You Can Not Simultaneously Prevent, and Prepare for War

Yes. No thank you. I don’t care. War isn’t my thing; see I already know its all bullshit, politics, bureaucracy, old men planning wars for young men to fight and all that. Listen man: I read this, and all I can think of is- what else is new? I can’t even think about the quote cant even consider content, can’t dissect, interject, comment or suggest, but I can write. Writing comes easy. Teacher gave a diary in the third grade told me to stop crying and write. See, I’ve always been a crazy, crying, self-centered spoiled brat. Yeah writing isn’t the problem I just run with it words on a page ‘bout the only thing I can do right in this class. That’s war! War with the page! Ha! $20,000 I stay fucking up.

But it’s not about me it’s about: Veterans and Dick Cheney or what-have-you. Its about Halliburton and Black Water. It’s about capitalism and war profits and defects, you know, complicated shit us niggas’ don’t understand. War in the streets: “Front yard, broad day, with the AK.” It’s about, dope, snow, white. Is about police, trap, paint, and the hood. It’s about, war jihad, towers, war with self. It’s about neo-colonialism and money. Most of all its about money. Rich getting richer and the poor go out to die. Go get money for college to get more money to raise a family to die.

Now I got it! The quote, see its like the cold war. I mean the Russian dude he didn’t like nukes so close to home right? So he thought word ima see you U.S. and high-tailed it to Cuba to watch his back. No one wanted a war but the U.S. and Russia or the U.S.S.R. (whatever) were preparing for it, I guess its right. The quote.

Thank you and goodnight.

Angela

Get in. Get out. Don't linger. Go on.

There is a timer that follows you around. All the things that you hope to do are accompanied by a time watch. So as to say, stay on your objective. Procrastination causes conflict within your actions and can eat up your time. Those who strive face obstacles that can also play against your time. After reaching a goal you must continue accomplishing, there is no reason why you would stop. When you reach a goal it is only a checkpoint in the race of life. The finish line is where or when you cease living. Even so some people believe that would continue to live in an afterlife, therefore there is no excuse to stop on your doings.( By Luis Roberto Severino)

what good are insights?

What good are insights? They only make things worse.

Everyone has their own perspectives. It's always good to have different views. There's the pro's and the con's which can be avoided when aware of them. Not everyone want to know though. I say live the experience. I don't want anyone to inform me on what outcome they think or so sure I will get, then it wouldn't be an good to actually go through with it. Such as a palm reader. I don't want someone to tell me what they see I'm' going through because obviously I'm the one dealing with the dilemmas. I also don't need anyone to discuss their predictions or my future because i can fear what they have to say and live unhappy/paranoid. i could even get my hopes all worked up based on a lie. When we are born, life doesn't come with a book of instructions. We have others to make mistake for us, and if we don't learn from them, unfortunately we learn the hard way. We fall, and yet we all fall by ourselves. Only question left is whether we want to get back up... Ashley Velez ; )

There Is Only One Right Word

"There is only one right word." There is only one right word to complete the sentence. There is only one right word to complete the phrase. There is only one right word to respond to such a question. She couldn't honestly expected any other response other than that. There is only one right word to end my speech with. There is only one right world that I should have said before he died. There is only one right word that could have completed the sentence about how I felt at that moment. There is only one right word that expresses how I feel now. All of the hard work, all the people that doubted me, all the people that thought that I shouldn't have been given that second chance at birth. There was only one word that she said before she left, her and her family. There was only one right word that I wanted to say but I couldn't. That one word could have changed the situation. But I'm fine with the outcome now. So I just stand here alone and shrug, forgetting that one right word.

-Brian Hamilton

"Get In. Get Out. Don't Linger. Go On"

"Get in. Get out. Don't linger. Go on" That's how I feel about school today. That's how I feel about school everyday. That's how I feel about most things the majority of the time. I just want to get in, do what needs to be done and get out. I hate when people linger over things. Move on, if there is nothing you can do about it just move on. Sitting around crying and feeling depressed or sad about the situation isn't going to help anything. I guess that's why they say I'm a cold person. Well it's a cold world. "Get in. Get out. Don't linger. Go on" The faster I get what needs to be done, done, the more time I have to do what I want to do. "Get in. Get out. Don't linger. Go on"

-Brian Hamilton

Penumbra

"Memento morti 'remember that you will die.'"

My mind is so blank today, I'm not going spout any pretend wisdom. No cosmopolitan discussions on cosmopolitan subjects-- I'm 18. What do I even know? I will die. That's how things go. I do really like Latin though. (Three sentences in a row (!) that rhyme!)

I wish I had taken Latin in high school. It's so fascinating; and it seems to constantly be spoken here. I might understand Constitutional law if I spoke Latin. My favorite Latin phrase is "Si vis pacem, para bellum," if you want peace, prepare for war. I think it's quite pretty and profound.

Again, without even knowing it, I am having a cosmopolitan discussion about a cosmopolitan subject at 18. I guess that's what I get for going to NYU-- a very pretentious school that only accepts the best of the best. To be the best of the best you must think of yourself that way and you must have been told that at some point too. This bloated perception of our own naive wisdom is only fueled by our professors telling us we're so smart-- until that first D, that is. Ever. Everything comes crashing down. No longer as smart as you thought you were, eh?

Penumbra has to be one of the coolest words. Penumbra. Put it in your mouth and savor the shape of each letter and the sound they make. It'll taste better than your breakfast I can guarantee. And we're back to Latin.

I seem to write more when I have my own topics. I'd say that shows my self-centered, stubborn tendencies. Or the fact that I don't understand most of the quotes at 8 in the morning. Or that I don't like sounding pretentious. Riana, you do any ways.

Can we?

Yes we can or no we cannot.

Unless we get our acts together and stop branching into extremist factions of government where the only issues at hand are why we hate the other party, we certainly cannot. Right now the political system is so polarized that real issues have ceased to matter; all that is focused on is minute and trivial details. Then there are groups, like the Tea Party, which completely illegitimize the Republican party, the Constitution, and our entire notion of government all of which create a bad name for politics in the United States. The people want change from what we are in, and sadly the Tea Party is the only "party" representing some sort of change. They'll get elected into office because they are "just like us" and then we'll be left with the whack jobs in Congress and even more will fail. We need a united, sane front in order to get out of the deficit, the growing war, and the deep social inequalities that face us now. The polarized system that focuses on finger pointing will get us no where but angry and reticent towards the people who can actually help. Yes, we can fix these issues and get the United States to a place of stability but work needs to be done on the state of Capitol Hill and the morale of the people. A populous without hope can do nothing-- we need excited youth to lead us further. We need excited, proactive, innovative politicians to pave the way.

