I am on a little bit of a break. #punswild.
Archive for October, 2009
The mastermind of the 2002 Washington, DC-area sniper attacks will die by lethal injection next month, Virginia officials said Tuesday.
John Allen Muhammad declined to choose between lethal injection and electrocution, so under state law the method defaults to lethal injection, Virginia Department of Corrections spokesman Larry Traylor said.
Muhammad is scheduled to be executed Nov. 10 for the October 2002 slaying of Dean Harold Meyers at a Manassas gas station during a string of shootings.
The three-week killing spree in October 2002 left 10 dead in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
Muhammad and his teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, were also suspected of shootings in several other states, including a killing in Louisiana and another in Alabama. Malvo is serving a life sentence in prison.
Muhammad’s lawyers have asked the Virginia governor for clemency and plan to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court early next month.
I need some fuel. I need some “W’s”. I feel like a REALLY good team with a losing record and a super fresh logo in a dope city that deserves a winning franchise.
The win is coming. It sounds like the craziest thing to hear when you are in the valley, but is it any crazier than not remembering the valley when you are on the peak? I have had days where I couldn’t afford the subway, #punswild (the train or a $5 foot long). But on the days when I have so much food on my plate that I need a dogie bag I don’t remember the famine. Whatever you are doing, keep doing it. Keep fighting. Keep trying.
Press on towards the mark.
27
Oct
09
Here’s to Life
My Great Aunt Sarah turned 105 years old on December 10, 2008 and this year to celebrate her 106th birthday she has decided to publish a book. You can purchase it here.
This is a video that I #LapTaped last year when I visited her at the rest home prior to the book’s national release.
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…she was out saving the world. This is one of my best friends on this planet, and I can’t even keep up with her. We go in on some BBM at least once a week or so, but I understand. I’m busy…and she’s saving the world.
The full article is onNewsweek.com
Brought to you by the people at georgetwopointoh.com and The LapTape
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22
Oct
09
How I got to Homecoming…i think.
Do you remember the movie follow that bird? Probably not. As a matter of fact, until about five years ago I thought that I had imagined it. But from what I remember, it was Big Bird from Sesame Street just trying to get home. [old record player needle drop]
“Sunny day/Sunny Day/Sweepin’ the clouds away/On my way to where the air is sweet/Can you tell me how to get/to 830 Westview Street…”
The day started off with an audition in Philly. I got the call the night before from Vi.
“George can you go in tomorrow at 2pm for a _________audition?”
My flight was set to leave Atlantic City at 2:58, so I asked Vi to ask them if I could go in first thing that morning. They said cool, so I went in. Audition was great. I read with three other “Philly natives” and got to meet an old casting director friend of mine from Many Moons ago.
But after that it all went bad. I had already secured a ride to the train station, a train that admittedly, I had reservations about as I had only ridden it once or twice before. But no matter, I got out of the audition early and had plenty of time to spare…until my ride canceled on me. So began the frantic thumbing through the phone to find somebody, anybody that could get me to the train. I needed to get there immediately.
I called one of my favorite cousins, [the one with a 2 year old and a 5month old] as if she had nothing else that she could be doing that day. Then I hit up the ATM. It is always good to roll out with a little cash in your hand…you never know what might happen. Truer words have never been spoken. 
I get to the train station and it looks as desolate as any street ever has. It is 12:50 when I walk to the train schedule board and see that the last train left 5 minutes ago and the next train wouldn’t arrive until 2:30. Do you remember what time my flight departs? That’s right kiddies 2:58.
“God, do the impossible.”
From the top of the platform comes the first ram in the bush. A tall black man, wearing an obviously-out-of-season straw hat, paces down the stairs to find me looking at the schedule board as if it would change if I stared at it long enough. After consulting with him, we decided that my best move would be to take the bus–whenever it shows up.
In that very second, the bus shows up.
Not knowing if I would make the flight, or where this bus was actually heading I decided to start tweeting . I called the series Tweeting Live Miracles (TLM) because I knew that God would work it out and I wanted to be a living witness. And the truth is, I needed to know that people were paying attention and praying.
Some of the tweets from the bus ride:
*About tweeting a miracle live, ride got caught up, called another, missed train, on bus that gets to ACity WHEN flight LEAVES. Stay tuned
*About #TLM, this bus does NOT go to the airport. “You’ll have to CALL a cab when you get there.” God loves to show off! #TGBTG #raminthebush
*About #TLM, updates, busdriver took my $20, didn’t have change. “I owe you $10.” If you are just tuning in, this is Tweeting Live Miracles.
*About #TLM, called Denny’s cab to meet me at train. Missing the flight affects my connection flight. #TGBTG Oh & guy behind me is an alien.
