My Feelings on the Occupy Wall Street Protests

This past week I have been seeing news briefs on the Occupy Wall Street protests in NY and across the country this past weekend. I was actually glad to see people who were using their freedom of speech and assembly to come together to speak out against corporate greed and the federal government's waste. I think there are people who are down there for a variety of reasons. And their demands have been outlined in an article published byNomi Prins and others in several publications. Last week I was appalled as many others were to learn that Bank of America and now Sun Trust banks will be charging people to use their own debit cards and checking accounts if they do not upgrade to premium accounts where they have to keep a balance of at least $5,000. Are you serious B of A? In a time where people are scrimping and saving every cent they have and are just trying to make it they have to add a line to the budget for a fee to use their own money! Seriously?!?!?!?

Then last night I heard the excerpt from an interview with Herman Cain who claimed that if you are broke and not wealthy that it's your own fault. I can understand his "up by your own boot straps" Booker T. philosophy but I think what he has not gotten is the fact that many people in this nation young, middle aged, and old alike have been trying to work hard and secure steady jobs and have been repeatedly turned down or have had to be underemployed. That is not their fault. When companies or institutions cannot afford to hire people because there is not enough money to keep all systems at go there is a major problem. That coupled with the ever increasing national debt that we have and the fact that government continues to waste tax payer dollars for non-essentials. For example I read an article yesterday on the Daily Mail UK website stating that tax payers paid $425,000 for Mrs. Obama and the girls to go on a "goodwill" tour of Africa this summer. I have no problems with goodwill tours or Africa but why are we financing non-critical trips abroad for the first family sans the President when Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid are being cut down to hardly anything. These kinds of things I just don't understand.

For me what the Occupy Wall Street Protests mean is that everyday citizens are tired of the fact that when big businesses failed in 2008 the government provided a way out for them. Now individual homes are having a toll taken on them and there is no relief in sight. Yet there are real possibilities that taxes are going up. Food costs have been on the rise for over a year now, 50 million people do not have health insurance, an estimated 28 million people are unemployed or underemployed, people are separated from their families having to take jobs out of state, families are doubled up, and new workers coming into the workforce who are not fortunate enough to be able to get a cushy job for a tech company are having to settle for minimum wage or less than minimum wage jobs and some are even having to live on food stamps, even those from Ivy League universities.

People have plenty of right to be upset and to be protesting. I only wish that there was a way to relocate protesters to Washington which is just as responsible if not more so than those banks that are housed on Wall Street. There need to be people at the gates of the White House and on the steps of Congress calling for action by the politicians who were voted in to represent their interests. This morning I saw a press conference that President Obama held at the White House where he lamented the fact that people across the nation feel that Washington doesn't care about them and that politicians are only there to enhance or further their own careers and serve their personal interests. Oh really, why do you think that's so? Oh, yeah because it's TRUE!

The more this crisis continues the more disenfranchised people are going to feel. And you better believe that any politician worth his salt needs to confront these issues and come up with ready solutions and answers in the next 13 months leading up to the 2012 Presidential Election. America is headed on a crash course and it's time to hit the breaks!

Although I am not looking to Washington or President Obama to meet my needs because I know my Heavenly Father will do that, I am disheartened by the fact that this nation is in crisis and the only people who seem to be acknowledging that fact are the ones going through it. I really believe that it is only a matter of time before we see the collapse of the American middle class and more and more families descend into poverty. Why are politicians not working together to help Americans now and for the future? That's why I am writing this post because if I was in the same conditions I am now in North Carolina and I lived in NYC I would be down there chanting and sitting with those protesters to keep the eye of the government and the nation from casually brushing aside these protests and issues they concern. 

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani is a 34 year old husband and father in Iran who has been charged with apostasy. He converted to Christianity from Islam while he was a teenager. The Iranian government is trying to execute him by hanging. He has already been in jail for two years and now the goverment is trying to say that he is charged with rape, running a brothel, and extortion. None of these claims are true. The American Center for Law and Justice is gathering signatures for a petition to be sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to speak out on Pastor Nadarkhani's behalf. There have already been 98,000 people to sign this petition in just the last week. The ACLJ would like to have 100,000 signatures by Friday to present to Secretary Clinton. This pastor is being persecuted by his government for no other reason than he is a Christian and he is pastoring other Iranian Christians and winning more souls for Christ in Iran. If you read this post please sign the ACLJ's petition to help provide 100,000 signatures for Pastor Nadarkhani's unconditional release.

http://www.aclj.org/


Thank you!

