Saving Up For My SpaceShip...

Recently, at Happy Hour, I had a conversation with a white female friend and co-worker that really made me stop and think. She told me that I, or rather we—meaning the Black staff at our job—were being racist because we have a Black staff organization. She felt excluded, like she wasn’t welcome because she isn’t Black, and to her, that was unfair. In that moment, I had to break it down for her—explain why Black spaces exist in the first place and why her feeling left out is not the same as experiencing racism. But this conversation wasn’t just for her. Too many white people walk through life completely blind to these realities, and when they do encounter them, they mistake equity for exclusion. So, I’m sharing this message with her (again) and with the world, hoping that maybe—just maybe—some white people will read this, learn something, and begin to truly understand. It’s a wild concept that white people feel like they experience racism. Any time they feel excluded from something—a c...

 Written October 2005 Throughout my entire life, I have heard about the mystery between humans and God or gods.   If there is an all knowing God, that knows our every move, choice, and action before we do it, do we really have free will?   This discussion is very intriguing to me, because it makes me think about life.   Is life already pre-planned, our every decision already made in fact for us, and all of our thoughts previously given to us.   It seems like we are computers, with different programs in each of us, which has already been made and put into us in the form of our brains.   In the Iliad some things were acts of human will, but the majority of the time they did what the gods wanted or supported.   It seems as though we have do have the choice that determines which path our lives will follow.   Because we can think, we can act, and everything else on our own, we can choose the life we want.   The topic of free will is a very hard on...

7 The Broposals I am getting married. Kind of crazy and kind of cool, right? I found someone that I believe in, admire, care for, trust and love. Therefore, I felt that it was time to fully commit to this partnership. Life Partner Gang! However, this is not about her- so enough with that for now. This is about some of the people who have meant the most to me on life’s journey thus far. Many people have shown love and have been influential and supportive towards me in my lifetime. However, I had to take on the difficult task of narrowing it down to seven. In the weeks leading up to today, I went on a quest. I went through the thousands of memories in my mind via the thousands of pictures in my cloud, external hard drive, cards, e-mails, letters, and even reminisced on events that were undocumented. This journey helped me to rediscover many things but most importantly:   “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” -    ...