Friday, January 9, 2015
The Sounding Off of an Unsound Mind: Sometimes you just have to stand-up....
The Sounding Off of an Unsound Mind: Sometimes you just have to stand-up....: I'm a comedian, or ...at least...I try to be. I do improv comedy, which many would say is more difficult (everything is made up on the s...
Sometimes you just have to stand-up....
I'm a comedian, or ...at least...I try to be. I do improv comedy, which many would say is more difficult (everything is made up on the spot), but, with improv, you still have the excuse of it being "off the cuff" if it doesn't go well. With stand up, however, you have plotted and planned what you will say.... and if it flops and you land on your face....(proverbially or literally) ...Perhaps it simply means you aren't funny.
I do a lot of standing up in other ways. I am currently fighting for the legalization of marijuana in Arkansas. I am an advocate for organic and sustainable farming, and I believe that parents have a right to choose whether their children recieve vaccines. Even so, nothing makes me feel more exposed than either singing or stand up comedy: Raw and vulnerable. Picturing the audience in their underwear would do me no good, either....because I'm very self conscious, and I'd likely just feel overdressed.
I truly admire a dear freind of mine who is a professional stand up comedian. He makes it look so easy. However, If you are someone who, like me, tends to curl up in the fetal position when exposed to possible criticism, (because you ultimately care too much about what other people think)...then here is a list of memes from famous people who knew their stuff....Let them impart their culture and wisdom on you today...and any time to help you suck-it-up, buttercup....because life is too short to hide from your dreams.
1. Albert Einstein
In addition to being one of the smartest men alive, Einstein was a dreamer and a visionary. Best of all, he believed in you.
I do a lot of standing up in other ways. I am currently fighting for the legalization of marijuana in Arkansas. I am an advocate for organic and sustainable farming, and I believe that parents have a right to choose whether their children recieve vaccines. Even so, nothing makes me feel more exposed than either singing or stand up comedy: Raw and vulnerable. Picturing the audience in their underwear would do me no good, either....because I'm very self conscious, and I'd likely just feel overdressed.
I truly admire a dear freind of mine who is a professional stand up comedian. He makes it look so easy. However, If you are someone who, like me, tends to curl up in the fetal position when exposed to possible criticism, (because you ultimately care too much about what other people think)...then here is a list of memes from famous people who knew their stuff....Let them impart their culture and wisdom on you today...and any time to help you suck-it-up, buttercup....because life is too short to hide from your dreams.
1. Albert Einstein
In addition to being one of the smartest men alive, Einstein was a dreamer and a visionary. Best of all, he believed in you.
2.Bono
Besides fronting the decade spanning band U2, Bono uses his powers for good, and spends his free time and money saving the planet and visiting troops overseas. He wants you to follow your convictions, as well.
3.Eleanor Roosevelt
As far as amazing ladies go, Eleanor Rossevelt stands out as the first First-lady to take the reigns and make a difference. She shared her simple but effective plan for helping you to do the same.
4. Marilyn Monroe
Everyone (for the most part) has either wanted her or wanted to be her. Marilyn lived her life in hyper speed moving forward, and here she lets you in on the secret to leaving your behind in your past...or vice versa.
5.Mark Twain
Mark Twain was the true beginning of wit and witticism...(and a personal favorite of mine). He saw the mighty Mississipi River as a metaphor for true freedom. Let him remind you to that regrets are harder to live with than mistakes.
6.Bill Cosby
Even if you beieve the rumors about the man, he was still the childhood hope of dad serving chocolate cake for breakfast... Cosby lays down some great advice for you.
7.Oscar Wilde
This famous author reminds us that to be extraordinary, we must simply push the envelope.
8. Roald Dahl
This british novelist knew that life wasn't all just a "giant peach", and strived to live with passion. His inspiring words tell his story, but at the same time, urge us to make it ours.
9. Robert Frost
The poet Frost is a constant resolve to explore the unknown.....I can also imagine him saying, "I'm never lost....I'm simply somewhere new to me." I want to live that way.
10.Winston Churchill
One of the greatest people of the 20th century, Churchill believed in taking life by the square pegs and forcing them into the round holes. Oh that we should glean a fraction of his drive. We'd be unstoppable.
I hope these have inspired you to want to start this new year off with conviction and passion and fire and courage. Finally, I'd like to leave you with one more highly quoatable celebrity. I recently attended Walt Disney World for the first time as an adult....I am in awe of the drive and purpose of Walt Disney. He was an amzing man. Could it have been his outlook on life that took him as far as he went?! Maybe. I will live my life trying to test the theory....peace.
Thursday, January 8, 2015
I am a racist....I didn't even know....
I made the mistake of commenting on a recent article on how white privilege is the biggest problem we face today....I was kind in my response...However, I was met with rebuttle stating that I was a racist because ....basically.. I exist....this is my response....
I'm a racist?! I thought this:
This lady is a racist...She founded Planned Parenthood to wipe out minority children...She was EVIL!
I never thought of myself as a racist, but apparently I am…At least, that is what they tell me. You see….I’m white, and I guess that makes me a bad person because 200 years
ago, someone I have never met might have owned a black slave… Maybe 200 years ago, someone I don’t know was a slave… Does it matter
that some slaves were white? Does it matter that MORE slave owners were black? What about the Chinese or Irish indentured servants?! A slave by any other name...you know?! America is a melting pot of heritage...What if I have black ancestry? I do, actually... Does it matter? I guess not,
because I was told that I’m a racist. According to "they" I benefit from privilege and owe the black community reparations?!
