Men from an Invisible Land

"You let the white folk worry about pride and dignity — you learn where you are and get yourself power, influence, contacts with powerful and influential people — then stay in the dark and use it!" - Ralph Ellison Author of 'Invisible Man' the greatest novel of the 20th Century

You seem surprised that we are invisible
Could we be otherwise? the very idea it is risible
Newton, 'The' student of the lights
Made it clear
The rainbow combined glows white
The essence of all that is dear
While the presence of darkness like night
Signs the unknown, the ill-formed and the feared

Like the moon, our world is unrevealed
In an eternal noon, where even shadows are concealed
Douglas, ran Prometheus' race
Again and again, to the Harbour of Grace
Henrik, defined a nation to replace
A colour that does not exist in any face
And still you wonder we are not seen in this place
When again and again you choose rhetoric and eschew race

You seem surprised that we are invisible
Could we be otherwise?

My Prayer

There is darkness in the world.
There is darkness in our lives.
I cannot eliminate the darkness
I can only illumine it
but a little
With my very own flame
Struck bright by divine spark
Struck bright from within
We have come to this place
to be together
Add your light to mine
Let us add ours
to another
and another
and another
So that if my light should burn low
I might stand close with you
for a moment
And not be lost in the darkness
yet again.
Amen
-Author Unknown

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What you see is what you get

“When you change the way you look at things
 – the things you look at change.” - Wayne Dyer et. al.

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The Juice is the real me

"When the soul is naughted and transformed, then of herself she neither works nor speaks nor wills, nor feels nor hears nor understands; neither has she of herself the feeling of outward or inward, where she may move. And in all things it is God who rules and guides her, without the meditation of any creature.... And she is so full of peace that though she pressed her flesh, her nerves, her bones, no other thing come forth from them than peace."
St. Catherine of Genoa

My Useful Beliefs

These beliefs are not necessarily true

They are Very Useful for understanding and influencing behaviour
I believe we must know our purpose, understand our natural drives and recognise our  human needs.

3 Keys to Purpose

A powerful Purpose facilitates Living in Flow (Positive Psychology)

Key #1 is Optimism Because Faith in the Future dramatically determines Performance in the Present It is incredibly important that we are optimistic It is incredibly important that every Parent, Coach, Mentor and Teacher be OPTIMISTIC <> Requires a clear and credible Vision

Key #2 is +ve Motivation Because every living creature, every woman, man, young woman, young man, every girl and boy is motivated to act, is designed for action and WILL do SOMETHING, influenced by both internal and external sources It is of utmost urgency that every parent, mentor, coach and teacher be an influential +VE MOTIVATOR <> Requires a powerful and persuasive Reason (Why?)

Key #3 is Service Because their is nothing new under the sun and because everyone is unique It is unquestionable and undeniable That every parent, mentor, coach and teacher must serve as both a follower and a leader <> Requires a self-confident and selfless Character

4 Natural Drives

The Push From Inside

The Drive for Safety <> Fear  <> Fight, Flight, Feed, F?

The Drive for Acquisition <> Desire <>  to Grow

The Drive for Inquiry <> Curiosity <>  to Learn

The Drive for Love <> Love <> of Self, of the Erotic, of Family & Friends, of Nature

3 Human Needs

There are 3 human needs
Each need has a tendency to one of 2 states
A moving away state - >avoid pain< and
A moving towards state - <seek pleasure>

The Pull from Outside

The need to Manage Change

<> The need to Control our world (Purpose) >Certainty< Comfort, Know what's happening, predictability, being in control, peace <Adventure> Dis-Comfort, Variety, surprise, being controlled, challenge

The need to Manage Identity

<> The need to Control Self (Self Esteem) >Connection< Being Loved, part of a team, conversation <Independence> Significance, maverick, silence

The need to Manage Value

<> The need to Control the Interaction between 'self' and 'the world' (Reason) >Receiving<  Growth, >gifts<, valuing, learning, following  <Contribution>  Giving, <presents>, being valued, teaching, leading

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Pain -v- Suffering

"You are outside life, you are above life, you have miseries which the ordinary person does not know, you exceed the normal level, and it is for this that people refuse to forgive you, you poison their peace of mind, you undermine their stability. You have irrepressible pains whose essence is to be inadaptable to any known state, indescribable in words. You have repeated and shifting pains, incurable pains, pains beyond imagining, pains which are neither of the body nor of the soul, but which partake of both. And I share your suffering, and I ask you: who dares to ration our relief? We are not going to kill ourselves just yet. In the meantime, leave us the hell alone." - Antonin Artaud

Pain is inevitable

Suffering is an interpretation of meaning

Pain is a fact of life

Suffering is a feeling of powerlessness to stop the pain

The common illusion is that Pain and Suffering are always combined and that the latter automatically follows the former, and it is a tempting and persuasive deceit. Any study, prolonged or brief of dictionaries, novels or religious texts will soon educate that this is far from the case in reality.

