"Can I Live?" by Brian Holiday-El aka The Intelligent Brother (Revised)

Let's Go!


"Can I Live?" A Wall Street Insider's Guide & Ode to Sean Carter's Reasonable Doubt By Brian Holiday-El 'The Intelligent Brother' (A Must Read For Move Makers!) Unit One of the I Am My Wealth series.

During the Summer of 2006, I was residing in Atlanta, Georgia, training to become what is commonly referred to as a Stock Broker, but what is officially termed a 'general securities registered representative.'  Nevertheless, long before applying with the broker-dealer I was pursuing a license through,  whom I'lI further expose at a later date, I began a rigorous routine study regimen in preparation for the series six, six three, and series seven exams, administered through the National Association Of Securities Dealers (NASD) which is an extension of the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), that is, in essence, a financial market regulatory arm of the Federal Reserve System.  It was not uncommon to see individuals, who made it through the training, go on to earn upwards of fifteen thousand dollars per month within weeks of completing their training, and that was on the low end of the financial services sector!  An overwhelming majority of my peers-in-training came from well to do backgrounds, and, upon seeing the enormous amounts of money they were earning and spending,  D'Evils kicked in and what immediately came to mind was a chorus/title song from Jay Z's album Reasonable Doubt, "Can I Live?" 



'Coming Of Age' in the environments I grew up in, the only people making that kind of money were drug dealers, so having an opportunity to earn similar amounts of money, and much much more, legally and lawfully, had me thinking one thing: 'It's time to come up!'

But the truth is, I was perplexed...torn between two seemingly irreconcilable passions...to make money, lots and lots of it, but to do so in a way that was honorable and upright! "For the first time in my life I was getting money, but it was like my conscious was eating me." S.C.  'I can't lie,' there was a spell in my life where I was lured by the trappings of fast money and the fast life, but it was during those periods of time that even though money wasn't an issue, spiritually, life for me was unnecessarily difficult.  "Even Righteous minds go through this." S.C.  

Street Smarts...

The first thing I immediately took note of during my training was how much the operation of the 'stock market 'resembled the organized drug cartel's illicit distribution of illegal narcotics; particularly how it played out in my native Newark, New Jersey neighborhood and others similar to it.  

For instance, in the 'dope game' there's a business process called 'the flip.' The hustler/dealer has to 'flip' his or her money in order to realize a profit!  He/She has to use the money that is at his/her disposal to buy as much of a marketable product as he/she can for as low a price as he/she can find and successfully transact through.  Usually, in order to get the most out of the deal, trade, or investment, that person will sell that product for as high a price as he or she can sell it for, called a mark up, resulting in a profit! 

Ultimately, this strategic business approach is employed by buying low and selling high!  There are many many ways to earn a profit in just one flip or trade, but the most basic of which is to buy low and sell high!  Learn More Here! 

Likewise, banks and financial institutions have their own version of a flip and it's called an initial public offering (IPO).  The first people and/or institutions to be included in an IPO pays a rockbottom price for a new issue of shares while the general customer, you, must pay the public offering price (POP), which is always many many times higher than the price of the IPO which oftentimes rises and falls shortly thereafter; note: long before the price of the shares have fallen, the people, and financial institutions that were in on the IPO will have sold their shares to the public at a several hundred percent return on investment (ROI) for themselves!  That's what I call getting over! But you can't knock the hustle!

Rule No. 1 

"It works both ways; so when there are losers there are always winners and vice-versa! The key thing to remember here is that your position in the market is either your 'friend or foe,' and if you're not going to learn how the game is played and play the game to win, then you 'gotta learn to live with Regrets.' "

In other words, what most people fail to appreciate is that the same system always works in reverse! 

For example, when the 'stock market' tanked in 2008, I was a Guest Teacher in the Norfolk Public Schools and I remember overhearing a co-worker lamenting on how she had lost nearly 50% of her retirement savings from her 403B overnight, literally: The nest egg that she'd taken decades to save was split in half within twenty-four hours!  BUT, her loss was someone else's gain!  This is the essence of capitalism or a 'free market system'...a zero sum game!

Knowing what I knew, I couldn't help but think about how her money didn't disappear; it simply changed hands; because money, just like energy, never dies...it only changes form!   

In business and financial markets, profits can be made from prices moving up or down!  When a profit is made by the price of stock(s) moving down it was earned by 'shorting' the stock!  Shorting is basically a gamble that the price of a stock will fall relative to it's value at the moment it was purchased, in which case, the lower the price of a stock that has been shorted falls relative to the price at which it was purchased, the greater the unrealized gain or potential profit: the strategy here is to buy high and sell low!  One who benefits from the price of stock falling, who is shorting stock, who has bought high to sell low, is considered to be short or bearish, and one who has bought low to sell high is considered long, or bullish.  

Recent History

Therefore, when the so called housing bubble burst, and the stock market plunged, the people who were bearish, shorting the market, made off like fat cats, while those who were long the market, who were eight out of ten people, were pushed to, and in some cases, well beyond insolvency...bankrupted! Anyone with the smallest amount of market perception could've seen that 13,000 for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) was far too high, but money was everywhere and people were caught up in the euphoria...'Feeling It,' yet even today, a great majority of people have poor financial intelligence, so they weren't, and still aren't, aware of the financial options available to them. Learn More Here  The masses who worked and earned wages, or was having contributions made to a(n) 401k, Roth IRA, IRA, Annuity, Pensions, Insurances etc...anyone whose assets were tied to mortgages, equities(stocks), debts(bonds), all of them felt and are still feeling the adverse effects of the market collapsing!    Exactly how did a relatively small group of people quintuple their financial worth during the stock market crash? By the effective use of compounded interest and a seldom referenced term called hypothecation! 

Hypothecation allows you to leverage up to 140% of the value of your stock deposited with a broker-dealer or commercial bank!  So, not only were the people and financial institutions in the know shorting the market, they were also hypothecating funds borrowed from banks to short the market even further.  In other words, they were borrowing on top of borrowed money, betting on the market to fall thereby doubling and tripling their worth while a majority of working class people lost everything they'd labored their entire lives to accumulate! 

Finally, to add insult to injury, the same people who grew insanely rich while the world markets were bottoming out, stepped back into the market, and, using funds from the seven hundred trillion dollar government bailout, again bought up everything they could get their hands on at prices that hadn't reached levels that low since the Great Depression!  Why?  All for the love of Dead Presidents! Again, there were many losers, but there were also big, BIG WINNERS!

Here's the kicker, not only has this same scenario been repeating itself to one degree or another every ten years or so for nearly a century, it's about to happen again in the very very near future; call it Politics As Usual!  The only question becomes whether or not you're going to put yourself in a position to lose, or in a position to win.  

Guidance

Since opportunity rewards the prepared and awareness eliminates ignorance, my mentality is 'Bring It On!'

Here's what The Intelligent Brother, a fellow Genius Citizen recommends:

1. Invest in yourself!  Take a good look around you...the world is changing and will no longer be what it once was! Your greatest asset is having a clear and resolute understanding of what you are on this Earth to do! That means having the greatest degree of self awareness possible!  Know Your Self! A classic book that'll help get you on the right track is Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill  For those desiring a more in depth study of the science of spirituality this may be for you. Get more in tune with yourself and build a stronger relationship between you and your God-Concept! Learn the skills necessary to enhance your intellectual, emotional, and financial IQ! Invest in your health as well!  What good is life if your not healthy enough to enjoy it?  With so many enemies to universal healthcare reform, the rising costs of insurance, medicines, and treatments, as well as genetically modified foods, now more than ever it's imperative to practice prevention and that begins with what you eat!  A must have in your home is the miracle plant called Moringa.

Read more about the miracle plant here Moringa Website

2. Get Your Money Right!  In this global economy, one income is simply not going to cut it! To survive and thrive, you're going to need multiple streams of revenue! Especially if you're a parent, or just a person wanting much more out of life than a tombstone with your name on it, you need to treat your education like a life long process by continuing to learn in order to remain competitive and by turning your skills, talents, and abilities into products, goods, and services!  Read More Here 1000 Streams

3. Get from around the people who do not have the attributes and characteristics of the people who are where you aspire to be!  If you're surrounded by crabs in a barrel then you're going nowhere fast!  As the saying goes, 'birds of a feather flock together.' Your peers should celebrate you, encourage you, and support you, not the other way around.  Learn about your Strategy & Design here....Success in life is all about flow and what better way is there to get things to flow than by knowing your own Strategy and Design and using them together as a guide to fulfilling your greatest unique expression? 

