I really don't have much to say from this week, BUT - I am going to give a word of advice to those who patron myspace and other online communities (including blogs).

Please, please, please DO NOT incriminate yourself by putting pictures/videos of you doing things that are more than likely illegal. I get so sick of people getting charged with crimes because someone saw what they posted OF THEMSELVES on THEIR OWN myspace page. Let's be a little more intelligent than that people.

Having said that I'm gonna throw this piece of advice in for free. Here are some questions you should probably ask yourself before you post a pic or video on a blog or myspace:

1. Can anything visible in this pic/video be interpreted as illegal activity?
2. Am I noticeably high on an illegal substance (even if there is no visible contraband)?
3. Are there witnesses that can testify against me or extort money from me?

If you answer yes, to one or more of the above questions...BURN the damn evidence.

Now there is no reason for anyone who has read this to be incriminated by THEIR OWN blogs and/or myspace pages. You have been properly forewarned...

FloBatim the HipHop Nerd: Over & Out

I recently began working for MN COACT - Minnesota Citizens Organized ACting Together - as a field canvasser. Basically what I do is: knock on people's doors, tell them about the issue we're petitioning for (Single-Payer Universal Health Care in MN & the administration of our state health programs by the Dept. of Human Services and NOT HMOs), and taking donations. They're a really great people!!! But they do not use any technology at all, and they like the old fashioned way of organizing. I'm attempting to get them to start a database to do their phoning, and look-ups, as well as alert people of the issues and get their newsletter out. I put a bug in their ear at my interview, and have been bringing it up here and there. Hopefully I'm wearing into them. Wish me luck!!!

FloBatim the HipHop Nerd: Over & Out

PICKIN' COTTON

The Touch...
The Feel...
Of Cotton

It's the fabric of our lives
Ya'll know Fruit of the Loom ain't neva lied
400 years of tearing children from parents and husbands from wives

And though we've come a ways from bloodied hands and bent backs
We still pickin cotton...just now off of racks
Strugglin for paper but charging plastic to the max
Just so we can have the latest Ecko and BabyPhat

Rims and TVs in the head rests
Jordans and Nike Forces
We'll do just about anything for a few cents
Better learn to share love like we share fashion sense

ATTENTION LADIES & GENTLEMEN
Fashion is NOT a community crisis
Yet we stay worried about how shiny our ice is
In the meantime we got babies...in the street...lifeless
"Oh My GOD girl look at them new tims..."

Louis Vutton and Coach did not pave the way
More concerned with name brands than dying of AIDS
Have the opportunity to be more that share croppers and maids
And yet the market still manages to have our minds enslaved

Highest buying power in the USA
38% of people on governement aid
WAIT...

$700 billion dollars and in the poor house
Seem to me those type of mathematics don't work out
Our biggest concern being social clout - that's not what life is really about

Pickin cotton is not an historical phenomenon
It happens daily when your biggest worry is what you have on

Don't get me wrong...
I'm not saying don't look fly
I'm just saying there's more to picking cotton than meets the eye

The Touch...
The Feel...
Of Cotton
It's the fabric of our lives...

Spoken Word Poem by: FloBatim(me)

*~FloBatim The HipHop Nerd: Over & Out~*

Hello Ladies and Gents, and welcome to Critical Mentalz...The Cake Session. For those of you who are wondering what exactly a "Cake Session" is - it's simply a conversation between, usually 2, people. That simple.

This is my first post, and I'm excited to see what new perspectives the coming conversations will bring. I'm in a Summer course right now at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, basically about community advocacy and organizing over this thing we call "cyberspace." Sounded interesting to me because I'm interested in organizing youth specifically, and quite a few of them are on the web. I figured this would be a great way to start organizing young people.

I hope to have quite a bit of interesting stuff on here...From random thoughts, to spoken word poetry, to critical thoughts, to epiphanies. So hopefully you will join me on this journey through Summer 2006 and beyond.

That's really all that I have to say at the current moment. See you soon...
*~FloBatim the HipHop Nerd: Over and Out~*