In[Natural] Light and Magic

Lightning bugs in the grass...
They're just bits of magic really.
Like the bits of gold that fall from the sky when it rains and the sun is out.

Minutes old light from the sun,
Catching eons old water from the heavens.
Taking it, for a second.
Transforming it.

Alchemy.

The light, deadly when focused, is beauty when it's scattered.
It casts all its personality across the clouds...
Or the clear, blue sky.
And it delights us.

Like lightning bugs in the grass.

Primal

Think with no words.
Only instinctual knowing.
Move forth with clear directive.
KILL of be Killed.

No reason ruling. Only nature.
Ride on the very back of nature.
Yet conceive no word for nature.

None.

Know what it is. Its truth.
Know that giving it a name,
Will only diminish it.

Swallow up its beauty and its cruelty with your eyes.
Call to the moon.
But do not be like it.
Do not be phased.

Oh, how good is a night song?
At home in the country these creatures call.
The crickets create a chorus with no cane or top hat,
Rubbing their legs together like the lovers indoors who listen and are soothed.

Contours of the wild, amplifying amphibians,
From the frogs through the trees
On the seasons warm breeze.
Their Lilly pads- their soap boxes.
Their song- their argument: "I'm best...pick me."

Owls constantly questioning identity,
A lone wolf, crying for company.

These voices, these songs,
Black, only because they are swaddled in the night.
Night songs.
And what a masterful conductor.

(Please play video below then read my post)



HI,

I’m [insert professional athlete name here]. I play games for a living. Somehow that makes me important enough to endorse products and garner enormous wages. It also makes me an automatic role model. When I win games, people behave like we've just secured Peace in the Middle East. If I make an unpopular career decision, people react like there is a Revolution going on- burning things and the like. People watch what I do more closely than their own leaders. It's rare that I comment on how Unbelievably F*CKED our country/world is. Advertisers don't want spokespeople who are too political :/ So instead of speaking out, I just play with my Balls. Good day.

*I saw this video and decided to write the previous statement. Just look how people show up and show out. It’s true, it's entertainment. I've been to more films than I have political rallies. But I also strive to be more informed and make better choices. I never learned to do that from athletes. Teachers on the other hand...

But, no one shows up for them like this. Or for the countless others who fill positions in society that we could not do without.

Kobe Bryant never taught me anything. Lebron James never gave me a DIME that he made up North, and he won’t when he goes down South either! But if he wins a ring in Miami, I'm certain there will be a parade.

NOH8: UNCG Edition

On March 21st I participated in a photo shoot for the NOH8 Campaign. Since California's passing of Proposition 8, which amended that states constitution so that it can continue to discriminate against Gay's and Lesbians who previously could legally marry in California, there have been countless protests and people speaking out against it.

The NOH8 (No Hate) Campaign, designed by Adam Bouska and his partner Jeff Parshley, has garnered world-wide attention in the last two years. That may have something to do with its growing celebrity status. While the first shoots were of average, everyday Californians, the celebrity community jumped on the band wagon (they love a good cause) and has since popularized the campaign and helped inspire it to spread.

Recently, it spread to Greensboro, NC- thanks to my good friend *Brandon Lee! He organized the first NOH8 Photo Shoot in October of 2009 for anyone in town who wanted to participate. This March he and Brittany Clark conducted a second shoot and people representing UNC-G specifically got the chance to lend their face to the campaign. And I was happy to be one of them.

All the pictures have a couple of things in common:
1)A silver piece of tape covering the mouth (this is a silent protest!) and
2)the NOH8 logo adorning something in the picture.
But that's where the similarities stop.

And that's really my favorite part of the pictures. They allow a certain amount of individuality to come through from the subject. The poses are varied and the props are unique. Most wear white, but some don't. One of my favorite images is of Lt. Dan Choi, an Iraq War Veteran who was discharged under 'Don't Ask Don't Tell,' wearing his Army fatigues. His fist raised high, he stands defiant, refusing to accept the prejudice that made him a celebrity when he really just wanted to be a soldier.

His story, like hundreds of others, is told through the photograph. Elements of individuality are there, and they are great. But it is the common elements which speak the loudest. His mouth was covered, just like mine was. And he, like I, wore the NOH8 logo. Pictures say a thousand words. I'm glad that with these, we were all saying the same thing.

NO
H8

Here's a link to the NOH8 website if you would like to know more http://www.noh8campaign.com/

*Check out Brandon in this video, talking about the first NOH8 shoot that he organized in Greensboro!

Weeding Out The Truth

Wednesday night I was treated to a visit from my friend Howard. I say treated because I consider him a kindred intellect (he's affectionately known as "Dr." as I am likewise known as "Professor"). During the course of our chat, we came to the topic of Marijuana.

It was something I thought we would only touch on, but it turned into a bit of a discussion. Howard stated that he could not understand why people would smoke Marijuana. I replied that people do it because of how it makes them feel- weightless, calm, prone to laugh, docile, numb, etc.
"But," he said "it kills brain cells."

I responded that something like that would only happen from constant, long term exposure-i.e., being a 'pot head'. But soon I would discover that is not true at all.

The next day, after work I started to research just how much you would have to smoke and how long it takes people who smoke to begin to suffer brain damage. The answer I found was not what I heard from teachers and peers.

None of the recent tests used to show brain damage in humans have found that Marijuana is harmful to brain cells or brain chemistry. So why do people believe it does? I found two reasons.

