Yagé (Celebration of Self)
I am.
strong, sexy, simple, and sweet,
caring, cruel, charismatic, and complex,
all at the same time.
Whether mean, moronic, maniacal, or moody,
loving, lucid, laid-back, or light-of-heart,
I am beautiful in all my passions.
I am Me and it’s a beautiful thing!
Unconquerable, though they try.
I am the Sphinx, reveling and dancing
in the splendor of their awe.
Confident? Sure, but still humble.
I cherish every deep breath.
I know my place in this world,
I just happen to love where I stand
because no matter how everyone views me,
I know how I see myself;
that’s the most important thing.
I matter.
Don’t hate that I celebrate my birthday everyday.
If I won’t, who will? Only I can provide myself with
true happiness.
I’m tired of writing love poems about other people.
It’s time to write a love poem to myself and
celebrate who I have become, who
I am.
Yeah, it’s hard being me, but I love every minute!
©2005 Vicky Therese Davis
I really admire Cornel West's mind and always listen when he has something to say on topics that interest me (and more often than not, he is speaking about something that interests me). This recent acknowledgement he made on Hurricane Katrina was sent to me in an email and I feel compelled to share it with everyone:
“I'm not asking for a revolution, I am asking for reform. A Marshall Plan for the South could be the first step."
Exiles from a City and from a Nation
By Cornel West
The Observer UK
Sunday 11 September 2005
It takes something as big as Hurricane Katrina and the misery we saw among the poor black people of
What we saw unfold in the days after the hurricane was the most naked manifestation of conservative social policy towards the poor, where the message for decades has been: 'You are on your own'. Well, they really were on their own for five days in that Superdome, and it was Darwinism in action - the survival of the fittest. People said: 'It looks like something out of the
It's not just Katrina, it's povertina. People were quick to call them refugees because they looked as if they were from another country. They are. Exiles in
In the end George Bush has to take responsibility. When [the rapper] Kanye West said the President does not care about black people, he was right, although the effects of his policies are different from what goes on in his soul. You have to distinguish between a racist intent and the racist consequences of his policies. Bush is still a 'frat boy', making jokes and trying to please everyone while the Neanderthals behind him push him more to the right.
Poverty has increased for the last four or five years. A million more Americans became poor last year, even as the super-wealthy became much richer. So where is the trickle-down, the equality of opportunity? Healthcare and education and the social safety net being ripped away - and that flawed structure was nowhere more evident than in a place such as New Orleans, 68 per cent black. The average adult income in some parishes of the city is under $8,000 (£4,350) a year. The average national income is $33,000, though for African-Americans it is about $24,000. It has one of the highest city murder rates in the
Charlie Parker would have killed somebody if he had not blown his horn. The history of black people in
This kind of dignity in your struggle cuts both ways, though, because it does not mobilize a collective uprising against the elites. That was the Black Panther movement. You probably need both. There would have been no Panthers without jazz. If I had been of Martin Luther King's generation I would never have gone to Harvard or
They shot brother Martin dead like a dog in 1968 when the mobilization of the black poor was just getting started. At least one of his surviving legacies was the quadrupling in the size of the black middle class. But Oprah [Winfrey] the billionaire and the black judges and chief executives and movie stars do not mean equality, or even equality of opportunity yet. Black faces in high places does not mean racism is over. Condoleezza Rice has sold her soul.
Now the black bourgeoisie have an even heavier obligation to fight for the 33 per cent of black children living in poverty - and to alleviate the spiritual crisis of hopelessness among young black men.
Bush talks about God, but he has forgotten the point of prophetic Christianity is compassion and justice for those who have least. Hip-hop has the anger that comes out of post-industrial, free-market
There is the danger of nihilism and in the Superdome around the fourth day, there it was - husbands held at gunpoint while their wives were raped, someone stomped to death, people throwing themselves off the mezzanine floor, dozens of bodies.
