One of Those Days...

Today, I am having "one of those days." You know, the kind of day, that makes you wonder is it all worth it. My Mother taught me to work hard and have a good work ethic, and I would be rewarded, prosper and do well. Events that have taken place at my "day job" this past month has caused me to wonder, is that really true?

I decided to do, what I do, when I am having "one of those days,"

... I cried to the Lord for help.

Just like that, I got my answer! The words of one of my favorite hymns came to me crystal clear, this gave me a second wind, a glimmer of hope.

I would like to share the words of this song with you, just in case you need a lift today...

THE LORD WILL MAKE A WAY

Like a ship that's tossed and driven, battered by an angry sea;

When the storms of life are raging, and their fury falls on me,

I wonder what I have done, that makes this race so hard to run;

Then I say to my soul, take courage, the Lord will make a way somehow.

The Lord will make a way somehow, when beneath the cross I bow,

He will take away each sorrow, Let Him have your burdens now;

When the loads bears down so heavy the weight is shown upon my brow,

There's a sweet relief in knowing the Lord will make a way somehow.

Try to do the best in service, try to do the best you can;

When I choose to do the right thing evil's present on every hand;

I look up and wonder why that good fortune passed me by;

Then I say to my soul, be patient, the Lord will make a way somehow.

Often there's misunderstanding, out of all the good I do;

Go to friends for consolation, and I find them complaining, too;

So many nights I toss in pain, wondering what the day will bring;

Then I say to my heart, don't worry, the Lord will make a way somehow.

(Written by Thomas A. Dorsey)

Putting Things in Perspective

This month has caused me to reflect on my life and reevaluate just what is important.

Last week, a friend and co-worker passed away following a brief but courageous bought with Cancer. This past Monday, my father-in-law passed away. This happen the same day I was given the news that my job of 20 plus years was just going away, "deemed unnecessary" was the exact term. Had I been given that news a month ago, I probably would have been devastated. However, compared to losing a loved-one, this news seemed both trifle and of little significance. After all, the job has served it purpose. I had the opportunity to raise a wonderful child, provide him with a college education and send him into the world as an intelligent educated black man. For what more could a mother ask ?

I have never been the type of person to hold one job anyway. I really should have been Jamaican. I have done catering, floral arranging, written and directed plays, owned a performing arts studio, taught dance, sold clothes, designed greeting cards, and owned a successful web design business, all while holding down a full-time job. Perhaps, it really is time for a change.

I will probably be put into another position (Or out to pasture, LOL), after all I am a dedicated employee. But I will truly miss the comradely I have with my current coworkers. No one could ask to work with a more talented group of eclectic individuals. I will miss seeing their faces each day and the sharing of stories of our life's journey.

Well, I don't know what is around the corner for me, but I do know that God does not make mistakes. This means that there is something wonderful waiting for me, a new adventure, and I just can't wait to see what it is.

It's Hard Out Here for a P...

Y'all know the rest! LOL!!!

OK Y'all, what kind of Memphis girl would I be, if I was not be proud of my homeboys, even if the lyrics to the song appear to be a little foul. You must admit the tune is catchy and it is a fun song to sing.

With all of that said a big congrats goes out to Three 6 Mafia for wining the Oscar for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song, It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp from the movie Hustle & Flow (I hadn't been that excited since Isaac Hayes won for Shaft - They say that Shaft's a bad mother shut-yo-mouth!)

Didn't our girl Shug (Taraji P. Henson) clean up well for the show! Shoot I didn't even recognize her! You go girl!!!

Of the three choices, it really was the most "original" song, no doubt. I loved the movie Crash, but I swear, I don't even remember the song In the Deep. And although my other Tennessee home girl, Dolly Parton, was getting down sing Travelin Thru, you must admit the lyrics to that song are no way as memorable as "It is hard out here for a pimp!"

I was disappointed that Terrence Howard did not win the Oscar for his performance in Hustle and Flow, and I was equally disappointed that he was not nominated as best supporting actor in Crash. He did an outstanding job in both movies, and showed his wide range as a seasoned actor.

I was excited that Crash won for Best Motion Picture of the Year. It was an excellent movie, if you missed in on the big screen, be sure to check it out on DVD. It is a must see movie!

Now back to our song....

You know it's hard out here for a pimp (you ain't knowin)
When he tryin to get this money for the rent (you ain't knowin)

Goodbye Octavia

I have always loved science fiction, horror, and fantasy. Being an African-American child in the 60's, sometimes I was considered a little strange. Addicted to things like Lost in Space, the Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone, I think my mom thought me a little weird :-). It was nothing for me to me to stay awake all night to watch Fantastic Features (old horror movies) on TV. I still remember the host of the show ,"Sivad"(Davis spelled backwards) our Monster of Ceremonies. So, it was a natural progression that my favorite books would also come from those same genres.

I read my first Stephen King Book, Carrie, back in 1974 and became a Stephen King junkie at that point. During that financially challenging time of my life, all my reading selections came from the library, second-hand stores (a.k.a. The Goodwill) or mass-market paperbacks at the grocery store checkout. I managed to read a lot of very good books by a lot of great authors.

