humanity
Humanity topics include pieces on the real lives of politicians, legislators, activists, women in politics and the everyday voter.
We're Just Ordinary People
Today I met a Veteran downtown Brooklyn, Joe Settle. Gold Honorable medal and Purple Heart honoree, and the story he regaled me in was too much to decipher. No unemployment, no healthcare, no housing plan, NO reparations for his service from over 30 years of service. He gave me grandfather vibes. Now I grew up in Brooklyn, so struggle is not new to me. Yet the intersectionality in our issues and daily travesty is what makes us so complex. He is the face and the story of many . I just wish I could've helped somehow besides hydrating him with water. It was too much to handle.. Oppression looming in our community is too problematic.
Australian Refugees
The sky had lit up like fireworks that night, but instead of laughter, screams had filled the air as people fled from the blaze. The very concrete under their feet shook, and Billie clutched the sweaty palm tighter in hers as she struggled to keep her feet. Her heartbeat urged her “faster, faster” as it fought off the ice water of fear which threatened to paralyse her. Ash filled her mouth, and smoke filled her nostrils, seeking to smother her, to drag her under the feet of the people running behind her.
Sophie RichtonPublished 3 years ago in The SwampTHANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE Angelique Pesce The year is 2020. The place New York City, Wall Street District where the economy is made, bought and sold.
Angelique PescePublished 3 years ago in The SwampThe Huge Investment The BBC World Service Has In Africa Leaves A Sour Taste In The Mouth
The BBC annual budget is about £291m, a grant from The UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office, a vast proportion of which is spent in Africa. The BBC World Service and The BBC's International Radio Broadcasting Service covers Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East? And every week, The BBC Africa Service reaches about 96 million people in Africa, the channel's largest audience.
Lanu PitanPublished 3 years ago in The SwampDear Herman Wilkins
I just read your letter to Mr. Trump and wish I could join you in your hiatus in Mexico City. It looks like the perfect place to restore, revive and renew your body, mind, and soul. I love all the bright colors - they excite the artist in me. Half of Americans could use such a leave of absence, and I think Mr. Trump should pay for us all to take a vacation to recover from his derelict shenanigans. After all, we paid for all his golf trips. The other half, aka Trump supporters (the kindest way I can identify them) should be bussed (on a non-air conditioned bus) to the border, pushed off the bus as it keeps rolling, coerced by “bad hombres” into the river, and when they try to come back across be herded into cages, made to share a single toilet, sleep shoulder-to-shoulder on concrete floors, and scramble to catch rolls of paper towels being casually tossed among them. Let the punishment fit the crime.
Cheryl ManonPublished 3 years ago in The SwampNo More Normal
The Covid pandemic has been long and exhausting for all of us. Like everybody else, I want to reach the other side of this horrible experience and move forward with life. Sadly, so many people are looking in the wrong direction. I can’t count how many times I have heard somebody wish for things to return to normal. Every time that word is put out in the world without being challenged, we lose. I don’t care if it is a random person online or the president of the United States of America; a return to normal is not the answer. I understand that most people do not really think about the implications when they wish for a return to normal. I know they are thinking about going shopping, eating at restaurants, or enjoying any number of school events with their children and not any larger socio-economic structures. It is only natural to think of those things which have the most direct impact on our daily lives. Still, it is that attitude and approach to life that scares me when people talk about returning to normal.
David L BishopPublished 3 years ago in The SwampSmells Like Team Spirit
Despair and bitter humor in the mountains that civilization forgot; Punitive nit-picking by ninnies, and the choler of being late to the party.
H. Robert MacPublished 3 years ago in The SwampGovernment and the underdog
The one thing I have been dreading feels like it's creeping up slowly. I can't tell if I'm doing the wrong or trying to help my family out in these challenging times during the pandemic. Suppose it was only easy to make money and not have someone trying to pull you down at the same time. I live in an apartment where I have to inform the office where I live when making any money. So it is called income base housing, and it sucks so bad. I only wish I could get out of places like this and try to make a good life with my kids. But it's never that easy. There is always something that pulls me back down when I start doing good in any way. I want to make money and not worry about losing my place to live, and I shouldn't have to do that. I hate having to worry about that. I am receiving PUA, and the place I live is telling me that it is what they call income. How is it considered income when it's pandemic related? How does it fall under income at all? As soon as the pandemic is over, there won't be a thing called PUA.
Laura mcleanPublished 3 years ago in The SwampIndian Boy
At first it had seemed not a bad thing, to pass the trucks of bleating cattle, frightened sheep, squealing pigs and feel just the same as a herd of animals caught in transport. They themselves like the beasts were so many in the back of the wooded bed with the tattered canvas that it necessitated standing. Regardless, the little boy had smiled at them in their metal carts, knowing not their destination as livestock was one of processing, slaughter. Nothing made any difference; amidst the secure, peculiar retreat he had felt no reason to lack for happiness. Colder at night and during the dry heat of day the spring air tasted crisp, sweetly even despite the dusty, dirty swirl of rattling flatbed. On his face, wind flew hard and consistent always, fluttering in through the flaps, and when it came in wet he’d known it must be raining. None of that former condition then had ever seemed perturbing or disturbing, congestion of so many strangers of little consequence compared to troubles of the old country.
James B. William R. LawrencePublished 3 years ago in The Swamp3 Reasons That You As An American Should Care About Global Poverty
"There are starving children in Africa. Eat your food!" Almost every American has heard this phrase used by their parents. It is meant to invoke feelings of gratitude, but it holds a grain of truth; there are children starving in Africa, and Asia, and Central and South America. Anywhere you go, there is, at some level, poverty. Many of you reading may be thinking to yourself something along the lines of "Why should I care about poverty abroad when the U.S. has its own problems?" This article seeks to answer that very question by providing 3 reasons that Americans should care about global poverty and support foreign aid for developing nations.
Colby MathePublished 3 years ago in The SwampAnother Baby Boom Is Coming
Pointing Out the Obvious Okay, it really doesn’t take much to figure out why this theory is only one breath away from being inevitable. The recent times because of the COVID-19 situation, has kept everybody in doors. For longer than is really necessary? Yes. But still, the results of this on people’s relationships is clearly driving people into one of two directions. We have seen a major increase in people filing for divorce and non-married couples braking up. That’s one of the directions. The other direction… couples who are still in love and staying together, have more free time and the same amount of passion. That generally equals one obvious result.
Timothy A RowlandPublished 3 years ago in The SwampTrump VS Biden
So I am a single mother that does nothing but mostly sit at home with my kids. I used to run my own business cleaning houses. For $10 an hour. But not that COVID-19 hit. It's hard to go out and clean other people's homes.
Laura mcleanPublished 3 years ago in The Swamp