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Lost, Poem

Posted on July 31, 2011 by admin

Lost

I lost it once when I was young, so very long ago

So many years have come and gone, when last I saw it so

I knew I had it with me once, I remember it quite well

Or am I only wishing, for things not found in hell?

At mothers breast it clung with me, needful firm and tight

In fathers hand it held my own and smiled at all twas right

It used to walk with me to school, in springtime’s tender light

It laid its head beside my own, on winter’s chilly nights

Its laughter rolled the same those days, in awe and wonderment

As flowers bloomed, kittens purred and puppies slathered licks

It pressed itself beside my own, to lover’s supple lips

And tasted same as I that day, first youthful passions kiss

Then one day as mother fled and father found new beds

As lovers left and youth was spent, It cried within my head

And in the night it blew away, or ran or flew or hopped

It left me there, just me alone, while it, it never stopped

I looked for it, I searched and dug, for oh so many years

I traveled far and chased it down through pains and toils and tears

I searched for it in bottles, of whisky then of scotch

I poked about and peered inside, of beers and buttered schnapps

I looked for it potions mixed, in drugs both shot and smoked

In powders white and poisons red, my life designed to choke

I sought for it in fair young breasts, both tender firm and soft

I sought it in their golden hairs and those of blackened locks

In leg and thigh, with silken flesh, with tummies flat as rocks

I opened them and slid inside and stopped the tick of clocks

I searched for it in youthful lips, in passions sighs and looks

In emerald eyes and fervent cries, on screens, in tapes and books

I sought for it in lies and tales, so flattering to hear

Yet meaning nothing, less than naught, when each they called me, dear

I looked for it in foreign lands on peaks and mountaintops

Where all is white but rocks that crop, through snow and winters frost

I searched throughout the jungles damp and lands so dry and hot

From ocean shores to island whores, where girls, they wear no tops

I sought within the bards chagrin and plays of Lancelot

Of Shakespeare’s fame and lion’s game, and cast the lots I bought

I looked to stage of ballets sage and opera songs aloft

I watched them dance and sing their songs, of pain and death and rot

Yet found it not, no matter what, regardless what I did

For it was gone and once it left, from me it always hid

Then one day, the time it came, when yes I had to die

To tumble down, right through the ground, to where I now do lie

Then I saw my Lord again and heard him ask me why

Why had I been just looking so, through wind and earth and sky

Of course my Lord he knew quite well, but wanted me to test

To see if I had seen or learned, just what in life is best

When I told him, what I’d lost and why I lived to cry

He told me thus, right then and there, this about my life

My son you never lost it, it just sort of slipped away

Or better yet your soul forgot, just where it did then lay

No, my son you lost it not, yet gave it all away

When first you forgot just how to love and why the children play

For in your heart the tears and pain, grown larger every day

Turned to stone and rusted steel, what once was formed of clay

Yet see my son, I’ve kept it safe, for you both clean and free

So if you will, please come with me, I’ll show you what you seek

So then my Lord he took me, to quite a wondrous place

Where all must pass and all must see, if born of human race

As he turned to face my fear, his smile so warmly felt

A tear did roll from off his cheek, while all the angels knelt

Welcome home my lonely boy, Oh you I’ve sorely missed

While opening just one hand and giving me a kiss

For there within his strong wide palm, beside the scar it cost

He held for me just what I sought, what once I’d thought I lost

Then once again, I saw the sky with wonder and with glee

Just as my Lord, he held it up, so pure and clean of sheen

There it hung before my eyes, just as I knew it once

Shimmering like angels wings, in heavens candle light

So shiny clear and fresh it was, sparkling clean and bright

Same as when I’d lost it then, that lone and dreary night

In the end, he held it out, again for naught but free

Then placed it back within my hands, so once again I’d be

The loving boy I was before…when innocence lived in me

A child once more, running off, to splash within the sea

The End

© 2010, Tim Wilkinson & Wayne Wilks

Written by Tim Wilkinson
Freelance writer, photographer, Poet, <meta name=

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Perhaps There Isn’t Any Money in Playing Music Videos Anymore

Posted on July 31, 2011 by admin

There aren’t many music video channels around anymore. In the beginning, music videos were played everywhere; they existed on video cassettes, or you could find them on nationally syndicated programs that often started off with local television stations as well as MTV. But by the time MTV was overtaken by reality shows things had really started to change. The challenge that music videos are facing now is that they can be watched online on various web pages. You no longer have to turn on the television to watch music videos.

Even In Demand, which feeds various cable networks with content that require a digital cable box to view has music videos hidden on channels dedicated to MTV, BET and VH1. One thing that has come about in the wake of digital television is The Cool TV, a free station that plays music videos all day, every day. Not every market is covered, but a lot are, and you actually do feel as though you are watching MTV all over again.

At the same time I often wonder if there is any money in playing music videos these days. Some of the videos they play are new, but a lot of them are old concert videos from the seventies, just like it was with MTV when the novelty of watching music videos all day long was enough to keep you glued to the set but the actual selection of music that was being played left much to be desired. This is often how music video channels start though; MTV2 started off with a very obscure lineup of artists. Over time they added actual shows to their lineup and are now a strange hybrid of MTV and reality shows, but with a twist.

Another thing that differentiated MTV2 from MTV was their embrace of hip-hop. In the beginning MTV was known for their refusal to play Black videos, though Michael Jackson was successful enough to tear down that wall (even though they were initially hesitant to play his videos, and things had to get ugly). MTV2 took on hip-hop, where MTV had moved away from hip-hop after their Yo! MTV Raps was cancelled in 1999 (by then it was simply Yo!).

Most assumed that the show was cancelled in 1995 with that legendary episode where every important artist in hip-hop gave a performance, but it was repackaged as Yo! and hung around until 1999. At the same time Yo! was winding down on MTV, a network called M2 (which would later become MTV2) was rising in popularity. MTV2 hosted an 8 hour block of programming called Sucker Free Sundays, beginning in 2003. Around that time a lot of the money that was being spent on music videos was being spent on hip-hop videos.

Things are a bit different in 2011. Hip-hop videos are no longer known for exploiting “video girls”, sex vixens that were the eye candy responsible for the rise in popularity to begin with. It is not that rap videos no longer feature provocative images of Black women, but they also feature provocative images of women of every race. The focus changed from dark skinned women that people outside of the hip-hop culture rarely knew about that were somewhat representative of the girls that actually listen to and support hip-hop to women in general, whose only association with the culture is the fact that they work as a video girl. Since hip-hop has diluted itself and is no longer an accurate representation of the poor and disenfranchised it is no longer relevant, and people aren’t checking for hip-hop videos anymore.

How many artists have videos that you actually want to watch? Outside of Kanye West, Eminem, Katy Perry, Lady GaGa, Rihanna, Beyonce, Drake, Lil’ Wayne, or Nicki Minaj or on a good day, Jay-Z whose videos are people really tuning into? The aforementioned spend large sums of money on their videos and give a theatrical, if not controversial, experience and you are always entertained regardless of what you feel about the artist. A lot of other artists put out music videos that are just boring. I like Trey Songz videos, and Kelly Rowland has an interesting video for her song with David Guetta but most videos are like, whatever.

