An Exercise in Anger Management or a Magnificent Display of Offensive Passion?

So the truth is this: when I realized the last debate was to take place on a Wednesday I grimaced. Wednesdays are hands down my “can’t do anything in the evening” days due to my local assembly meeting and dance rehearsals. And even on a rotating schedule, the lot fell on me to teach our budding youth the lesson for the evening. So there was absolutely no sneaking away a little earlier to get home to watch it. Wednesday responsibilities calling, I was concerned that I wouldn’t get to hear/see any of last night’s final debate between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. And to my utter disdain, the radio station that carried the last debate was not covering this one and I was greeted by the sounds of baseball commentators for last night’s Philadelphia Phillies versus the Los Angeles Dodgers game. “Oh my goodness,” I thought to myself, “I can’t miss the last debate.” My need to hear the last debate as I drove in my car to try to get to a tv led me to call a friend’s house phone, ask them to prop it up to the television, and let me listen via my cell phone Bluetooth to the debate. Ingenious! I listened intently in one ear from 8:35 to 9:00 to the debate going on in NY. Boy was I thankful.

I missed hearing the 1st 30 minutes of the debate so consequently I didn’t bear witness to the sharp aggressive offensive John “Malapert” McCain (my new nickname for him) launched at the onset. When I have an opportunity, I’d like to hear it…. But you did and I know you were glued to the tv and shushed your kids to bed early so you could enjoy. Tell me what you heard, what you saw, and what you think…

Can’t wait to hear from you…

Number 1 or Number 2?

Number 1 or Number 2

I’m listening to Kanyezy this morning in honor of last night’s debate, more specifically the songs Champion and Stronger, and in a little bit I’m going to put on a little Jay Z because I want to walk with the swagger of multi millionaire around my office as I campaign to be the United Way Ambassador at my company. But at any rate, last nights debate was town hall meeting forum, a venue that McCain has wanted to visit with Obama for quiet some time now. Thankfully I was invited to a debate party last night, and watched the debate on a 72 inch screen and it was the best set up. The host bought the groceries and I made some of the food. So during the preliminary minutes leading up to the debate, we’re chit chatting about rotel dip recipes, I’m making sure the temperature is hot enough to melt the Velveeta but not burn it, chopping it up about silly subjects, all the while browning the sausage, talking about music and the like, when the invincible Tom Brokow takes center screen. He sits looking at the camera for about 15 seconds before he utters a word and then he begins…

So after the dust settled, what did you think about the debate?

The Power of Words or A Night With Ms. Sanchez

Last night, I had the distinct pleasure to hear, converse with, and be in the presence of a woman who is standing tall and upon who’s shoulders I stand. The room was beautiful. The Spencer Honors House is a much smaller space than the Alys Stephens Center and the venue was transformed into a classroom.

The first thing I remember thinking as I inched my way in from the vestibule is “dang she is short” because I saw her standing at the lectern but her shoulders and head were almost hidden by the wooden structure. We were lucky and found a wooden desk unoccupied in the “choir section” of this room and said our silently mouthed “scuse me’s” and “thank you’s” to the other students who had prudently arrived early.

She reminded me of my Ma Dear (my great grandmother Flutina). Sanchez was small in stature, like Ma Dear, and covered from head to toe, like Ma Dear would probably be. She wore a multi-colored floral print dress, and oversized denim long sleeve jacket. Around her delicate neck was a long royally purple scarf that reached past her waist as it hung draped around her neck. Her dreads were pulled back underneath a green paisley scarf with purple and yellow specks.

