Grant posted an update to the So Say We All project status, and YAY! he got my entry!  

So I’m on the list, and going into the PDF. I so, so, so hope that the cast get a chance to read it. I am very excited to be a part of it!

Just in case you missed my earlier posts, Grant over over at Battle Star Blog, a community blog hosted on Live Journal, is preparing a PDF of fan thank yous to send to the cast and crew of Battlestar Galactica.

I love Battlestar Blog @ LJ. In my opinion, it’s one of the finer BSG communities out there, and it is in fact the sole reason I am maintaining my LJ account. I have my LJ account set up to post my status updates through ping.fm, but I haven’t written in it since 2007.

I don’t like LJ’s blogging engine and the limits they place on templating, or for that matter their templating system at all.

But this one community, keeps me coming back, because you can be assured of news, commentary, theories and SPOILERS! (Sorry, I am a spoiler addict.)

Grant also manages to get exclusive interviews, Q&As and runs competitions from time to time, as well as presenting us with awesome opportunities like being able to participate in this project.

So from me to Grant and to the whole Battlestar Blog Community, thanks for making it such a cool place to visit and read. (Besides, with RSS feeds, I don’t need to go to LJ unless I want to post a comment, or read comments…

I watched Aron Ranen’s Black Hair Documentary on YouTube yesterday, and couldn’t help thinking that Madame CJ Walker was spinning in her grave. Ranen made the same point towards the end of the documentary, and all I could do was smile grimly and be grateful that they even mentioned this phenomenal woman — you know, most people’s memory is quite short.

The documentary focuses on how South Korean businessmen are capitalising on the billions of dollars that black women spend on hair care and beauty, but are 1) shutting black business owners out of the market, and 2) not contributing so much as a nickle back into the often depressed communities they are benefitting from.

Any woman who has ever bought a single black hair care product, should watch this documentary. The whole thing is available via streaming video on YouTube.

While you’re at it, visit BOBSA

I find myself, for the second time in two years on the edge of disillusionment when it comes to Orisa communities.

Understand me, I do not mean Orisa; I mean human communities of Orisa devotees. And when I say communities, I mean those both offline and online.

I am for the most part, disgusted with the kind of people that seem to populate these communities. So few of them that I have met, or encountered have any honour at all and as for iwa pele (true and noble character) forget about it. To my memory, there have only been a few who I felt were honorable to the core.

It seems as though these communities are rarely driven by spiritual truth, and more often by more corporeal motivations, chief among them financial gain, and at the least petty one up man ship.

I am deeply unimpressed by the spite, the bile, the lack of compassion, the ease and quickness with which people inflict pain and suffering on one another; the penchant towards cult mentalities and most of all, the way in which some of these people discourage personal empowerment.

This thing with ‘elders’, people who are initiated, and people who have been involved in the religion for a number of years… many of them are voracious about demanding respect from all, but rarely do they reciprocate. For them, they can bear no criticism whatsoever, yet are quick to criticise everyone who doesn’t agree or go along with their own game plans.

I have watched, over and over, as Orisa devotees pull down other people’s houses to build their own. I have watched how people contort themselves to be nasty, unkind, unforgiving and to maintain control of others.

One of the biggest breeding grounds for these kind of people I have come across is the Internet. If you are searching for god parents, or searching to learn more about this tradition, it’s easy to say, let me look online for communities of Orisa devotees. This is especially true if you live in towns and cities that are isolated and has no visible Orisa community present.

I wasn’t necessarily looking for god parents on the Internet, but looking for discussion and avenues for growth. What I found for the most part was a cesspool, a morass of spiritual mediocrity masquerading itself as Orisa.

I have come to realise a few things.

Because people know a lot of rituals (or claim to online), and they know a lot about the religion, it’s easy to think that this person can teach you, that you can learn from them. And maybe you can. However, on the Internet, people really aren’t who they seem. In the four years since I started my spiritual journey with Orisa, I have found that even people you meet in the real world, are not what they seem. The Internet only exasperates this further.

In that time, I have joined a number of online forums for Orisa devotees and practitioners and have been consistently disappointed. Most of them devolve into petty arguments about lineage, people take pot shots at each other,

But to me, I don’t want to learn anything from someone who doesn’t have the basic milk of human kindness. I don’t want to learn anything from people who insist on crying down other people so they can feel superior. I am sick of the cliquism, and the way people manipulate and use each others as tools to attack and destroy each other.