Tell me and I'll forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I'll understand.

Right off the bat this reminds me of those tests we used to take in middle school that showed whether we were visual, auditive, or kinetic learners. I remember the tests being really poorly made so that you can tell which answers will lead you to what result. The questions would be something like:

Which do you prefer?

A. Looking at things

B. Hearing Things

C. Moving Around

And I remember thinking, this is stupid. I could answer this question without this quiz.

You know what else is stupid? Our teachers never taught any differently after getting the results from the class. They would just look at it and say, "oh that's interesting", and that's it. No special attention to the hyper-active kids who were kind of like puppies who needed to chew on things, and couldn't focus on anything that wasn't within their grasp.

Nothing ever changed.

We still received the same method of teaching we always received. Why? Because teachers don't really teach. They work, and they demonstrate. They don't work for the student though. They work for a wage which pays by the hour and doesn't pay for quality. It's a shame because our future as a nation pays the difference.

-S. Grove

FUTURE FAVORS THE BOLD.

FUTURE FAVORS THE BOLD.

The future favors shit. It is a black hole we are all inevitably sucked into. A vacuum. A motherfucking pit. The bold, is that like the brave? Is it the strong? Is it the straightforward? Is it the successful? What is success? Everything is relative and this right here is bullshit. Thank you good night. Begin again forward and one foot in front of the other one step at a motherfucking time. Time. Time. Time. And the future, shit. Inevitable shit. And we step in it every day. Put it in a box and tie it up in a bow and call it promising. The future is not benevolent and it is what you make of it. Or what mommy and daddy can buy for you. Or who you fuck, who you kill who you steal from. Life is shit and so is this. Again. Step up let them know wake up or don’t the world still turns and no one will remember you. But we remember Jesus didn’t we. Who the fuck was Jesus that we should remember him? Why do things happen the way they do and why do I wake each morning towards this inevitable shit. Trash. Garbage. Nothing. And with happiness comes pain and with pain strength. To start again towards the future. Be bold stand up start again. Towards to the futures the black hole the nothing the empty. The rapist the child molester the homeless drug addicted and destitute. The depraved psycho paths accents of birth. The benevolent the kind the giving the loving the saints and the sinners. Again. Wake up . begin. Cycle shit. Useless nothing matters. Bold shy quiet confrontational nothing matters. Oh my god I don’t think you hear me all your money cant by salvation and all my bitching wont fix the inevitable. Shit. Cycle. Begin again.

- Angela Christina Jones

A hero is no braver than ordinary man, but he is braver five seconds longer.

A hero is no braver than ordinary man and i agree with that because having heart is what makes you strong and brave. If having that, why cant you be a hero? A hero doesn't have to be someone saves the world but someone who change the world and that's superhuman. Super human to me is someone you can look up to for inspiration. But what makes the difference between the two is the title of a hero and ordinary man. The fact the hero is being seen for what he is doing, but the ordinary man is doing but not being seen. That's what makes a hero Five seconds braver longer because of the impact he is doing is being applaud but the ordinary man tends to fail because his impact is not being applaud.

-Eva Castillo

Tell your friend a lie, if he keeps it a secret tell them the truth.

This is all about honesty. Tell your friend a lie, if he keeps it a secret tell them the truth. Its about seeing who loyal and who not .Who have your back and who don't. That's why don't call everyone your friend and just because i talk to you doesn't mean i trust you. That's how it goes and that's how its going to be and that life. You always know who your friend are when you need them. If they do you wrong once, they do you wrong twice, so don't let twice happen because that is just plain stupidity if you ask me. It's a cold world, put your hat on, put your gloves on and whatever else that protect yourself because only you can secure yourself, when it comes down to it. Tell your friend a lie, if he keeps it a secret tell him the truth. And if he keeps the lie a secret, now you know you have a friend until they know the truth.

Eva Castillo.

Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life. The whole aim and end of human experience

I completely agree with the prompt. I took theory of knowledge for the Ib program last year and one of the questions we kept coming to in class discussions was: Why do people do the things they do, why do they act the way they act? My answer was continually for the pursuit of happiness.

Every move I make in my life is an answer to the question "what will make me happier?". Yes, I know this seems selfish, but I have this thing called a conscience, and it give me guilt when I really am selfish., and then I am no longer happy. So, when I do unselfish things, I avoid this negative feeling of guilt, and rediscover that the act of being unselfish actually does make me happier.

Here's a question: If your are not pursuing happiness, what are you doing? Pursuing money? fame? If you want to pursue these things, I'm pretty sure that it is based on the idea that your obtaining these things will make you happy.

Happiness levels are controlled by chemicals in our brain like dopamine, and these chemicals are natural drugs that we are addicted to. Our body keeps us doing the things it wants with promises that we can get our hands on the powerful drug that is happiness.

-S. Grove

Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life. The whole aim and the end of human experience.

"Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life. The whole aim and the end of human experience." I thought being in college meant we are going to figure out what we want to do with the rest of our lives. I'm not 100% sure what I want to be, but I'm pretty positive it has nothing to do with what I'm learning in Cultural and Social Foundations. I really don't care about that BCE stuff and reading about all of these myths. They're obviously not true, so why don't we focus on our history and learn about the twentieth century because I think it's pretty whack we know more about ancient Egypt than World War I. But even learning about that; isn't all of it high school material? Shouldn't we be doing something that could influence our career path? I don't know what's happening to me. I used to be a very optimistic and outgoing person, but college changed me. I still think I can be that person, but when I look back at all these prompts, I only see myself complaining. That's not who I am. I look for the better things, not the worse. So, right now, I'm not living up to this quote.

Brandon J.

"Yes we can or no we can not?"

I can't even bitch about this quote because for once my rant has something to do with this. I wrote a pretty long LiveJournal entry about this, how you think you're able to get past something and then realize you're not really past it.

And I'm not even a depressing person like that. I mean of course I get morbidly sad every once in a while and I mean like really really morbidly sad but I've actually been pretty happy lately. Like I mean shits been weird as ever, if not weirder, but I just brushed it off...Or was I bottling it up?

Yes we can...can we really? Can we keep on trying to be our best and to impress everyone and to be a good person and friend and child and student and on and on and on? And to be happy and not overwhelmed while doing it? Can we run around smiling, getting As, maintaining perfect relationships with everyone, no f**k that, maintaining perfect everything, all the time? Can we? Or can we not? Can anyone? I want to know.

