You will never go wrong underestimating an asshole. Harsh words to live by I know. In this day of stupidity and rampant disregard for courtesy, it seems civility has gone the way of the 8-track tape. I have seen the demise of courteousness, the downfall of good manners and the death of consideration. It sickens me and I’m not the only one.
Yesterday morning I was awakened from sleep at 5:30am by some seriously loud music. I thought someone was being picked up for work and that the music would soon subside or at least the car would drive away. Silly me! After five minutes, I donned my robe and went outside to talk to the discourteous individual who was interrupting the sleep of me and my neighbors. All the windows and the sunroof of the car were opened as the music blared. Imagine my surprise when I looked into the car and found it empty. I turned toward the neighbor’s house and saw a man pulling something resembling weeds in the front yard. I asked if he was responsible for the barrage of noise. He hastily admitted he was and then asked if the music was too loud. I answered it was and he apologized as he went to the car to turn off the sound. I thanked him, went back into my house and attempted to go back to sleep but sleep did not come. I had been fully awakened by all that had transpired so sleep was out of the question. I lay awake and watched the clock mock me.
Years ago this would not have happened. People were conscious of others. Not always and not all people but for the most part people were considerate of others. Not anymore. In this fast paced world where everyone is texting while driving or making us privy to their lives as they yell into their cell phones or dropping trash in your yard, we seem to have forgotten basic human decency. It’s no longer cool to be kind.
I’d like to believe that what happened yesterday morning was an isolated incident but I know better. I’ve spoken to many others who complain about people parking a car in front of their homes leaving all forms of music blasting. This happens quite a lot to us as we live on a commercial street with a late night fast food chicken place across the street. During the summer, people park in front of our house or the chicken place from 10pm to 4am in the morning leaving music blasting.
People eat the chicken and leave half eaten chicken along with pop cans in our front yard. Every day someone on a cell phone is telling all their business to everyone on the bus or the subway car. People stand in front of our house talking about all manner of things using language suitable only for a premium cable program. Young men wear their pants so low their butt cheeks are showing. Women of all ages are wearing clothing so disgusting they look like they should be working a corner. Those of us who find this behavior appalling are told this is the way of the world, get used to it.
Sorry folks, I just can’t get used to this. I’ve tried but I just can’t do it. I’m well aware time marches forward. I know these are grown folks and not my children. I know we will never go back to a time when we were considerate and cognizant of other people. But I also know those of us who would like to see some civility in society must make others and ourselves accountable. We must talk to our young men about showing their ass to the world. We must let people know they’re talking to loud. We must make people pick up their trash and take it with them. We have to let people know they cannot park in front of our homes leaving their music blaring. We must make people accountable and drag them into a state of courteousness. It is the responsibility of all of us who would to be treated the way we treat others.
If we don’t get back to some form of civility, hell is one half step away.
SOCIAL ISSUES | POLITICS | RACISM | INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Sunday, May 17, 2015
What's In a Name?
Spike Lee is filming a movie in Chicago. The film is tentatively titled Chiraq. Is the title evocative? Absolutely! Is it catchy? Definitely! Will it cause the economic downfall of Chicago? Not be even an infinitesimal amount.
The powers that be lead by Ald. Will Burns wants the state of Illinois to deny Lee the millions of dollars in tax credits normally given to filmmakers who come here because he says the title reflects badly on the city. No one knows what the film is actually about although the talk is that the film is going to shine a spotlight on the great number of shootings that have happened in the city the past several years.
Mr. Lee held a press conference earlier this week to address Ald. Burns and others who are making the claim this film will be bad for the city (http://abc7chicago.com/entertainment/chiraq-director-spike-lee-speaks-on-upcoming-film/721816/). Father Michael Pfleger, Senior Pastor of the Faith Community of St. Sabina whose church has been a leading congregation in the Black community, wisely noted that Ald. Burns and his cronies are missing the point. He stated the powers that be need to be concerned about the escalating violence in the city instead of the title of a movie that will bring woefully needed jobs and money to the Black community.
Lee reminded the assembly that similar statements were made when he was filming Do the Right Thing. There were predictions that the Black community was going to take to the streets in anger and tourism in the cities was going to be adversely affected. It was predicted that fights were going to erupt at the movie theaters and people would be wise to in their homes by nightfall. He told the crowd that all the pundits were proved wrong. Much ado about nothing.
Lee was correct in his statements. We did not take to the streets. There were no riots in the theaters and the film went on to become a modern day classic.