Joy and Pain are as often lovers as enemies and in no way like "sunshine and rain" mutually exclusive.

Joy and Suffering are however exact antonyms, opposite in every way as are Happiness and Suffering.

In the same way as the Pain of Labour does not prevent the Joy of giving Birth, the challenges of life can never separate us from the opportunities of life.

Pain = An unpleasant sensation occurring in varying degrees of severity as a consequence of injury, disease, or emotional disorder.

Suffering = Permitting, allowing, tolerating or enduring evil, injury, pain, or death.

Victims choose suffering as their reason and rationale for poor performance

All great warriors and champions experience pain as a natural part of their journey

It is for those with a journey to make, "...and on it the redeemed will walk. They will meet with joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning will flee." - Bible the book of Isiah Ch. 35 v 1-10

We can always do something to change the pain... even if only by a small amount to begin with.. when we have a purpose that means we have to go on, when we have a mission in and for our lives.

"In general usage the preferred preposition after suffer is from, rather than with, in constructions such as He suffered from hypertension. Ninety-four percent of the Usage Panel found suffered with unacceptable in the preceding example. In medical usage suffer with is sometimes employed with reference to the pain or discomfort caused by a condition, while suffer from is used more broadly in reference to a condition, such as anemia, that is detrimental but not necessarily painful." - www.dictionary.com

'Affected by Sickle Cell Syndrome' can be a much more useful term, than 'suffering with sickle cell' and is often preferred by those affected by sickle cell syndrome.

The strength to overcome limitations caused by pain can be found by refusing to suffer because...

What's your because...?

How big is you reason...?

If your why is BIG enough, no pain whatsoever can hold your spirits down, as you anticipate the Joy to come, it will not allow suffering

The Status of the Family

"I shall not pause to detail the calamities which slavery has entailed upon our race in the domain of the family. Every one knows how it has pulled down every pillar and shattered every priceless fabric. But now that we have begun the life of freedom we should attempt the repair of this, the noblest of all the structures of human life.

The basis of all human progress and of all civilization is the family. Despoil the idea of family, assail rudely its elements, its framework, and its essential principles, and nothing but degradation and barbarism can come to any people. If you will think but for a moment of all that is included in this word "family," you will see at once that it is the root idea of all civility, of all the humanities, of all organized society. In the family are included all the loves, the cares, the sympathies, the solicitudes of parents and wives and husbands; all the active industries, the prudent economies, and the painful self-sacrifices of households; all the sweet memories, the gentle refinements, the pure speech, and the godly anxieties of womanhood; all the endurance, the courage, and the hardy toil of men; all these have their roots in the family. Alas! how widely have these traits and qualities been lost to our race in this land! How numerous are the households where they have never been known or recognized! The beginning of all organized society is in the family. The school, the college, the professions, suffrage, civil office, are all valuable things; but what are they compared to the family? Here, then, where we have suffered the greatest, is a world-wide field for our intellectual anxieties and our most intelligent effort." - Dr Alex Crummell, Washington, D. C. published by J. T. Haley & Company, Publishers. 1897. Quoted from the compilation 'SPARKLING GEMS OF RACE KNOWLEDGE WORTH READING. A Compendium of Valuable Information and Wise Suggestions that will Inspire Noble Effort at the Hands of Every Race-Loving Man, Woman, and Child.'

I don't know why the caged bird sings

I see crowds of people, walking round, in a ring
African Heritage People, Proud to sing
and dance and paint and draw
I see them rushing, Now Here, Now There, Nowhere
People of Nature, made unnatural, unprepared
un read in tooth and claw

I saw once warriors, turn their strength to games
Nubian fuel, feeding futile infertile flames
Martial heads under artist's caps
I saw boy men stride and strut to play, heads high
Then Limp to work as chocolate hungry, babies cry
at baby mothers boot straps

My Eyelids meet with force to hold the flood
A salty prayer to stem the issue of my blood
I see the light, inside, strong
Insight, in side, within me, the wit in me
the wit in us, in us, within us the 'free'
You see, it's time, to stop the song!