In the nineties, or even over the last decade you could see great music videos from anyone. I was compelled to download Linkin Park’s “The Catalyst” beacuse it was such a great video. For the record, Linkin Park is not a Christian band; take that song however you want to but they are just trying to raise consciousness, they aren’t talking about Christ (I understand where you are coming from, I was naive and thought that Creed was a Christian band as well but upon doing more research it is clear that was not what they were talking about either). Not everyone that talks about God is talking about Christ, but that is for another article. My point is that there are some epic music videos that you just have to watch, and there are a lot of other videos that are nothing special. If MTV were to play music videos all day long they were be saddled with a lot of music videos that are not worth the money it takes for them to be put into rotation, and they might actually loose money.

Does anyone remember just how many commercials the network started to air over time? Does anyone remember how the same songs are being played every 15 minutes on their sister networks that still do play music videos all day long such as MTV Hits, MTV Jams, VH1 Classic, VH1 Soul and CMT Pure Country? A lot of us can get either MTV2 or The Cool TV over the air. There is no logical reason for MTV to go back to playing nothing but music videos; I doubt that as many people would watch it. It would be nice, but the novelty would wear off as MTV’s competition has picked up considerably since they made that change to reality shows ten years ago. 

Written by christopher

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The Six Minute Book Summary of of Getting Ghost: Two Young Lives And The Struggle For The Soul of an American City by Luke Bergmann

Posted on July 31, 2011 by admin

Executive Summary

            One of the primary aims of this book is to explore how the drug trade signals, opens, and moves across ruptures in established boundaries, divisions, and points of tension that are remnants of Detroit’s postwar era. These remnants form categories through which the city is most commonly understood by its residents and scholars of its history and contemporary social scene. Such distinctions are drawn into the intimate social landscape of the city and become inscribed into the habitual rhythms of its residents as they move through its built spaces, like liquor stores divided by bulletproof glass. Involvement in the drug trade can be a means for young people to imagine and create social spaces and identities that foil tectonic social pressures that are pervasive in the African American community.   

Infamous for its abandoned building, empty lots, and blighted streets, Detroit may be the only American city to have earned such an epithet. As a teenager who frequently visited Detroit with his father, Luke Bergmann saw the devastation cause by the collapse of the automobile industry. Years later, he return to the city as an anthropologist to study the incarceration of inner-city youth, and his research connected him with two teenage drug dealers, Dude Freeman a sixteen year old Easter Sider and Rodney Phelps a seventeen year old West Sider. For nearly three years Luke Bergmann lived on the Detroit’s West Side, handing out with Dude and Rodney, driving around, hearing their stories of drug trade of them and their families. Luke Bergmann also speaks about him witnessing some of the intricacies of Detroit’s urban drug trade.

            Soon after spending time with both boys, Luke become more than just an observer he becomes more as a close friend. He displays this in the book when Luke reaches out to the boys by attempting to help Dude get back in school and by also having tutoring sections with Rodney for his GED. Luke also intervenes by talking with Dude’s probation officer when he misses a hearing with hopes of getting him off the hook of violating his parole. He also is there for Rodney when Luke becomes Rodney’s only contact when he flees the city to escape criminal charges. Through it all, Luke strives to understand Dude and Rodney’s lives, their families, and the neighborhoods that a full of drugs trade, discrimination, and poverty, in which they call home.

            In an effort to break through the conventional wisdom about who sells drugs and why they chose that life style, Luke Bergmann chronicles the unsetting alchemy of choice, forced of habit, structural inequality, and political neglect that all combine to restrict the horizons of too many young people in American’s cities. As Dude and Rodney walk in and out of the revolving doors of the juvenile detention facility, “getting ghost” becomes a rich metaphor for leaving a scene, for quitting the drug trade, and ultimately the phase is for mortality.  As their lives and stories brushed against one another in the detention facility and then headed toward different sides of the city, Dude and Rodney found both great promise and tired despair in the drug trade. And as each puzzled over how and in what direction to steer their lives, lethal violence would redraw the maps of their experience.

The Ten Things Managers Need to Know fromGetting Ghost

1.            Managers need to know that it takes everyone’s involvement to run any type of business.

2.            There comes a time in every business where businesses get slow but don’t get discourage just keep on going.

3.            The best way to assure profits is by keeping the customers satisfied.

4.            Make sure that you are treating employees far, if not they will leave your business and join a competitor. This may result in your company losing business. 

5.            Managers should encourage all their employees to work as a team and explain the benefits of working as a team.

6.            It’s good to provide feedback regularly and lets employees know exactly what you as a manage want instead of them trying to figure it out. The end results would be a lot better.

7.            Make sure you, as while as the people working for you, thoroughly know the business.

8.            A good motivation tactic particularly for employees in sales is money. As long as employees are satisfied with the amount of money they make it motives them to work even harder.

9.            Working in a fast paced industry takes hard work and dedication; managers need to make sure that their employees are will away of this before they hire them. They also need to know that fast paced industries tend to be very competitive and they need to work hard in order to conquer their goal. 

10.            Managers, especially entrepreneur need to know that it is possible to start a business with nothing and make millions of dollars. It just takes time and dedication.

Full Summary of Getting Ghost

“Introduction”

Luke, the narrator, opens the book by comparing the shocking conditions of the Linwood and Dexter areas of Detroit from when he was a child until now which was over thirty years later. The neighborhood’s conversion from a middle-class Jewish enclave lined with delis and other shops into a symbol of the late-century urban crisis. There were vacant lots, abandoned houses, closed storefronts, and exclusively African American residents had been less gradual than punctuated by episodes of extraordinarily rapid demographic, infrastructural, and institutional change. Even relatively young people in the neighborhood, none of whom had live through the postwar transformation of the city, could recognize and would acknowledge this historical discontinuity. They knew that something cataclysmic had happen in their city. They also understood that Detroit had become an emblem of both the promise and disappointment of recent U.S. history. Young people in the neighborhood felt that dramatic shifts were still afoot, that along with the big developments downtown the city was tilting toward change again. As the city around them was changing, young men and boys on the street where Luke was living were themselves elusive subjects, always “getting ghost” they would say, as they floated in and out the drug trade game and weaved their way through lives of economic enterprise and circumscribed opportunity. As young drug dealers strive to find ways toward “legal” jobs and straight lives, getting ghost is a metaphor for leaving a scene, quitting the trade, and for their own mortality. Despite their occasional bravado, all of the young people on the block had hopes of avoiding the early and ignominious deaths of so many young black street salesmen. This was something that was common, but still extraordinary in Detroit’s poor neighborhoods, which are populated both with the old ghosts of those who left long ago and the young ghost of those recently lost. In a context shaped by the historical struggle over and for the soul of Detroit, Getting Ghost is about how the drug trade and the legacies of the city’s post war history become interwoven with the always emerging identities of young people in Detroit. It’s about how the drug trade shapes the meanings that they ascribe to the lives and deaths in their midst, and the basic spaces that constitute their experience. Luke became acquainted with the ghost of Detroit in means of trying to understand and write about the Motor City in the postindustrial age and the lives of young street drug dealers. In this book Luke takes you into the lives of Dude Freeman, a 16 year old East Sider, who’s locked up for possession of a concealed weapon and Rodney Phelps, a 17year old West Sider who’s locked up and awaiting a trail for the shooting of someone on a busy corner in the Dexter-Linwood neighborhood, whom he both met while doing an internship at a juvenile detention facility. Growing up both boys families was a notorious fixture to the drug trade. When Luke would visit them, dealing drugs was the top of conversation in most cases. Even though it was the main top of conversation both boys know that they could not be in the drug trade game for ever.

