Sitting here thinking about the phenomenon of Laura and Marco’s hitting our area at the same time. I have a kind of excitement that I don’t really understand. Could they be an answer to prayer? I don’t know any science to support what I’m about to say but could these storms be cleansing agents to the Corona virus here in Texas? Could these storms force us to stay in for a short period of time to cleanse the air, the land, our stubborn self-centered minds.? Call me crazy but I am excited about the healing prospects.
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Who Forgot?
Did we forget or did they? The USA and its territories comprise a democratic republic. So what does that mean? Dictionary.com defines
Democracy – a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives.
Republic – a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch. Or simply stated so kids can understand:
A republic is a form of government in which the people elect, or choose, their leaders. … They also elect other people, called representatives, to make laws. The leaders of a republic are responsible to the people who elected them.
republic – Kids | Britannica Kids | Homework Help
So we, the entire population, as a democratic republic hold supreme power in this government and we elect representatives to make laws that will benefit our entire populations. I don’t know if this has ever happened as designed but it is time to take the reigns and do something about it. In other words, the representatives work for us. If we hold the supreme power then this mess is our fault. We allowed these representatives and senators to remain in Congress long enough to acquire the kind of power they have and the thinking that we work for them. We should establish for their salaries, vacation times, health benefits, and everything else that employers do for employees. It occurred to me that the fear is not who we elect as president as much as it is who we send to Congress. Who’s up for re-election? It is clear that many don’t care not one little bit about the people they represent. They do’t talk about their constituents concerns. They talk more about the power they wield and how they are going to beat their opponent.
Let’s get it together and become better employers. Let’s give the senators and representatives an evaluation and vote them out if they don’t do well just like you would on any other job. It is not about personality. I might like you but if you have only spread derision and obstruction and very little to better the living conditions of the people who employ you then you have to go.
All the seats that are up for grabs this election should be carefully looked at and decisions should be made has to whether they should continue to represent you. Then we should require whomever wins to actually represent us. We have given away our power. We have been convinced that governing is too complicated for us to understand. No, it’s not. We may not know all the intricate details they are given but we can be informed by those representatives. During an election year, millions of trees die and my inbox is inundated with mail from people I don’t know to beg for my vote. Why can’t we be sent information through those same channels. The politicians don’t care if the person receiving their pamphlet or email is going to vote but they send it anyway. So it does’t matter if you think a person won’t read it, send it anyway. You might be surprised. Or is that what you fear? We might require you to do your jobs representing us rather than your own interest or the lobbyists?
Economically Foolish!
It’s been a few days since I posted about Jim Crow. A thought crossed my mind that deserved more attention. I am black and grew up in the south under that system and at the height of it’s destruction, some what. I had never given thought to how it affected any other group that was not white. Did they experience the same things I did? Did New Mexico and Arizona have Mexican only water faucets and bathrooms? Were there separate waiting rooms for them at the bus station or doctor’s office? Did they ride in the back of the bus? How were the Native Americans fare? Or the Asians?
Originally, I was looking at the economic impact this system had on the country. south in particular. It cost so much more to operate your business if you had to have double everything. Does that make sense? It is one more example of the stupidity hatred creates. Think about this. For many of those business owners it was a black woman caring for their child or cooking their food. She was in their homes all day. They weren’t afraid of contamination there. They weren’t afraid of her blackness rubbing off on them when she cleaned their toilets and washed clothes? Then why couldn’t she sit next to them at a lunch counter or in a theater or a doctor’s office. They would have saved so much money.
Just a thought.
Who Is Jim Crow?
Most of my young life I lived under the Jim Crow laws. But who exactly is Jim Crow? All this time I assumed he was someone politically influential during the Civil War or the Reconstruction. I finally looked him up only to discover he is a character in a minstrel show. An actor named Rice created a black-faced character for his show. It is said he was not the only but he was the most successful. His character satisfied his audiences fascination with Black life, culture. It also provided the opportunity to create and perpetuate negative stereotypes. No one knows how this character became associated with the laws.
If we are not careful we might just allow another or other actors create and perpetuate negative stereotypes. It has already led to increased public deaths: the new lynchings. Don’t let them take the vote. Even if you think nothing will change for us vote anyway. Don’t give your voice, your power away.
I’m What?