Graduation Day

Once there was a time
when a man could outgrow the child
at the age of thirteen
a rite of passage would set him free
then they said
he's too young, alone to tread
the path of life
to raise wife and child
so they said when he wasn't listening
You won't be capable until you are sixteen
When two times eight arrived
almost too late they realised
he had not learned enough to really handle life
18 was still a teen
and by 21 what had he really seen
when you reach your quarter century
we'll test you to see if by then you just might be
free of all your childish insecurity
35 would come and pass
and see him still in class
confused unclear
of just exactly where
his best interests would be
and when the rules would set him free
at 40 now when life begins
he understands some vital things
to live means to cease to pray
to truly seize the day
to give means to cease to prey
move from putty into hardened clay
there is no predetermined time or day
or wise elders who can rightly say
who or what or when or why
just as none can know the length of life
So I choose to LIVE by a code that's mine
any other road is to choose to die
for death can breathe and run and fly
and still, you know you're dead by the pain of why
for life without a purpose of my own
is an empty cage, the bird has flown
I don't know what the end may be
and so I'll choose it before it chooses me
there's no life exam no predetermined fate
I will be free of others rules today
today I graduate. - TCoD

It's not hard if you have a passion for it!

"Education experts say youngsters as young as 10 can experience great achievement at an early age if their thirst for knowledge is encouraged and they are given opportunities to shadow professionals and get internships. Also, a rigorous study schedule that also builds in some recreation is key." Jackie Jones, June 16, 2009, BlackAmericaWeb.com

"It's not hard if you have a passion for it" Tony Hansberry

"A Jacksonville researcher has developed a way of sewing up patients after hysterectomies that stands to reduce the risk of complications and simplify the tricky procedure for less-seasoned surgeons. Oh, and he's 14 years old. Feel free to read that again." JEREMY COX, APR. 24, 2009

Tony Hansberry II isn’t waiting to finish medical school to contribute to improved medical care. And he's only 14.

Hansberry responded to a challenge to improve a procedure called the endo stitch, used in hysterectomies that could not be clamped down properly to close the tube where the patient’s uterus had been. The teen devised a vertical way to apply the endo stitch and, using a medical dummy, completed the stitching in a third of the time of traditional surgery.

“It took me a day or two to come up with the concept,” Hansberry said.

My Car 2012

I have been studying/interested in Electricity powered vehicles, Nicola Tesla, and 'Over-unity' energy ideas for a while now. See my Blog Who keeps killing the Electric Car.

So I am so excited to see the upsurge of interest and practical introduction of 'mass' produced electric cars.

I own a Tesla Model S Saloon Car by 2012

On Parenting

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken adults."
-Frederick Douglass

The law of project focus

If you want to be among the best at anything, you need to focus on something, and to focus on that one thing!

If you want to ensure a project happens and is completed on time, in budget and to specification, you need to focus on that project!

If you walk around town with a little shovel, you'll just end up digging thousands of little holes, not one big one. - The law of the little shovel

When project staff allow project sponsors to keep tasking them with new initiative after new initiative, prior to the completion of existing incomplete project briefs.
They may succeed with some...
rarely all...
and it is almost certain...
non will hit their original, Time, Cost and/or Quality targets.

The important thing to remember is that projects by definition are stand alone entities. Yes they may share common resources, Yes they may be part of the same programme and yes they may share the same powerful and influential Sponsors and Stakeholders. These facts actually demand a greater PROJECT focus, more myopic attention to resource availability and even more rejection of scope creep. Just because someone has the authority to ask for something, does not magically create the wherewithal required to produce the result.

Get Project Focus by ensuring:
Project ownership [personal power]
Pay, promotion and peer esteem is linked to project success [commitment]
Project relevance [passion]

Maintain Project Focus by:
Keeping to the project plan
Earning the trust and 'buy in' of stakeholders and sponsors
Accurately and regularly communicating the risks and opportunities of the project
Quantifying the value to be lost by unmanaged project variance

If NO is not an option, close the original project and demand the required resources for the new project(s), because that's what you have, a new project.

Failure to observe the Law of Project Focus means the project is being managed by luck not judgement and success is a lottery.

Observing the Law will mean a surprisingly large number of projects get delivered with consistently high levels of success and blessedly low levels of stress.

Do You Know Wolverhampton?

The Express & Star was founded in Wolverhampton in the 1880s by the Scottish-American millionaire Andrew Carnegie and a group of radical Liberal Party members, including Thomas Graham.

The Express & Star is an evening newspaper based in Wolverhampton, England, publishing 11 different editions covering the Black Country, Birmingham and areas of the wider West Midlands from Tamworth to Kidderminster.

The newspaper had a daily (Mon-Sat) circulation of over 130,000 in the second half of 2007.^[1]

The Express & Star is also one of the few independent newspapers now operating in the UK having been under the continuous ownership of the Graham family almost since its inception.

Its associated website expressandstar.com was launched in 1997.