“Detroit Revisited, Revisionist History”

In this Chapter Luke talks about the actually change that is taking place while he’s in Detroit.  In 2001, on the eve of its three hundredth birthday, Detroit’s image makes, the captains of industry, service, and politic in the city, gave themselves an almost incomprehensibly strange task. The Detroit 300 Committee, which was something they called themselves, said their charged was to honor and celebrate a city that has become, more than any other in the United States, emblematic of postindustrial urban tragedy. In the relatively recent past, Detroit has undergone reimagining similar to those undertaken by the Detroit 300 Committee. With the opening, in the late 1970s, of the riot-proof “Renaissance Center,” a gathering of cylindrical glass skyscrapers that was to hold office and retail space in the deserted central business district along the Detroit River, the city proclaimed itself born anew. But over the past twenty years that followed, the Renaissance Center and the accompanying rebirth had a negligible economic effect as well as a dispiriting social impact on the city. The anniversary wasn’t just a nod toward what Detroit might become it was also a formulation of what Detroit was and an opportunity to suggest a logic connecting Detroit’s past with a future worthy of self-congratulation.

The Detroit metro area is one of the most segregated in the nation. While the city is mostly black, the whites and ethnic minorities who do reside in Detroit themselves live in markedly segregated neighborhoods. In the last few years, General Motors had moved into the Renaissance Center and Compuware had built a headquarters in the central business district. Three casinos have gone up as well as brand new professional football and baseball stadiums. The construction of a huge new shopping district on Cadillac Square at the center of downtown has been progressing. A major logic behind all these developments is to bring suburban and likely white people back to the city. Luke reveals that the primary human-hewn geographic maker in Detroit is Woodward Avenue. Woodward divides the city into halves, designated as the East and West sides and for many residents of Detroit; allegiance to one or the other is a lifelong proposition. Detroit is now one of the poorest biggest cities in the country. One in three people there are living in poverty, and the mean income is several thousand dollars below the national average.

Today, Detroit’s small businesses are where people of multiple racial and ethnic identities come with one another most directly. African Americans are conspicuously absent from the small business community in their own neighborhoods in Detroit. That isn’t because of the lack of interest in entrepreneurial work. African Americans are acutely aware of their exclusion from legitimate retail activity in Detroit. Because of the predominant absence of blacks from the business community, young African Americans often think and talk about the drug trade in opposition to legitimate retail operations.

“Renewal, Relocation, and Riot”

In chapter three, Luke trace a brief history of the configuration of urban space in Detroit with an eye toward its significance for and resonance among families and young people involved in the drug trade today. In telling about Detroit’s past, he emphasized two defining phenomena in the city: urban renewal, which begun in the early twentieth century and extending though the turn of the twenty-first, and the rioting of 1967. Both have shaped Detroit, and continue to shape sentiments among contemporary young drug dealers about business, home, and community. Thousands of building, both residences and business, were moved and destroyed to accommodate freeway and highway construction. Black residents in Paradise Valley and other parts of the city, many of whom were renters and thus were offered no relocation assistance, faced the brunt of this construction storm. The most densely populated and dilapidated black neighborhoods were replaced with towering, cleaning, high rise-apartments, civic institutions, and hospital and the former habitants were relocated to other neighborhoods. Because the city refused to build affordable or public housing that would be available before residents would have to more, and because the city left members of almost all households to find new accommodations without governmental assistance, many had no place to go. The most deleterious aspect of postwar urban renewal programs was the lack of expediency. Between 1948 and 1971, out of the twenty-seven projects that were started, only four were completed. As for the small business owners, postwar urban renewal programs were no less disruptive. 57% of black-owned businesses did not survive the relocation process, compared to 35% of white-owned businesses.

“Called by a Holy Name”

In Chapter four, Luke concludes the historical interlude that was discussed in the two previous chapters, by describing an episode of social confrontation among residents of Detroit’s lower East Side. He states that the staged and spontaneous, as the residents of perform and articulate historically informed anxieties about race, class and privilege through their concerns about the politics of small business and home ownership in Detroit. As described in the episode Lou Nafso, who’s a black business owner proposes his plans of wanting to open up a new convenience and liquor store on Mark Avenue. He wanted to sell hard liquid there so he was advised to get a petition sign from people in the area. The city approved the liquor license, but Mack Alive, a community group opposed this and said they wasn’t going to let the store open without pitting a public battle. The building that Nafso wanted to open up shop in has been vacant for almost twenty years and now that he wants to invest money in it Mack Alive want to protest again it so they could expand a Chrysler plant which would destroy the neighborhood. Even with all the organization’s political and economic influence, Mack Alive’s effort to thwart Nafso’s plans ultimately fell short. The store was eventually built and it’s now a fixture of the neighborhood landscape, where folks from all around the neighborhood stop to buy food and drink.

“Families and Fortunes, Spots and Homes”

This chapter heads deeper into the lives of Dude and his family that is deeply embroiled in the drug trade in Detroit. This family wakes and sleeps at the moving nexus of home and spot. Their story is also a window on the dream-space home, as Gaston Bachelard imagines it, where memories of former dwelling places shape future dreams. While Dude was still locked up at the detention facility, he had given Luke directions to his mother’s place so he could visit her there.  Dude had phoned his mother to let her know that Luke would be stopping by to discuss the research paper he was doing. Ruby, Dude’s mother told Luke that she had spent her whole life trying to get away from the drug trade environment. Ruby was born in Mobile, Alabama but was forced to move to southeast Detroit with her old sister, Jessica Lee, after her mother had passed. After getting pregnant with her second child she moved Rudy became lonely and restless. Ruby caught the eye of her best friend’s brother Marvin Robertson. Nearly everyone in the Robertson family was involved in dealing drugs. Ruby’s best friend ended up getting killed behind some drugs. With her friend’s death, Rudy felt especially drawn to Marvin and before long there had moved in together. A few weeks later, Marvin started selling crack out of the house, and Rudy quickly found another place to live. Ruby moved around frequently because Marvin would always follow her.

