This is Mattie Roper and Morgan Goodson with two of their daughters. Morgan Goodson was a fierce, bold, and strong-willed man. He was also very keen and intelligent and inspired reverence from those that knew him. It is also said that he was the meanest man in Autauga County.

This is my great-great grandmother, Mattie Roper. She was a strong, industrious woman.

Up To Canann Land

(I'm on my way I'm on my way)
Well I'm on my way to Canaan's land I'm on my way to Canaan's land
I've done sunup made up my mind I'm on my way to Canaan's land

If my mother don't go don't you hand to me
If my mother don't go don't you hand to me
I've done sunup made up my mind I'm on my way to Canaan's land
Well I'm on my way...
[ piano ]
If my brother don't go don't you hand to me
If my brother don't go don't you hand to me
I've done sunup made up my mind I'm on my way to Canaan's land
Well I'm on my way...
**********

I think I am discovering what my purpose is. I am supposed to teach. I am supposed to teach on a fundamental level. And I am supposed to teach assholes that they can't neccessarily do whatever they might think they want to. My name means light from the beacon hill. I am supposed to bring others into the light. Allow them to truly see.

Morning has broken, like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for the springing fresh from the word
Sweet the rain's new fall, sunlit from heaven
Like the first dewfall, on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where his feet pass
Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God's recreation of the new day

From Killing Rage

It was not a question of your giving up the seat, it was an occasion for you to intervene in the harassment of a young black woman and you chose your own comfort and tried to deflect away from your complicity in that choice by offering an insincere, face saving apology... It was this sequences of racialized incidents involving black women that intensified my rage against the white man sitting next to me. I felt a 'Killing Rage.' I wanted to stab him softly, to shoot him with the gun I wished I had in my purse. And as I watched his pain, I would say to him tenderly 'racism hurts.'-bell hooks, Killing Rage

King Adbullah of Jordan Condemns the U.S. Occupation of Iraq

This is a great statement from a very powerful voice in the Middle East. As a sidenote, I heard someone on television say that now U.S. companies control 85% of Iraq's oil wells.

Ella Fitzgerald was a beautiful woman.

I am a Goodson, a Deramus, and a Smith.

Thank god for bell hooks.

Tony Blair must rot in hell. When are the British going to get some integrity and get rid of that man?

Those in the know say that the U.S. is searching for war with Iran. Great Britain, the United States, and Israel. Watch closely now.

At the rally yesterday, a very astute 7th grader pointed out to me that Monument Circle in Indianapolis is surrounded by nothing but banks and churches. Very, very perceptive. A monument to capitalism...