What are we letting our kids watch? I appreciate all parents that have the courage and stick-to-itiveness to raise such awesome creatures, but I’m always concerned with the media’s influence on youth. My mom couldn’t answer all of my questions and books weren’t all that helpful in some areas, so, like I said in a previous entry, I tried to find who I was in television and some kids still are. I’ve always been concerned with musical artist like 50-Cent and Eminem who constantly use the words fag, faggot, dyke, nigger, bitch, hoe, slut etc. in their music and videos. I can remember punishing my little brother for using one of those words and then blocking all of those channels from our television. It didn’t help much because his classmates at school used the words on the playground because either their parents were too busy to screen their shows or didn’t think it was much of a problem. In talking to people from my high school and elementary school, I found that the problem was that kids were starting to look up to these individuals and no matter how the parents protest, it’s fairly difficult to keep kids away from who they believe are their heroes, especially when peer pressures plays a role.
I was watching a movie the other day where a boy around eleven years was going around on a bike with a video camera filming girl’s butts saying he was making a “music video” like the rappers. He approached a girl around the same age about being in his video and she responded to the effect of, “you want me to wear a skimpy skirt and halter top” he responded, “no, you can wear a t-shirt as long as you don’t mind getting it wet!” This wouldn’t be as heart breaking if it didn’t display the attitudes of most youths who watch this sort of entertainment. We were all upset when the basketball player said that he was homophobic, but there are tons of kids and young adults going around being what I like to call “21st century male chauvinists.”
I get into debates with friends all the time who believe that this sort of music and entertainment isn’t harming and I feel (and still do) that this should be taken off the air or be made as difficult to buy as porn, which really isn’t difficult for a kid to get their hands on but might get the producers to be more sensible and the parents more involved.
Friends, I don’t know what really can be done or who to blame, as one really smart lady once wrote, if we knew the answers to those questions we’d be living in heaven rather than on earth. I might sound like Jasmine wishing for a whole new world but when you see the very apparent affects that this stuff –and many other societal issues- are having on the youth and the blindness and arrogance of the decision makers, you kind of wish you can take your kids and stick them in that new world until they’ve matured enough to be efficient and positive members of society.
Seek Peace
Monday, April 23, 2007
Thursday, April 19, 2007
My heart goes out to the families and friends of the victims at Virginia Tech. To the victims: May the peace and love of Jesus Christ, rest, rule, and abide with you from this day on. Amen.
“Who’s to blame?” is the question everyone seems to want to address. Some say that lack of proper security is to blame but is that the case? I read a news article a couple of minutes ago that said that Cho -the murderer at VT- “didn’t speak much in school and when he did, people said, ‘go back to China’” There seems to be some common thread in recent school shootings. They involve kids who are/were picked on. I’m not justifying what happened because NOONE has the right to take another persons life, but how many lives must we put in danger before the real issue is solved? Everyone has come in contact with the school bully one time or another so most of us know how it feels. Well take that feeling and throw in some antidepressants and/or pore living environments and we have a really bad situation. There needs to be some major changes in the Uniform Discipline Code’s of many schools starting at the elementary level. Something should have been done long ago when kids started committing suicide for being homosexual. Are we blind? What will it really take to address this problem?
What should be done? I don’t know but please don’t say “kids will be kids” and be done with it. Murder is wrong at in level and no matter what the reason, but we can’t just spit on the graves of these murderers and not address what might have been wrong with these very disturbed people. I’m not saying that these school problems are the only factors behind acting in such a way but when this happens over and over at many different campuses, something has to be done about it. Students need to be unified before a tragedy, not after.
