Friday Freestyles. The "Mess" Edition

Friday!

Finally!

I am so glad for the weekend. The only thing that would make it better is if it were payday, or if Monday were a holiday.

Alas, that's not the case. And I am still thankful for the day.

LOTS went on this week. LOTS in the news. I may need to once again cut all of that off. I like to know what's going on, but I notice the quality of my life goes up when I take a news holiday. That may happen this weekend.

The Weinstein Mess. And yes, it is a mess. A complete mess. And just like what happened with Cosby, women are coming out of the woods, the closets, the attics, and the basements of their hearts with their stories. And all the stories sound the same: man in bathrobe, asking for a massage, etc. WOW.

This is my thing. What is with all this shock and outrage? Did we not know that this type of behavior goes on with powerful men? Especially out in Hollywood?

It is as wrong as wrong can get. But the shock and outrage. Ugh. You know this type of thing goes on. I say it's a bad seed to sow. And when the fruit shows up, it's a bad bad BAD crop. Weinstein lost his business, lost his wife, and is exposed. If he gets out of this without criminal charges, he should consider himself lucky.

It reminds me of a quote, which I will designate as the Quote of the Week.

"You can do many great things in this life, but you will only remembered for the bad things you do."

You know that's a terrible but true quote. You don't think it's true?

Well, what's the first thing you think of when you think of Cosby?

And now, what's the first thing you think of when you think of Weinstein?

Heck... what's the first thing you think of when you think of our beloved President?

This also makes me think of my story "Ma'am" in the short story anthology Atlanta Noir. If you haven't read it, make sure you do that. In that story, a woman details in a letter the horrific details of a sexual assault by someone of prominence. She was too ashamed to tell anyone or report it, so she writes it out on paper. I suppose that is a way of her getting it all out of her system, as I myself find it's good to exhaustively journal about whatever is bothering me.

But here's my thing... For all the women who have mustered the courage to come forward with their stories, how many more women are there that will make the decision to say nothing at all?

I don't judge these women. But I give the people expressing shock and awe over this a side-eye.

This is what up: EVERY woman has some questionable experiences in her lifetime. EVERY. I have not met any that haven't. Every woman has experienced something that they will tell NO ONE. And it can be something relatively simple compared to the events that have unfolded before our very ideas over the past few days...

...or it could be something substantially worse.

I've met women who have been in abusive relationships with other women (this confused me when I was younger, but I understand... I get it. But imagine coming out and sharing THAT with people). And I have met women who have gone through other things I have and never hope I experience.

But I have been caught up in my own ball of tomfoolery.

I've messed around with a married man before. Been caught up in relationships where, let's just say I was lucky, blessed, and fortunate to get out of it.

And my personal laundry list goes on... an on... AND ON.

My laundry list is LONG, weathered and tattered around the edges. The list is messy, with words written in pencil and different color ink. Lawd.

So today, I don't express shock and awe.

I express empathy and compassion.

I have empathy for those women. And for those who have come forward, and for those who have to daily live with those secrets in their hearts, I pray there is healing.

The Puerto Rico Mess. Man listen... I, like everybody else, am sick and tired of the juvenile tweeting by our beloved president. But when I saw those Puerto Rico tweets of his?

They made me teary-eyed. They were so horrific.

And they made me think about one thing:

Character.

And how important it is. Character is so important.

Character is who you are when no one is looking. But my goodness, we are all looking. 

You read between the lines there. You read that with a third eye.
 
That's all I have to say about that.

This has ALL, the events of the past year, been a master class in white supremacy. If you don't know what white supremacy is, or in denial of its existence, then something is wrong with you.

Very wrong. You are probably part of the problem.

That is all I have to say about that.

God bless Puerto Rico.

Song of the Week. So while I was driving to work this morning, I listened to some throwback Spotify list of songs that are apparently compiled from Oldies lists that I have made. They tend to do this type of thing from time to time. I especially like when Spotify compiles all the songs I listened to most in a years time in one list.

But this "throwback" list was a little different. Let's just say it made for an interesting ride in traffic this morning. I am sure someone was in their car looking at me thinking "That chick is sanging her tail off!"

LOL

But one of my favorites came on this morning: MC Lyte's Paper Thin. 


How great is that video.

OH how I wish for great female rappers in this present day!

That's it for me!

I am looking forward to a great weekend! In my mind I want to go grab a plate of chittlins since I've been inhaling a plethora of fruits and veggies all week.

But that's only in my mind. I feel great and I want to continue to feel great.

On purpose.

You have a GREAT weekend!