After talking to Ruby, Luke heads back to the youth center. There Dude and Luke engage in a conversation about the current circumstances of his charges. He also spoke about his childhood idealization of the police, informed by exposure to the drug trade through his immediate family. He went into detail about an incident that current at his sister house on Van Dyke. His sister was selling drugs out of the house and one day the cops raided the house and hand cuffed everyone in there including Ruby. Dude and his sister were upstairs so they managed to throw the drugs out the window before the cops made it up there.  Dude explained to Luke that’s it was time to start getting serious and take care of his family, he was 14, 15 handling 0 and he use to be out just spending money for no reason. He told Luke that he look at the reason he was selling dope back then and it was for no reason now he says that when he get out he’s gone to sell for a reason and that’s to take care of his family.

“The Thickness of Blood”

Dude is released from the detention facility. Not long after he is released Luke goes to meet him only to find out from his mother that he has been gone for a few days. About a week later Luke stopped by again still to find out that Dude still hasn’t been home and that his probation officer, had stopped by and seemed upset that he wasn’t around. Luke and Ruby decided to go look for Dude. While driving through southwest Detroit looking for Dude, Ruby and Luke pass familiar places that brought back intense memories to Ruby, memories that where so intense that it brought tears to her eyes. As the afternoon turned to evening, Ruby was dubious about find Dude. They drive back to Mark Avenue, toward Burger King, to get something to eat, when they spotted Dude standing in front of East Side Medical Clinic. Ruby told him that his probation officer had stop by and that it would be in his best for him to be home the next time she shows up. Still Dude won’t stay at home, he insisted on living the fast life of the drug trade. Luke meet up with Dude later that week and convinces him that he should go back to school, Dude agreed and they both went to see about Dude getting back in school.  Two weeks later Dude had called Luke look from the denotation facility with some shocking news. Dude explained to Luke that after being jumped on by his friend Jaun he had gotten a gun out of anger to scare Jaun. The two of then started fighting when the gun went off and shoot through the floor killing his friend Walker who was downstairs.

“Playgrounds and Punishment”

Dude was really shaken up by this. He didn’t know what was going to happen to him. Dude asked Luke to go back to the house on Pleasant with hopes of getting people’s story straight. When Luke returned about a week late for his weekly visit to the detention facility Dude was still in the mental health unit which is a precautionary measure when kids are first admitted. Dude was afraid that they were going to move him to the new facility that was built across the street and he didn’t want that so he acted as if he had a mental health issue just so they would let him stay in that unit, that he had grow comfortable in.

Luke takes the readers back to his second day of research only to remember how he met Rodney which was in one of the charter school classroom on the first floor of the facility. In remembrance to the old facility he talks about Rodney and his stories of him in the drug game. Meanwhile Rodney who is also in the detention facility speaks about the charges against him. Rodney said that there is no evidence on him so he is confident that he will beat the charges. Anxiously awaiting his trail, the day finally came only to find out that the state had not been able to process its witnesses and his trail had to be postponed unit February 11th.

“Across the Street”

All the kids at the Youth Home detention facility were herded into vans and brought to the brand-new Wayne County Juvenile Detention Facility. With the move to the new facility, the tension between adult and juvenile institutions and the fluidity of the boundaries there. Dude’s first hearing was nearly a month after his incarceration at the detention facility. Dude had been optimistic that he might be tried as a juvenile. He hoped that at least the people likely to be testifying in his case would describe his participation in Walker’s death in the most diminished way possible. At the time of his plea hearing he was offered a plea arrangement. He was given the option to take a 2nd degree murder charge for ten years or he could go to trial. He chose to go to trial which approached with alarming speed. In the end, the jury returned a verdict of involuntary manslaughter. He was sentenced as an adult, to a minimum of ten years in the state penitentiary.

“Neighborhood Watching”

After waiting six months, from the time Rodney’s case was previously postpone, until his new trial Rodney’s case was dismissed and he was sent home because the witnesses’ testimonies were inconsistent. Not soon after he was released from the youth home Rodney was back on the streets hustling with his friends who called themselves the Dexter Boys.  Rodney, Antonio (Rodney’s younger brother, and the rest of the Dexter Boys teamed up with Malachi with hopes of making more money. In the fluid structure of the drug trade on Dexter, Malachi represented a measure of stability. They know that he was managing the heroin market on the block and they wanted in on it. Luke asked Rodney if he could spend more time on the block while they were slinging. Rodney insisted that he visit the suburbs with the Dexter Boys before he spent time on Dexter, in their working environment.

“Of Hot Dogs and Heroin”

After hanging out with the Dexter Boys in the suburbs, Luke began to spend more time with the boys while they were slinging. As business began to pick up the Dexter Boys moved into the Coney Island, a restaurant located across the street from the corner where hustling.  The restaurant became a blazing heroin spot, where customers would come less for food than a cure for their daily dope sickness. Being that business was booming down at the Coney Island there was a usually large amount of traffic. So the police started watching the place and warned people that they know what was going on.  Malachi left word with one of the workers at Coney Island to warn the others in the crew that the police were on to them. Meanwhile members of the Dexter Boys along with Luke went back to Rodney’s house, where he lived with his girlfriend Annie. Rodney had been spending less time on Dexter, trying to find a better way to make more money quickly. While Luke and Rodney were sitting down talking and Rodney told Luke that the Drug Enforcement Agency had been looking for members of his family and he was worried that it was a matter of time before the feds were led to him. After hanging around the house Rodney, Antonio and 2 other Dexter Boys decide to go to a club in Goal Post. Rodney and Antonio both grow tired of the thumping music and decide to leave the club. As Rodney and Antonio were leaving out of the club a man was shot in the parking lot somewhere in front of them.

“Being Seen”

Rodney who has been hiding out every sense the shooting at the club called Luke and asked him to meet him at a hotel. When Luke arrived, Rodney explained what had happen that night at the club and that he heard that there are warrants out for him and Antonio. Rodney gave Luke a piece of paper with a women’s first name on it whom he thought might have seen what happen that night, and asked him to try and find her with hopes of clearing his name. As weeks went by they learned that the charges against Antonio had been dropped, presumably because the witness had a more definitely targeted Rodney. A few weeks later the Wyandotte cops follow Rodney as he was leaving McDonalds. They caught up with him, cuffed him, and put him in the back of the police car. Months later Rodney was led into the courtroom for his pretrial. He was released that day because the witness reported that she had no idea if Rodney had been the shooter in the parking lot that night. Antonio wasn’t around. He had been in a terrible car accident with his friend Rabbit, and was sitting in jail. Rabbit was killed instantly and Antonio walked away without a scratch, but was immediately put into jail and then sentenced to at least two years in prison for possession of a gun. Rodney was keeping his head up. He expressed his plans of turning his life around with hopes of getting into the real estate business and opening up a spot and making some legal money. Luke went to the West coast for a couple of months where he recently started a new job. He returned only to find out Rodney had been killed a month earlier, Luke was devastated. The Dexter Boys told Luke that Rodney had just brought an old building, the DC car wash, in which they called it. He was working on gutting the place and had just finished cleaning it out when he was murdered. 

