So I'm driving home from work yesterday on (Eminem's famed) 8 Mile Road, stuck at a red light behind a semi, wall to wall cars, and feeling pretty pissed about all the other assholes who are in my way, when I look to my right and I see a sign in big, bold, red letters: Oumy's African Braiding and...Tax Services.
How cool is that? I can stop in and while I'm getting my weave I can have my taxes done, too.
You know, our conservative friends talk about making America great again but if you ask me, Oumy's is proof that we still are.
Peace,
emaycee
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Friday, March 11, 2016
Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. LXIII--David Gray: Babylon
True story: I don't like to dwell on it much (for obvious reasons), but I was treated for severe depression in the late 90's. For those who have never had the pleasure, after a lot of medication and a little therapy you reach a point where you can see a little light at the end of the tunnel. It's as far away as fucking Pluto, mind you, but that little speck gives you hope that maybe you can again lead a somewhat normal life. Thing is, though, that you just don't know. You can be cruising along for three weeks feeling good and--snap of the fingers--that quick a bad day makes you bone crushingly numb again.
Flash forward to a very early (as in six a.m.) Saturday morning in May of 2001. I'm driving to work, to open the store at a Kmart in Fort Wayne. The last year of my life has been one of upheaval--moving from a place I loved (St. Louis), leaving my kids behind, being a zillion dollars in debt, living with my Mom at the age of 42, and massively failing at a dream. Winter is coming to a close and it's warm outside so I've got the windows down and I'm cruising down the road when "Babylon" by David Gray comes on the radio. I've heard it a couple of times before and I think it's got a lot of potential so I crank the radio and pretty soon I'm singing along to "Babylon" like I've actually got a talent for singing. When I pull into the parking lot I park my car in the back 40 and begin my trek to the front door. For whatever reason I can't stop singing and about ten steps in I raise my hands in the air--a la Andy Dufresne after he climbs out of the sewer in The Shawshank Redemption--and I'm singing the chorus nice and loud while I'm sashaying through the lot and when I hit the front door I stick in the key and I realize, down to my very soul, that despite everything that's happened I'm going to be okay, that I'm going to make it.
And I did--and such can be the power of music.
Mercifully for those of you reading this, David Gray has had a quiet if quite successful (at least in his native England) music career so I can keep the rest of this short. His career started in 1993 and was without much fanfare until he released his fourth LP, White Ladder, in 2001 (whence came "Babylon"). It became a huge success in England (#1), had a modicum of success here in the States ("Babylon" hit # 57--with a bullet!--on the Billboard Hot 100), and over the course of the next several years he'd have two more #1 LPs in England. He's released over 10 LPs to date, and is still recording and peforming.
What captures me most about "Babylon" is the imagery of the lyrics--Gray paints a picture of a man chasing love, and on Friday he's driving around town thinking of her and "the lights are changing green to red", Saturday he's still driving but the "lights are changing red to green," and by Sunday he's still chasing her but now it's the entire sky that's changing. They're just lovely metaphors for the way your heart fluctuates when you're trying to figure out that whole being in love thing. Gray's vocals are incredibly heartfelt, the music is catchy as all hell, and the chorus is repeated often (an emaycee fave). It's probably a lot more personal to me than most, but it's still a hell of a single--and I can guarantee you there's a Babylon out there for all of us.
Words and music: "Let go your heart/Let go your head/And feel it now...Babylon...."
Enjoy:
Peace,
emaycee
Flash forward to a very early (as in six a.m.) Saturday morning in May of 2001. I'm driving to work, to open the store at a Kmart in Fort Wayne. The last year of my life has been one of upheaval--moving from a place I loved (St. Louis), leaving my kids behind, being a zillion dollars in debt, living with my Mom at the age of 42, and massively failing at a dream. Winter is coming to a close and it's warm outside so I've got the windows down and I'm cruising down the road when "Babylon" by David Gray comes on the radio. I've heard it a couple of times before and I think it's got a lot of potential so I crank the radio and pretty soon I'm singing along to "Babylon" like I've actually got a talent for singing. When I pull into the parking lot I park my car in the back 40 and begin my trek to the front door. For whatever reason I can't stop singing and about ten steps in I raise my hands in the air--a la Andy Dufresne after he climbs out of the sewer in The Shawshank Redemption--and I'm singing the chorus nice and loud while I'm sashaying through the lot and when I hit the front door I stick in the key and I realize, down to my very soul, that despite everything that's happened I'm going to be okay, that I'm going to make it.
And I did--and such can be the power of music.
