Shit Happens

September 3rd, Monday/Labor Day... Okay... maybe it's me. I have a leather shoulder bag that has a latch that slides under a bar (strip of metal) to hold the flap closed. The latch is broken so I went to a luggage store to ask if they could fix the latch. The guy I talked to (from India) could not do the work but he referred me to the shoe repair store... Wait a minute... The shoe repair store? So I asked him if they did that kind of work and he said, "I DON'T KNOW! WHENEVER I GET SOMETHING I CAN'T DO, I REFER CUSTOMER TO THEM!") What the ...?
I get it. Fuck customer service! Look, step up your game when you come to this country and own a business! And, cavete vendor! If you are going to fleece AMERICA, at the very least be slick about it. And, if you are going to play the role of the "stupid" consumer, learn to develop some "BALLS" to challenge who is doing the selling! "I'm just sayin'"

A Warped POV by A. Dacosta Brathway

December 31st, Saturday... OK. It is only fitting for me to be watching the HISTORY channel, with a program talking about marijuana and how it is distributed throughout America. So, 9 to 1 Blacks & Hispanics to Whites are arrested for marijuana possession. I was not surprised to hear that. But, when I looked up to see a dude delivering marijuana to a cat who called him to bring it by like he was bringing the dude his dry cleaning... OK, hurry up 2011... Get out of the way so that I can make my attitude adjustment for 2012. I'm doing a whole different thing next year!
I ONLY resolution is that I am not doing it like I did previously. I'm flipping my personality! I may become a marvel to modern medical science! I plan to act "chilled" like someone who is on marijuana without smoking marijuana! I understand "double standard" America. I get racism. I know bigots still exist. Yes, I suffer from race, age and general discrimination. I know I'm not liked by everyone. My walk with Jesus Christ is croaked. I'm set in my ways and I don't really give a fuck about much anymore. Those are the qualities of someone who smokes marijuana minus the munchies! So, that's my plan and I sticking to it!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A Warped POV by A. Dacosta Brathway

December 10th, Saturday... I'm watching a show called "Life After..." and it reviews the career of selected Black celebrities from "back in the day!" Jayne Kennedy, who was the first Black woman to co-host NFL Today, and the first Black woman to be on the cover of PLAYBOY, was pretty much victimized in Hollywood just because she was Black and beautiful! Here you are born beautiful by the hand of GOD and you get treated like shit! I wonder if that is just an American thing?

A Warped POV by A. Dacosta Brathway

November 13th, Sunday... What's the point of watching 60 Minutes? Don't get me wrong... The 411 is all good. I love watching the "legal" criminals act like they have done nothing wrong (like the Congressmen and women I'm watching right now who trade on stocks based on inside info, that is supposed to be ILLEGAL!!!), get called on it by 60 Minutes reporters, and lie their collective asses off!
What saddens me is that no one black can do this without doing time! I mean, this shit has been going on since "time in memoriam! America was discovered with Indians on the land and a whole reservation (city, town, what???), the discoverers are met at the shore, offered food and shelter and they kill the Indians and steal the land! What the f--k?
Last time I heard, there was a recession going on and all I have seen around where I live is massive construction on roads and housing. Gas prices are through the roof and SUV's are bumping me off the road! Hell, I have (Black) women turning their noses up at me as they pass me in their Mercedes Benz's!
So, I have decided to stop watching 60 Minutes because I am tired of the truth! Keep the lies coming, like the Kardashians!

A Warped POV by A. Dacosta Brathway

January 31st, Saturday/ Happy New Year everybody! (I'm saying this like I have a whole bunch of readers!) Anyway, another year has gone by and I am truly blessed to have been allowed passage. My whole opinion has flipped since Obama slid in as President> What the France? What is going on? How did that happen? Is change really coming or am I just caught up in a weird dream that I cannot wake up from?
Don't get me wrong. I'm feeling the change but I am not feeling like because Obama is Black, Black folks in America have some sort of an advantage. I mean, I'm thinking that if I went to the White House, they would still frisk me down and ask me what the f#&k do I want with him? There are still some people who are angry that Obama got in. Here's some advice: Get over it because he can do no worse than Bush! We're lucky he even wants the job! And, squash all the talk about being qualified for the job and being ready for what is ahead. It may take 2 presidents to straighten this sh!t out! If the condition of the country was such a priority, the Texas cowboy should not have been allowed 2 terms! But hey... Let's be real. This is America! There is still racial prejudice and racial profiling and biased opinions and bigotry and deception and whatever else that is vital to keeping our great country divided. Black President, White President... What's the difference? Save some of that negative energy when a Hispanic gets in, then a White woman will get in then maybe a white gay woman will get in or maybe even a Black gay man... What do I care? I'll be dead by then.