Two other papers are published by the Express & Star, The Chronicle, which is a free weekly newspaper and The Sporting Star, published every Saturday.

wikipedia.org - Express_&_Star

5 Attributes of Inspirational Servant Leaders

I have always run from Leadership in the past, more from a fear of hard work than lack of confidence.
Somehow over the last few years as my networth has diminished the demand for my services in leadership roles has increased.
AND as I look at the great leadership talent around me locally, nationally and internationally I am still struggling to overcome the Groucho Marks principle "I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members. " or my version 'I wouldn't want to lead a group of people who would settle for me as their leader'.

My leadership style is definitely a 'servant leadership style':
Servant leadership is an approach to leadership development, coined and defined by Robert Greenleaf and advanced by several authors such as Stephen Covey, Peter Block, Peter Senge, Max DePree, Margaret Wheatley, Ken Blanchard, and others. Servant-leadership emphasises the leader's role as steward of the resources (human, financial and otherwise) provided by the organisation. It encourages leaders to serve others while staying focused on achieving results in line with the organisation's values and integrity. - wikipedia

AND i aspire now to be an inspirational servant leader:

5 Attributes of Inspirational Leaders - Dr John C. Maxwell

ATTITUDE OF SERVICE
To be an inspirational leader, one must adopt an attitude of service toward those you lead.
AFFIRMATION
To inspire consistently over time, one must positively affirm the views of others. Magnifying the attributes in everyone around us.
ATTENTIVENESS
Great inspirers know and attend to the desires of those they lead.
AVAILABILITY
Servant Leaders inspire by intentionally investing time in the people they lead.
AUTHENTICITY
To inspire, leaders have to be genuine. Servant Leaders gain their true Authority through unwavering integrity

Summary
Inspirational servant leadership cannot be confused with momentary charisma. Leadership requires endurance. More than a brilliant speech, it's cultivating habits of brilliance that manifest themselves daily. By modeling the five attributes of an inspiring servant leader, I trust that i will win my own self respect and feel worthy to join a club that is eager to have me as a member.

Ubuntu

Your tribe is simply, and when we think about it in the context of our lives, couldn’t be anything more or less than, the people you spend your time with.

Ubuntu = I am who I am because of [my interaction with] you

The people you interact the most with are the closest members of your tribe.

Communication is much less than 50% spoken language

You are all-ways communicating

Words change lives
All the other communications change lives

There is more of the other communication going on
The other communication creates greater and more profound change because the conscious mind is unaware of it and accepts it without resistance, editing or judgement.

Ubuntu = I am who I am because of the irresistible communication I have with you

Your team at work is in your tribe,
Your clients are in your tribe,
The person you go home to is in your tribe,
I am in your tribe even as you are in mine.

I spend more time with you I bring you closer into my Tribe

I am who I am because of your irresistible communication…
I will become who I will become because of the irresistible communication of my tribe

Are you responsible for your communication?

We cannot not communicate, once you know this, and I just told you, so now you know!
You are responsible!
Are you your tribes keeper?
YES!

The law of unintended consequences, Karma, what you reap you sow, be careful what you ask for, treat others how you wish to be treated, etc, etc, etc.

The language is rich with evidence of tribal responsibilities

Who do you want me to be?

Communicate it and I have no choice!!!

Giving Massive Value

Often I am admonished 'you give too much away for free'. This in no small part to my commitment to Mindstyle being associated with MAD, SICK, Head No Good value for money [My trip to Lambeth council in 2007 is open for argument [by them] I believe they got Exceptional Value]

Would you agree that giving massive value is a good business practice or should we always try and get maximum return on our investments of business resources?

My case is clearly that it is...

"David Ogilvy in the 1960's gave away all the secrets of creating good advertising in an advertising campaign for his agency Ogilvy and Mather, Madison avenue was aghast that he would do such a thing. It paid off for him big time. People absolutely knew that O&M knew what they were talking about ... and beat a path to their door. As far as they knew, the competitors were all out to rip them off. O&M PROVED that they knew what they were talking about, and proof, above all, is what sells." - citation needed
He gave away massive information knowing that few would be able to apply the massive effort required to exploit that information. At the same time he gained massive leverage by letting the world, competitors, clients and potential clients know that he had the knowledge and the capacity for effort required to provide the best service in the world

Knowledge is important
Knowledge is not that important
Knowledge is what to do

Action is essential
Action is proportional to effort
Action is doing it

Effort is the Energy
Effort is the Force
Effort is the cost
Effort is the pain

Leverage is the Magic
Leverage is the Key
Leverage is the Recipe/Formula/Process

"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world." Archimedes [after his travels in Egypt], he taught that by applying a lever, one could lift the heaviest of weights by applying even the weakest of forces.

There is a difference between knowledge, information and leveraging information. Someone once said to me that to know is the key, that’s not quite right, even to use what you know is not quite right… to leverage what you know, that IS the key.

