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On Wed, Feb 17, 2021 at 2:06 PM John Howell wrote:
These things together emphasize the fact that we need:
BLACKBIRD SONG BY KEITH and…
Published February 15, 2021 by Nan MykelBlackbird singing in the dead of night
Keith Wilson
9:08 AM (13 hours ago)
I wrote the following post six years ago, but sadly, it is still needed today. The title is from a line of The Beatles song “Blackbird” which is a tribute to the struggle by African-Americans for their civil rights. The song was sung by Paul McCartney with writing credits to both him and John Lennon, although McCartney was the lead.
“Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise”
Here is what McCartney said about the origin of the song in an interview in 2002.
“I’ve got a poetry book out called Blackbird Singing…..I was in Scotland playing on my guitar, and I remembered this whole idea of ‘you were only waiting for this moment to arise’ was about, you know, the black people’s struggle in the southern states, and I was using the symbolism of a blackbird. It’s not really about a blackbird whose wings are broken, you know, it’s a bit more symbolic.”
I added McCartney’s quote as I wanted the clarity around what the song means. African-Americans are still fighting an uphill struggle for their civil rights. What has happened in Ferguson, Cleveland, New Jersey, Charleston, Charlotte and Baltimore is tragic, but evidence of the disenfranchisement of African-Americans. The lack of opportunity, the malaise, the maltreatment, the deterioration of the neighborhood, the lack of respect given to people of color in our country continues.
I have seen Warren Buffett say he was born lucky. He was born a white male in America. All three components of that phrase are important – white, male and America. Yes, he worked hard, but he was afforded opportunities that African-Americans do not get. Not only do many whites like me have a hard time knowing the challenges of being black, but we also do not fully realize the advantages of being white. As I wrote recently, as a white man, there are not too many places I cannot go no matter how I am dressed. But, there are far too many stories of how a black man can be dressed in his Sunday best, yet still be stopped by the police and think “be careful as this may be the last thing I do on earth.”
I would encourage three things. First, please do not look at the few committing violence and extrapolating that as indicative of the African-American community. The community knows this is not the path forward. Second, people who look like me need to do our best to understand the challenges we have in America for people of color, but also for all people in poverty. Third, as always, talk is cheap. These issues are complex and solutions have to address many underlying concerns. There are no sound byte answers as some politicians have espoused.
I mention this last point as we must address the wide disparity in America between the “haves” and “have-nots.” This is not just an African-American issue. It is an American issue, as most people on food stamps are white. Please re-read this previous sentence. Poverty exists in urban areas, in rural areas and even in the suburbs. We have to stop the “war on poor people” and make this a “war on poverty.”
We must invest in our infrastructure and deteriorated assets repurposing them*. This will spawn jobs as well in places where it is needed. We must revise our minimum wage to be consistent with a living wage for one person, which varies, but is just over $10 an hour. We must invest in education at all levels. We must embrace the Affordable Care Act as it is helping so many people and fully implement it through Medicaid expansion in the remaining states. For some politicians to say we have a poverty problem and be against the ACA is hypocritical and shortsighted, especially when it is working pretty well.
Remember McCartney’s words and lets help these folks with broken wings learn to fly. To do otherwise, goes against what our country is all about and any of the teachings found in religious texts. Jesus spoke of doing for the least of these is so doing for him.
Keith Wilson, Charlotte, Independent
*Note: This is called ABCD investment – Asset Based Community Development (think of the repurposed Durham tobacco complex or Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club community, eg).
Censuring Republicans who voted to impeach or convict – a sample letter to the editor
Published February 15, 2021 by Nan MykelGreat suggestion.
I sent the following letter to my local newspaper after seeing that the North Carolina state Republican Party may censure Senator Richard Burr for voting to convict the seditious former president. This follows on similar votes executed or planned in other states to censure the likes of Representative Liz Cheney, Senator Ben Sasse, Senator Pat Toomey and Senator Bill Cassidy and maybe the others. Please feel free to adapt and use. I hope they print it.
Two thoughts pop into my head about the state Republican parties that are censuring Republicans who voted to impeach or convict the seditious former president. Each time they take aim at one of them, it gives them the chance to repeat their resolve into why the former president is a traitor. Which leads me to my second thought. Being a traitor and causing the death of now seven people by consistently lying and inciting…
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FISHING FOR A POEM – Part One
Published February 15, 2021 by Nan MykelFISHING FOR A POEM – Part One
Drifting, searching shallow and deep
frolicking fish around me leap.
