That's What I Said...

Lovely Day by Bill Withers.

2008-05-01T11:36:00.002-04:00

okay so i've been listening to this song a lot the last few days...i mean, who doesn't want a lovely day? but seriously, i started to think about it, just to make it simple, this song basically fits what i want in a woman. Someone who, when i think the world is caving in, i can look at and know...it's gonna be a lovely day.

When I wake up in the morning
love
and the sun light hurts my eyes

And something without worning
love
bears heavy on my mind.
Then I look at you and the world's alright with me

Just one look at you and I know it's gonna be -

A lovely day - lovely day
lovely day
lovely day
lovely day

Lovely day
lovely day
lovely day
lovely day.
A lovely day - lovely day
lovely day
lovely day
lovely day

Lovely day
lovely day
lovely day
lovely day.

When the day that lies ahead of me seems impossible to face

And someone else instead of me always seems to know the way
Then I look at you and the world's alright with me

Just one look at you and I know it's gonna be -

A lovely day - lovely day
lovely day
lovely day
lovely day
...
When the day that lies ahead of me seems impossible to face
...
A lovely day - lovely day
lovely day
lovely day
lovely day

Get Up, Stand Up! by Bob Marley

2008-03-21T00:10:00.000-04:00

Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: dont give up the fight!

Preacherman, dont tell me,
Heaven is under the earth.
I know you dont know
What life is really worth.
Its not all that glitters is gold;
alf the story has never been told:
So now you see the light, eh!
Stand up for your rights. come on!

Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: dont give up the fight!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: dont give up the fight!

Most people think,
Great God will come from the skies,
Take away everything
And make everybody feel high.
But if you know what life is worth,
You will look for yours on earth:
And now you see the light,
You stand up for your rights. jah!

Get up, stand up! (jah, jah!)
Stand up for your rights! (oh-hoo!)
Get up, stand up! (get up, stand up!)
Dont give up the fight! (life is your right!)
Get up, stand up! (so we cant give up the fight!)
Stand up for your rights! (lord, lord!)
Get up, stand up! (keep on struggling on!)
Dont give up the fight! (yeah!)

We sick an tired of-a your ism-skism game -
Dyin n goin to heaven in-a jesus name, lord.
We know when we understand:
Almighty God is a living man.
You can fool some people sometimes,
But you cant fool all the people all the time.
So now we see the light (what you gonna do? ),
We gonna stand up for our rights! (yeah, yeah, yeah!)

So you better:
Get up, stand up! (in the morning! git it up!)
Stand up for your rights! (stand up for our rights!)
Get up, stand up!
Dont give up the fight! (dont give it up, dont give it up!)
Get up, stand up! (get up, stand up!)
Stand up for your rights! (get up, stand up!)
Get up, stand up!
Dont give up the fight! (get up, stand up!)
Get up, stand up!
Stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up!
Dont give up the fight!

He Had a Dream

2008-02-03T01:57:00.000-05:00

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills o f Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

life.

2008-01-27T00:18:00.000-05:00

I wish I could express my thoughts better. I’ve always prided myself on my self-awareness and my own exquisite knowledge of myself. Probably arrogantly, I’ve held on to the belief that I knew all the keys to my own soul and there wasn’t anyone who could tell my story better than me. I still suppose this to be true. I guess. But at the same time, I’m finding that I don’t really know myself at all. At least, as much as I’d like. Life is a process, an evolution and we spend the entire longevity of it working fervently to assume the identity that we were we sure were made to have.

I’m finding that life is full of many adjectives. Life is…silly. Life is…tragic. Life is…fervor. Life is…unexpected. Life is…alarming. Life is…better. Life is…natural. Life is …sad. Life is…happy.

Lately it seems I go through these adjectives as emotions. I feel these emotions it seems, on a daily basis. Watching the news I find myself troubled and saddened and intrigued within one segment alone. Through the course of my day whether at work or outside of it, I find myself riding this rollercoaster. I try so hard to please everyone, including myself. I think pleasing my ego is the most daunting of all, but it is hard to be diplomatic while sticking to your core, your beliefs. It seems that as I get older I can’t seem to do both. Is there truly a contradiction between personal values and diplomacy?

I want so many things from life, it is basically ridiculous. It is so ridiculous; I don’t know where to start. I have basically no real starting line at this point, which thus adds to this rollercoaster. I am someone who isn’t naturally at ease with the unknown and uncontrolled, so this is definitely not an enjoyable state of mind. I want to jump, but I cannot determine how high. I want to run, but I am uncertain as to the speed or the distance. I want to fly, but I don’t know how far.

Thankfully, life is an evolution. Life has many layers. Life has many details and many covers. This stage leads to the next. This book has many chapters and the best ones have sequels. There is usually more to the story once it has been more thoroughly researched. The mystery of life lies in one’s ability to distinguish between the real and the obscene.