Knowledge is the direction of the force
Action is the application of the force
Effort required is proportional to the length of the lever [the value/ratio of the leverage]
Leverage is proportional to the position of the Fulcrum or balance point of the lever [value of the leverage information]
More Leverage less effort.

One way of increasing leverage is through Branding

Notice the biggest brands spend the most on advertising

Giving Massive value is the best advertising, brand building strategy there is, emphasis on GIVING massive value. a la Michael Jordan who always gave more than was asked of him and reaped the rewards.Jordan battles flu, to make Jazz sick 'MJ could barely make it off the court after his 38-points.'

Women in Leadership

I am learning so much about this Gender thing, it's actually very subtle.
When I talk to women about women in leadership, as well as men...
Very few start from a different position than 'great leaders, lead both men and women'
However things get a little wobbly, for men and women, when we look at the statement
'great women leaders, lead both women and men'
How can you have a really powerful and effective leadership programme for Women,
run by women for women and not informed by any men and vice versa, that then produces great leaders
who are leaders of men and women?
and heaven forbid leaders of men and women working together as complementary equals.


www.athena1.co.uk

The Descent of Woman

Zimbabwe? Let it Fall!

One of the GREATEST writers of all time was Frederick Douglas

Who wrote in his book, "What the Black Man Wants". 'Everybody has asked the question. . ."What shall we do with the Negro?" I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us. Do nothing with us! If the apples will not remain on the tree of their own strength, if they are worm-eaten at the core, if they are early ripe and disposed to fall, let them fall! I am not for tying or fastening them on the tree in any way, except by nature's plan, and if they will not stay there, let them fall. And if the Negro cannot stand on his own legs, let him fall also. All I ask is, give him a chance to stand on his own legs! Let him alone!'

So when the West and the United Nations of self interest ask the question "What shall we do with Robert Mugabe" I would say "Let him alone".

Leave Zimbabwe alone and separate:
Seperated from Chinese and Russsion Weapons
Seperated from US Oil and Mineral Multinationals
Seperated from foreign aid [I know! what foreign aid?]
Seperated from the paradox of being the wealthiest African Nation in terms of resources and one of the poorest nations in the world in terms of fulfilling it's potential.

Often we must say yes to the tears of the moment so that we may say yes to the laughter of a lifetime.

When you are always having to help someone it is very important to understand how your actions are keeping them helpless.
TOD

Concentrate Now!

The young take strength from what they imagine in their future. The old take strength from what they remember of their past. The wise understand imagination and memory are illusion and give their strength to the present. - Thoughts of Chairman Don

John Henrik Clarke - A Great and Mighty Walk

We do not need role models so much as we need identity models... roles are what we do, identity is who we are. Roles are masks, identity is our face. Roles determine our place in society... Identity determines our society. - ToCD


John Henrik Clarke was born January 1, 1915 in Union Springs, Alabama and died July 16, 1998 in New York City. His mother, Willie Ella Mays Clark, was a washerwoman who did laundry for $3 a week. His father was a sharecropper.
Clarke was inspired by his third grade teacher, Ms. Harris, who "convinced me that one day I would be a writer." But before he became a writer he became a voracious reader.
Clarke noticed that although many bible stories "unfolded in Africa...I saw no African people in the printed and illustrated Sunday school lessons," he wrote in 1985. "I began to suspect at this early age that someone had distorted the image of my people. My long search for the true history of African people the world over began."
Clarke committed himself to a lifelong pursuit of factual knowledge about the history of his people and creative application of that knowledge.
Biographical Information and Selected Writings

"What you are calling African history and Negro history is nothing but the missing pages of world history. You will have to know general history to understand these specific aspects of history." - Arthur Schomburg

"History is not everything, but it is a starting point. History is a clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day. It is a compass they use to find themselves on the map of human geography. It tells them where they are, but more importantly, what they must be." - JHC

"The main focus of an education for a new reality in the African world must have as its mission the restoration of what slavery and colonialism took away. Slavery and colonialism took from African people their basic culture, their language, their concept of nationhood, their manhood and their womanhood. They mutilated and tried to destroy their traditional culture and reduced Africans to beggars at the cultural and political door of other people while neglecting the job of restoring their own culture, the main thing that could have sustained them." - JHC

"Throughout the whole of the African world most Africans who call themselves civilized, and here I have to question their definition of the term, worship a concept and image of a god assigned to them by a foreigner." - JHC

"Most people in the civilizations of the world generally look at a spiritual deity that resembles themselves, mainly the father in their home, be this right or wrong. Why are we an exception?" - JHC

"It is better to be right and march into Hell, than to follow a bunch of fools into Heaven." - JHC