Sometimes, I just run out of clever shit to say. But imagine how much people invest in this shit. The only difference is that Smot will always come off with more authority, because he invests his rebuttals with conviction and SKILL. Because I myself have given someone I knew in person a 17,000+ worded “fuck you and your three hole perpendicular johnny” called “An Ode To A Hard Slap”, and taken on other nitwits, naysayers, critics etc., I will defend his right to say whatever the fuck he pleases in his blog and if you have a comment box, you have a delete option too, so don’t turn around and bawl if the man expresses his opinion.

I disagree with some of what Smot says, I agree with some of it. His approach sometimes makes me uncomfortable, sometimes it makes me laugh, and obviously think as well. Half the time when I wander in and I see people’s responses to what Smotlock writes, I have to laugh. Sometimes I can just see Smot gleefully crafting sentences and choosing just the right words. I can dig that. As a writer, I know this type of interaction has only honed my own skills, so you know, when you openly throw yourself against someone who can express their ideas in far better language and style and who has the ability to be equally nasty, what do you really expect?

And that’s not (what was the term?) brown-tonguing anyone, If someone disrespected me in the way people are constantly taking on Smotlock, I would cuss ya’ll out too. I’m sorry, but Bruce Lee used to deal with people flying up at him all the time. He was never TRULY vex, he just dealt with it and did what he had to do.

In these situations, all you do is give Smot light workouts in writing rebuttals and argumentative stylistics people. I would do the same, so I am not angry at him for being his own Smotty-like self.

If I disagree enough to comment, I won’t come in the man’s blog and tell him he’s a depressing cunt, and get over himself. Plus, I know that he really doesn’t give a shit about what people say, but it’s the principle of the thing, well…

For me it’s not a personal thing. I have not one shit invested in any dispute between Smotlock and Schannah. I don’t care… I read both blogs when I have the time and the will and shall do so regardless of the outcome. If Smotlock hadn’t been an archiver like myself, I wouldn’t have had a clue about any of this.

So nobody go saying I am for Smot or for Schannah. Just adding my perspective. Someone has to be even passingly rational and point out the obvious no matter how under-appreciated it is in the long run. Fight on, don’t mind me.

If I’m Not Your Lover — Al B. Sure!like WOW!“Flight”
A Celebration of Sister, Mother, Activist, Writer, Artist:
Assata Shakur
================================================

Friday, November 4th, 2005
Hot House, 31 E. Balbo (at Wabash)
Chicago

6-9 pm:
Youth Open Mic
Featuring:  Kuumba Lynx, Cue Guevara
and Mind State
Also: Silent Art Auction, Food, Live Graffiti Art, and other Vendors
$10, $7 with College ID
17 and under free

————————–
9 pm-12 am:
Featuring: Soul People, Malcolm Palmer, DJ Papa G, Mreld and DJ
Sonny Daze, E Nina J Silent art auction
Hosted by the Discopoet Khari B.
$10, 21 and older ONLY
————————–
For more info: http://afrocubaweb.com/assata.htm
Or contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; 866.204-3216

I have a cut ass for somebody. I mean a hard slap to end fucking hard slaps, oui? I have to tell this story, because I have only glanced at it before, kid gloves remained on, and I remembered my crown, rather than the pettiness of shit.

Except, I have what my grandmother used to called a fowl shit temper. I mean when you hit a fucking nerve with me, it goes right through me like a starter’s pistol, or the opening salvo in a battle and my blood scent comes up and I whip out my pistol and the shot is fired before I know it’s happened.

I tend to excoriate assholes in my life quick, quick. I don’t waste time. I don’t pussy foot about whether or not I want this person in my life. All you have to do, is reach out and impose some injustice, be unkind to me in some way, or take me for granted, or try to control me, and the wild woman in me comes out, and she, I have only a modicum of control over. She is the one with the pistol. Sometimes I say things that come off in another way, and people take it the wrong way, and I regret their hurt feelings, but I never say things just to be unkind, I’m just not that type of person. So when people try to hurt me and sometimes succeed, I realise more than ever, that people are people. Wherever you are, wherever you go, there is always some petty motherfucker who thinks they know better than you, know you better than you, and try to tell you your business.

You have to draw the line somewhere. Say what, some I dun tell wunna some things I taking, and some things I just ain’t.

Read more…

Maybe I am strange, but I will never understand how it is that JS members manage to get on each other’s nerves quite the way they do.

This one reads this one’s journal and takes offence and launches another journal to tear down the other. Or, someone starts a journal to lampoon the other JS members. Or there is some kind of censorship battle going on. Or this one dis this one, or dis that one.

