'12 Years A Slave' Review

I saw this film for the first time, last night and was completely blown away. The movie had received spectacular reviews (97% on Rotten Tomatoes), swept award season (Including Best Picture at the Oscars), and launched the career of Best Supporting Actress winner, Lupita Nyong'o.

The movie is simply…profound. There is no award worthy of this film. Not that the film is not worthy of awards of course it is. There is simply no award worthy of this film. It was devastatingly complicated and beautiful. I truly saw the humanity of the enslaved verus a film meant to coddle the imagination and guilt. it was also a painful film in ways that I cannot always fully articulate with words. I felt that pain in my spirit, my skin, my bones, my heart, my existence. I still feel it. 

Time Magazine compares "rape culture" cries to witch hunt

http://time.com/30545/its-time-to-end-rape-culture-hysteria/

I only briefly read through some of this but I have some reservations. I think that people first need to acknowledge where the "rape culture" comes from and why it is so prevalent in America versus other nations. Rape is only ONE form of violence that has been passed down in the American culture.

Violence, in general, is typically much more prevalent in America than anywhere else in the world. That's why you have cities like Detroit and Chicago among "the world's most dangerous places" next to countries like Sudan and other Third World, war-torn nations and they are both only a CITY in the U.S. This country was founded on violence and bloodshed and the rape culture was developed and passed down from slavery and years (actually CENTURIES) of sexual oppression and silence. 

Rape culture, TODAY, still has ties to actual rape and sexual victimization in the 19th and 20th century and that's why it won't go away. Everyone wants to put a band-aid on it and cover it up instead of getting down to the truth. They are asking to eliminate the talk of "rape culture" and not the actual crime and history of it.

Working at Target can actually be very fun and as a cashier I get to converse with so many different people. I usually try my hardest to accommodate the guest to my best ability and make sure that their shopping experience was nice. We're required to ask each guest to take an in store Guest survey ON THEIR PHONE (which makes no sense, when they can just take it at home). Today, one specific guest ask me, what the point of taking the survey was and I told her we ask so we can get feedback on how to improve. She says, she gets that, but why does she have to take it in the store. I thought I had told her the answer, but I guess it wasn't good enough so I ask one of my coworkers and she tells them that the survey won't count if they take it out the store (which was a lie).  She agreed to take it. Now, the guest behind her was extremely rude. I ask her, "how are you doing today?" and she blurts out "Just ring me up and don't ask me about any stupid RED card or survey." I do my job.

She didn't like the way I was bagging so she snatches the bag out of my hand and says, "I'll bag it myself, you're just a stupid cashier." At this point the fake smile I was wearing on my face fades away because I was so confused as to why she was mad. The guest behind her says, "leave him alone, he's just having a bad day" and the lady says, "if that's the case he shouldn't take it on us." One problem with this: why is this guest telling me I'm having a bad day when I'm interacting the same way I interact with every guest. I say, "I'm sorry if you feel this way, I was not being rude, if you like I can call my supervisor over." She rolls her eyes at me and tells me to just hurry up so she can pay and leave. She pays, I hand her the receipt and instead of saying the usual "Enjoy the rest of your day," I simply say "bye." She must've misheard me, because she starts yelling at me screaming, "How dare you call me a bitch! What kind of customer service training did you have!" My supervisor comes over and the bitter old lady goes on about how rude I was being to her. She told my supervisor that I threw her receipt at her and called her out of her name. My supervisor tells her she is sorry and assures her that she will deal with me.

The supervisor closes my lane and pulls me to the side to talk to me and I tell her what actually happened. She is fairly new to this store, so she doesn't really know me. Naturally, she believes the guest and tells me that she is going to have to write me up. She tells me that even if the guest was lying it is my job to make sure no one ever reaches that point which was kind of impossible in that instance.

Listening to Shame

Recently came across these photos of old family members when I visited my aunt.

My Great Great Aunt (Top), Great Grandmother w/ my late Great Aunt Cookie in her hands. (Bottom)

My Great Great Aunt apparently practiced voodoo.

My Great Grandmother apparently used to knit everyone's clothes.

Another Great Great Aunt.

She was one of the first women to cover Jet Magazine.