*About #TLM, “What do you mean the Atlantic City Int’l airport isn’t in Atlantic city??”. I must be on Curb your enthusiasm.
*About #TLM, cabbie says, “Your name George?… She tell u our fares? It’s $27 just to come out here and pick you up… Plus the fare.”
*About the bright side of #TLM, a flight change fee would be $75. This trip TO the airport is ONLY gonna $73. I’ll treat myself to a Mt. Dew.
*About #TLM, I’m at the gate early. $10 bus $73 cab $25 bag fee. Hey I asked Him to get me here. He did. What can I really say?
So I got on the flight, and the story’s over right? Wrong. Oh so wrong. My flight, which was the first of a two leg jaunt to Atlanta, was scheduled to connect in Ft. Lauderdale for a 7:something flight to the A. We landed and I deplaned to go sit in the main concourse and waste a little time before going to my connecting gate. The main concourse had free wireless and a Wendy’s so passing time was as easy as passing gas. About 2 hours into my 3 hour wait, I decided to be cautious and at least locate my boarding pass from the abyss of my many pockets.
This is the moment that would change everything.
My boarding pass said for me to go to gate H1. This alphanumeric combination jolted me, because all of the gates I’d seen were only numeric. So I boarded the in-airport train to go to ticketing to find out where I was supposed to be.
“Sir, your boarding pass says you were to have connected in Ft. Lauderdale. That was the stop after this one.”
Just then the smart ass intercom lady chimes in as if to confirm what was just settling in. I shouldn’t have deplaned. “Welcome to Orlando,” she said. As if that wasn’t enough droves and swarms and hoards of Mickey Mouse wearing high school students rushed by, arms extended taking pictures that would surely be in their facebook photo albums. They knew we were in Orlando.
“Becky who is that Black guy in the background of all your airport pictures looking like he’s going to kill somebody?”
I stood with my mouth open wide enough to fit my connecting flight inside of it. I had been sitting in Orlando for 3 excited hours waiting for my connection to Atlanta. I had BBM’d, texted, emailed, and called all of the Atliens saying I was “Already Home”. I was never more wrong. 
My connection is in Ft. Lauderdale. Correction, was in Ft Lauderdale. I missed it, because I got off in Orlando…where there are no flights to Ft Lauderdale… ever. My options, according to Diego the customer service agent that probably could have benefited from Morehouse’s new dress code, were to rent a car and drive to Ft. Lauderdale (3.5hrs) to catch a 9am flight to Atlanta or just drive all the way to Atlanta (5-6hrs) or purchase another flight. This is after the bus ride from hell to the train and the $73 cab ride from the train to the airport in Atlantic City.
In the 60 minutes that followed I broke..just a little. I am man enough to admit it. I was stranded in Orlando and the 3 people I called that I know live in the city WERE ALL OUT OF TOWN. I considered going back the way I’d come from and skipping the weekend, in fact it was #1 and #2 on my list.
But before I went home, I was going to window shop at every airline in that airport for a new ticket. I owed myself that much. I wasn’t going to let the Devil win…even though he had put in WORK.
I found a flight on Southwest for just under $200. Thank God they don’t charge for bags…oh that’s right, my bag is already checked into my hotel in Atlanta by now. As I write this, the sun is coming up over the Ft. Lauderdale airport and the crick in my neck [from sleeping on the chairs whose armrests’ sole purpose is to keep anybody from laying down comfortably] will probably never go away. In about 3 hours I will board a flight to Atlanta. Let’s pray I make it.
Total cost so far: we pushing $450… for a one way. 2 cars, a cab, a bus, 2 planes, and probably another train.
And that is how I got to Homecoming…I think.
*Oh and when you see me doing Homecoming doing it real GARGANTUAN, get on or get off. It’s like when you see someone catch the ghost at church, you don’t ask them why they are shouting. You just assume that they have been through a lot to get there and tell the choir to keep singin! [plays organ chord].
Black Love V: Intimacy tickets are PRE-SALE ONLY
http://www.blacklove.eventbrite.com
password: iminblacklove
The most important thing that art can do is inspire. The highest form of flattery is imitation. Songs are musical Time Capsules. Covers are cross cultural verification of a movement. For that reason, at least once a week, I am going to post my choice cover of a song that I like. Tune in! #punswild
20
Oct
09
Flight Patterns
A few years back, Jon Genius and I went to Studio 2F and recorded a four song Mixed Media EP because we felt like it. Then we put together these videos because we felt like it. I am reposting them now because…exactly.
