I did something revolutionary today by deciding to not talk on the phone all day with that the caveat that I did talk to my sister whose birthday was March 28. I love you sis and know that I love you and I am your biggest cheerleader!

Nevertheless, the impetus behind my silence his was that the Michigan Policy Summit is happening May 10^th and April is going to be an extremely busy month for me. So before I faded to black, I wanted to take a day to center myself. I should also mention that my cell phone is my work and business phone so I am literally on the phone from sun up to sun down between meetings.

I hadn’t realized how much I don’t listen to myself until today. I felt like I have been trying to get through to myself but I was so busy dealing with work that I didn’t click over to talk to me. I feel very much at peace with the world right now as I listen to Jamming by Bob Marley with the sweet smell of candles filling the room. Hopefully, I am the last person to catch on to this but if I am not, be intentional about taking time to listen to you. I will have to find a way to make this a regular part of my routine because the unchecked mental voicemails I had were overflowing.  

Stay up fam,

Brandon Q.

March 29th, 2008 | Uncategorized | 3 comments

1. A recent Gallup poll came out that showed 28% of Clinton supporters would support McCain over Obama while 19% of Obama supporters would support McCain over Clinton. I want Obama to win in November but even if he doesn’t, it will be really good to see the latent racism raise its ugly head because like Nas said,

Worst enemies want to be my best friends
Best friends want to be enemies, like that’s what’s in
But I don’t give a f*&$, walk inside the lion’s den

Symbolically, I think the lion’s den represents the electoral underbelly of America’s republic. A progressive vision of American society will require those of us that share these values to systematically vie for power and upset the corporatracy that is literally suffocating the dreams and hopes of the disenfranchised (politically and economically) all over the world.

2) 2. Today, I was in the car listening to Rick Ross and my phone rang so I turned off the radio. The call was from a guy who works for Al Gore that told me Gore was unable to speak at the Michigan Policy Summit happening May 10^th. We had a good conversation and after hanging up, what did I do? You guessed it; I started rocking out, rapping lyrics to songs that I barely know the lyrics to. I love being Black.

3) 3. I really wish these Democratic superdelegates would stop complaining about Clinton’s tactics and her narrow path to victory and just endorse Obama so Democrats can begin to focus on defeating McCain.

4) 4. Check this out, “The Pentagon on Wednesday said an eruption of violence in southern Iraq, where US-backed government forces were battling Shiite militias, was a “by-product of the success of the surge.” I don’t need any snarky follow up because the absurdity is astounding. I do wish however that we could somehow package the pain of the families of the more than 4,000 dead Americans and the scores more of Iraqi civilians in a way that every American could for one hour experience the individual and collective toll of war.

5) 5. Take time to tell someone in your life that you care about them. Life is short and you never know when that last conversation is going to happen so cherish all the time with your loved ones.

      Stay up fam,

      Brandon Q.

March 26th, 2008 | Uncategorized | 2 comments