Check Da Spin Y'all! (No Voice at All!)

Peace all,

It is 2:31pm and I am on vacation, tired but excited, I have some new things coming up in the very near future that I want you to check out. But this past week has my head spinning in circles wondering what could be going on? Incidents occurred this past week that I felt could have been cleared up just by both parties involved talking it out. Instead people are getting the runaround and are unable to express themselves because of someone else's invested interest or fear of loss.

This reminds me of an incident that took place in April 2005. I worked at this planta- ooops call center that serviced warranties for Circuit City. I was encountering sick remarks from someone because of my beard, which is symbolic of my Islamic belief. I was moved to sit right in front of this person and out of nowhere this person rises from his chair and tells the person sitting on my left " They took so-and-so away and put this ugly boy in her place!" I immediately went to Inhumane Resources(and there is a reason for calling it that) and explained the situation, along with the multitudes of racist statements made against people of Indian descent. Instead of Inhumane Resources doing something about the issue, they wanted me to give names, which I refused, and tried to justify the ignorance by stating that people are upset because jobs are going to India, which I quickly retorted that it was still wrong. I suggested that a notice should be sent throughout the area. The end result? No meeting between me and this guy, they just summoned me into the room, told me that this guy says he was just joking and I took it the wrong way. Then they moved me to the back of room, and after a couple of more weeks, terminated me on bogus charges of attendance issues. When I attempted to file for unemployment benefits the Workforce Commission stated that this sweatshop had notified them of instances of how I allegedly came into work, logged on the phones, then logged off and left for no reason, which made me ineligible for unemployment. So I began warning the other workers there that they will fire you and attach allegations of misconduct so as to protect them from paying unemployment. All of this because they didn't want Circuit City to know there were problems in the workplace that could affect their business. Well, we all know now Circuit City is no more, which obviously means their bread and butter is no more. God don't like ugly.

I have grown increasingly tired of these places who insult the employees, refuse to address the issues concerning abuse, slavery, anxiety and other injustices and spin the web to make the one complaining think this is all in their minds.

Which brings to mind the spin of the week, whereas people are being manipulated again to think of instances of terrorism instead of the increasing issues permeating the US Armed Forces. I wonder if Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Banks has been informed to cease speaking about the growing suicide rate among the troops, anxiety, battle stress, and the fact there were more than one shooter according to his own account, and just let the media spin their web on only one alleged shooter, their alleged past, focus on the Jessica Lynch-esque heroic stories that may/may not have occurred and let the peoples' blind patriotism and prejudices do the rest.

It must be real tough knowing your issues of underpayment, injustices, sicknesses, sexual harrassment and being victimized by discrimination at the workplace are no concern, even if you are protecting and serving your country.

"FOCUS ON THE TASK AT HAND" is what they tell you, in other words "F**** your issues, get out there and work!"

Although I have mixed emotions about the supposed "War on Terrorism" and the "need" to fight these evils, I was always taught that right is right and wrong is wrong, regardless of my feelings towards a particular person, group, organization whatever.






God don't like ugly....

By the way, speaking of spins, my local library has a new sign above the front desk that really disturbs me. It reads, WE REALLY APPRECIATE OUR CUSTOMERS......

I thought the library was free......God Help Us.

I FEEL GUUUD!

Peace all....

It's 7:36pm and I am tired again(from being at the plantation) but things are looking up. I will fill everyone in on the haps, but I just wanted to share a feedback I received from my first sale on Etsy. I will cherish it.

i have admired QuwwaArt for awhile now. i love his work and wish to see it in a show. it needs to be seen in three dimension. as a person who has spent a lot of years surrounded by art and artists, it has meant a lot to find an artist who is so good. he uses uses his brush to communicate with refreshing clarity. his work is elegant. he is able to let his subject meet the canvas without interference. his portrayal of people who occupy the margins of our society is touching. dignity and respect make their way through the paint. he paints each soul with a calm which allows their being to unfold. it is beautiful stuff!!

it came at a time when needed that boost, not that I was sad or anything like that, but it just came as a sign to keep going. I had confronted another "nay-sayer" who saw my desktop picture at work of people standing at the unemployment line and stated that it was depressing, I proceeded to explain the reasoning behind such pics, but she wasn't trying to hear it...Who cares?

