word.life.poetry. expound on whatever. social conscience. random thoughts. one love.

FUBU BY MAYA ANGELOU

WHERE'S MY AFRO.. PICK?
An Advertisement from FUBU

You are in love with TOMMY
Because his last name is HILFIGER
But behind closed doors, TOMMY
Is calling you a n.....

But you could care less
Because you have been taught to dress to impress.
If I asked you about your true history
You would have to look on the back of your jeans and GUESS!

You come up in the club wearing VERSACE
Clothes made by a homosexual male
So even when you say you are straight
It is very hard to tell.

And for footwear you wear TIMBERLANDS,
Even under the sun
That same tree that is the symbol for them
Could have been the same one your ancestors were hung from.

I can not forget your NAUTICA
When the last memory you have of ships
Is coming to North Amerikkka in shackles,
Being beat over the back with whips.

And to my beautiful black queens
Whose creative womb has become barren?
I am confused, because your face says Nefertiti,
But your sweater reads DONNA KARAN.

When was the last time you saw LIZ CLAIBORNE
Conversing with black women,
But as soon as her name is printed on a purse
To Macy's you quickly go running.

RALPH LAUREN doesn't even look at black men
Unless they are driving him around town
But as soon as that slave master appears on the back of the horse
You put whatever you have picked up down.

My people reclaim your status in this world and in your life.
FUBU, in case you didn't know For Us By Us.
Buying black will someday suffice.

"ALWAYS HOPE FOR THE BEST AND PREPARE FOR THE WORST,
YOU MAY NOT GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR, BUT YOU'LL SURELY PAY FOR WHAT YOU GET!!!"

---- Maya Angelou
posted by Verse +++= at 5:01 PM

i live in suburbia.
posted by schmove is rad at 11:29 PM

who votes for Dubya and the Chinese president to fly seperate planes and just crash into each other... Just to settle the score?
posted by pop-[n]-fresh Lolo Jonapario at 10:23 PM

we been fighting since our damn existence.
when is it gonna end?

cuando?

TV glares in the reflection
of our inner mind's eye,
as we trade inour dollars for pesos
at the corridor
of the international airport.
---> Shoemart's gonna be a trip.
We have major skrill. <---

Dinero.

The mountains burn
with the stench
of flesh blood rotting
on vibrant land.
Diego and Gabriela
already know their future fate.

Patay.

Gunshots ring the ears
of our Auntie.
She's a nurse.
She just got off of her
late night
weird ass shift.
Just trying to make enough money
so we don't have to eat
McDonald's all day.

Auntie spends all day at work,
and Uncle does the same.
My cousin has nothing to do
after school,
so he bangs.
He slangs.
and tonight, he runs..
from stray bullets
intended for his young body,
that hit his neighbor's
little sister.

Auntie's ears hurt,
but her tears sting worse.

Aray.

TV glares on the pupils
of our two eyes.
Can't they elect a damn president
that isn't a shiesty ass
muther fucker?

We been fighting for too long.

The other day on ebay,
I saw an auction for a stamp,
printed in the Philippines
with John F. Kennedy on it.

and I learned that the World War II hero
of the Philippines
is General Douglas MacArthur,
because he came back,
as he promised.

(When he said he was coming back,
I thought it was a threat,
more so than a promise.)

Me hate me.

We are damn stubborn. And
we are damn proud.
we wouldn't be fighting for so damn long
if we weren't.

We been fighting too long.

- reb4
posted by pop-[n]-fresh Lolo Jonapario at 10:13 PM

i was adopted by a white family
who let me watch TV,
who let me put up the lights
on the christmas tree,
who taught me
that rice was never worthy
of the prestige of
mashed potatoes and gravy.

And so I learned English,
and I sang the songs of this
almighty land,
because mom and pop
taught me how to pledge allegiance
every morning.
I learned that this land is his land,
it's never my land.
I learned to understand my role.

I love my role.

When I was a child,
I was adopted by a white family,
as my cousins were
before me.
They didn't have TV,
but they had guns
made of ivory shafts
and vanilla drops of sweet
gun powder.
They became hunters
as their new parents and siblings
had taught them to be.
And they freed themselves,
thanks to their white family.

I speak the tongue
of my adopted parents,
because I know now
that the gibberish
I barbled out of my
natural mother's womb
is a heathen temple
of darkness.

