A while ago one of my poet friends in Toledo wrote a poem about Neda, the young woman killed during protests following Iran's recent election who's become a rallying cry for an anti-government movement in Iran.

Read my friend Melvin's poem and, hopefully, become inspired to write your own. I was… Read full post »

Earlier this month, things looked so hopeful. I reunited with my classmates at our 40th reunion in Texas, many of whom I hadn't seen in 40 years since I'm one of only two who've left the state. I also reunited with a past love and that was great, too. I was… Read full post »

I admit it. I used to pull the wings off butterflies when I was a child. I hated them and never knew why until recently. I became obsessed with dissecting frogs in junior high and high school when my grandmother bought me  my own dissecting kit to help me with my… Read full post »

Recently during his trip to a slave castle in Africa, President Obama compared the slave trade to the Holocaust. This was an important statement because often any mention of the horrors of slave castles, potential slaves jammed in the cargo holds of slave ships like sardines, families sold away from… Read full post »

I really love Toledo. I do. But finding good barbecue here is near impossible. I used to go to Tom's, a drive thru barbecue "fast food" joint on Toledo's East side because their ribs were pretty good, although most people complain about the sauce (in Texas, the sauce is not on… Read full post »

I envy President Obama his knowledge of his Kenyan heritage. African-Americans do not have the connection with tribe and family that Kenyan Americans, Nigerian Americans, Liberian Americans, Ghanaian Americans, and other Americans with direct lineage from African nations have. What we d… Read full post »

My father marched with Dr. King in the second Selma March and did his part to advance the Civil Rights Movement in the small Oklahoma community where he pastored a Baptist church and affected change.

He came from a family of thieves, pimps, prostitutes, and sharecroppers. His father left when… Read full post »

After giving it a lot of thought and consideration, we're announcing our departure from reality television in an effort to return the airwaves to suitable family and/or adult entertainment rather than these cheesy attempts to show "real life" by putting a camera on people and letting them act out the… Read full post »

I've ragged on my home state several times here in OS when stupid things like preventing a man from seeing his dying mother-in-law have happened there. Until 2006, I had not been to Texas for 18 years. I only went that year because my favorite uncle died and I went to… Read full post »

I'll never forget the reaction to Eric Holder's pronouncement that Americans are "cowards" regarding discussions about race. That statement overshadowed the cartoon implying the nation's first black President is a semian published the same week.

 More offense was taken from Holder… Read full post »

My grandfather died today. He didn’t live to see the end of the play. I’d hoped it would all end in time for him to know that he and all the others who brought this about had been forgiven, their sins expunged, their penitence served.

I know I should… Read full post »

Back in the early 1990s, shortly after moving to Northwest Ohio, my bff, Karen and I got tired of spending our weekends in Detroit and started going to the lakeshore, mainly in Luna Pier, Michigan. We looked at a log cabin, my favorite vacation home, but it was $90,000, way out… Read full post »

The following series of poems constitute an "epic" inspired by one night with one very special man I met 14 and a half years ago and have not seen since then. However, we have kept in touch and I will be seeing him when I go to my home state, Texas, the end… Read full post »

It finally happened. Someone stole my heart and took it all the way to the Gulf Coast. That would be fine if I didn't live near the Great Lakes. However, I'm going to Texas for my high school reunion (40th!) and will see the object of my affection for the first time in… Read full post »

I sent the following email to a credit card lender today and thought it might be relevant to other people, so I'm sharing my frustration, anger, and readiness to do financial damage to these predators with you:

 "I have available credit on my account of over $964, however, when I attempted… Read full post »

Rush Limbaugh commented on his talk show that Dick Cheney has no interest in interns  - unlike former President Bill Clinton was the unspoken second half of that statement. Yet, fellow Republican Joe Scarborough chided his co-host Mika Brzezinski on Morning Joe this morning for being j… Read full post »

In the African-American community, we call it "crackin' but fac'in'" ("crackin'" means "cracking jokes" and "fac'" means "fact" in Negritic Ebonics, btw.) President Obama stated during his comic  monologue recently at a gathering of his devotees in D.C. that he will accomplish his second hundred… Read full post »

The Miracle on the Hudson would have been a tragedy if the inepxerienced pilots on the plane that crashed on its way to Buffalo a short time after that miracle had been in the cockpit of the USAir plane rather than an experienced pilot and crew who saved the lives of everyone… Read full post »

A few days ago, I received a "breaking news" text from MSNBC indicating that the health chief in NYC said "hundreds of school children" in New York have the H1N1 flu virus. However, when I went home and turned on the tv, I couldn't find any information about the story, which apparently

… Read full post »

Torture, believe it or not, is part of American culture!  Read the following excerpt from a series you can read entirely at this link:  dneiwert.blogspot.com/2006/12/eliminationism-... 

Eliminationism in America: VI
Wednesday, January 10, 2007  

[Continuing a ten-part s… Read full post »

I had it all planned from the moment my uncle told me that our 200 acre ranch in Texas has been overrun by wild hogs...when my mother and siblings and I all meet down there around Thanksgiving, I'd be ready.  I hate guns, but I was going to finally follow my… Read full post »

I know I promised to stop cuttting and pasting my emails after the last attempt dropped like a dud missile, but I had to share this one: 

 "I’ve received your application and am excited about your writing and your knowledge, but I would like to show my team that you really… Read full post »

I received this in an email from a conservative friend. I found it amusing, although I'm sure those still drunk on spiked Obama-flavored Kool-Aid may object to some of the statements herein. However, there are some truths here that should provoke us, Kool-Aid drinkers or not, to… Read full post »

My sister forwarded me this email which was forwarded to her that I found completely objectionable, highly offensive and ridiculous:     

" This is a true story and the author, Rick Mathes, is a well-known 
        leader     … Read full post »

I received the following as an email and had to bring it to OS, since apparently it's not being reported in the media. Thanks to CNN and Roland Martin for publicising this: 

"Sen. Barack Obama has called for a national discussion on race in America, and one of the folks… Read full post »