One of My Favorites--Black ButterFly

By Deniece Williams

Morning light, silken dream to flight
As the darkness gave way to dawn
You've survived, now your moment has arrived
Now your dream has finally been born

Chorus:
Black Butterfly, sailed across the waters
tell your sons and daughters
what the struggle brings
Black Butterfly, set the skies on fire
rise up even higher
so the ageless winds of time can catch your wings

ooh...ooh

While you slept, the promise was unkept
But your faith was as sure as the stars
Now you're free, and the world has come to see
Just how proud and beautiful you are

Chorus

Let the current lift your heart and send it soaring
Write the timeless message clear across the sky
So that all of can read it and remember when we need it
That a dream conceived in truth can never die
Butterfly

Cause now that you're free and the world has come to see
Just how proud and beautiful you are

Chorus

Fly
Butterfly
Yeah, yeah, yes
Fly

I feel very much like I am in touch with my forbears. I am listening.

I have noticed several trends here at purdue. I should be a cultural anthropologist. For one there is the white person and their asian sidekick--this is seen everywhere. Then there is the asian, hispanic,or black male with their prized white women--this is also seen. I've never really seen white male/black,asian,latino female here really. These are interesting trends though.

I wish I had the freedom of Janis Joplin. I heard she once blew the entire football team at her high school.

Me and Bobby McGee

by Janis Joplin


Busted flat in baton rouge, waiting for a train
And i’s feeling nearly as faded as my jeans.
Bobby thumbed a diesel down just before it rained,
It rode us all the way to new orleans.

I pulled my harpoon out of my dirty red bandanna,
I was playing soft while bobby sang the blues.
Windshield wipers slapping time, I was holding bobby’s hand in mine,
We sang every song that driver knew.

Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose,
Nothing don’t mean nothing honey if it ain’t free, now now.
And feeling good was easy, lord, when he sang the blues,
You know feeling good was good enough for me,
Good enough for me and my bobby mcgee.

From the kentucky coal mines to the california sun,
Hey, bobby shared the secrets of my soul.
Through all kinds of weather, through everything that we done,
Hey bobby baby kept me from the cold.

One day up near salinas, lord, I let him slip away,
He’s looking for that home and I hope he finds it,
But I’d trade all of my tomorrows for one single yesterday
To be holding bobby’s body next to mine.

Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose,
Nothing, that’s all that bobby left me, yeah,
But feeling good was easy, lord, when he sang the blues,
Hey, feeling good was good enough for me, hmm hmm,
Good enough for me and my bobby mcgee.

La la la, la la la la, la la la, la la la la
La la la la la bobby mcgee.
La la la la la, la la la la la
La la la la la, bobby mcgee, la.

La la la, la la la la la la,
La la la la la la la la la, hey now bobby now bobby mcgee yeah.
Na na na na na na na na, na na na na na na na na na na na
Hey now bobby now, bobby mcgee, yeah.

Lord, I’m calling my lover, calling my man,
I said I’m calling my lover just the best I can,
C’mon, where is bobby now, where is bobby mcgee, yeah,
Lordy lordy lordy lordy lordy lordy lordy lord
Hey, hey, hey, bobby mcgee, lord!

Yeah! whew!

Lordy lordy lordy lordy lordy lordy lordy lord
Hey, hey, hey, bobby mcgee.

I’d like to do a song of great social and political import.
It goes like this:

Thoughts Running Through My Head Today

It was a beautiful day outside...I saw two beautiful bushes, one with red flowers, the other with white..and I stopped to pick some flowers...they looked very much like shrubs in my Aunt Earnestine's yard. She always had flowers in bloom...and things growing in her garden...The Graduate School Application process is soo very classist...the fact that it costs so much money and you have to apply to so many schools...I didn't, I will next year...my ex, Kelly, is going through similiar things that my grandmother went through when she was teaching in Autauga county....he is very sweet,may he be well.

The Journal and Courier ran an interesting article today on Purdue's efforts(or lack there of) in terms of diversity. Very, very interesting indeed. They had commentary and such from Samantha Blackmon and Angelica Duran. Oh what tangled webs......

I was just thinking about my time in Montgomery. I moved around in some wonderful crowds and really was in the midst of some great work going on with the SPLC,Trish, and ACT in Alabama. It was definitely a great time.

The anti-sweatshop movement is really picking up here at Purdue. Alas, I definitely am going ot write more about the connections between the anti-sweatshop,pro-immigrant, and traditional labor movements. I see definitely interesting connections.

I am reading a pamphlet on the history of witches and midwives put out by the Feminist Press. What a horrible gory legacy the entirety of Western Civilization leaves behind.