It was a war of all against all - 'you're on your own' - in the centre of the American empire. But now that the aid is pouring in, vital as it is, do not confuse charity with justice. I'm not asking for a revolution, I am asking for reform. A Marshall Plan for the South could be the first step.
--------
Dr Cornel West is professor of African American studies and religion at
-------
Interview by Joanna Walters, in
#1: A Knight He is Not
Splayed across my bed
is a man not of my dreams.
He smells of stale sweat
and hoards my soiled bed sheets.
I wish I never met him.
#2: Uncharted Territory
Unfamiliar
hills, verdant climbs and valleys,
have led me off course.
Fighting my way through the green,
I am cut by blades of grass.
Here are my most recent ones, so consider this an unveiling of sorts:
#3: Fortune Teller
“Will you read my palm?”
“Sure I will. Open your hand
and put it face up.
Now ball it into a fist.
Destiny is in your hand.”
#4: The Aftermath
She reads from a book,
but can’t focus on the tale.
She attempts once more;
the words have lost all meaning.
She stops, looks outside, and cries.
I'm curious what the responses will be to these... ;)
Until next time--I promise I won't stay away so long!!
Goodbye: A Requiem
Only for a short while have you loaned us to each other.
Because we take form in your act of drawing us together,
We breathe in your songs to us and give them life for
The brief spans we are here. But only for so
Short a while have you loaned us to each other.
We must make the most of our times together.
Grandmother, I will miss you more than our language has
The vocabulary to help me articulate.
The only comfort I find in your absence is knowing
You are home where you belong.
I thank Him for blessing us with you, and the
Sacred memories that have been ingrained in me.
You will forever be loved, missed, and a nearby thought.
I will not, however, mourn your death,
But I will indeed, celebrate your life.
© 2004 by Vicky Therese Davis
This doesn't even begin to describe how I truly feel, but suffice it to say, she was very special to me, and I will carry all my memories of her with me till my death.
A few months ago someone told me that blacks could lose their right to vote. At first I didn't believe them until I researched it. In 1965 the 15th Amendment guaranteed us the right to vote, but it has been manipulated in subsections/acts. Surprise, surprise; nothing for minorities is ever so cut-and-dry, or should I insert the pun: “Nothing is ever so black and white.”
The 1982 Amendments
Congress decided in 1982 that Section 5 should be renewed for twenty-five years. Congress also adopted a new standard, which went into effect in 1985, providing how jurisdictions could terminate (or "bail out" from) coverage under the special provisions of Section 4. Furthermore, after extensive hearings, Congress decided that Section 2 should be amended to prohibit vote dilution, according to essentially the same objective factors employed in White v. Register, but without a requirement of proof of discriminatory purpose.
VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965
Section 2:
A nationwide provision that prohibits the use of voting laws, practices or procedures that discriminate in either purpose or effect on the basis of race, color, or membership in a minority language group. All types of voting practices and procedures are covered by Section 2, including those relating to registration, voting, candidacy qualification, and types of election systems.
Section 4:
This portion sets forth the formula under which a political jurisdiction is "covered" by and, therefore, subject to the pre-clearance provisions of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.
Section 4 has various dates that trigger coverage. For example: if a jurisdiction used a "test or device" such as a literacy test as of November 1, 1964 and less than 50% of the age-eligible citizens were registered or voted in 1964, it became a covered jurisdiction. Section 4 further notes that if the jurisdiction provided English-Only voter registration/election materials, contained a registered voting age citizenry (or citizens actually voting) of less than 50%, and contained a single language minority group of greater than 5% of its citizens.
Covered jurisdictions include the entire States of Alabama,
Section 5 was designed to prevent states and other government entities with a history of voting discrimination from continuing to devise new ways to discriminate after the abolishment of prior discriminatory practices. Section 5 requires certain covered jurisdictions to submit any proposed voting changes in their election law or practices, prior to implementation, for federal approval by either the Attorney General of the
Minority Language Groups: The minority language groups covered by the Voting Rights Act are Native Americans, Asian Americans, Alaska Natives, and persons of Spanish heritage.