Seek Peace
“Who’s to blame?” is the question everyone seems to want to address. Some say that lack of proper security is to blame but is that the case? I read a news article a couple of minutes ago that said that Cho -the murderer at VT- “didn’t speak much in school and when he did, people said, ‘go back to China’” There seems to be some common thread in recent school shootings. They involve kids who are/were picked on. I’m not justifying what happened because NOONE has the right to take another persons life, but how many lives must we put in danger before the real issue is solved? Everyone has come in contact with the school bully one time or another so most of us know how it feels. Well take that feeling and throw in some antidepressants and/or pore living environments and we have a really bad situation. There needs to be some major changes in the Uniform Discipline Code’s of many schools starting at the elementary level. Something should have been done long ago when kids started committing suicide for being homosexual. Are we blind? What will it really take to address this problem?
What should be done? I don’t know but please don’t say “kids will be kids” and be done with it. Murder is wrong at in level and no matter what the reason, but we can’t just spit on the graves of these murderers and not address what might have been wrong with these very disturbed people. I’m not saying that these school problems are the only factors behind acting in such a way but when this happens over and over at many different campuses, something has to be done about it. Students need to be unified before a tragedy, not after.
Seek Peace
Monday, April 16, 2007
My Responsibility
How responsible are we for bettering our lives and supporting our communities? A couple of nights ago I was talking to a gay friend of mine who got annoyed when I made a comment to the affect of, “I would watch certain T.V. shows if there were more ‘gay’ characters.” After a long argument about this it all boiled down to that they didn’t care about the discrimination shown toward the LGBT community and that they were happy with their life and that was satisfying enough. I can admit getting pretty upset about this and not clearly understanding why this person would not care about such an important issue in our society. I was chatting with a member of the LGBT community last night who said that he wasn’t involved with LGBT issues, he cared about them, but wasn’t involved in any way and said that he gets upset when “active” people chastise him for not being involved. And this brings me to my question about our responsibility.
I can’t say that I’m constantly involved in LGBT activities but I have given a lot of my time and certainly a lot of money to different organizations. I voice my opposition to right wing fanatics and show appreciation to the little organizations that indeed do big things. Why? Because if I don’t, who will? If Dr. King and Rosa Parks said that they didn’t care, how far would we be today? Time is our most valuable asset and if you don’t have the time to support these types of organizations then that’s OK but please don’t sit around and “not care” about the discrimination that you yourself are experiencing either directly or indirectly.
What’s our responsibility? Ideally, our responsibility is to make some type of -positive- impact on our personal communities. Essentially, we are what we do. That’s how our life will be determined and we’re living out the first line of our obituary. If you don’t want to look at your actions on that level then look at it this way, what you do will affect someone else. If we aren’t concerned with the hate in this world then lets take care of the next generation. Harvey Fierstein, an out gay comedian and actor, said he used to get upset when he saw that he paid taxes for public schools when he had no children. After some consideration he thought that the children is our next generation and it is our responsibility to take care of them. If hate doesn’t mean something to you and you have the ability to make an impact why not do it for someone else; someone once said “what hurts my brother, hurts me”.
At birth we inherit the responsibility to somehow make a positive impact on the lives of those around us. This doesn’t really have to be on a major scale. When I was younger I had a daily goal to make at least one person smile that day and after awhile that became something I did without any effort. Your minor effort can be a major to someone else, but we accomplish nothing having an “I don’t care attitude”. If your attitude is that way because you feel insignificant to the major problem that’s affecting you, remember, “success is only accessible by stairs, there’s no elevator”
Seek Peace
I can’t say that I’m constantly involved in LGBT activities but I have given a lot of my time and certainly a lot of money to different organizations. I voice my opposition to right wing fanatics and show appreciation to the little organizations that indeed do big things. Why? Because if I don’t, who will? If Dr. King and Rosa Parks said that they didn’t care, how far would we be today? Time is our most valuable asset and if you don’t have the time to support these types of organizations then that’s OK but please don’t sit around and “not care” about the discrimination that you yourself are experiencing either directly or indirectly.
