?" Well according to Merriam-Webster there are many synonyms for wife: " helpmate, helpmeet, lady. little woman, madam, missus (or missis), Mrs., old lady,wifey woman." Now all of the words trace back to the word woman except for helpmate and helpmeet. So what do these words mean. The etymology for the word helpmate (first used in 1696) comes from helpmeet (first used in 1673), but the definition for helpmeet is "helpmate" which makes no sense since helpmeet came first. Which makes me thinks that someone has done transliteration which means that a word has been redefined or translated through the substitution of letters, in this case the "e" became an "a" and the word helpmate was defined as "one who is a helper or a companion, especially a wife."

So a wife's "specified capacity" is as "a helper or companion" who has "ashamed female external genitalia" So this means woman is a "helper or a companion person with ashamed lady external genitalia." A helper as defined by Merriam-Webster is "one that helps; especially : a relatively unskilled worker who assists a skilled worker usually by manual labor." There is no etymology for helper except that it comes from help whose etymology comes from the Old English word, helfan, which means "help." Companion (first known use in the 13th century) on the other hand has many definitions and is basically "someone to spend company with, an associate, someone closely connected to someone else, or someone employed to live with and to serve." The etomology of the word, however, derives from Latin combination of the prefix com-, meaning "with, together, thoroughly" and panis meaning "bread or food." In other words, someone to eat with. So a woman is "a relatively unskilled worker who assists a skilled worker who has ashamed lady external genitalia" or "someone to eat with who has ashamed female external genitalia." So who is she suppose to do these tasks with, one might wonder? Well according to Genesis 2 as interpreted by the King James version of the Bible (completed in 1611), the second part of the creation story was interpreted into English as this:

¹⁸And the LORD God said, [It is] not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
¹⁹And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought [them] unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that [was] the name thereof.
²⁰And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
²¹And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
²²And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

"Oh," one might say, "help meet is two words not one, so that must mean something." Really? Well, the definition of help (used before the 12th century) as a noun is defined as "aid, assistance; a source of aid; one who serves or assists another (as in housework) a helper, an employee." And the etymology for help, as a verb, goes back to the Old English word helfan which means "help." And meet, in this case the adjective ( in Latin which the the KJV Bible was translated from, the adjective is after the noun not before) means precisely adapted to a particular situation, need, or circumstance : very proper.   Which makes woman just a "suitable unskilled worker assisting a skilled worker who has ashamed female external genitalia" or "a suitable person to eat dinner with who has ashamed female external genitalia." In any case, the word woman contained in its etymology in the English language is subservient to the word man. But is this true?

The original language of the old testament is Hebrew and help meet is translated from "ezer kenegdo" meaning, who knows, it's in Hebrew. The person who wrote it is not here to clarify anything so it has to be translated by people who are guessing because they don't know what they are talking.   There are many different translations of this phrase from, "Yes, woman are subservient to man," to "No, woman stands as his equal," to "Woman as warrior!" Most of these translations come from the other the definitions of meet as a noun and a verb which would have been incorrect since the KJV Bible was translated from Latin not Hebrew where the adjective is after the noun, not a noun or a verb.

What I do know is that the English translation which governs the people reading this post, was written to make sure that women were viewed as subservient to men and that the word "woman" is subordinate by definition no matter how you think you are going to try to reclaim it. Just look around, women are treated just like the definition implies by men, other women and even themselves. No matter how much the feminist movement tried, the sexism is in the language itself and lately women have fallen back into their defined roles usually by their own accord.

With words like these, it's no wonder why many woman are ashamed of their bodies, ashamed of the monthly divine, running around pointing at each other saying, "Real woman have this, Real women do that," fighting over men on television and in real life, cutting into the breast, nose, buttocks, stomach to match some mentally, made up ideal. Many woman question why they don't have any help, why they are always doing everything? Why they feel so alone, always searching for someone to fill a void. By definition there is no word for help for a woman except another woman because you are the help. Your male companion is a boyfriend or a male friend. Even if you get married, by defiition your husband is not even your companion you are there to eat dinner with him, not the other way around. He is a marriage partner, your manager, steward, your fiscal agent, the one who runs the household. Which is kind of funny because I know many women are doing this job, but it makes sense since, you are defined as his helper and you know how managers love to delegate. But if you divorce, contrary to popular belief, a woman's economic status lowers significantly, while a man's declines less radically. So outside of boyfriend, as a companion, there is no male equivalent for females in the language.

The language itself is tipped in favor for men, just look at the definition for man, it just goes on and on and on with positive reinforcement. It even covers human without the mention of women. The etymology for man goes back to Sanskirt word "manu" meaning "human" that is suppose to include the first man and woman, but it quickly heads off in the direction of a man, namely the first king. One needs to be aware of what is going on so that one does not fall into the trap of attaching oneself to these definitions and labels. Knowing who you are has nothing to do with language, labels and definitions. That is a lie that was taught to you. In keeping women in a mental bondage through definitions, so is the man who adheres to words. That is why there is a long history of strife and confusion between men and women, but ultimately, is your job to mentally free yourself.

Words, derived from thought, has kept women separate from men and both separate from nature, therefore separate from self and blind to the reality of the world beyond the mental-sphere of words and definitions. "The word," as the men who made up this nonsense might want you to think, is not God, the word is by men, for men. That is is why God is written, mainly in Christianity, as a HE and a HIM not a SHE and a HER because men wrote it that way. The etymology of the word God comes from the 6th century Christian Codex Argenteus believed to be derived from the High Old German word "Got" which is derived from the Proto-Indo-European word "ǵhu-tó-m" based on the root "ǵhau(ə)-," which meant either "to call" or "to invoke." These words were gender neutral and lowercase but during the process of the Christianization of the Germanic peoples from their indigenous Germaic "paganism," the word was made gender specific to be inline with the Christian Church's perception of itself as masculine and written in upper case lettering to established that the Christian Church uppercase God was over the "pagans" lowercase gods. Note: The word pagan that we so freely used today, was designed by the Christian Church as a derogatory way to separate people who were not considered Christian while taking their traditions, in this case the word "got" and incorporating them into the Church for easier conversion.

The one called "God" is neither male or female, doesn't need language, is not found outside of you. God is just another label for something humans do not fully understand, a label that separates us from "ALL and EVERYTHING, seen and unseen," the ONE that is also MANY, including YOU, not separate from you, and that's the TRUTH.

Amélie

THE ARTY HOBO — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Beautifully shot, wittingly crafted, Amélie (2002) is a French film that connects to the soul. The story centers on the title's character, an imaginative, shy waitress who stumbles upon a mystery which ultimately propels her to secretly meddle in lives of the people around her, opening their world to new possibilities and in the process, greatly affecting her own life.

I saw this film in theaters when it was first released in 2001, and it was the film that introduced me to the very talented Audrey Tautou, whose performance is reminiscent of a modern day Audrey Hepburn. Since then, I have enjoyed Tautou's acting in several other films, including Dirty Pretty Things (2002) in which American audiences was introduced to another very gifted newcomer at the time, Chiwetel Ejiofor, A Very Long Engagement (2004), a World War II love story/mystery, and Coco Before Chanel (2009), the fictionalized biopic of fashion designer Coco Chanel, among others.

The direction by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who also directed A Very Long Engagement, is flawless, the cinematography by Bruno Delbonnell is absolutely stunning and the talented supporting cast of actors round out this gem of a film. This is a French film with English subtitles, which I think actually adds to the charm, when in some films, subtitles can be a little distracting. So check out Amélie, you will not be disappointed, and it may even inspire you:-)

Where to find Amélie:
Watch for FREE on HULU. (Note: There are random ad breaks.)
Rent download on YouTube.
Buy download on iTunes.
Buy DVD/download or rent download on Amazon.com

The Treasure of Sierra Madre

THE ARTY HOBO — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:44:00 +0000

"We don't need no stinkin' badges!" is a famous line that did not originate from Blazing Saddles as many people think it does. It actually originates from a film made during the golden age of Hollywood, starring Humphrey Bogart called The Treasure of Sierra Madre and that famous line was articulated by actor Alfonso Bedoya.

To me this film is the precursor to another film I like called A Simple Plan. Both delve into the mind and how it's faulty thinking process often leads to more trouble than necessary. I wrote about this kind of mind chatter in a recent post. Now, The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948), is about a three men who go to Mexico for work and end up setting out to retrieve gold from the Sierra Madre mountains. What seems like a relatively simple plan, quickly becomes a journey with many unexpected twists and turns for the characters and the audience alike, with an ending that is quite befitting. The cast, script and the legendary John Huston's direction are superb and is one of the reasons why I really dig classic filmmaking.

I rate this movie as one of my favorite Bogart films, he has several that I really enjoy, and they don't even include the very popular Casablanca. So if you are so inclined to venture to the classic, black and white section of the movie sphere, look up The Treasure of Sierra Madre, you will not regret it.

To buy download go to iTunes.
To buy the DVD, download, or rent download go to Amazon.

Digital Download Trivia (pt. 1)

THE ARTY HOBO — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:13:00 +0000

This band's distress signal is a call to action to slow down and enjoy life... Released in 1980, it was certified platinum, number one on the R&B charts and number three on the pop charts. Sampled by Birdman in his song Baby You Can Do It and by Father MC in Close to You, this song stills inspires booty shaking and music producers today. Can you name the band and the song?

THE ANSWER:

To purchase this song or to check out other S.O.S. Band's songs go to iTunes.

Extreme Hoarding

THE ARTY HOBO — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 04:06:00 +0000

Ever watch one of those hoarding shows on television? There is usually a person who has been hoarding so many things that their house is full to the brim with stuff. In many cases, the house is not fit to live in and the tenants must clean up or face losing the house to the authorities. Many of us watch the show in disbelief and shake our heads at the extreme conditions, even if some of us have the same condition in our own homes but on a smaller scale. We see what ignited their situation, a husband who passed on, a career on the skids, a drug addiction. We watch them go though those bins and toss out unnecessary stuff which usually triggers an emotional breakthrough. By the end of the show they return to their home and the new, clean interiors are revealed. Well, just like these homes many of us are hoarding thoughts trapped deep in our brains which continue to chatter over and over again.

Now it is said that humans have somewhere between 3,000 and 15,000 thoughts per day. In fact, I saw a commercial on television making the 3,000 thoughts a day proclamation like it was a good thing, even though most of those thoughts are usually repetitive, negative, and useless, much like the stuff found in a hoarder's home. Hoarding is the manifested addiction to stuff as self, this is why it is so hard for people to part with these belongings even when they don't belong anymore. Because hoarders think they are their stuff getting rid of something is like a psychological death. Likewise, mind chatter is an addiction to thoughts as self and it is hard for people to distinguish between a mere thought and the reality of the world, to the point that the thought becomes the reality. And this is why it is said say that you create your world with your thoughts.   This addiction to thoughts block your natural happy state, and causes imbalances in one's life because simply put, the thought is not real.

A thought is just a language of the mind, an opinion, a judgment. What is real is what actually happens, not what someone says, not what someone thinks, but what actually happens in the tangible space. For example, if someone says, "Tomorrow, I am going to the store to pick up some food," this is just a thought said out loud to someone else, what we call communication. This does not mean that the person is really going to go to the store the next day to pick up food. The future is unwritten and can not be determined by a mere thought. Now this might seem elementary, except when the person does not pick up the food the next day and hears this from their spouse, "You said you were going to the store to pick up some food. Now we have nothing to eat. I can't depend on you for anything!" There. Right there, is the beginnings of an argument based on someone believing in a thought over what actually happened.   Acceptance of what happened, which was nothing, is key, but that is usually not the case. People might recognize this in one aspect in their lives and not another. Hearing that you might be getting a raise may lead one to start planning vacations and shopping sprees only to feel totally "dejected" and "embarrassed" when one realizes that the raise was only a rumor and there will be no raise after all. But wasn't it always a rumor. That feeling of dejection and embarrassment is based on what? Nothing. In fact, everything that a person says is rumor until it actually happens. Like when politicians or a significant other make promises of things to come in the future and when they are not fulfilled, one conjures up feelings of disappointment and disillusionment. What is a promise, but a fool's agreement. In reality, the promise was just a thought spoken out loud. It is nothing until something actually happens.