Why? I mean really! Fucking why?

I want to say all of us are adults here, but actually there are a large number of teenagers blogging here on JS. So that leaves a mix of old, young, ethnic identities, political, sexual and personal persuasions from the darkly bitter to the upbeat. On a site like this there should be and is enough room for all of us.

I believe in free speech, but assholishness is just plain assholishness.

One of the things I love about JS, is that there are so many absolutely wonderful writers here making a difference in my life no matter how small. There are themed blogs and blogs with no theme at all; ideologically ALARMING blogs, and harmless things full of laughs. I laud the veterans and mourn the ephemeral, those who I loved and who are now long gone: FallenGravity, Addidasfreak, Muse-Sick, dieseltangerine and others… at least bluey came back and Ptiza’s blogging at blogspot.

However, there are times when the behaviour of some of the members on this site is just shocking to me and lacking in rationale or even good taste. Other times, there are those who seem rightfully justified in crying out in anger, but most times people take shit too fucking personal, oui?

Thing is, I can’t even keep up with the drama. Some shit went down with Peddiewolf, Oddness and Smotlock, that I still have no idea about, other than Peddie’s gone and Oddness is ‘less than nice’ to Smot these days (I wonder if ever).

Now there’s trouble brewing between LittleTwink and Sunnyside. LittleTwink has even inspired her own hate blog twinkisanutcase. The person’s reasoning is based on the stupidity of starkles, which I on a personal level think is very sweet.

JS-Admin seems unable to take criticism, I’m sad to say, something I’ve long noticed but have kept to myself until now, and I’m a little confused still by ptiza aka dieseltangerine’s blog deletion.

I’ll be the first to admit Smotty is caustic, although that piece on nature wanting to kill him was almost warm and fuzzy. It’s nice he’s in love, even if I don’t think it’s softened him up too much, if at all.

What is it about this community that spawns such vehemence in the anger and attitudes expressed by some, and yet such loyalty and genuine friendship and love in others. I’m not talking about Smotlock here either, or LittleTwink, who are as far apart as you can get on Journalspace and still be at the same domain, but about a general pervasive attitude I see around here.

I have friends blogging here, shit I have family members blogging here. I have also made friends in real life blogging here, and I enjoy so much that JS as a community has to offer. I don’t always agree with everything I read, but a good read is still a good read. I don’t hate authors because they write books I don’t like, I just don’t read them. I don’t take it personally if they have an opinion or ideological stance opposed to mine. I read, absorb, comment if I don’t agree or if I do, but I don’t turn other people’s shit into mine. I have enough personal shit to deal with, oui?

Why is it so many people on this site, seem incapable of maturely handling their differences without lowblows and nastiness?

MysticHooligan and I had a major disagreement over politics played out here in my comment box a week or two ago, and we settled it like adults, ending up agreeing not to agree. (He don’t come here to visit anymore, but you know, I’m not taking that personal either.)

Some of you might remember my own blog drama between myself, mizzthongs and ImFuckingFedUp. That in itself, didn’t turn into a protracted cuss-a-thon… and ill will (at least not here on JS, but you know, on that score, Big Mami still struggling to forgive.) We all three said what we had to say, and well they’re doing whatever it is they’re doing, and I’m here still blogging, and it’s been a year and I haven’t had another incident remotely like it.

Mind you, that was some heavy personal shit, and not anything like some of the rampant, “I hate you, your blog sucks, and you’re a fucking syphilitic cunt” I see going around between JS members who don’t know each other beyond JS.

This kvetching is starting to drive me around the bloody twist!  Come on people, what the fuck is really allyuh stories?

I’ve gotten to the point where it looks like I have people on my faves list who are at war with each other, and well how do you deal with that, other than try to remain uninvolved. As part of a community, how does one remain detached and still function as a member of that community? At some point, a voice of reason must stand up and say, allyuh fucking taking this too far! I am Big Mami, so maybe is me to do it.

I’m not wishing for a idealised world, or an idealised JS, but do other blogging sites have the same kind of drama? It doesn’t really appear that way. LiveJournal doesn’t seem that way, neither does Blogger. There are a dozen other blogging sites, but I see very little mudslinging around there the way I see it around here.

So what is it about Journalspacers that just addicts them to the drama?

I mean why? Surely allyuh personal lives are full of enough bullshit, to not want to incur more in this kind of a forum where it clearly means so little in the grand scheme of one’s day to day existence.

Somebody explain it to me.