I have been called many things in my life and told who and what I was suppose to be but these last few months have been quite interesting. I was told I wasn’t a Christian. I was told I was a communist liberal. I was a fraud. All of this because I didn’t agree with some things some other Christians believed or said. So you know I couldn’t just let that sit there. What exactly did these words mean? I know how they are portrayed but what do they mean?
Liberal – 1.open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values.
2. favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs.(often initial capital letter) noting or pertaining to a political party advocating measures of progressive political reform.
Conservative – disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
Progressive – favoring or advocating progress, change, improvement, or reform, as opposed to wishing to maintain things as they are, especially in political matters:
Communism – a theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.
So from the Merriam Webster Dictionary and Dictionary.com,
I am open to new behavior or opinions and willing to get rid of traditional values to reform or progress society rather than leaving conditions and limiting change as they traditionally are and I want to hold all property in common for the community.
Liberal, Progressive, Communist. Based on the definition that sounds like a description of Yeshua aka Jesus and the Apostles. Yeshua shook up the Pharisees (Conservatives) world. They taught the Mosaic law but did not live the spirit of the law. They even created new law restrictions that they say were extensions of the original. These were very pious men who exacted judgement on the people with little to no compassion or intent to help them change. They were more concerned with appearances than the truly living the Law. They would swallow a camel and strain at a gnat. Check out Matthew 23 to see just what Yeshua said about their hypocrisy. Yeshua even told his followers not to pray like them. There were so many things they did that violated the very law they sought to preserve. Here’s an example. Just one example. The woman caught in adultery. The Law said both the woman and the man were to be stoned but they only brought the woman. They asked Yeshua what to do. He said very matter-of-fact, let him who is without sin cast the first stone. Now if they had done nothing else they had sinned by not bringing the man. He did not violate or change the law but he did open up some new behavior pathways. Stone her but be sure you are guiltless. You want another one. Okay. All that dining with the sinners like Matthew and Zaccheaus. How about hanging out with the prostitute Mary Magdeline. And that unclean woman that touched him, how dare he let her do that and not stone her? Oh and how about turning over the money changers tables in the temple? Now that was a non–conservative act if every they saw one. You don’t mess with temple, church, money.
His 3 year minitry was one of reform and making progress toward that reform. He gave us instructions that were all based on Love the Lord your God and Love your neighbor. That LOVE would reform and change the traditional behavior. If the Pharisees had taught that then Love would have been the traditional behavior. What we have now is “if your like me love”. If you meet my criteria love. If you are gay, I can’t show you love. If you are black, brown, white, immigrant, poor, rich, skinny, fat, whatever the reason not like me, I can’t show you love. Yeshua sought reformation on that thinking then and we need to reform our thinking now. Loving does not mean I agree with the person. Loving means I will care for you, I will share the Biblical truth with you and accept your decision. I will respect you and seek understanding of your perspective. I will offer you a safe space free from judgement. In that space I will show you His love; I will live my Biblical truth toward you. I will leave the judgement or condemnation to God. After all, according to Paul’s letter to the Corithians, that’s God’s job not mine. According to Yeshua’s commands we must love. Genuinely love. In fact the sum of His command was Go, teach and love. Oh, but first you had to live it. This was His progressive, liberal stance.
Now to that communism part. Yeshua took a little boy’s lunch and fed 5000 men. That count did not include the women and children that were fed. All things common so know one lacked anything. When the first century church sold all their possessions and brought them to the Apostles so that everyone’s needs were met, wasn’t that communism according to the definition? Hmm.
Now I know the purest form of these definitions have been perverted, but what if they weren’t? What if we were liberal enough to be open to progressive acts that would change our behavior to be more aligned with the Word of God. He said Love. Love would change this country. These religious mandates and judgments have only resulted in fear, anger and hatred. Yeshua showed Mary Magdaline love and forgiveness and she changed. He sat down in Matthew’s home and spoke truth with respect and love, and he changed. The same with Zacchaeus. He did not offer this selectively. Your sin is greater so I won’t deal with you. That’s not God’s love. The Law stayed unchanged but the improvement and reformation of peoples lives were changed forever. If we who say we follow Yeshua would be that kind of liberal, what we see being played out would not be necessary. So you conservatives who want everything to stay the same, your tradition stay that way if you like but I invite you to the freedom in being the kind of liberal Yeshua was. It is life reforming.