His story is very interesting. He was the first from my mom's maternal side of the family to migrate to San Francisco in 1939. He apparently hitchhiked his way from Lafayette, Louisiana. He spoke Cajun French (as well as the two women at top) and his english was very broken. When he got here he worked as a construction worker and eventually opened a BBQ Restaurant called Hickory Pit in the Fillmore. He was the third richest black man in San Francisco in the 1940s and owned 6 victorians throughout the city where various family members who came from Louisiana stayed. According to my aunt, the woman who he married was poisoning him. Apparently, my Great Great aunt (the one was into voodoo) right before he died informed the family that his wife was poisoning him, but no one believed her. The next week he was dead and she had taken everything.

My Grandmas (my mom's mom) as a child.

My Grandpa (My mom's father) as a child with some cousins.

LOL

My Two Cents: Homosexuality and Religion

When people talk about homosexuality being an abomination I truly question their sanity and ability to grasp what it is they're even saying. You are basically telling me that one of my most natural and core states of being is UNNATURAL and that there's something wrong with me. Let me put it like this....if there is a god, I don't doubt for a second that he made me this way because it's who I'm supposed to be. I would never judge anyone born any kind of way. But when people spew some ignorance on something they clearly don't understand..., I WILL JUDGE YOU because whereas what you're judging me for is something I can't change, I'm judging you for something YOU CAN. 

The word "lifestyle" still really irritates me, like it's some kind of hobby you just decided to take up. It really fuels the whole "being gay is a choice" narrative. I think Sherri is a nice person, just terribly small-minded.

I am the type of person who doesn't really like confrontation and usually keeps my opinions to myself. But I do speak up when I get angry enough and today I kindly had to let someone I've been "friends" with since high school know how I really felt about their commentary. She usually makes slick comments like, "I don't agree with your lifestyle, but we can friends," "Love the sinner, not the sin." Today she told me I was going to hell and I got really mad so I reminded her that Bible routinely, clearly, and strongly classifies all sex acts outside of the bonds of marriage as an abomination which would make her one as well and that she should not pick and choose what is a sin. She just gave me an astound look and told me I didn't know what I was talking about and started talking about how she goes to church every Sunday.

I've read things ABOUT the Bible, I know that a lot of things in it certainly shouldn't be taken at face value anymore, especially things in the Old Testament. And even if they were, we'd ALL be doomed to Hell.

Look at this passage from one of my favorite books, Proverbs:

Proverbs 6:16-19

King James Version (KJV)

16 These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:

17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,

19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

So basically liars, people who scheme, instigators, and people who run to fights and pull their phone out are all abominations unto God. And that passage uses the same Hebrew word for "abomination" that is used in Leviticus 18:22, that verse that every fool likes to trot out, so there is no wiggle room. There are many other uses too. Stealing, murder, and adultery are termed abominations in Jeremiah 7.

My question is, if folk insist that everybody live their lives by that book, why haven't they read it themselves? (To say nothing about double-checking it and not beliveing everything you read - we live in the internet age where that is simple.) Why the focus on homosexuality and not murder which is also an abomination and actually hurts people? Why the elevation of one sin over another as if we are not all sinners? Why not bother asking oneself or someone if homosexuality is truly a sin in the first place?

I am a student of history and so I've always sought truth even through religion, but my path has led me to see religion for what it truly is. Everyone has a right to their beliefs and I myself have many christian friends - how could you not? But what makes me sick to my stomach is the fact that Christians actually believe, because of their religion, that being gay is a sin and a ticket to hell. And what may even be worse, many think its a better idea for gays to suppress their sexuality and be neutral rather than be who they are and be happy.

I don't mock Christianity; I mock the hypocrisy and ignorance of a large percent of Christians... especially those that pretend we still live in the dark ages. I love the idea that someone was so selfless and full of love that he gave his life for me. That is very touching. The thought behind us striving to be that way is a great moral. I can totally live without the wars, manipulation, hypocrisy, condemnations, homphobia, and sexism though. I really can.

Spirituality is possible without Religion. A connection to a higher power is possible without The Bible. I think everyone should really take the time to figure out what "God" means to them without a pastor or preacher yelling in their ear. Figure out what faith means to them without reading a book written hundreds of years ago thats filled with inaccuracies anyway. Your connection to God should be your connection to God. Not a connection that society is telling you, you should have