New York State of Mind

Barbra

Some folks like to get away
Take a holiday from the neighborhood
Hop a flight to Miami Beach or to Hollywood
But I'm takin' a Greyhound
On the Hudson River line
I'm in a New York state of mind
Seen all those movie stars
And their fancy cars and their limousines
Been high in the Rockies, under the evergreens
But I know what I'm needin'
And I don't wanna waste more time
I'm in a New York state of mind
It was so easy livin' day by day
Out of touch with the rhythm and blues
But now I need a little give and take
The New York Times and the Daily News
Comes down to reality
And it's fine with me cause I've let it slide
I don't care if it's Chinatown or up on Riverside
I don't have any reasons
I've left them all behind
I'm in a New York state of mind
I don't have any reasons
Cause left them all behind
I'm in a New York, I'm in a New York state of mind...

I want to be Carrie Bradshaw and write a glorified column and have a fabulous penthouse in the city.

My ex, Kelly, is the principal of a school for troubled youth out where he lives. They are struggling to keep it open due to the awfulness of the school board there. I definitely send him my blessings and hope.

I encourage everyone to go to listen to Diane Rehms interview with General Zinni. I believe his arguments against U.S. military actions in Iraq, coupled with those of Colonel Ann Wright, make a very compelling statement concerning the lack of faith among the U.S. military in this effort.

New Words from Barbra

...Barbra Streisand
Perhaps the Real Reason Bush Went to War
Two years before 9/11, Presidential candidate George W. Bush was already privately talking about invading Iraq. Mickey Herskowitz, a long-time Bush family friend who worked with the candidate as a ghostwriter on his memoir, claimed Bush was obsessed with the notion and was simply just looking for justification to do so. Less than a year into his presidency, the warmongering Bush Administration was given the perfect rationale for waging a war: combating terrorism.

Immediately following the 9/11 attacks, Bush saw himself surging to historical highs in the polls. His cabal of advisors saw the opportunity to cement their place in American history by starting a war under the guise of protecting the American people against terrorists. However, Bush shifted his focus from al Qaeda, terrorist group and sole perpetrator of the 9/11 attacks, to Iraq and a ruthless dictator who had no connection to 9/11. Even though 15 of the highjackers were from Saudi Arabia and Osama bin Laden, mastermind of 9/11 and leader of al Qaeda, was hiding in Afghanistan, Bush chose to invade Iraq.

In his unfinished authorized memoir of the President, Mickey Herskowitz touched upon the psycho-social reasons relating to Bush’s decision to invade Iraq: a long-standing father and son competition based on feelings of jealousy and inadequacy. Herskowitz stated that Bush felt his father wasted all of his political capitol he acquired during the Gulf War. George W. Bush was quoted saying "If I have a chance to invade, if I had that much capitol, I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I am going to have a successful presidency." In invading Iraq, Bush saw the opportunity to emerge from his father's shadow and no longer be seen as the perpetual underachiever who consistently failed under the watchful eye of his accomplished father. He had the chance to finish what he feels his father was unable to finish. And he could finally have the opportunity to achieve something his father was unsuccessful in achieving...a two-term presidency.

History has proved that war-time presidents gain immense political capitol. And war-time presidents tend to have high approval ratings because when fighting an enemy, the country rallies around the flag and their Commander-in-Chief. But most importantly, war-time presidents get re-elected. According to Herskowitz, Bush accepted the view that without a military "win" under his belt no president could be considered truly successful. Bush knew what it took to get re-elected, but the stupidity was not to comprehend the repercussions of his own actions.

I was thinking today of when, during my undergraduate, Wanda Bigham, our college's president used to have me come every semester to her breakfast. I am not sure what it was for, but I remember it as interesting times.

The Other Woman

Nina Simone

The other woman finds time to manicure her nails
The other woman is perfect where her rival fails
And she’s never seen with pin curls in her hair

The other woman enchantes her clothes with french perfume
The other woman keeps fresh cut flowers in each room
There are never toys that’s scattered everywhere

And when her baby comes to call
He’ll find her waiting like a lonesome queen
Cos when she’s by his side
It’s such a change from old routine

But the other woman will always cry herself to sleep
The other woman will never have his love to keep
And as the years go by the other woman
Will spend her life alone

From now on I am going to do everything Dr. Dorsey tells me to!

Sometimes white people are absolutely funny.

I hope the gas prices shoot through the roof;-) Already expectations about the summer.

I am beginning to read a book by the Midnight Notes Collective on the Middle East and the Gulf war. I definitely am beginning to grasp a fundamental understanding of the marxist economic class model, of the way that society is structured.

bell hooks spoke of the absolutely horrific occurence that our children in this day and age are growing up with no imagination. No capacity to imagine at all.

I have started working on a book.

I stand in solidarity with all of the immigrant actions that are going on across the country today.

The Midwest Peace and Justice Summit was great. I'll write more later.