Far Away Performance

If you haven't seen it already, check out this video of me rapping with the band from my Bible study group up at SVSU. It's an adaptation of Lecrae's "Far Away."

Video Link Here

It's a little hard to hear the words, but the lyrics are in the description to help to follow along. Let me know what you think!

Fight With Tools--"There's a War Going on For Your Mind"

I love this piece of spoken word from the intro to the Flobots cd "Fight With Tools." Thought it was worth sharing.


There's A War Going On For Your Mind

Media mavens mount surgical strikes from trapper keeper collages and online magazine racks
Cover girl cutouts throw up pop-up ads
Infecting victims with silicone shrapnel
Worldwide passenger pigeons deploy paratroopers
Now it's raining pornography
Lovers take shelter
Post-production debutantes pursue you in Nascar chariots
They construct ransom letters from Biblical passages and bleed mascara into the holy water
supply

There's a war going on for your mind

Industry insiders slang test tube babies to corporate crack heads
They flash logos and blast ghettos
Their embroidered neckties say "Stop Snitchin"
Conscious rappers and whistle blowers get stitches made of acupuncture needles and marionette
strings

There is a war going on for your mind

Professional wrestlers and vice presidents want you to believe them
The desert sky is their blue screen
They superimpose explosions
They shout at you
"Pay no attention to the men behind the barbed curtain
Nor the craters beneath the draped flags
Those hoods are there for your protection
And meteors these days are the size of corpses"

There's a war going on for your mind

Pride

Often when people talk about pride, it’s from the standpoint of having too much and needing to be humble. If I may, I’d like to talk about it from another angle—healthy pride.

It is so important in this life to try to figure out who we are as people. A big part of this is developing a sense of being proud of ourselves and the things we hold dear to us. Very often, I look back at who I was, even just a few short years ago. I wasn’t proud of the person I was, but over time I made sure that I developed into someone that I could be proud of—someone that I hope others can honestly say they are proud to know. When I was a younger teenager, I had to do a lot of catching up and growing. I spent a lot of time being fed up and losing hope. I felt awkward. At times, I just didn’t care about much anything. But all the while I knew that there was some form of greatness within me that I just needed to tap in to (and I’m sure this sounds quite typical and/or cliché, but there’s more to it. Maybe we’ll come back to this later…).

I am the type of person that believes in putting my all into whatever it is I get myself into. If I’m not in it, then I have a hard time being motivated to do it at all. A few months ago, a good friend got me involved with dancing—west coast swing. And I love it. I can barely put into words what it feels like for me to dance. I can feel myself getting better at it and growing continually. Every time is a new experience. And there’s so much support in the dance community; it is truly a beautiful thing. I am so proud of myself as a dancer, the club at SVSU that I am a part of (Music n Motion, w00t w00t!), the people who have taught me, and the dance itself.

Also, I am learning to take pride in my writing. Four years ago, I wasn’t even writing poetry. And when I tried, I was terrible at it. I have come so far, and I know that I am still beginning. Just a day or so ago, I wrote a poem that I honestly believe to be the best one I have written yet. I can feel the power in it, and I know that I love it beyond just being its author.

Having healthy pride is so important, and I’m sure this is a topic I will revisit with more specific emphases.

Still, there are things that I am working on, as far as taking pride in myself and who I am. But, I am working on fixing the things that can be fixed, and accepting those that I cannot.

Shame is an ugly thing.

Mediocrity

One thing that bugs me more than anything is complacency. There's this idea that floats around that makes us think we don't need to rise up. This constantly conflicts with our ingrained desire to achieve. The contradiction forces us to fight against our nature and decide who we want to be. The result: a ton of people who don't make any effort to change the world on any scale, or even become something on a personal scale. People settle for making it by instead of realizing that they deserve the best, and it's sad.

I'm sure this is a topic I will often revisit, especially in the context of race.

The way I was raised, I was never used to going out of my way to achieve. I was blessed to be book-smart, so achievement in school wasn't a problem. I was circumstantially permitted to do very well in martial arts at a young age. But, I didn't realize for a long time how important it was to push myself past my natural ability or how things already were.

Some people say that they believe they can accomplish anything. I do not, but I love proving myself wrong.

It's sad how often people fall into a broken mindset. Our souls become crippled through life experiences and negativity. Then often when we do achieve, not everyone, if anyone, is supportive.

I saw this quote as part of a piece of art once:

"The higher we soar, the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly"

I don't mind appearing small, because I have become someone that I can be proud of.

Welcome

Today I decided that I need to do something worthwhile with myself over the summer. I suppose this is the start.

My purpose for starting this blog is twofold. Firstly, it is a personal thing. It will help me get my thoughts out in some type of semi-organized manner while keeping up the flow of writing something so that I don't get rusty. Kind of a release type of thing, like an open book journal. But what good is an open book without a reader? Hopefully, someone, somewhere will read this so that my outlet doesn't fall upon deaf ears. This is also for you, the reader. Hopefully you can find something that is interesting and/or helpful. Most of what I talk about (or blog about, I suppose) will be about my values, things I have observed, things that bug me, God and religion, music, movies, or whatever else I feel needs to be shared, which many times will probably be a ton of random stuff. The goal is to broaden my perspective and hopefully, in turn, help to broaden the perspective of anyone who might be reading.

I wish to uphold my motto of changing the world one person at a time, beginning with myself.

Welcome to Life Through This Window.