The Streets Are On Fire

2008-01-21T23:42:00.000-05:00

"Streets On Fire" By Lupe Fiasco
(feat. Matthew Santos)

Death is on the tip of her tongue and dangers at the tip of her fingers
Streets
Are
On
Fire
To-
Night

Death is on the tip of her tongue and dangers at the tip of her fingers
Streets
Are
On
Fire
To-
Night

Disease the virus is spreading in all directions
No safe zone no cure and no protection
No sense of surviving or signs of an infection
No vaccines remedies and no corrections
Quarantines the dreams and cut off our connections
Don't let em in not a friend not a reflection
Everybody's got it and want you to have it next and
Don't accept em if you wanna stay that's an exception
Appeal
The Heal
The ill of this
Sickness some are still in doubt of it's existence
Some call it forgiveness and some call it the vengeance
Some say it's an exit and some say it's an entrance
The poor say the rich have the cure
The rich say the poor are the source
Revolutionaries say it's psychological war
Invented by the press
Just to have something to report
Some say the first case came from a maternity war
Some say em all some say the skies some say the floor
Whores say the nuns, nuns say the whores
And everybody is sure

The scientists said it only infects the mind
The little boy said it only infects the girls
The Preacher said it's gonna kill off the soul
A bum said it's gonna kill the whole wide world

Death is on the tip of her tongue and dangers at the tip of her fingers
Streets
Are
On
Fire
To-
Night

Death is on the tip of her tongue and dangers at the tip of her fingers
Streets
Are
On
Fire
To-
Night

Believe some say the neon signs
Might allow speakers repeating
And everything is fine
A suttle silence
To demolish the troubled conscious
Of a compass with no knowledge
And every freedom denied
Every dream is designed and broadcasted
From the masters to the masses
From the antennas on top of the trine
As far as the receiving planet during a panic is shorted
It reports back everything in your mind
Everything is lying
Everything is dying
Everything is a rule
And everything is a crime
Everything was healed
And everything rewinds
And new weather burn a feathers off everything's line

And she likes it
And she loves it

The savage
The madness
The bad shit
The lavish
The fastness
To clashes the ashes
To ashes everything in to twine
My fend fatale my darling fongoling angel
Once caught her changing her batteries in her halo
Receipt for her wings and everything that she paid for
And the address to the factory where they made those

The scientist says she all inside mind
The little boy said "What happened to all the girls?"
The preacher man says she gonna kill off the souls
The dope boy said it's the whole wide world

Death is on the tip of her tongue and dangers at the tip of her fingers
Streets
Are
On
Fire
To-
Night

Death is on the tip of her tongue and dangers at the tip of her fingers
Streets
Are
On
Fire
To-
Night

another year...

2007-12-22T00:37:00.000-05:00

this year, I really didn't think much about this birthday. I was so focused on getting through school and graduating that anything outside of that didn't matter much.

well i did it. a huge lifetime goal...graduating for a university. yes i'm proud of myself.

i also am happy to have another birthday. every year, as cliche as this sounds, really is a gift. some years are better than others, some easier and others so incredibly draining, as this past one was. but in retrospect, i would not trade this past year for anything.

growth is defined as: the act or process, or a manner of growing; development; gradual increase. (dictionary.com) this life is a process, and through these growing stages, we develop so many different habits and mannerisms and characteristics...and it seems so chaotic sometimes. however, reflecting right now on my life...it is so good.

so i've said all that...just to say...i can't wait for 2008. i'm excited to see what happens. 2007 was a year of challenge for me and i envision 2008 as a year of change. i love change, so hopefully i will love 2008...

I Graduated...

2007-12-08T21:28:00.000-05:00

It's somewhat hard to believe that it's pretty much over and I can cross out one of my biggest goals and say...ACCOMPLISHED. I now have a college degree. wow. so now i can say,

James Gilmore
B.A. International Relations (GVSU '07)

that's right.

i have no idea...

2007-11-13T23:31:00.000-05:00

this being my last semester of college and graduating in less than a month, i have been inundated with two specific questions, 1) are you excited? and 2) what are your plans for after graduation? honestly, i have grown to despise both questions but here are some answers:

1) no i'm not crazy excited, but i will be tremendously relieved to finish, even if i feel like i am crawling to the finish line. even as i write this, i am stressing out because i should be studying for an exam or writing a paper or something much more productive than blogging about my feelings. i'm still unsure about all of this blogging stuff anyway...anyone have a tissue?

2) i have no idea.

it's not that i have not been planning for anything, it's just that i just don't know. and funny enough, i have begun to find strength in not knowing. it is almost refreshing to realize that it isn't up to me. being the selfish control freak that i am, i feel that i have to do it all and all of it on my own. it is nice to understand how untrue it is and how soon enough the path will be laid out for me.

this semester has been crazy. i've never gone through some of the struggles i have been through in the last few months. i literally have to take moments out of my day to sit and breathe and tell myself, "i can do this, i can do this, i can do this" seriously. i have never had to do that before.

the moral of this story is...

we don't always have to be strong.
we don't always have to be right.
it is okay to feel weak and vulnerable.

no matter the trials we face, and we all face some big battles, it is our mindset that sees us through.

even in feeling so negative lately about school and life in general, it is refreshing to know that in the end:

i will be okay.

I like this...

2007-11-07T23:29:00.000-05:00

"What is it about the great religions? Why can't the great religions play well with each other? What are they defending? I'll tell you my interpretation: it signifies a lack of faith to always be threatened and always have to prove your way is the best. It seems again to be antithetical to the teachings of the individual religions."---Brad Pitt

Enough said.

Really...Blogging?

2007-11-07T11:02:00.000-05:00

so i am attempting to blog. i wonder if anyone will read this, i guess it doesn't matter, writing can be therapeutic right? i guess that's what THEY say, whoever THEY are...