I am a dark skinned man
who was adopted by
a white family,
who let me watch TV,
who let me be free,
who helped me see
that now I am pretty
because I learned that
my brown skin
is ugly.

- reb4
posted by pop-[n]-fresh Lolo Jonapario at 9:57 PM

She was the one who got me writing
again.

And then she left.
So I wrote more.

She was a new palette
for my empty brushes.
together we filled
my canvas.

And so I was an artist.

That was the girl
who gave me reason to write.

I was a poet for a few weeks,
hidden behind
a pussy whipped esterior.
I was revived verbally,
as she meandered through my
soul
so intricately.

And when she left...
I wrote more.
The girl who gave me reason to write.

She recontextualized
as I realized concepts
into excerpts of
passionate wordplay,
through my dismay,
I delivered
as she considered
me as worthy...
and then not worth it
enough.

SO I wrote.

More I wrote.
I wrote more.

I was a poet again.
hiding behind a pussy whipped exterior
concealing the struggling artist..

I was..

rediscovered.

- reb4
posted by pop-[n]-fresh Lolo Jonapario at 9:40 PM

thanks! =)
posted by Robbz one at 6:28 PM

rob.. you're an asshole. =)
posted by pop-[n]-fresh Lolo Jonapario at 8:59 AM

Anyone ever have time to think about their self-worth? Like if you didn't exist in the world, how different would it be? I'm not trying to sound morbid or anything. I know some of y'all feel like the whole fucking world is leeching off you.

A friend asked me to do a favor for her right quick, but then she stopped and said "Well I feel bad asking you to do that for me cuz I know you're a nice guy and all" or something like that (it had to do with tossing out some trash at PCN practice). Dammit! I hate it when someone says i'm a "nice guy." Can't I just be an asshole for once?

FREE JOLLY JENKINS!
posted by Robbz one at 1:43 AM

OH.. and btw.. a confession:

I have this bad habit of staring at girls when they're with their boyfriends. I dunno if it's cuz they catch my attention easier than single ones... but I do. Sorry. It's not on purpose. Well it is.. but it's more like uncontrollable. HAHAH

=P
posted by pop-[n]-fresh Lolo Jonapario at 11:27 PM

Actually.. since we're on the subject of my ex.. I gotta tell you a funny ass story. Well. Not THAT funny.

Anyway.. so we were only talking for about 4 weeks and I was like.. hella eager to have a girlfriend. So, I went to Great America with the boys that day.. so at the phone next to the restroom near the Vortex entrance, I called her and told her I wanted to come by and see her real quick when we got back. So she said okay.

We got back to Fremont and we stopped by. We talked for like.. a few minutes cuz my peeps were still waiting for me in the car. So, the main reason I went there was to ask her to be my girlfriend. WHAT? I dunno.. seems hella typical high school style. So, she pondered for a bit.. asked me if I was sure.. and then she said yes and gave me a little kiss to say goodbye. SO, just like that, we were a couple. HAHAH.

Anyway. I thought it was funny cuz it's so damn gameless.

------

but I been thinking and shoot. I'm so far from where I was when we got together.. or even when we broke up. I remember how I used to be and shit.. and damn I have a lot more confidence in myself now. It's just mindblowing. Thanks to the Davis experience.. and college itself.. I really did grow. YAY.

BUT HEY. My ex and I used to fight over our pagers. HAHAHA.

5012124 * 8883
or
11*12*50*0111778
=P
posted by pop-[n]-fresh Lolo Jonapario at 11:10 PM

oh.. here's a pic of my ex

This was a few years back... 3 months after we broke up. =P

SO.. she's taller now... filled out a little bit, but I'm sure you guys would still swoon. =P
YEAH! I'm that guy at Great America you hated on: "DANG.. what the hell's she doing with a dood like that? OH. He must have a nice car or something."
(YOU KNOW.. the Ugly Boyfriend with the dope chick conversation you have with your boys. GLAD to give you something to hate on. HAHAH)
posted by pop-[n]-fresh Lolo Jonapario at 10:59 PM

sitting in starbucks... minding my own got dang business.. actually.. I was in a brainstorming meeting with my coworkers. THEN, all of a sudden, this chick comes in.. with a dood no less. BUT DAMN. I dunno if she was young or what.. but the chick was like.. beautiful. NO DOUBT!!!

Anyway.. she was rather skinny.. maybe 5'4. She had small eyes..

