It’s Not a Just Situation: // Thursday, October 4, 2012
|
10:20 PM
|
It’s Not a Just Situation:
Though We Just Can’t Keep Crying About It (For the Hip Hop Nation That Brings Us Such Exciting Art) Nikki Giovanni (1943- )
You don’t
Just wake up and brush your teeth and make up your bed And put on your favorite pair of blue jeans
You don’t
On other evenings Just sneak away from your sleeping lover Just to grab a bite of Quik Stop Just to stop a train You don’t Just visit the 24 hour superstore Just to get a few cans of spray paint And Just happen to have a case to put them in
You are not
Just out of yellow So you’ll Just shadow with grey this time And Just shy of metallic blue you will Just fill in with electric orange
You are not
Just bored Or hungry or silly or Just crying for attention
You are
Just, if there is a Just Trying to be an artist You are Just If there is any Justice Trying to find a way of not Just surviving but living… You are just Trying to show the beautiful soul of your people You are just Trying to say “I’m alive” You are just Determined to be more Than what the powers who Just hate the idea of you want you to be
You are just
Trying to discover the route Of the neo underground railroad So that your kids can Just be free
You are just
Being a man You are just realizing Your womanhood
You are just singing and smiling
Because you Just don’t want to cry anymore
You are just
Falling in love Because hatred is too hard to bear
You are just
Determined To be the very best you and You just guess You better not let anyone take that away
You are just
A person With a big heart and wonderful talent That you just Think should be shared
Put a button on it
People
‘cause suspenders
Just won’t do. |
An Introduction_the Red Shoestring // Monday, July 23, 2012
|
2:44 PM
|
There is a myth about the Red string of Fate:
"An invisible red thread
connects those who are destined to meet,
regardless of time, place, or circumstance.
The thread may stretch or tangle,
but it will never break."
--- 1. Who am I? If I have to define myself in short, I would gladly tell you: I am a Believer of Fate. Trust me, it is not as profound or complicated as it sounds. It is a simple belief that nothing in this world happens to me by chance. Thus I shall never take any opportunity, any encounter, anything at all for granted. 2. When did it start? It was in 2008, when I was backpacking around America that I came across a poem written on the wall of a museum. It does sound vague, and I apologize for that. Very often, we forgot the details but never, how the event or how the person makes us feel. The title of the poem was: It's not a Just situation. You are just
The 17 years old me sat in front of this poem for a good hour, reading, re-reading, writing it down in my little traveling book. The truth is I was deeply moved and inspired. Suddenly, I felt that everything I had encountered in my life traveling this world actually made sense. No one just "happens" to sit on the same bus with me - he or she or even I could have missed that bus within a split second and missed our chance of interaction; no one just "happens" to walk into your life and change it forever. And I, I don't just "happen" to pour my heart out to a stranger, or listen to his life story, or simply give her an encouraging smile. Because saying "I just happen to be there" was never enough, I was meant to be there at that particular moment, in that particular place to meet that particular person for a reason.
3. What is this about?
This is the collection of my ReD ShoeStrings of Fate - of the people I was blessed and was meant to meet, to interact, to fall in love with, within our brief moment of interaction as I travel (hence the shoestring). These are the girls, the boys, the ladies, the gentlemen, the places that inspire me to live life, love life. These are the moments to remember.
Who am I but a recorder of these precious interactions? A young girl who isn't at all naive, a circumstances-made skeptical traveler since the age of 14 who isn't jaded by lies and the fear of being fooled. I am a believer of Fate and a lover of Life. An individual who still has trust in the goodness of complete strangers.
This blog is dedicated to you, my friends, all of you who loves traveling, making friends, living the life of the local. And to you, my dear, I haven't met you but I know I will live this life loving you and wishing you, my daughter, when you reach that age to fly with your own brave wings - I would like you to read these stories of mine when I was at the peak of my youth and learn to love life, live life and soar. Because after all:
To move, to breath,to fly to float, |