And this isn't some angsty teenage shit either. I really want to know if it's possible. Because it seems a lot of people have it down. Or are they pretending? Can we not? Really....can we or can we not?

Does it come with age? That's doubtful, if anything most grown ups seem more miserable than kids my age. So maybe I don't even want to know if we can, because what if no we can not? What then?

-MShapiro

"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss event; small minds discuss other people."

Corny MySpace quote, I refuse to answer you. Why? Because I'm tired, and did my essay this morning and had a f**ked up weekend and can't figure out how to manage my time.

Here we go, I'm just gonna indent and slant my way through this page. The sloppier and the loopier my letters are, the more space I have to leave between words, which is great because this sentence is already three lines long.

Got my graduation present yesterday....?

I really don't know what to say.....

I'm freaked the f**k out in general. I freaked out this weekend and then I was freaking out about freaking out. I'm freaked out about my midterm tomorrow and Thursday and Monday. I'm freaked out that I can't manage my time anymore and that I'm always tired and never home. And that my brother is almost six...which is weird. And that in less than a month I'll be 18, which is even weirder.

So no. I don't care about your mind, small minds, big minds, average minds or any other minds. I know mine is going crazy for no reason so I rather sit here and whine about that, then have to pretend to have some deep insight about a quote I don't even like.

-MShapiro

"Beauty is in the eyes of the advertisers"

That's so stupid...Honestly half of these quotes just make me angry, like what compels you to say that? For real. Anyway, beauty is not in the "eyes of the advertisers." Can we all just stop blaming shit on others? "Oh I'm fat because of McDonalds;" "I'm jobless because everyone buys from China..."

Shut up. Stop eating. Stop shopping at Walmart. Advertisements give people what they want. If everyone wanted to see size 6 women (which, by the way, they used to want to see) then we'd see ads full of actual women, not pin thin 16 year olds.

And honestly advertisers have tried the "plus size model" campaigns. You know why they didn't stick? BECAUSE NO ONE WANTED TO SEE IT. Because it's all cute to be anorexic and it isn't at all cute to eat at McDonalds.

And yes, yes, yes, I have mentioned Micky Ds quite a few times.

Now we have one minute. I'm still angry at this quote but I'm running out of things to say. Maybe it's because I'm not so angry anymore? I'm gonna keep on indenting so it looks like I'm writing like a "real" writer would.

Yeah.

This is BS!

Everyone loves skinny girls.

Well maybe not men...but you know.

Ok...now "time's up."

-MShapiro

To put yourself in a group is to tyrannize one self

Individualism is lost in a group. Is like being lump into a box of cereal. Not having the choice to think different. Act different. Be different. No single choice or ideas are allowed. Losing the freedom to be you. Not able to act your own self. Is like being in box of constrain. You become one more in the group instead of being part of the group. The notion that you have to be in a group and sacrifice your individuality for the sake of your own good is the bull shit mentality mantra. They naysayers feed us this crap everyday. Whenever we try to have our individual opinions on an issue they want makes like the aliens coming from outer space. Like what the hell you’re talking about. They want take away our individual thinking. Remove any trace of creative thinking. Until we’re all transform into bubblehead figures.

The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.

There is a critical period of time during early development known as "the Language Acquisition Phase" as postulated by the cognitive scientist, Noam Chomsky. This is the time when a child is best able to learn his or her first language. Babies and toddlers cannot remember anything prior to this period because without language there cannot be thought and there cannot be memory. Language plays a vital role in each of our lives. An example of a failure to acquire language can be seen in the movie "Mockingbird Don't Sing." The protagonist, a pre-teen girl named Genie experiences extreme social isolation as she spends her entire life strapped to a chair in the basement of her parents' house. She was never taught how to speak or function in society as she was hidden away from the world. In Genie's case, language was something she never had at all and her life was completely different because of it. On a side note, I think I may have gone a different way with this than the prompt was hoping for. I do think just between languages themselves people's worlds' are limited. There are many beautiful and poetic expressions that simply cannot be said in the same way from language to language. Additionally those who speak different languages are limited already because they are unable to communicate with each other fully and cannot fully submerge themselves in each other's worlds.
- M. Ashraf

Beauty is in the eye of the advertiser.

We are living in a world dominated by pop-culture and constantly changing fads which tell us what is in and cause the uninformed to be made fun of when they're still involved in it when its out. The media is to blame for most if not all fashion trends and they achieve this 21st-century mind control by instilling images of what they believe is "beautiful" into the heads of the impressionable youth. I try not to buy into what the media tries to sell me, but ultimately my efforts are futile. I always end up sucked into whatever money-making "get-cool" scheme they come up with. For example, I swore that I would never buy a pack of silly bands, yet over the past few months I've acquired quite a few. (Many of which I'm donning right now.) Advertisement has more control over the human mind than anyone would be comfortable admitting - because to admit that you're falling for these schemes is to admit that you're suceptible to brain-washing. And we as humans would never feel comfortable letting others control how we feel. Yet it happens.
- M. Ashraf

Anything that makes you part of a group tyrannizes you.

"Anything that makes you part of a group tyrannizes you." I actually went to bed pretty early last night, so I'm on like seven hours of sleep; I think it's the most I've had on a week night since school started. After watching both playoff games, I thought a long night was ahead of me, but I finished my work quicker than I expected. However, this sense of good feelings didn't transfer over into the morning. I took a shower that had more cold water in it than hot. I forgot that we pay fifty grand a year to have cold water- that makes a lot of sense. And it's not like they care at all. It is a business when it comes down to it. The repair man just gets to your room and says nothing can be done about it, the heating system should be functioning. They try to act like they care like every business does, but in reality, NYU is just waiting for that next paycheck. So, being part of a group takes away from who a person is. It gets in the way of becoming individualized and thinking for yourself. You have to consult with others before making decisions, instead of doing what you want and only listening to your opinion.


Brandon J.

All men created equal - yea right!

Everyone was created in their own special way. I don't think anyone is equal. Everyone is different from one another. Yea they might act the same or even have some similarity in commen, but men are not created equal.Some womens might say "all men are alike" but that doesn't mean they are equal. Key word " are alike" and from what I know alike and equal doesn't mean the same thing. If men were to be created equal then they will all be the same. Nobody wants to be the same as someone, everyone wants to be different and recognized in their own way.


Arianny.M

The only reasons to create art are to tell the the truth

My interpretation of "The only reasons to create art are to tell the the truth" means when you yourself express in anything whether you are an artist being an musician, painter or an even a writer, you are releasing as well as expressing how you feel, what you see, observed, heard or etc. You are creating your truth from your core. This is your opinion, your truth, your prespective and putting it out there for the world to see, to take in. And by you doing this, you are making the world see many prespectives of truth.