Maybe I’m too much a peace and love kind of chick. The only time someone’s comments brought me into my warriors stance was the aforementioned personal drama, nothing else has even raised my blood pressure.

But I remember someone told me once, “You are not everybody and everybody is not you.”

Yesterday was marvellous. I spent a sensitive afternoon sharing and bonding with a new friend.

This is a German guy, living just outside of London, near-ish to me, and who is following the path of Santeria.

He’s a wonderful soul. He invited me to his flat, and filled the afternoon with laughter.

The air around us filled with the sounds of Cubano drummers and singers singing for the Orisas, and that in itself was wonderful.

He read the gypsy cards and Tarot for me, but it was inconclusive because of the state of flux and transition I am in.

The pepper soup was marvellous! Just hot enough to make my nose run slightly, but no so hot flames came out my ears. I had two bowls! When I thought I might not be able to finish, he said, ‘No, if you put it in the bowl, you must eat it!’

We talked for hours, and it was wonderful to talk to someone about Orisa and spiritual matters. It is something I miss very much since I’ve been here, since it seems to unnerve most people.

Also, since I have so few supplies with me, and what little is available to me in the everyday world is currently prohibitively expensive, I haven’t really done any work since I’ve been here.

He gave me a heads up on the Orisa/Santeria community here, and well it doesn’t surprise me some of what he’s saying. The problems in the community are similar to problems faced by Christian, Islamic and other communities around the world.

After lunch, he insisted I read for him. I was embarrassed and protested, because I’m still learning and didn’t feel I could give him the best of me, because he’s so much further ahead of me. He has his ilekes and his warriors. I have abandoned my One Hand Of Ifa.

He insisted, and so I read.

He said after I was good and the reading helped him, showed him what he already knew what was going on. It made me feel good I could help, even if it was in my own small way.

When I left, he gave me some efun and cocoa butter and some ideas on how to feed my ori, something I know is quite necessary these days. He had also bought me some green and red candles, and gave me book on some magickal formularies that looks very useful. He even promised me more learning material, and I was so thankful, because I need to learn. Now is a learning phase.

He also made sure to pack two days worth of pepper soup for me to heat and eat.

I am glad to make a friend like this. I hope this is the beginning of a long and warm friendship.

Afterwards, when I trekked back to Kent, a journey that required me going back to London Bridge and then enduring the two hour trip back, hampered by the tracks being out in two places, it was to discover that the house was filled from bottom to third floor with people still and there was nowhere to sleep.

I spent a truly uncomfortable night on the couch at my cousin’s other house in Snodland, and let me tell you, I knew thatI should have gone back to London and just come back today.

We went to sleep and 11pm and woke up at a ridiculous hour, like 4am or something. Anyway, what was done was done. Except, I definitely felt my second class citizenship around these parts.

Everyone left this morning around 5.30am, but it took me a while to crash. I didn’t sleep until the sun was well into the sky, but I slept soundly.

Thanks to wildegirl for letting me crash with her Friday and Saturday. She was kind enough to donate a sweater to my cause.

It’s getting seriously cold here, and I am without enough warm clothes. I only have the sweater wildegirl gave me, and one light sweater that doesn’t really keep me too warm, and my denim jacket. I am very worried about that, because there is no money to buy warmer things either, and like I said, everyday is a little colder.

My mother is starting to annoy me slightly, because everytime we communicate now she’s telling me that I should come home. She is saying things like, “I know you want to try it up there, but there must come a point when good sense  should tell you that you aren’t getting through. Winter is coming.”

:sigh:

Welcome to my newest obsession, Backwash.com.

Incidentally, backwashing was something that was one of the seven deadly sins when I was in primary school at the Ursuline Convent in Barbados. “Don’t backwash,” was one of those imperious commands given when sharing one’s Sprite or juice.

The Free Dictionary describes ‘backwash’ as:

Noun

1. backwash – the flow of air that is driven backwards by an aircraft  propeller slipstream, airstream, race, wash flow – any uninterrupted stream or discharge

2. backwashbackwash – the consequences of an event (especially a catastrophic event); “the aftermath of war”; “in the wake of the accident no one knew how many had been injured” aftermath, wake consequence, effect, result,  upshot, outcome, event, issue – a phenomenon that follows and is caused by some previous phenomenon; “the magnetic effect was greater when the rod was lengthwise”; “his decision had depressing consequences for business”; “he acted very wise after the event”

3. backwash – the wave that spreads behind a boat as it moves forward; “the motorboat’s wake capsized the canoe” wake moving ridge, wave – one of a series of ridges that moves across the surface of a liquid (especially across a large  body of water)

However, this is about a web site, so let me get into it.