"There is no way to move any people from a lower to a higher position unless they are willing to accept some form of collective discipline. You can not move an unruly mob into anything but chaos." - JHC

"The past illuminates the present and the present will give us some indication of what the future can be. Education for a new reality in the African world has to be three dimensional in its approach." - JHC

"We must be bold enough to reject such terms as "Black Africa" which presupposes that there is a legitimate, "White Africa." We must reject the term "Negro Africa" and the word "Negro" and all that it implies. This word, like the concept of race and racism, grew out of the European slave trade and the colonial system that followed. It is not an African word and it has no legitimate application to African people." - JHC

"In essence, Pan-Africanism is about the restoration of African people to their proper place in world history." - JHC

"The objective of Pan-Africanism is not only the restoration of land and nationhood: it has as one of its aims the restoration of respect." - JHC

"The present search for the place of African people in world history and the Black Power Revolution that produced the Black and Beautiful concept out of which the Black Studies Revolution emerged, is part of a chain reaction to the absence of African people from the accepted commentaries of world history." - JHC

"In the early development of man, the family was the most important unit in existence. Through the years the importance of this unit has not changed. The first human societies were developed for reasons relating to the needs and survival of the family." - JHC

"When you address a people by their right name that name must relate to land, history and culture." - JHC

"Our culture is in our DNA..Where ever there is African blood, there is a basis for greater unity." His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I

There is no BLACK land ergo BLACK people have no land
There is no BLACK history ergo BLACK people have no history
There is no BLACK culture ergo BLACK people have no culture

BLACK is a colour AFRICA is a Continent

There is AFRICAN land ergo AFRIKAN people have land
There is AFRICAN history ergo AFRIKAN people have history
There is AFRICAN culture ergo AFRIKAN peole have culture

BLACK is a label, AFRIKAN is a name, should you choose to use AFRIKAN as your name you will connect yourself to a land, a history and a culture that is the very wellspring of humanity. -ToCD


William Edward Burghardt Du Bois

Arthur Schomberg

The Arab Slave Trade

Cheikh Anta Diop

"Go study the history of your masters, go study the history of the people who enslaved you. Find out why they found it a necessity to remove an entire people from the respectful commentary of the history of the world." - JHC

"Let us therefore stay the course together as comrades in the common struggle so that we can, together, celebrate the common victory and together, rebuild our continent from the Cape to Cairo, form the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, so that in the end our people can together stride the globe as signified human beings, proud of their antecedents, their colour, their culture, their achievements and their humanity." Nelson Mandela

Afropolitan Economics

as 'Africa' continuers to grow in economic relevance and political power.

We have to be sure what we mean when we say 'African' in the internets global village, in Wolverhampton on anyday you will meet local citizens who's DIRECT 1st generation ethnic roots are Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana, Jamaica, St Kitts etc. etc.. We have to be sure that we are not clinging to and discussing a 'romantic' African-ness, because MAMA Afrika is not an Old Lady she is a vibrant beautiful... fertile... Young Woman and like most young women of a certain age ... she has plans of her own. Maybe we should be talking about SISTA Afriqa.

There is an ageing body of American and European cultured 'Black' thinkers [elders] of African Descent and their 30/40 something children [I'll soon be leaving this 2nd group ;-) ] who think AFrica and African-ness is their natural right and enrobe [entrap?] themselves in their deep 1960's understanding of all things Afrikan, "Hotep to you my brothers and sisters".

Meanwhile the 20 something Afropolitans are creating the NU AFRIQA right now and only part of it is on the continent of Africa.
"Were you to ask any of these beautiful people “where are you from?’” you would get no single answer. This one was born in Accra, raised in Toronto and lives in London. That one works in Lagos but grew up in Houston, Texas. ‘Home’ for this lot is many things. It can be where their parents are from; where they go for vacation; where they went to school; where they see old friends or where they live (or are living this year).
At home in G-8 cities
Like so many African young people working and living in cities around the globe, they belong to no single place but feel at home in many. They are Afropolitans - the newest generation of African emigrants, in the industrialised world. You’ll know them by a funny blend of London fashion, New York jargon, African ethics and academic success." - http://myglobalhustle.wordpress.com/2007/10/02/afropolitan/
Where are they all? errr try the European Premier foorball leagues £100K a week Afropolitans
or The Honest Professional young 2nd and 3rd generation Nigerian investment banker Afropolitans
or Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, an Afropolitan fellow of the US Brookings Institution, Okonjo-Iweala is a former World Bank vice president who graduated from Harvard and earned a Ph.D. in regional economics and development at MIT. Her son Uzodinma Iweala is the celebrated young author of Beasts of No Nation.
She was Nigeria's Finance Minister and then briefly Foreign Affairs Minister from 2003 to 2006, the first woman to hold either position.
During her tenure, she worked to combat corruption, make Nigeria's finances more transparent, and institute reforms to make the nation's economy more hospitable to foreign investment. The government unlinked its budget from the price of oil, its main export, to lessen perennial cashflow crises, and got oil companies to publish how much they pay the government. Since 2003 -- when watchdog group Transparency International rated Nigeria "the most corrupt place on Earth" -- the nation has made headway recovering stolen assets and jailing hundreds of people engaged in international Internet 419 scams.
"Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a heroine not just of Nigeria, but of the entire continent. Her crusade against corruption has put her life at risk."
The Independent (UK)

