Being Black, Being Woman and Being a Writer

I don’t understand the logic of building prisons over schools.  Here in the United States of America the government will issue more funding toward housing criminals versus channeling those monies to the public school system which desperately need them.  Thus, down sizing the jail population by heading off criminals-to-be, with knowledge over circumstance and giving them something to shoot for rather than shoot at.

It takes more money to build jails, to house and feed criminals than to give a child another option in life through education, and before and after school programs.  It costs society more through the loss of lives and the destruction of families than the government would dare to put a price on.

I’m not saying stop jailing criminals, but what I am saying is start investing in our children’s future.  I strongly believe in the saying: “Knowledge is Power” and  someone wise once said to me, “When we know Better–We do Better.”

1. I want to know how your thoughts on this issue?
2. Do you believe that you are responsible for the future of America’s children?
3. How do you propose tackling the issue of over crowded jails?

Informative and Interesting Links:

Activists Call for Schools Not Jails!

http://www.resistinc.org/newsletter/issues/2000/12/sanchez.html

ghetto blog – No child left behind

http://kingzjewel.mindsay.com/?entry=191

TAKE ACTION NOW! Issues and Strategies…

http://www.colemanadvocates.org/take_action/strategies/juvenile_justice.html?PHPSESSID=8897c809442d53c8d1f95dc98d2d3f0b

Education Initiatives School Connection Center

http://www.cases.org/scc.html

Schools Not Jails

http://innercitystruggle.org/section.php?sec=7

Rev. Jesse Jackson Speech to the Shadow convention in Philadelphia, PA

http://mysite.verizon.net/aahpat/pol/jjspch.htm

Rethinking Schools Online – First-Class Jails, Second-Class Schools, An Interview with Jesse Jackson

http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/14_03/jess143.shtml

Jail over crowding committe – Study

http://www.austindailyherald.com/articles/2003/09/29/news/news3.txt

Education Funding Advisory Board

http://www.isbe.state.il.us/efab/archive/082500/AdequacyBldgQualityEfficiencyintocostofEducation.htm

The Quality Education Model – What is Quality Education and How Much Does it Cost?

http://www.osba.org/hotopics/qem/cost.htm

School Vouchers: California Voters’ Initiative Proposition 38

http://home.earthlink.net/~tshates/Research_papers/School_vouchers.htm

My theory on child support is to keep it between the initial party–mom, dad and child as long as there is a communication line and if not–get a mediator.

You may argue, my child’s father is a knuckle head who won’t listen to reason, or my child’s mother is too demanding on my financial resources, but I would argue that you both owe it to the child to communicate keeping the child at the fore front of your minds.

 The reality is you both made the decision to become intimate and we as adults know that with intimacy comes the chance of unwanted diseases and the chance of bringing forth life, which is never not wanted if you are sexually active.

This life needs two parents that are willing to make sacrifices which include dealing with an individual as much as necessary to guide the childs upbringing.  I know that not all people should be parents, but the fact still remains that everytime people are intimate they run the chance of being a parent.  I like how Lisa Rena put it when she said she looked at her now husband Frank when they were dating and thought how he would be a wonderful dad.

That’s what I believe people should think about everytime they contemplate having sex.  Will he/she be a wonderful parent?  Because that’s exactly the chance you take having sex-unprotected or protected.

Sure there is no black and white answer, but I assure you that planning and communication must be in the lead of your child’s story.

Tell me your thoughts on the support of children.  Do you believe that child support should begin before engaging in sexual activities?

I remember a time when I would journal on any piece of paper.  My thoughts are probably still in circulation via dollar bills or worse, their being kept on lock down in a vault.  You might find my thoughts on the back of an auditorium seat at Wyandotte High School or in cyberspace, but I ask that you don’t judge me for the marks I’ve made–I feel compelled to write, by any means necessary and on anything I get my hands on.

I would write on calendars, journaling intimate encounters with my 1st ‘true love’ and titling the entry as ‘special day’.  That is until my stepfather went on a rampage dismissing my treasured moments as garbage that the ‘man’ was responsible for taking out.

How do I long for the day, hour or string of seconds to write for pleasure again, my free therapy.  Now I just write for grades and perhaps after graduation for pay, but I know that I know that I know that I must write–so I do ,even if it’s a 15 page term paper.

It’s a creative passion I long to embrace for pleasure, but I’m finding less time to connect pen and paper and fingers to keys since I’ve become a mother and wife and a mother–yes in that order.  So I’m looking for some support from others like me, who too long for their therapy that cost nothing, but rewards beyond a lifetime. 

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