“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”
― Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass: Selected Speeches and Writings
Me and two Members of my A Better Balance Team helping to get justice and the right to care for my brother Stephen who has Autism!!
Removing the stigma thrust upon caregivers and their disabled relatives by the workplace! Go Team!!
Here is an article from A Better Balance about the Paid Family Leave Rally and my personal fight for Stephen!! Please read and Please support A Better Balance through generous donations. Thank you!
What one thing are you really glad you did yesterday?
Rested up after fighting my way to and from work in the blizzard Snowstorm Jonas!
Are you generally focused on today or tomorrow?
Today.
Would you want to have as a guardian angel/mentor? What would they tell you right now?
Guardian Angel. Have Faith. Believe God. The Battle is Already Won!
Would you rather live in a cave house or a dome house made out of glass? (photos of the houses found on google search)
Cave house. Glass Dome House is too much exposure. I’m a person who enjoys her privacy anyway I would not feel comfortable parading around in the nude in a glass house!! Also the Cave house seems warmer and more cozy!
Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?
Grateful that the Lord God helped me make it safely to work on Saturday and brought me back home safely while braving the brutal elements of Snowstorm Jonas. Looking forward to seeing all this nasty gross snowy icy mess melt because the streets are still blocked and pedestrians are competing with the cars and buses for rights to walk the streets!! Also just saw an older man fall and EMS take him away in an ambulance. Sanitation has pushed up all the snow against the sidewalks so there are no pathways to cross the street or catch the bus! Can’t stand frozen dangerous weather! Ugh!!
This is one Badass Blizzard. Thank you Jesus!! The Museum closed at 2:30 pm. Made it home safely to Brooklyn! NYC bus service shut down at 12 noon so I had to hoof it to 86th Street Central Park West! Had to walk in the street. Fortunately the Mayor and Gov. ordered all non-emergency vehicles off the streets so I did not get run over. Caught a D train to 59th Street and picked up the A train which was running local. Snow was inside the Ralph Avenue station. The entire platform was snowbound. The Mayor and Gov. cut off all subway service at 4 pm. Made it home by the skin of my teeth!
Snowstorm Jonas has brought the Big Apple to a halt except for the rich people on the Upper East Side frolicking with their kids and dogs in Central Park. But for those of us forced to work it was an icy hell. Glad to have made it home safely.
Here is the Google Photos link because I cannot get the video to post to this page. I took this photos from the windows at the museum. Please excuse the blurriness of some photos since at times the snow is drifting and a total white-out!
French National Anthem – “La Marseillaise” (FR/EN)
My blogging buddy K.B. who lives in Paris is safe, alive and well. He is grateful to all Americans for their prayers, encouragement and support.
I totally disagree with the hate towards France being spewed on Facebook!! Yes we all know that France was a Colonizer back in the 18th and 19th Centuries but the people alive today, the people maimed and killed in those horrible attacks have nothing to do with with what happened centuries ago. Yes we do need to learn and heed the lessons of the past. Colonialism and Slavery must continue to be taught in schools so we recognize wickedness and choose another path. On that note yesterday I left a group that I thought was about the positive because of the evil statements made against France. People who return hate for hate are little better than the oppressors.
Winston Churchill – We Shall Never Surrender (Full Speech)
Governments often make problems that make others suffer. My parents, grandparents and great grandparents went through racism and Jim Crow but they did not hate this nation, their country. As a Black woman I experience bias, racism and bigotry often but that does not give me the right to lump all white people in the same pot as an excuse to hate and spew venom. As a Christian I represent Jesus Christ so I can never do this. My spirit and soul do not allow me.
Love Train [Original 12″ Version] – The O’Jays (1972)
Many of those murdered in France and on the Russian airplane blast were innocent children. Hatred solves nothing. We cannot go back and change the past. Also keep in mind on 9/11 many French, European and other nations supported New Yorkers and Americans. Being Pro-Black does not give me the right to be anti-white or anti-European. Why? Because the Love of God and His compassion is in my heart. Most people of color have experienced bias and bigotry in some form but I refuse to deny aid, support or prayer to those in need. I pray for everyone. I’m still praying for the innocent Russian people killed in that airplane explosion. Hate is divisive. Please do not use this tragedy as an excuse to incite or fan the flames of hatred. I wholeheartedly and unashamedly support and stand with the people of France and victims of terrorism worldwide! Show Love to all.
