Time........

I've been home for most of the week dealing with my second bout of bronchitis in two months. I have dealt with two deaths in two months and my cigarette intake doubled. After each incidence, bronchitis is the diagnosis. Therefore, with all of my might and fight I have in me, I will not touch another Newport Light again in life. Yes, I have said this before, but after a couple of miserable nights of sleeplessness due to coughing my lungs out of my chest, I have learned my lesson.

I lost my Aunt in January and lost a dear, dear, friend, sister and confidante that I shared the last 25 years of my life laughing with. We were just saying Happy Birthday to each other. She's the 22nd of February, me the 25th. She left us on the 28th. We had plans to meet the next time I was out in Queens, which would have been March 13th, but the next time I would see her was at her memorial service on March 2nd.

I have so many great, crazy, moments with my "China Doll." We laughed, cried, argued, fought, all the things sisters do. She was close to my family and we all looked out for each other through the years. She is a daughter to my mother and a sister to my sisters.

I know we only go around once in this form, but damn, I always thought we would live to see each other's kids, but we don't have control over this thing called time.

This is the lesson in all of this. I know she would want all of us who are grieving to go on and live our lives to the fullest with our hearts full of love because she did just that.

I remember in my twenties when I was going through my shit, she came over and was checking on me, making sure I was doing okay. She told me that the book isn't closed, this is just one page in the chapter. If it's something that can be fixed and changed for the better, then I can keep going in life. Things will get better.

Catherine "Cathy/Catina/China" La, had many monikers, but, one thing that never changed about her was her spirit. She lived life on her own terms, she loved hard, laughed hard, played hard, went hard on anything she believed in.

We had our time and our era together. We said we loved each other and couldn't wait to see each other, so I am at peace. It was her time. I will see you again ma, one love................

 Catherine "China/Catina" La 2.22.76 - 2.28.10

Just thinking........

Yesterday, I came home from a long day at the office and turned on the Haiti Telethon. All of a sudden, I began to cry and just process the neverending devastation that the people of this nation continually endure.


Haiti is the first Caribbean nation to fight and claim their freedom via slave revolt. However, historically, they have had to deal with shady, unstable governments, crippling poverty, and an overall lack of the simplest necessities to survive. What kind of shit is this? The powers that be spend millions to place satellites in the atmosphere and to set up shop on Mars, but a percentage of this world's population live in extreme poverty, not knowing where the next meal is coming from.


Clearly, this is all by design and a means of population control. There always has to be sufficient disparities in order to moronize the masses and maintain a sense of power. It's assumed that those born into these destitute circumstances statistically will not make it out because they will not have the resources and or the knowledge to make a better way. 

Products of their environment, huh? 

What those that run the show need to realize is that our people are resilient and have survived things that no other group of people can, with the exception of a nuclear attack!!! 

I am just so sick of how skewed our media can be. I am looking forward to the day when I am in another country and can watch how this country is portrayed in the news. It's different to watch BBC News here in the states. I want the effect of being in London and watching how the international media tells our stories. Or being in Morroco or Italy, or Japan.


It is important to be a critical consumer in this life and do your own research. Challenge your current belief system, perhaps you will learn something new or get the answers to those questions you have been asking yourself. 


This entry is all over the place, but hey, these are my thoughts and I am sharing. Perhaps it will hit a nerve with someone who may read it, or maybe it won't. It's all about opening up a forum for dialogue. 


Prayers to my Haitian brothers and sisters.



Paz y Amor,


Nish

My first love

Anyone that has ever known me can attest to the fact that my first love is music. I sing everywhere, but have not been on stage in 15 years! Returning to the stage is a goal of mine for this year, but that doesn't stop me from singing in the streets when I feel like it to whatever song shuffles on the iPod or if the mood just hits me.

I did something this week that I haven't done since my 20's. I went out on a work night. I don't mean an afterwork social, I mean, went back out to an event at 11 PM to an alleged "industry" function in the city.

The place was really nice and the DJ was great (I took his info, just in case I may need him in the future!), but there was one disturbing observation. When the old school hip-hop came on and "Do I Do" by Stevie Wonder, only 1/8 of the crowd was hype. Umm, hello, can we get some respect for those who paved the way and kicked down the doors for all of these talentless minstrels who are presently on the airwaves?

How can someone tap their foot to one note of music today without being able to recognize the players of yesterday? It's a shame. No one is reinventing the wheel here. Back then, you had to have the chops, period. It didn't matter how you looked, it was all about the talent and the connection with the audience. Today, it's all style over substance. I am not taking away from the long tedious road or the hard work that folks put in, but come on, the folks from the 20th century came about on the heels of slavery, fought the strict state statutes that kept Jim Crow alive and well, traveled the chitlin circuit, fighting the powers that be, doin it in the park..............keep up with me y'all.

I am glad that I was raised in a home that played so many different kinds of music and forced me to open my mind and ears and foster the ability to recognize when the Isleys or the JB's were being ripped off by a couple of sampling fools that didn't want to give props where props were due!!!!!!

I encourage those that don't know, to take the time to go back and discover the origin of this thing of ours. The beauty of live instruments and the powerhouse vocals and brilliant lyrics that held us up when we as a people were tired of being held down.

Paz y Amor,

Nish