DAMN ---> like my gosh darn ex. AND NO.. I'm not trying to relive some flashbacks or whatnot, but (admittedly) I have been known to jock girls that have her similar characteristics. AND FARENESS TO ME... there's this girl, my friend, who I was overboard crushing over before I got with my ex who had that skinny, small eyed look.

OOH. And the other night, my ultimate fantasy girl walked into Dave and Busters. DAYAMN. She got small eyes too. Long hair. I got this thing for girls and braids. Hmm.

So back to the "typical" type of mine... YEAH. I just had to say that I ran into a rather beautiful girl. No lust or whatnot.. the girl was just like.. damn.
posted by pop-[n]-fresh Lolo Jonapario at 10:54 PM

So Heather decide to take off to PCN practice. She figured she wouldn't have to deal with her father there. However, when she got there, no one was there. typical. She thought maybe everyone's running filipino time, so she decided to wait a few more hours. Eventually, everyone got there and the 7 hour practice began.
Even with all the clapping sounds of the tinikiling sticks, shrieks of pain ankles clipped or fingers smashed and from girls tossed like dolls on benches and dropped, exaggerated yelps of anguish of attempts to act out a dramatic scene in the play and the cold wind blowing against her tired body, she couldn't help but to think back to her father and the decreped state he was in. Heather soon got a call from her next door neighbor who was yellin incoherently on her cell. The only words she could make out was "dog" "balls" and "father." As soon as the mention of her father came out, she immediately started running towards her car to go home. No sooner did she take three steps, a beam of light from the sky blinded her vision. A lasso wrapped around her ankles and she fell to the floor. A distance voice coming from a megaphone, yelled out "WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING?!"...an undescribable feeling overtook her whole body as she realized she couldn't escape the practice from hell.

posted by MuSikLuVer * at 10:38 AM

She saw his emaciated face. Sickened by the monstrosity that she created, Heather ran out of the room grasping her mouth, hoping not to lose control. She wanted to cry, but she was too shocked to shed a tear. She had starved her father for the past month, not ever realizing the horror that was evolving.
When her father had come to her for help, she eagerly obliged. She loved her father. They had been more like friends than a father and daughter while she was growing up. He was young at heart, and she found comfort in his honesty. Yet, seeing her father in such a terrible state had haunted her. He was dying and needed aid to just stay alive. It was her duty, as a daughter, as a friend, to give him the care he was desperately needing. At first she thought she could offer the sterness his limp body needed. She overestimated her mental control.
A month had gone by since the last time she even set foot in the room where her father laid. Somehow, Heather took to neglect as her way of coping through such a trying ordeal. Deep inside, she wanted her father to die without her knowing. She wanted to remember the man she knew growing up, not the frail mess that was wallowing away in her spare room. That wasn't her father, she thought. It was just easier that way.

(to be continued.. by YOU. Someone go!)
posted by pop-[n]-fresh Lolo Jonapario at 2:00 AM

the wwf sure has gotten a lot more interesting in the past two weeks.
posted by pop-[n]-fresh Lolo Jonapario at 11:52 PM

i'd say the former, cuz one of my sister's friends thought john was "cute".
posted by Robbz one at 6:38 PM

last night at chili's my friends and i ran into a girl from our high school. we hadn't seen her since graudation day. anyway.. she said she knew it was me from a distance cuz of my smile.

NOW.. that's flattering in one sense.. cuz hey.. i have a memorable smile.

YET.. being insecure..

MAYBE it's cuz I have a DORKY ASS smile. Hmm.
posted by pop-[n]-fresh Lolo Jonapario at 12:43 AM

OH.. about COPS. I agree with robb that the other shows let the people create.. but at the same time.. it's imposible to show every arrest/ call.. or whatever that the cops encounter in one day. It's only a 30 minute show. Therefore.. the producers can show whatever they deem most interesting, and although it trulys is happening, they may show a slanted view or favor certain races or cities.. or whatnot.

Feel me?

Media is corrupt... but sadly..we're all wrapped up in it.
posted by pop-[n]-fresh Lolo Jonapario at 3:07 PM

and an interesting hook on the trendiness to be filipino..

i agree with Ed in a way because cultural identity is a big trend now. Mainly for Filipinos.. it happens currently because our community is actually more visible. Ethnic identity is what brought onn the civil rights movements of the 50s and 60s (and even before that). Gender identity brought the right to vote to women. I think it is important to have identity. It's a gathering point. At the same time.. there is a "trend" such as the shirts/ websites/ magazines/ clubs... whatever. And though I do not disgaree with them.. I feel that cultural identity should be grasped more in a wholesome respect than in "coolness". I could give a damn if someone wears a flip tshirt. That's their business.. but there is also a responsibility in identifying with a culture. This doesn't mean running around protesting.. but you are what you are.. and if culture is something you feel makes you.. then a general understanding of that culture is something that at the least should be done.