Dahlia P.

War is God!

War is the beginning and the end. War is what men worship, cherish and adore. What is in the heart of man you ask? It's war! War consumes their being. War is the God they need, this I hear from the souls of those who know nothing inside. Empty faceless men who strive on eating the blood of young and old. This is how they survive, this is how they acquire nourishment. In the midnight thy yell not Oh God! but, Oh War! please save me! In the heat of the sun they pray to War against their fellow man, their brothers or even their own black hearts who have betrayed them.

...in time, which made a monkey of us all.

Swinging from trees like White Tarzan, to doing the Jidda Bug in front of White audiences.
Monkeys lined up in chains to be bought, to monkeys standing in line to buy a gold chain.
Now they're online buying a De beers Diamond.
diamond blooded, flooded
Check out my diamond flow, diamond flow
see my shifty monkey slave.
see my new monkey wave, wavey with the monkey knuckle.
Naw. That's just a nub where my hand used to be,
hard to cuff me.
Monkey get on that boat, monkey get on that bus.
Beat that monkey into nonrecognition for whistling Dixie at that baboon.
They got monkey bars in the hood.
Across 110Th street they have jail bars in the hood.
Catch that monkey bet you can't,
Stop Monkeying around here,
monkey say, monkey don't,
Monkey get off that porch.
Porch monkey get on my back
Drunken monkey
Monkey executives they run monkey corporations.
What you know about handling your monkey business?
two monkeys may stop a show but
1,000,002 Monkeys can start a revolution.

Atallah A.

Truth is today, the days are gods

The truth not be told.
You’re a damn liar.
Like most politicians, lawyers, clergymen etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
Try to butter me up with your slippery tongue,
leave me bedazzled with your platinum rhetoric,
have me amazed with your ungodly sermon of Satan.
HELL NO!!!
I can’t be tricked by your devil worship.
I can’t be tricked by your shaitanic praise.
I can’t be tricked by your demon deities.
You process no power but the power to suggest.
Your power is limited.
When you oppose me, it gets even weaker.
Try running that weak game on a street corner dame,
because I aim, hire.
Not to sound cliché but the devil is a liar,
without a spec of truth.
The days of the gods are near!
the days of the gods are here!

Atallah A.

Your wound is your bow

I’ve been wounded by armor with a purpose to protect.
Shot in the leg by self like a Giant amongst men.
Jump to your death off the Brooklyn Bridge of life.
Hurt by love that was supposed to embrace,
embrace me so tight,
so tight that it strangles.
Leaving me breathless,
leaving me lifeless,
lifeless without care,
lifeless without love.
On that night I couldn’t protect with my gun.
Many years and tears have passed since I held your mind in my hand covering the wound.
Now I use the same hand to cover the wound in my heart.
I pray that this will never happen again.
I pray that God will forgive your sins.
As the days go on, the wound narrows like a distant road,
So cold, as your body I held.
I carry my bow as pride.
I carry my bow as feelings.
I carry my bow as your memory.
I carry my bow as your legacy.
That day two souls converged into one,
now that you are physically gone,
you live through me in the physical form,
until we meet again in the spritual form.

Atallah A.

The truth is today

"The truth is Today"

What can be said about this quote? I guess it all depends on what angle you are looking at it from. Who says the truth comes from today. What about yesterday or tomorrow. If its yesterday then is it history and not truth. Also who actually gets to determine or decide what the truth really is. Can you handle the truth if it were told to you? Do you prefer to be lied to when it comes to certain situations or do you want the truth. So many questions arise from one tiny quote. I wonder where does the quote come from. Who said it first and what did they think to accomplish by stating it. "The Truth is Today" sounds like it could have been said during a protest or something. Are people really after the truth or is it just socially accepted to say they want the truth. Have you told the truth when you knew a lie is what was really wanted to say. I don't think that I would be able to tell the truth today if I knew that it would hurt someone that I knew. Anyway whats wrong with little fibs and white lies here and there. Who really has never told a lie in their lifetime? Too many Questions!

---Barije

The Truth is Today

The truth is everyday. Each day we live through the day we rot into the ground truth rings from our bellies. Often the truth gets lost. Often, for whatever reason, it becomes distorted, perverted, hidden. We may close our souls eyes to the truth, perhaps we are afraid. Fear has a way of seeping into our pours and leaving its stench on our skin. It drowns out the truth and leaves us lost in our own illusions.
We can run from the truth, but each day we breathe, each day we open our eyes to a new sun the truth reappears. The truth wont let you rest not even after your death. The truth won’t die with you. The truth may be forgotten or ignored, but it still exists within our hearts, within nature. The worms that will eat our flesh sing truths the dirt that will cover our bodies sing truths; the flames that will consume our flesh sing truths and each day its starts anew. Each day beyond the passing of the earth, ingrained in the heavens as an unchangeable force the truth resonates. Beyond our conventions, our perceptions, and all that we hold dear. The truth does not play favorites. It is not merciful. It is not benevolent. Is the truth with in our means to grasp? Is the truth, which is beyond both man and God, able to be defined, explained, communicated or measured?

Today I was hurt. What is the truth? Today I was disregarded. Is the truth fact?
Today I found salvation, for each day I don’t swallow the bottle, each day I don’t pull the trigger salvation is won.

The truth is every day. The truth is today.

"You can never go home again-ever."

"You can never go home again-ever," I think what this quote is trying to say is that you can't go back to what you originally called home because its an environment that will constantly change, not only physically but mentally as well. As a baby, home is in your mother’s arms, as a kid, home is where you play, as a teen, home is where your friends are, and as an adult, home is where your family is. However, I do think you can go back home, not forever, but just for a visit. For example, you can always look back at your childhood toys to relive the feeling, or you could have a night out with your friends, but “home” is a factor in everyones life that seems to constantly be changing because it is where you feel the most comfortable. At home you do everything without thinking twice, you comfortably grab your toys, or vent out to your friends. “Home,” in this quote, is not a physical place, but the feeling of it. Many people find it in different places, whether it is a house, a job, a community, or anywhere else. Home is not where you eat and sleep, its where you can let yourself be you.