St. Sabina is located in the Englewood neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. I grew up in Englewood and remember the vibrant neighborhood it once was. Now there are blocks of vacant land and abandoned storefronts. There is very little in the way of economic development unless you believe liquor stores, fast food establishments, currency exchanges and storefront churches economic development. Schools have been closed and there are few grocery stores or stores of any kind. The Englewood of my youth was a magical place. Mention Englewood today and people shake their heads in dismay. So a film bringing much needed revenue, hiring locals and utilizing locations normally unseen in a Hollywood production is a major boost to the residents on the south side.
Burns claims that titling the film Chiraq will make it harder to bring economic development and jobs to those communities. Considering there has been no economic development or jobs brought to those communities prior to Lee’s movie, I’d like Ald. Burns to tell us why there hasn’t been any before Chiraq came to town.
Throughout all the posturing by Ald. Burns and Mayor Emanual, it is the message of Father Pfleger that needs to be echoed throughout the city and discussed in every corridor of City Hall. Why haven’t the mayor and the city council done much in the way of stemming violence in our city? Why did the mayor close school in the neighborhoods that need them the most? Why haven't the mayor or the city council responded to the Guardian newspaper article from earlier this year about Homan Square, an off the books location used for torture and detention? Why is the city encouraging Whole Foods to open a store in a neighborhood that can ill afford the prices Whole Foods charges? With the number of vacant lots, why is the city encouraging community gardens? Why? Why? Why?
This whole mess is just another way to play divide and conquer in our community. As long as we focus on the idiocy of Burns and others like him, we miss the real issues that plague us. As long as we take sides for or against the title Chiraq, we avoid looking at the problems that birth violence. Problems like poor education, closed schools, lack of adequate healthcare, little or no economic development and the like.
Movies and television shows have been made in Chicago for decades. Never has anyone threatened a director with withholding tax credits for a production. Does the alderman intend to question the title of every production that comes here? Or is this just another ploy to keep the status quo of an already downtrodden area of the city? Only Burns and his ilk can answer that question. I can only answer one. What’s in a name? When it comes to what really matters? Not a damn thing!
The powers that be lead by Ald. Will Burns wants the state of Illinois to deny Lee the millions of dollars in tax credits normally given to filmmakers who come here because he says the title reflects badly on the city. No one knows what the film is actually about although the talk is that the film is going to shine a spotlight on the great number of shootings that have happened in the city the past several years.
Mr. Lee held a press conference earlier this week to address Ald. Burns and others who are making the claim this film will be bad for the city (http://abc7chicago.com/entertainment/chiraq-director-spike-lee-speaks-on-upcoming-film/721816/). Father Michael Pfleger, Senior Pastor of the Faith Community of St. Sabina whose church has been a leading congregation in the Black community, wisely noted that Ald. Burns and his cronies are missing the point. He stated the powers that be need to be concerned about the escalating violence in the city instead of the title of a movie that will bring woefully needed jobs and money to the Black community.
Lee reminded the assembly that similar statements were made when he was filming Do the Right Thing. There were predictions that the Black community was going to take to the streets in anger and tourism in the cities was going to be adversely affected. It was predicted that fights were going to erupt at the movie theaters and people would be wise to in their homes by nightfall. He told the crowd that all the pundits were proved wrong. Much ado about nothing.
Lee was correct in his statements. We did not take to the streets. There were no riots in the theaters and the film went on to become a modern day classic.
St. Sabina is located in the Englewood neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. I grew up in Englewood and remember the vibrant neighborhood it once was. Now there are blocks of vacant land and abandoned storefronts. There is very little in the way of economic development unless you believe liquor stores, fast food establishments, currency exchanges and storefront churches economic development. Schools have been closed and there are few grocery stores or stores of any kind. The Englewood of my youth was a magical place. Mention Englewood today and people shake their heads in dismay. So a film bringing much needed revenue, hiring locals and utilizing locations normally unseen in a Hollywood production is a major boost to the residents on the south side.
Burns claims that titling the film Chiraq will make it harder to bring economic development and jobs to those communities. Considering there has been no economic development or jobs brought to those communities prior to Lee’s movie, I’d like Ald. Burns to tell us why there hasn’t been any before Chiraq came to town.
