Embracing Change- Week of G+

“Change is inevitable and it seems that when ever change is upon us we resort to unhealthy survival tactics.” Quote from Lori Marie at http://awisesouloncesaid.blogspot

Earlier this week I read a fascinating article written by +Zachary Crockett, shared by +David Amerland about the story of Major League Baseball player Glenn Burke and the trials he faced being a gay athlete. http://priceonomics.com/the-inventor-of-the-high-five/ Now, with all of the media attention going into the situation of Michael Sam, a football player who announced he is gay while in college and was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in May; I am surprised the Glenn Burke story is not more celebrated, or given media exposure, why not?  To most of us, it’s not a big deal because we are people who accept each other as we are however; it is still a milestone. It is important for us to accept and embrace to keep our mind and souls living fluidly. Another topic in this article is a history of the “high five”, again a subject I should know but have now learned.

While browsing my G+ feed I came across a photo by +Marisa Goudy where she took a breast feeding selfie. My sarcastic first impression was, “Really??? Are you serious?” and I made a comment and poked at her a little bit, playfully. Then, I thought about it. Why did I not give this picture a chance? Why would I let negative thoughts enter my being. So I went back to the post and looked at it again. It is a very nice photo, it is not crude or containing nudity. She looks good, has a big smile, the baby is even happier! Looking at the comment stream, there was conversation between Marissa, +Eva Fleming, +Alfred Ashburn and others celebrating the joy of motherhood and just enjoying this photo. There is so much purity and joy here, what am I missing? I realized that I need to change thought process, so I did, I still may get annoyed by selfies here and there however; what a beautiful post by +Marisa Goudy, sharing her love for her baby on the plus.

St Thomas Cathedral Church

Beautiful Cathedral Photo!

Happy Mother’s Day Facebook, Now Go Away

Mother’s Day, a day of positivity and love. Even the most tough, gritty, masculine men have a soft spot for this occasion. Social networking celebrates this holiday with the rest of us.

When I logged on to Facebook today, I expected to go to my home feed, click on most recent in my news feed (every time I log in, fb defaults to top stories, which is annoying) and scroll through all of the posts made by my fb friends. My feed was filled with so many So-&-So liked this picture, So-&-So liked this picture, So-&-So liked this picture. Sometimes it was the same person who liked 8 pictures in a row. There was so much So-&-So liked this picture in my feed that after scrolling down for five minutes, I had only seen a couple of actual posts. Of course in between this poorly configured system of posts there were several advertisements (which is 2 thumbs down, maybe 4).

I understand that G+ uses the function to put So-&-So +1’d this post, in your feed, however; my stream has never been flooded with posts of which people have given a +1. It’s obvious fb got this idea from G+. If fb has such a strong development team, how can the functionality struggle like this? It makes me applaud G+ for strategically implementing simple functions such as when putting a So-&-So +1’d this post, in your G+ stream, to pick and choose the posts carefully and refrain from flooding our G+ streams with redundancy.

Happy Mother’s Day G+!

Remember to celebrate Mother’s Day with your pets

And even the spider in your garage 😉

Robert Castillo’s BMX Freestyle Team- Incredible!

I was at “The Ostrich Festival” in Chandler Arizona, which is basically the state fair only lasting one weekend. After watching people ride in chariots being pulled by ostriches (for 5 seconds) I witnessed one of the best shows around: Robert Castillo’s BMX Freestyle Team.

Robert Castillo has been bringing it to the BMX world since the 80’s. On this show Robert is the host or as I’d like to say “DJ.” Robert has the microphone while music plays in the back as he films his team from his phone as they amaze the audience.

Dave Voelker, Alex Landeros and Gabe Weed were the stars featured in this show-

Dave Voelker is a legend in the BMX world; his credentials are extensive including being on the cover of many magazines, touring the world and participating in the X-games -Dave is a true stunt man. He executed back flips effortlessly and landed backwards coming down to the quarter pipe, a trick with a high degree of expertise. Dave is a crowd favorite with his show-man charisma and his neon green helmet. He showed off his precise control as a kid from the audience laid down on the ground as Dave hopped around him.

Alex Landeros is the kid of the group, but everyone loves someone who can fly -And don’t ever think that tall people can’t ride. Alex, with his tall frame caught so much air that after he landed, I was so stunned in amazement, I couldn’t clap or cheer. Robert brought out an adult man onto the middle of where both quarter pipes connect. Standing up there, waiting for Alex to come riding towards him, the crowd anticipating how this will play out. Alex hits the ramp and clears the gentleman by at least a whole body length. The crowd loved seeing him soar over this person from the audience. Alex did flips and tail whips with ease, a pleasure to watch.