Protect Against The Inevitable

Why on earth would anybody waste their time doing something as stupid as this? I mean, seriously, if it is inevitable JUST by definition alone you have no hope. It will happen. You can't do anything. Don't try. But then there are those crazy people out there who want to control everything who will do this just to control it. Not that I'm not one of these people-- I totally need to control everything-- but I have more common sense than to try this. Wrinkles, for instance, cannot be prevented (unless, of course, you want a long needle injected into your face and a painful and bruise-full recovery) so why waste your time worrying-- or not laughing (I actually know someone who did this). You really are going to get them no matter what. (Wow...I must be tired if I'm writing words that are completely illegible and backwards for that matter. Yes. I just spelled the word "to" by putting the "o" before the "t." And I JUST did the same thing with the "p" in "putting"). Now that my long parenthetical phrase is done, I can get back to this ridiculous quote-type-thing. Gray hair is also inevitable. And I am a culprit of this one. Yes, at 17 I have already covered up my graying hair. Now, I do have more to worry about seeing as my mom grayed at 25, but still! Why would I waste my time and money on something so inevitable? What else inevitable? Um...getting hit by a cab in New York, yet we ALL jay-walk; procrastinating on homework, yet every college student says they won't continue on their "old high school" streak.

Riana Johnson

9/13/10 Writing 1

Opening writing assignment

the future is only an illusion

I am worried that people worry too much about the future. If your new love makes everything an exile, it is because your mind has predetermined that this change is bad. Focusing on the now will eliminate any socially conditioned judgments thus allowing you to make decisions that truly reflect how you feel in any situation.

"Success by the other is a fool's dream pursued at the cost of your dignity"

Someone elses success isn't your own. Seeing someone else pursue their dreams and you just watch may cost you your dignity, like a father and a son. The son makes it, he becomes a lawyer and the father is still the same drunk that he was when the son was growing up but still says that if it weren't for him, his son wouldn't have made it. He sits in a bar drunk and all he does is talk about how he is the one that made it possible for his son to be where he is today. What dignity does he have, watching his son as everyone looks at him and says this man did nothing with his life, is still young and still does nothing for himself but take all of his son's accomplishments as his own, taking credit for what his son worked so hard to achieve. NO DREAM! NO SUCCESS! NO DIGNITY!

"The limits of your world are bordered on all sides by your facility with language."

You are able to do anything you put your mind on. There's no limit, unless what is stopping you is your language. Your desire may be to travel but each time you travel to the same place, it will always be different. You aren't going to experience the same thing more than once. Go to a different country and you will feel like a new born opening its eyes for the very first time. It all depends on how you take things. Not speaking the language of that country will limit you from knowing different things, as well as socializing with others. Its like being in a box, you have no way out, no holes to breathe from, nothing whatsoever. But the only way you are able to find your way out is by following instructions on how to get out of the box. There's a limit to everything in life only if you don't look beyond your measure.

"Memento Mori, Remember you will die."

Death awaits every living thing. In our current time, this kind of thing is always put behind a persons mind. Everyone fears death, no one acknowledges that it is there, we are not a fairy tale immortal, we are mortal. When I think about death, I have already said and spoke the words 'I will die,' and yet when anyone else who attempts to say it, they revise it into 'yes death comes to everyone'. Showing the very fear of death, not accepting it as their end.
In Palermo, Sicily there is a place where the living can be reminded of death. A catacomb filled with these mummified people, that are lay on display for many eras. A priest that takes care of these mummies, he said "People in this generation, come to this place and change, they change of how death is well on its way in the end of the road and people cannot accept it, they turn back from this place' I agree.
This quote "Memento Mori" "Remember you will die" is not meant to put fear, but as a reminder of our mortality and to accept this as our path to living. We grow, we age, we die, death is not a simple something you can disregard, a student said "You are born to die".

~Jennifer Macancela

Adding to the blog... for the first time! (Class prompt)

"You cannot borrow courage." -- ?

Well this presents an interesting visual. "Hey, can I have some courage?" "No." "Ok," you say, courage-less.

Courage. Hm. When have I ever been courageous in my life? Courage comes in all forms--courage is what moves you when you are out of your comfort zone. Courage, bravery, etc. are mental states and sometimes forms of adrenaline. Only you can decide to jump from the high-jump into the dark water, hold the tarantula, or enter the battlefield.

Before class today, Kyle showed his tattoos and Professor Jackson said, "You'll regret Elvira on your calf someday." Kyle responded neutrally, "No I won't. I live without regrets." Prof. J. says, "You've got courage." So what constitutes courage? How do you earn courage? Is it earnable? It's not borrowable, apparently. Or is courage just a built up resistance to your initial fear? In terms of the war, is every soldier courageous? What if they never feared war... Does that mean they're not courageous? Or are they naturally courageous--at least in the eyes of those who are frightened by it? Do you have to fear something, then overcome it in order to be courageous? Fear seems to be the most fitting opponent to courage. Thus, courage can't be borrowed because not everyone fears the same things in the same way.

Admittedly, all I feel like I can contribute to this quote is my nodding-head agreement and many questions I don't know the answer to.

True Love

When we are young, everyone always talks about finding true love. The young gentlemanlike handsome guy working at Blackstone expects to get the perfect girl, because he's the perfect guy. But as time goes by, he keeps on going through girlfriends saying, "she's pretty good, but there must be something better," and "my dream girl will eventually find me."

But now he's a 42 year old with a salt and pepper stubble and with the financial crisis Blackstone is laying off. Oh yea and he still hasn't found that true love. All of a sudden, as time trickles away, desperation kicks in. And he ends up marrying a girl he can put up with, after passing up on the amazing girl when he was 25. And as poppa Jackson would say, "Don't love the one that you love the most, love the one that loves you the most."

-Jonny TrueLove

"A tradition without intelligence is not worth having" T.S. Eliot

As much as I love my homeboy and fellow Leo Churchill, I'm going to have to roll with T.S. Eliot on this one. Only two generations removed from Quechua tribes left over from the Incan empire in Ecuador, I know a thing or two about nonsensical tradition. My grandfather left a tribe in Alausi because he felt things like nose piercings and ear gauges were pointless and barbaric, just to come to America where today my best friend since sixth grade has an inch gauge in each ear and his septum pierced. He traded bone for metal and was simply disappointed. "They call us savages!" he always said as he would walk by St. Marks. "At least in Alausi they wouldn't charge you because it had meaning; You can't put a price on a symbol." I can see now that he's older he'd rather have the bone than the metal, the dirt instead of rock, the handwoven headdress to the Alfani shoes, and the jungles of Ecuador suddenly seem to be bigger than he remembered; Bigger than any skyscraper in the entirety of the concrete jungle. It's sad to see someone so out of place. Maybe it's the jazz music in the other room, maybe it's because we're both Leos, but I think I agree with Churchill after all...