I bid you adieu with a few quotes from one of Brooklyn's Finest, Jackie Robinson 

"Life is not a spectator sport. If you're going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you're wasting your life." Jackie Robinson

"The right of every American to first-class citizenship is the most important issue of our time." Jackie Robinson

"There's not an American in this country free until every one of us is free." Jackie Robinson

Brian Holiday-El aka The Intelligent Brother, is currently accepting invitations for public speaking engagements, small business consultation, and mentoring. 

Email him directly at theintelligentbrother@gmail.com

"Can I Live?" By Brian Holiday-El aka The Intelligent Brother

Let's Go!

"Can I Live?" A Wall Street Insider's Guide & Ode to Sean Carter's Reasonable Doubt By Brian Holiday-El 'The Intelligent Brother' (A Must Read For Move Makers!) Unit One of the I Am My Wealth series.

During the Summer of 2006, I was residing in Atlanta, Georgia, training to become what is commonly referred to as a Stock Broker, but what is officially termed a 'general securities registered representative.'  Nevertheless, long before applying with the broker-dealer I was pursuing a license through,  whom I'lI further expose at a later date, I began a rigorous routine study regimen in preparation for the series six, six three, and series seven exams, administered through the National Association Of Securities Dealers (NASD) which is an extension of the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), that is, in essence, a financial market regulatory arm of the Federal Reserve System.  It was not uncommon to see individuals, who made it through the training, go on to earn upwards of fifteen thousand dollars per month within weeks of completing their training, and that was on the low end of the financial services sector!  An overwhelming majority of my peers-in-training came from well to do backgrounds, and, upon seeing the enormous amounts of money they were earning and spending,  D'Evils kicked in and what immediately came to mind was a chorus/title song from Jay Z's album Reasonable Doubt, "Can I Live?" 



'Coming Of Age' in the environments I grew up in, the only people making that kind of money were drug dealers, so having an opportunity to earn similar amounts of money, and much much more, legally and lawfully, had me thinking one thing: 'It's time to come up!'

But the truth is, I was perplexed...torn between two seemingly irreconcilable passions...to make money, lots and lots of it, but to do so in a way that was honorable and upright! "For the first time in my life I was getting money, but it was like my conscious was eating me." S.C.  'I can't lie,' there was a spell in my life where I was lured by the trappings of fast money and the fast life, but it was during those periods of time that even though money wasn't an issue, spiritually, life for me was unnecessarily difficult.  "Even Righteous minds go through this." S.C.  

Street Smarts...

The first thing I immediately took note of during my training was how much the operation of the 'stock market 'resembled the organized drug cartel's illicit distribution of illegal narcotics; particularly how it played out in my native Newark, New Jersey neighborhood and others similar to it.  

For instance, in the 'dope game' there's a business process called 'the flip.' The hustler/dealer has to 'flip' his or her money in order to realize a profit!  He/She has to use the money that is at his/her disposal to buy as much of a marketable product as he/she can for as low a price as he/she can find and successfully transact through.  Usually, in order to get the most out of the deal, trade, or investment, that person will sell that product for as high a price as he or she can sell it for, called a mark up, resulting in a profit! 

Ultimately, this strategic business approach is employed by buying low and selling high!  There are many many ways to earn a profit in just one flip or trade, but the most basic of which is to buy low and sell high!  Learn More Here! 

Likewise, banks and financial institutions have their own version of a flip and it's called an initial public offering (IPO).  The first people and/or institutions to be included in an IPO pays a rockbottom price for a new issue of shares while the general customer, you, must pay the public offering price (POP), which is always many many times higher than the price of the IPO which oftentimes rises and falls shortly thereafter; note: long before the price of the shares have fallen, the people, and financial institutions that were in on the IPO will have sold their shares to the public at a several hundred percent return on investment (ROI) for themselves!  That's what I call getting over! But you can't knock the hustle!

Rule No. 1 

"It works both ways; so when there are losers there are always winners and vice-versa! The key thing to remember here is that your position in the market is either your 'friend or foe,' and if you're not going to learn how the game is played and play the game to win, then you 'gotta learn to live with Regrets.' "

In other words, what most people fail to appreciate is that the same system always works in reverse! 

For example, when the 'stock market' tanked in 2008, I was a Guest Teacher in the Norfolk Public Schools and I remember overhearing a co-worker lamenting on how she had lost nearly 50% of her retirement savings from her 403B overnight, literally: The nest egg that she'd taken decades to save was split in half within twenty-four hours!  BUT, her loss was someone else's gain!  This is the essence of capitalism or a 'free market system'...a zero sum game!

Knowing what I knew, I couldn't help but think about how her money didn't disappear; it simply changed hands; because money, just like energy, never dies...it only changes form!   

In business and financial markets, profits can be made from prices moving up or down!  When a profit is made by the price of stock(s) moving down it was earned by 'shorting' the stock!  Shorting is basically a gamble that the price of a stock will fall relative to it's value at the moment it was purchased, in which case, the lower the price of a stock that has been shorted falls relative to the price at which it was purchased, the greater the unrealized gain or potential profit: the strategy here is to buy high and sell low!  One who benefits from the price of stock falling, who is shorting stock, who has bought high to sell low, is considered to be short or bearish, and one who has bought low to sell high is considered long, or bullish.  

Recent History

Therefore, when the so called housing bubble burst, and the stock market plunged, the people who were bearish, shorting the market, made off like fat cats, while those who were long the market, who were eight out of ten people, were pushed to, and in some cases, well beyond insolvency...bankrupted! Anyone with the smallest amount of market perception could've seen that 13,000 for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) was far too high, but money was everywhere and people were caught up in the euphoria...'Feeling It,' yet even today, a great majority of people have poor financial intelligence, so they weren't, and still aren't, aware of the financial options available to them. Learn More Here  The masses who worked and earned wages, or was having contributions made to a(n) 401k, Roth IRA, IRA, Annuity, Pensions, Insurances etc...anyone whose assets were tied to mortgages, equities(stocks), debts(bonds), all of them felt and are still feeling the adverse effects of the market collapsing!    Exactly how did a relatively small group of people quintuple their financial worth during the stock market crash? By the effective use of compounded interest and a seldom referenced term called hypothecation! 

Hypothecation allows you to leverage up to 140% of the value of your stock deposited with a broker-dealer or commercial bank!  So, not only were the people and financial institutions in the know shorting the market, they were also hypothecating funds borrowed from banks to short the market even further.  In other words, they were borrowing on top of borrowed money, betting on the market to fall thereby doubling and tripling their worth while a majority of working class people lost everything they'd labored their entire lives to accumulate! 

Finally, to add insult to injury, the same people who grew insanely rich while the world markets were bottoming out, stepped back into the market, and, using funds from the seven hundred trillion dollar government bailout, again bought up everything they could get their hands on at prices that hadn't reached levels that low since the Great Depression!  Why?  All for the love of Dead Presidents! Again, there were many losers, but there were also big, BIG WINNERS!

Here's the kicker, not only has this same scenario been repeating itself to one degree or another every ten years or so for nearly a century, it's about to happen again in the very very near future; call it Politics As Usual!  The only question becomes whether or not you're going to put yourself in a position to lose, or in a position to win.  

Guidance

Since opportunity rewards the prepared and awareness eliminates ignorance, my mentality is 'Bring It On!'

Here's what The Intelligent Brother, a fellow Genius Citizen recommends:

1. Invest in yourself!  Take a good look around you...the world is changing and will no longer be what it once was! Your greatest asset is having a clear and resolute understanding of what you are on this Earth to do! That means having the greatest degree of self awareness possible!  Know Your Self! A classic book that'll help get you on the right track is Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill  For those desiring a more in depth study of the science of spirituality this may be for you. Get more in tune with yourself and build a stronger relationship between you and your God-Concept! Learn the skills necessary to enhance your intellectual, emotional, and financial IQ! Invest in your health as well!  What good is life if your not healthy enough to enjoy it?  With so many enemies to universal healthcare reform, the rising costs of insurance, medicines, and treatments, as well as genetically modified foods, now more than ever it's imperative to practice prevention and that begins with what you eat!  A must have in your home is the miracle plant called Moringa.