Throughout all the posturing by Ald. Burns and Mayor Emanual, it is the message of Father Pfleger that needs to be echoed throughout the city and discussed in every corridor of City Hall. Why haven’t the mayor and the city council done much in the way of stemming violence in our city? Why did the mayor close school in the neighborhoods that need them the most? Why haven't the mayor or the city council responded to the Guardian newspaper article from earlier this year about Homan Square, an off the books location used for torture and detention? Why is the city encouraging Whole Foods to open a store in a neighborhood that can ill afford the prices Whole Foods charges? With the number of vacant lots, why is the city encouraging community gardens? Why? Why? Why?
This whole mess is just another way to play divide and conquer in our community. As long as we focus on the idiocy of Burns and others like him, we miss the real issues that plague us. As long as we take sides for or against the title Chiraq, we avoid looking at the problems that birth violence. Problems like poor education, closed schools, lack of adequate healthcare, little or no economic development and the like.
Movies and television shows have been made in Chicago for decades. Never has anyone threatened a director with withholding tax credits for a production. Does the alderman intend to question the title of every production that comes here? Or is this just another ploy to keep the status quo of an already downtrodden area of the city? Only Burns and his ilk can answer that question. I can only answer one. What’s in a name? When it comes to what really matters? Not a damn thing!
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Remembering Grandma
This post is a reprint of an essay from my book, Thoughts of a Fried Chicken Watermelon Woman. Although I don't celebrate Mother's Day, I would like to take this moment and submit this post to honor all the mothers and mother figures
My grandmother, Mary Liza Holmes Seavers, was the single biggest female influence in my life. My mother died when I was six. Although I have memories of her, the woman who taught me to be a woman was my grandmother.
I was a lucky girl. I grew up in an age where grandmothers were not 40 year old women trying to vie with their 20 year old daughters for the attentions of a man. My grandmother was married to one man for over 30 years and when I arrived on the scene I had the luxury of having both of them in my life until my grandfather died when I was nine.
Mary worked for over 25 years at Mercy Hospital in Chicago in housekeeping. We’ve all seen these seemingly faceless men and women who come into our hospital rooms to mop, make up beds and empty the trash. They do their job efficiently and quietly and move on to the next room as quickly as they came into ours. Every day, she awoke at 5am and quietly went about her morning routine which included combing my hair and drinking her coffee. She left at 6:15am and took three buses to work. She refused to take the el train as she didn’t trust them. She worked her eight hours, took that same three bus ride back home, made dinner, washed dinner and prepared to the next day to do it all over again.
Like so many women in my Englewood neighborhood, she worked hard. She drank Schlitz beer and smoked Salem cigarettes. She played cards and was a member of a social club that met monthly. They planned club sets at various southside lounges and divided the proceeds amongst themselves. She disciplined me and the neighborhood kids with a yell and a hard smack on the butt. She also handed out fresh fruit and shared homemade ice cream with my friends. We never once talked back or thought it was odd to be chastised by adults on our block. We were raised by the village on 73rd and Sangamon.
Grandma enjoyed travel although she refused to fly. She and my aunt Mary rode Amtrak to New York for the World’s Fair. We took Amtrak to Dallas to visit my mother’s relatives and took Greyhound to visit her brother, my great-uncle, in Michigan. We took a chartered bus to Indiana to attend the Indiana state fair and my first trip to Great America was a chartered bus trip she planned to St. Louis.
My grandmother took me to the legendary Amphitheater to see the Ice Capades, Ringling Brothers Circus, Peter Pan with Mary Martin and wrestling matches. Before Operation PUSH, there was Operation Breadbasket and we went to the expo every year and saw the blues show. She took me as often and to as many places as she could. We had wonderful times out and about town including riding the bus downtown to visit Sears and Goldblatt’s. We took a cable line bus to the west side to visit my great-grandmother. Even riding the bus to the grocery store or making a trip to the bank was an adventure. What I remember most is what she taught me. Girls today don’t have any idea what they’ve missed especially when it comes to the kitchen. Holidays were the best when Grandma cooked and I was her helper. She did the hard work and my job was to cut the vegetables she put in her dressing and potato salad. I also stirred the sweet potatoes mixture for her wonderful sweet potato pies. She always let me lick the spoon. To this day, sweet potato pie is my favorite although I have yet to find one as good as hers.
She also taught me to be a lady and a woman. She always stressed to me that there was a time to be a lady, a time to be a woman and a time to be a whore. She told me smart girls are the ones who know when to be what and never get the three confused. I learned to act like a lady whenever I was out. I learned to be a woman at work or when faced with a problem or an issue. I learned to be a whore in private with my husband. Today’s young women seem to have no idea of when to be what.
