Dancing with Myself

My Bones are Red*

I've been working on this post for a week.  Each time I would go away and come back, my bullshit detector would go off and I would have to start over again.  I hate when I'm trying so hard to be profound and everything that comes out is profoundly stupid.

The thing is, there's some people planning a meeting of my Redbone people this summer in Alexandria, Louisiana.  They've even formed an organization they're calling Redbone Heritage Foundation.

I'm not entirely comfortable with this development.  I think that much good could come of it, but I distrust the motives of some of the people involved, and fear that they have come with a predetermined agenda.  I am a Redbone and we are naturally suspicious of outsiders, and that just about sums up how I feel about the Redbone Heritage Foundation.  It's mostly made of people whom I do not know and who aren't closely related to me, and they're all White.  I don't think there's a dark one in the bunch.

Despite the unanimous enthusiasm among the organizers for the term "Redbone," not all of my cousins embrace the term.  I don't have any problem with it, but then, I'm not very dark and I don't live near the area where Redbones face the most discrimination. In those areas, the organizers might be surprised to find that most people are still struggling to be White and live without discrimination.  It's easy to romanticize our history and culture if you don't live in its midst.

Despite my suspicions, I wish them well this summer, and I'm encouraging all of my cousins to participate.  We can determine later whether or not they're all just a bunch of Wannabes, as one of my darker cousins called them.

(*A new book by Patricia Ann Waak.  Great title, huh?)

This is also being posted on my family history blog, My Mother's People.

 

The Power of a Word

This post was supposed to be saved as a draft.  I have removed it while I work on it.  It'll be back.   

Remembering the Holocaust

Today we remember the liberation of Auschwitz, or Oswiecim in the Polish.   Lo lishkoah.  Lo lishkoah.

HIV is a Disease, Not a Death Sentence

Someone just did a Google search for "I've been sick for three weeks.  Do I have HIV?" 

Please, if you think you have HIV, go to a doctor or clinic and find out.  HIV is a treatable  disease.  You can manage its effect on your body and enhance the quality of your life for many, many years.  Do not compound your problem with fear and denial.  I have survived this scourge for twenty years and I'm going to be around for another twenty years, at least. 

There are plenty of resources available.  If anyone who reads this posting has questions or needs to know how to find help, please leave your city and state in the Comments and I'll give you phone numbers and addresses of help available for you in your area.  Help is available to you, and time is of the essence.

A Seminar on Drag Queen Names?

How did I miss THIS?

I am not a drag queen, although I do have a drag queen name.  Sort of.   I would say that I've never done drag except there are some photos of me in a semi-compromised position, so to speak. I am happy to report that my Google ranking for searches of "drag queen" has fallen to #23, while my ranking for "Black drag queen" has skyrocked to No. 5. Now if I could just all those drag queens to stop calling me Princess Puss.

Are You a Loser?

No.  I are normal and I took a test to prove it.

This is by way of Jo over at Something Vague.

Social Security

Social Security as a wedge issue? Not our GOPers. They're uniters, not dividers. On the other hand, check out Kevin Drum's post on how the GOPers plan for dividing and conquering the opposition to its reforms.

Link: The Washington Monthly.

The Next War

This cartoon is used without the permission of Nick Anderson, its author.  (Via Joshua Micah Marshall's Talking Points Memo.

Can you believe that the folks who have given us a deficit of $4,423,975,930,565.56 (or $4.4 trillion) want to "fix" Social Security?

Thanks to Wanda for the information on the deficit. 

What?  Me worry?

New Friends and Influences

This morning I had a blogging visitor who left her calling card, so I went visiting.  Her blog is called Light Within. She speaks writes with a soft voice and talks about some of the technical details of blogging as well as the bloggers she meets when she's blog surfing. I've bloglisted her as an invitation for my regular readers to visit her blog. I know nothing about her, not even her nationality, but in our blogging universe, national boundaries don't exist, and any cultural boundary is minimized by her very eloquent use of the English language. Go visit and meet this unique person whom I suspect has much to offer each of us.

Peace be to you, Shirazi.

Bill Gates Cracks Open the Door of Heaven

Painting by Mary Henrikson

Bill Gates has apparently donated almost one Billion dollars to provide vaccines for children around the world. 

Jesus said that it's easier for the camel to get through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to get into heaven. When asked "Who can be saved, then?" Jesus said, "For men this is impossible; for God, everything is possible."

Well done, Mr. Gates, well done.