Ghana Economist George Ayittey sees Africa's future as a fight between Hippos -- complacent, greedy bureaucrats wallowing in the muck -- and Cheetahs, the fast-moving, entrepreneurial leaders and citizens who will rebuild Africa.
George unleashes an almost breathtaking torrent of controlled anger toward corrupt leaders and the complacency that allows them to thrive. These "Hippos" (lazy, slow, ornery) have ruined postcolonial Africa, he says. Why, then, does he remain optimistic? Because of the young, agile "Cheetah Generation," a "new breed of Africans" taking their futures into their own hands. http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/151 has a video

And trust me they are not asking for acceptance and they don't plan on NOT being Victorious.

Happy Xmas and Holiday Eating

It might be worth noting that a method of promoting heart and general health is to avoid over eating, at this time of year, which is really why the stomach loses it's ability to digest properly.

Do eat, drink and be merry and do remember...

When the stomach is empty, having normally digested it's contents, i.e. not through starvation or lack of nutritious food, IT WILL DIGEST ANY FORM OF NORMAL FOOD IN ALMOST ANY ORDER AND BE HAPPY.

With years of over eating most of our digestive systems will become clogged, stomach wall lined and arteries narrowed, this is what leads to our sensitivity to different types of food and a host of other complaints.

I have stopped going to the gym so much and spend less time watching what I eat, I now focus on stretching and exercising at home and simply eating less of whatever, and not eating again until I'm hungry... It's cheaper than the Gym membership, less stressfull and it's working!

So be kind to your heart and ONCE YOUR STOMACH IS FULL STOP EATING!!!

Too many of our parents are going to the funerals of their 40 something children and despite the clever medical terms; from cancer to hypertension etc, the majority of the cause is Over Eating and Under Exercising.

Our parents worked so hard in their youth they built strong resilient constitutions and many are still going strong in their 70's and 80's.

Sitting down at a computer munching fast food, is setting many of us up for a short, sickly, old age....

And as for our children!!!!!!!!

So be kind to your heart and ONCE YOUR STOMACH IS FULL.... STOP EATING!!!

This may be the kindest and most loving message you get this Holiday Season.

Here's wishing you a lovely Xmas and New Year............. 2008


Ubuntu

Don

Male and Female Attributes

In my work on Gender I propose a distinftion between Man and Woman, which are sex based and genetic in there origin and development
and Male and Female which are Gender based and cultural in their origin and development.

that is if a child is born with a particular chromosome and hormone mix, wherever that child is 'aculturated' or grows up, she or he will still be the Man or Woman they were born with the genetic propensity to be.

If two children with the same genetic mix are 'aculturated' in two different societies with different concepts and traditions and training and expectations of what a MAN and a WOMAN are supposed to be then they will develop the particular MALE and FEMALE traits of their different socities.

The effect of both these influencers of core behaviour, genes and culture, are programmed at the non-conscious level and have been historically hard to distinguish within a culture.

When cultures collide the differences become starkly obvious, and as our modern cultures mix more and more, what it means to be MALE or FEMALE blurs more and more.

And as our science increases we learn that our Gonads determine what it is to be a MAN and what it is to be a WOMAN unquestionably.

Notwithstanding this our common HUMANITY as MEN and WOMEN gives us incredible flexibility, and beyond our life perpetuating SEX roles there is little our ingenuity will not allow us to do either MAN or WOMAN.

The idea of Maleness and Femaleness has been developed over time as a practical, utility function to allow us to achieve more as a group through role and task specialisation, to meet the challenges of life.

As the challenges change the tasks and roles change and so do what it means to be Male and Female, there may even come a time when beyond providing, sexually diverse, DNA there will be no role separation between the sexes.

Given the length of time it took to build the roles it is easy to see why they form an integral part of our identities and our societies. It may not take thousands of years to reprogramme ourselves more appropriately. It will take a few more generations however and some of the gender confusion we see today is that process taking place.