See.. I don't believe in the elitist.. narrow view of a culture. Culture is dynamic.. and to limit it to ceratin aspects forgets the point of culture. Culture is a way of life.. not a simple characteristic. I am Filipino American. Or at least.. that is what I identify myself as.. ethnically speaking. I know about our history as a community in the US and in the Philippines. I know about some current political and social trends. I eat Filipino food. But then... there are other people who identify themselves as Filipino American, yet they do not know as much as I do. Do I look down on them? Absolutely not. I did before.. but I have learned the error of that approach. We all are individuals made from personal experiences with the general population.. and with smaller circles of human interaction. Often these smaller circles are of family and friends who happen to be Filipino. Yet.. these experiences will all be different. I accept these differences.

I consider myself American. Mainly becuase I believe I am entitled to any rights and privelages this nation has to offer.. even though these rights do not necessarily reflect those given to the communities I identify with. BUt I am a brown skinned man.. who by the general public will always be seen as an Asian/ Filipino/ foreign entity before being seen as a fellow American. When you think of American.. who do you picture? With this.. I know that there is not "An" America.. but there is many Americas rolled up into one.. none of which being more important or valid than the other.

Same goes for hip hop. There are the backpackers... the puffy jackets.. the thug life ni**as.. etc. WHat's real hip hop.. as far as culture? There will be a binch of answers. Who is to say is right? Well.. for me.. I think.. NO ONE.

So.. with ed's sarcastic comment about being a sellout.. I don't think you're being a sellout for not agreeing with filgrads. That's your opinion.. and definitely valid to you. It should be respected.

... UMM.. I was talking about trends right?

anyway.. if you look at hip hop.. the culture has gone through so many facelifts. Nate Dogg rocks the mic with Mos Def on the same cut? UNderground conscious meets gangsta soul? Woah.

BUT TRENDS fade. A true understanding of yourself won't. THat's what I've been trying to get at. Cultural idenitity is just one aspect of a person's life.. the culture itself is more widespread. AND IT is very personal in nature. I think it's dangerous to flaunt identity as a flag of sorts.. being waved around.. because eventually we'll become tired of waving.

Or how about the analogy..
you carry your culture on your shirt.. you'll lose it.. it'll shrink.. whatever.. you won't use it anymore.
you carry it in your heart, mind, and soul.. and it will always continue to grow.

We've been given the privelage of living in a world of diversity. And NO DOUBT.. we are ALL different.. culturally.. personally.. whatever. It's not about trying to be the same.. or trying to maintain one single culture.. it's about adpating to others.. and accepting our differences.

Anyway.. long winded.. I'm tired.. but anyway.. peace.
posted by pop-[n]-fresh Lolo Jonapario at 4:46 AM

Personally.. I dig the fil grads.. just becuase I hate big ceremonies that don't mean shit. At least I can sit with friends.. in front of families.. and have at least 1 minute.. or less.. to say something to the people who mean something to me.. instead of hearing impersonal yadda yadda from people I don't care about.

BUT.. if regular graduation ceremonies were more personal, I think I'd dig them more. I'm not trying to be PC.. cuz I dn't believe in the term PC. PC is for people who are racist.. bigoted.. classist.. straight haters.. who need something to hide under. I believe in righteaousness from a personal stand point. LIKE Ed.. he doesn't dig FilGrads.. for a legit reason. YOu should graduate with everyone..

BUT.. if you want to graudate in a smaller ceremony.. and FILGRAD is the only option.. I would take it anyday. PLUS, I saw my sister and my friends go through it and see what a great time they had.. that I wanted to participate. I was playing videogames on my cell.. and the dood next to me was reading Lord of the Flies.

The big ceremonies are part of the establishment. Impersonal.. we're just numbers. That was just some official nonsense that I did for my mom and dad. Filgrad will always be my true graduation.. people left knowing me.. at least for a split second. Thanks to ROBB for holding it down in the booth and giving my ass a few extra (minutes) to speak. hahaha
posted by pop-[n]-fresh Lolo Jonapario at 4:21 AM