I know what it is to be treated with the wide brush of stereotypes.
Working with the general public can be a challenge and if you’re a Black Woman wearing a uniform, a uniform that designates a form of authority more challenges come your way.
My Great, Great Grandfather William Henry Halstead left his life as a Free farmer and joined the Union Army for the benefit of his enslaved sisters and brothers and for his descendants unseen and yet unknown. But maybe he did know that Stephen and I would reap the benefits of his sacrifice. My Dad Edward G. Palmer left City College and joined the Air Force to fight for an America that did not even consider him a man but duty and honor came first. Thanks to the sacrifices and Love from my ancestors my generation of Black Americans became the first generation to benefit from the Civil Rights Movement. I’m carried on the shoulders of giants.
My Mother, Grandmothers and Aunts rose above the indignities of Jim Crow.
Sadly some look at me and see only color or gender. I’ve been approached by white males thinking that I’m a drug dealer or available for sex. Obviously I had to set them straight. They needed to be firmly re-educated.
But I’m more than race, nationality or gender. Like most people on this earth Black, Brown, or white I’m a human being of complexity. That’s why I had to speak out against vile remarks being leveled at the French people. God created people. Humans created race & divisions.
I’ve come to think that the reason God placed me in the museum was to root out my preconceptions, illusions and delusions about people of other faiths.
Over the almost 8 years I’ve worked there the Ladies and Gentlemen I’m closest to are Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu & Jewish. By being around and in close contact with co-workers outside of my faith I’ve learned a lot and mostly not to be judgmental. I’ve even visited their Houses of Worship and learned that these faiths are not so different from Christianity. If I had been born in Iran, Egypt, Bangladesh, India, I would be a practitioner of that faith. We are all people who want the same things in life.
One God. Many Paths.
Earlier this year I spent two weeks in the hospital. The reason I’ll keep private but the person who visited me and took me home is Gay. Again another lesson of acceptance. Every time I’ve prayed for help God sent someone from another race, faith, gender, or sexual orientation to assist me.
I could lower myself to the level of bigots, haters, slanderers & spew a fountain of venom and vindictiveness but I choose not to. I choose if not to Love everyone but to at least to respect all people regardless of race, religion, or sexual orientation. When I make mistakes or say the wrong thing I go back and apologize. Nobody is perfect but these errors in judgement provide me the opportunity to examine myself.
I’m sure as I make my way towards March 2018 and retirement God will have even more Life Lessons on my path towards Enlightenment.
If you were a pen, what type, style and color would you be?
A Fountain Pen with purple ink. I often feel like an anachronism. One born out of time, meant to be in another century. As a kid I had some fountain pens and I loved them despite the fact that they could be messy. One just had to learn to tame that ink! LOL!
Fountain pen
How many languages do you you speak?
One. English. Took Spanish in High School but that was over 30 years ago! However living in New York does give me opportunities to use my rickety Spanish skills. One day I will master the Spanish language.
Are you a listener or talker?
I listen but really enjoy talking more.
Rather Have: Which would you rather have, 2 million dollars or true love?
True Love. Uncle Sam would take most of the $2 million leaving me with not much left. However with true love you never know. Perhaps my next man will be a millionaire and I’ll have both Love and Wealth! 🙂 LOL!
Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?
Being able to spend time outside enjoying New York City and today having fun hiking the Ramble Nature Trails in Central Park. I’m becoming a Real Rambling Rosie!! 😀 LOL!! Check out my pictures: http://roamingurbangypsy.com/2015/09/07/rambling-through-central-park/
Looking forward to my upcoming vacation!! Yessssssss!!!!!!!! More rambling and exploring the Big Apple!! Booyah!!
Espiritu en Fuego/A Fiery Spirit 