SimplyComplexJen

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In  1963 Nina Simone  wrote a song called "Mississippi Goddamn".  Even today, it's an in-your-face political and social statement on the sad, pathetic state of affairs in the South.  Racism.

She was tired of it, and let you know.  The (partial) lyrics below do not even begin to describe the depth and strength of her song.  In my opinion, it is well worth your time to catch it on YouTube.  It's powerful and you can't help but feel her pain.  Go watch it, then come back here and finish this post ;)

Unfortunately, the racial divide remains in the South.  Ignorance and hate is still alive and well.  This time though, the focus is on a High School Senior, Constance McMillen.  

Constance wanted to take another female to the prom.   The school canceled the prom, and a group of parents put on a private prom.  Supposedly, Constance was sent an invite, but when she showed up, there were less than 10 kids there.  They had sent her to a fake prom. Here are pictures from the actual prom.  No Constance.

What is the Itawamba County School District and the parents of the Seniors trying to teach their kids?

What do they have to fear from this couple attending?

What is there to gain by ostracizing these girls?

How will these kids feel in 10 years for their part in Hate Prom 2010?




   It makes me sick.  This has NOTHING to do with a left or right agenda, or trying to shove anyone's beliefs down their throats.  It is simply about equality for all, regardless of sexual orientation. 


Like Nina said, "You don't have to live next to me/Just give me my equality."

Mississippi Goddamn indeed.




Lryics of Mississippi Goddamn by Nina Simone (1963).



The name of this tune is Mississippi Goddam
And I mean every word of it

Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

Can't you see it
Can't you feel it
It's all in the air
I can't stand the pressure much longer
Somebody say a prayer

Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

This is a show tune
But the show hasn't been written for it, yet

Hound dogs on my trail
School children sitting in jail
Black cat cross my path
I think every day's gonna be my last

Lord have mercy on this land of mine
We all gonna get it in due time
I don't belong here
I don't belong there
I've even stopped believing in prayer

Don't tell me
I tell you
Me and my people just about due
I've been there so I know
They keep on saying "Go slow!"

But that's just the trouble
"do it slow"
Washing the windows
"do it slow"
Picking the cotton
"do it slow"
You're just plain rotten
"do it slow"
You're too damn lazy
"do it slow"
The thinking's crazy
"do it slow"
Where am I going
What am I doing
I don't know
I don't know

Just try to do your very best
Stand up be counted with all the rest
For everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam
I made you thought I was kiddin' didn't we

Picket lines
School boycotts
They try to say it's a communist plot
All I want is equality
for my sister my brother my people and me

Yes you lied to me all these years
You told me to wash and clean my ears
And talk real fine just like a lady
And you'd stop calling me Sister Sadie

Oh but this whole country is full of lies
You're all gonna die and die like flies
I don't trust you any more
You keep on saying "Go slow!"
"Go slow!"

But that's just the trouble
"do it slow"
Desegregation
"do it slow"
Mass participation
"do it slow"
Reunification
"do it slow"
Do things gradually
"do it slow"
But bring more tragedy
"do it slow"
Why don't you see it
Why don't you feel it
I don't know
I don't know

You don't have to live next to me
Just give me my equality
Everybody knows about Mississippi
Everybody knows about Alabama
Everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

 Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

        ~Margaret Mead
        ~US anthropologist & popularizer of anthropology (1901 - 1978)

What do you see in your world that needs to change?

What are you doing about it?

Sunday, went to the pool at community to see how far I could swim in 20 minutes. I'll admit, not a well-planned workout, but it was time in the pool.

As usual, after 10min I'm exhausted (why is it I can run 5 miles fairly easily, but time in the pool KILLS me?) and really dreading the next 7-10 minutes of my workout when I hear a voice from the next lane : "let me finish my set, and I want to help you."

I turn. I look. Older gentleman who has been putting in some fairly fast laps in the last 20 minutes. His 3 to my 1? LOL.

Turns out he used to coach swimming. And swam in college. And said something about Olympic try outs. I'm listening.

Said he couldn't help but point out a few things as he could tell I was just starting out (uh, yeah. January). Not extending through my stroke, too stiff, and not kicking enough. LOL. Easy to remember everything all at once while remembering to take controlled breaths. Right?

Gave me a few drills to help me and we talked about swimming in general. He used to give open swim lessons to beginning triathletes. Sweet. He honestly was trying to help.

He took 15-20 minutes out of his day to give me a few pointers and work with me. It gave me a boost I really needed and hopefully (test it out today!), new focus on my time in the pool and new optimism on swimming.

This random act of kindness made the day (week? month?) of a person (Me!). I hope some day when my first triathlon isn't looming, but I have 10 or more under my belt, I can step away from my drills or workout and pay it forward.

(ps the answer to my question about getting enough air lies in what he told me, relax.. I'm using too much energy on bad form.)

When for the sake of a bargain, you are willing to step over (and on) a lifeless body... these are problems of humanity that go beyond terrorists, defaulting mortgages, and our economic crisis. Humanity in that moment lost its soul.

This man was over 250 pounds, yet people in the search of a tv that is 50% off, decided that their wallet was more important than his life.

I am appalled beyond words.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/nyregion/30walmart.html?em

To the whiners on my favorite forum, which you have ruined:

You know who you are.... you are that politically correct person who looks for things to whine about. You have taken one of the most interesting forums to hang out on the net and turned it into a namby-pamby-romper-room full of perma-whiners.


You know what? Put your big girl panties on and DEAL WITH IT. For pete's sake!!!!