Mercifully for those of you reading this, David Gray has had a quiet if quite successful (at least in his native England) music career so I can keep the rest of this short. His career started in 1993 and was without much fanfare until he released his fourth LP, White Ladder, in 2001 (whence came "Babylon"). It became a huge success in England (#1), had a modicum of success here in the States ("Babylon" hit # 57--with a bullet!--on the Billboard Hot 100), and over the course of the next several years he'd have two more #1 LPs in England. He's released over 10 LPs to date, and is still recording and peforming.
What captures me most about "Babylon" is the imagery of the lyrics--Gray paints a picture of a man chasing love, and on Friday he's driving around town thinking of her and "the lights are changing green to red", Saturday he's still driving but the "lights are changing red to green," and by Sunday he's still chasing her but now it's the entire sky that's changing. They're just lovely metaphors for the way your heart fluctuates when you're trying to figure out that whole being in love thing. Gray's vocals are incredibly heartfelt, the music is catchy as all hell, and the chorus is repeated often (an emaycee fave). It's probably a lot more personal to me than most, but it's still a hell of a single--and I can guarantee you there's a Babylon out there for all of us.
Words and music: "Let go your heart/Let go your head/And feel it now...Babylon...."
Enjoy:
Peace,
emaycee
Thursday, March 10, 2016
Pull your head out of your ass, Hillary!
I happily voted for Bernie Sanders yesterday and was genuinely glad he won the Michigan Presidential Primary, but I still think Hillary Clinton is going to be our nominee come November and that she's going to win the general election easily regardless of which bozo the republicans choose to be their candidate.
That being said, it does fill me with just a little doubt to watch what happened in Michigan and to read that, frankly, Secy. Clinton just got outworked and outmaneuvered here and lost what was an imminently winnable election for her. In fairness to her, Michigan polling is notoriously awful, but still she had to know that Sen. Sanders campaign is an extreme grassroots operation and that he'd have half the college kids in the state out knocking on doors for him. Christ, she didn't even open an office in Ann Arbor, which is only the third largest city in the state and a Democratic stronghold (she carried Democrats 58-40).
Now perhaps this is only a bump in the road that will keep Sanders in the race to keep pushing Clinton leftward so we can hold her feet to the fire once she's in the White House; perhaps it's a much needed wake-up call; perhaps the Clinton campaign is already focusing on November's opponent (rhymes with "dump"); as for myself, in an election this important, against in all likelihood an extremist republican candidate, I'd really hope that our presumed nominee and her staff are crossing all the t's and dotting all the i's.
Because failure is not a fucking option.
Peace,
emaycee
That being said, it does fill me with just a little doubt to watch what happened in Michigan and to read that, frankly, Secy. Clinton just got outworked and outmaneuvered here and lost what was an imminently winnable election for her. In fairness to her, Michigan polling is notoriously awful, but still she had to know that Sen. Sanders campaign is an extreme grassroots operation and that he'd have half the college kids in the state out knocking on doors for him. Christ, she didn't even open an office in Ann Arbor, which is only the third largest city in the state and a Democratic stronghold (she carried Democrats 58-40).
Now perhaps this is only a bump in the road that will keep Sanders in the race to keep pushing Clinton leftward so we can hold her feet to the fire once she's in the White House; perhaps it's a much needed wake-up call; perhaps the Clinton campaign is already focusing on November's opponent (rhymes with "dump"); as for myself, in an election this important, against in all likelihood an extremist republican candidate, I'd really hope that our presumed nominee and her staff are crossing all the t's and dotting all the i's.
Because failure is not a fucking option.
Peace,
emaycee
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
I voted for Bernie Sanders today...
This is how I felt after I voted for Bernie Sanders this morning:
I'll gladly support Hillary Clinton in the fall, but for today I can honestly tell you that happiness is indeed the truth.
And Bernie won the Wolverine State, to boot.
Peace,
emaycee
I'll gladly support Hillary Clinton in the fall, but for today I can honestly tell you that happiness is indeed the truth.
And Bernie won the Wolverine State, to boot.
Peace,
emaycee
Monday, March 7, 2016
Um, about that...
I started a new job this past week, and as such, I was required to watch a series of training videos covering numerous workplace topics. One of the videos was "[Company Name] Is Pro Associate" in which we newbies were treated to the company telling us that they weren't really anti-union but that we should talk to a manager before signing a union card. Heck, unions mean a third party in our negotiations, union dues, and more rules and regulation for you. And did we mention you have to pay union dues? Forget that it's a fact that union members make considerably more money and have much better benefit packages--you have to pay dues. Dues, people, dues!
Want to know the best part of it, though? The people voicing the company's nonunion talking points were actors and actresses who in all likelihood belong to the Screen Actors Guild--a union that fights for better wages and health benefits for actors and actresses.
Sometimes in this world the irony can be overwhelming.
