Non-Violence....

Mark Cheatham, Kahlif Thornton, and Ty Turner, young Atlantic City Firefighters, collaborated to produce an anti-violence music video. In 1997 Mark best friend was caught in an across fired during a gang fight. Kahlif Thornton watched his older brother died at his feet at the age of 9. Ty Turner lost his oldest son to a stray bullet, little Ty was only 4 Just this summer alone in Atlantic City, there have been 6 murders with zero arrests. In a small town, Pleasantville (funny right smh “pleasant”), 5mins outside of the city there were 4 due to someone randomly shooting. The video was an outreach to encouraged young adults and teen to help stop gang violence amongst each other.

From what I’ve noticed in this newer generation, many of them are influenced by “gangsta rap” and are infatuated with the idea of picking up a gun. Personally, I watched one my best friend get pushed against a wall and have a gun held 2 his head and threaten for something he had no part of. Only because he knew the guy they were looking for. At this time we were only in 8th grade. So gun related violence doesn’t have an age nor a heart. Recently, I’ve been working at PAL (Police Athletic League) with my pop and sibling to help them understand that guns are far from the answer to any problem that they may have. In the process I’m learning as well. I never knew how much pain and suffering a person between the ages 5-10 will see or endure during that time frame…

***Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages. ~Thomas Edison~***

Friday Nights @ the Sheraton....smh

For some odd reason, Friday night at my job is never a bore. I’ve been at the Sheraton now for 4 and a half year and have yet had a smooth Friday night. For starters, I work 3rd (11pm-8am) shift, so I’ll see any and everything “odd”. Just last night I had some guy come to the desk and ask for a key to his room. And before I can ask him for his ID, I realized that the man was TOTALLY naked. Ok it’s understandable that you’re naked in a hotel. But how did you lock yourself out your room naked? About an hour later, I get a phone call from an elderly lady stating that her 2 puppies got out the room but they’re not on the floor that she’s on. So me being the good M.O.D. that I am. I go upstairs to help her look for her “puppies” and call my security to help also. We get on the 11th floor and no “puppies”, 10th floor no “puppies”. My security and I get to the 9th floor, we spot 2 full-grown German Shepherds coming toward us, and they didn’t look too happy. So after I almost peed on myself, the lady came around the corner and put their leashes on them. All this and it’s only 3 hours into my shift. Maybe around 3:30-4am a taxi pulls up into the driveway and the driver comes in highly upset. He asked me if he could have a few towels to clean up his cab. Apparently, the 2 girls he was dropping off throw up all over his back seat and he had to clean it. I felt bad for the guy but as soon as I got 2 the front door to see if he needed anything, one of the girls throw up all in my front lobby, then 30 second later the other one. About 2 hours go by without a peep and just my luck the phone rings. Its 6am and I have 4 people stuck in an elevator. And of course my engineer can’t get the elevator’s motor to restart, so we have to call the fire department. It’s now 6:35am and the 4 guys are just getting out the elevator to go to their room. At this point I ‘m yearning to go home and lay down. I don’t even remember if I did my paper work….smh Welcome to the Sheraton lol

NEVER SAY "I CAN'T".....

The roots of the MFPA go back to 1956, when Erich Stegmann, a polio-stricken mouth painter, gathered a small band of disabled artists from eight European countries. Their ultimate goal was to make their living through their artistic efforts, and to obtain a sense of work security that until then had eluded them. Coupling his creative abilities with business acumen, Stegmann established the MFPA as a co-operative organization that reproduces its artists work mainly in the form of cards, calendars and books. From the small group he gathered for the inaugural meeting of the Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists, the group has now grown to represent approximately 700 members, from over 70 countries around the world. A group of inspiring disabled artists exhibited their work in Hyde Park over the weekend. Alison Lapper opened an exhibition by MFPA in Hyde Park. The artists demonstrated their painting techniques, where a paintbrush is held between the teeth or toes, and answered questions from members of the public. The MFPA are a talented group of artists who, for various reasons, accidents, illness or being born with a disability. They use their mouths or feet to create original works of art.

War in Mexico

In Mexico City, President Felipe Calderon said he would consider a debate on legalizing drugs Tuesday as his government announced that more than 28,000 people have been killed in drug violence since he launched a crackdown against cartels in 2006 but the attorney general said there was “only” 24,800 reported dead (as if there was a huge difference). If my math is correct, that’s between 6,2000-7,000 bodies a year. Authorities have confiscated over 84,000 weapons and about $411mil in US currency and $26mil in pesos. According to national daily Milenio, 1,234 were killed in just July alone, that’s 247 people a week. In addition to the drug wars, gruesome murders appear to be a commonplace. The severed heads of eight men found in pairs along highways in Durango . Seventeen people massacred at a birthday party in Torreon . The bodies of 55 people found dumped in a mine near the town of Taxco . The statistics show that the most deadly violence is happening in northern Mexico close to the U.S. border where smuggling occurs, and in the states where marijuana and heroin are produced. The statistics also do not take into account extortion, robbery or other offenses. Some anti-crime groups say Mexico City is No. 1 in the world in kidnappings for ransoms or cash that a victim is forced to withdraw from ATMs

A Wound Reopened

Kathy Mason, the mother of a murdered CRHS student, fears her daughter’s killer would be released from jail after serving less than half his original 30-year sentence. Peter Henriques has spent the past 13-years incarcerated in various correctional facilities for the murder of his late girlfriend Nielsa Mason on April 28, 1997. Nielsa body was found fully clothed in the boys locker room inside an open locked beaten and strangled. In 2006, an appellate court overturned Henriques’ conviction after the panel found that police improperly interviewed the teenager without his mother being present. Since that time Henriques has been in the Cumberland County Jail as prosecutors sought a way to bring him back to trail without using his statements. However, Prosecutor J. McRae has told the Mason family that her office is planning to offer a plea deal that would set Henriques free, because it lacks the evidence necessary to retry the case. Personally, I think it is best for him to finish out his term. If he does get out early, there is a chance that Nielsa’s family or friends will try to kill him due to them still being broken heart and looking for revenge.