Rather than search the Internet based on key words, search strings and categories, this site allows you to filter the Internet via personalities.

It’s simple, when you register, you can tool around the site and find a surfer whose tastes in content matches yours and you can use their links, columns and other contributions as a jump off point to crawl and experience the web.

Naturally, almost every personality type and content type is represented, so it allows for a wild, furry and interesting exploration of the Internet. The appeal of the site is that there are opinions to share, opinions to read and it’s easy to add your own voice to the overall community.

There are also spin-off sites, Adult, Kids, Literary and Pets that use the same format but with specialised focussed content. Each site has a social network that allows you to make connections with other users and with the same functions.

Each area allows you to maintain a journal, but between you and me, none of these is a JS-killer. There is no control over the visuals and the interface for adding entries is streamlined into the overall layout with generic ‘moods’ and such. However it does allow for commenting and interaction. You have a bulletin board members can post to (although I personally think this is way too much ‘interaction’ since there are boards for everything already.

There are communities of interests, newsletters, columns… this is a behemoth of a site, and if you’re new, it may be a little confusing. It’s fortunate that the interface is easy to understand and the site easy to navigate.

This site has ‘basic’ and ‘premium’ memberships, so there are things you don’t have access to with a free account. There is a limit on the number of private messages and restrictions on who you can private message; limits on photos, restrictions on editing posts to your bulletin board, and your journals; no access to instant messaging and numerous other restrictions. Again, this is a matter of taste. The site has more than enough to satisfy your need to interact with it’s basic account feature set.

One of my only problems is the lack of a unified log in. All of these areas require you to log in repeatedly and there is little cross-pollination between the sites. So joining Adult Backwash doesn’t mean you’re in the social network of the original Backwash, and again a great deal of logging in, logging in, logging in as you move around.

However, that aside, this place is fun. You can submit your own links, and like any community, you must build up a profile of interests. There’s a fairly simple way of becoming a contributor or columnist cum moderator, and there are clearly defined responsibilities for participation, and best of all, free premium membership for maintaining your submissions and following the ground rules.

The concepts are similar to other sites I participate in, hi5.com and tribe.net. I must say though it’s far more interesting than hi5.com and the interface less developed than tribe.net.

All in all, I highly recommend this site. It’s stickiness is undisputed, and it’s been around long enough (since 1997) to be a reliable place to gather information as well as to participate.

This is a must visit!

Go: Backwash.com

I was cruising JS via my favourites ‘Favourites’ lists, and came across masterofmice’s blog, and I was reading and looking at things, and found a reference to the former odious OdorOne.

Some of you may or may not be familiar with that whole scene. Like so many JS dramas (we should have a soap opera, ah telling ya, oui?) this one played itself out across dozens of blogs, and was an ‘up in arms’ type deal around here for a few months.

OdorOne, quite self righteously, decided he was going to ‘expose’ bloggers on JS who were posting ‘illicit’ and ’sexually offensive’ material in their blogs on the grounds it was harming de pickney, dem.

Chile, he had a list… he was going around here and picking people out, and engaging in some real ‘terrorist’ type tactics (although, in this day and age, one has to ever so careful how one uses that word).

Well JS-Admin shit and shut it down, but he just kept creating accounts and went on a proper bender of fatwah-type antics, oui.

Well JS-Admin blocked his IP and well, I can’t say I’ve heard much about this over the last few weeks.

Until today, when I checked out masterofmice’s blog. Seems OdorOne has taken his schtick and his tirade over to geocities.

JournalspaceMembersAllowedToFreelyPostPorn is the title and location, folks. It seems we have a jihad on our hands. (Because stepcorrect pointed it out, and while  I was doing it, I worried about it, I really don’t like linking to this shite, but in truth, I’d need to show you what I’m questioning, and there are strangers around here who have no idea just how daft OdorOne and his crusade were.)

At the bottom of the page he writes:

I’m beginning this site in an effort to spread the word about Journalspace’s nefarious practices and behavior in light of my confronting its management with these serious issues and my filing of an official complaint.

My boy say he filing ting with the US State Attorney General, and shit ya know!

What I just don’t understand is how people can blame us as writers and bloggers, for their failure as parents to monitor their children’s activities.

I jess don’t understand.

Keifel explains it to me

I wonder how the law suit is doing? We’re still here, ent? So he must not have succeeded in mortally wounding JS.