Read more about the miracle plant here Moringa Website

2. Get Your Money Right!  In this global economy, one income is simply not going to cut it! To survive and thrive, you're going to need multiple streams of revenue! Especially if you're a parent, or just a person wanting much more out of life than a tombstone with your name on it, you need to treat your education like a life long process by continuing to learn in order to remain competitive and by turning your skills, talents, and abilities into products, goods, and services!  Read More Here 1000 Streams

3. Get from around the people who do not have the attributes and characteristics of the people who are where you aspire to be!  If you're surrounded by crabs in a barrel then you're going nowhere fast!  As the saying goes, 'birds of a feather flock together.' Your peers should celebrate you, encourage you, and support you, not the other way around.  Learn about your Strategy & Design here....Success in life is all about flow and what better way is there to get things to flow than by knowing your own Strategy and Design and using them together as a guide to fulfilling your greatest unique expression? 

I bid you adieu with a few quotes from one of Brooklyn's Finest, Jackie Robinson 

"Life is not a spectator sport. If you're going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you're wasting your life." Jackie Robinson

"The right of every American to first-class citizenship is the most important issue of our time." Jackie Robinson

"There's not an American in this country free until every one of us is free." Jackie Robinson

Brian Holiday-El aka The Intelligent Brother, is currently accepting invitations for public speaking engagements, small business consultation, and mentoring. 

Email him directly at theintelligentbrother@gmail.com

Genius Citizens and a dialogue with a co-founder.

Let's Go!


GC

Genius Citizens 

Founder Brian Holiday-El 
Co-Founder Corey Johnson
Co-Founder Devaron Yates
Co-Founder Hamilton Davis
Co-Founder Isaac Pitts
Co-Founder Larry Johnson





Genius Citizens' Purpose & Mission Statement

Genius Citizens (GC) is a learning organization dedicated to, self-mastery, ingenuity, and collaborative innovation, for the betterment of humanity, by being The Ones that are, consistently learning, consistently sharing, and consistently improving, ourselves, our environment, and our world.

Core Activities 

A. Sharing information that fulfills Our Purpose and Mission.
B. Posing questions where elaboration leads to fulfillment of Our Purpose and Mission. 
C. Enterprise and Innovate, by forging and enhancing Strategic Relationships that Engender the fulfillment of Our Purpose and Mission.

Rules

There are but two...

Generously Contribute.

Do not unto others what you would not want done to you.



Letter from the founder

Dear Genius Citizens,

It is my sincere and earnest hope that every one of us reading this letter lives to acquire happiness in fulfilling our individual purposes and missions in life as well as, find, explore, and develop, seminal designs that improve the lives and lifestyles of people the world over.

The Work of Genius Citizens is to establish and entrench themselves as a positive, creative, dynamic, and innovative force in a global community of people, and, by appreciating the extent to which knowledge, information, communication, and organization, are playing vital roles of increasing importance in the quality of life that we experience on this planet, we are devotionally and perennially engaged in mastering subjects, honing and developing skill sets, solving problems, and enhancing life's experiences.

Who will thrive, let alone survive in this new world order?  I say it is us...The Genius Citizens!  (Founder)

Clearly, it is an undeniable reality that we live in an era of rapid change, owed in part to the perfecting of technological innovation and it's inherent transformation of societal structures; giving rise to a massive shift in paradigm.  Who will thrive, let alone survive in this new world order?  I say it is us...The Genius Citizens!  (Founder)

Here are some notes from a conversation between myself and a co-founder, Corey Johnson.



Fifth discipline....deliberate practice and deep practice...craftsmanship...performance evolution...buddhism...ten thousand hours...important to look at..specifically...the ecstatic process...personal mastery...performance enhancement....a system of auditing...always deep practice...no wasted practice..potent and deep practice...a worthy strategic goal...always...potent...meaningful...always potent...highly substantive....these are things that should be audited...the pursuit of happiness in everything...finance, eating, etc...when it isn't that you won't except it Andy at is how you raiser quality of life.  Why GDP doesn't as up steiligz...amartya sen..John Paul Fipouss...the commission of economic performance and progress...single metric versus dashboard approach...GDP and GNP market based and public...the case for revising the GDP...the poor, the environment, lifestyle...gross national happiness, happiness index...Practice on improving humanity on. Daily basis...making sure it resonates daily!  

You can't talk about power without sourcing...you can't talk about happiness without discussing flow...strategically actively pursue these metrics.  With mental models create a dashboard...strategic dashboard for broad goals...people talk about zeitgeist...don't want to live in a bubble!  Dr. Doesn't improve your skill set. The ultimate degree.  The best student, not the best teacher...getting the right vocabulary to transmit and transmute...sourcing is the gateway of power...you have to deal with resources...Henry Kissinger!!!  When you control oil, you control nations.  When you control food, you control people.  Urban Garden Magazine.  Genetically modified agenda.  The big five.  USA, Canada, argentina, china, brazil!   Ecstatic process involves meditation and transformation.  Sourcing and creating jobs.  Be careful of how you speak about things...clarity needed.  The whole point of strategy is to be able to govern.  Properly select self.  

Bruce Mao...third teacher...42 principles of design.  Built new jets stadium...

7 principle of study!

Bruce Mao Written 1998...Don't Be Generic 

1. Allow events to change you....being open to growth...
2. Forget about good...
3. Process is more important that outcome. 
4. Love your experiment as you would an ugly child
5. Go deep  
6. Capture accident
7. Study 
8. Drift...allow yourself to...
9. Begin everywhere...
10. Everyone is a leader...
11. Harvest ideas...need ,dynamic, cloud, generous environment to flourish...mental 
12. Lattice work
13. Keep moving
14. Slow down...
15. Don't be cool...free yourself from that
16. Ask stupid questions...imagine learning at the rate of an infant
17. Collaborate
18. (blank)
19. Stay up late!
20. Work the metaphor
21. Be careful to take risks...time is genetic
22. Repeat yourself...if you like or don't like it...do it again...
23. Make your own tools...they amplify your capacity
24. Stand on someone's shoulders
25. Avoid software
26. Don't clean your desk
27. Don't enter award competition
28. Read only left handed pages...leaves room for noodle
29. Make new words
30. Think with your mind
31. Organization equals liberty...(context)
32. Don't borrow money...(gentry)
33. Listen carefully!!!
34. Take field trips
35. Make mistakes faster
36. Be intimate
37Scat...when you forget the words...make up something
38. Gyroscopic
39. Explore the other edge!!!
40. Used old tech
41. Coffee rides...(interstitial spaces) the waiting places!
42. Avoid fields...jump fences!!!!!
43. Laugh
44. Remember!!!!!
45. Power To The People

Katrina Revisited (Never Forget) by Brian Holiday-El

Let's Go!

True Story!

Remember Katrina??? Can you recall what you were doing on Monday, August 29^th 2005, when Hurricane Katrina struck land in New Orleans, Louisiana??? I do! I was in Atlanta, riding on the Marta, when I saw the front page of the Atlanta Journal & Constitution!!! I couldn't believe my eyes!! You saw them, the people of NOLA, atop the roofs of cars, houses, schools, stores, apartment buildings...and as the days progressed with no response from George W. Bush and the Federal Government, I grew too unsettled to sit still, so I, and two friends of mine, took action! With an XLII camera and a rental car, we drove straight toward New Orleans during a Black Out and State of Emergency.