Bibliography

Otis Chandler. (n.d.). Goodreads. April 22, 2010, from

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3756748.Getting_Ghost_Two_Young_Lives_and_the_Struggle_for_the_Soul_of_Detroit

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Contact Info: To contact the author of this “Summary and Review of Getting Ghost,” please email Ciarra.Small@selu.edu.

Biography

David C. Wyld (dwyld.kwu@gmail.com) is the Robert Maurin Professor of Management at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana. He is a management consultant, researcher/writer, and executive educator. His blog, Wyld About Business, can be viewed at http://wyld-business.blogspot.com/. He also serves as the Director of the Reverse Auction Research Center (http://reverseauctionresearch.blogspot.com/), a hub of research and news in the expanding world of competitive bidding. Dr. Wyld also maintains compilations of works he has helped his students to turn into editorially-reviewed publications at the following sites:

Management Concepts (http://toptenmanagement.blogspot.com/)

Book Reviews (http://wyld-about-books.blogspot.com/) and

Travel and International Foods (http://wyld-about-food.blogspot.com/).                

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Written by David Wyld
Professor of Management, Southeastern Louisiana University

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Shut Up About Lady Gaga Already!

Posted on July 30, 2011 by admin

Why must we continue to talk about Lady Gaga? I mean every single day Lady Gaga this Lady Gaga that; one day Lady Gaga dresses inappropriately to a baseball game, then she gets banned from baseball games, now Seinfeld is against her. Then of course the whole drama Katy Perry started talking about music video. 

Personally I do not see anything that Lady Gaga is doing that Madonna did not do 30 years ago. That much said why do we want to talk about this all over again? It must be a slow night, I think Lady Gaga surrounds herself with very talented people and is part of the music industry’s “machine”, and her outfits are fun but I don’t loose any sleep over her. I like all of her songs, I haven’t bought any of her records but I always watch her videos and listen to her work on the radio when it plays as it is great fun.

To me it’s just that fun spirit of disco when people sought pleasure wherever they could find it. A bunch of drugs, a lot of sexual activity and living in the moment as though there is no tomorrow. People want to talk about whether or not she is promiscuous and of course she says that is alone and does not do anything with anyone are you really serious? I mean does anyone really believe that, and why is anyone talking about it or even curious as to what she does in her personal life. People see the image and persona that Lady Gaga projects and they want to know what it is like to be her.

They have these perverse fantasies of wearing haute couture every day and being with whomever they feel like being with and having a good time. No doubt they would have an endless supply of money, and you would never get affected by the economy and never have to work that hard to make a living. She is like the embodiment of “Sex and the City” for a generation.  I don’t really hate Lady Gaga, just let her live and get her money while she still can and enjoy it while it is still there. People do not want to admit, but it took a minute and now the eighties is in full force. We like this empty mindless pop music more than we are willing to let on.

Would artists like Ke$ ha, or groups like Black Eyed Peas be as big as they are right now if that were not the case.  I mean if you really think about it I think every song off of every album is being turned into a single when you are talking about groups that are exploiting the dance trend of the moment. We can’t get enough of Lady Gaga, or the girl that sings “Bulletproof” or any of these other musical acts, it is never going to stop. Techno music rules the day once again and is back for its revenge!

Written by christopher

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Ernest Hemingway Goes to War

Posted on July 30, 2011 by admin

Ernest Hemingway, Milan, Italy, 1918 (JFK Library)

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) often employed the war theme in his novels and short stories. But the macho Hemingway was no neophyte when it came to the real thing, having witnessed his share of blood and gore in both World War I and II, the 1921-22 Greco-Turkish War and the Spanish Civil War.

Ernest Hemingway: Family War Roots

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois, on July 21, 1899. Both of his grandfathers, Anson T. Hemingway and Ernest Hall, had served with the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Ernest Hall had been a corporal with Troop L, First Iowa Volunteer Cavalry, with a Confederate minie ball still embedded in one thigh as a reminder of his combat experiences. Hall, who owned a wholesale cutlery business in Chicago, never allowed the war to be mentioned in his presence.

Ernest Hemingway: Ambulance Driver in World War I

While working as a cub reporter for the Kansas City Star, the teen-aged Hemingway met Theodore Brumback who, in the summer of 1917, had enlisted in the American Field Service as an ambulance driver in France. Brumback had spent four months in Europe, returning to the States and weaving romanticized tales of the Great War that was now raging on the continent.

In April 1918, Hemingway and Brumback drew their final paychecks at the Star and headed to New York, where they signed on as volunteer ambulance drivers for the Red Cross. Following a two-week indoctrination period, the two young men were presented with their honorary second lieutenant bars and official uniforms.

Hemingway’s desire for action soon materialized in Italy, when an entire munitions factory exploded in the countryside near Milan. Hemingway was among those dispatched to the grisly scene, where most of the dead were women war workers. Hemingway later reported in a letter that the bloody scene shocked him considerably, as his only previous contact with the dead had come from hunting small animals.

On July 8, 1918, an Austrian artillery shell the size of a five-gallon tin, loaded with steel rod fragments and other junk metal, exploded in his midst at the Piave front in Italy. Then came the machine gun and rifle fire from across the river. Wounded in the right foot and kneecap, Hemingway nonetheless managed to carry an Italian soldier 100 yards to safety before losing consciousness.

Hemingway later underwent two operations in Italy to remove fragments and machine gun slugs from his knee and foot. A severe case of jaundice prevented him from rejoining his old ambulance group Section Four, with the future novelist returning to the United States on January 21, 1919.

Ernest Hemingway: Greco-Turkish War

In late 1922 Hemingway, now working for the Toronto Star, was ordered by his editor, John Bone, to Constantinople to cover the war between Greece and Turkey. Although slowed by malaria, Hemingway dutifully complied, writing of “dirty, tired, unshaven, wind bitten” Greek troops in ill-fitting American uniforms who were “the last of the glory that was Greece.”

Later, Hemingway reported on the Lausanne Peace Conference, convened in Switzerland on November 20, 1922, in order to settle the territorial dispute between the two warring countries.

Ernest Hemingway and the Spanish Civil War

In 1937, Hemingway agreed to cover the Spanish Civil War for the North American Newspaper Alliance. While in Spain, Hemingway witnessed the brutality of modern-day warfare first hand as Francisco Franco and his Rebel forces battled the Loyalists for control of the country.

In early October 1937, Hemingway along with his future wife Martha Gellhorn and several others, were nearly killed by Rebel shells when their Ford was mistaken for a general’s staff car. Wrote Hemingway later of the incident, “Shells are all much the same. If they don’t hit you, there’s no story, and if they do, you don’t have to write it.”