So many of us are caught up in our own thoughts and the thoughts of others, their meaning and connotations that humans have become the most self-destructive species on the planet. I hear people stating that words have meaning and power. No they don't. In reality, words only have the meaning and the power you give them. However, since YOU are mentally locked into a collective perception in which YOU believe in words and their meaning, words will have power over YOU. And because of that, many of us give up our personal power of choice in the name of protecting ourselves from mere words or threats. Many of us will go into heated battle because of thought up "feelings" of disrespect by words utter as non-physical assaults.   Many wars have been fought because of someone's suspicious thought of others who are not like them, or thoughts that power can be obtained through conquering people and land. What is power over others, but an idea of nothing that has been taught to mean something. Humans have created a whole dysfunctional world based upon the belief of thought as self, "I think therefore I am." This is just not true. You are not your thoughts.

In fact, you don't need the thought to do anything. You know how I know. I don't have mind chatter any more and I have not crumbled into a heap of despair and chaos. When I went through my inner transformation, spiritual awakening and enlightenment or whatever you want to call it, a year and a half ago, I saw my true self, the light within, the truth, ME. The thoughts that used go chattering away in my mind ceased. What was left was an expansion of p e a c e, bliss, wisdom and the stillness of what is. This is our natural state. The thought is a lie and a lie can not stand up in the light of the truth, period. But you know this on some level. For those who drive, you know that you have driven yourself home without recollection of how you got there because you were so deep into a thought about something not related to the task at hand. You didn't need to think, "Left turn here. Right turn here. Stop at red light. Go on green. Signal for turn, etc.," but somehow you got home. How? The light hidden within the body, your true self, that's how. For those of you who are performers (athlete, singer, actor, dancer, etc.), you know that the best performances come when we are completely in the moment, we are one with whatever we are doing, the thoughts in our minds cease and everything seems to go in slow motion. In that moment, you are experiencing your true self. Now imagine having that all the time. That is what I experience on a daily basis, without performing or driving, the oneness, the stillness, the true self, which is your salvation, the answer to everything. This is what is being blocked by the excessive, uncontrollable thoughts swirling around in your head..

You are not a body or a mind with a soul, you are a soul contained within the body, a vessel, a home. A place you have been filling up with mindless clutter, holding on to things in the past, and not letting the body properly release, such as through tears (this is especially for men who have been indoctrinated to believe that tears are feminine), for fear of being thought of as weak, though ridding yourself from toxic relationships, for fear you might be alone, through listening to the body when it needs certain foods or rest, for fear you might gain weight or miss out on something, and through bringing your body peace by pursing your life's calling, for fear you might fail or succeed. And just like the hoarders homes that start to get infected with rats, roaches and mold, the body, bogged down by hoarded thoughts, starts to get infected with what we call disease. It's amazing to me that people will hate their jobs, stay in toxic relationships, take on other people's responsibilities and problems, and be all around negative to their bodies then blame their weight gain, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes on a french fry. So, until you truly know yourself and who you really are, watch your thoughts, clean out your mental space, let go of the past, seek the truth in your life, slow down, be still and LISTEN to your true voice, the voice within, not the thoughts of the mind.

Question everything, including this post and let the answers find you.

Siedah Garrett

THE ARTY HOBO — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:40:00 +0000

Siedah Garrett pictured with Michael Jackson

One of my favorite singer/songwriters is Siedah Garrett. She has collaborated with some of the most talented people in the music business including Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones. I find the music she is associated with ranges from the wonderfully inspirational, MAN IN THE MIRROR and TOMORROW to the seductively sexy, I JUST CAN'T STOP LOVING YOU and SECRET GARDEN. Below is a little tribute (including my favorite lyrics) to the songstress who sometimes gets overshadowed by the "big names" she has worked with.

MAN IN THE MIRROR

Performed by: Michael Jackson.

Written by: Siedah Garret

"If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change..."

I JUST CAN'T STOP LOVING YOU

Performed by: Siedah Garret & Michael Jackson.

Written by: Michael Jackson

"You Know How I Feel
This Thing Can't Go Wrong
I'm So Proud To Say
I Love You
Your Love's Got Me High
I Long To Get By
This Time Is Forever
Love Is The Answer"

TOMORROW

Performed by: Tevin Campbell.

Written by: Siedah Garrett, The Brothers Johnson

"If tomorrow is light in a place where there's none
Then now is the time to have faith in us all
Ya know we're all in this world and we all can belong
We gotta get up, get out, get over it, get it on to be strong..."

SECRET GARDEN

Performed by: Al B. Sure, James Ingram, El' Debarge & Barry White

Written by: Q.Jones, R.Temperton, S.Garrett & E.DeBarge

"I know a melody that we could sing together
I've got the secret key to you, baby
Let's make music
Harmonizin' ecstasy"

A Simple Tea

THE ARTY HOBO — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:54:00 +0000

Here is a very simple tea that I love to make because it is so darn simple and so delicious. So on those cold winter nights snuggle up to a nice hot cup of this cinnamon and clover tea.

Serves: 1-2 people

Hot Water

1 whole stick of Cinnamon

4 whole Cloves

Preferred Sweetner to taste (optional)

Simmer hot water in a tea pot or medium sized pot. Add Cinnamon and Cloves. Remove from heat. Let steep for 15 minutes or more (the longer the better). Reheat if necessary, pour into a mug, sweeten to taste and enjoy.

Butternut Squash Soup

THE ARTY HOBO — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 07:50:00 +0000

Fall is my favorite time of the year, leaves are changing and winter squashes start to appear. I particularly love butternut squash with its bright yellowy-orange color, velvety smooth texture and delicate, rich taste which makes any meal come alive. I have made a couple of renditions of this dish, but this is my favorite, so grab a bowl and cozy up to this butternut squash soup with sauteed spinach and pan-seared shrimp, garnished with parsley and candied bacon.

Serving Size: 2-4 people

Ingredients:

Butternut Squash Soup

2 1/2lb Butternut Squash
Olive Oil

4 tablespoons of Butter

2 cups Vegetable Stock

1/2 cup Heavy Cream

A pinch of Nutmeg
Salt and Pepper to taste
Parsley and Candied Bacon to garnish

Candied Bacon
6 strips of thick cut Bacon
Brown Sugar

Sauteed Spinach
2 bunches of fresh Spinach or 1 bag of frozen Spinach
Olive Oil
3 cloves of fresh garlic minced
1/2 of a medium Vidalia Onion minced
A pinch of Nutmeg
1/4 cup of Vegetable Stock
1 tablespoon of Butter
Salt and Pepper to taste

Pan-Seared Shrimp
16 Shrimp
Olive Oil
1/2 of a Lemon
Salt and Pepper

Prep

Butternut Squash Soup
Take butternut squash, peel it, cut in in half lengthwise. Take a spoon or ice cream scooper and scrap out the seeds and "guts." Rinse and cut in large cubes. Put in a large bowl and cover with cold water, set aside.

Slowly heat heavy cream do not boil. Set aside. Make sure the broth is at room temperature, and not straight out the fridge.

Sauteed Spinach
Take fresh Spinach wash and cut off stems. Set aside.

Pan-seared Shrimp
Clean, peel (leave the tail on) and devein the shrimp. Pat dry with a paper towel. Place the shrimp in a small-sized bowl, coat with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cover and put in fridge.

Candied Bacon
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Take slices of bacon, dredge in brown sugar. Place a rack with cookie sheet lined with foil underneath. Take bacon and arrange on the rack. Place cookie sheet and rack in oven. Watch carefully because the sugar can burn quickly. Cook until browned/caramelized on both sides. Remove from oven and let cool.

Cooking Directions

Butternut Squash Soup
Heat a large saute pan over medium heat. Take the butternut squash and drain all the excess water. Put 2 tablespoons of olive oil and one tablespoon of butter in the pan. Heat up until butter is melted and sizzling. Add the butternut squash. Stir butternut squash until complete coated with olive oil/butter cook until it heats through and starts to release it's juices. Salt and pepper to taste. Add 1/2 cup of vegetable stock, bring to boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer. Simmer until liquid is reduced and butternut squash is soften. (Add more liquid if it runs out and squash has not softened). Remove from heat.

Note: You might have to do this stage in batches.
Place butternut squash in food processor (or blender) include any liquid still in the pan. Add some of the vegetable stock and some of the heavy cream, two tablespoons of butter, and a pinch of nutmeg. Blend and continue to add the rest of the vegetable stock and heavy cream as needed, until smoothed. (Note: If you are using a blender make sure to hold the top down with a cloth so that the hot liquid doesn't splatter.) Taste. Add more salt and pepper as needed and blend.

Take a medium sized pot (4 quarts) and a mesh strainer and pour the soup through the strainer into the pot. Use a rubber spatula to move the soup through. Repeat by taking a large bowl and pour the soup from the pot into the bowl though the mesh strainer. Repeat until you end up with the soup back into the pot. The soup should be a very silky, smooth, thick (but not too thick) consistency with no lumps. Return the pot to the stove on a low/medium heat. Add the last tablespoon of butter. Taste and adjust he flavors and consistency (if too thick). Remove from heat and cover.

Sauteed Spinach
Heat a medium-sized saute pan on medium heat. Add two tablespoons of olive oil to the pan. Add onions and a pinch of salt. Stir constantly until onions turn slightly transparent. Add garlic and continue to stir. Add spinach and continue to stir coating with the olive oil, until it wilts down. Add salt and pepper to taste and a pinch of nutmeg. Add vegetable stock, bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer. Let liquid reduce, add butter and fold through spinach. Taste and add salt and pepper if need be. Remove from heat, cover and set aside.

Pan-seared Shrimp
Heat a medium-sized skillet on medium/high heat. Remove shrimp from fridge. Toss through making sure shrimp is coated with seasoning and olive oil. If you are not using a non-stick pan, grease the skillet with olive oil. Place Shrimp on skillet. Squeeze lemon juice on shrimp. Flip over when shrimp starts to turn pink around the edges. Squeeze more lemon juice on shrimp and let evaporate. Check for doneness (shrimp should be pink on other side) and remove shrimp from pan to a resting plate. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Plate as desired. Chop up candied bacon and parsley (if fresh) and garnish.

Cocalero

THE ARTY HOBO — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:34:00 +0000

Evo Morales in Cocarela Photo by: Jorge Manrique Behrens

Cocalero is a documentary by Alejandro Landes which follows the 2005 Bolivia presidential bid of Evo Morales, an indigenous, coca farmer who rose in popularity when he defended the staple crop against the United States eradication policies as part of the "War on Drugs."

Landes beautifully takes the viewer into some of Morales most intimate moments while careful not to lead the us towards one point of view or another. Morales, while proven to be an outspoken man of the people, also faces a bigoted backlash from the middle class who believe him to be too radical and fear the possibility of a what a presidency with a man "like him" will mean for them. What makes this film so intriguing is that captures the complexities of the man who would become first indigenous president of Bolivia and goes on to win a re-election in 2009 in a landslide, but is constantly questioned for his socialist views and friendships with Fidel and Raul Castro of Cuba and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. He has been honored by the General Assembly for the United Nations as the "Hero of Mother Earth" for his stance for the rights of the environment, yet has been protested and defeated, by other indigenous people, against a planned highway project through the Amazon.

This film is only a stepping stone into the world of Morales but a very interesting start for anyone curious about politics outside of the U.S. or just curious about someone with an interesting story. Either way, this is a fascinating movie that should not be missed.