Forgot To Post This

Often times it is better to keep your lips sealed and pen moving than to put your thoughts into play. However, what makes you so sure that one who writes hasn't lived? What can you write about if you've never lived. All fiction is based in life just as all lies are based in truth. That is what makes fraud so dangerous. It is the most difficult sin to call out and according to Dante will land you further in hell than anyone would care to be. Fraud in all its forms is destructive. The cat and mouse between a detective and a suspect, the betrayal of a good friend with a kiss or the lie that now pulls your reigns as you attempt to keep your story straight...

Veins Called Love

“In his younger days a man dreams of possessing the heart o the woman who he may love later, the feeling that he possesses the heart of a woman may be enough to make him fall in love with her.”

Love. The undefined emotion that is one of the mysteries of this world. What, how, when, to whom, why do we love? I love. I love my parents, my sisters, my friends, and my best friends all in different ways and all for different reasons. If you ask me how I know that I love them, I just do. Love should take over the Nike catchphrase of just do it so that others don’t try to search so hard for what it is. When you find love, love. It might bring you feelings of hate , jealousy, confusion, but it also brings you bliss and that reassuring feeling that someone is there for you, that someone cares about you. Now I wish that young men will love who they want and then hold the heart of the one that they love, but I’ve seen to many guys my age discard the hearts of girls that they love like the pen that they’ve used that’s now thrown away because its out of ink. The ink that runs through the veins called love dried out causing the heart to cease purpose, or as it may feel.

~Samantha Dunac

Serious Within Simply Without

“The man who has begun to live more seriously within begins to live more simply without”

Without boarders, no lines drawn in the sand separating you and your needs. You know what you want and that’s when you take yourself seriously. When you live this wy you see the world not in the way that you want to but in a way that you need to. Want. Need. The transition from one to the other is the difference between more maturely. We take what we need from the world we grow. Selfishly taking what we want we remain stunted in our desires. Now that’s not to say that wants such as goals are bad because goals usually turn into passions, but passion shouldn’t be confused as psycosis. When we live more seriously we can make the distinction between wants and needs and at this point our needs become so cultivated, so loved, they disguse themselves as wants and we live more fluently. Things seem easier when we make decisions with a serious breeze because that points our compass in the right direction and as effortless as a breeze turing a compass is so becomes our life. I know. When I started to look at the world with a more serious air being a real citizen of the world was more organic. I started with tending to the needs of others helping underprivileged children to become better than themselves, and I became better myself.

~Samantha Dunac

~~THERE IS NO WAY TO PEACE. PEACE IS THE WAY~~

~~Therefore, there isnt a path that leads us to peace? But then, peace is the path that lead us where? Where do we really want to go? Perhaps peace, total peace does not even exist. Not one of us i feel are completely capable of being at peace with oneself or another. We all have the twitching eye that brings doubt. But with doubt comes growth and perhaps with growth the birth of peace welcomes itself. Not universal peace but to be selfishly peaceful in order to go on with our day. What if this peace isnt even organic? What if we are forced to become peaceful in order to remain sane. Peace isnt the way, it is the tool we use to reason with what is already hidden beneath the surface....~~

Journal entry 4/14/2010 Patriotism and Allegiance

I believe the past does bring out our patriotism. when I read about my culture and the history behind my people, I'm filled with a sense of pride. It's not so much that we want to feel allegiance, but the fact that we all do have a history gives us, or at least me, a sense of belonging. Although often times on books our history is glorified or romanticized, depending on the author, we can't believe everything that is written. I think we choose to believe the more heroic accounts of our people rather than facts, but accepting the facts will not make us any less. In fact, it will bring us closer because by accepting the facts, we can truely appreciate the hardships and struggles that they went through and we can look back at all we have accomplished and all we can still further accomplish.



Reymundo Solano

“Everything is compromise”

I wouldn’t necessarily say that absolutely everything is compromise. The thing about compromise is that I think that a large important factor would be another thing, weather it be a person or an event or anything, which without you don’t really have any compromises to make. Unless its like a fight with yourself. Like your sitting there and know that you should start working on your paper due tomorrow, but you just can’t seem to do it. So you compromise with yourself and watch a little more tv and then work on the paper. But the majority of the time you think that you know what you want and you do it. The weird thing is that I guess it is possible for everything to subconsciously be a compromise. I mean sometimes people don’t really know what they want, and they make decisions that they don’t really know what influenced them or drove them to make it, but they did. Is our brain automatically on program to compromise and we don’t even know it? Compromise with ourself. I mean imagine if we had to fight with ourselves to compromise in addition to all the other people. Clearly the brain was smart in making sure that this didn’t happened. But it can’t be. Because if the brain was on the automatic compromise setting then there wouldn’t be any more fights with people about compromise. And if that were the case, well what would there really be to fight about. The thing is that most of the time people don’t even come to a compromise .Yeah, sure if it’s a little thing, but most adults can’t even compromise over something simple without a fight emerging. When it comes to compromises, are we just being stubborn? Well. No. If we were just being stubborn we wouldn’t feel so strongly about our side. But then what about those people who don’t compromise right, not that they overpower, but under power. Those that always give up what they want to make everyone happy and such. Well its their own faults. They can play the victim, but at some point you have to learn to have a little bit of a presence, a little bit of a “don’t mess with me attitude” They are commonly referred as the push over, and although I do salute their good intentions to be the peace keeper and make everyone happy, its just not possible. Giving up beliefs that you have just isn’t worth it in a world full of people trying to get ahead. Most of the time if you keep giving in to other people and not get what you want it will hurt you in many other ways. People are going to take advantage of you, you can’t truly be happy by just pleasing others. So are we wrong for looking down on those who have good intentions to make others happy? To avoid the fight and reality that a compromise isn’t possible in order to be the better person? Hm. I good thing time is way over.