During a Loyalist offensive at Teruel, Hemingway and his cohorts took up a position on a flanking ridge, observing the battle in progress. While hunkered down beside a young soldier, trying to avoid machine gun fire, Hemingway showed the conscript how to unjam the bolt on his rifle.

Following five days of bitter fighting in the cold and snow, the Loyalists marched into Teruel. The battle, however, was not over, as Loyalists and Rebels engaged in what Hemingway described as savage house-to-house fighting on a scale he had never seen before.

Ernest Hemingway in World War II

Hemingway and his wife Martha were crossing the Texas border headed to San Antonio on December 7, 1941, when they learned of the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. Hemingway nearly exploded, railing that Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox should be fired immediately and that the generals and admirals in Hawaii be taken out and shot.

Hemingway later regained his composure and set out to contribute to the war effort. In Havana, Cuba, the author established a counterintelligence unit in order to keep an eye out for Nazi fifth columnists who were infiltrating the island nation.

Hemingway also converted his private yacht the Pilar into a Q-boat, manned by a trained crew armed with bazookas, grenades, bombs and several mounted .50 caliber machine guns for patrol in the Caribbean. Their lone contact with the enemy came when a German U-boat surfaced in the distance. The Pilar then pulled anchor and gave pursuit, only to be ignored by the sub which quickly disappeared over the horizon. Hemingway’s wife later characterized these “patrols” as nothing more than glorified fishing trips.

Hemingway later got into the real war as a correspondent for Collier’s, observing the D-Day landings from the stern of the transport ship Empire Anvil, which placed its troops ashore at Fox Green Beach sector on bloody Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944.

Hemingway also reported on Britain’s Royal Air Force. He went on several missions with the RAF in B-25 Mitchell bombers as they sought to knock out Hitler’s V-rocket facilities. He also manned the navigator’s seat on a British Mark VI Mosquito flown by Group Captain Peter Wykeham-Barnes. Although warned not to take Hemingway over enemy territory, the pilot did so anyway with the two encountering a V-1 rocket which was subsequently shot down by another British night fighter.

Hemingway eventually landed in Europe where he hooked up with General Raymond O. “Tubby” Barton’s American 4th Infantry Division. For over a week Hemingway slogged forward with the division, encountering burned-out enemy tanks, captured artillery pieces and dead bodies from both sides. He later rode into Paris with Free French Forces when the city was finally liberated in August 1944.

During one famous excursion in France, Hemingway and his driver rode their captured motorcycle into a market town where a pitched battle was still being fought. When informed by a civilian that a group of German SS men were allegedly holed up in a cellar, Hemingway called out in French and German for them to surrender. When no answer came after two attempts, he lobbed three grenades down into the hole, calling out, “All right. Divide these among yourselves.” It was never determined if anyone had actually been in the cellar.

Ernest Hemingway War Novels

The Sun Also Rises (1926). Aimless American WW I veterans gather in Paris and Spain of the 1920s.
A Farewell to Arms (1929). A young American is disillusioned with the Great War and the society that produced it.
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940). American Robert Jordan fights for the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War.
Across the River and into the Trees (1950). Richard Cantwell returns to Venice to reminisce about his life and military career.
Islands in the Stream (1970). Rummies engage in machismo exploits in the Caribbean, including the hunt for Nazi U-boats.

Ernest Hemingway’s posthumous novel Islands in the Stream (1970)

Sources

Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story, by Carlos Baker (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1969)
Hemingway: The Writer as Artist, by Carlos Baker (Princeton University Press, 1952)

Written by William J. Felchner
Professional Writer

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The Attractive Lady Gaga Glasses

Posted on July 30, 2011 by admin

The fact that Lady Gaga is a huge success in the entertainment industry is not in doubt and stands out as a concrete fact. She has clinched virtually all the awards available for her category of music. However, apart from her widely-acclaimed musical prowess, Lady Gaga has been making strong fashion statements especially with a lot of stylish glasses. Just like other accessories that she uses for her dresses, the Lady Gaga glasses are also outrageous, incredible and unbelievably stylish.

Currently, she is known all over the world for a daring sense that clearly not conventional and this she has simply demonstrated with her sunglasses. The Lady Gaga glasses come in different styles, colours and designs. However, one common factor with all the Gaga glasses is that they are all big, bold and daring.

The colours are also quite attractive with lovely patterns. Some are just plain black while some others are black with a titillating red frame or black lenses. Some other glasses are black-framed with either black lenses or clear lenses. The glasses that she wears come in various colours and macabre designs that you can imagine. In fact, some of them are in form of masks.

Another interesting thing with the Gaga glasses is that they are made by different designers. Some of these are the Vintage Versace 671, Tom Ford’s Alexander FT 01181, Mark Jobs Mask Glasses, Carrera Champion, A-morir Sioux Lace, Linda Farrow Mickey Mouse, the Alpina Goldwing DBGM and lots more.

At this juncture, it is important to point out that the Lady Gaga glasses come at different prices. Some of the glasses are affordable while some others are simply beyond the reach of many. Therefore, for some fans and admirers, they have decided to make those glasses on their own or use cheaper look-alike versions of the same glasses. Irrespective of these, a fact that cannot be taken away is that these glasses are very alluring. Although it must be admitted that glasses have been popular before the coming of her, she has been able to take the use of these glasses to another level, one that is entirely different from what most people are accustomed to. That is what some observers call the ‘gaga’ level. At this dizzying level, astonishing styles and designs, especially those that blow away the mind become the norm of fashion. Some of these designs may be casual or informal but are always alluring, just like those glasses.

If you look for the Lady Gaga glasses, please check this site, Lady Gaga glasses . Moreover you can check out this site, Dress Like Lady Gaga , for any fashion updates of her.

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Top Ten Lady Gaga Songs

Posted on July 29, 2011 by admin

10) Just Dance

                                                                                    

Mother Monsters first hit! The song was co-written by Gaga, Akon, and RedOne (also, credited as the producer). Released in 2008 from her album, The Fame, Gaga wrote this track in ten minutes as a “happy record. This is the record that saved her life. Before writing the song, she was depressed and always at a bar. She got on a plane to LA, had ONE chance to write a song that would turn her life around, completely, and that is exactly what she did.

9) Speechless

Written and performed by Gaga, Speechless is from her second album, The Fame Monster. Gaga wrote this song to convince her father to undergo open-heart surgery. It was also written to inspire her fans to appreciate their parents. Gaga performed Speechless in a medley with Your Song, at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards alongside her idol, Elton John.

8) Lovegame

Lovegame was Lady Gaga’s third single off her first album, The Fame (2008). The base of this song was love and sexuality. The lyric “I want to take a ride on your disco stick” was simply another metaphor for a cock, as Gaga describes. She explains that she had a crush on a man she saw at the nightclub and the next day she wrote Lovegame in approximately four minutes.  It took her only FOUR minutes to write an amazing hit!