I know my art isn't for everyone, but it seems that most that I meet are intrigued with it. Even my mom shocked me this week when she commented on one of my pics yet to be exhibited. All I can say is thank you.

Can't say too much more now, I want to spend my blog time blogging it up with my friends @ ColoredPeople.Net and Give Your Walls Some Soul. So without further delay, KICK IT!



Take care all.......Love YA!!!

When The Shoe........(IS THIS MIC ON?)

Peace everybody,

It's 8:19pm, and I am wrapping up the art part of my week(sigh) to get back to this other part.....(more sigh)....

Anyway I have a few more things in store so stay tuned....But in the meantime while thumbing thru the blogs that I removed from the other site, I ran across this one about the swine flu and the attitudes of the American public, which seemed to have been one of jokes and puns about pigs and swine and pork, and the list goes on. Now that the shoe seems to be on the other foot, what is the attitude of Americans now? Where are the jokes now people? HELLOOOO!!! IS THIS MIC ON?!!!

Arrogance is a mutha..... The thing about arrogance is that the person does not seem to get the fact that he/she is arrogant.

Here is the edited version of the blog....Peace y'all. Love ya.

The Worst Kind of Death

Peace y'all

I know it's been a loooooong time( well actually a month is not THAT long) but when you start something, you would like to finish it. I started this blogging thing on my site, made some friends and contacts, and in the process people also got a chance to see another side of what I be(lol). I have been a very busy camper the past few weeks and blogging has been on my mind. Trust me, there are PLENTY of things to talk about, but not to the point of stopping my painting and just putting my feelings out there. That is until I saw this stupid picture from an email sent to me at work.





To me this is indicative of what this country is about. Arrogance and ignorance. No one can deny that the people in America have good qualities, but for a person on the outside looking in what does he/she see? Out of the hundreds of people in Mexico who lost a loved one to "swine flu" how does it feel to listen or see Americans make jokes about a tragedy?

The past couple of weeks we were bombarded at home or at the workplace with either fears of a pandemic, or jokes that reek of "better them that us" . I was hit with both, as people at work people joked of the swine flu, some people made insensitive comments about Mexicans( but hey I ain't got a racist bone in body!) Then I checked Twitter only to see people with same stupid jokes such as "swine flu is the past tense of pigs fly" nonsense. This past week on an all-talk sex(sorry) sports radio show some idiot went on and on with a barrage of swine flu jokes. But when the shoe was on the other foot, such as the Dallas Cowboy employee who is now permanently paralyzed as a result of the practice facility collasping in Valley Ranch, we heard no jokes, instead I heard "it is sooo tragic." So let me get this straight. One American permanently paralyzed is tragic, but 200 Mexicans dying from the flu is a new monologue for any stoopid wannabe comic, or village idiot.

That's us ain't it America? Make jokes of other countries' cultures, tragedies, still calling them Third World Countries( as if there are no ghettoes or poor people living under bridges and in tents in America) Yet when we hear comments from other countries about problems in America we blow a fuse. We go into this state of denial. For example we hear about rowdy, drunken fans who tear up the city after a Super Bowl or Championship match and immediately drum up riots in London after soccer games to minimize the fact that this country has a serious maturity issue. Our favorite TV shows are CARTOONS like South Park with old goats doing little kid voiceovers, The Family Guy, the Simpsons, my God, FOX TV at one point had a Sunday prime time lineup of CARTOONS (oh but they are for "mature audiences only).

Give me a break.....

Our denials remind me of a drunkard who swears up and down that he does not have a problem, and if he did have a problem he could quit at any moment. Like I just said.....Give me a break.

While the American people make jokes about diseases in other countries we should be very scared. Our habits, oh sorry, our "precious free way of life" has produced everything from breast cancer, fibroids, lung cancer to STD's and even impotence(but hey thank God for Viagra!) We forgot about Desert Storm fever( and for a long time the government forgot also) and the growing rate of autism found in kids from being poked over 50-60 times before they reach the age of 4 or 5 with vaccines that don't work. We have the largest rate of suicides in any "industrialized" nation, but we want other nations to be "industrialized" like us. The rate of Alzheimers and other forms of dementia in this country is staggering.

