JUST ANOTHER ENTRY IN AN APPARENTLY LONG-RUNNING SERIES OF ENTRIES

TACTICAL


Well now… if you were to ask me, Sandra Bland’s death is more of a sign of the coming “race war” than anything else that has happened with intent to inflame a social crisis than anything else recently. The “lone wolf” actions of cats like Dylan Roof in South Carolina and Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez in Tennessee, while tragic and despicable, have more to do with the psychosis that took place in their own mind. In fact, I think that those two cats, and those of similar ilk, have more in common with guys like “The Son of Sam” (and I am working with the characterization of “Sam” in this Spike Lee joint). The reason that is behind my claim is Sandra Bland, who was an African-American female, demonstrates how vulnerable we are as a group to the influence of the White Supremacy Dynamic that controls and influence virtually all global human activities.

(Descends from soapbox) Alas, the African-American diaspora is one that has continued to be disenfranchised, from the sailing of the first slave ship from Africa. There has never been a unified, cohesive, body politic, that represented a shared social standard, certainly not one to have been feared. Even when united and armed rebellion was the goal, (Dred Scott, the Black Panther Party), between apathy, fear, and self-interest, there was no real sense that the system of oppression was going to be altered in a dramatic way.

There was an photo array of Minnesota Viking running back Adrian Peterson titled, “Adrian Peterson Looks Like A Real Life Action Figure” in AOL Sports recently. In the photos taken of “A.D.” at training camp, he certainly seems to resembles a life-sized “He-Man” action figure. Now THAT is what I am working toward!! I am going to try to get this photo enlarged or something, maybe set it as my computer background for motivation.

It is the end of July and the “what are you going to do in August” alarm has gone off. Do I really want to go back to school? I allow myself to let the “inner Pinky” ask the question, so that “the Brain” can reply, “We are going to do the same thing we’ve always done in August, we are going to go back to school.” One of the reasons that I know that it is time to get my “game face” on, is that I have been sleeping later, not even buzzed to get out of bed. For me, sleeping in has always meant that there was an uncomfortable restlessness shadowing me. That is as clear a sign there is to me that there are things for me to do, plans for me to make, preparations to be reinforced, and a goal to be achieved.

As far as Lexxie is concerned, I am going to have to say that she won’t be coming to Omaha this year. Not going to give up on getting her out west one day, but I don’t think that it will be this summer that she visits me.

Finally, it seems that the Cosby myth is completely shattered. The one woman who leaked details from her case took a brave stand on releasing the deposition from her involvement with Cosby. Whether or not she receives any punitive actions against her, the revelation should be lauded as a public service (and I am aware of the possible hypocrisy here with my comments… thank you very much!). But this guy has been a douche for a long time… and he dared to admonish people about behavior and character..?  He was willing to throw his OWN DAUGHTER under the bus to save his reputation!!

....THE SAFETY OF WHO YOU ARE…

“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.” - G.K. Chesterton

I rode Madison out to Village Pointe the other day, which is west of me by about 135 streets. My bike computer said that I rode about 60 miles when it was all said and done, between stopping and watering up, and a little shopping, I was out for about 8 hours!! When I finally made it home, I was feeling not only the high from the physical exertion, but I was just giddy from being in Omaha. 

Looking back at where I have come from isn’t something that I am prone to do. I am no longer bedeviled (if I was ever) by my past, and I can look forward to the things that I hope for. The micro-story that I found on the “I Wrote This For You” blog gave me pause to do some “goat thinking” about the people who find themselves wanting things in their life, but unable to muster the courage to, not attempt to go after their desires, but, rather than reconcile their choices and accept/affirm them, look outward and declare how “unfair” life seems to be to them. At no time do they think about anyone else and how their pursuit of their own life’s hopes drove them to act, but lament on how things were “given” to those who were “blessed”.

I am a big fan of agency. No matter what is going on, the individual is the one who is at the center of their own “atomic structure”. There are times where I think how good it feels to be where I am today, and that I was able to get here primarily on my strength of will. The harder and more focused I became, the more fortunate (the well-timed gift from I've received from friends, for example) I found myself. But I never took anything for granted.

Maybe the it is a lack of gratitude that keeps those who “die while living” from actually living and experiencing life. I had hoped to take a selfie of Madison and myself out at Village Point, and I did snap a couple of shots of us at 168th & Blondo… but the reason I did not get one at Village Point is the same reason that I don’t have pictures of most of the places I have bee… I was submerged in the moment and it really never occurred to me to memorialize my ride. After all, I KNOW that I rode for nearly 8 hours and that I went out to the western exurbs of Omaha… why do I need a picture to remind me that I took my bike for a long ride..? 

Yep… that is the main reason (along with not being particularly photogenic) I don’t do pictures… I think that I will miss more by losing the moment to take a picture than I would gain from worrying about getting a good photo. And when I go out again the next time, it won’t be as unique, so why worry about one then?