Portrait of Hope and Courage: Harriet Tubman's Escape to Freedom, Underground Conductor and Heroine

She is one of the women who changed modern America.

New Orleans Running of the Bulls

The Running of the Bulls in New Orleans, Louisiana


In Las Vegas, we already have the Taj Mahal, Les Champs Elysees
Paris already has a replica on the famous Vegas strip
Venice, Italy, is already copied many times;
New York has the statue of Liberty
Why not the San Fermin, Pamplona, Spain-style Running of the Bulls?
After all, Ernest Hemingway brought its pleasures to us in his writings
Papa knew New Orleans would be a good fit
What's next? A replica of Brazilian or Caribbean-style carnival?
New Orleans is already famous for its Mardi Gras celebration

Every year in July, the big Easy Rollergirls become the menacing bulls
Chasing revelers dressed in white shirts and shorts or pants
with some cloth of red about their neck or waist
From one bar to the next, the pre-party is getting started with a few drinks
To cool down the nerves and the rising heat
The Rolling Elvi are leading the parade. Onlookers are asking for favors
They want to be hit by the plastic horns of the Big Easy Rollergirls
The Encierro has been going on for quite a while. Everyone is having fun

All the street's a stage at San Fermin in Nueva Orleans
Los pastores, founding fathers of the Running of the Bulls are happy
Tourists have a new appreciation for the city of fun
Between Mardi Gras and the Running of the Bulls season, they have a lot
To be thankful for. After all, New Orleans is unlike any other city in the U.S.A.
It's gumbo time. The mixture of Creole, Caribbean, Spanish, Irish, Jewish and countless others gives Nueva Orleans its potpourri flavor.
Long live New Orleans, Long Live Running of the Bulls, New Orleans style!
Let the big party get started in the French Quarter, on Bourbon Street and others!




Other resources you can browse:

Read about the Running of the bulls in New Orleans in the Atlantic Monthly




Get more information about Nolabulls and the encierro right here

PoetryBusinessblog Supports Rihanna and Stands Against Domestic Violence

Just think

Could this be Rosa Parks's face?

Could this be Myrlie Evers-williams's body?

Could this be any of the famous Black pioneers

Who fought for our freedom?

There can not be any blame from any system here

Just think about the self-destruction, the drive-by shooting

The violence that exists in our home and neighborhood

Just think that this incident brings tears to Obama's eyes

Bill Cosby can not eat when he witnesses this type of self-hatred

Just think about who is going to value you first?

A chimp did not do this to this young woman's face

A lover, not a stranger, caused this much pain

Self-love and self-respect should be the names of the game

From now on. will you join hands and be a role model?

1965 Mug Shot: Freedom Riders' Twist in Time

Freedom Riders

Volunteers who were willing to risk their lives to cause change
White as well as black college students participated in sit-ins and rides
They wanted to leave a legacy. They were tired of the separate bathrooms and lunch counters.
John Lewis was among them. He got stepped on, beaten, thrown into jail.
Now he rises up to represent all those who walked with him.
The cycle of hatred was broken once for all. The Greyhound buses bear testimony to these old habits.

Farewell Wall Street, Hello to the Next Financial Center

Farewell Wall Street
by JJC

The world wakes up and says hello to
Hong Kong, Shangai, Lisbon, Singapore and Tokyo
After all, 17th-century Amsterdam has long given
Way to 19th-century London which ceded to
20th-century New York.
There is a shifting of the financial centers
Bust follows boom in all financial capitals
Nobody knows whom to trust any more
Rich today, but poor tomorrow
There is Madoff Ponzi scheme to deal with
The dot-com boom is followed by the real estate bust
Foreclosures destroy the American Dream
In the midst of the recession, homeowners get depressed
Nobody remembers the recent good times: easy credit, equity, remodeling etc
First came bailout, then the stimulus package arrived on the scene

Shame on The New York Post Cartoonist and Editor for Chimp Cartoon: New York Post Regrets Cartoon

Department of Justice Director, Eric Holder, is asking for an end to racism and other stereotypes. The New York Post's cartoon causes many people to wonder about its motive. Now it is issuing an apology to all those it offended.

"The New York Post apologized on Thursday to those offended by an editorial cartoon that critics said was racist because it likened President Barack Obama to a chimpanzee.
The newspaper acknowledged that the cartoon published on Wednesday had drawn controversy because African-Americans and others saw it as a depiction of Obama.
"This most certainly was not its intent; to those who were offended by the image, we apologize," the paper said in an editorial on its website headlined "That Cartoon."

Odes to Myrlie Evers-Williams, Wife of Slain Civil Rights Leader, Medgar Evers

The Women of NAACP: Myrlie Evers-Williams and Rosa Parks

Myrlie Evers-Williams became a young widow

who had three children to raise by herself

She heeded her late husband's last word, "take care of my children."

The assassination of Medgar Evers, a WWII veteran who wanted to see change

had a lasting impact on the Evers children, Myrlie and the rest of the country

Medgar became a sacrificial lamb, the strong and intelligent NAACP field director

Myrlie was not ready to forget the seeds her husband had planted
"Evers fought segregation of schools and public places, struggled to increase black voter registration, led business boycotts, brought attention to the murders and lynchings of Blacks, like the slaying of black teenager Emmett Till, planned protest to allow negroes access to Mississippi's public beaches...."