She’s peculiar, not in a weird way, but in a way that tells you more about the story than you thought she would tell. She uses her hands to talk and I immediately thought of my friend Christina and how she would appreciate the hand gestures of this elder as a comfort of years to come. Sanchez read her poetry and prose and interrupted herself to make way for the thought that is pushing to get out of her mouth to explain what she is reading. She looks up during these interruptions, looks around the room, and she moves. She’s sharing with us the effect words have on distilled water and share’s with us pictures from the book The Hidden Messages in Water by Masaru Emoto. She opens the book to the photo she wants us to see and classically, like my second grade teacher did at story time, walk around the entire room with the book high in the air opened to the photo of crystals that the words “thank you” produced in water.
She talked about peace and water and words. She talked about how the movement of sound affects water. A study was done that used distilled water and a camera and words and exhibited a profound discovery. Words, thoughts, and music have an effect on the water molecules. I looked up Mr. Emoto’s work and found this to explain it:

“From Mr. Emoto's work we are provided with factual evidence, that human vibrational energy, thoughts, words, ideas and music, affect the molecular structure of water, the very same water that comprises over seventy percent of a mature human body and covers the same amount of our planet. Water is the very source of all life on this planet, the quality and integrity are vitally important to all forms of life. The body is very much like a sponge and is composed of trillions of chambers called cells that hold liquid. The quality of our life is directly connected to the quality of our water.”

Mr. Emoto and colleagues decided to see how thoughts and words affected the formation of untreated, distilled, water crystals, using words typed onto paper by a word processor and taped on glass bottles overnight. The same procedure was performed using the names of deceased persons. The waters were then frozen and photographed:


After showing us the pictures, she talked about the importance of words and how they can be used to give life or how they can be used to pronounce death. I immediately thought of the scripture in Proverbs 18:21 that says “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.”
It also made me consider the verse in Proverbs 23:7 “For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he….” We all know that a negative thought life doesn’t yield a positive life result. For me, this information scientifically shows the biological effects thoughts have on a person and could explain why a man becomes his thoughts. The molecular structure of his body reacts to his thoughts and creates it. WOW!
She talked about teaching ourselves to “step away to have another day” because of the escalation in violence, especially highlighting violence on college campuses. She said the act of speaking words has the power to change souls. She said that words help us survive and be. They help us make it through.
She is inviting, and warm and human. And funny. She is so humorous. I had to resist the urge to burst out laughing on many occasions last night and just giggled to myself. She challenged us to go one week without “twist or curl your tongue to say negative things against others” and to reject negative words coming towards you. Substitute the words for something good. She said after 1 week, your urine will be very strong (I know, I know) because your body pushes the toxins out of your body. You will be at peace and you will draw peaceful people into your environment.
She talked about booing at a rap concert when the “B” word came out of his mouth, saying “Booooo, your momma”, a delightful humorous moment much like many others during her lecture last night. She said she met a famous Cuban poet and he hugged her so tight that she couldn’t breathe and thought to herself, “lord I didn’t come to Cuba to die” and held her head back and looked into his eyes and thought “I should learn how to lean into his breath and we can breath as one.” Since we all breath the same air anyway, why not try to. Breathing as one, acting in unity with one another, so we can all live.
Use your words to create something nice, beautiful, and to give life to yourself and others. So in her honor, I challenge you to go one week without “twisting or curling your tongue to say negative things against others.” And say “Boooo, your momma..” when negative words come your way!

My Own Space

Its a Monday. The beginning of the week (or at least the beginning of our typical American work week). And how fitting that I finally find my "space" to stretch and expand my tendency to write something that others might be interested in reading on the day most people dread. But alas, this Monday may not be so drab after all and perhaps you will begin to look forward to Mondays from here on out. Or maybe you won't.

This is my new space to write whatever I'd like to write and allow you to comment and reply without the repercussion of 50 back and forth emails in your personal inbox. This is my attempt to communicate with you in space that's all ours.

So after much prodding and poking and suggesting, I've finally made my place on the Web. I hope my place is condusive to your conversation, ideas, comments and that you feel at home here, much like me (except don't be going through my refridgerator) and that we have long, full, fun, serious, controversial, uplifting, challenging, and real conversations here.

Welcome to my space.