Flatland Rider Gabe Weed…. Magnificent. To say that his bike is an extension of his body is an understatement. Like Robert Castillo, Gabe Weed is a master of flatland. Gabe rode his bike up-side down, sideways, backwards- at one point I thought he was riding a unicycle. It is not easy to convey the degree of difficulty and talent of this style of riding. At one point, Gabe was balancing his bike on one wheel and spinning around in fast circles as if he was mimicking a figure skater. Watching Gabe break dance on his bike is a highlight every time he enters the dance floor (street).

The Robert Castillo BMX Show was filled with talent and positivity. Robert tells the crowd, “the more noise you make, the harder the tricks we’ll do,” the crowd responded, and I thought oh great we are going to have to cheer 5 million times, but I was wrong. After the crowd cheered once Robert says “Thank you for the positive energy, let’s do some tricks.” Immediately after the show, all the kids rushed over to get autographs from their newly known heroes in which they watched with amazement. In the picture above, my two kids are getting autographs (the girl and the blonde boy #71) from Gabe, Dave and Alex right before they bought t-shirts in which they are excited about wearing to school.

There are many more members to the Robert Castillo BMX Team; this was a snapshot of the show in early March. Anyone who attends one of the events put on by Robert Castillo and team will be impressed with the incredible display of talent -Outstanding show! http://www.bmxfreestyleteam.com/

JahnnySS

Jurassic 5: Masterfullly Accredited to Hip-Hop

“Let’s take you back to the concrete streets
Original beats with real live MC’s
Playground tactics
No rabbit in a hat tricks
Just that classic
Rap shit from Jurassic”

I would like to take a moment to appreciate the incredibly talented lyricists and Dj’s who have flawlessly and fluidly given their imprint to the culture of hip-hop: Jurassic 5. Anybody who has been given the opportunity to listen Jurassic 5 in their life time is blessed. I’ve only said that about one other artist -Jimi Hendrix.

Since debuting their first single “Unified Rebelution” in 1995, the music produced by Jurassic 5 has been illustrious. The urban old-school vibed style is unique among the hip hop community. The choruses can be complex yet catchy without the mainstream pop sound. All four MC’s (Chali 2na, Akil, Zaakir, Mark 7even) flow effortlessly, at times finishing each others lines in the smoothest fashion. Dj’s (DJ Nu-Mark & Cut Chemist) create original pleasantly vibed beats which make a peaceful imagery in which it is difficult for the listener to avoid dancing to. Whether they are sampling Led Zeppelin, Curtis Mayfield or making songs which are instrumentals that fit nicely into their album listening experience, you will fall in love with these beats instantly.

In my opinion, Jurassic 5 could of easily achieved “Mega Star TMZ Status”, if they wanted to. It seems they are grounded in their ways, connected to their form of art, where they could see that becoming bigger than life has many disadvantages. It is very easy to respect someone who is true to their art when so many musicians start their careers with such a purity only to digress, and lose respect from some of their audience due to their change of lifestyle as they become mega millionaires. All I know is the music that Jurassic-5 has released, has been top-notch every single time.

One of the things I love most about J-5 is how they are able to make positive music which is very, very good. There is hip-hop with a darkness to it, there is hip-hop which focuses on being rich, disrespecting women and disrespecting rivals. Jurassic 5 has a classic positive feel which is bliss to the ears. It is outstanding dance music with clever lyrics. This group is clearly underrated, I appreciate their contribution they have given to this world. Please don’t think this article is over the top because…. Jurassic 5 is just that good.

“Naturally we want to sell the most albums possible,
but we also believe it is of utmost importance to establish you
and us together as producers of the highest quality product.
And obviously if the campaign proves successful,
you will no doubt want to repeat with volume three at a later date.
We will be in contact with you in a few days.

In the meantime if you have any questions, please call us collect; Hollywood, California”

Much Respect!! To Missouri Football for keeping a secret, not exposing your own star- Michael Sam

The biggest story

in the United States on February 10th, 2014 is college football phenom Michael Sam admits he is a gay man. However, it is incredible that his teammates knew that he was gay yet not one single person leaked the story to the public. This suggests that his teammates are honorable young men who are true friends.

In training camp, before the college football season even started, during an exercise- every person on the team was asked to reveal something about themselves. Michael revealed his sexual orientation; his teammates were not surprised and he was accepted without question. Now, Missouri football had an outstanding season, being ranked as high as the #5 best team in college football for several weeks. Missouri football was in the limelight and so was Michael Sam; earning highest honors such as leading the SEC in sacks, tackles for loss, and being named the SEC’s defensive player of the year among other accomplishments.

Michael Sam is quickly becoming a Jackie Robinson type figure (first African-American player in Major League Baseball), a true leader, a pioneer and an innovator to many as well as many to come being that he will play in the NFL in 2014 and become the first person in America to acknowledge an orientation of being gay while playing in the prime of his career. He will get his applause and his heckles, I am thoroughly impressed that with the convenience and accessibility of social networking that his teammates, his friends, his brothers kept this information a secret so that Michael could bring his story to the public, when he felt the time was right. Honor and trust are still a part of this changing world.

-JahhnySS