You know .... if you don't like it don't do it. Don't look at it. Don't watch it. Don't smell it. Just don't.... and whatever you do don't sit there and whine about it. Nobody wants to hear you.

Avoid things you know are going to make you complain. If someone is handicapped they are handicapped. If someone is a midget they are a midget. If they are a different religion, they are. You need to deal with it. Sometimes people are offensive, and you can either walk away or retort wittily back.... but whining makes you appear weak and frankly foolish.

All this PC crap has been pushed to the point of making me want to just
throw up on the next PC whiner that gets near me.


Why is it that people believe that they have to be politically correct? Other than the obvious reasons, like fear of losing one's job, being accused of slander (which by the way is a tough one to prove unless you have hard and fast evidence), impressing others, vying for political office or something just as superfluous in it's needlessness!

I realize that it's the catch-phrase of the decade, but that was the past decade; you remember, the sensitive nineties? How can the 90s have produced such great music and such a group of whiners?

Now I'm not condoning being mean to people and insulting them, even though I firmly believe that there's a time and place for that, but what I am saying is, if you believe one thing but say another, you're lying to the person you're talking to and you're lying to yourself. Sometimes it should be ok to say:


So next time you think about hitting that "report" button to the mods because you whittle feelings got hurt by the mean girl in class.... maybe you should step back and ask yourself why you allow some anonymous poster in a forum get your panties in such a wad.... me thinks you have bigger issues than being politically correct.

......and in case you're wondering, I would LOVE to post this on the forum, but I'd get spanked for TOS violations.....

I don't understand how you can ask a person, "how do you feel about {insert some current event here}?" and they respond with, "I really don't know" or "I don't pay attention to the news" or "That doesn't really affect me."

But I guarantee if you ask that person:

"How many days did Paris stay in jail?"


THEY WILL KNOW!!!!!?!!!!!!?!!!!!

argggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(in my best charlie brown voice)

Every time I hear a variation of this story, I get angry:

• Christian finds out someone else isn't baptized.

• Christian goes on to tell the person how they will burn.

• Christian is not apologetic or explains position

• Christian is smug and walks away not even knowing what they did was very not Christian-like.

(based on a true story that happened to one of the few people I consider a true friend this week)

I get angry at the so-called Christian who put themselves up on a pedestal above those they perceive not only as non-Christians, but lesser-Christians.

I am angry at their arrogance that they would tell a stranger, a waitress in a pub, that she is going to hell.

I am angry at their ignorance of the scope of God's love, which is obvious when they tell said waitress she also has condemned her son to hell.

I am angry that this "Christian" would dismiss and try to invalidate in front of God a marriage of love, mutual respect, and deep commitment based on some assumptions the patron has made.

I am angry that non-Christians (or nominally religious people) have more encounters with these types of "Christians" ( do I have to keep calling them that?) rather than ones who can share The Light with them.

I am angry that this "Christian" thinks they know enough to know the mind of God.

I am angry that this patron of the pub, I think, exemplifies what most non-religious people think of Christians.

I am angry.

I am embarrassed.

(maybe there is some irony in me implying the "f" word in my title and calling myself a Christian, but that is not directed at someone, and is strictly between God and myself)

Today on MSNBC.COM is an article and I think the subtitle sums it up the best :

"College survey shows some think he was advocating the abolition of slavery"

yes folks, college students, NOT 3rd graders.

as you read the article, yes, you can blame it on "No Child Left Behind" (which is a whole other rant, oops, I mean blog)... but can we blame it on....

THE PARENTS??????

Hmmmmm.... it's MLK day, yes you're off school. How many parents ask their kids, "honey, do you know why you're off school today?" How many parents take their kids to MLK celebrations over the weekend (our church is having community service projects, but I'm stuck at work)?

Again, you can blame the education on the schools, or where it squarely belongs, on the parents.

As for not knowing who MLK is..... WTH?

Anyone who knows me in "real" life knows that human behavior never ceases to amuse me. Sometimes in a good way, and sometimes it gives me pause to reflect on why some people are, well, just so wrong in the head.

At a company I previously worked at, I was told while hiring another trader that :

I generally have found this to be true. I would say that I fall in the 60% and do not want to say my ethics are circumstanstial, but given an extreme situation, let's just say, I'd hope I'd do the right thing.

Friday's news brought two example of the 2 polars of the 20%.

First, Secret Santa Dies. This man went around for YEARS giving out $100 bills to those in need around Christmas time. He identity was unknown until recently when he revealed himself. He gave over 1.3 million in anonymous cash donations.

Then, reported on the same day, the polar opposite was revealed. Two boys who were kidnapped 4 years apart were found alive, hiding in plain sight. Reminds me of the Elizabeth Smart case to a certain extent. I can only hope that he is "accidently" put into the general population at whatever prison he goes to.

I believe that most of us fall in between these two (the 60%). We try to do the right thing, we think about volunteering more, but generally as long as we're not hurting others, we're content to continue on in our lives. In fact, I would argue we're content to sit on the sidelines and benefit from everyone else's contributions.

I wonder, was there anyone (neighbors? friends? coworkers?) who saw that boy and thought maybe something was out of place and didn't want to get involved?

I wonder, how many of us have an extra $20 to give to someone in need? We may not have millions to give, but we have time, and everyone has a little something to give.

Being in the 60% is comfortable, and I don't think any of us want to be in that bottom 20%..... but how much more of your time and effort would it be to be in that top 20%... giving a little more, showing more compassion, random acts of kindness, and yes.... doing something above and beyond what you normally thought you'd be capable of doing?