To buy the DVD of Cocalero go to Blockbuster or Amazon. (no pun intended;-)
To rent Cocalero go to Netflix or Blockbuster.

In Celebration of Nothing

THE ARTY HOBO — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:30:00 +0000

I haven't celebrated what we call "Christmas" in quite awhile. It all started on Christmas a few years ago, when I was sitting in relative's house...again, and feeling quite hallow. I realized that I didn't want to be there. I didn't want to do the fake family gathering thing anymore. In fact, every family holiday had become some strange repetitive ritual, it was that thing that happened every year, the same way every year, that began to lack any real meaning except that family was suppose to attend. I had grown out of the Christmas gift giving rut a long time ago. Let's just face it, people are either excited or disappointed in gifts that will be either returned or turned into background noise called our stuff in a couple of months. It just seemed so odd to me. As the children went screaming through the house with glee over new toys that I knew would be abandoned in a few months or even weeks, everything in that moment seemed so crystal clear for me-- I'd rather be on the beach in Maui. Now, I had personally abandoned Christianity many years prior because of historical factors that made following such a religion, or any religion for that matter, simply impossible for me. Note, I don't knock anyone who needs religion, if that is where you are, so be it. I really don't care what you believe in because I love you just the same. However, I do not worship or pray to anyone or anything nor do I adhere to any belief system because I know I don't have too, yet I walk in gratitude in honor of EVERYTHING around me because I know we are all one in LOVE without judgment, thus there is no judgment day.

That said, Christmas, as for a lot of Christian holidays, is really another celebration that has been hijacked, repackaged, re-branded and renamed by the Roman Catholic Church, this time the Winter Solstice. No, Jesus was not born on December 25, the Roman Catholic Church decided that date. Even Santa Claus is a derivative of St. Nicholas, a Roman Catholic saint, which means no matter which way you turn, all roads continue to lead to Rome who used Christianity to gain what they believe was power all over the world. And that is the very short version. When I gave up Christmas, which used to be my favorite holiday as a child, and to be honest I still listen to Christmas music but just don't adhere to any of it, it freed me to do whatever I wanted to do on that day. And because I celebrate nothing, I can experience everything, so for the past few years, without planning anything, I've done something different. Last year I experienced the Feast of the Seven Fishes (well we only had four:-) with some Italian (and Irish) friends. The year before that I had a "Very Jewish Christmas" in which a friend and I feasted on Chinese food-- a very delectable Peking duck and went to see the movie Sherlock Holmes. I even gave her a gift, because I was a guest at her house, in which she asked me for nothing in return, so it was more like a thank you than anything else. This year, I will be dog-sitting, maybe cooking something scrumptious and writing in solitude because that is really what I want to do, unless something pops up, and I choose to be whisked off on some other adventure. Who knows, anything can happen!

So, for many years now, much to my delight, I have done exactly what I've wanted to do. In fact, I really don't celebrate any holiday and my birthday for me is a day for honoring the body in which no one really has to be involved in that but me. I have unhooked from the hustle and bustle of all holiday shopping, and the expectations that come along with family gatherings, I cook what I want, when I want, if I want, I am only around those I want to be around and I give and receive grace on a daily basis. And guess what? I am not destitute or lonely. I am truly happy, because I am living from a place of truth, I take ownership of my choices without blame or praise and I am in bliss because of what I have found within. See, when you have found the trueness of your being everything comes in quick focus and in harmony with what is, and that is where I stand. One thing I have learned is that no matter the "season," it is the journey in the fulfillment of one's choices that makes life what it is.

The Hallah Berry

THE ARTY HOBO — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:50:00 +0000

I decided to make this gem while staying over a friend's house. We were watching Triple D (Diners, Drive-ins and Dives) with Guy Fieri on the Food Network, when a segment on the Metro Diner in Jacksonville, FL came on and featured the Yo Hala on the Square which, according to their website, is "a thick slice of Challah bread stuffed with bananas that have been sautéed in Frangelica and blended with cream cheese, then prepared like French toast and topped with a delicious blueberry strawberry compote!!" Well, I took one look at this wondrous concoction and exclaimed, "I can make that!" And so I did. Since they didn't give the full recipe, I guess the rest, added things I liked and renamed mine The Hallah Berry, just because. It took me two days to eat because it is so decadent, it made my tastebuds dance. My friend dubbed it "Love on a plate." So try it out and enjoy!

Serving Size: 2-4 people

Ingredients:

French Toast

2 cups of half and half

5 eggs

4 tablespoons of honey

A dash of nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract (you can also use orange zest or cinnamon or whatever flavor you like)

A pinch of Salt

Four 1-inch Thick slices of Challah (pronounced hallah) bread

Butter

Confectioners Sugar

Note: This French Toast recipe is a slight variation on Alton Brown's French Toast.

Banana Cream Cheese Filling

1 pack of Cream Cheese (softened)

Two ripe Bananas (you can also use over ripe bananas)
2 tablespoons of Butter

1/2 cup packed Brown Sugar

1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 tablespoon Bourbon

A pinch of Salt
1/2 cup roughly chopped toasted walnuts (optional)

Mixed Berry Compote

One package of Frozen Mixed Berries

2 cups of sugar

1 teaspoon of lemon juice
A pinch of Salt

2 tablespoon Bourbon

1 tablespoon of butter

Prep:

The Night Before: Take the four thick Challah slices and put them on rack so they stand upright. The next morning they should be hard and crunchy. In a medium bowl, whisk the half and half and eggs together. Add the honey and whisk until dissolved in liquid. Add nutmeg, vanilla and pinch of salt and continue to whisk until all of the ingredients are combined into a custard. Cover and refrigerate.

Early in the morning: Remove the cream cheese from the fridge so it can soften.

Cooking Instructions:

French Toast

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove custard from fridge and pour into a medium-sized glass casserole pan or pie pan.

Dip the Challah bread into the custard on each side for about 1 minute (make sure the custard is soaked into the bread, and check the bread and make sure it is not hard but not too soft when you remove it. Place on a cooling rack with a cookie sheet underneath to drain the excess custard. Repeat for the rest of the slices.

Place a medium-sized saute skillet (non-stick) on medium heat. Add a tablespoon of butter and melt. Place the Challah bread on the skillet and brown on both sides. Remove the slice and place directly on the rack in the oven (make sure the oven rack is clean or use an extra rack;-). Repeat for the rest of the Challah slices.

Banana Cream Cheese Filling
Peel the bananas and cut into 1/2 inch slices. Set aside. Heat up a small saute skillet on medium heat. Add a tablespoon of butter. Add bananas and saute (use a wooden spoon if possible). Add brown sugar and melt. Add cinnamon and stir. Take off heat, add Bourbon and set aflame. Let flame burn out and return to heat. Cook down until syrup thickens. Add a pinch of salt and stir. Remove from heat and add remaining butter. Let cool. In the meantime, prepare the mixed berry compote.

Mixed Berry Compote
Heat up a medium saute pan on medium-low heat. Add frozen mixed berries and defrost, releasing the liquid. Bring heat up to medium. Add sugar and stir until dissolved (again try to use a wooden spoon). Add a squeeze of a half a lemon (about 1 teaspoon) and a pinch of salt and stir. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat, add Bourbon and set aflame. Let flame die out and return to heat. Stir, bring back to a boil and reduce liquid to a syrup. Remove from heat. Add butter, stir and set aside.

Banana Cream Cheese Filling
In a medium bowl, cream softened cream cheese with a hand mixer, add a pinch of salt and blend. Take cooled banana mixture and chopped toasted walnuts and fold into cream cheese. Set aside.

Building the Hallah Berry:

Take French toast slices out out of the oven and butter them. Put one slice on a plate. Spoon half of the of banana cream cheese mixture onto the French toast. Top with another French toast slice (cut diagonally in half and put on another plate to serve four). Pour Mixed Berry compote over French toast. Repeat with remaining slices. Dust with confectioners sugar. Voilà!

Honey Love & Sixty Minute Man

THE ARTY HOBO — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 03:40:00 +0000

Drifters and Dominoes

I am always tickled when people admonish the youth of today's music choices as being too this or too that, usually too sexual, while extolling the classics as having "class and respect." Well, here are two songs that quetstion that notion. First, a song by the Drifters that hit number one on the R&B charts in 1954 called Honey Love which had mildly suggestive lyrics and next the song Sixty Minute Man by the Dominoes released in 1951. Again, there is no doubt about what Sixty Minute Man is talking about, and because of this, it was banned by some radio stations. However, this did not stop the song from being a crossover hit on both the R&B and Pop charts. Both songs are also a look at the early sound of Rock 'n' Roll as the lyrics in Sixy Minute Man suggests and part of the reason Rock 'n' Roll was given the moniker the "Devil's music" in its day. I grew up listening to these songs and would chuckle every time I heard them as I started to realized just what they were talking about. So before you admonish the booty shaking lyrics of today's music, take a listen to these two classics...

Raising Renee

THE ARTY HOBO — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 21:39:00 +0000

Sisters, Beverly (background) and Renee Mc Ivar in Raising Renee. ©West City Films, Inc

At this year's Syracuse International Film Festival, I had the pleasure to screen the Best Documentary winner, Raising Renee, by directing duo Jeanne Jordan & Steven Ascher. This is the third part of the documentary series trilogy, Families in Trouble.

Rasing Renee is about Beverly McIvan, an accomplished painter, who finds herself putting her career on hold after she obligatorily promises her mother, she would take over her duties and continue to raise, older sister, Renee, if her mother should pass away. Renee, an avid potholder maker, has been catergorized as a person with "special needs" due to her slow learning ability. Well, her mother does pass away and Renee must face the realities of her promise. This film is a case study in the big O, obligation, so many of us feel in terms of helping or taking care of other family members and friends. What makes this film so interesting is Beverly's frankness, her honesty in what seems to be her moral dilemma, to continue to take care of her sister or to pursue her life's work. However, as the film moves along the viewer realizes that there is more to this story than what meets the eye, more importantly the need for Renee to have a new life of her own. In her mother's willingness to raise Renee, she seems to have missed that Renee is a grown woman, in her own terms, and that her journey with her sister Beverly, not only brings up the question of what obligation does for a caregiver, but also what it does to the person who is supposenly being cared for. This is also an intriguing, yet honest approach to how the label "special needs" can sometimes be a prison for both the caretaker and the recipient of the "care." This film should not be missed, I highly recommend it.

For more information on where to see Raising Renee check out the website.

Tah Theme Song

THE ARTY HOBO — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 13:45:00 +0000

I was introduced to KT Tunstall through an episode of Grey's Anatomy some years back. In fact it was the non-acoustical version of this very song that captured me, and I became a fan of her music. This songs embodies the journey I have been on and thus is the appropriate theme song for The Arty Hobo. I particularly love this version because it is so stripped down and bare. The song is sensual and earthy and if you listen closely you can hear the universe talking to you:-) Enjoy and check out other songs and projects by KT Tunstall.

Coconut Curry Cod w/ Sauteed Swiss Chard

THE ARTY HOBO — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 01:20:00 +0000

This dish was inspired by a roasted duck with red curry pineapple and lychee dinner I had at Galae Thai, a restaurant in Northern Virginia, right outside of D.C. The meal was so beautiful and fragrant that I had to try my hand at something like it at home. I switched out the duck for cod fish, red curry for yellow and pineapple for mango, then added the Swiss chard and coconut jasmine rice which made the dish even more scrumptious. I've also made this same dish with chicken instead of cod fish. This is what I love about cooking, inspired innovation!

Serving size: Feeds about 2-4 people.