No...No one born since 1970 has lived in a nation that supports inequality based on ethnicity. Certainly it takes time to undo the last facets of social injustice, but the majority of our nation has, even by revolutionary standards, embraced diversity quickly. I have friends that are black. I have friends who are mixed. I have friends who are Indian and Chinese and French and Aussie. I don’t care what color their skin is. Their heart is colored the same as mine. Does that make them racist? Apparently not…If they aren’t white. Perhaps it is my parents who are to blame for my being racist. My mother was a poor farmer who picked cotton alongside the black community…They were all friends…Interestingly, one of my mother's closest friends was a POC in 1967. The friend refused to allow my mom to attend her wedding because her parents would never approve of a white girl at the ceremony. My father grew up as a Chicago street rat…fighting gangs of every ethnicity equally…As he tells it, there weren't "better than" lines drawn in near north Chicago in those days...except where the rich on Lakeshore Dr. were separate from all the poor kids. They taught me to look at the character of a person before I judge them…My parents were never racist. Parts of society are trying to tell me I’m a racist not because of anything I have said or done, but because I was born to privilege…Maybe being born and raised at or below the poverty line is a privilege these days?! As a white, heterosexual person, I am eligible for fewer scholarships to college, fewer non-achievement based grants, and fewer job opportunities because it is now required by law, that every employer have a diversified staff thanks to affirmative action. Maybe not being able to find a job because everyone is struggling to meet their diversity quota is what it means to be special. As a middle aged white male, I got to watch my father struggle to find a teaching position because those less qualified than him were filling the roles. (In one instance a black man in a wheelchair was given a promotion ahead of my father, though he only had a two year degree...My father had a Master's.)
No. I think the reason people say I’m a racist is because I’m tired of talking about race. There is an abundant amount of good to be found in people…but discussing race brings out the worst. If I love you, it is because you are a beautiful person….on the inside…where it counts… Do not ask me to judge you based on your skin color, and do not accuse me of it, either…We are not better for creating a society of bitterness.
We are not achieving equality by singling out another ethnicity. You can't fire with fire. The people pushing this crazy agenda don't want equality...They want revenge. Somehow they see an angle to strong arm people into giving them more; More jobs, more money, more opportunity. I refuse to treat people differently based on skin color! I refuse to spit in the face of Martin Luther King Jr. and his strides toward a more civil and equal nation. I will not bow to pressure to shame my own culture, nor will I be forced to look up to or down on anyone else's...I suppose I am a racist…IF by racist you mean in league with all races to care about people as individuals….I only ask for the same courtesy…
No...No one born since 1970 has lived in a nation that supports inequality based on ethnicity. Certainly it takes time to undo the last facets of social injustice, but the majority of our nation has, even by revolutionary standards, embraced diversity quickly. I have friends that are black. I have friends who are mixed. I have friends who are Indian and Chinese and French and Aussie. I don’t care what color their skin is. Their heart is colored the same as mine. Does that make them racist? Apparently not…If they aren’t white. Perhaps it is my parents who are to blame for my being racist. My mother was a poor farmer who picked cotton alongside the black community…They were all friends…Interestingly, one of my mother's closest friends was a POC in 1967. The friend refused to allow my mom to attend her wedding because her parents would never approve of a white girl at the ceremony. My father grew up as a Chicago street rat…fighting gangs of every ethnicity equally…As he tells it, there weren't "better than" lines drawn in near north Chicago in those days...except where the rich on Lakeshore Dr. were separate from all the poor kids. They taught me to look at the character of a person before I judge them…My parents were never racist. Parts of society are trying to tell me I’m a racist not because of anything I have said or done, but because I was born to privilege…Maybe being born and raised at or below the poverty line is a privilege these days?! As a white, heterosexual person, I am eligible for fewer scholarships to college, fewer non-achievement based grants, and fewer job opportunities because it is now required by law, that every employer have a diversified staff thanks to affirmative action. Maybe not being able to find a job because everyone is struggling to meet their diversity quota is what it means to be special. As a middle aged white male, I got to watch my father struggle to find a teaching position because those less qualified than him were filling the roles. (In one instance a black man in a wheelchair was given a promotion ahead of my father, though he only had a two year degree...My father had a Master's.)
No. I think the reason people say I’m a racist is because I’m tired of talking about race. There is an abundant amount of good to be found in people…but discussing race brings out the worst. If I love you, it is because you are a beautiful person….on the inside…where it counts… Do not ask me to judge you based on your skin color, and do not accuse me of it, either…We are not better for creating a society of bitterness.
We are not achieving equality by singling out another ethnicity. You can't fire with fire. The people pushing this crazy agenda don't want equality...They want revenge. Somehow they see an angle to strong arm people into giving them more; More jobs, more money, more opportunity. I refuse to treat people differently based on skin color! I refuse to spit in the face of Martin Luther King Jr. and his strides toward a more civil and equal nation. I will not bow to pressure to shame my own culture, nor will I be forced to look up to or down on anyone else's...I suppose I am a racist…IF by racist you mean in league with all races to care about people as individuals….I only ask for the same courtesy…
“I have a dream, where they will not be judged by the color
of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Martin Luther King Jr.
Friday, November 14, 2014
The Sounding Off of an Unsound Mind: I Didn't Choose the Nerd Life...wait....YES I DID!...
The Sounding Off of an Unsound Mind: I Didn't Choose the Nerd Life...wait....YES I DID!...: Last night I was genuinely flattered when a young...(like 17 year old young) ...guy half jokingly proposed marriage because I was wearin...
The Sounding Off of an Unsound Mind: Let's clear the smoke...
The Sounding Off of an Unsound Mind: Let's clear the smoke...: Last night, my father did an interview on KATV. He has cancer....and not a little bit. My father was diagnosed with prostate cancer that w...
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