What followed was a two month journey with New Orleans evacuees and musicians, documenting the relief and recovery efforts, and recording their stories all while traveling from Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River to the Astro Dome in Houston, Texas...even to Pasadena, Hollywood and North to the Lower Bottoms of Oakland. I heard the stories first hand! I know the truth! And, although many of you who read this letter weren’t there, you too have a good idea of what happened. What I'll say is this, Hurricane Katrina and the flooding of New Orleans are two separate events, taking place hours apart!!! Below is never seen before footage of the moments immediately following Hurricane Katrina and the flooding of New Orleans! I narrate, appear as the interviewer, and film some of the scenes. It is my earnest wish that the truth finally be heard from the voices of the natives of New Orleans that survived and lived to tell the tale! Do you agree? I made a vow to myself not to compromise the integrity of the people of New Orleans in the filming of this documentary! Six years ago, Twitter, Face Book and the like, weren't what they are today, so with your help I would like you to watch this video and share it with two other people and keep the thread going. Perhaps it'll come to the attention of someone else willing to help make sure the Real Story finally comes out about Katrina, the levees, the flooding of New Orleans, and the evacuation and displacement of her people.

For more information contact: katrinadocumentary2012@gmail.com

The video below was filmed within the first weeks of Katrina.

The Elephant People: PART ONE by Brian Holiday-El

Let's Go!

The Elephant People: PART ONE by Brian Holiday-El

Who's in your way? What's really keeping you from the best in yourself and the best out of this life? In the foiling of your plot, the spoiling of your stock, and the soiling of your lot, who's really the culprit? Is it you, the people around you, or other forces at work in the world that's keeping you from attaining the status, achieving the goals, or freely availing yourself of the heartening pleasures of life??? Quickly, the following is a piece of information that if appreciated will help.

Have you ever questioned how an animal as big and powerful as an elephant becomes domesticated? Some time ago, I read about how, from birth, one of the legs of the elephant is bound. The elephant struggles over and over again to break free until finally it gives up trying to be free: It relents; capitulating and accepting its bondage.

Aside from being arguably the most peaceful and powerful animal on the face of the planet, an elephant is also noted as having the greatest memory! Once the elephant's will to assert it's self and to move about freely has been broken, because of its immensely powerful memory it never forgets the feelings of being disturbed, bounded, restricted, held back, retarded, curtailed , captured, enslaved, chained, stricken, displaced, prevented, suspended, separated, torn apart from , denied, disallowed, dejected, rejected, subjected, detached, withheld, isolated, overcome, rendered helpless, weakened, alienated, surrounded, overwhelmed, and oppressed! It remembers well and ceaselessly recalls its reduced state, so much so that long after the heavy rope has been removed from its leg and replaced with a simple string, it continues carrying on as if it were still mightily bound!

Doubly, the person responsible for successfully breaking and training the elephant becomes its master and as such effectively assumes all of the elephants affection, protection, and strict obedience that would have been given to its own species! How many of life's opportunities, disguised as obstacles, are like the string around the leg of the elephant? How much of the resistance and opposition to your continued efforts to bring about the best for your self are purely mental, only in your mind? And what percentage of reasons for shortcomings are just flat out excuses?

I Am The Elephant Man! (Part One)

In my humble opinion half of the time we're in the way and the other half of the time we need to get out of our own way!

Enlighten someone; share this T.I.B. Bit!

With Love,

Brian Holiday-El

6:40pm, 2/23/2011

T.I.B.

theintelligentbrother@gmail.com

@hombremano

Media, Race, & Progress: Passing Through The Rites by Brian Holiday-El

Let's Go!

Provided that the images and messages we receive through the arts and the media are actionable symbols to the subconscious mind and reference points for the conscious mind are accepted facts, the issue of context becomes the crux, the critical point most worthy of delineation and deliberation as it pertains to correcting erroneous and self-destructive thinking and lifestyles in the communities of the people of African descent, but, for a proper perspective, the differences between sex, gender, and principle must be duly noted. Male and female are the sexes; the biological orientations of our species! That is all! Being a male doesn't make one a man! Being a female doesn't make one a woman! Masculine and feminine are gender principles and the two are present within both males and females from birth and how gender is expressed are determined in large part by parents, guardians, family, social environments, and education. The two can MATURE to become a Man and a Woman, respectively, but that is a Maturation Process.

When the community functioned as 'one village' or one Great Family, there was always a Rites of Passage, usually several thousands of years old, that brought boys and girls into the threshold of manhood and womanhood, respectively. The existence of a Rites of Passage is evidence of the monumentally integral nature of becoming a Man or a Woman. Each Rites of Passage graduated the initiate through an education process that was rich and replete with a spiritual, sacred, ritualistic, ceremonial, scientific, determinedly psychologically edifying, holistic organization of fundamental and eternal principles of Sound Living! Needless to say, that vital aspect of our cultural continuity was lost, so, amongst other things, as one educator phrased it, African Americans suffer from, 'prolonged adolescence.' Not having a genuine Rites of Passage is why there are full grown males and females of all ages who are not men and women! Doubly, the absence of a Rites of Passage doesn't eliminate the need for one. On the contrary, the absence of one aggravates and intensifies the utter necessity of one, exasperates the fallout effects of not having one, and becomes a void filled by who knows what!!!! This is CRITICAL to comprehend. The lack of familial and communal cohesiveness predicated upon the greatest positive development of the individual as expressed through the Rites of Passage is why there is such rampant confusion as to the differences and meanings of the male, man, masculine, father, husband, female, woman, mother, wife, feminine phenomena. Couple the fact that the mass distributed depictions of African Americans in media and the arts are in no wise the product of a collective consensus arrived at by African Americans with the absence of a genuine Rites of Passage and you have the perfect recipe for the dysfunctional, current state-of-affairs! The very presence and pervasiveness of an over abundance of negative, self-destructive re-presentations of people of African descent and the preponderance of corporate media conglomerates to exploit trends for the maximization of profits and the elimination of competition, makes it not only healthy, but, from a strategic vantage point, totally necessary to produce, market, and distribute as much power to the people as possible in the form of Media and the Arts. If nothing else, reading Post Traumatic Slave Disorder should have quelled any trepidation towards approaching Nation Building the same way a Master Physician approaches the healing of a sick patient, and an acrobat approaches his or her gymnastic routine...that is as a rigorous Balancing Act!

Having no genuine Rites of Passage is why so many children and people of adult age, struggle with issues of sex, sexuality, identity, and purpose! Struggling with those four alone can take many lifetimes if uninterrupted by the informing and enlightening efforts of the people who know better. What the people need to recognize from it's collective will is a genuine Rites of Passage forged from among us and fit for these times going forward, bringing us back to the Context in which people of African descent are depicted and the serious need to intelligently influence and predetermine most if not all of it! The Rites of Passage took place at the most pivotal juncture in a person's life, the age of Puberty! The commencement of pubescence unalterably changes a person on every level and for a child to experience this in an uncontrolled environment almost always results in a torrent of confusion and poor decision-making lasting well into their adult years and for some into their graves.

Apparently, our ancient forefathers and fore mothers made much adeu about this particular event in an individual's life to ensure that all of what such a transition entailed and implied was thoroughly understood, appreciated, and honored. Now-a-days most children stumble or happen upon the menstrual cycle, nocturnal emission, sex, and sexual expression and the parents or guardians are usually the last to find out, and when they do become privy, very little attention is given to the important issues involving puberty, if any at all.

I propose an open dialogue about sex, sexuality, identity, and life-purpose between parents, teachers, children and students in the context of education and empowerment, and a commitment as conscious consumers to only spend and invest with people and institutions dedicated to reinforcing the principles of Sound Living and to deny patronage to those whose modus operandi is anathema to the uplift of all people and the reversal of our plight.