7) Dance in the Dark

Gaga’s Dance in the Dark is not what it seems to be when you first listen to it. The unique lyrics have a deeper meaning than what most people would think: just hanging out at a nightclub. Gaga’s message in this song was about a girl who felt uncomfortable showing her body, unless it is dark.  It’s about a girl who likes sex but only when the lights are off. Once the lights are off, her inner animal comes out. With a catchy tune and message like this, Mother Monster has become relatable to people all around the world.

6) Poker face

From her debut album, The Fame, Poker face was Lady Gaga’s second single in late 2008. Poker face was written as a pop song and it was a tribute to all of Gaga’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll” boyfriends. During her Fame Ball Tour performance in California, Gaga explained that the true meaning of the song was about her personal experience with bisexuality.  The idea was to be with a man but also fantasize about being with a woman. Although this caused much controversy, Gaga still triumphed to the top!

5) Telephone

From her second album, The Fame Monster, Telephone features R&B singer Beyonce Knowles. Gaga’s inspiration for this song was her “fear of not being able to enjoy herself because of her dedication to her career”. She explains that the telephone, portrayed in the song, is, in reality, a person telling her to work harder. But as the lyrics also portray, she prefers the dance floor to answering the phone calls from her lovers (boyfriends). The music video was a continuation to the Paparazzi music video. It was also shot as a short film.

4) Paparazzi

The last single from The Fame, portrayed Gaga’s struggles with her quest for fame- does she want fame or does she want love? It’s a song about love or fame- can you have both or just one? She says that the song is also about wooing the paparazzi to fall in love with her. Bill Lamb, from about.com adds, “the song is a tribute of sorts to the symbiotic but ultimately fake and ‘plastic’ relationship between stars and their trailing paparazzi [...] who, for better or worse, are there to document and, in a sense, create the stardom.”

3) Monster

There isn’t a definite meaning to Gaga’s song Monster but by the lyrics of the song it seems that Gaga is describing her experience with men. She explains how men are completely controlled by sex and turn into monsters. But she can’t resist them either. She wants him to be aggressive. Although this is just an interpretation of the lyrics, knowing Gaga, there must be more to the meaning.

2) Alejandro

Gaga’s third single from her album, The Fame Monster, is the second best song on this list! It was inspired by Gaga’s “fear of sex monster”. A quarrel arose between Gaga and her label when Alejandro was released. It was initially Gaga’s choice to release, but it got poor reception radio wise, therefore it seemed like it was not a good choice for a single. Once released and became popular, Mother Monster tweeted: “Alejandro is on the radio. F*** it sounds so good, we did it little monsters”.

1) Bad Romance

Finally, Mother Monsters best song, to date is… Bad Romance! This song was inspired by the paranoia Gaga felt while touring from 2008 to 2009. Once the demo version was leaked she tweeted, “leaked next single is makin my ears bleed. Wait till you hear the real version”. She performed a portion of the song on Saturday Night Live and then premiered the song at Alexander McQueen’s 2010 show in October 2009. Gaga explains that she wrote the song on a tour bus in Norway. She had spent a lot of time in Eastern Europe and found that there was amazing German house-techno music, which she wanted to incorporate into this song. The Rolling Stone listed the song as number nine on their “25 Best Songs of 2009” list.

I hope you are inspired by Lady Gaga!

Written by Jan Barry
I am an artist and writer.

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Travelling – Pros And Cons

Posted on July 29, 2011 by admin

WHY TRAVEL?

I am currently travelling and have done so for the past 7 months. I have dreamt about travelling ever since I was young. All the different places in the world and wonders to be seen seemed magical to me. I thought it was unreachable and that I would only get to see any of these places in books, but last year my partner and I decided to take a year out and go around the world.

**PROS**

Personally I have many reasons on why to travel. You can see some brilliant places and experience wonderful things. The memories I have gained will stay with me for the rest of my life! I have seen things I never could have at home like glaciers, Great Wall of China, canyons, Great Barrier Reef and animals in the wild (so you are seeing the true animals and not their behaviour in a zoo). Travelling can bring you to some beautiful places.

I have met people from every background and culture which I feel has been great. I feel this has made me more open minded and aware of different cultures. I live in a small town where everyone knows everyone, so to move to a city to live for a few months has been strange to say the least, never mind a whole different country. You learn how to deal with different situations and I have grown up a lot. It has broadened my mind in so many ways.

I am told that travelling makes you more confident, for me this hasn’t really been the case. I have learnt how to conduct myself in new countries but I can’t see me being more confident at home. A lot of people are scared of going abroad as they are not sure what they will face. I never really had this problem but if you have ever went on holiday you will see that there is nothing to be afraid of as long as you are sensible. Other countries have dangers the same as our own.

I love learning about different cultures and everywhere I have went I have made a point to learn about how people live in that country, so I have learnt so much. It opens your eyes to see how other people live and the different conditions they have adapted to, like in Beijing it was so smoggy and most people rode bicycles. In Hong Kong it was all high rise buildings and people where very busy but friendly. Singapore was more laid back and very warm. Australia has been great but bugs are everywhere, this is normal to them and locals take it in their stride as it’s everyday life to them. I have found this quite difficult to deal with at times as the bugs are alot larger than what I am used to. The whole experience has made me appreciate where I come from and what I have at home.

A lot of people go abroad for the warm weather. Personally I would hate to go to another country and lie in the sun I would rather save my money and stay home. I’m not a great lover of the heat it tends to not agree with me most of the time. I spend most of my time trying to find shelter and shade, however some people go abroad to lie out in their sun loungers to bake in the sun.

**CONS**

As I have just mentioned people go abroad to lie out in the sun (a lot go to just get a sun tan). This I feel is one of the bad points of travelling as people don’t seem to realise that they are not designed to bake in the sun and end up with sunburn, heat stroke and worst of all skin cancers. I am all for relaxing but would rather stay at home to do this.

Sitting in long flights is the worst part of travelling for me, I despise it. All that waiting in airports and I just don’t like flying in general. It can make you feel tired even though you haven’t done anything all day and messes up your natural body clock with jetlag making you feel so tired and dizzy.

You can get other forms of transport like boats, car, train etc. I try to use these as much as possible but quite often I don’t have a choice. Usually flying is the most convenient and cheapest way to get somewhere so obviously is people’s first choice.

Flying at all petrifies some people, it’s not as bad as you would think and you could always go to somewhere which is close to you so the flight isn’t long. Global warming is a problem as flights contribute considerably making it worse. More and more airlines have popped up in recent years meaning flights are cheaper and more accessible for people. This is starting to damage our planet more and more.

Tourists can spoil some sights and natural beauty. The great barrier reef is getting smaller and smaller and they say in years to come it will not exist. This is due to global warming and man damaging the area. People litter areas which make animals sick and ruin the natural beauty of some places. The more popular an area is the more people will visit it which means more pollution.