What’s our responsibility? Ideally, our responsibility is to make some type of -positive- impact on our personal communities. Essentially, we are what we do. That’s how our life will be determined and we’re living out the first line of our obituary. If you don’t want to look at your actions on that level then look at it this way, what you do will affect someone else. If we aren’t concerned with the hate in this world then lets take care of the next generation. Harvey Fierstein, an out gay comedian and actor, said he used to get upset when he saw that he paid taxes for public schools when he had no children. After some consideration he thought that the children is our next generation and it is our responsibility to take care of them. If hate doesn’t mean something to you and you have the ability to make an impact why not do it for someone else; someone once said “what hurts my brother, hurts me”.
At birth we inherit the responsibility to somehow make a positive impact on the lives of those around us. This doesn’t really have to be on a major scale. When I was younger I had a daily goal to make at least one person smile that day and after awhile that became something I did without any effort. Your minor effort can be a major to someone else, but we accomplish nothing having an “I don’t care attitude”. If your attitude is that way because you feel insignificant to the major problem that’s affecting you, remember, “success is only accessible by stairs, there’s no elevator”
Seek Peace
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
A Closer Look At Movies
While gay filmmakers are on the rise, films with overtly gay characters and storylines are not. I was reading a story in The Advocate magazine that stated such a fact according to the Sundance Film Festival’s upcoming titles. I’m a big movie person and enjoy deep thoughtful storylines with characters that are so amazing that you forget who you are and where you are as you’re watching the movie. Films have the tendency to change peoples views on topics or at least get them to think about certain things in more detail. The big screen has the ability to grab the audience that doesn’t waist their time on news and aren’t involved in political issues, for this reason I believe that there should continue to be movies that directly represents the lives of LGBT people. There needs to be more coming out stories especially, not because they’re my favorite but because they’re necessary.
Growing up discovering myself I often times didn’t feel that I saw myself –a gay kid- being represented on T.V. There weren’t many books on the subject to check out so I remember longing for some type of representation –as most kids like me felt growing up- I remember getting the Sundance channel not having a clear understanding of independent films and watching my first “gay” movie. I can’t remember the name of the movie but I could tell you the entire plot and I was only about eleven-years-old then; as time went on and movie after movie, I felt less weird and more in touch with myself all because of a couple of films.
In retrospect a lot of those films were very bad and full of horrible acting but I remember having a deep appreciation for the actors and directors for challenging such a controversial topic. To this day I still watch movies with horrible acting but have such an appreciation for the story that they tell –hell I even own one! - I’m always preaching about how necessary it is for a movie to be well acted and properly written but when it comes to such LGBT titles the only thing that matters to me is that they’re available. No matter how bad a title I’ll support, I have to... it’s my responsibility.
I’m thankful for the LGBT directors and I want them to be able to venture out into other areas proving their talents on different topics, just don’t venture too far friends! You still have an audience that thirsts for freedom in film and who anxiously look for the me in movies. I know that film has touched others as it has me and made the same impact on the lives of the many LGBT boys and girls, men and women that look for the truth that aren’t given to them in society.
Seek Peace
Growing up discovering myself I often times didn’t feel that I saw myself –a gay kid- being represented on T.V. There weren’t many books on the subject to check out so I remember longing for some type of representation –as most kids like me felt growing up- I remember getting the Sundance channel not having a clear understanding of independent films and watching my first “gay” movie. I can’t remember the name of the movie but I could tell you the entire plot and I was only about eleven-years-old then; as time went on and movie after movie, I felt less weird and more in touch with myself all because of a couple of films.
In retrospect a lot of those films were very bad and full of horrible acting but I remember having a deep appreciation for the actors and directors for challenging such a controversial topic. To this day I still watch movies with horrible acting but have such an appreciation for the story that they tell –hell I even own one! - I’m always preaching about how necessary it is for a movie to be well acted and properly written but when it comes to such LGBT titles the only thing that matters to me is that they’re available. No matter how bad a title I’ll support, I have to... it’s my responsibility.
I’m thankful for the LGBT directors and I want them to be able to venture out into other areas proving their talents on different topics, just don’t venture too far friends! You still have an audience that thirsts for freedom in film and who anxiously look for the me in movies. I know that film has touched others as it has me and made the same impact on the lives of the many LGBT boys and girls, men and women that look for the truth that aren’t given to them in society.