What say you?

theintelligentbrother@gmail.com

http://theintelligentbrother.blogspot.com/2011/02/almost-home-by-brian-holiday-el.html

Sincerely Yours, Brian Holiday-El

Almost Home by Brian Holiday-El

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Thinking about the history of our experiences as a Race of people brings to mind every color in the emotional rainbow. I am overwhelmed with holy awe and profound pride when recounting the industrial inventiveness of my ancient forefathers and fore mothers, who charted the celestial and her eternal motions and cycles of planets, suns, moons, stars, and galaxies perfectly with the use of neither telescopes nor space stations; organized their cultures and civilizations and erected their architecture and systematized their words, ways, and actions so that they mirrored the orderly nature of the heavens above. Gripped by acute anger and sore dismay, battling with the righteousness of forgiveness, I am, when I recall the ominous advent of transatlantic slavery and the ineffable horror borne by my bygone kindred under the Roman yoke of Euro-centric colonization and genocidal exploits on the continents of Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Gloom and sorrow envelop my heart when I contemplate the murders, rapes, beatings, lynchings, hangings, the psychological and emotional torture of slave-making and involuntary bondage with its legacy of broken families, stunted growth, crippled trust, mental displacement, and debilitating fear. The advancements of the Civil Rights Movement built up a hope that was all but shattered upon the rocks of bigotry, institutional racism, and economic ostracism. At first glance, it would appear that we’ve been running on a social treadmill for the last half century since, economically and socially speaking, we've actually lost more ground that we've gained. As unimaginably taxing and inconceivably trying as it has been to hold on to the shreds of dignity, self respect and esteem of our waning humanity, we must grasp tighter to the divinity in our hearts and the memory in our blood. As understandable as it would be now to throw all morality to the wind and toss the spirit of compassion and giving to the birds thereby muting the voice of conscience and suppressing our inherent instinct to reason and love, be ye always encouraged in knowing this: The highest quality of strength, wisdom and beauty is only attained when suffering is overcome by faith and faith is crowned with love. No people have ever known the 'pinnacle of wisdom' like our ancient ancestors and now, my beloved brothers and sisters, no Race knows the bottomless pit of pain like us, the descendants of that great people. We have weathered every storm our foes have conjured, sustained every wound their blows have inflicted and died every death that life allows, but there is one last, long, toilsome lap; one more dark, winding, road to traverse; one more wide river to cross. At times we may travel and fight alone, but we will rise and triumph together as one in a victory requiring not only everything that we are, but also, everything that we never thought was possible, inspiring within me a strange mixture of fearlessness and joy. We are almost home!

The Generational Divide: Our 'Sinful & Fallen State' Whose Responsibility Is It?

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On a personal level, my father failed me as his father failed him. My maternal grand father(pbuh) failed me just as his father failed him. They failed because they refused to bond the best of their potential with the best of my potential. Earlier today I asked my mother what she could tell me about her paternal grand father and her reply was, “nothing at all!” Though I can only speak from my perspective, this polemic isn't just about me; this is about Humanity as a whole, and from my studies, travels, observations, and intimate experiences with every class, ethnic, and cultural segmentation, there is one constant ethos, one perpetual theme:there is a gaping chasm, a fractured fault-line, that exists and persists between the older generation and the younger generation; be they Afro-Asiatic, South American, Native American, Pacific Islander, African etc. we are all suffering from the same generational plight. To be fair, I have met older men and women who have gone the extra mile in instilling within me the vital principles and precepts of self awareness, familial, fraternal, and communal fealty and love and self-determination. These beautiful and honorable men and women have become like family to me, filling, if but only partially, the burdensome paternal void I once labored to bear. As remarkable and commendable as these people are, the fact of the matter is, people like them and character like theirs are few, far, and in between. As a result of this compassionate minority having become the accepted and expected norm, family and society in general has split at the seams, resulting in the widening of the present generational gap. Who is to blame? Whose fault is it? Better still, who's responsible? Be still and listen! Of all the trees on this beautiful but fading Earth from the smallest and frailest to the tallest, biggest, and broadest...all of them began as a seed that, in order to grow apace, needed perennial nourishment from Father Sky/Grandfather Sun and Mother Earth/Grandmother Moon. They are unquestionably the eldest! Once the Trees have reached full maturity after centuries of blossoming, withering, and blossoming again, yielding its finest fruits, and begins to deteriorate back to the soil about its root, does the Sun, Moon, Sky, and Earth cease supporting their complete transition back to its essence? NO! They continue to support life, nourish life, feed life like and as if there is no such thing as dying, no such thing as an ending to the carrying out of an eternal duty, and no such concept as a final contribution. Some trees have lived to see the rise and fall of many empires because of the unwavering carrying out of the universal principle of perpetual support. These Trees are the Families of Man! “I'm done being a mother or a father to my children: I'm no longer anyone's child:my child doesn't need a Father!” There's no such thing and this foolishness is unthinkable and a sure recipe to the youth's undoing! The same participants in the civil rights movement who championed the cause of human rights, often cast an indignant eye toward the younger generation and say, “you all just don't know how good you have it, you all have no clue, you all have it so easy, you all are tarnishing our legacy, wasting our accomplishments.” Well now, what would the enslaved African, back bent, laboring in the scorching sun, still cognizant of his regal heritage, growing weary from but fighting to stave off the yoke of the slave-master trying to tear his ancestral knowledge from his soul at the point of the bamboo, salt wrapped whip...what would he say to the arrogant, pompous heirs of civil liberties disguised as rights begrudgingly bestowed upon the recently freed slave? The same civic milestones of the 1960's held out to the younger generation today as evidence of having 'arrived' are the same vestiges of which Dr. King was referring to when he lamented, “I fear I may have integrated my people into a burning house.” Not only does a person make mistakes, whole peoples make mistakes, especially those up from slavery and alien oppression. Oh! The young still need the old...need the old to come down from that dinner table in the heavens, stop feasting on that pie in the sky, and start keeping it real with the youth, not only about what's right, but about how wrong they were and how far left they went before they regained their sensibilities thanks to someone older or younger than they! Oh! These are the last days and times alright! The last days we're going to pretend children don't need a mother AND a father! The last days we're going to perpetrate as if we're working as hard and as intelligently and as together as we could be to bridge this familial chasm and generational divide that keeps our families hovering on the brink of total insolvency. The last time we're going to look somewhere else for the authority of self-determination other than right in our own chest and within our own souls and within our own minds. Whose to blame? The Oppressor! Whose fault is it? The elders! Whose responsibility is it? The responsibility is OURS! If you're a teacher then TEACH! Stop sitting behind the desk pushing rote, outdated, irrelevant lesson plans that have no bearing on the child's immediate reality...get creative and quit milking the clock for a pay check while doing a double disservice; dulling the youth's most supple and ideal years for learning and squandering the tax payers dollars! If you're a doctor or physician or nurse, HEAL, and quit allowing the bureaucratic red tape to prevent you from upholding the Hippocratic oath! If you're a statesman or elected official, SERVE! Bravely, do the bidding of We The People's collective will and stop filibustering, philandering, and political posturing...push the necessary agendas to re institute sound faith in the political process by enforcing the Constitution! If you're a mother then NURTURE, and stop allowing television, the internet, and people off the streets to rear your children...get out of the mirror and get in front of the real mirror...your children! If you're a father, then GUIDE and SUPPORT your progeny, be it phone calls, letters, quality time, money, supplies, advice or what have you. Single parents, get out of the way of the other half, release the grudges of divorce and separation and wake up to the reality that no one will love the child like the flesh from whence he or she came. Obama being in office has not stopped the crime rate from escalating, unemployment from sprawling, profiling from terrorizing, or you from getting out of your own way to make a difference in this crumbling world most of us struggle to eke out a living in! The, “I got mine, now you get yours” mentality is debilitating at best. WE NEED EACH OTHER!!!! The old needs the young and the young needs the old, but it's incumbent upon those that know better and are capable of doing better to make the first move. Otherwise, the worst is yet to come! Most of the older generation got their 'rights', their pensions, their tenure, and comfy positions within this faltering establishment and fell back, as if the coast was clear. But lo! Just over the horizon came this teetering economy that unmistakably showed people the world over just how fragile that nest egg really was without investing in the hearts and minds of the youth! If the older generation is going to stand on our shoulders their going to have to lighten the load by giving back a whole lot more. I'm just saying.....

If you can help yourself, don't just read this...join this great debate, respond, re-post, and pass this on...add on!

PS...

Why did the emancipation proclamation only out law 'involuntary servitude' and not voluntary servitude as well?

Let's make this a viral debate!

B. Holi

1/20/2011

4:11 pm

What About The Children? By Brian Holiday-El

Let's Go!

The following is inspired by Marvin Gaye's, "What About The Children?"

