history's not a griot

john mac gets the Visa for demanding from us some print, reminding us that just talking a good game is about as useless as thinking one. and you get some credit too, because "you could be anywhere else on the internet but you're here with us..."

You all better write your own shit too so I could learn about what really goes on. but for now it's my blog, so i'm about to get self-centered for a minute, don't mind me...

so who i am? I am. my mom's pancakes, my father's rough draft letters to the editor sitting on the coffee table, my brother's picnic table backlifts. oakwood blvd block parties, 2 slices of napoli's and a coke for 8 quarters, kick the can behind that ranch on santa anna, bike helmets strapped to handlebars banging forearms but sparing embarassement, lunch without a lunch card. i am PK's willie mays, shaky murph's sixth man, and hayes' cranium competition. i am kaza's fan club, tom quinn's smuggler, beehive's nemesis and ms. mauriello's greatest admirer. i am PMS's luke warm water, vassar's tea bag smokestacks, and the southside's streetsweeper. i am a fucking Cold Vein, indebted to the pain in the poetry of all the rappers who have been the soundtrack to my life. i am every friend, family member, teacher, crush, and stranger who fill the scenes of my childhood memories.

you have defined my existence.

One thing I have learned, one of the few things i know, is that there are multiple truths. For myself, life has been beautiful. and I'm convinced of this fact so don't try to tell me that life's a bitch . But my life has been in the shadow of, even at the expense of, many whose lives have been tainted. These are both realities - meaning just that - they are both real.

So I write, and seek to exist, with the hope of my reality prevailing - to let it be bright.

If there is a life after death, and a God that judges us, (which i believe there is) i think God will do just that. He will judge US. There's one life, one love, and I got a feeling we'll all be sitting in front of God together, being judged as ONE. No heroes, no scapegoats, no saved, and no damned. Just us, the world we've left, the progress we've made, the love we've showed, the justice we've found, and the humanity we've defined.

Love life. Be humbled by death. And like Tupac said,
"It's time for us as a people to start making some changes..."

The past was. The future's ours.

it's that serious,

John