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Ladies, I know you’ve seen my posting about finding your Winter Boo, and with the temperature dropping suddenly the past few days, many of you are scrambling. Don’t rush, there is nothing worse than impulse shopping when it comes to “leasing” a Winter Boo. Buy yourself some time. Buy yourself…a SNUGGIE! Oh SNUGGIE’s too corny for you? Doesn’t match your living room decor? Embarrassed to be swaddled in your SNUGGIE when company comes over?? Never fear, there’s a new Designer Series SNUGGIE just for you!
Few things are funnier,
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Black Love is…
Exclusive. Black Love is music that says it is okay to be close when you dance…it is candy and it is condoms. Black Love is top shelf and to the right…it is paying for an experience. Black Love is a reunion…it is being in the right place at the right time with the right people. Black Love starts when you get there…and leaves with you–early. Black Love is the smell on your collar the morning after. Black Love is a celebration that has been aged and must be poured annually in your honor.
Black Love is JUST US.
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15
Oct
09
Mr. Obama’s Prize
Taken from The Huffington Post
written by Christian Nwachukwu, Jr.
Once upon a time, not so long ago, and in a land right here, election to the Presidency of the United States of America was a big deal. But no longer. Now, elevation to head of government and state of the world’s only superpower is a humdrum affair, a middling measure of smallness deserving not of praise, but of scorn. Once upon a time, presidential elections were political contests where there was a basic assumption of fitness for, at least, consideration. But no more. Now, we live in an era of absurdist reduction, when “community organizer” is a sneer, and the real work of the world is done by governors of states less populous than Brooklyn, politically minded former first ladies, and Barry Goldwater’s replacement — when a president should be able to wrest an Olympics from Rio de Janeiro, but not be so persuasive as to command the respect of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
These are interesting times. Suddenly the 108-year-old Nobel Committee has “diminished” both itself and its Peace Prize and done their 2009 Laureate President Barack Obama “no favors” from this “too early” conferment because, after all, what has he done anyway. Well, that’s one view. What we know is that the president neither nominated himself nor lobbied for the award. We know that he was as “surprised” as any of us about his selection, and that he is “deeply humbled.”
“To be honest,” the President said, “I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who have been honored by this prize, men and women who’ve inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace.”
The President may not, but The Norwegian Nobel Committee does, and so do I.
Because of his deep and abiding commitment to Chicago’s South Side, including his work with the church-based Developing Communities Project, the tenants of Altgeld Gardens, and the grassroots, interfaith and interracial Gamaliel Foundation.
Because he chose to begin his legal career in a Chicago civil rights firm where he represented community organizers, discrimination victims and black voters trying to force a redrawing of city ward boundaries.
Because he has, throughout his career, upheld a duty to the ideals of democracy, cooperation, and civic engagement, particularly as director of Illinois’ voter registration drive Project Vote; as a state legislator; and as a United States Senator.
Because I had to tell a 65-year-old woman in New York the day after primary season Super Tuesday that Mr. Obama was not even the Democratic Party’s nominee, yet alone the President-elect.
Because it rained in North Carolina on election Tuesday, and we still turned the Tar Heel state blue.
Because according to the Nobel Committee, “Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts.”
Because “only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.”
Because he has endured with grace and dignity the mind-numbing viciousness of the Republican opposition, and because he has given every indication that he will continue to meet their obstreperousness with both candor and resolve, humility and also a spirit of partnership for four or, even, eight years.
Because he is not a king, yet he must constantly work to calm his supporters who want him to behave like one.
Because the cause of brotherhood and the promotion of peace is ongoing, ever-changing, never done.
And because, as the The Nobel Committee said in 1975 upon awarding that year’s Peace Prize to Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov:
In the will and testament that Alfred Nobel drew up prior to his death in 1896, he directed that the Peace Prize should be awarded to the person who had “done the most or the best work for fraternity between peoples, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”
As is only to be expected, the Nobel Committee’s interpretation of these premises has varied in accordance with changing attitudes to the concept of peace over the years.
In the ranks of Peace Prize laureates during these last seventy-four years examples of this are readily available. The Committee has rewarded:
champions of the ideas of international law;
champions of social justice, such as Leon Johaux;
for humanitarian achievements, such as Albert Schweitzer;
for pacifist work, such as Bertha von Suttner and Carl von Ossietzky;
for the promotion of human rights, such as Rene Cassin, Martin Luther King, and Albert Lutuli.
From the very start the decisions made by the Committee have frequently been the subject of criticism and debate. This need not, however, mean that they were incorrect.
![23rd Annual MLK, Jr Awards Breakfast [Sen. Charlie Rangel]](https://live.staticflickr.com/8188/8383827107_48b7924192_s.jpg "23rd Annual MLK, Jr Awards Breakfast [Sen. Charlie Rangel]")
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