If I’m to find the one that’s right
it must appear sometime tonight.
Although there’s a tug on my line,
reeling it up I only find
a plastic milk carton missing
poetry’s sure thing with a zing.
I refuse to bump
Into Donald J. Trump,
the damn demic’s boredom
or Epstein’s whoredom.
The waves slap quietly as I row,
while moonlight shines on me below.
But where’s the rhyme for which I search
as in my boat I try to perch?
I need to jump in to embrace,
arms open wide so as to taste
the meaty, throbbing of the node
that’ll help my poem to implode.
Now in the depths I can see slugs,
worms, loud weeping and coffee mugs.
Tears and water mix together
To make a poem’s sudden weather.
Near now! I can feel it lurking
A little tug, then it perking.
The mind’s eye finds within the pits
the hidden object of my wits.
This fine night it appears to be
calling out for me to see.
And there it is, a wooden box
On the bottom, without locks!
TO BE CONTINUED
“O”
Published February 11, 2021 by Nan Mykel
There goes my mind! Catch it!
Though we all learn our ABC’s,
some words rarely reach our lips.
There’s the “B” word, the “C” word, the
“D” word, the other “D” word, the “F”
word, the “N” word and the “Q” word.
Can you add more? Oh right, the “RIP”
wordlet. My son just corrected me
erroneous “colored town” spoken due to
my limited other “D” days, but that stuff
don’t stop me, Only if you’re a poet
is the limitation exacerbating. At 85, I
missed early onset. If you don’t know
what I’m talking about, lucky you.
KEITH WRITES US
Published February 9, 2021 by Nan MykelRepublican truth teller ridiculed more than conspiracy parrot
Truth tellers do not appear to be of great value to the Republican party, an observation of mine echoed by Fox News correspondent Chris Wallace. It seems an allegiance to parroting inane conspiracy theories has more currency. This saddens me as we need to listen to courageous truth tellers who risk a great deal in so doing.
In support of this contention, Jason Lemon of Newsweek wrote the following piece “Chris Wallace Calls Out Republicans for ‘More Visible Outrage’ at Cheney Than at Greene” which incredulously frames how low the new Trump party had fallen.
“Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace called out Republican lawmakers for showing ‘more visible outrage’ at GOP Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming for voting to impeach former President Donald Trump than at Georgia’s freshman GOP Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene‘s promotion of bizarre conspiracy theories. Some pro-Trump Republicans in the House of Representatives have called for Cheney’s removal from her No. 3 leadership position as chair of the House Republican Conference following her January 13 impeachment vote. Meanwhile, few GOP lawmakers have expressed public outrage following multiple reports on Greene’s past promotion of unfounded conspiracy theories and support for violence against fellow lawmakers on social media.
‘You’ve got a situation right now where there is more visible outrage inside the GOP over Liz Cheney, a member of [Republican] leadership voting to impeach the [former] president over—rather than some of these wild conspiracy theories being espoused by Marjorie Taylor Greene,’ Wallace pointed out during his show Sunday. He suggested that Republicans should take action against Greene and asked whether she should potentially be expelled from Congress or removed from committees. ‘What are their options here?’
Wallace asked panelist Susan Page, the Washington bureau chief for USA Today. ‘I think it tells you a lot about where the Republican Party is right now,’ Page responded. GOP House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy plans to have a meeting with Greene regarding her incendiary social media posts and bizarre claims. ‘These comments are deeply disturbing and Leader McCarthy plans to have a conversation with the Congresswoman about them,’ Mark Bednar, a spokesperson for McCarthy, told Axios last week. Representative Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican who joined the nine other House Republicans in voting to impeach Trump, said Sunday that he’d support removing Greene from committee assignments, but he pushed back against expelling her from Congress altogether.”
Note, Senator Mitch McConnell aired some comments following Wallace’s piece calling Greene a “cancer” on the Republican party. McConnell’s comments are welcome, but they are somewhat forced being this late with respect to Greene. And, in my view, he was too calculating in any criticism of the former president when Trump parroted inane conspiracy theories along with other untruths.
I read McConnell did not take the former president’s election fraud claims seriously, so a vacuum was left by Republicans refusing to call out the former president for his staged fraud claims. Quite simply, when you do not stand up to a bully or let lies stand without pushback, the bullying and lying will continue. Rep. Liz Cheney, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, Sen. Ben Sasse and others did, but they are being vilified and even threatened by the MAGA base. The question the base needs to ask, is these people knew they would be vilified for speaking out, so why did they run that risk? Following the crowd is easy. Speaking hard truths is not. We need hard truths from our leaders.