Some people just like going to different countries to boast and it’s more of a status symbol to them than anything else. It does cost a lot to travel and even though you can get special deals to travel to a certain country it all adds up and generally is quite expensive. To holiday at home definitely would cost cheaper.
If you go travelling for a long period of time you can miss your family and friends. It can be quite lonely even if you are travelling with other people. You start to miss things that you take for granted at home.

**OVERALL**

I think travelling is a great experience sometimes it’s great and ocassionally it can be very stressful. It depends on your personality whether you would want to travel, for some people the prospect of going to another country would not appeal to them whatsoever. For those that dream of different places and have never been away I would recommend to travel as much as you can as you only live your life once and don’t want to regret not seeing the places you always dreamt of as it is possible and achievable.

You can find out more about some of the places I have visted on the links below:

http://www.bukisa.com/articles/331987_check-out-the-hutongs-beijing

http://www.bukisa.com/articles/339320_disney-hong-kong-where-dreams-sort-of-come-true

http://www.bukisa.com/articles/337198_breathtaking-new-zealand-the-north-island

http://www.bukisa.com/articles/337199_breathtaking-new-zealand-the-south-island-part-2

Or if you want to know about Temping work abroad visit the link below:

http://www.bukisa.com/articles/341496_recruitment-agencies-is-it-worth-signing-up

Here is some general information on travelling if you are interested

http://www.bukisa.com/articles/340099_travelling-pros-and-cons

http://www.bukisa.com/articles/342314_gap-year-working-in-australia

Written by Denise40
hi all new to the site so still learning

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Bangkok Thailand Temples and Sights

Posted on July 29, 2011 by admin

There are many reasons to visit Bangkok. One of the best is the not to be missed temples. Some people go to Bangkok just for this reason alone. Most people in Bangkok practice Buddhism and some of the

 temples have meditation classes. One of the primary temples is called The Marble Wat. It is constructed of marble and has a chapel with monks chanting every morning. Another very famous temple is called the Wat Pho the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. The Reclining Buddha is comprised of brick, gold leaf, plaster and mother of pearl. The Reclining Buddha is depicted as ecstatic as he is about to enter Nirvana. There is another temple called Wat Traimit which means the Golden Buddha. It has a ten foot gold statue of Buddha. Not all statues of Buddha are golden. The one at Wat Phra Kaew is emerald, hence the name Emerald Buddha. It is small but said to possess great powers.

The best places to stay in Bangkok include the Amari Watergate, which has an amazing fitness center. Also, there is the Grand Hyatt Erawan which is beautiful and modern in style. Other choices include the Swiss Lodge, Dusit Thani and Metropolitan. No list of the best places to stay would be complete without the Oriental. This hotel has a long history but is chiefly known for outstanding service.

Along with great lodging comes great food, and rice and noodles are what is usually consumed in Bangkok. By all accounts, the best eating to be done is in the open air marketplaces and the street stalls. These are so plentiful that some people never see the need for a formal style restaurant at all. Some of the best restaurants include Thong Lee, which specializes in rice and curries. There are a few good vegetarian restaurants too, such as Chanlong’s Asoke Cafe and Baan Suan Pai. It is customary for all of the dishes to be shared at the table and spoons and forks are used.
  Once finished with a meal, consider stopping in at Jim Thompson’s house. Jim Thompson was an American who became enamored of Thai silk. He began producing and exporting it internationally in 1940. His house, itself an architectural wonder, is still frequented by tourists. Thai silk is

 sold in a silk shop in Thompson’s home.

Another thing that makes Bangkok special are the state of the art spa treatments. Among the best Bangkok spas is Devarana which has the feel of a Thai temple and is located in the Dusit Thani Hotel. The spas offer Thai massage which has its roots in Indian yoga. It was brought to Thailand originally by monks who were spiritual but also physical healers. Thai massage clears energy blocks.

There is so much entertainment awaiting in Bangkok from nightlife to marvelling at temples and spa treatments. Going to Bangkok is filled with wonder.

Vorwald, John. (2005) Frommers Southeast Asia Hoboken NJ: Wiley Publishing Co.
Hatley, Cathy. (2006) Fodor’s See It Thailand Toronto: Random House Inc
Williams, China. (2007) Lonely Planet Thailand. Oakland CA: Lonely Planet Publications
Dorai, Francis. (2005) Insight City Guide Bangkok Long Island City, NY: Apa Publications

Written by yecall

www.itunes.com The new single from The Lonely Island’s debut album “INCREDIBAD” In stores now! The Lonely Island is Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer & Jorma Taccone. (C) Universal Republic
Video Rating: 4 / 5

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Janelle Monae is A Great Singer And Performer If Not One of The Best, But What is She Really Saying?

Posted on July 28, 2011 by admin

There is a new artist on the scene, Janelle Monae, who appears to be incredibly talented and has a soulful voice that takes you right back to the era a lot of her songs evoke. She brings back great memories of sixties soul music. Some would say she is eccentric because she looks as though she really wants to be part of the sixties, but that is neither here nor there. Most of us who had never seen her perform before did not know what to think of her performance on BET’s Rip The Runway show nor her video for the song Tightrope.

In fact a lot of that happened on that show, that was supposed to be about fashion,involved the latest eccentric personalities like those of Janelle and Nicki Minaj and appeared to be about getting us to accept the new direction music is going in under the guise of a fashion show, but that is for another article. People described her on Twitter as a female Andre 3000. It seems like a joke, and it is funny now, but there is something a lot deeper than just being weird or strange when you watch the latest music videos these days. I will say this much, her songs are as addictive as anything that was put out on Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.

But I noticed that Janelle Monáe offers a little something extra with her work. Check out her video for the Tightrope song and then listen to Metropolis towards the end about half way in. You will notice some strange things about both songs.

In fact if there is another agenda to Janelle Monae’s work, she doesn’t hide it all. The video for Tightrope starts out well but is a bit unsettling as she is followed throughout a building by two faceless individuals wearing Black robes with nothing but a glass mirror for a face. The song Metropolis not only romanticizes the themes in the movie, but talks about living on the wired side of town, being a robot, neon slaves, one nation under a microchip, and a chariot arriving. Anyone that knows anything about the true meaning behind the movie Metropolis has to see what is at play here.

I must admit I am conflicted. Janelle Monae has a beautiful voice and it is difficult not to listen to her work but I do not want to be programmed anymore than I already am with the music I listen to. With songs like “Many Moons”, and albums such as Arch Android and Metropolis I already know what it is. Why must talented recording artists give into the agenda of this industry? When do I get to listen to music with a clear conscious as even a lot of so called gospel artists are coming from a different place that does not have anything to do with what we are supposed to be concerning ourselves with as Christians? Janelle is a great artist and I am sure that she will get a lot of attention because her songs make you think and challenge your viewpoints, but just thinking is not enough when you aren’t sure exactly what it is that you are thinking about …

Written by christopher

Nicki Minaj performs for the first time ever in Jamaica at Reggae Sumfest.2011

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