Mama Shujaa

"Are you okay?" The usually tranquil eyes are chaotic. "Are you okay?" No Good Morning, nothing. Her voice is earnest, startling. Her eyes urgent, fixed on mine. My eyes waver, and land on her glossy lips, they compliment her red sweater. Heavy women usually wear dark colors to the office. She never does. She flaunts her colorful busty body on a daily basis. The entirety of her attention is focused on determining my state of mind. "Is your family okay, honey? Are you okay?" She's Mama Bear and I'm the cub. Three thoughts float through my mind: Sometimes we have uncomfortable feelings and we project them onto others. I’ve been told many times, that I wear my heart on my sleeve, so I am used to occasional inquiry from coworkers whose misery finds company. My heart aches for the people of Haiti; have I internalized and projected my anguish to this extent, to elicit such compassion? Mama Bear senses some confusion. "You are fr...

What remains is all muddled up. Bodies crushed concrete. Faces broken haunting. Will the grief ever go away? What remains is bewilderment. This most recent devastation, like its predecessors, distinguishes itself as a crippler of a nation. What remains is for us to keep caring, keep loving, keep giving, keep remembering, with and for the people of Haiti. To keep remembering what remains is what matters: http://currentsbetweenshores.blogspot.com http://www.projectmedishare.org/ http://www.amcharities.org/ Mingi Love, Mama Shujaa.

"...it is what the story does to you in the taking you somewhere, that the story is about..." Just one of the many wonderful statements his makes.

In college I enjoyed exploring the workings of real life interpersonal communication.  Inescapable messages, verbal and nonverbal.  Irreversible utterances whose effects remain even after the judge has told the jury to "disregard the last statement a witness has made."  And the complexities - the fact that no two people use the same words exactly alike, combined with the influences of perception, e.g. W.E.B. DuBois theory of Double Consciousness  (Google digitized version of The Souls of Black Folk ). Research observes that:  If communication can fail, it will.  If a message can be understood in different ways, it will be understood in just the way it does the most harm . I wrote about the near death of our vanpool back in September 2009.  We managed to keep it going, but since then we have lost riders, due to job loss.  Now only four remain.  Our small group of survivors have developed, quite naturally a kinship born out of the desire t...

The Africa Cup of Nations 2010 kicked off yesterday with the opening match between host Angola and Mali. With Angola leading 4-0 at the 74 minute mark, the end result at full time was unbelievable. I don't think I've ever watched a top draw soccer match featuring such a comeback. ANGOLA-MALI Uploaded by petebrown60 . - Check out more sports and extreme sports videos. The tournament continued today with another shocker: Malawi defeated Algeria 3-0; and Cup favorites Ivory Coast were held to a 0-0 draw by Burkina Faso. On Tuesday, Jan. 12,  Nigeria's Super Eagles take on the Egyptian Pharaohs; and Mozambique will tackle Benin. On Wednesday, Jan. 13, Cameroon v. Gabon; and Tunisia v. Zambia. The matches are not televised in the U.S., but you can watch them all live at www.allsoccerafrica.com , click on the myafricanfootball banner or the Orange Africa Cup of Nations 2010 banner. If you like fantasy sports, participate in the African Cup of Nations 2010 Fantasy ...