Going round the mountain

God ... Whoever SHE is
I conclude SHE is Ineffable = incapable of being expressed or described in words; inexpressible:

So I have a challenge when someone can explain the nature of something which is indescribable or unutterable

I believe anger can be and should be prevented, as often as humanly possible.
"Remember, you can't eliminate anger—and it, wouldn't be a good idea if you could. In spite of all
your efforts, things will happen that will cause you anger; and sometimes it will be justifiable anger.
Life will be filled with frustration, pain, loss, and the unpredictable actions of others.
You can't change that; but you can change the way you let such events affect you.
Controlling your angry responses can keep them from making you even more unhappy in the long run."

Anger is a HUMAN thing...
One of the oldest and most universal of HUMAN traits is to anthropomorphise i.e. to ascribe human form or attributes to things that are not human.
So naturally in the literature we have an angry God, this is a legacy of primitive anthropomorphism applied to the ineffable elements and events totally outside their comprehension.
I find the use of someone who has been raped as an example of justifiable anger a VERY dangerous anchor to programme a community with.

I don't know what God is and as a HUMAN I accept it is most improbable I ever will.

As the shadow can never know the substance
And the spark disappears in the fire
Our divinity, unquestioned as it is
Is nothing more than a mote in God's eye
We are truly great and so
Imagine how unspeakably great
How Ineffable the Divine

To strive to comprehend the incomprehensible is a task to:
occupy the fool
and be
avoided by the wise
It is more intoxicating than strong wine and
more contagious than the plague

The greatest gift is the greatest challenge is the only challenge
KNOW THYSELF
God will reveal herself when she's good and ready ;-)

Regards
Don
AKA
Man with a Mustard Seed...
Mountains Beware!

Never heard of a Sestina before

Sestina by MDS

Autumn leaves limbless fall down.
Once green with life connected sure
Certain that certain things don't change.
And reality is life and growth and love,
A little boy skips and kicks dead leaves with joy
And laughs as mommy prays he won't trip up.

She recalls he gave her up
Lover's promises of forever let her down
And left her low with growing joy,
That strong would leave her weak for sure.
Like the fair that from itself declines is love,
Blind destiny just another word like change.

Who like sudden spring can change?
The heart's frozen winter and warm up
Ice cold indifference and rekindle love?
Rather hate than this nothing that holds her down.
Security a cracked mirror that cannot be sure
It's illusion of safety will ever return joy

Summers strength, heat and embrace, that joy
Power and redoubtable resolve defying change,
Can anyone, any dream again be that sure?
A young woman with sleepy eyes smiles as she wakes up.
She shivers and says she thinks the down
Feels chilly, and snuggles closer to her true love.

It was meant to be, she whispers to love
Know that you are my eternal joy,
There is no better, though heaven come down.
A little boy asleep, dreams of winning for a change
Of a time, a place, a person who stands to help him up
Who says and means and lives 'of me you can be sure'.

On the shifting deck seasoned feet are sure,
A man is either quick or dead in love
Life holds on to all the choices we will not give up.
From the joy we build for others comes our joy
The laws of nature flatter and dissemble, and never change
Woman or Man the one you hold up cannot let you down.

Never give up, on the seeds of joy,
They are sure as life and their fruit is love
And their only change is to draw more love down.

Finding My Flow at Akasha

The Water Comes and Goes
The River Flows
... and Still Remains

FLOW, a state where attention, motivation, and the task are experienced as entirely complimentary, resulting in maximum productive harmony and supportive feedback.

I am not the River Bed as I am not my body
I am not the River Water as I am not my mind
I am not the source of the River as I am not my thoughts
I am not the Ocean as I am not my behaviour
One is the River, One is AKASHA
One is the part and the whole
One is the moment and the motion

From Abundance
I Took Abundance
And Abundance Still Remained

I experience myself as being One and being everywhere when I am in FLOW
All other experience is Shadow and Contraction

Akasha is believed by some to be a mystical, spiritual substance that contains a record of everything that has ever happened, and also everything that will ever come to pass in the future. "Akasha" is derived from the root kash, meaning "to radiate, to shine" The Akasha is thought to be indivisible, eternal and all pervading.

Because I am Akasha I shine from the inside out and must live from the inside out.
Nothing of the senses can satisfy the soul, the senses represent the outside to the inside and all they convey is illusion.

Flow is Inspired a child of patience and focus

Gratitude and Humility are the expressions of Inspiration

Inspiration is the God energy that is awakened within as we are in FLOW

We are in FLOW when we bow to divinity in gratitude and serve humanity with humility

Struggle is the opposite of FLOW

Holding on hinders FLOW

The Water Comes and Goes
The River Flows
Akasha always was
... and Still Remains

Picture by John Cave