Words one year later

This is the first anniversary of More Explore, the blog that I have culivated the most over the various blogs that I have.

My first entry was simply: words.

I currently have archived over 200 entries.

I plan to keep cultivating it as well as put together a print version.

Happy Birthday More Explore.

Apparently I am...

Evil




How evil are you?

Talk about branding

"A name you can trust, with results achieved through hard work"

I found this at the late quarterback Johnny Unitas's website.

In Unitas' post-football years he made some money the way many people seem to in their later years-in real estate. This quote is on the website for his realty company, which of course is Unitas Realty.

I really like the sound of it. The sentiment is very "old school," which is somewhat disturbing if we consider it to be an outdated sentiment.

In our era where many things are marketing and everything has to have a "brand," I think that this is a kind of brand that I would like to aspire to be.

My song for 2005

Well, I do like Green Day....
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Your 2005 Song Is

Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day "My shadow's the only one that walks beside me My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating" In 2005, you bummed everyone out. Like you care.

What Hit Song of 2005 Are You?

Yule-December 21

I honestly feel like going...

"On the first morning of the day of pagan Christmas and all through the house many creatures were stirring, even the mouse.
Everyone was lining up their shoes wilth care
Because they would have to walk more than one mile to work and brave the winter air.
The New York Transit strike is in its second day,
While Damon's trade to the Yankees has left many Boston fans with a lot to say.
(and not any of it good...)"

Writing poetry was never a strong suit of mine. I appreciate it but I don't "live it" the way some people do.

All I can really say about the transit strike is...some people will actually add years to their lives by actually walking.

If we were talking LA or another city where walking or biking can be difficult, I might be more angry at the striking union workers. However, we are talking New York, reportedly "the most walkable city in the country."

I do feel for people who live further out, where walking or biking is not feasable.
I also feel for those who are on their feet overnight or all day and whose only respite is their seat on the bus or train. I used to be one of those people a long time ago, so I know all about that.

Also, it is cold. Real cold. Wind chill factor cold. Walking when it is that kind of cold is no fun at all. The weather will be coming up a few degrees over the next few days. That should help.

I am not fan of transit workers. At least, not of many MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority) workers. It has been one month and one week since I complained about the T worker who mugged me in the station and was told by the MBTA police that they would keep me apprised of whether this person would be reprimanded by the T. I have yet to hear from the head of the Red Line or even the Complaint Department.

However, how are unions supposed to get their point across that they are serious? If the workers did not strike, then they would have had to settle for whatever the authority would have handed them. I do wonder what has changed. I can see animosity in regards to players being paid millions of dollars threatening a strike.
The workers just want fair and equitable benefits. Admittedly, transit workers put up with a lot from the public. They put up with far more than regular people do and while many are not too poor, they are not pulling in millions of dollars.

If these workers were so disposable, the Mayor Bloomberg would stop shaking his finger and the authority would just hire workers to replace the striking workers, otherwise known as "scabs." However, they are talking about jailing the union leaders...which will then make them martyrs and the strike carries on?


I don't know where and when this strike will end. I hope that it will result in people wanting to walk more because it's healthier and in people taking time not to cheat the toll collector opr bus driver when they can actually pay.

Reply to a post

AAEA or African American Environmentalist Association I first found out about them at their MSN Group. They also have a blog that I read regulary. I know that for some and "African American Environmentalist Association" seems like an oxymoron. Well there are many that care about and are active in environmental issues. I came across this post at their blog:
http://aaenvironment.blogspot.com/2005/12/environment-of-many-black-women.html

and feel compelled to make plain my views on this topic.