A Slice of Burnt Apple Pie by A. Dacosta Brathway

Well rounded fruit w/ a seedy core,
harvested & brought on ships
to bore...
to maintain cheap cost labor
& preserve the favor
of the mindset
of that time...
Looked upon as the
acceptable flavor
when cooked in the Southern ovens
of the cotton fields...
Baked just right
until the crust darkens
& hardens...
w/out pardons until the work is done!
False perceptions fed to like minds,
holding the image of a false Utopia,
living said lifestyle
as the juice drips slowly
from the cracks in between the crust
on the window sills of the big White House.
Sunday mornin' breakfast
is just the right time,
to quarter and make a point
to teach the lesson
by dividing the joints
& dispersed among the gods around the table
to enjoy the fruit of your labor
while you sing freedom songs in the mud
& mourn the loss of your religion & your manhood.

Funny how time just seals all wounds
but the pain still lingers as the experience
is all relative.
"Things are so much better!"
they say while you psychologically suffer,
all ignorant to your mental illness.
Back in the day you came from inventors,
now reduced to relentors
as your History escapes you because of your lack of focus,
watching the daze go by.
Used to be a welcomed sight,
indigenous & all,
now an eyesore as gentrification sets in.
The technology has replaced you
& is less labor intensive,
yet far more entertaining
'cause the "new sex" is on cable TV,
brought to you by BET
or whomever else is shooting
the new rump shaker video
& Master Bates indulges in the new taboo.

(c) A. Dacosta Brathway 2008

CRAP/ My Journal by Al Brathway

June 5th, Thursday/ Well, Independence Day, '07 is in the books and I have to admit that I'm feeling more independent than I've felt in a long time! I'm no closer to getting a job than I was yesterday, I still don't have a girlfriend, and I'm broke! Yet, w/out those things, I am free! Somehow what we crave, as human beings, enslaves us. I was watching some of the fireworks shows last night and it amazed me how many people were singing God Bless America w/ such joyful looks on their faces. We're in a war, gas prices are through the roof, and global warming is killing us, literally, and we THINK we're free! [I guess there is a difference between being free and being independent...(?)] Being black makes me sensitive to anything that I think enslaves me (I need to see a therapist about that!) and the shit that is going on now is really fucking w/ my head! But, what is cool about America is I can go through whatever drama that is in front of me, fact or fiction, and no one will give a fuck because w/out the things I mentioned I don't have means I don't count in America anyway! I guess God IS blessing America! We probably shouldn't waste what precious time we have left by worrying about things that would and should concern us in the distant future or anytime really. We're, already, the walking dead! So I should understand what it is when another American looks me in the face, in passing, and does not see me at all!/ CRAP!

CRAP/ My Journal by Al Brathway

July 3rd, Tuesday/ I got up this morning and immediately turned on the TV. I caught a video of Green Day singing their song "Working Class Hero" and I thought of how I used to think about fixing America... Not changing it... Fixing it! What happened to those thoughts? I grew up in the '60's when America was going through a big social transition. Black folks were in a revolutionary frame of mind. White folks were turning into hippie types... It was about people becoming politically aware and feeling the pulse of a nation. Granted, it was not a perfect America but it was fixible! I grew up with that thought firmly planted in my brain./ The song ended and I changed the channel. I caught the beginning of the new Paula Abdul Show and saw her fawning over some diamond jewelry valued at $1,500,000.00 and she had some little dogs running around. She commented that she hoped the dogs did not try to eat the jewelry, with a little chuckle... (Mind you, she left the jewelry on her bed and allowed the dogs to jump all over that bed!) And, like on cue, one of her dogs tried to swallow a diamond ring!/ It was at that moment that I no longer felt like I wanted to fix America (over 30 years of thoughts down the fucking drain!). Americans seem to be too stupid to be fixed! With the activity going on in West Africa about the diamond trade... You know, children losing their lives for a nugget and all... It would have been a shame if that dog swallowed that ring. Would it have been worth it that the kid that got his ass killed, die only to have some untrained dog of the infamous Paula Abdul swallow it? What would have been the point to die for that? CRAP!

CRAP/ My Journal by Al Brathway

June 16th Saturday/ What price America? The other day I went to visit some friends at my old job. As I was leaving I was stopped by a guy soliciting for Greenpeace. He ran some smack on me about saving the planet... A noble cause. As I listened, the logic of it hit me like a shot. The planet is failing and I'm a part of the planet; therefore, I am failing! I'm not a joiner but I found myself going with the flow. As he handed me the clip board to sign up, I asked him what would it take for me to become a member. It was then that he said the magic words: "Where do you work?" When I told him that I did not have a job, he snatched the clip board from me and thanked me for my time (which I have because I don't have a job). Ain't that a bitch? In America, you can't do shit without a job! Here I am thinking that I will break my policy of not being a "joiner" and become a member of an organization dedicated to saving the world... And I can't get down because I don't work! Global warming is killing the Earth because of Man's insensitive abuses and I can't help save it because I don't work. I CAN help out because I have the time because I don't work but I can't help out because I have the time because I don't work! Catch 22 my ass! CRAP!