Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Finding Forever
These two have known each other since the 6th grade and have always been freidns. They realized the love they had been seraching for was literally walking by everyday...so one day, they took note, and got married...
Amber Amplified
My homie Amber.
I wanted to do something fly for her and add a few graphic elements...this is AMBER AMPLIFIED..
Sunday, August 29, 2010
working my way thru school
atlanta, ga- girls got bills...gotta pay those student loans back i guess.
Friday, August 27, 2010
FEAR AND IGNORANCE: THE REMEDY
I know I am going to upset someone, so let me say this now, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that we live in a world today that seems to care more about labels than feeding displaced children and restoring vitality to a fallen community. I'm sorry that we live in a world where the idea of someone's faith, true or not, should determine the amount of trust in that person. I'm sorry that we live in a country that can't see past its own flaws long enough to realize that a change is not only needed, but urgent.
Let me start here first, all politicians fall into the same category: FULL OF IT. With that said, there are still some who would rather perpetuate, and often fan the flames of ignorance rather than extinguish our anxieties with truth.
In the last 2 and half years I have noticed something happening. From the moment President Obama was nominated til now, a great secret has been revealed about our country. Ignorance is alive.
Let me address something right away, I am a Christian, Baptist to be exact. Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior! In my upbringing, I went to a Catholic elementary school, and high school. I had friends that were of all races, creeds, and economic backgrounds. I think I have lived a diverse life. In that, I have learned that not everyone thinks the way I do and that is their right. But something my parents taught me from a young age, and my experiences reinforced in me, is that I shouldn't ever pre-judge someone by the way they look. It happened to me more than I can count and I don't want to perpetuate that mode of thinking.
Ignorance: Ignorance is a state of being uninformed. The word "ignorant" is an adjective describing a person in the state of being unaware and is often used as an insult.
Fear: Fear is an emotional response to a perceived threat. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of danger. Some psychologists such as John B. Watson, Robert Plutchik, and Paul Ekman have suggested that fear is one of a small set of basic or innate emotions. This set also includes such emotions as joy, sadness, and anger. Fear should be distinguished from the related emotional state of anxiety, which typically occurs without any external threat. Additionally, fear is related to the specific behaviors of escape and avoidance, whereas anxiety is the result of threats which are perceived to be uncontrollable or unavoidable.[1] Worth noting is that fear almost always relates to future events, such as worsening of a situation, or continuation of a situation that is unacceptable. Fear could also be an instant reaction to something presently happening.
These 2 words could be the death of our society.
I say that to say, when we are uninformed and take no time to educate ourselves, we encourage fear within ourselves and pass that anxiety to others we have influence over. If we depend on one source and one point of view to inform us, how much are we really exposing our eyes to? If I never took the time to hear an opposing view and process it, how could I grow? How could I mature? How could I learn to love beyond my own scope? We have a great opportunity with all these media outlets, to learn a great deal more than we ever have before. But with the internet, cable tv, iPhones, blackberrys, satellite radio, newspapers, magazines and word of mouth, we seem to ingest less and less valid information. If you watch one station, all day long, you simply brainwash yourself into one mode of thinking. You are accepting one point of view, thereby stunting your growth.
The same is true for a person who never engages a civil discussion with someone who is not like them. We could quiet a lot of noise if we stepped out of our comfort zones and took an opportunity to learn something about someone new.
Like I said, I grew up in a very diverse environment, perhaps more diverse than my parents. My sister and I had ever color of the rainbow visit our house and vice versa. And while we did have some blatantly disrespectful things happen to us, we also met some of the people who we call friends and family.
If we don't take the time to combat ignorance and fear with information, we may as well trust no one and die alone.
So your homework this week: meet someone who is not of your own faith, color, economic status, or sexuality, and find out how much we are really all alike in this world.
"But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Let me start here first, all politicians fall into the same category: FULL OF IT. With that said, there are still some who would rather perpetuate, and often fan the flames of ignorance rather than extinguish our anxieties with truth.
In the last 2 and half years I have noticed something happening. From the moment President Obama was nominated til now, a great secret has been revealed about our country. Ignorance is alive.
Let me address something right away, I am a Christian, Baptist to be exact. Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior! In my upbringing, I went to a Catholic elementary school, and high school. I had friends that were of all races, creeds, and economic backgrounds. I think I have lived a diverse life. In that, I have learned that not everyone thinks the way I do and that is their right. But something my parents taught me from a young age, and my experiences reinforced in me, is that I shouldn't ever pre-judge someone by the way they look. It happened to me more than I can count and I don't want to perpetuate that mode of thinking.
Ignorance: Ignorance is a state of being uninformed. The word "ignorant" is an adjective describing a person in the state of being unaware and is often used as an insult.
Fear: Fear is an emotional response to a perceived threat. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of danger. Some psychologists such as John B. Watson, Robert Plutchik, and Paul Ekman have suggested that fear is one of a small set of basic or innate emotions. This set also includes such emotions as joy, sadness, and anger. Fear should be distinguished from the related emotional state of anxiety, which typically occurs without any external threat. Additionally, fear is related to the specific behaviors of escape and avoidance, whereas anxiety is the result of threats which are perceived to be uncontrollable or unavoidable.[1] Worth noting is that fear almost always relates to future events, such as worsening of a situation, or continuation of a situation that is unacceptable. Fear could also be an instant reaction to something presently happening.
These 2 words could be the death of our society.
I say that to say, when we are uninformed and take no time to educate ourselves, we encourage fear within ourselves and pass that anxiety to others we have influence over. If we depend on one source and one point of view to inform us, how much are we really exposing our eyes to? If I never took the time to hear an opposing view and process it, how could I grow? How could I mature? How could I learn to love beyond my own scope? We have a great opportunity with all these media outlets, to learn a great deal more than we ever have before. But with the internet, cable tv, iPhones, blackberrys, satellite radio, newspapers, magazines and word of mouth, we seem to ingest less and less valid information. If you watch one station, all day long, you simply brainwash yourself into one mode of thinking. You are accepting one point of view, thereby stunting your growth.
The same is true for a person who never engages a civil discussion with someone who is not like them. We could quiet a lot of noise if we stepped out of our comfort zones and took an opportunity to learn something about someone new.
Like I said, I grew up in a very diverse environment, perhaps more diverse than my parents. My sister and I had ever color of the rainbow visit our house and vice versa. And while we did have some blatantly disrespectful things happen to us, we also met some of the people who we call friends and family.
If we don't take the time to combat ignorance and fear with information, we may as well trust no one and die alone.
So your homework this week: meet someone who is not of your own faith, color, economic status, or sexuality, and find out how much we are really all alike in this world.
"But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
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