Uhhh...as a Black woman who is approaching the age bracket I would say that I would say while it is good to have companionship-a lover-it is not the end all and be all. The situation is what it is. Instead of directing anger at Black men who for whatever reason is not into you, be thankful that you have a life and choices and the ability to give and to receive love.I am tired of hearing complaints about what a sin it is for a Black man to be gay or underemployed or into [insert the name of any race except Black] women. What I don't hear enough of are the Black women who are successful and who have carved out lives for themselves and careers that they are happy with. I drives me nuts that the message to the next generation of girls is that no matter how successful you are and how productive a citizen you are, it means nothing unless you have a man in your life. then you are complete.I also do note that apparently this except speaks to the "plight" of heterosexual Black women who are not gay or bisexual or who are facing a serious illness or that may choose to accept the love and respect of a man who is not Black. A plight that I am sure is real but in many cases is not seeing the forest for the trees.Adoption is an option in regards to children. Last I checked there is an overflowing list of children who seek a loving parent to adopt. Artificial insemenation (ai) is another option for those who want children but who do not wish to adopt.You can also mentor or become a foster parent. By the way, no one "turns" to lesbianism. Your sexuality is just a part of who you are. Just like no one "turns" to heterosexualism. Such a statement is demonstrates misinformation about lesbians and bisexuals. At the end of the day, whether you have the perfect ideal nuclear family with that perfect Black man or not, you die ALONE. You have one shot at life. You can spend it caterwauling about things that you either cannot or should not control and how things should be or you can be thankful for what you have, let go of what didn't work and learn from it and be the author of your own story with you as a hero that is fulfilled by what you accomplished during your time as person.

Get Out

Last night I arrived home after trekking in the cold and slush. I once again vowed never to depend on public transportation again. I was also cursing myself because I allowed my stomach to rule my head. (I decided to buy dinner at the Store 24 instead of forego it).

As I waited for the pot pie I purchased to bake, I picked up a well worn book I had unearthed some time ago. The title is Women Who Run With the Wolves. It is by Clarissa Pinkola Estés. Dr. Estés is a therapist (one of many talents) who has used stories and myths to as a methods of teaching life lessons.

I just happened to open to the section that concerned the story of The Little Match Girl. The Little Match Girl sold matches on the street to bring in money or else risked getting beat by her father who did not seem to care that his daughter was cold and underfed. She goes through the city trying to sell matches to people who are clearly not interested. It gets colder and later. She has not sold the matches and she cannot go home without the money. She sits on the stoop of a building. Across the street she sees a family inside a house celebrating the holidays season. It is a house filled with love, comfort and warmth-things that she does not have. As she gets colder, she begins to strike the matches to try to stay warm. She begins to daydream. Then she begans to run out of matches. Then, her grandmother appears before her. She comforts her and they ascend in a blaze of light. The next morning, the girl is found dead on the stoop.

Dr. Estés' reading of the story is that this girl made decisions that just kept backing herself into corners. She also kept avoiding her problem by daydreaming instead of finding real and practical solutions to her problems.

For example, the girl lit the matches to keep warm instead of knocking on the doors of the homes around her and asking for shelter. Instead of asking people for help (real shelter, a job, some food) she was trying to sell them matches. People, especially females, engage in this behaviour far too often and then live half-lived lives because of it.

Dr. Estés also reminds us that if you are in an untenable situation-you need to get out. What is 'untenable'? Any situation where you are not nutured, where you are beaten down, where you cannot thrive, where the cost of remaining far outweighs the cost of making a clean break.

The Match Girl lived with a father who did not care about her unless she brought home money from selling matches, which he did not share with her. He also beat her when she did not sell any matches.

The Match Girl was also trying to sell matches to people who clearly were not interested in what she was selling. More importantly, they did not care about the fact that there was a hungry, cold child out on the streets selling matches when she should be at home, warm and cared for.

The girl's response to everything was to just go into a corner and give herself up to comforting daydreams. Thus she died, which solved her immediate problems of food and shelter but oh, what she could have been!

One of the last lessons that adults learn as they become adults is when to move on. When to leave or at least, when to leave situations that are just not working.
We all have a very real fear of the unknown or of making a mistake-especially if we grew up in the "Bests the Dead Horse Clan."

As mentioned before, we only have one shot. It is best to live it on your own terms, which may vary from person to person. Living a half-lived life wrapped in comforting daydreams on the sidelines in an environment that you are not thriving in is definitely not living.