As a whole, my beloved brothers and sisters, we are squandering our greatest and most sacred investment! As valuable and uncertain as Time is, it is not Humanity's most priceless possession. Though vital and necessary it may be, Riches aught never be Man's most cherished treasure. Your house will be bought and sold a hundred times or raised to the ground the moment you leave this world. Gold and precious metals have filled the tombs of deceased nobility only to be emptied the very moment the sky bats an eye. Time and riches could not be enjoyed without the soundness of good health, but even well-being is dependent on somewhat else, and all of these perish in the grave. In vain, men and women hoard material and watch it like predators do their prey, so obsessed with accumulation that their lives are over before the trappings have been made truly useful to anyone, including themselves. The ever crucial resource of attention is splurged on matters and concerns that return nothing but an even greater demand for more and more of it. And lo! They, who are destined to be be here long after you, them, the very reflections of all that you are made of, those, the truest representations of your own net worth, are placed, by far and large, toward the very least of considerations. People soon forget most, if not all, of what you do for yourself, but honor and exalt, for many life times, what you do for others. When all that you have amassed has been reclaimed by the source from which it sprung...once all that you did, by time, has been undone, the Children are the Earth's final judges as to whether you as a legacy are remembered or forgotten, esteemed or cursed, respected and loved, or scorned and hated. Guide them because they need it and afford them the good that was or was not extended to you. When they stray, know that they are taking the long way home, and Creative Fate, one way or another, will show them the straight way. They have but One mother and One father; to the deepest measure, include them BOTH! They have but one first impression, make yours the most noble. If you have many, love them equally. If you have few, love them wholly. If you have one, love one totally. If you have none then love those that are closest. But love them all unconditionally. And before you have well considered all of your ends, means, and aims, answer thoroughly the question, “What about the children?”

In The Memory Of King by Brian Holiday-El

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The following is inspired by a posted picture of and a question posed by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. put forth by Heru G. Duenas of Positive Black Stories. 
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Positive-Black-Stories-By-Heru-G-Duenas/145708032139774

The question is, "Life's most urgent question.......what are you doing for others?"

Peace and Love Brothers and Sisters! You know, in some circles King's teachings and civic efforts catch a

bad rap...some of our most prominent thinkers, teachers, scholars etc. see Affirmative Action as a step

backwards, citing the precipitous decline in African American business and property ownership following the

advent of integration as evidence of a misdirected mass of people upon the path to empowerment through

polity. The question was once posed to me by one of my first REAL teachers during my Junior year in high-

school back in the late 90's, “what's more debilitating, Economic discrimination or Social discrimination?”

What a cognitive quagmire! Here we are nearly a half-century removed from the onset of the Civil Rights

Movement and the Afro-Asiatic peoples inhabiting the Americas are still an underclass whether viewed

through the lens of Economy or Polity. The mitigates, detractors, and opponents of King's social thesis extol

'Black Wall Street' as the model for self-determination for those up from slavery, as opposed to an

acclamation of Jesus' gospel of love to all man and Gandhi’s non-violence and peaceful protest to the

struggle of the children of the Maafa. They say we traded the bank for the bus. The leveling of these retorts

are not wholly invalid or without merit and they do warrant critical consideration, but they can never negate

the resonance of King's visionary reach! His contemporary was Brother Malcolm, who began his ministry as

a staunch proponent of Separation, but later grew in thought and mind to extend his thesis for self-

determination to moderate inclusion of all peoples regardless of race, creed etc. Deserving of mention is

Cleaver with his disciplined and armed militancy by the arm of the Black Panthers. The inextricable

connectedness of our plight and the inevitable necessity of unity to unearth ourselves from the muck and mire

of social marginalization, national and international, economic insolvency and disenfranchisement from the

body-politic brought these leaders of their day together, yet shortly thereafter they all were taken out,

methodically, systematically, one by one. What world would we live in now had these kings among kings met

again? What would have been the synthesis of their converged thinking? Is it a fair deduction to conclude that

the 'powers that be' also pondered the trajectory of one such meeting of the minds? King was still a fairly

young man! He was growing leery of the gradualist on capitol hill during the days preceding his assassination.

A meeting of the minds, a consensus and subsequent handshake was clearly in the offing. King's words and

the impact of his life are nothing short of magnanimous, but it must be remembered that as impacting as he

was, he was still a work in progress that was cut down before his full maturation. So, what are we doing for

others??? I know what were not doing! We're not honoring the legacy and the struggle of our ancestors,

ancient and recent by focusing more on what unites us than what divides us, accentuating the positive more

than the negative, magnifying the similarities over the differences, reconciling the disparities more than

aggravating them. Positive Black Stories has the formula my brother! King would be proud!

What To Question

Let's Go!

Why would you think of it if you could not bring yourself to achieve it? How can you conceive of it, if you

cannot be accomplished in it? That which brought you to the complete thought of a thing hath already

endowed thee with the wherewithal to toil it into existence. Does the Sun question the Moon's capacity to

reflect? Will the feet hesitate to support the mass of the body? Does not the salt of the mouth assist the acid

in the stomach? Do your lungs require your fullest attention to breathe or your neck deny your head the right

to swivel? Man is capable of anything and incapable of nothing. Impossibilities are the phantoms of the

dreamless dastard. The pulse that proceeds from the heart of the coward is the faintest, but the bravery of

the resolute is impenetrable. Just as some birds migrate south at the onslaught of the sojourning chill, certain

in nothing save the providence of Nature and the mandate of instinct...just as the bat teases gravity in the

throes of its repose while remaining void of the fear of crashing upon its skull, so too do you, O Man, have at

your disposal the Will and the Way. The thing then to doubt is not whether or not you can, but rather,

whether or not you ought to. From hence forth, question less your capacities and capabilities and ponder

more so the merits of your objectives, “for what is a man to gain if he gathers the whole world and loses

himself in the process?” Not a dog on thing!

B.Holi

Aaaaaand ACTION!

Let's Go!

Aaaaaand ACTION!

If you are anything like me, there are still many things in life you are working towards achieving. You look at your situation and you are thankful for what you do have, yet you see room for improvement in yourself and in the world around you. Like a physician for the Soul, here's the right prescription. From now on, ACT IMMEDIATELY! By not delaying, hesitating, stalling, second-guessing and so on, you'll begin to develop a flow, that flow will turn into a wave, that wave will produce a stream of wind, and that wind stream will propel you faster and faster to the destiny of your purpose! When you hesitate you miss the opportunity to ride the waves of destiny. Therefore, make a habit of replacing excuses with action. By doing so, you'll generate a momentum, a rhythm, a beat, a vibration that sends a signal to the center of everything. The echeo of that signal will return, like tides to a coastline, carrying the trappings of the currents in the form of people, information, and situations bearing the seeds of the potential to change your life for the better. But just like any other type of journey you'll need to be on the right road, moving in the right direction, in order to see the right signs directing you to the right destination. Regardless of the situation you find yourself in, both turning around and continuing onward requires one thing first and foremost, being in gear! If you're in gear, press the gas and steer! When a good idea comes to you, ACT on it. When something positive and constructive comes to mind, DO it! By the time you're in stride with the habit of doing, you'll be so busy enjoying doing the things you've always wanted to do, you'll no longer have the time or the mind to not do anything. Without further adeu....

ACT ONE:TAKE ONE!!!!!!!!!!!

My Mother's Worth!

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My mother, my mother, my mother, NONE ELSE CAN COMPARE! There was a program on television the other day entitled Young Voices, I believe, and there was a poem performed by a tall young dark sister and a short young caucasian boy. The poem was a metaphor between a woman as the planet Earth, Mother Nature, and Humanity as a whole. It spoke of how the same way the Earth is 'treated' by man with his pollution, wars, destruction and violence, is the same way a woman is treated.

How quickly people forget just how much a mother is worth!!!!!

My mother is my heart! She is the closest thing to God in this world! She sacrificed EVERYTHING for the well being of her children and grandchildren, yet she's done it without the slightest concern for herself. Even when a person is 'all-grown-up,' off into the world, living and learning, that NEVER changes the fact that when that person was born, naked, frail, fragile, ignorant, defenseless, and helpless, Mommy took care of that ass! Had she not fed you, you wouldn't have eaten! Had she not cleaned and cuddled you, you wouldn't have lived! Some fools have the gumption to say, “I didn't ask to be born!” Such a sentiment curses one's Maker, and Justice will quicken.