Ingredients:

Coconut Curry Cod

1 Whole Fresh Cod Fish Filet
Olive Oil

1 tablespoon Yellow Curry powder (good quality)

1 tablespoon Smoked Paprika (sweet or regular Paprika okay to use)

1 heaping tablespoon Tomato Paste
1 tablespoon Garlic chili sauce

2 teaspoons Roasted Red Chili Paste (opinonal)

1/2 large Red Pepper cut in strips

1 cloves of fresh Garlic minced

Red pepper flakes

2 cans Coconut Milk

2 cups Chicken Broth (homemade or store bought (low sodium) is fine)
1 Mango (cut up in chunks)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Coconut Jasmine Rice

1 cup Jasmine Rice

2 cans Coconut Milk (take 2 tablespoons and set aside)

1 cup Chicken Broth (homemade or store bought (low sodium) is fine)

1 tablespoon butter

Salt to taste

Sauteed Swiss Chard

4 bussels of Swiss Chard (red swiss chard is pictured but any kind will do)

4 Strips of Thick cut Bacon (can substitute beef bacon or omit)

2 Shallots sliced in rings

2 Cloves fresh Garlic minced
Olive Oil

A pinch of Nutmeg

1/4 cup Chicken Broth (homemade or store bought (low sodium) is fine)

A splash of White Wine

Salt and Pepper to taste

Prep:
Wash Swiss Chard in cold water. Cut the leafs off the thick stem (removal of the stem is for aesthetic reasons, I usually cut the stems up and saute them along with the rest of the Swiss chard then remove and eat them as a treat, they are quite tasty). Take the leaves, roll them up and cut them into strips. Take strips and soak them in a bowl of cold water and put them in the fridge.

Clean Jasmine Rice by putting it into a large bowl and pouring cold water over it. Swish water around and drain it through a mesh colander. Repeat process until water is somewhat clear. Let rice sit in mesh colander and drain. Set aside.

Clean cod fish, cut in four equal parts. Rub olive oil on fish and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Cook:
Coconut Curry Cod
(Make sure you have everything ready to go, because this will go very quickly)
Toast the curry and paprika in a medium/large deep pan on medium/low heat. Be careful not to burn the spices. Add the tomato paste and cook until deep red/brown in color, stirring constantly. Add garlic chili sauce, roasted red chili paste (optional) and garlic and continue to stir. Add red pepper and coat with paste. Add red pepper flakes to desired spiciness (start off with a pinch, you can always add more later). Add a healthy pinch of salt. Add 1 can of coconut milk and the chicken broth stirring constantly until paste has desolved in the liquid. Bring to low boil then lower heat to a simmer. Taste and adjust seasonings (add more salt or spices to adjust the taste as needed. Cover and let simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Taste. Add the more coconut milk as needed to balance the flavor. Add cod fish and mango (not to much, not too little, eat the rest:-). Cover and simmer until cod fish is about half cooked. Pour curry sauce over the fish several times. And finish the cooking process. The fish will turn opque and start to separate. Turn off heat and remove pan from stove and let rest with a cover on.

Coconut Jasmine Rice

Bring 1 can of coconut milk and 1 can of chicken broth to a boil. Add about a 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Add Jasmine rice. Bring to a boil then lower heat and bring to a simmer. Cover. Cook for about 15-20 minutes. Check tenderness of rice and use the other can of chicken broth to add more liquid if tenderness has not be achieved. Cook rice adding more broth as needed until tenderness is achieved. Listen to the rice and when the "applause" quiets it is time to take the rice off. Check to make sure the liquid has evaporated without stirring the rice (if rice is a little wet this is okay, it happens when coconut milk is added, it will continue to evaporate in the resting phase.) Cover and set aside to rest.

Sauteed Swiss Chard
Remove Swiss chard from fridge and drain. Heat a saute pan on medium/high heat. Add bacon and cook until crispy. Remove and set aside. Leave bacon oil in pan. Add shallots and garlic and a pinch of salt. Stir until shallots start to turn translucent. A little olive oil if needed. Add prepared Swiss chard a little at a time and sautee until it wilts down. Salt and pepper to taste. Add a pinch of nutmeg. Add chicken broth and white wine. Lower the heat and cover until liquid is evaporated. Chop up bacon and toss through Swiss chard. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

Coconut Jasmine Rice
Add butter and the two tablespoons of coconut milk and gently stir through. Taste. Add salt to taste if needed.

Plate it up anyway you like. Bon Appetite!

What Makes Us Mortal

THE ARTY HOBO — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 08:11:00 +0000

I have heard people say some very interesting things concerning truth. One of the most popular sayings about truth is that we can't tell the truth all the time because it hurts people's feelings, we should be "kind" instead. How is lying being kind? I am really at a lost here. I have always been an honest person much to the chagrin to others. If you ask me something I will tell it as it is not as you want it to be. Now truth should not be confused with opinion. I recently heard a so-called educated professional say that truth wasn't always a good thing, because if a woman asks him how does she looks in these jeans, he better say great or he could get into trouble. Okay, huh????? This example, or a variation of it, is always proclaimed by someone supporting lying. OPINION is not truth. It is the mortal mistake of wo/men to confuse opinion with truth. Truth is what actually happens, and opinion is the thought of what has happen. Truth: The woman is wearing jeans. Opinion: You think it makes her look fat. The opinion or thought, is judgment, judgment is the opinion or thought. That is how you know it is not Truth. I know this seems elementary but too many people make this mistake over and over and over again, to the point that it has affected our society. All we need to do is turn on the television and see the effects of opinion being supplemented for truth.

This dysfunctional way of viewing the world have people are under this strange delusion that their opinion is affecting something when it is not. After every major news event people get online, and on the phone to their friends and family and feverishly exclaim their outrage over such and such situation as though they have anything to do with said situation and as though their outrage is going to do anything about it. I remember someone wanted my OPINION about the Casey Anthony case, and I said I had none because I wasn't there and didn't know what happened which is the TRUTH. I added that the only people who knew what happened were the people involved which is the TRUTH. The end. Well one would have thought I shot this person in the big toe, they told me that the facts were this and that and the other. I asked her where did you get these facts? CNN. Was CNN there? Well no. So where did they get their information from? The D.A. Okay and where they there? Well, no. So, everyone who is giving said "facts" weren't there? No. And you think me the fool for not reacting? In fact, she has done just as much about the Casey Anthony case as I have, which is NOTHING, except I knew I was doing nothing from the start. The TRUTH is the people involved will take care of whatever is going on with or without our opinion. The rest of us are just OBSERVERS, and we can do that without the fanfare, the heated debates and the capital letters. I have seen people exclaim their opinion only to have had to backtrack away from it days later, instead of just saying the truth. I DON'T KNOW. I WASN'T THERE. ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. Then leave it alone. The truth can set you free, if you let it.

On another note, I when I've asked people who seem to be so passionate about these news subjects, if they had ever been on a jury and most proudly exclaimed that they have gotten out of jury duty every time. At that point, I usually become speechless. There are many people who have such a visceral reaction to high profile cases such as OJ, Bernie Madoff, and Casey Anthony, only to be the same people to shy away from any real involvement that would actually make them part of a process, like jury duty. It's not like one knows which case one will get when called to jury duty so it is perplexing. Some how being inside our thoughts and babbling about a hot button issue, has taken precedent over an actual experience. In fact, I have seen this kind of thing happen with people in the film industry where some filmmakers, with lack of experience in certain areas, come up with statements (instead of asking questions) which can only be described as mythical. When I ask, where did the get their information, they think up another myth to support their former myth, as though no one would notice. It's as if people are just thinking up their world, where their mere opinions, judgments, thoughts are the truth, when, in fact, it is not.

This confused way of thinking is captured very well on a show called Kitchen Nightmares, where Chef Gordon Ramsey is constantly trying to help failing restaurants with owners who are convinced that they are doing nothing wrong only to find out they are using sub par ingredients, dirty kitchen habits, and engaging in dysfunctional business and personal relationships. On most episodes, Chef Ramsey deals with an owner who, "Just doesn't get it!" They are so steeped into the idea of who they are that they don't see the situation they are in too clearly. As observers, we watch as the love that Chef Ramsey administers through truth breaks through when the owners are ready to accept the truth and change, thus improving the situation, if only for the cameras. But hearing the truth is sometimes very painful for these people, even if they have heard it many times before. Some even go back to their old habits after the show as if to stick to the world only to find themselves with a failed restaurant. People under any delusion are quite comfortable and the truth, for those who are not ready to hear it, feels like an assault. These people will set up their defenses, go into victimhood mentality and start to attack, usually verbally and in extreme cases physically. But when the initial pain subsides, the truth blooms like a flower in spring, and helps to expand the mind by releasing the delusion. When we supplement a lie for the truth if only for a moment, it chips away at the very nature of our reality.

The American Delusion

THE ARTY HOBO — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 14:11:00 +0000

Many people in the U.S. were outraged by these covers from TIME magazine. What struck me wasn't the covers, but that people in America have no clue that they are repeatedly given water down news both locally and internationally. In fact, the U.S. doesn't get international news at all. We get international crisis. When the Twin Towers fell, I heard the same thing..."THEY hate us." The reason why people kept saying "they" because they didn't know who "they" were or where places like Saudia Arabia was on the map or the difference between Shia Muslims, Sunni Muslims, Al Queda, and anyone who wears a turban. Most people didn't even now the history between the Middle Eastern countries and the U.S. went back many years through many presidents and the rise of Al Queda had a lot to do with that history, so when something like 9/11 happens people are lost and confused. This also happens with other parts of the world where Americans are feed crisis news so often that many are afraid to leave the States. I have heard people proclaim some of the most ignorant things about the entire continent of Africa (because very few can name an actual country in Africa) or other nations in Asia and South America even though they have never been.

This ignorance is based partly because Americans are fed a different brand of news from several entities. CNN International is the world standard but here in the U.S. we get regular CNN which is sub par. Even BBC has a BBC America which is nothing like the international original. Americans need to wake up and notice that they, on a daily basis, are feed a load crap by news organizations all for the love of the almighty dollar. I have worked in news and all I heard was, "This is what the American audience want to see." Really? The only problem with that "logic" is no one ever asks what the American public wants to see, they are told what they want to see, and Americans usually don't object or think they should for that matter.

The US is such an insular country and our government which is by the people is a dysfunctional one, because the people don't know they are the government. A democracy does not work when it's people are willfully ignorant of the process in which the government runs. So the U.S. has been mentally hijacked by corporate thought, provided by us, which has cajoled us into staying placid and hooked into a system where you go shopping and attain stuff for your "happiness" instead of knowing anything outside of your bubble of a world, or better yet, anything real about yourself. People will listen to so-called experts who tell you how to live, have sex, eat, drink, date, exercise, etc., as though any of the former is one size fits all. Few people do what they need to do for themselves, or even know how to listen to the silence within. Instead, we are constantly told what to do and many of us follow without question. QUESTION EVERYTHING! In fact, the news makes one so fearful of the world most Americans don't or won't travel, and when they do, they stay in the "safe" tourist traps that feel remarkably like home, instead of getting out and meeting local people and eating local food. The best food I have had was from the local restaurant when I was in Senegal or someone's home on Goree Island. Be adventurous and learn about the local customs and what they think about the US. I learned so much by talking to the women of Rio De Janeiro when I was there or chit-chatting with a local woman when I was in Venice. The fact of the matter is, that if you really want to know the truth about anything, GO FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF. Depending on a news system that is more worried about ratings and money will never provide news that is beneficial for you; they will only provide what is beneficial for them and the less work they have to do to provide it, the better. More money in than out.