It wasn't until 1988 that I was introduced to the writings of Octavia Butler. The Book was named Kindred it was part of a Black Women Writers Series. I was absolutely enthralled. It was so exciting for me to see science fiction written by black women with a black heroine. I immediately knew, I had to find out more out this author, and I had to read everything she had in print. I was surprised and embarrassed that this author had so many books in print, and that I had never heard of her. Me, the bibliophile, me the scifi-aholic, had never heard of this queen of sci-fi.

I am proud to say that I own every one of Ms. Butler's books, except Survivor which is currently out of print. (However I have read it thanks to a LA cyber friend who checked it out from the library, fed-ex'ed it to me to read, afterwards which I sent it back to her :-)

If you have never read one of Ms. Butler's books, I suggest Kindred to get you started. This book is classified as sci-fi, but really doesn't have a lot of hard science. It is more a speculative work of fiction. However, once you start to read her other series, prepare yourself for a wild ride. Below please find a list of books by Ms. Butler you owe it to yourself to read at least one of these books.


Bibliography - Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947-February 24, 2006)

Patternist series (In the Series Intended Order)

• Wild Seed (1980) - Prequel to Mind of My Mind. Two immortals, one who changes bodies and another who has perfect control of her own, struggle to live together over generations, as one concentrates on creating a new race through his own breeding program. - James Tiptree, Jr. Award winner
• Mind of My Mind (1977) - An immortal's breeding program has created a society of networked telepaths that he struggles to control.
• Patternmaster (1976) - Far in the future, regular humans are dominated by a society of networked telepathic humans who, in turn, are ruled by the most powerful telepath: the Patternmaster. Also hostile to the remaining regular humans are Clayarks, mutant humans created long ago by disease unwittingly brought back to Earth from outer space by astronauts. The story revolves around the aging of the current Patternmaster, spawning a battle among telepaths to see who will become the next Patternmaster.
• Clay's Ark (1984) - A colony of people mutated by a disease that astronauts have unwittingly brought back to Earth from outer space struggle to keep themselves isolated enough that the disease does not spread throughout all humanity. (Butler was reportedly unsatisfied with this novel.)

Xenogenesis/Lilith's Brood series

• Dawn (1987) - After the near-extinction of humanity, a woman is resurrected by the alien Oankali as part of a plan to colonize the earth with alien-human hybrids.
• Adulthood Rites (1988) - An alien-human hybrid child is abducted by sterile human resisters.
• Imago (1989) - An androgynous being comes of age and integrates human and alien societies.
  The three volumes of this series are also collected into two omnibus editions, Xenogenesis (out of print) and Lilith's Brood.

Parable series

• Parable of the Sower (1993) - A girl with heightened empathy develops a benign philosophical and religious system during her childhood in a walled suburb in a dystopian anarchic future Los Angeles. When the suburb's security is compromised, her home destroyed, and her family murdered, she travels north with some survivors to try to start a community where her religion can grow.
• Parable of the Talents (1998) - As the U.S. continues to fall apart, the protagonist's community is attacked and taken over by a bloc of religious fanatics who inflict brutal atrocities like rape and murder. The novel contains a harsh indictment of fundamentalism and has been compared in that respect to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. Parable of Talents won the Nebula Award for best novel in 2000.
• Parable of the Trickster - Butler had originally planned to write a third Parable novel, tentatively titled Parable of the Trickster, which would have focused on the community's struggle to survive on a new planet. She began this novel after finishing Parable of the Talents, mentioning her work on it in a number of interviews, but at some point encountered a form of writer's block. She eventually shifted her creative attention, resulting in the novel Fledgling (see below).
  

Other

• Kindred (1979) - Often shelved in Literature or African-American literature, rather than with science fiction. Story of a modern African-American woman who keeps falling back through time to rescue her white, slave-owning ancestor.
• Survivor (1978) - With Earth being ravaged by the disease that was brought back from outer space, and telepaths now asserting control over what remains of humanity, regular humans are caught in the middle, and one group of them has decided to escape it all to a new planet, where they now, as aliens, must struggle to co-exist with the race that already lives there. Although this novel can be connected to the Patternist series, it is consider by others to be a stand alone novel. (Octavia Butler, herself, ultimately came to dislike this novel.)
• Bloodchild and Other Stories (1995) - A collection whose title story, "Bloodchild" (1984), won the Hugo and Nebula awards. The collection also includes four other stories and two essays. The pieces span Butler's career, the first finished in 1971 and the last in 1993. In 2005, Seven Stories Press released a second edition of Bloodchild and Other Stories, expanded to include two newer short stories copyrighted by Butler in 2003.
• Fledgling (2005) - A vampire novel. ISBN 1583226907 Although Butler herself passed Fledgling off as a lark, the themes of race and sexual permeate the novel. Although ostensibly about vampires, the novel is connected to her other works through the exploration of race, sexuality, and what it means to be a member of a community, and what it means to be an outsider. Moreover, the novel continues the theme raised explicitly in Parable of the Sower that diversity is a biological imperative.