News Flash: Alzheimers is not a natural process of growing old.

Stress should be our middle name.

While those few hundreds of Mexicans die quickly from swine flu, millions of Americans die from the worst form of death, a slow torturous death. The worst part is to die and not even know your dying. To be a victim of your own undoing. To revel in your own ignorance.

But hey!! God Bless America right? More like God Help America.

Hit the Ground Running!

PEEEACE!


It's 8:36pm, and I am tired as can be, but in a happy sense. Things have been looking much better for me, and I personally want to thank all of the well wishers who looked out for me and gave me greetings of peace and blessings. Although the month of Ramadan left and I always begin to conjure up feelings of anxiety about the upcoming months after Ramadan, there are four major events I would like to share with you that occurred. I will list the least major event first.

4)LEAVING HOME...
I said goodbye to the site that pretty much gave me foundation in regards to exposing my art and my writings to the public. You say "it's just a Ning site" but it was the first chance the public had to envision Quwwa Art and the Project as a whole. It grew in size and members, and I was very active in the site, commenting on forums, exposing my work and making contacts. It is the site where I met my sister in the Arts Shannon Grissom of Give Your Wall Some Soul, my friend La Faith LLC, and a couple of great contacts, and my great friend Tania-Maria Xavier of ColoredPeople.Net. But as the size of the site continued to grow and emphasis on sex and frivolity became a premium, it seemed as people of conscience were looked upon as oddities. I also believe the electing of an African-American as president of the United States took the sting out of the consciousness factor. People began to dream the American dream all over again, and corruption and injustice all of a sudden took a back seat, as if to say "The corruption ended when Bush was removed from office." This plight is more scarier than the corruption of the previous era due to the fact that people are being manipulated more than ever before as our President and First Lady enjoy rock-star status and to some extent idol worship. Never mind that people are still losing jobs, people are being kicked out of their homes more than ever before...Hey, no more conservatives! How foolish... A Politician is a Politician, forget the names.




3) GET YO SHINE ON!





After a long hiatus on Etsy, and at the prompting of a few friends(more like arm twisting...lol) I've added a few more items to my site, which also increased my repetoire, and I must say IT FEELS GOOD! My attempt at ACEO cards has attracted the attention of several people and it has also inspired me to delve more into the collage/mixed media aspect of things, which I believe can do nothing but strengthen and expand my knowledge and open the door to understanding and contributing to the growth of visual art, and personal growth as well.


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This also adds diversity to my portfolio, for no longer can I be looked at as a one trick pastelist pony....I will go back to painting soon...LOL

I've also added a contribution to support breast cancer research and so far the response has been overwhelming. I've already been asked to make some more as people believe this item won't stay in the store too long. It could not have come at a better time.





Since then I have been featured on a treasury and I am receiving great support from my fellow Etsymates....Thank You.

I feel I have hit another stride and my confidence has shot up another level. Be on the lookout for more wearable art, I've just begun!



2)MY FIRST SALE!!!!

Yes, a couple of my prints were sold to a long time blog follower and admirer of my art. To show you where my mindstate was, I did not know a couple of pieces sold until I looked on my blog and saw a couple of items were missing from my ETSY mini. I thought to myself, I'm gonna have to renew these items when lo and behold, I posted 2 sales on my Etsy! Talk about a boost!

1) SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED!




I've just signed my first contract to have some of my work posted in an online gallery for a beautiful store called DaughterNature.Com, which is run by Tania-Maria Xavier. I take this as a blessing from the Best of All Planners, God Almighty, Who is always on the case, never gets weary nor slumbers nor sleeps, and all depend on Him, while He depends on no one. This is a very beautiful store and I encourage you to check it out. Tania-Maria has put together a very powerful package in using her talents to expose artists and their works. I pray that I am a contributer to her success, as I have seen her work tirelessly to get the word out. She is a very God fearing person and always has a positive word for people at the right moment.

I'm sorry for the long post, but I felt I had to share this with my family, especially since two weeks away from blogging is a long time for ME!....LOL

Thank you all...You mean so much to me...We've only just begun......



Peace....Your Brother Quwwa!