The 1982 Journal of Pharmacology contains an article titled “Remote Memory During Marijuana Intoxication." It states that "Marijuana produces immediate, temporary changes in thoughts, perceptions, and information processing." Because people that smoke 'weed' are subject to these effects, the perception is that they are...well...stupid. For some they appear slow in thought, perceiving events in delay, and being confused by something like a simple TV program.

Funny Example: I've heard tell of a couple of girls who smoked weed one night and popped in a DVD to watch a movie. After seeing what appeared to be the same images over and over, they were confused about why the films plot points seemed to repeat. After some time, one of them realized the problem. *They had only been watching the DVD menu.*

Like the article on memory states, the changes in thought are immediate, but also temporary. They only last for the length of intoxication. Know people who seem like they're always affected?? Its probably because they're always smoking!

Weed is not killing their brain cells, though they may be doing that themselves. There is a practice among some smokers of holding their breath after inhaling. Its common knowledge that holding your breath for too long cuts off Oxygen to the brain. "And what do brain cells need class?"

OXYGEN!

"Right!" Holding your breath for too long can cause brain damage. It is also a pointless practice since THC, the chemical in Marijuana that gets one 'high' starts affecting the brain as soon as it hits the lungs.

But that is just one reason people think Marijuana kills brain cells. Another is because of a speculative study done over 25 years ago that has, to this day, never been substantiated by any other(+). This involved Rhesus monkeys who were subjected to high concentrations of Marijuana for an extended period of time, more than an average human ever would.

The experiment was government sponsored and most likely carried out in a way to produce results to support Marijuana criminalization. And criminalization is ultimately why weed is 'bad.'

Because of its illegality, we associate weed with being something more negative than what is legal. Cigarettes are proven to be packed with poisons and highly addictive because of nicotine. Weed? Neither poisonous or addictive. Most Marijuana smokers do so occasionally, causing 'minor' irritation to their lungs.

We have virtually the same effects on our body breathing in emissions from vehicles and factories. Cigarettes and other drugs (yes, I'm calling cigarettes drugs) have no positive effects on humans. Marijuana, on the other hand, not only doesnt kill brain cells but is proven to stimulate the growth of brain cells in certain regions of the brain http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/BRAIN.HTM

While this post may seem like a long winded way of convincing people why they should smoke weed, it is-in fact- not. I am not encouraging anyone to smoke. Anything! I am, however, encouraging people to be knowledgeable about facts and the science of what is around us.

People can and will tell you anything. The government especially. (Don't even get me STARTED on gay-marriage!) Remember when it was said that because of skin color blacks were inferior, and that because of skull shape some people were smarter? That women were not as smart as men, and that crack babies existed?

Most reading this are not old enough to recall, but Im sure we all know how it was commonly thought that you could get HIV/AIDS from kissing, or sweat. Miseducation stretches throughout history, and the miseducation becomes mythology and fear tactics in examples like "Masturbation causes blindness" or "Black men want to rape white women."

I admonish you, dont believe everything you hear, or read. Research, and cross reference. Do not only be taught. Learn for yourself. The less you do, the more the truth goes up in smoke.

(+)“Cannabis Sativa: Effects on Brain Function and Ultrastructure in Rhesus Monkeys.” R. G. Heath Biological Psychiatry 15 (1980)

No Doubt About It

Saturday night. As my friend Jessica and I walked through one of the many gravel lots of the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Charlotte, we could here in the distance a soaring chorus.
*Whoaaa, I never meant to braaag, but I got him where I want him nooow*

It was the sound of Paramore on the stage, singing there hit "Misery Business." It was only a short time before we were in view of the stage, and the hundreds of people gathered before it. Jumping, dancing, and singing along.

You'd think they were the main act!

Though they weren't, they were no less energized. Hayley, the lead singer, sounds remarkably like she does on CD (difficult to do live). And naturally, the rest of the band...played their part ;)

But when they're time on stage had ended, and they had properly hyped up the crowd, it was time for what we'd all really been waiting for.

The lights went down and the screams went up. There, on a screen on stage, the silhouettes of the band members appeared one by one. Last of them all, Gwen Stefani. The crowd went...well... b-a-n-a-n-a-s!

When the screen lifted, we were treated to "Spiderwebs," a single from their third, and possibly most popular, album "Tragic Kingdom."

When the song began I was instantly back in 1995, No Doubt being a favorite band of mine for years. "Spiderwebs" was the first song I ever heard from the group, so it was really quite poetic for me.

Over the next two hours, we were treated to hit after hit from the bands stellar decade plus career. "Dont Speak," "Simple Kind of Life," and a rendition of "Just a Girl" in which all of the guys in the audience were asked to sing aloud. "Can we do that here in North Carolina?" Gwen asked, tauntingly. While the concert was a raucous walk down memory lane, it was also a look to the future.

Not just because of the space age set, or the band members modernist, monochromatic wardrobe. The band is reportedly coming out with a new album in 2010, and this tour is really getting people worked up about it. Some people say they did their best work in the 90's. Others think since they recorded their dance-hall inspired "Rock Steady" in Jamaica, they haven't been better. Im sure all will agree, whatever comes next, it will definitely be worth checking out. Critiques may question weather the group can turn out another album with the same punch as their firsts, and the same groove as their most recent. I, for one, have no doubt.