Seek Peace
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Wake Up
I decided to take a break from watching the West Wing and do some regular cleaning. For the past couple of nights I’ve been having trouble sleeping and couldn’t figure out why. I was emptying the trash when I looked up at the sky and suddenly felt better. I haven’t seen the moon or stars in a while and it felt good to marvel in things that you have no control over. You see, I’ve been worrying about some things that I can’t do much about and I needed this night to help me discover that those things don’t matter and won’t affect my life in any way. I often think that I can control the outcome of things when I have to realize that I can’t control everything. I sure would like to but I can’t. I’ve been worried about a guy friend of mine who told a lie on me and I haven’t been able to get that off my chest until tonight. I gazed up at the sky and really felt better…and worse…at the same time. You see while I was letting this situation go I was also letting go a piece of my mind that has been there for almost two weeks. I did my part in his situation and I should have left that alone a long time ago but that’s old news now.
Friends we are living in very suspicious time now and when someone says to live life…please take them at their word. I love myself too much to let negativity put me down and you should too. Get up from your computers and go outside and take a look at God’s wonderful creation, go splurge and buy your pets an expensive toy that they’ll play with twice and leave alone, call your kids in the room and shoot them a smile and a wink (you don’t have to speak “I love you” to express it), call your lover in and give them a kiss on the hand or the cheek and finally call your parents they could never hear from you enough. Also, call a friend over and look them in the eyes and say “I trust you” I bet they’ll never forget it. I really don’t believe we treat ourselves with enough love and respect, we should. I do love you all…don’t forget that…
Seek Peace
Friends we are living in very suspicious time now and when someone says to live life…please take them at their word. I love myself too much to let negativity put me down and you should too. Get up from your computers and go outside and take a look at God’s wonderful creation, go splurge and buy your pets an expensive toy that they’ll play with twice and leave alone, call your kids in the room and shoot them a smile and a wink (you don’t have to speak “I love you” to express it), call your lover in and give them a kiss on the hand or the cheek and finally call your parents they could never hear from you enough. Also, call a friend over and look them in the eyes and say “I trust you” I bet they’ll never forget it. I really don’t believe we treat ourselves with enough love and respect, we should. I do love you all…don’t forget that…
Seek Peace
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Hate
Why do they hate us daddy?
My son asked as I laid him to bed.
Remember hate is a word that we never ever use
But who is it that hates you? I said.
The kids at my school said that we’re going to hell
So I asked my teacher “what do they mean?”
She said that my parent’s were men so were all sinners
Unless we started to live a life that was pure and clean.
Why do they hate us daddy?
Son lets try not to use that word.
But they’re so mean to us why shouldn’t we be mean back?
Isn’t our country at war because our country was attacked?
Son we’re at war because our leader isn’t being one
And your classmates act the way they do because intelligence our society lacks.
By now he was tiredly rubbing his eyes
after all the confusion and worry I suppose.
So I whispered to him that we’ll finish tomorrow
And wiped the tears that slid down my nose.
Daddy, he said as I rose to my feet
Can I use the word once more before I go to sleep?
Go ahead Son I said with bracing ears
Worried about his thoughts and holding back the tears
He sat up in his bed to get my full attention
I squinted my eyes and cocked my head so he was to know I was listening to him
He spoke words that I keep caged in my heart and will hold them there forever
He gripped his sheets and looked straight up and said Daddy I would never hate them.
By: Jamie
Seek Peace
My son asked as I laid him to bed.
Remember hate is a word that we never ever use
But who is it that hates you? I said.
The kids at my school said that we’re going to hell
So I asked my teacher “what do they mean?”
She said that my parent’s were men so were all sinners
Unless we started to live a life that was pure and clean.
Why do they hate us daddy?
Son lets try not to use that word.
But they’re so mean to us why shouldn’t we be mean back?
Isn’t our country at war because our country was attacked?