The TIME cover for America should be listed under comedy, "Why Anxiety is Good for You?" Just in case you didn't know they are going to plant a seed in your mind about it with "supported data" that will surely support their claim and some of us will happily accept it. Red pill. Anxiety is an offshoot of fear, period. Stop settling for the okie-doke, because KNOWING cures fear and finding out how is worth while. Mental media seeds are so plentiful, some of them might sound familiar:

Shopping is good, stimulate the economy, depend on us to make you happy, get more friends, drink more beer, have more sex, blue pill sex, turn your life around! Don't know how? Life getting you down? Pop a Xanex, watch for the dry mouth, anal leakage, survive another day! Listen to me, do what I say, go to school, pay your bills, get married, have some kids, what? Still unfulfilled? Don't mind that, sing some carols, shop for toys! Buy our stuff, please don't be coy. Feeling lonely? Make him feeeel like a man (not actually be one), be sexy 1-2-3, toss your hair because 9 out of 10 agree. Surf the net, click to buy, eat this cake, make more money, get this car, fuck this chick, in 3D, stuff your lonely blues. There's nothing you can dooo, 'cause you're a victim of an "ism" and a schism, so buy yourself some shoes! Be fake happy! Yay! Yay! Yay! 5 Easy Steps! Yay! Yay! Yay! Look, a celebrity! Yay! Yay! Yay! Follow the news, stay plugged in, in the know, buy more stuff for stuffs sake! Go, go, go! On sale now! 50% off. Final sales, no returns. (Hands over eyes and ears) La, la, lala, la, laaaaa, laaaa. Let us occupy your mind, escape and leave it all behind!

The basic message to Americans has always been fear the unknown, stay in the comfort of your humdrum mediocre life, don't question anything, the "experts" will tell you everything you need to know and keep on buying stuff because that is all you need do to look happy and think you are better than everyone else. This is not only the message the media feeds us but also the message we tell ourselves. One can not be without the other. The American ~~Dream~~ Delusion.

When you decide to live in the land of the truly free, and unhooked from the mental media blitz, then you will begin to see somethings for what they are. You have been sold a can of goods, you have been suckling on a lie, living in a dream, deluding yourself in believing that other people in other countries, according to the pictures that have been framed for you, have it worse than you and you should be grateful because you could be like them. Whatever that means. In reality, you don't even know those people, so you really have no idea what it is you are looking at or how their lives really are. I have met people who live with little to no things and are much happier internally than people here in the states with homes filled with stuff. Stuff doesn't make you better or happier than anyone else. Happiness is an inner state, your pure being without the crap attached. But some of you pacify yourself with such words, so that you can turn a blinds eye to the reality of your life, thus the reality of the world. Dare to open your eyes, dare to unplug, dare to see the truth that is right in front of you. Dare to pull the wool off your eyes that was place there for you that is now being held up by your own hand. Dare to see your life the way it really is. Dare to be truthful to yourself, your friends, your family. Dare to show the world who you truly are, then dare to see the world as it truly is. One can't do one without the other. That sound you felt when you saw the TIME magazine covers was the delusion cracking... ever wonder how many more delusions you're entertaining unconsciously? Dare to find out.

To Be or Not to Be

THE ARTY HOBO — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 07:44:00 +0000

For the majority of my life I was not being but doing. I can't remember what I was so busy doing, but I had lists and plans. I was busy doing this or that, in the rat race always needing something to attain, some proverbial place to get to, somewhere to go. Do, do, do, do. Busy, busy, busy, busy. Wonka, wonka, wonka, wonka. But when I had my transformative experience, everything S T O P P E D. My life, my old way of doing came to a screeching halt. I went into an instant phase of being-- doing absolutely nothing and seeing everything around me function and come to me just by asking (choice) and waiting. I learned that I didn't have to do anything for something to get done. The "doing," it turns out, is just a choice to explore whatever it is I am engaged in at the time, that is all. This was and still is an amazing and humbling thing to experience.

Being didn't come easier for a doer like me. At first, I was antsy all the time, fearful that something was wrong, but slowly, over the last year and a half, I have learned that everything has it's own time and there is really nothing for me to do until there is something for me to do. I realized that that being antsy and fearful was just the release of the old way, the way of thinking that I knew something when in reality, I did not and thinking I had to do something to get something. The fact is, the universe takes care of us regardless of what we do or not do, we just have to recognize it when it is happening. The only way to do that is to slow down and release our judgment-- the way we think something should happen, or we can easily pass it by. Like everyone else, the old way was taught to me so this is what I learned and subsequently what I had to unlearn. Slowly the antsy feeling and the fear gave way to a spacial calm, a bliss.

Now I am in a balance of being and doing... to be or not to be. Everything is different now, it is the new way of being/doing for me, because now, instead of planning everything as though I know what will happen, when I don't, I just make a choice and observe everything working in a flow, a cycle, a current, ebbing and flowing, until the choice is realized, usually by surprise. I only do what I am suppose to do (which is also what I want to do) so I never feel like I'm working or under the gun or running out of time or pressure. I eat when I need to eat, I sleep when I need to sleep. And I am present in every action or non action. Everything always get done exactly when it needs to. It's the symphony of the natural world that I was never totally aware I was a part of until now. This way of being and doing is so effortless and fun, but the appearance is that I have a lot going on, but in fact, everything has it's time and can take care of itself. Now, all I do is listen to when I am called because I am in service to everything around me and they to me, so that all of our choices can manifest fully and completely without any dependency on one thing. So when it is time for me to do, I am extremely focused and do whatever needs to get done and that is all. I don't dilly dally or procrastinate because I know what my job is, my life is my profess-ion. There is no fear of failure or not doing something "right." If I make a "mistake," I correct it if I can; I don't sweat it, or anything for that matter, because nothing is that serious and mistakes are not really mistakes. We are constantly teaching and learning, so everything happens in the way it is suppose to happen.

I have no attachment to anything, yet I am connected to everything and that connection is so strong that the creative wisdom just bubbles up inside of me. I'm writing, learning, teaching, sleeping, eating, exploring, observing, playing, laughing and just being. I love being engaged in a conversation and then two minutes later not really remembering what it was about, because it didn't matter. It is all about being present soul to soul with the other person, the conversation is only the means to an end, the entertainment for the brain.

I am so excited about the journey we call life, that when anyone asks me what I am up to I feel like I'm fluttering inside. The joy, the bliss feels unreal, yet it is real. So many things are happening right now and not happening, and the way it happens or not happen is like being in a video game or living in a plot of a film. I wait excitedly for my next clue or assignment, usually embedded in a conversation with someone, to see what I am suppose to do or not do, knowing that everything is just a choice. I am meeting new people (not the testers) who are helping me acquire new skills to further me on my journey and I in theirs. I am literally guided into their lives and they into mine. Synchronicity is a wondrous thing.

Most days I become so overwhelmed with internal happiness that my eyes well up, and I just smile and laugh. The only way to kind of explain it is that I can feel the universe coursing through my veins and the joy is all day everyday. I am in the flow like Crush and Little Squirt (Finding Nemo) in the current, "Whoa dude, duuude." I know I know nothing, and I am very much okay with that, because knowing nothing has released me and now everything is in cruise control. I am reminded that the world is not always as it seems, so even when nothing seems to be happening something is happening just not in my now-- everything has it's time. So I be when there is nothing to do and not be (doing) when there is something to do. Knowing when to be and not to be is the natural balance.

If You Blog It They Will Come

THE ARTY HOBO — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:24:00 +0000

It has been a little over a month since I since TAH blog was born, and I have to say, it has been a lot of fun. I am only the vessel though which TAH blog speaks and speaks it has. There is so much that has written and learned and so much more to be written or not. I still don't know where TAH blog is going, but the ride so far has been dy-no-mite! I love my life because it is such an adventure and something always happens that results in a subject for me to dish about.

Blogging is all new to me, and I know all of you who have blogs know that the first couple of weeks is just getting to know TAH blog, tending to TAH blog, and finding some kind of rhythm. I have anointed myself the "Steward of TAH Blog," and I am enjoying every minute of it. And then there is that perilous journey to getting that Facebook "Like" button to work. lol! Good thing my second choice in major was computer science because, although a lot has changed, I can spot a condition a mile away and do some minor code, or at least cut and paste really well to get things to look nice. I can say TAH blog is most satisfied.

Like I've said in other posts, I come from a place of truth and use only my experiences and observations to bring these messages, if only to help one person on their personal journey. TAH blog even got a shot out from @goodblogpost4 on Twitter so someone is reading;-). I thank the readers both new and returning for taking the time out of their day to have a little soul food. I don't know who most of you are, but I know you are out there, spending some time reading through the posts so, THANK YOU!

And yes, I do write the posts so that they are long enough to be engaging but short enough for you to read it while on the toilet, a little magazine trick I learned. lol! So let's continue this journey together!

Spiritual Accounting 101

THE ARTY HOBO — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 07:00:00 +0000

Know your worth. When I worked for an real estate firm many years ago, the COO gave me some of the best advise I held on to for years. He told me that whenever I went into a room to negotiate a deal, pretend that I had $1 million in the in the bank. At the time, I thought it was a pretty cool trick that actually worked, because it was a mental psych out. Nowadays, there is no need for me to follow this advice, because I understand he was really talking about knowing my worth. In other words, whatever we contribute has value. Oprah helps billions so she makes billions, this is the balance of life. It's not about the money because the balance comes in different ways. The agreements are soul agreements and debts are always paid off. There is no grace period, no interest rates, and no deadlines. At the end of the day, the books must be balanced.

As I have settled into my new way of being, I have found myself collecting on past debts I wasn't aware existed. I had a habit agreeing to assist people, but when they didn't "pay up," I would let it slide. This set off a series of imbalances in several relationships in my life. But in my new being, these imbalances must be corrected, most have and at least one is in the process of being rectified. In fact, it has been revealed to me that this is the reason why I am in Syracuse. See life is in a continuous balancing act, the teacher is also the learner, the giver is also the receiver. In nature, this balance is harmonious, but in our world it is full with people feeling used and abused because they are imbalance inwardly so it effects the outward balance. Now I never felt used and abused because I never expected anything in returned. But when I needed help from the same people I helped, they put conditions on that help that I never imposed on them, and boy, did this hurt my feelings. Back then, I wasn't aware that the imbalance was caused by me, not them. They were simply doing what was best for them, and I was doing what was best for them. I had to learn that doing what is best for someone else is a fool's game, because no one was going to do what was best for me. That is not their job. I had to learn to account for my own being.

This brings me to the story of The Bent Fork. I was raised by an aunt who used to tell me that when I set the table that I should make sure that the guest had the "good" silverware, plates and glasses, etc. Among the forks, some were bent, so she would tell me to always take the bent fork and give the "good" fork to the other person. In this case, her. However when she would set the table she would give me the bent fork and take the non-bent fork. I never understood this. Was I not the guest at this point? Did I not deserve the "good" fork? If I tried to give her the bent fork I was admonished. Now, forks are just forks, bent or not, they don't really mean anything, and so this may sound trivial. In fact, this had nothing to do with the forks, but everything to do about how I (at the age of seven) interpreted the situation. Did I not deserve the "good" fork. My own questions of self worth at that time were answered by my own thoughts, "Obviously not." This was the lie that planted the seed that slowly germinated on the subconscious level, because this is the way the mind works. Slowly this notion of not being "good enough" permeated other parts of my life, and I unconsciously allowed myself to be "taken advantage of" because I continuously accepted other "bent folks" simply because I didn't think I deserved anything better. I didn't know how to negotiate personal agreements, and I surely didn't know how to stand up for myself mainly because I was too busy trying to be nice, trying to be the "good host." It took many lessons, for me to learn my way out of that mind set. And the reason why I tell that story is because I know some of you are still holding on to that seed thinking that it is somehow benefiting you, that some how people will see "the good in you," when, in fact, it benefits no one for you to crawl on your belly when you should be standing in your light, standing in the truth. The truth being, you are worthy.