Lately, you haven't been feeling appreciated, so let me remind you just how much your worth is remembered. I love you Ma!! You've never judged me, but you've always been there to guide me! You've been the most understanding all the while being the most misunderstood! I think you're perfect because your love is! You're beautiful within and without! People make buildings, YOU made a MAN! People save lives, you saved mine! People turn their backs, your arms never leave me! Friends become enemies, who you are has never changed! People lose hope, your faith in me only grows! If anyone has forgotten, count me amongst the few who will never, ever, ever forget the worth of a Mother!

I love you Ma!!!!!!!!!!!!

your FIRST, B!!!!!!!!

Excerpt from Prescient Education by Brian Holiday

Let's Go!

 "Once an individual's life-purpose becomes the compass with which he or she begins to navigate the seas of consciousness, life ceases to be a string of seemingly endless storms as the clouds of confusion and despair are driven away by the light of purpose and beacons of hope."

B.Holi

Prescient Education (this is an essay written for SEVEN and the C.I.F.A.

Let's Go!

What if, after twelve years of education, institutions of learning produced experts in every field

of study? All of the worlds great faiths make clear allusions to an omnipotent, omnipresent, and

omniscient grand architect that endowed humanity with every attribute possessed and expressed by

itself, but on a microcosmic scale. That each and every individual was made different and special, born

with unique gifts and talents with unlimited potential, is ubiquitous and suggested in the teachings of all faiths. The following essay supposes that the eradication of poverty hinges upon the successful integration of a system of education whose pedagogues are predicated upon the conceit that God gave each human being specific and particular abilities and psychological orientations that are exemplified by a persons earliest behavioral propensities and as such curriculum need be restructured into a pliable comprehensive matrix geared towards and conducive to the healthy manifestations of nascent potentialities.

Undeniably, a stark self-reinforcing correlation exists between ignorance and poverty. Both conditions are characterized by an utter or dire absence of vital necessities prerequisite for a substantive existence. Thus, one begets the other and the two produces the like. Furthermore, any effort, however elaborately conceived, to alter either is the equivalent of running on a treadmill. Much energy is exhausted, yet the runner will inevitably find him or herself in the same place that he or she began.

Likewise, the current educational landscape, particularly the pubic school system is the societal replica of a dog chasing its tail. Annually, millions of taxpayer, private and non-profit dollars are poured into an outmoded, outdated, broken system like water on burning sand, dryly resulting only in lower academic proficiency and higher dropout rates. Steadfast adherents to this trickle down theory as it applies to education continue to debate whether the parents, students or teachers are responsible for such a deplorable state-of-affairs never once questioning in open forum whether or not the system and its precepts are the cause of the malaise. The grossly under appreciated fact of the matter is, as it stands, the present day educational system does not educate, it simply trains. These are vastly different in scope. The current conveyor belt, one size fits all approach to learning and instruction retards the human spirit and its backward effects are exacerbated due to globalization and the rapidly changing technological frontier.

Owing its roots to the Latin word educare, educate literally means to bring out what is within. As alluded to in the abstract, that which is within the very make up of humanity was placed there by creative fate, by god. Early on, every child shows a knack for something specific, be it motor skills, memory, observation, speech etc. and as they age and mature into toddlers, in the proper environment, and with adequate attention and participation on the part of parents, guardians and teachers, these propensities become more pronounced especially prior to the advent of restrictive socialization. There is no shorty supply of stories about how this or that child exemplified a natural and almost magnetic inclination toward certain objects and or activities. “Every since he was young, each time I bought him a toy, he'd either take it apart and put it back together again, or turn it into something else...” marvels the mother of the now unemployed twenty three year old boy who never took a class in engineering.

Without a system of learning based on the idea that every individual is born with a God given blueprint predisposing him or her to naturally excel in specific areas of human activity, the innocence of adolescence, the vitality of youth and the inquisitive reach of early adulthood eventually gives way to stunted growth, disillusionment and marginalization, coalescing into a populace suspended within an overwhelming sense of purposelessness. Can any developed country afford to have a majority of its student collective continually questioning the practical significance and application of whats being taught?

Furthermore, should any policy designed or legislation enacted to eradicate poverty be taken seriously when seniors in high school are graduated without ever having taken a class on or been afforded the opportunity to develop and exhibit a sound understanding of taxes, debt, equity and investment when those same students are being bombarded with credit card and loan applications?

Indebtedness is the omen of poverty and ignorance is the precursor of indebtedness. A poorly informed mass of consumers is a virtual feeding frenzy for predatory creditors. Were children groomed from reading age to thoroughly explore and become masters of topics and subject matters that naturally appealed to innate curiosities and provided with a framework that integrated concrete, real-life exposure and punctuated with financial intelligence would there be as many poor people in the world as there are today? If institutions of learning made the soul of man, its basket of gifts and the highest development of those gifts its top priority would there be a fifty percent dropout rate or wide spread workplace disaffection or students entering undergraduate studies without a clearly defined career path or idea of what courses to major or minor in? Interdisciplinary studies was a step in the right direction, but what is sorely needed from early childhood education onwards is a daily period of study devoted to finding and defining what is the greatest motivator of all, one's purpose!

People of faith more so than any other segment of society understand and appreciate the saving power of purpose because people of faith are in effect people of purpose. Establishing purpose reinvigorates the will to create and produce. It galvanizes the human spirit and broadens the perceptive faculties of the mind enabling the vision necessary to see, seize and exploit opportunities heretofore unrecognizable to the disaffected and apathetic. Purpose is the foremost impetus to positive and constructive change as it calls upon and draws forth the largely untapped human potential that lies dormant within the cavernous psyche of man much like a sleeping giant. Everything in life takes on added meaning and usefulness when viewed through the lens of purpose. If students had a mere inkling of their life's purpose the importance of education and technical training would carry a premium of greater significance. Just as water seeks its own level, so does a person inspired by a thorough sense of purpose labors tirelessly to ascertain and utilize conduits for its fullest expression.

The challenge for this generation is to establish and institute a universally recognized and accepted mandate for making person-specific purpose and financial intelligence an integral part of curriculum at every grade level, increasing in depth and scope as individuals advance and mature through each successive level of schooling. Also, as the individual progresses he or she should assume a less and less passive role in course design because the more involved a student is it increases the likelihood of that student overachieving. Lastly, instruction and learning should no longer be relegated to the confines of the school buildings. The neighboring communities and the business world supporting them needs to become a permanent part of the classroom experience.

Faith-based organizations are the torch bearers of this grand experiment because their memberships incorporate every area of industry and expertise. Volunteerism and mentoring are the gateways of infusing purpose in the lives of students and the community at large. A consensus that each and every individual, regardless of race, creed, gender or ancestry was born with unique talents and abilities and therefore deserves the opportunity to explore, develop, enhance and monetize said gifts engenders an environment where innovation, entrepreneurship, service and industrious acts become the order of the day. Instead of people being prepared for careers, careers are being prepared for and by the people.

In order for poverty to exist and persist, the milieu and relevant elements must remain present. Likewise, poverty will be eradicated once its means of subsistence is terminated. Can a well-informed, purpose-driven individual or people ever be poor? Unemployed? Hungry? Idle? Once more, ignorance is the cocoon of poverty and all of its ills. People of faith see a universe and a world of abundance being sorely mismanaged by a powerful and greedy elite, but its atop the ignorance of the citizenry that their strength rests and unwarranted opulence thrives. People of faith, operating in the realm of social improvement are more often than not motivated by a spirit of morality and genuine compassion, not for monetary gain, so it is the responsibility of inter-faith coalitions consisting of industry professionals encompassing every discipline to instigate the educational reform since their interests are not vested in bottom lines, but in the uplifting of a fallen humanity.

Summarily, the development of educational reform that inculcates the ascertainment of an individual's life purpose and proficiency in financial intelligence as a gradient for present and future achievement, empowered by inter-faith based initiatives, manned by committed professionals spanning all fields of human activity is a sure fire way of ending the sprawl of poverty. The sooner an individual is certain of his or her purpose in life, the more apt the individual will be to begin valuing education as a life long investment and using time, information, and energy efficiently and systematically to materialize the type of existence that ensures him or her an abiding sense of purposefulness and well-being.