Keith Wilson, Charlotte, Independent
Feb 8, 2021, 9:03 AM (1 day ago)
WITHOUT CONSTRICTION
Published February 8, 2021 by Nan Mykel
Night. Under bed covers Moon visible through gauze
curtains. A sluggish stream supports me. Kersplash,
a fish. A whippoorwill’s call, a dream bird. Comfy.
Moored in the here and now like it or not. Like it.
Here it all makes sense.
Could this be involved in transgenders?
Published February 5, 2021 by Nan MykelIntersex does not mean transgender, and the internet contains no information on the suggestion that imprinting effects the gender of children who insist they are of a different gender than they are biologically. There have been some studies that found connections between the observation of imprinting behaviors and the brains of non-humans, however.
intersex people* largely acquire their gender identity via imprinting. Therefore, intersex people often choose the gender of those they imprint on—whether it be a friend, family member, etc. This suggests that imprinting can be a powerful phenomenon and can have an intense effect on an individual’s overall development and mental state.
An integral characteristic of imprinting is that it occurs at a specific point in life, usually beginning the moment they are born. This period varies between species, ranging from within a day or so after birth to almost the first few years of life. Imprinting does not normally occur later. In animals, imprinting involves being drawn to the characteristics or sight of the first creature or item seen at the time of or shortly after birth. Although it has been most studied in ducklings, most animals appear to have some type of imprinting mechanism.
Just a thought. How else to hypothesize the existence of children insisting they are a different gender? The effect has been little studied, and I was not able to find any hypothesized connection between the two. I'm open to enlightenment.
* Intersex people are born with sex characteristics, such as genitals, gonads and chromosome patterns that, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit the typical definitions for male or female bodies."
There is an estimated 1.7 percent of the population worldwide who fall into this category..
One Man’s View on Kamala
Published February 2, 2021 by Nan MykelKeith Wilson writes:
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The swearing in of Joe Biden as the 46th president is a huge deal. We can return to more normalcy in governance as he tries to unite us. But, let me set that aside and say the inauguration of Kamala Harris as vice-president is “a big effing deal.”
Seeing a woman sworn in as vice president is a long time over due for a country that touts democracy. Other democracies have preceded us with a woman being president, prime minister or chancellor. Angela Merkel, Jacinda Arden, Tsai Ing-wen, Sanna Marin, Indira Ghandi, Golda Meir, Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May all come to mind just to name a few.
Harris is not just breaking the ceiling as a woman, which is a big effing deal by itself. She is the first African-American, the first Asian-American, and part of the first multiracial couple and family to occupy the home of the vice-president. She is uniquely American, as representative of our melting pot as one can get.
But, as a man, let me attempt to address this walk-in-the-shoes moment and what it means. My wife wore pearl earrings to honor Harris’ alma mater as she watched. And, she was crying after Harris was sworn in. A man does not realize how a woman feels to be treated in an overbearing way. Or, to be condescended to. Or to be belittled. Or, to be passed over for a promotion because of her gender. Or, to be sexually harassed or even assaulted.
Sheryl Sandberg wrote the excellent book called “Lean in,” which tells women to lean into opportunity or push back. It was and is a great title in that men are very skilled at leaning in. There is a line, I think from this book, that says a man with lesser skill sets will often feel more qualified for a job than a woman does with more skill sets.
We must layer into Harris’ make-up the fact she is a multiracial woman of color. In an interview on CBS Sunday Morning, she noted she has been told “no” at every step of the ladder. Then, she smiled and said “I eat ‘no’ for breakfast.” That embodies Sandberg’s theme. Just think of all of the young women and young women of color she will influence going forward. Be a leader, be a scientist, be an engineer, be a doctor….don’t accept no as a reason you cannot.
This is a big effing deal. I wish her, Joe Biden and their families and staffs the greatest of success. We need them to succeed in uniting us.
Keith Wilson, Charlotte, Independent
APPROPRIATE FEMALE RETORT
Published January 30, 2021 by Nan Mykel
A friend who wears her braids atop her head told me about being introduced to a man who immediately said to her that she would be even prettier if she let her hair down. Without a heartbeat she replied, “I think you’d be more handsome if you had sideburns.”
I wish I were that quick on my feet.
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