I've been tested several times this year by people offering little to nothing for my expertise in which I had to draw the line and say, "No." See, when it comes to the world being in a perpetual balance, the word,"No," is very important. As much as I love to help people, saying, "Yes," is not always helpful in the whole scheme of things. Saying, "No" to a person or persons is really a just a choice we make according to what we want to do, it is neither negative or positive; it is benign. However, the word "NO" can be elevated, in a way, that pushes or agitates the other person(s) towards their true self, towards becoming more aware that the world doesn't simply revolve around them and that they must humble themselves to the process. "NO" usually means you are going in the wrong direction or that you are not ready yet. We understand this when we say it to children, but forget we are still teachers as adults. So your honest "NO" actually helps a person, not hinders her/him. Remember, the teacher who delivers the, "No," is also the student. As you become more aware in these circumstances you will see yourself as both teacher and student. As the studen,t I learned that saying no, when something didn't resonate with me, moved me further into my true self, further into the truth. Furthermore, when I've heard the word "NO," I didn't take it personally because I know it is just a "warning sign" that has always benefited me in some way, even if I can't see it at the time.

Today, when someone asks me to do something, I tell them ahead of time what I need for my service, likewise when I ask for something from someone, I tell them from the start what I can offer. This is the negotiated agreement. This way, everyone is under one understanding and the spiritual books are in balance. However, not everyone holds up their end of the bargain and that is when I say, "NO." I am no longer obligated to do anything and the agreement is then terminated, and I walk away, still everything is in balance. Recently, someone tried to get me to help develop a film project for free, work that they weren't even willing to do themselves with out being paid. I immediately recognized this person as a Tester, someone who comes into your life and tests you to see if you are ready for the next phase. I told this person that I operate on an exchange bases, even if it not for money, then an exchange of services (some of you will recognize this as the ancient form of the bartering system). When this person said he was not in a position to do neither, I kindly told him, "No." He then remarked that I didn't seem sad for telling him, "No," (which I thought was interesting) and I said, "Well, I'm not." I passed the test. What, I did do was give him some advise on how to proceed and told him to call me when he was ready to move forward. He thanked me for my advise and then turned to me before he left and said, "You know, you will be a very good (film) producer." Which I thought was very funny.

As a truly free person, I don't have to do anything that I don't want to do, and I don't. This seems to really shock people in a world in which so many would do anything for those invisible brownie points, or not to disappoint. This illusion of being nice has sent our world into a tailspin. When we talk about being used or that people take us for granted, we must remember, no one is taking you for granted or using you, you have done this to yourself all in the name of being "nice." Quit doing that. These instances keep coming up in our lives to test us. And the more you say, "Yes," the more these kinds of things will find you because you have placed a self imposed bulls-eye on your own forehead. When we start to come into our own and see that we have true value, we will stop seeking approval from others by being "nice" and learn how to negotiate. The flip side of this are those of us who have debts to many different people. These people believe that the world owes them something, and they take greedily from the givers, ignoring all agreements that they are indebted to and collecting only on agreements that benefit them. Your debt will be paid. Recently I had to collect on a two year old debt, that I hadn't even thought about until it was brought to my attention after the debt was recently balanced. I actually thought I owed this person because I was too busy in the delusional fog of friendship at the time to see the reality of the situation. I see clearly now, so the lesson has been learned.

It is imperative for the health of the mind and body to always know one's worth. Do you know yours? Are you someone who still says, "Yes," when you want to say, "No," just because you don't want to piss the person off or tarnish the relationship? Stop it. If being your true self pisses someone off, then the relationship isn't real. Are you someone who is blinded by the labels of friendship, relationship and family and don't recognize when an agreement has been struck between you? Become aware when these agreements are taking place because those books will be balanced by choice or by chance ,if you recognize it or not. If, the circumstances have change then renegotiate, have compassion and work through it, if you can, but don't forfeit your self worth in the process. Remember that you alone are the key, and your true worth resides in the balance.

Thanksgiving Address...

THE ARTY HOBO — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 08:45:00 +0000

I walk in gratitude all day, everyday. I say thank you so much I don't even have a count, so for me everyday is Thanksgiving. Most of us don't even know the origin of Thanksgiving or understand the broader meaning of it in the world. We just do the usual rituals without much awareness. The Onondaga Nation (Native Americans who reside in Central New York) have a Thanksgiving Address or “The Words That Come Before All Else,” that they do before every gathering. This address is their reminder of who they are and their standing in the broader sense of the world. This is the very humbling, short version.

So before you go off and eat that turkey with all the fixings, read this to remind yourself that your family is extended well beyond the people sitting around your table or the ones you hold near to your heart... Remember, you are one with all, and all is one with you... even if you don't recognize it.

The People

Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as People.

Now our minds are one.

The Earth Mother

We are all thankful to our Mother, the Earth, for she gives us all that we need for life. She supports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she continues to care for us as she has from the beginning of time. To our Mother, we send greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one

The Waters

We give thanks to all the Waters of the world for quenching our thirst and providing us with strength. Water is life. We know its power in many forms-- waterfalls and rain, mists and streams, rivers and oceans. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the spirit Water.

Now our minds are one.

The Fish

We turn our minds to all the Fish life in the water. They were instructed to cleanse and purify the water. They also give themselves to us as food. We are grateful that we can still find pure water. So, we turn now to the fish and send our greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one.

The Plants

Now we turn towards the vast fields of Plant life. As far as the eye can see, the Plants grow, working many wonders. They sustain many life forms. With our minds gathered together, we give thanks and look forward to seeing Plant life for many generations to come.

Now our minds are one.

The Food Plants

With one mind, we turn to honor and thank all the Food Plants we harvest from the garden. Since the beginning of time, the grains, vegetables, beans and berries have helped the people survive. Many other living things draw strength from them too. We gather all the Plant Foods together as one and send them a greeting and thanks.

Now our minds are one.

The Medicine Herbs

Now we turn to all the Medicine Herbs of the world. From the beginning, they were instructed to take away sickness. They are always waiting and ready to heal us. We are happy there are still among us those special few who remember how to use these plants for healing. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the Medicines and to the keepers of the Medicines

Now our minds are one.

The Animals

We gather our minds together to send greetings and thanks to all the Animal life in the world. They have many things to teach us as people. We see them near our homes and in the deep forests. We are glad they are still here and we hope that it will always be so.

Now our minds are one

The Trees

We now turn our thoughts to the Trees. The Earth has many families of Trees who have their own instructions and uses. Some provide us with shelter and shade, other with fruit, beauty and other useful things. Many peoples of the world use a Tree as a symbol of peace and strength. With one mind, we greet and thank the tree of life.

Now our minds are one

The Birds

We put our minds together as one and thank all the Birds who move and fly about over our heads. The Creator gave them beautiful songs. Each day they remind us to enjoy and appreciate life. The Eagle was chosen to be their leader. To all the Birds-- from the smallest to the largest--we send our joyful greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one

The Four Winds

We are all thankful to the powers we know as the Four Winds. We hear their voices in the moving air as they refresh us and purify the air we breathe. They help to bring the change of seasons. From the four directions they come, bringing us messengers and giving us strength. With one mind, we send our greetings and thanks to the Four Winds.

Now our minds are one

The Thunders

Now we turn to the west where our Grandfathers, the Thunder Beings, live. With lightening and thundering voices, they bring with them the water that renews life. We bring our minds together as one to send greetings and thanks to our Grandfathers, the Thunders.

Now our minds are one.

The Sun

We now send the greetings and thanks to our eldest Brother, the Sun. Each day without fail he travels the sky from east to west, bringing the light of a new day. He is the source of all the fires of life. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to our Brother, the Sun.

Now our minds are one.

Grandmother Moon

We put our minds together and give thanks to our oldest Grandmother, the Moon, who lights the nighttime sky. She is the leader of women all over the world, and she governs the movement of the ocean tides. By her changing face we measure time, and it is the Moon who watches over the arrival of children here on Earth. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to our Grandmother, the Moon.

Now our minds are one.

The Stars

We give thanks to the Stars who are spread across the sky like jewelry. We see them in the night, helping the Moon to light the darkness and bringing dew to the gardens and growing things. When we travel at night, they guide us home. With our minds gathered together as one, we send greetings and thanks to all the Stars.

Now our minds are one.

The Enlightened Teachers

We gather our minds to greet and thank the enlightened Teachers who have come to help throughout the ages. When we forget how to live in harmony, they remind us of the way we were instructed to live as people. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to these caring Teachers.

Now our minds are one.

The Creator

We turn our thoughts to the Creator, or Great Spirit, and send greetings and thanks for all the gifts of Creation. Everything we need to live a good life is here on this Mother Earth. For all the love that is still around us, we gather our minds together as one and send our choicest words of greetings and thanks to the Creator.

Now our minds are one.

Closing Words

We have now arrived at the place where we end our words. Of all the things we have named, it was not our intent to leave anything out. If something was forgotten, we leave it to each individual to send such greetings and thanks in their own way.

Now our minds are one.

Happiness: Use as Directed

THE ARTY HOBO — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 21:53:00 +0000

Lately I've been noticing that the state of happiness seems to becoming a package product, "5 Steps to Happiness," "The Happier You," "What Happy People Do That You Don't..." etc, etc, etc. It has all become part of the internet noise in some respect. Even on a recent episode of House, a patient's "state of happiness" was questioned when House decided that his "happiness" was in fact a "symptom" that something was gravely wrong with the man. But what is happiness? The definition seems to be very illusive yet many of us are in constant pursuit of it. Most would concede that money doesn't by happiness but then how does one attain such a state? Is it really reachable by going through the "5 Steps to Happiness" list in a magazine? Does it even exist? Isn't it just a temporary thing? It seems like the very people who are talking about it are usually not the ones who have actually uncovered it, because if they had, the message would be basically the same, HAPPINESS IS ALREADY WITHIN YOU. But maybe that sounds just too easy, too hard or too esoteric, for most. Look, I know most people like to be told what to do, but The Arty Hobo don't do leashes.

When I had this transformative experience, and told people that I had found true happiness (which is, by the way, inside all of us) and continue to experience this blissful nature, many of them looked at me with suspicion. In fact, I was a bit naive that the people, who I thought I knew, would be excited and want to know how it happened. But alas, the only people who asked me that were totally strangers I was guided to tell. People who I've known for years thought there might be something wrong with me. No questions from these folks, no, just the side-eye. Some people were down right indignant as though their indignation would somehow change the truth of what happened. It didn't. Instead, I'm still sticking to my story, I found happiness, and it is WITHIN ALL OF US.

I can't tell you how what happened to me happened, nor can I tell you how to get there because your journey is personal to you (sorry no five step list here), but I do know one thing, it's a choice that begins a journey towards facing the truth, who's truth? YOURS. ASK QUESTIONS, start with your own life. Who are you outside of these labels (mom, dad, sister, brother, etc.) and definitions (skinny, black, Latino, red hair,Cablasian, etc.)? ASK QUESTIONS! Why the hell are you here, in this existence? Ever wonder that? Let the answers find you. There are no steps just you and you. Everyone's route is different yet the same in some respects, but it is your journey to know who you are, not who someone else is. My major shift into THE ONE TRUTH happened last year, but it was the choice to find happiness I made 16 years ago that began the journey of questions towards my personal truth that lead to the ONE TRUTH. See truth begets TRUTH, and TRUTH is HAPPINESS.

My life now is markedly different from before, for instance, when something happens today, that I used to consider to be "bad," I now laugh at the insanity of it all. For example I have been at my alma mater Syracuse University for almost two months and have been trying to get on their "super secured" WiFi network. I was told that I had to get a NetID so that I could get on the main WiFi system. So I went about doing that, all to find out that I already had one, but then one of the tech guys made a mistake which put my account in some sort of purgatory, so I couldn't log on the network for a few days. Then the mistake was found and viola I was able to get on this system. Yay! But then my power cord to my laptop went kaput, so I can't use my laptop. But as it turns out, my newly obtained network access allows me to use the computer labs on campus, so I have not skipped a beat (provisions when needed, check). In fact, I am writing this blog from one of those computers. Now, the old me would have been very angry and frustrated but now I just laugh at the "comedy of errors." It was like watching a sitcom, especially when the Tech guys would start to tell me that there was something wrong with the laptop's software, even though I knew everything on my end was fine. Watching them make up stuff gave me inner laughter as I just quietly stared at them.