Purposeful life and financial intelligence is the new gospel of the twenty-first century. Educational institutions must undergo a radical makeover and position at its core the concept that all people are created with a divinely inspired blueprint. The worlds foremost thinkers and industrial pioneers who see faith as the cornerstone and guiding principle in their lives must bring to the fore their ingenuity and expertise in the reshaping of the world's educational landscape. Poverty is a primary byproduct of ignorance and poor education. Once an individual's life-purpose becomes the compass with which he or she begins to navigate the seas of consciousness, life ceases to be a string of seemingly endless storms as the clouds of confusion and despair are driven away by the light of purpose and beacons of hope.

The Crossroads!

Let's Go!

The Crossroads

The only place where the faith, character, and resilience of a person meet with the

circumstances that encourages spiritual and psychological transformation is THE CROSSROADS!

How else do you really come to know and appreciate just how beautiful and wonderfully you're made

than by being tried and tested? Indeed, the path of least resistance most often affords individuals the

temporary comforts of going with the flow, but what happens when you're forced to choose between

what feels right and what is right? What happens when the opinions of others that you hold in such

high esteem fail to quell the insatiable thirst of the ego??? What do you do when doing just enough is

not enough??? What do you do when you can no longer hear the voice of the one you've relied on to

remind you of your worth??? Where do you go, when you've realize that the very thing you desire to

break free from follows you wherever you find yourself? When all that you value begins to seem worthless, for what should you strive for??? If you had no phone, who would write you a letter??? If you had no home, who would open up their doors???

Embrace the hardships that has and will inevitably befall every human being! When problems arise,

give thanks to whatever Higher Power you look to for the opportunity to improve, for this is where

hope dies and gives birth to faith, and where faith is transformed into LOVE! It is only at the

Crossroads that humanity truly finds, experiences and appreciates all that life has to offer! Don't go

looking for it, but when it comes, turn not away from it, because through it you are reborn and made

new!

SERENITY

Today, I felt the waves of wrath fly out of my chest and my head, but my mouth remained clean.. Flashes of anger, hurt, and scorn formed, yet flew from me. I searched for a response to the cold misunderstanding, yet none were fit to reply to a conditioned rage. All I was able to bring myself to say is...

Time Heals All Wounds.

B-Holi

Excerpt from The Intelligent Brotha' ; Transcending Race & Adversity

From a chapter entitled "Troubledale"

The first thing I noticed about Cassidy Elementary was that the students all but ran the school.  Of course, there were some teachers who didn’t play that, but for the most part there was a pervading sense of fear.  So many low income children packed in over-crowded classrooms only served to worsen the chances of a child getting a quality education in an already underresourced  public school system.  I went from seeing what was in my previous school relatively well-behaved children, who tended to be generally orderly in the hallways and all the more quiet and attentive during class in their neat blue and white uniforms, loafers and shoes  to…baggy jeans and play clothes worn during school hours, loud lunch rooms and hallways and generally disruptive classrooms.  Subjects like sex, and the personal opinions of students and faculty which would be spoken of discretely in my former school was commonly heard aloud during class and luch time in public schools.  Incidents of fighting and violence and student insubordination was much more rampant. The girls were ‘faster’.  I was flooded with every counter-productive element imaginable.  I learned later that my mother actually wanted me to continue attending parochial school in Philly, but my father decided against it.  I immediately noticed the lower academic  and behavioral standards and expectations for the students.  I remember thinking, “I learned all of this last year.”   Tests were easier because the instruction was less rigorous. More students per teacher meant less time a teacher could spend actually teaching.   Grading was usually on a curve, so the apparent indicators of academic achievements were inherently skewed.   Amidst the students, a greater concern was ploaced on outward appearance.  Status was based on clothes, machismo, promiscuity and a high level of academic performance was placed on the lowest scale of peer values.  It wasn’t cool to be smart, and it wasn’t until it was time for report cards to go home that a majority of the students showed any degree of genuine appreciation for the importance of education.  Then, the next week it was back to business as usual.  For the teachers, their report cards were the results of statewide testing.  During the days approaching the exam week, teachers, and faculty would promote one means or another for students to have some ‘extra’ time to review subjects expected to be in the state assessments, but once the results came back poor, insufficient resources and the students' behavioral problems and the like were held up as the reasons for the disparity in academic achievements in wealthy and generally White districts as compared to those largely inhabited by African Americans.  This cycle of underperformance reinforces itself until as a whole, people begin to simply expect less.  For  a majority of students in public schools, its survival of the fittest, the rat race.  Students don’t fall behind in middle and highschool.  Initially children fall behind as a prority at home.  The less time a parent spends going over homework with children at an early age, and not just giving them lipservice on how important an education is, the more disillusioned they become.  If poor academic performance in school is dismissed as a phase at an early age then the likelihood of that child growing increasingly estranged in the school setting as that child continues to fall behind.  Rewarding underachievement with the newest sneakers, or a video-game is not a detterent to underperformance.  But, parents do it all the time.  If instead of material items, parents set aside time to sit with the teachers and administrators and open dialogue about the child’s needs etc.  there wouldn’t be a such thing as a 50% dropout rate and an equally high incarceration and divorce rate.  Furthermore, school administrations become so preoccupied with behavior agendas that academic needs become less of a priority.  Nutrition and health concerns even more so become a passing issue, as ‘down-towns’ directives for diplomas become further tied to state exams, teachers and administrators fall all over themselves to teach to the test rather than teach to the curriculum.  It’s about pass or fail downtown when it should be about educating and insuring comprehension.  Years later I came to see the cycle from a full circle perspective as a guest teacher listeneing to a majority of instructors clamour on adnauseum in the teachers lounge and dining area about how problematic this or that child was or wasn’t.  I don’t recall one incident where a teacher wasn’t bemoaning his or her stressful classroom and didn’t meet with a chorus of vehement acceptance and agreement.  Not once did I hear constructive criticism of the teacher that suggested maybe she fine tuner her approach or spend a little more one on one time with the student.  For the most part the system’s shortfalls are passed back to the student, leaving the children to bear the brunt and burdens of a system supposedly designed for their benefit.

The Pivot

You will reach a point in life, a moment in time, when redundancy yields restlessness...the tedium of conformity strangles the will, the residue of an outdated paradigm stifles the imagination, the smallness of the voice of conscience grows louder, the environment becomes a solitary sign directing the soul toward the canal of destiny, every sound resonates in unison singing you in, your favorite foods fail to satisfy and quell your growing appetite, what is so important becomes insignificant, what is so urgent is rendered inconsequential, and what is so dire is rendered futile!  How fortunate you are to have come hence, how happy you will be to tredge onward, how damned are you to turn back...from the Pivot!

The Family Mandate

Who can express perfectly the importance of family?  Man o Man...if ye but knew the Providence of thine kindred, you would at once be humbled and so blessed by the sanctity of your blood.  What I'm saying is this, WE MUST BE TAKING IT FOR GRANTED!  My mother was born 51 years ago today!  Her trials are more than the hairs on my head...her love is stronger than the pride in my chest, her patience is longer than the orb of our planet.  Without her my days would have been shortened, my errors more costly, my ignorance more lonely!  I love her and every woman and soul like hers, for they are my FAMILY!  True Love comes from within, is offered up to the closest of kin, and radiates outward like rays of the sun. Let yours be TRUE!  Say no more, tommorrow I'll tell her...him...later on I'll show them...just how much love I feel...how much I care.  Such a moment is not promised, nor is the mind, the will, or the heart to!  Listen a little more to.....FAMILY!  Spend a little more time with....FAMILY!  Treat people a little bit more like....FAMILY!  And what would we as children of the Almighty inherit??????   Yes!  HEAVEN ON EARTH!  "for behold, the Kingdom of Heaven is where?????



WITHIN!
I find it highly probable that if Humanity began  treating their loved ones as if at ANY minute she could lose them, we'd all know what it really means to be 'saved!'