Yeshua was the most famous liberal, progressive, communist that ever walked this earth. So to you who thought you were insulting me, it was really the best compliment you could give me. Thank you. This is company I like being in.
My Vote Doesn’t Matter
How much effort do you put into stopping something that doesn’t matter? I suspect very little to none. If your vote doesn’t matter why are people working so hard to make it difficult for you to cast it? Why are they closing polling places near you? Why are they trying to institute disguised poll tax on you before you can vote? Why is mail-in being questioned during this pandemic. It’s been working in several states with no problem? Could it be that once that ballot is placed in the mailbox it is a federal offense to tamper with it? Seems like a lot of effort if it doesn’t matter.
There are very real reasons you should vote. I’m speaking to my Black family now. Many have bled and died so you could. It was a birthright that we were denied. Did they, your grandparents, great-parents go through that because it really didn’t matter. They recognized that it gave them a powerful voice that they had been denied.
Additionally, if you don’t vote you prove Massa was right. You aren’t capable of making such weighty decisions. You are triflin’ and lazy. You need the safety and protection of Massa on his plantation. You will get scraps to eat, a few rags to wear and a shack to live in and it’s not free. You will have to accept working hard for no wages, rape when he feels like it, beatings because you forgot and tried to express independent thought. This is what giving up your powerful voice will look like once again.
I, for one, will not return to this. I lived through the 60’s struggle. I lived in the Jim Crow south. While I was never beaten, I had friends who were. I lived under the daily threat. I went to the meetings and participated in local marches that could have resulted in that kind of brutality. I saw the look on my grandparents faces when they had to swallow their pride and go to the back door to get food at roadside restaurants. I had to watch my strong, proud great-grandmother say yes m’am to a white girl younger than me because it meant survival. I had to live with the colored/white only signs. The accommodations were separate but not equal. I lived the “back of the bus” experience. I also participated in the boycott. That was economic power in action. If am going to live and work on this plantation called the United States of America, I am going to have a say on how it’s run. I am going to have a say in the laws, privileges, benefits, punishments and my relative safety.
Your vote matters. Don’t give up your power. Don’t become a slave because of cynicism, past disappointments, a feeling of powerlessness. These are the tools Massa is happy to use to get you to give up your power. If nothing else vote to make him a lie.
VOTE! It’s your voice. It’s your power. It matters!
Too, Too Much!
It’s just too, too much. Everyday we are bombarded with stressful information. Information I want to turn from but it is important to my life to know. Covid 19 cases increase, voting the primary run-off, to mask or not to mask, more police brutality, White House, the global news, . The list could go on but as you can see it’s too much for one brain to handle on a daily basis. All of that and family needs have not been addressed.
Being overwhelmed in this confined space on the daily can lead to depression. Don’t let it get to you. Take care of your mental health. Find a way to make the data flow less or slower. Unfortunately it is going to remain too, too much!
Aguafaba
For several months I’ve been reading about aguafaba and it’s uses. I even saved it in the fridge. Didn’t use it though. Oh, wait. I assume you know what it is. It’s the liquid or pot liquor as they call it in the south left after you cook chickpeas. Most of us toss it after straining the chickpeas. I finally used it in my gluten free waffle recipe.
Now you can’t just pour it in. It has to be whipped. I am lazy so I used my immersion blender instead of a whisk to do the work.
After I achieved a whipped egg white consistency, I added it to my batter. Like egg whites, the aguafaba adds moisture so I slowly added the milk a little at a time. I didn’t want to make the batter to liquidy. The results were beautifully crispy on the outside, tender on the inside waffles. Aguafaba will definitely be added to my egg replacement arsenal.
I forgot to take a picture before we began eating so I had to snatch my hubby’s plate from his hands.
Garden Goodness!
This year my daughter and I resumed our gardening efforts. The shelter-in-place gave her and her husband time to plant their garden and it is flourishing. Mom and Dad are reaping the benefits too. I planted peppers and basil in pots.
I must admit that I cheated a little. I added the cucumbers and peppers to some existing pickle juice. But I expect to have good, zesty pickles never the less.
Mourning My Friends
Recently I lost several friends. They have been my companions for over 25 years. We have seen the ups and downs and the short and long of it. Today I begin anew. Today I begin life without dreadlocks!
😄😄😄
"Black Soil" Living 