Man made things and ideas are faulty because the human mind is limited but can't see it. The blind lead the blind on a daily basis so divine comedy is always at play. And boy is life hilarious when you can see it that way. People post articles on Facebook without question. Is that article, that has got you bent out of shape, true? And if so, what actions are you actually taking besides the ones in your head? Are you busy (in your head) doing absolutely nothing (in real life)? Others quote statistics without wondering where the data came from and who gathered the data (Note: Statisticians tend to gather information to support how they think, not the reality of what is.), then get excited and angry over stuff that has nothing to do with them, and that's funny too. I don't get bent out of shape with the world anymore because I now know there are things at work we know nothing about, and if we spent half the energy on ourselves instead of pretending that we are somehow affecting things with our mere thoughts, then we would discover this on our own.

The problem with most notions of happiness is that it is constantly defined as something to be obtained, as in the "pursuit of happiness." This denotes that happiness is embodied by something or someone outside of ourselves which we must go after, like buying an expensive car, having a certain job, or being in a relationship. This is why people equate their state of being in the physical world with their state of happiness. However, this is just not true. Babies for instance, will sit in contentment one minute, cry for something the next, and then go back to being content as if nothing happened. They don't get hung up on the crying and need therapy by over thinking it. They know they are just trying to get our attention because most of us are dense when it comes to communicating with anything that doesn't speak our language (more about that some other time). So like babies, happiness is inherited in our nature and therefore found within us. Have I said that enough? Over time, and though lots of societal and cultural indoctrination, our true nature has been blocked by all of our outwardly expressions, definitions, labels, obligations, and constant thoughts about stuff we know nothing about. We are like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, the soles are the key, and we don't know it. To "find" happiness one must stop looking outside of oneself and start clearing the inner cobwebs and let it shine through. This sounds very simple yet it is usually a very harrowing journey for most of us due to our ingrained fear of all things unknown, especially ourselves.

The Humor in Life [Fiction]

THE ARTY HOBO — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 18:41:00 +0000

As I sat in front of the television to suck in the current state of the world...
“Girl, you better get out the way! Your daddy’s sperm ain’t made outta glass,”
She said, the cigarette smoke escaping out of her mouth in a cloudy puff.

As I half listened, I wondered what my daddy’s sperm had to do with anything?
Doesn’t she know I was bound to come out the way I am because I willed it?
And why did she have to infuse every line with, “Girl,”
Or put her hand on her hip to make point, like her mama?
Doesn’t she have an expression of her own?

I was nothing like her, I had my own path to tread,
So she treated with suspicion.
“You think you’re so smart...,” she would say on occasion,
A statement that said more about her than me.
“Well, what other way was I suppose to be? Dumb?” I mentally retorted.

Her words made little to no sense to me even as she tried to belt them into me...
DIDN’T! I! SAY! DON’T! DO! THAT?!
She’d yell with every stroke trying to bend me to her will;
It never worked since deep down I knew I had my own.
I couldn't see myself as her victim, she was dominant only by definition,
Something I had to learn to unhook from.

In the end, I had slain the dragon, so to speak.
When I left she hardly had an inkling of who I was,
Hell, she didn’t even know herself. None of us did.
I had to unlearn her learned dysfunction only to discover I had my own.

The mind had a funny way of making me think I’d changed
When in fact, I climbed out of one trap door
Just to discover I was at the bottom of another.
Not realizing until years later,
When it dawned on me, everything in my life had been orchestrated by me,
To get me where I needed to be.

I still reel from that piercing memento moment... but Truth is the truth.
Mine was set free to see what needed to be seen and unseen,
Unlocking my paradigm to shift me into the blinding light of what is...
Wait, I was never, ever alone?... Who knew?

Then it clicked, everything before that moment was just conjecture--
The post-apocalyptic abnormal turned normal...
But even in all the madness, everything is acting the way it’s suppose to be.
Heh... and that's the humor in life.

Plan B

THE ARTY HOBO — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 12:20:00 +0000

The other night I went to a discussion about public relations. I won’t say who the person was but during the event the PR guy talked about Steve Jobs and how he never saw such an outpouring response to a passing of a business person. He went on to say, however, he thought that Steve Job’s over all message to young people, to find their own way to do what they love, was wrong. Yes, he admitted that he had found a career that he loved, but that he hadn’t seen many geniuses in his day like Jobs. He stated that everyone could not be a Steve Jobs (I wasn’t aware that Steve Jobs said he wanted everyone to be him. I must have missed that Apple commercial.), and that most people at some point needed a Plan B. I am always curious about a person who says, "I have achieved x-y-z but you probably won’t, so you will need a Plan B." Huh? And maybe the reason PR guy hadn’t seen many "geniuses" in his day, was because so many people are Plan B people and not Plan A people. Hmmmm. This made me think about Plan B and what actually happens on this highly touted, "fail safe" route.

Now, I will say that some people have a something that they call a Plan A which is more ego-based and not something that they truly love, in other words an inner calling (so technically it is a false Plan A). A calling or your bliss is not an ego driven thing; one becomes an actor because of the love of the craft, these people would act in a box, as oppose to those who just want to be famous and think that acting is the route to take them there. Some of these people might become famous, but they are usually disappointed since fame is, well, not real. It’s an illusion based on a perception that most of us buy into. So in this case, that's not a Plan A or a Plan B, just a Plan WTF. These are not the people Steve Jobs was talking to and maybe this is where the PR guy took Job’s comments out of context. Every message is not necessarily for everybody. (Note: All of us have a calling but some of us might not remember what it is. Some of us may have more than one over the course of our life. So, if you are one of those people who don’t know what yours is, just ask and let the answer find you). Jobs was taking to those of us who know what our calling is and are on the journey to towards it. Those of us who might face many trials, so to speak, on our journey in order to gain the tools needed to succeed at what we love to do. We are not the next Steve Jobs, nor are we trying to be, we are the next who ever we are. The key to any success in life is to remember, you are not someone else and there is space in the universe for all of us to exist, by virtue that we all really do exist. I hope you can see that.

Plan B people are people who didn’t follow their bliss, but of course, no one really ever talks about Plan B people, "they" just tell you, you should have one. Plan B people are the ones spewing venom whenever you have to deal with them. They are the customer service person who acts as if you have done something wrong just by dialing the 1-800 number. I ran into one disguised as an over-zealous security guard who would go after people at a McDonald’s with such gusto that you would have thought he owned and built the McDonald’s with his own teeth (but then again if he had, he might have felt more "accomplished"). Even his co-worker who took over his shift, said,”He’s like that because this is all he has in his life.” Plan B people can over identify with what they do and many things outside of themselves because they are suffercating their inner choice with their outer reality. I’ve seen Plan B people with health problems, which usually starts out as stress or depression and manifests into other diseases. They tend to talk fondly of some other thing they rather be doing except that they have to do this Plan B thing instead. In fact, they tend to have a litany of excuses of why they can’t do their Plan A which usually involves some outside invisible force, which is really their shadow self, their self-sabotaging thoughts coupled with IMPATIENCE. Some people go to Plan B and try to use it to get to Plan A, but at some point, one needs to give up Plan B for that to really happen. I used to be one such person. In this case, Plan B acts as a safety net due to the fear of stepping up to our Plan A calling. If we never learn to step up, we can get caught up in that net. If you are waiting for some sort of Facebook "Like" button that says, "Your Plan A is okay," that's not going to happen, because Plan A is okay when YOU recognize it as such. In other words, it has to come from within YOU. Plan A starts to work when you LET GO of Plan B. One can’t grab on to something if one's hands are full. Understand that the universe has your back, because it is your CALLING, and as the book The Alchemist says, "When you want something, the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." That's something I can attest to.

It was a Plan A person I met a long time ago, when I decided to abandon my Plan B lifestyle, who helped me realize I was heading in the right direction. He is not a famous or a high profile person, in fact, most Plan A people I know are not famous or live an opulent life. He was a photographer who had such a glow and an inner peace about him that it was a pleasure just to be in his presence. He was patient and honest, took his work seriously but not himself. He looked a lot younger than his “age” would suggest. So I asked him what was his "secret," and he simply said, “I do what I love.” I thought, as he moved across the room changing the lights, that I wanted to find what he had found. That was the extra push I needed to drop my Plan B life once and for all and enter the love affair that is my Plan A. And I’ve never look back. Now years later, I did find what he found and then some. Plan A.

Persistently Patient

THE ARTY HOBO — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:19:00 +0000

Source: http://www.portwallpaper.com/image/32301-waiting-on-the-bench.html

Patience.
I thought I was a patient person until I embarked on this life altering journey and
I had to relearn the meaning of patience.
My old meaning had lots of conditions.
I would be patient until I got tired of being patient.
I will be patient until it looked like patience wasn't working.
Can you sit beyond that feeling, that unnerving feeling that something is wrong, off, etc?
Patience.
That stillness, where nothing seems to be happening or at least from our perspective.
Ever sat for 10 minutes without doing nothing, waiting for something but not knowing what?
Try four hours.
Try 12 hours.

Patience.
It is humbling to see things happen in their own time
Watching as each of our smallest choices
create the natural flow of life...
It takes a special kind of stillness to watch that unfold...
The beauty of it, The beauty of everything...
The natural h a r m o n y.
To master one's own life takes a persistence that one must focus on...
Don't give up.

Patience!
Life happens on it's own time.
Your choices will be acknowledged in their own time.
You can not rush or do anything to speed up this process.

D O N O T H I N G.
You can only be persistently patient.
Understand whatever happens is suppose to happen...
N O M I S T A K E S.
We, because of our limited perception, categorize situations as good or bad.... but it ain't so.

L E T G O.
Waiting for things to happen on their own is very hard
For those of us who were taught that we make things happen.
WE DON'T.
The world doesn't revolve around us.

WE are equal participants and the choices of others are just as important as our own.
A TIME FOR EVERYTHING.
We have to wait our time and how one decides to wait is up to that person.
SUFFERING OR ACCEPTANCE.
Be careful not to un-choose your choice because of impatience.

Be persistently patient!
Even when it seems looney to do so,
Even when every thought in your brain is telling you to give up.

BE PATIENTLY PERSISTENT.
Unless it involves someone else's choice and
They've told you a definitive NO.
Then move on because whatever it is won't come from them,
But it can still come...

STAY ON THE PATH
Keep your eyes open.
It may not come in the way that you think it ought to
It has it's own route.
So be patient.

A Thousand Ways to Skin a Cat

THE ARTY HOBO — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:50:00 +0000

Over the years, I’ve been asked by a few people about the best way to go about the writing process, and I always answer, “The best way is your way.” There is no right or wrong way, every writer must develop his own writing style and creative process in her own time. Now, there was a time when I attempted to emulate other writers. In fact, I tried things like index cards, summaries, long hand, but I realized that being a writer had nothing to do with these things. That's when I started to let go and really hone in on my skills (which are still evolving). The thing is, scribes must learn that every project has different needs and therefore must be approached accordingly. I started to develop my several styles of writing when I took a job at Court TV (now TruTV), a few years after graduating from college. I had spent the prior two years writing business documents which are quite formal and rigid, so jumping back into scripted writing was always going to be an adjustment. But I was writing news copy, and boy, was I a fish out of water. I had never written copy even though I had convinced my employer that I could. For the first two weeks my stomach was in a knot because I didn’t know what I was doing. All I could do was humble myself to the experience, which I did.

