Which way to go?

History informs us that when a nation or ideal or mass movement begins a downhill slide, it reach a point where it has to bottom out before the people rise up to change it.  This basic premise has been repeated over and over.  The Roman Empire had to reach it's nadir before the Renaissance could begin, for example.  The British Empire had to reach the height of arrogance and abusiveness before the colonies would rise up against it, beginning with the American Revolution. 

Each of those falls took a couple hundred years to fully materialize. The much more recent Filipino "peaceful revolution" that derailed the corrupt regime of President Ferdinand Marcos was something of an anomaly in that it took place, not after centuries, but a couple decades. But now we're in the Information Age, fueled by the Internet and the global economy.  Awareness of events in one part of the world moves quickly to nearly every corner of the Earth.  People everywhere can now see what's happening almost as it occurs. 

And here in the USA, the Industrial Age gave way to the Information Age, not by natural progression, but by political manipulation that saw our manufacturing base moved to other countries as part of a power agenda to break trade unions and dumb down education so that the people would not be aware en masse that they were being shafted by the very people who employed them as well as the ones who were supposed to represent them in the halls of government.

With the rapid movement of knowledge of events now taking place, peaceful revolution becomes more possible in some places.  And with more and more people awakening to progressive possibilities, we might yet avoid the long rebuilding that occurs after mass violent rebellions.  Much depends on how many people wake up and participate in the peaceful revolution, and what positions they assume during the rebuilding. 

But one thing seems inevitable.  That is that before this peaceful revolution can be successful, more people must be forced to accept that change is not only necessary, but inevitable.  The means of that force could very well need to be, here in America, the election of a right-wing megalomaniac such a Donald Trump or Ted Cruz.  It's a frightening, unpalatable concept, I know; but it may and probably will have the effect of convincing people that we must come together in order to create the change necessary to the furtherance of our nation toward the uplifting of human existence instead of the seeking after power and wealth for it's own sake or for our own selfish satisfaction.

Should such a person become President, it is likely that it will be for only one term, or less, should the person be impeached.  And the people will be the force behind that change, as they see the need to progress rather than regress.  

© 2016 Donald C. Rice Jr.

Trump This!

I read a rather humorous rumor today that Donald Trump wants to have some entertainment at the Republican National Convention, where he hopes (probably accurately) to be crowned that Party's nominee for President.  One person commented the idea of a bear riding a bicycle.  Another thought it should be juggling because of Trump's alleged "small hands".  Those are small-time circus acts, and Trump is anything but small time.  At least in his own bloated-ego mind anyway.

I think he'd have a reality-show theme, since he has experience in that realm.  I visualize a couple professional mimicking his rivals for the Presidency.  You know, Rubio, Clinton, Cruz, Sanders and Kasich.

It'll be billed as "Presidential Apprentice".

He's seated at the head of a conference table.  They're all standing before And he looks at each one and yells, "You're fired!"

Yeah, that's what I think The Donnie will do if that rumor is true.

 © 2016 Donald C. Rice Jr.

The Clock

What time is it? I ask,
And look at the Clock.
But the Clock says nothing.

What time is it? I ask again,
But the Clock remains mute.

Frustrated now, I ask once more:
What time is it?  

And the clock replies,
'Tis time to stop, and think, and feel,
And be yourself, with joy!

What kind of answer is that? I cry;
A clock that can't tell time?
It must be a nightmare,
with no reason or rhyme!

For minutes and hours I rant and I rave,

Then I stop, and quietly say,
Time is Now, or it is not.

And to the Clock I say,
Thank you, my friend!

© 2015 Donald C. Rice Jr. 

Finally published my book!

My long-awaited debut novel is finally live on Amazon!  Find it here:

Child Protection: A Novel of Deception

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Namaste',
Don

© 2015 Donald C. Rice Jr.

E-Book First?

Dear friends, I'm at a crossroads of sorts.  I have to decide whether to continue with my fundraiser to publish this novel in all physical and electronic formats, or publish first as an E-book on Amazon, and later as a physical book.  The reason is that my GoFundMe page is at a standstill, with no contributions coming in since the last one a couple months ago.

So here's the question.  Should I go the E-book route first, or only an E-book, or just keep pushing the fundraiser and wait until the donations reach a level to permit physical publishing?

I humbly await your responses.  

Thank you!

© 2015 Donald C. Rice Jr.

On black women and the black men who hate them

My friend Christelyn Karazin just wrote a blog about this black dude who is ranting about "ugly black women" whining about how they're treated by "the black male collective".  She quoted word for word some of what the guy wrote, and it's atrocious, in all respects.  Not just the lack of correct writing skills, like spelling, punctuation, and word usage, but in the total disrespect toward black women (and by extension, all women).

That blog post is here:

http://www.beyondblackwhite.com/your-daughters-are-being-boycotted-time-to-heed-the-death-knell/


I've seen quite a few posts, blogs and groups supposedly dedicated to black women from black men, and every one of them is focused on the body, the physical appearance.  For example, if a "sista" has a big booty, it's like, "Bruh, I wanna get wit' her!"  And if she's small in that department, it's, "Aw, hell no, she got too much cracker in her!"

Very rarely do I ever see black men celebrating black women's accomplishments.  I even saw one dude ignore what Maya Angelou has done and say, "That's one ugly female!"  My initial reaction was, "What???  Are you nuts?  Maya was a beautiful woman, inside and outside, even more so because of what she did with her life, using her experiences and observations to teach and entertain."

Of course, every time I put myself out like that in those arena's, some fool (or some bunch of fools) accuse me of being the slavemaster or some such crap like that, and the two women I've been married to were called bed wenches, which pissed me off royally. 

Yet I've observed over my life that when some phase of human existence is on the way out, is being overtaken by something different, something better, then the hardcore proponents of the old ways come out in force and become even more forceful, because they know their time is up and they're unwilling, even unable, to go with the flow.  So they lash out at the new and better, and try like little children to hold onto the old way like it's their favorite toy.

But eventually, the new way, the better way, will supercede and become the dominant aspect of life and living.  This is true in religion, in culture, in politics, and yes, in personal relationships.  Swirling is here to stay, and I say, Thank the Universal Intelligence, because in my younger days, I risked being beaten, mutilated, and/or strung up for my choices in partners, and I love it that this younger generation is more open than mine was to the possibilities. 

In fact, I've had many younger folks ask me what it was like, and when I told them, they shook their heads in wonder, practically speechless at the insanity of my generation on the topic of so-called interracial relationships.  And I applaud them for realizing in their youth that the only thing that matters isn't the color of their skin, or the culture they were born into, or the religion their parents raised them in (or tried to).  They seem to understand intuitively that the only thing that matters is that we're all human beings.

Namaste'!

© 2015 Donald C. Rice Jr.

My first short story on Amazon!

I finally stopped procrastinating and put this on Amazon last night, and they put it out early this morning.

It's an account of my own journey through life as much as it is about the concept of love at first sight.  It does have a few short scenes of explicit sexual expression, so call it adults only.  And after the story is ended, there is an excerpt from my novel, which I'm working toward publishing.

Here's the link:

At First Sight

For those of you interesting in this type of story, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Namaste'!

© 2015 Donald C. Rice Jr.