Minority Language Provisions: The Voting Rights Act was amended in 1975 and 1992 to include political jurisdictions with language minority groups and requires such jurisdictions to furnish bi-lingual assistance to language minority citizens at all stages of the voting process and in all elections.
©2005 Vicky Therese Davis
Wouldn't it be wonderful if all our days could be like this...?
You know that email petition that keeps circulating about how Congress is slashing funding for NPR and PBS? Well, now it's actually true.
Sign the petition telling Congress to save NPR and PBS:
The House of Representatives is about to vote on whether to slash funding for NPR and PBS, starting with "Sesame Street," "Reading Rainbow" and other commercial-free children's shows. If approved, this would be the most severe cut in the history of public broadcasting, threatening to pull the plug on Big Bird, Cookie Monster, and Oscar the Grouch.
The cuts would eliminate more than $200 million for NPR, PBS and local stations immediately, with more cuts likely in the future. The loss could kill beloved children's shows like "Clifford the Big Red Dog," "Arthur," and "Postcards from Buster." Rural stations and those serving low-income communities might not survive. Other stations would have to increase corporate sponsorships.
The House will vote on the cuts as soon as Tuesday. Can you help us reach 1 million signatures calling on Congress to save NPR and PBS?
www.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/
Read the New York Times story on the threat to NPR and PBS at
www.moveon.org/r?r=753
I'm calling on anyone and everyone to PLEASE sign the petition and if you can, make sure this gets around!!!
Stale
Looking at all these tired faces
That I’ve been seeing all these years
Makes my shoulders sink.
Going to this dead-end job
That I’ve been working all these years
Makes my head droop.
Making the same small talk
That I’ve been mindlessly gabbing all these years
Makes my back slump.
That I’ve been making for myself all these years
Makes my eyes tear.
That I’ve allowed to settle
Gives my mouth a bad taste.
©2005 Vicky Therese Davis
A very interesting question was raised the other day: Would our sense of moral obligation lessen and/or eventually diminish if religion became nonexistent? I know people always say there are three things you should avoid in conversation: sex, religion, and politics. Well, all that’s going out the window here. After all, that’s why I have a blog, to raise issues and state the things that are on my mind, right? Right.
To delve a little further, science has been disproving religion’s fanciful theories for centuries with more logical ones. But, with every new theory, moral obligation has not changed and will not if cared for, not necessarily by a religious institution, but by a family unit and healthy environment. One’s upbringing determines how moral a person is, and one does not have to be raised with religion as the only example of morality or source for instilling moral responsibility. Morality and religion are two separate entities that have been unnecessarily linked. And I don’t think I would be remiss in saying that people hesitate in accepting this way of thought because most structured religions have engrained their superstitions, along with a false sense of security, into their parishioners.
Dual Citizenship
She left for
When she got there, exhilarating adventures unfurled.
She danced in the glow of the
And absorbed from it its romantic power.
Every night she feasted on rare delights;
So filled with content, her eyes shone bright
Like the brilliantly colored glass in a local parfumerie.
She took in life’s entire splendor via Parisian majesty.
Never had she thought it possible to feel like this.
When she returned home, she knew she would miss
Her lover, the food, shopping, and snobbish accents;
Joie de vivre, great wine and cramped provincial apartments.
At home, she was now to be faced with a great challenge:
Not to compare her reacquired life with the French mélange
Of passions that were so easily expressed.
If not careful, her life would be a mess,
Not fitting in anymore with her friends
Because she had left so many loose ends
Untied across the great
The more she thought of it, she grew frantic.
Her ribs ached for the life she left there,
But still longed for the place where
Most of her beloved memories lived and breathed.
But could she keep these fresher memoirs sheathed,
So they would not cut her heart unexpectedly at every turn?
She loathed the always present acidic burn.
Where is home now?
©2005 Vicky Therese Davis