Now one might think that screenwriting and news copy are pretty much the same since both are scripts, but no. Screenwriting captures the way people actually talk, but news copy is somewhere between formal writing and casual talking. It’s a strange hybrid only found in news, and no one, I mean, no one talks like this in real life, well maybe Bob Costas. The first copy I wrote was too long and too wordy. It was hard, at first, for me to grasp this type of writing mostly because I was trying to mimic the process the other producers, who had studied news scripting and had been doing it for years, used. It was only until I began to look at the anchors as characters, and study their diction, did a process start to click for me. So, I decided to write copy like a screenwriter scripting a scene for an anchor character, and it worked. I was able to stylize my writing for each anchor according to the way they talked on air. Some were more conversational than others, some used expressive, dramatic pauses while others read straight.

When it came to writing packages, which are similar to short five minute documentaries, the norm is to write a script based on footage already filmed. Well, as a filmmaker, we write first then shoot the footage. Again I was at a lost, because it just didn’t make any sense to me, so I did what I knew. I would write the script first, and somehow the footage I needed would appear and the package would come together. I wrote everyday on the fly, it was a sink or swim environment, and I had to rise to the occasion. Mind you, this was great for someone like me, who was heading back into the creative writing field.

I learned through that experience that it is not necessary to do something the way others do; there are a myriad of ways to tackle any given situation. For me, it was about using my strengths and what I already knew, instead of trying to adopt something that felt foreign. I never told anyone at Court TV how I operated, no need to, because the final results were all that mattered.

After two years, I moved on and had the opportunity to read film scripts which were later produced. That experience allowed me to witness the script to screen process. I saw styles I gravitated towards and ones I didn’t, which helped me expand my writing skills, and slowly, I developed a mutable process, which means I do as the story dictates. It took me a while to even call myself a writer even though I had several pieces published via television. I had to become comfortable with the label, without giving it much validation, because it is what I do, not who I am. So, whatever you do, find a way to play to your strengths instead of emulating someone else’s (in all aspects of your life). Remember, there is no right or wrong way, just your way.

Editor's note: No cats were harmed in the production of this post...

The Falsity of Prophecy

THE ARTY HOBO — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 11:53:00 +0000

Source: http://www.elfwood.com/~knaupp/The-Fortune-Teller.2920068.html

In film, as in literature, there is a protagonist, a main character, who must face and resolve a conflict in order to get what he or she seeks, the "Holy Grail" so the speak. The climax of the story is usually proceeded by a series of tests to prepare the protagonist for the main conflict or the showdown. This is our journey, the journey of woman and man or, as Joseph Campbell put it ever so eloquently, the hero's journey. During our lifetime, we are born with and acquire tools to aid us, like the sword and shield of legend. One of my tools, as a writer, is the laptop (aka Apple), one of the few "possessions" that has not escaped me. I carry Apple, in a messenger bag, a"sheath" slung across my hip, and yes, the pen (err, cursor) is mightier. Like in the stories of lore, people come into our lives to challenge us, they are the administers of the test, and they play many roles, such as, the false prophet.

A false prophet is not something from the past or only found in the pages of the Bible. They are alive and well and walk freely among us. These false prophets speak of the future as though they know what is going to happen, even when their own life would dictate otherwise. They are the ones who come into our lives to tell us about ourselves without knowing an inkling about our experiences. They give advice about our careers, marriages, families as though they were us, but their advise leaves one more lost then enlightened. They never ask questions but seem to always have an answer. What they say never resonates in one's life because their prophecy has nothing to do with us but everything to do with them, usually their own fear of not knowing something and their need to control. Their efforts are fruitless because what they say will never come to pass-- life is fueled by choice, and the only truth is how these choices are actually played out.

Over a year ago, when I experienced the great shift into my true self which unleashed the extraordinary wisdom within (yep, that's what happened), I ran into several of these false prophets. Many were people who would gasp the thought of being "categorized" as a false prophet (note: it is their actions that are false not their being). They would swear that they were only trying to "help." And I believe them, it is usually the ego that blinds us to the reality of our roles.

I was told by one such person, that I would "come down" off of my experience, like I was high on drugs or something. Well, it's over a year later, and I am still just as passionate and, if anything, even more settled in my new, so-called "high." Someone else also told me that I had to "get my head out of the clouds." I looked at this person sideways and asked how could he know where my head was when he didn't share my experience? Of course, this person had no answer. Others came into my life to tell me my new way of life would get me killed and raped-- still here, not killed or raped, not even close. Nothing that they said resonated with me or came to pass because it was never a part of the reality of my experience or my choices. And that is how you can recognize them.

Many of us are our own false prophet, projecting ourselves into a future that does not exist. I know several people, when I talk to them they seem to have the same story, their happiness or "okay moment" is always a few months down the road. "Well when this and that happens in a couple of months, I'll be okay and then everything will be fine." When a couple of months roll around, and we speak again, they relay the same story, everything in their life will be okay, good, fine, in a few of months, once x, y and z happens. Even when I point out that they said the same thing the last time we spoke, they don't skip a beat and insist that these new issues just popped up. This is the kind of false prophecy we tell ourselves. The truth is, being good, being fine and being happy are all based on an internal being not an external thing. Our true self is always good, always fine, RIGHT NOW. These other things are just S-I-T-U-A-T-I-O-N-S, and situations will always be there because they are part of the journey, part of life and should not rule one's inner state. Situations should be handled in a detached manner like figuring out a puzzle or playing poker. We must learn earn how to watch the board and pay attention to what is going on, without getting emotionally attached. Ask questions. What can I do now? This? Okay I'll do this? Nothing? Okay, I'll wait until I can get a better picture of what's actually going on. Learn when to hold them, learn when to fold them, learn when to walk away, learn when to run. That is some great advise, Kenny Rogers' song.

The thing about a false prophet is that they don't think past their own thoughts. In fact, they believe in the thought over reality. They come in different shapes and sizes, at different times of our lives and are called by us to examine where we are on our journey, if we are solid in what we know. They test if we are ready to take what we have learned into the world or the next phase of our journeys. To face one or several can be frustrating at first, but over time, as we become more aware of their role in our lives, their prophetic nuisances can be alchemised into divine comedy.

Express Yourself, Don't Repress Yourself

THE ARTY HOBO — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:19:00 +0000

I have slowly stripped off my reluctance of being active in the cyber-sphere and actually embrace it. It first started when I joined Facebook back in 2008, which made it possible to reconnect with people from high school and college. Now I use it as a way to bring light to the lives of the people around me. Then I joined Twitter, which I really didn't get for the life of me, again I choose to use it, as I now use Facebook, for a higher purpose. And now, to complete the trifecta, I write a blog, which (and I never thought I'd say this) is actually a pretty interesting thing, as a writer. I'm not sure what the blog is or what it will become (to me it all a learning process), but I've decided to stick to what I know and to use examples from my own life. I'm not into spreading gossip or talking about people, that is just not a part of my vibe. I don't put names or pictures of other people in my life past or present because it is not my job to make their private lives public.

My intent as with, Facebook and Twitter, is to engage people in a way will resonate in their own life. Something to agitate the brain, to inspire one to think different or at least ask a question, and in turn feed the soul. I've had and continue to have an incredible journey and maybe something in my life will help someone else in some small way. I am, thankfully, no longer attached to my past, in fact writing about it is like writing about someone else. I am totally healed and therefore open to any possibility. And because of this healing and openness, I can step out into the world and do things I'd never thought I'd do, like blogging.

Two things I know for sure is that 1.) there is no such thing as an absolute thought, as soon as we utter such nonsense the universe will challenge us, and we will go down like the Titanic, and 2.) that judgements keep us imprisoned and therefore limits, our already limited, perspective and possibilities. The more judgements you have the less opportunities and adventures you will have, period. So check your judgments about certain things and give whatever you thought you'd never do, a try, if you dare.

Express yourself, don't repress yourself.

Put Down the Gun...

THE ARTY HOBO — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 10:39:00 +0000

blowback /ˈblōˌbak/ n. Powder residue that is released upon automatic ejection of a spent cartridge or shell from a firearm.

Recently, at the Syracuse International Film Festival, I had the pleasure of watching a documentary called DOLPHIN BOY by directors, Dani Menkin and Yonatan Nir. The film's subject suffers though a psychosis seemingly caused by a severe beating which, at the point when the films opens, has manifested into a physical handicap rendering the man, literally, speechless. This inability to talk, baffles his doctor who has tried every therapy known to the psychiatric world. As a last resort, the doctor decides to try an "experimental" method of treatment and introduces the man to dolphin therapy, a practice in which people swim with dolphins for therapeutic reasons. I have actually swam with dolphins in Florida and I can say there is a wisdom in their presence, like with the deer (see Conceal Me What I Am post), which is awe inspiring. As I watched the film, I realized I had a very personal understanding of this man's journey on so many levels, he suffered from what I call "emotional blowback" and it so happens, I know something about this.

The year was 1995, and I had just graduated from Syracuse University-- booted out into the "real" world. To say the least, although I was ready to leave SU, I was not ready for the riggers of the world, or actually the lack of it. I had, at that time, built an emotional sand castle around me, moat and all, which, unbeknown to me, was about to be wiped out by a spiritual tsunami, a massive wake up call, which would ignite a 15 year spiritual journey to where I am today. I was, at the time, a runner on a treadmill, Nikes and all, running away from all of the perceive pain I carried, like a bag lady who refuses to part with the stuff that is obviously slowing down her progress. See that is the insane thing about runners, no matter how far and how long I ran I never really figure out that I was the one carrying the very thing I was trying to run away from. I laugh now, looking back at the whole debacle. I was too busy running and deflecting, through busy work, out of fear of dealing with the pain of my past, to see anything clearly. Well, the universe put a grateful and needed end to that, when I graduated. Without my cloak of school, test and grades I was exposed. Exposed as the fraud that I was. I had built an ego around being smart and a good girl, but in reality, I was running scared. When the exterior shield was taken away, all I had was me and my thoughts.

After my mother passed on (when I was five), I was raised by a woman who was emotionally and physically abusive. The passing and the abuse was something I never talked about while growing up, in fact, I became speechless on both subjects. This inability to deal with both of these situations and the absence of the exterior shield, created the perfect storm. The gig was up, the self-propelled treadmill stopped, and I flew off and hit an emotional brick wall. I was unable to leave the house. I cried for weeks. I feared for my life. I actually thought if I left the house, I would get ran over by a bus. I recalled over and over again, like a broken record, the passing, the abuse, the feelings of loneliness, and thoughts of not feeling worthy or accomplished, etc, etc, etc. I had no clue how to articulate my emotions and for the most part, was too embarrassed to do so. I realized at some point that this wasn't going to go away on its own. I had to get real and start facing the very things that were paining me. For the first time in my life, I took off the running shoes and started facing my fears by seeking the truth behind them.

Over the years, I have come to the conclusion, that has been shared by many others, that the actual abuse and the passing of my mother had ceased to be an issue once what was done, was done. The problem arose out of my swirling thoughts of the memories I couldn't let go, which in turned triggered the emotional blowback. Just like the powder residue that is released from the ejection of a spent shell from a gun, the memory themselves become the gun, the repeated thoughts about the memory the trigger and the emotional breakdown the blowback. I had to learn to put down the gun. It took me a while, but in order to do this, I had to learn to forgive those who I thought did anything, I perceived to be negative, to me, no matter how big or small, and most importantly, I had to learn to forgive myself. To forgive just means to LET GO, as in, "to forgive a debt." It doesn't mean that you forget what happened to you, on the contrary, it means that you accept what happened and then LET IT GO. To really forgive, one must be ready and that can take some time, which is okay. Being able to put down the gun through forgiveness, allowed me the space to be very honest with myself and others, instead of hiding and covering up-- to be, me. It allowed me to reconnect with myself, and everything around me, including nature. Little by little, my true self, the one we are all born with, returned to it's former glory, no longer a muffled whisper but a gentle roar.

Follow Dolphin Boy on Facebook to see if it is playing at a film festival near you...