~~Quarter Cento~~

The Dissonance of Music

She sang beyond the genius of the sea
My wife here takes three mortal hours to dress her self
She turned away from the mirror slowly
For she was the maker of the song, she sang
A vague terror seized
I am lying in bed
In praise of love
She came around to my side and took me in her arms
‘you aint never gonna be nothing but a bum”
I was clammy cold with a sweat
I must have loved my wife, I know I did
The room was different now, changing, getting thinner
There is no comfort it seems, in a world of objects
It seems that at that moment she began to inhabit the world
I will not fight, will not interfere
That was her song, for she was the maker
If you could love me, I’d do anything
She left the lit room
She knows. She must know and
There is only this
The clocks in the house about to strike the half hour
She knows she will leave. She is herself
She would prefer that no one ask where she’s going
The close of an ordinary day
I could hear my heart beating, even when the room went dark

Readings used for quarter cento
1. Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway
2. Michael Cunningham’s The Hours
3. Wallace Steven’s The Idea Of Order at Key West
4. Joyce’s The Dead
5. Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
6. James Baldwin’s Previous Condition: A Story

~~THE WALK~~

Column One Column Two


If I gave my daughter My feet
Not just a walk Would walk
Her own walk Walk any walk
Her own switch Walk with switch
Feet would be her way Walking and I would watch her
And sit behind her Her own walk
She would walk Where she pleases
She would please My eyes
If I gave my sister sight Could see her eyes
Her own vision She sees everything
Would see everything Takes beauty as it ugliness
Around her beauty Her sight that I with no eyes
As it’s ugliness Let her see
Would be her sight And she would see for me

Put a donk on it.. dedicated to my boyfriend Thomas

Matters of the heart, eh? So much comes to mind, none more pleasurable though, as the love kind. It can be an affliciction to feel things from the heart, even good affliction feels uncomfortable. But unrequited goings on of the heart are worse still. And what about the art of replacing hearts - those missing or them that seize up, or those that never worked in the first place? You can carry someone's heart or be carried in another's heart, you can lose heart or have a big heart. Let's get down to the matter of the heart or the heart of things to come. The heart knows it's own reasons - who said that? He's got heart, she's heartfelt. Shot through the heart, love heart, heart attack, heart monitor, BPM...

"Show me a man who hasn't sold out and i'll show you someone who hasn't seen the right price."

It’s true that within society there are always the people who would take the right price for anything. But is this everyone? Absolutely. I don’t care who they have to step on, what they have to do, if you tell someone that you are going to make them famous but they have to ditch their friend who they have been singing with since they were in elementary school, you think they won’t? Once you show them that number that they have never even imagined before? Think again buddy. The only exception to this rule may be family. I’m not talking brothers and sisters, I’m saying that little bond that parents have for their families. You know, like Harry Potter status, mother giving her life for her son. Yeah, that’s it. Mothers don’t sell out their sons, or a lot of them won’t. But you go search the world and you will find plenty of people who will be the first ones in line if you offer the right things. People go around preaching like they are good people, but in the end most of the people will turn right around and not think twice about those things that they preach against. And I’m not speaking literally, although obviously that happens too. People always start out with morals in their lives. Somewhere in their youth they come up with rules about what is wrong and what is right, what they can and cannot do, and who they want to become. These usually include all of the things society tells us we have to do – be polite, help people, not lie, care about important issues, be smart, etc. But around 2 or 3 years later, those things become amended. You start telling little white lies, you start cheating on your chores. Everyone does something to break what they consider right, weather it is that you will never go behind someone’s back, you won’t secretly date someone else’s boyfriend, you won’t ever drink alcohol or do drugs, you won’t get married. Everyone has rules that they make, but when things are right in front of them, they can’t refuse. Like selling people out. The funny and best thing about it is that they still go along preaching the same things, telling other people not to lie to go behind peoples back, even get mad at other people for doing it when they are doing it at the same time. People like to preach like they are perfect. But no one can keep that fairy tale story of their life full of perfection. Everyone will give in. Especially for money.

We wear the mask that grins and lies

Every person has a mask. Most people have a tendency to be fake. No one wants to have people believe their lives are anything less than perfect. They drive around their shiny new Mercedes Benz, with their hair done, new clothes, and their mask. They hope their sorrow, despair, and lack of perfection will stay under the radar. Even when they have a slip-up and someone asks “What’s wrong?” they then respond with a plastered on fake smile and reply with the same sugar coated lies. They falsely assure them that “Nothing is Wrong”. People in this world go out of their way to cover their true feelings and to escape reality. They shut out the people around them, and don’t let them help. They cause themselves more problems and sorrow by not letting anyone in. But to them it seems better this way. Once they step out of their house they put on their mask because this is how we grin and lie.

A Promise is comfort to fools

A promise. What is a promise anyway? A group of words some person throws together, just to make you believe them. Promises are bullshit. Why should we make promises when they are always broken? And if it is so important to you why can’t you just fulfill it instead of wasting away our precious time with your empty words and fake emotions. Remember when we were little and every promise we made followed with a linking of pinkies or a “cross my heart hope to die.” If that were true there would be a lot more deaths around. Promises are made to be broken. Made to fall apart. When your boyfriend promises that was the “last time” and “it wont ever happen again” and follows it up with a “it was stupid baby, I love you”, are you really going to believe him? Promises are just a bunch of words people put together to provide a false sense of comfort for you. Promises are just a comfort for fools.

You cannot Borrow Courage

Courage isn’t something you are born with, and it isn’t something you can borrow from your friend. Courage is something you develop over time, though experience and failures. Courage is one of those things that sometimes even when you have it you can fall flat on your face. You know like when the nerdy quiet boy works up all the courage to ask out the pretty girl, to only find out it is too late. But that should not make you ashamed or embarrassed. The only embarrassment would have been to be a coward. There are more cowards in the world then there are courageous people. Anyone could be a coward. It doesn’t take much, only to hide yourself in what could have been. It takes a strong person to be courageous. Even when it seems as if the last thing you want to do is risk it, that your queue to do so. Courage isn't something you can borrow; you have to develop it on your own because courage is different for everyone.

Life is a moderately good play with a badly written third act.

I wouldn't go as far as to say that life is a moderately good play. Could you imagine watching life? There might be some good parts, with huge events, drama, action, but the rest would be so boring. A bad third act? How about a badly written script. We all say the wrong things all the time, we rarely have time to rehearse our lines, and we definitely do not get to practice with other people or give them advice on their performance. Could you imagine? That would make arguments so much easier. But I am sure parts of it would be like a soap opera, maybe some action scenes, possibly some huge thriller scenes. Full of secrets and surprises. With the lights on you on the stage all the secrets come out. The things you are embarrassed about, the things no one will know, the things that will hurt others. Talk about dramatic irony. The audience will be going crazy with the rush of secrets. Everyone has them. Things you did that no one knows about, or maybe you did with someone else and now the two of you awkwardly pretend it never happened. The things that will hurt people you care about so you keep to yourself. The play of my life would be a shitshow. No one would be able to keep up with the backstories and the secrets that surround my life. With the characters and the plot. It is so confusing even the actors wouldn't understand. I would be scared to watch the things that go on behind my back, and a lot of people would be hurt. Life is better contained. Once you put it out there in the spotlight, you can't take it back.