As a mother myself, I catch myself bemoaning the good old days. Those of us who do this aren’t thinking about segregation or the Viet Nam war. We aren’t thinking about gang wars and partisan politics. We aren’t thinking about the assassinations of the Kennedys, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. We’re thinking about summer nights catching lightening bugs, cold watermelon and snowmen. We’re thinking about a time when you could play outside four seasons of the year without fear. We’re thinking about knowing your neighbor and the store owners in your neighborhood. And we are thinking about the smells and the feel of grandma’s house. We remember Grandma, Big Mama and Ma Dear. She remains in my memories and my heart and I am a better person for it.
My grandmother, Mary Liza Holmes Seavers, was the single biggest female influence in my life. My mother died when I was six. Although I have memories of her, the woman who taught me to be a woman was my grandmother.
I was a lucky girl. I grew up in an age where grandmothers were not 40 year old women trying to vie with their 20 year old daughters for the attentions of a man. My grandmother was married to one man for over 30 years and when I arrived on the scene I had the luxury of having both of them in my life until my grandfather died when I was nine.
Mary worked for over 25 years at Mercy Hospital in Chicago in housekeeping. We’ve all seen these seemingly faceless men and women who come into our hospital rooms to mop, make up beds and empty the trash. They do their job efficiently and quietly and move on to the next room as quickly as they came into ours. Every day, she awoke at 5am and quietly went about her morning routine which included combing my hair and drinking her coffee. She left at 6:15am and took three buses to work. She refused to take the el train as she didn’t trust them. She worked her eight hours, took that same three bus ride back home, made dinner, washed dinner and prepared to the next day to do it all over again.
Like so many women in my Englewood neighborhood, she worked hard. She drank Schlitz beer and smoked Salem cigarettes. She played cards and was a member of a social club that met monthly. They planned club sets at various southside lounges and divided the proceeds amongst themselves. She disciplined me and the neighborhood kids with a yell and a hard smack on the butt. She also handed out fresh fruit and shared homemade ice cream with my friends. We never once talked back or thought it was odd to be chastised by adults on our block. We were raised by the village on 73rd and Sangamon.
Grandma enjoyed travel although she refused to fly. She and my aunt Mary rode Amtrak to New York for the World’s Fair. We took Amtrak to Dallas to visit my mother’s relatives and took Greyhound to visit her brother, my great-uncle, in Michigan. We took a chartered bus to Indiana to attend the Indiana state fair and my first trip to Great America was a chartered bus trip she planned to St. Louis.
My grandmother took me to the legendary Amphitheater to see the Ice Capades, Ringling Brothers Circus, Peter Pan with Mary Martin and wrestling matches. Before Operation PUSH, there was Operation Breadbasket and we went to the expo every year and saw the blues show. She took me as often and to as many places as she could. We had wonderful times out and about town including riding the bus downtown to visit Sears and Goldblatt’s. We took a cable line bus to the west side to visit my great-grandmother. Even riding the bus to the grocery store or making a trip to the bank was an adventure. What I remember most is what she taught me. Girls today don’t have any idea what they’ve missed especially when it comes to the kitchen. Holidays were the best when Grandma cooked and I was her helper. She did the hard work and my job was to cut the vegetables she put in her dressing and potato salad. I also stirred the sweet potatoes mixture for her wonderful sweet potato pies. She always let me lick the spoon. To this day, sweet potato pie is my favorite although I have yet to find one as good as hers.
She also taught me to be a lady and a woman. She always stressed to me that there was a time to be a lady, a time to be a woman and a time to be a whore. She told me smart girls are the ones who know when to be what and never get the three confused. I learned to act like a lady whenever I was out. I learned to be a woman at work or when faced with a problem or an issue. I learned to be a whore in private with my husband. Today’s young women seem to have no idea of when to be what.
As a mother myself, I catch myself bemoaning the good old days. Those of us who do this aren’t thinking about segregation or the Viet Nam war. We aren’t thinking about gang wars and partisan politics. We aren’t thinking about the assassinations of the Kennedys, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. We’re thinking about summer nights catching lightening bugs, cold watermelon and snowmen. We’re thinking about a time when you could play outside four seasons of the year without fear. We’re thinking about knowing your neighbor and the store owners in your neighborhood. And we are thinking about the smells and the feel of grandma’s house. We remember Grandma, Big Mama and Ma Dear. She remains in my memories and my heart and I am a better person for it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)