Falling off? I think not...

I cannot tell a lie. To say that I was busy is an understatement and an excuse I am trying to use as much. I have much to write about but could not find the time to get in here and do it. Man, I got alot of writing to do.

First things first...

Beginning today ! I will be doing the NaNoWriMo thing. Basically, it's a website that holds a national write a novel in a month contest. No prizes. It's just for the love. So I will be doing it. Of course, i put my book of memoirs on hold yet again. This one is a good idea, however. I look forward to seeing the end of it.

Thanks to my sister, Cleviticus, for the idea. I signed up about two weeks ago and could not think of what to write without doing any research. I got it now. I shall post a few excerpts here and there. Stay tuned...

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Our Panel discussion

Everything went pretty smooth on Wednesday Oct 27th. It was our best panel discussion ever. We had a packed house. The Democratic representative did not show (for reasons that are entirely their fault). The Republican representative we asked for turned us down.

I brought the whole squad (family) with me, too. My children stayed in the back b-boying/b-girling the night away. Of course those Lyndon Larouche guys showed up. I hate them. But Nas Dawud, our usual moderator, held it down. He did a helluva job keeping the yahoos from making too much noise.

We covered alot of ground in an hour and a half. I repped for the hip-hop community. We had Robert K. Dean of the Libertarian party. We had this one cat from the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (Hustle Simmon's HSAN -- I can't stand them either). Finally, we had Brother Mike from United Black Colonies (UBC). Their premise was that the whole system should be overthrown.

It was quite eventful. what frustrated me is the fact that heads showed up with NO NOTEBOOKS and PENCILS/PENS. How are you going to go to a function with heads dropping jewels and not bring anything to write with? You can't remember everything we said...!
What is ironic is that is old cat with almost no teeth lamented "Its good to hear all the things you guys said. But no one can remember that. " i was like dag, he right. Then he went into this thing about light skinned people holding back dark skinned people and that its not about white and black people anymore. I was like "huh?" What is amazing is that his sentences were almost incomprehensible. BUt he went on as if everyone understood what he was saying.

This one cat from the NOI showed up with another Valley in the dry bones/Ezekiel parable that equaled to zero. I scribbled in my notebook: not another valley in the dry bones reference...!!!
I wondered when he would end. He went on and on. He even urged us to vote for Bush so that he could bring the end of the United States much sooner. I was like "WTF!"

One sister from Africa was offended by one of the panelists. She had no accent but we still could not figure out what she was trying to say. Heads need to stay in school for real. She attends Norfolk State University (that's right Sue), so i can excuse her for her grammatical problem. She sounded like she was raised in the Bronx where all the warehouses were and no schools. She praised Africa like crazy (while wearing long, light brown weave.... oh great African queen..!) but was not articulate at all.

The Lyndon Larouche guy would not shut up. But we shut him down good. Normally, these dudes would disrupt any panel discussions. I will not post any links to their site. they are just wack. But i guess they read the flyer and saw "ZULU NATION" on there and decided to chill and only send one representative. Dude gave me like two DVDs and a mob of literature. They good for that.

One of our panelists got boo'ed for saying "I don't use hyphens in my name, you an American. No one wants to go back to Africa." someone even threw a tissue at him. it was bugged. Once again Nas Dawud held it down.

I am glad that we stressed the importance of working in your community. We pointed out that activism is two fold : on a personal level and a public level. We emphasized that it could only be effective if it's done on both of those levels. We also explained how everyone has to do their part and that voting is only a small act in being effective human beings.

I had to crush the Bible thumpers though. Everyone kept quoting the Bible (suckas). I pointed out that i don't work with those imperialistic, exclusive principles. I told folks that i deal with balance and reciprocity. If we don't want war, we should not give it to folks. I also explained that heads need to chill with the Bible quotes cause that ish don't get people no where but back to the guns (history proves that).

I hope that the same heads show up for our next panel discussion.

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Friday night, my sister and I went to see I, Robot with Will Smith. Dag, dude is just not a good actor. He should stick to comedy, somewhat. The movie however, was very good. Not as good as the book, but good. Even Will Smith could not ruin that. It was free and at my school. My school shows a free movie three times a week. Each week is a new joint. I never saw it and decided to take the opportunity.

While I watched the movie i can't thinking of Phillp K. Dick's "Do Robots Dream Electric?" which was the basis for the movie "Bladerunner." It brings up the entire technology issue. When do we say enough is enough? How much more do we need to give up in the name of convenience.

here are a few examples of how technology continues to change the way we interact in a negative fashion:

a. Some folks like to call people when they pull up to their driveway. "I'm here." dude just ring the door bell. that's what it's for.

b. everyone is late. All they do now is call you from their cell phone to tell you they are on their way. (that pisses me off just as much as "a." does)

c. no one uses a map. they use mapquest or something like that. How will we teach our children to read maps?

d. we don't write things down anymore. we rather put them in our two ways and cell phones. computers are no guarantee.

i can go on and on.

But the movie deals with a much more complicated issue. The idea of Artificial Intelligence. Anyone seen "Ghost in the Shell?" it discusses that issue as well. I mean, currently we have AI's. They just cannot replicate themselves or think outside of their prime directive. In "I, Robot" the latest model of robots figure out how to think outside of the box and override their prime directive. In "Ghost in the Shell" the AI becomes sentient and declares some rights for itself. I know its mad deep but it makes you think.

Scientists say that by the year 2050, the first AI will be able to replicate itself. This means it will not need us anymore. Scary huh?

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