A promise is comfort to fools

When someone promises you something, and you accept it, you place your trust in that person. You assume that they will come through for you. But as the saying goes “to assume makes an ass out of u and me.” But still a promise provides that cushion in our consciousness. That, “well he said he would.” That our minds need in order to comprehend that it wasn’t our fault when things go horribly wrong. When that promise doesn’t come through it can’t be our fault. It wasn’t us who didn’t fulfill our word.

If a promise is comfort for fools, then we are all fools. We all find comfort when someone else makes us a promise. Especially when faced with the idea that it won’t be our fault if that promise fails. The comfort is not in the trust of another, but the lack thereof. It is in the idea that we can’t be blamed.

snowstorm

There's something ugly about snow & cities. The snow has nowhere to fall and so underneath the rampant stomping of hurried New Yorkers, it melts, withering away until there's nothing left of it but dark, murky rain water. Snow breathes in valleys. In woods and plains it falls, dusting the ground and then growing mountainous until there's white as far as the eye can see. I miss that snow...that happy feeling you get when you look outside your window and you see bright ice. It makes you want to breathe in that crisp air. All you breathe in here is the air of crispy halal food.

A hero is a man that does what he can.

Can. The ambiguity of the word is haunting. It's as if to say that what one can and cannot do are predetermined, so you might as well do what you can until you reach the point of cannot. The glass ceiling is already there, so once things seem unattainable, you should just stop where you are and watch the other more capable people continue on up. No. That is absurd. A hero is a man who does what he can and what he cannot do. He sees no line dividing the two. He has freed himself from the shackles of insecurity because, in essence, that is all 'cannot' really is- insecurity. So which will you chose- become a blur in the horde of complacency or transcend the limit and do whatever the hell you want to do?

A hero is a man that does what he can

A hero is a man who sees a problem, knows he can’t do anything about it and walks away.

A man who understands that by fumbling around he is just in the way of a speedy recovery.

A hero is a man who knows his boundaries and acts according to them.

No one wants a man who thinks he is capable of doing all tings. That kind of man is called arrogant and they aren’t well liked. And a hero has to be well liked. A hero also has to be appreciated. We appreciate someone who does the work that he knows he is capable of doing and doesn’t look over bundled. The perfect balance of help and hold, that is a hero.

Take for example batman. We all love batman. Because he was a normal human being with some kick ass gadgets. And he knew when something was too much. If he couldn’t handle it he called in the justice league.

Now superman. Superman got his ass handed to him by Lex Luther on a number of occasions due to the fact that he believed to be capable of what he wasn’t. What good is a superhero that doesn’t know what he’s capable of?

Maybe I’m making all this up. Maybe I don’t correctly remember Superman or Batman. Maybe it’s the Naproxen speaking. Who knows?

How to Date a Rich Girl, Jewish Girl, Asian Girl, and College Girl

When you pull to the rich girls house, you better be in something better than a 2008 Audi. Have flowers in hand when you reach the double doors. Be dressed in at least a button up and jeans, but don't worry about the rents, they're in Dubai for the weekend. Make sure that you did some research before you left. Memorize the top stories on perezhilton.com. It's the rich girls bible. Make sure you bring a few months of pay, you have to spend at least that. Don't worry if she dips out to the bathroom in between cources, she's probably already snorted some on the dashboard on the ride over.

Now for the jewish girl, you can ride up in a 1998 Honda civic and your in the clear. Be prepared to act like you grew up in Long Island and spent weekends in Miami. She's gonna complain so practice your lean and nodd in the mirror. Try to act like a gentile when she reminisces about her bat mitzvah. But make sure you remember how to open your wallet - Jewish girls don't want their money going toward anything.

With the asian girl skip the flowers and bring the hello kitty stuffed animal. Stay away from the asian food, they'll just talk about you in Chinese. Also stay away from any school subjects because you won't be able to keep up.

For the college girl don't worry about where you take her, just make sure you get some food in her stomach so you don't have to clean up from her later. Don't worry about your car, walk your ass over and knock on her door. You don't have to pay, but if you do then your guaranteed she's coming home with you that night. Have drinks ready, even college girls love natty ice.

D'Ambrosio needs ta get out

"My ideal life is a quiet one...if I'm lucky I'll come across a lovely phrase or fine sentiment... and feel the harmony of some notion, the justice of it and know that everything is there."

This is far too passive. Don't get me wrong, certain cc's of passive can work sometimes. Its good at the Steinbeck level: meandering through the Salinas Valley like some cool-water river taking its time to meet the sea, stopping at a farm here and there to lend a hand, maybe uncover a "lovely sentiment" or two somewhere along the way. If not, keep moving.

D'Ambrosio's ideal goes beyond a healthy acceptance of things into a disconnected disinterest. If suicide runs in your family, why not step out the door a bit before the inevitable happens? Maybe pull a Hemingway for some time. Work for the Kansas City Star, fight in World War I, a Catalan insurgency or two, retire to "gay Pareeee", hunt, trap, love, make it too, write a novel about it all, then you know if you still feel like it...

At least get out a little. Get out for Christ's sake.

call me Ellipses

No more black vs. white nigga we off that
please tell bill o riley to fall back
Don't call it a comeback, i've been here for years
different name different time but we still fight for our right to rhyme

King Poetic too much flavor, i'm a major
Atlanta ain't Braver, I'll pull a number like a pager
cuz i'm an ace when i face the bass
41st street is the place that is giving me grace
now wait, another year and I might be dead
got an educated head filled with ideas that excite the feds
I like to write and rhyme, so please tell me why i'm still pre-med
Ima performer show me a mic and it's like
I was born again, torn again between two lives, two lines
i just don't know which way the car will drive

I'm maxed like your cards, i always go the extra yard
my acids flex by reflex at the sight of pizza and chex mix
you hear me on your stereo sets, are you set cuz this you ain't gonna forget
I drop lines, wear size nines, hope to never run it
damn, Cubcheck's got more kicks than a mothers stomach
Excuse me, I have to rise cuz i'm wise
this is just the exercise till the microphone dies

Every afternoon i kick out a tune
i don't really have much of an aptitude
for rappin
So my apology goes out to manhatten the island of staten
Brooklyn and Bronx is livin fat and
to my queens crew let's boogie down enough props enough clout
ill will, rest in peace yall, yo, i'm out...

YOUNG NYU SCRIBES

HEY YOUNG WORLD.
HERE WE COME..