3 Months and Counting

Three months from today my twenties will be over! I can't believe it. I know what people are talking about now when they say they can't believe the age they are because they still feel the same. It's hard for me to believe that this whole decade of being twenty has almost been completed. I am excited about turning 30 but I just can't believe that I'm at this point. As I have written before I expected to be at a much different place in my life by the time that I reached this age. But last night as I was watching the news tributes to Steve Jobs I was reminded that things do not always go according to plan. In footage from the commencement speech he gave at Stanford in 2005, Jobs told of being jobless at 30 after having been kicked out of his own company. I'm sure that was not what he was expecting. And there are others as well who have probably taken a survey of their lives at a certain point in time and thought that there would have been different events that would have happend to them by that point. I think that for me it is just a reminder that God is in control and I am on His schedule not my own. And I need to get rid of thinking that society's norms or expectations should matter to me. I know they matter to others but for my own life they should not matter, whatever the future holds I know that what will happen will happen at the moment when it is meant to and not a moment before or after. That is hard to deal with at times because of course I want to know what's going to happen and if it's better than what is going on now, which I suspect it will be, I definitely want it to happen as soon as possible. But there is a purpose in patience and there is meaning to waiting patiently for something you really want. There are times where it just gets to be too much and then I just have to come back to my senses and just accept that I am where I am and I need to make the most of that and know that the Lord will move me when He's ready and He will lead me where He has for me to go. So I look forward to these last three months of being 29 and I plan to enjoy them to whatever degree I can. In January I am going to Savannah to celebrate my birthday at The Lady and Sons restaurant (Hey y'all!). I really hope that Paula Deen might be there. But I just plan to enjoy it. I have people in my life who sometimes bring me down or think that I should be doing things a certain way. They think that until I get to a certain point or have certain things that I should not be enjoying myself. But if I waited until everything in my life worked out perfectly to start enjoying my life I probably would never enjoy my life. So that's the purpose of my Savannah trip. To have fun and to enjoy time away from Charlotte and to just relax. I'm not going to dwell on the things I don't have or the personal failures that have occurred during a time that I expected to be a time of personal accomplishment. I'm just going to enjoy turning 30 and look forward to the start of a new year and a new decade.

RIP Steve Jobs

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do."

"If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on."

"Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition." - Steve Jobs

Curls! Curls! Curls!

My hair has become a bigger obsession in my life this year as opposed to past years. A couple of weeks ago I went back to curly hair after having it straightened for an interview. I didn't want to feel like I had wasted my money so I kept the straight hair for as long as I could, about three weeks. Then I shampooed and conditioned and re-curlified my hair. It looked really good but we were having a late summer/early fall heat wave and the curls did not last long. So this week I washed and conditioned and hoped for the best. My hair came out nicely but not like it had prior to the straightening. I'm not sure if my hair is retraining itself or if I need some new products. I have become a product junkie, always looking for another wonder product to make my hair look like I want it to. So I am not sure if I need to invest in more product or just give my hair time to adjust. One thing that I did notice was that now that I am using the Shea Moisture Curl & Shine Shampoo (a non sulfate shampoo) that I don't get the same results with my Palmer's Olive Oil Replenishing Conditioner. When I use this conditioner with Super Slip Sudsy Shampoo I get lots of volume and plump to my hair, and less frizz and shrinkage. This go around my curls seem flat and more frizzy. I am also wondering if my use of the Kera Care Hair Milk had anything to do with it as well. I tend to want to use as many products as possible but I already use the Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie so it may not be necessary to add hair milk on top of that. I had thought about trying some products from Miss Jessie's and also Carol's Daughter but I think that I can find what I need locally without having to order it online. I wondered if MJ's Curly Meringue or Quick Curls might be better for a softer curl and more definition but I am not sure if these products would work with my hair texture. I definitely don't need softer hold. I think maybe my hair is just going through a phase. It needs some deep conditioning love because I haven't used a coconut protein pack on it in a while and it is getting colder so it needs more moisture anyway. Also I plan to get a trim in November. I need to make it more of a point to get regular trims. I think every six to eight weeks works and I wish I was ambitious enough to try and do it myself but I do not want to jack anything up. So I am hoping that after I solve my puzzle of conditioner and also adding back the protein pack that I will have the hair that I was getting at the end of the summer right before straightening. Also I am interested in trying two conditioners. I want to try Trader Joe's Tea Tree Tingle Conditioner and Shea Moisture African Black Soap Balancing Conditioner or Raw Shea Butter Restorative Conditioner. I am hoping that one of these products will balance the shampoo and give me more moisturized hair and bouncier curls. Also as I mentioned previously there might be an adjustment going on with my hair after wearing it straight for almost a month too. I tell you the hair journey seems to go on and on and on. But I know that I will find the right products eventually.

Uncle Lester's Birthday Card

Create your own photo slideshow

Gandalf the Grey

Last month when I got my hair straightened for my interview at the museum my hairdresser made the announcement that I had gotten my first grey hair. It really wasn't my first but the others were hidden in my new growth. This one I assumed was a root to tip long grey hair. I had not really thought about it that much in the weeks since she made the announcement. However, I spotted Gandalf tonight. It was so strange to see this 8 inch silver hair resting among all of my brown locks. I just stared in fascination for 5 minutes. Then after I did that of course it bothered me that Gandalf was there and would potentially become noticeable to the whole world by being a grey tease sticking out in my bang or my pony poof. I plucked Gandalf right out of my head. I realized as I stood there with him in my tweezers that I have to stop this because at some point Gandalf will grow back and he will have friends. I have already been preparing myself for this time that is coming sooner than I realized by scoping out henna rinses online. I fully intend to check with my hairdresser as to whether or not she will do my henna rinse for me or knows someone who can. I don't know what it is but I am just not ready to see long silver hairs growing out of my head. I guess because part of me is in serious denial that the countdown to 30 is in full swing. I feel really happy about the fact that I made it to this point of my life without a whole lot of greys pouring out of my scalp but the actual looking at them is another thing to take. I saved Gandalf in a box because it is a "moment" that I want to treasure although now I do kind of feel vain for plucking him out. But like I said he'll be back and I am sure there are more to follow him as well.

Happy October! I LOVE Fall!