Myrlie raised her children and continued to work for the advancement of colored people
She became the chair of NAACP from 1995 to 1998.

She kept her promise to her husband, Medgar Evers who wanted to see change
in Jackson, Mississippi.

Through the work of many others and after many years, change has come to America

"“I am just so thankful that I have lived long enough -- and have been able to participate in -- this change," said Myrlie Evers-Williams.

Medgar Evers and Martin L. King had laid down their lives for the movement to change

During all these years, Myrlie has witnessed and kept the flames of freedom going.

Rosa Sat So We Can Now Fly

Rosa Sat Poem

Rosa sat so
Martin could walk
[She was tired of giving in for far too long]
Martin walked so
[Martin walked and marched with his followers. He was a true leader]
Obama could run
[Without the works of those leaders laboring even during slavery, 1950s, 1960s
Obama would not be able to be where he is at right now]
Obama ran....so our
Children could fly
[Without the sacrifices of Medgar Evers,Emmet Till, Martin Luther King and countless others, the greatest chapter of world history and transfer of power would not be written]

Oprah Winfrey Shines in Red: The Women Who Wear Red

Rosa Parks Sat on the Bus to Stand Up for All Americans

(Here is a great book about this famous but humble Civil Rights Leader by Rita Dove)


CNN reports, "It was so unbelievable that this woman -- this one woman -- had the courage to take a seat and refuse to get up and give it up to a white gentleman," said Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, who watched the drama unfold as a teenager.

"By sitting down, she was standing up for all Americans."

My Heart's Delights

My Heart's Delights
by JJC on Feb 3, 2009

Surrounded by tons of moving steel

Rolling every which way

on the freeway and nearby highway

Amidst all sorts of noise

And while witnessing the nakedness of trees

in the vast peach and nectarine orchards,

Little by little, I felt consumed by the beauty

of the distant snow-capped Sierra Mountain range

It was an overcast day anywhere in the Central Valley

Selma, Parlier, Reedley and the rest of the Valley floor

appeared to lie quietly in the sudden darkness for a few days

Yet, half of the far-away mountain tops was lit by sunlight

that projected its rays on specific spots in the background

The foreground of this natural painting had darker hues


On the road to Reedley, CA, I lifted my eyes and gazed once more

upon the snow-covered peaks which looked like hands raised

to praise the Most High

At that very moment, I was stirred to cry out "Rejoice in the Lord.

He will give you the delights of your heart."

His glory and grace anointed me. My cup overflowed.

I reached the abundance of his love and felt the touch of his hands

Rosa Parks's Arrest; Rosa Parks's Montgomery Ride

Rosa Parks's Montgomery Ride
by JJC, Feb. 2009

Tired and hungry, Rosa only cared about catching a ride
Her job at the department store meant the world to her
But she quietly cared about how her black brothers and sisters
were being treated by the government and the Montgomery bus officials
After a long day and after witnessing all the hard news, she wanted to sit down
Rosa got on the bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Instead of going to the back of the bus
She sat down in a seat at the front. All hells broke loose!
Dogs could be unleashed on her frail body. She could be flushed out of the seat
with powerful water hoses besides all the stares from fellow passengers
"'Who does she think she is to brave the front seat of the bus'"
The bus driver got into her face and asked her to move.
But Rosa parks refused. The news about Rosa Parks's arrest traveled quickly
among the Black residents of Montgomery and the Black leaders had to have a plan

The event of December 1, 1955 led to the December 5, 1955 Montgomery Bus boyccott. Montgomery city officials would soon realize that if the Blacks walked to work and school instead of riding the public bus, the city would lose money.

Black and White civil rights leaders gave as many rides as they could in their own private cars. But the majority of passengers walked many miles for many weeks.

"If Black people could not sit wherever they wanted, then they would refuse to take the buses."

That peaceful protest was very successful. Driving While Black, Martin L. King was arrested by local police who said he was speeding.

Car pools were organized by black as well as white leaders. The boycott lasted over a year.

Finally, the Supreme Court of the United States proclaimed that laws separating whites and blacks on the Montgomery buses had to end.

Witnessing Rosa Parks on the Bus

Rosa Parks Sat on the Bus After a Long Journey

Martin Luther King was a student of Henry David Thoreau
who protested slavery and other unjust laws
Nobody thought that the Morehouse College student
would become a civil rights leader
Nobody thought much about Rosa Parks either
A seamstress who rode the public bus to and from her job
at a department store
Martin L. King embraced non-violence championed by Mahatma Gandhi
Rosa has long been a member of her local chapter of NAACP
Rosa refused to give up her seat. She was tired of giving in
She stared down the bus driver and the other passengers
All of them wanted her out of the prime seat. None of them was defending her
Change was about to come in the 1950s and 1960s.
Who would have thought that this single act would be
the start of the modern civil rights movement?
Everyone counts. Rosa sat so we can stand up together