Son we’re at war because our leader isn’t being one
And your classmates act the way they do because intelligence our society lacks.
By now he was tiredly rubbing his eyes
after all the confusion and worry I suppose.
So I whispered to him that we’ll finish tomorrow
And wiped the tears that slid down my nose.
Daddy, he said as I rose to my feet
Can I use the word once more before I go to sleep?
Go ahead Son I said with bracing ears
Worried about his thoughts and holding back the tears
He sat up in his bed to get my full attention
I squinted my eyes and cocked my head so he was to know I was listening to him
He spoke words that I keep caged in my heart and will hold them there forever
He gripped his sheets and looked straight up and said Daddy I would never hate them.
By: Jamie
Seek Peace
Monday, March 5, 2007
Friends and Family
I was raised in a very peculiar family in some ways. There are many members of my family who aren’t blood relatives. Growing up I never understood it when people referred to someone as their “step-brother” or if someone was to say “my friends and my family mean a lot to me.” But as I grow older (and it pains me to type that word “old”) I see this more often and I think to myself, “would the world be any better if everyone treated there friends as their family?” I always do. Given, I’m closer to some of my friends than others as many people are closer to some members of their family, but is it really necessary to distinguish the two? Why is family more important than friendship? Don’t many of us spend as much time with our friends as our families if not more? I was eleven- ears old when I found out my Aunt Mary wasn’t my moms blood sister and when my moms actual blood sister told me this I was confused as to why it mattered. She began stating that many people treat others differently because they share the same blood (this statement sounds kind of off because she was talking to an eleven year old) but our family don’t see things that way and don’t you every forget that. So I haven’t.
So I’ve taken this ideology into many of my friendships and have confused many friends because their family don’t see things that way. I’m not saying that my friends treat their family like gold and friends like trash but some of them can’t bring themselves to see the two entities on the same level. Honestly I don’t have the slightest clue why. After all aren’t we all brothers and sisters under the sun? I went to a church event with one of my friends and as we were leaving one of the members said, “you all look so nice together, are you all family?” I without giving it much thought said “yes” and my friend countered saying “no” and introducing members of her family and then introduced her friends. It kind of knocked me back for a second and then I had to think about it and say OK, I forgot. Kind of the same thing happened a few months later when the same friend visited my home church and my mother who’s one of the ministers introduced my friend as her daughter.
Some might call this whole arrangement silly and others might think that it’s a better way of living… I don’t know you choose. I love the way my family put the two together. I believe the closer we see each other the better we will treat one another. As soon as we start putting up restrictions, the more distant we’ll feel…but that’s just my opinion. I’m sure many people have lived long happy lives with their separation between friends and family (he he…in case you didn’t notice I was playing with separation between church and state!…OK I’m done) but try out my way and see don’t it work better.
Seek Peace
So I’ve taken this ideology into many of my friendships and have confused many friends because their family don’t see things that way. I’m not saying that my friends treat their family like gold and friends like trash but some of them can’t bring themselves to see the two entities on the same level. Honestly I don’t have the slightest clue why. After all aren’t we all brothers and sisters under the sun? I went to a church event with one of my friends and as we were leaving one of the members said, “you all look so nice together, are you all family?” I without giving it much thought said “yes” and my friend countered saying “no” and introducing members of her family and then introduced her friends. It kind of knocked me back for a second and then I had to think about it and say OK, I forgot. Kind of the same thing happened a few months later when the same friend visited my home church and my mother who’s one of the ministers introduced my friend as her daughter.
Some might call this whole arrangement silly and others might think that it’s a better way of living… I don’t know you choose. I love the way my family put the two together. I believe the closer we see each other the better we will treat one another. As soon as we start putting up restrictions, the more distant we’ll feel…but that’s just my opinion. I’m sure many people have lived long happy lives with their separation between friends and family (he he…in case you didn’t notice I was playing with separation between church and state!…OK I’m done) but try out my way and see don’t it work better.
Seek Peace
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