Peace,
emaycee
Want to know the best part of it, though? The people voicing the company's nonunion talking points were actors and actresses who in all likelihood belong to the Screen Actors Guild--a union that fights for better wages and health benefits for actors and actresses.
Sometimes in this world the irony can be overwhelming.
Peace,
emaycee
Sunday, March 6, 2016
Yuuuuge
For all of our hand wringing over republican obstructionism concerning President Obama's upcoming nomination of a new Supreme Court justice, I truly believe that eventually it will be considered one of the biggest political blunders in American political history.
For one, as the republican party implodes it's looking more and more like we're going to have a Democratic administration come January 2017. Anyone who thinks Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders is going to appease republicans with a moderate candidate (as President Obama perhaps might if republicans would meet him halfway) is absolutely kidding themselves. I'm guessing we're talking someone in the mold of Ruth Bader Ginsburg when Clinton or Sanders make their choice to replace Scalia.
Second, the American people have an innate sense of fairness, and very few of them--even republican voters--aren't seeing through the republican bullshit. Barack Obama was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2012 and he serves through January 2017 and most Americans believe the choice for the next Supreme Court Justice is and rightfully should be his.
This may well have a huge impact on who controls the Senate come next year--republican Senators are taking a beating over their obstructionism and even republican Senate stalwarts like John McCain and Chuck Grassley have seen their approval numbers plummet. While I doubt either McCain or Grassley will find themselves unemployed next January both could easily lose the crossover Democratic voters they usually garner which would make their races considerably tighter--and the tighter the races the more money republicans are going to have to spend on Senate campaigns that could have been won easily. And that means less money for Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, New Hampshire, and Illinois--races where Democrats are probably even money (if not better) to win.
And that's before Democratic Senate candidates start hammering their opponents with ads over their Supreme Court obstructionism.
Mark my words: republicans will long rue the day they took this track.
Peace,
emaycee
For one, as the republican party implodes it's looking more and more like we're going to have a Democratic administration come January 2017. Anyone who thinks Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders is going to appease republicans with a moderate candidate (as President Obama perhaps might if republicans would meet him halfway) is absolutely kidding themselves. I'm guessing we're talking someone in the mold of Ruth Bader Ginsburg when Clinton or Sanders make their choice to replace Scalia.
Second, the American people have an innate sense of fairness, and very few of them--even republican voters--aren't seeing through the republican bullshit. Barack Obama was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2012 and he serves through January 2017 and most Americans believe the choice for the next Supreme Court Justice is and rightfully should be his.
This may well have a huge impact on who controls the Senate come next year--republican Senators are taking a beating over their obstructionism and even republican Senate stalwarts like John McCain and Chuck Grassley have seen their approval numbers plummet. While I doubt either McCain or Grassley will find themselves unemployed next January both could easily lose the crossover Democratic voters they usually garner which would make their races considerably tighter--and the tighter the races the more money republicans are going to have to spend on Senate campaigns that could have been won easily. And that means less money for Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, New Hampshire, and Illinois--races where Democrats are probably even money (if not better) to win.
And that's before Democratic Senate candidates start hammering their opponents with ads over their Supreme Court obstructionism.
Mark my words: republicans will long rue the day they took this track.
Peace,
emaycee
Saturday, March 5, 2016
A very real silent majority
I happened to be watching some news story about a Donald Trump rally and in the background you could see some bozo holding a sign which proclaimed that he was part of the "silent majority." If you're a student of politics, you know this silent majority bullshit was first expressed by noted psychopath and only American President to resign in disgrace, Richard Nixon, and is a republican rallying cry for idiots who really are too ignorant to realize that the majority of Americans actually don't fucking agree with them.
Anyhoo, I was thinking about it because my wife, who is the least political person I know (she only votes in Presidential elections and really doesn't spend more than two minutes a year thinking about politics) nearly knocked me out of my chair the other day when she told me that she couldn't believe people were actually stupid enough to vote for Donald Trump and that she found these people quite disconcerting.
Methinks Donald Trump and his minions are going to be mighty surprised this November to discover that the real silent majority in America is going to be folks who think a lot more like my wife than those who gobble up what passes for wisdom uttered from the lips of the Donald.
Peace,
emaycee
Anyhoo, I was thinking about it because my wife, who is the least political person I know (she only votes in Presidential elections and really doesn't spend more than two minutes a year thinking about politics) nearly knocked me out of my chair the other day when she told me that she couldn't believe people were actually stupid enough to vote for Donald Trump and that she found these people quite disconcerting.
Methinks Donald Trump and his minions are going to be mighty surprised this November to discover that the real silent majority in America is going to be folks who think a lot more like my wife than those who gobble up what passes for wisdom uttered from the lips of the Donald.
Peace,
emaycee
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