Writin' Forty

  Yeah, I didn’t get purple belt in  jiujitsu . The promotion ceremony was on the 16 th ; the test for it was on the 9 th ; I was told on the 11 th  that I would not be receiving the belt.  Was I disappointed? Yes. I definitely did everything in my power to give myself the best opportunity to prove to my head instructor, Steve, as well as the upper belts that I belonged in those spaces but the answer I received back was no, you need more time.  With a little bit of a smile and a little bit of a grimace, sigh. About 2-3 minutes into my test the thing that relaxed me the most is I’d already had my mind made up that regardless of whether I receive a purple belt or not I was coming back to class the following Monday AND that I would have a lot of things to work on regardless of whether my belt was purple or if it remained blue; purple belt was and is not the destination. That made me smile and I got to work on the rest of the test.  Got damn that thing was exha...

So I  tested for my purple belt in  jiujitsu  this Saturday. I’m here to tell you, that thing was tough. It was a whole thing. It was an experience. A lot of academies don’t have tests for purple belt. Fight to Win just happens to do so. The mindset that my head instructor Steve has is if he gives you a purple belt it means you are serious about wanting to learn  jiujitsu  from him; that you’re ready to take your training to the next level. In order to prove that you have to know a list of positions that he deems fundamental for every one of his purple belts to learn. Let me tell you. It’s not a short list. Let me also tell you, you have to repeat each move until he says move on. Let me also tell you, there are several people who are looking  at you do this stuff. So there’s pressure to perform there’s pressure to perform in front of people; there’s pressure to remember any of a number of positions and moves and steps within those moves. There’s pressure to...

There is an old school saying, probably from a movie like “The Mack”: Everybody wants to be gangsta until it’s time to do gangsta sh--. For years now we have people from the most extreme parts of the right wing talking themselves up. I remember, distinctly, in 2016 when it appeared eminent that Hillary Clinton would win the presidential election against Trump seeing some Texas folks saying “well, I got my guns ready!” That wouldn’t be the last time I would see something like that.  See, I don’t own guns. That may change at some point in the future but as of right now that’s a true statement. It doesn’t mean I’m against them; I’m not. It certainly doesn’t mean I don’t know about the culture of them; I do. I know good and well that if you pull out a gun and draw down your intention isn’t to talk about it, it’s to kill or maim a target. Talking is over at that point. So it was amazing to me to see throughout the past few years many people on the right openly laughing and talking abou...

When I worked for my last job I had to attend some sort of class teaching me about something. The woman teaching the class was an Air Force reservist Lieutenant Colonel. Now, this was relatively close to me having left the Air Force myself as a Major and somehow she and I got to talking about  what led me to my current gig doing what I was doing. I told her about my last job in the Air Force, being a commander of about 200 or so people on a small island in the middle of nowhere. How I was the person who, as a satellite operator, was the guy largely in charge of the flying mission that got dignitaries from the United States to South Africa and back for Nelson Mandela’s internment. Things which normally look pretty good on an officer’s performance review. Probably good enough to be considered for a promotion to the next rank. After a quick frown,  she  pretty matter of  factly  said “You weren’t sponsored.” When you are sponsored that means that someone has taken ...

  It hit me just a short time ago that a lot of this…whatever we are in right now is about power. It’s a common thread that just continues to pop up. Wielding a gun is placing a lot of power in your hand. Let me tell you what I think being a gun advocate should mean. Let me first state that I personally do not care if you own a gun. Literally couldn’t care less. Now, being a gun advocate to me should mean you own a weapon (or 2, or 12) and you could fire each one with precision, which means you train at least semi regularly with the weapons you own. It means that you have them secured where just no one can get them. It means anyone in the house within a reasonable age should be trained on the weapons you own. Wait, I’m not done. It should mean that you would want that same standard for anyone who owns a gun. Why am I rambling about this? Unfortunately there have been many shootings that have occurred in the United States and nearly every one follows  the same script: shooting ...

  It’s about a week out before an important presidential election, possibly the most important one of my lifetime. Advertisements are abound to include nearly every social media outlet prompting you to vote. Text messages from call banks asking have you voted and sometimes even who you are voting for. Even President Obama has an ad out asking people to have a plan to vote (then execute said plan). That is an excellent idea and one I’m not here to debate.   The question I have is :  what is my plan for dealing with people who vote d for or plan to vote for Donald Trump? I’ve been thinking about this, really, since the man was put into office. At that time I was the person who would be on social media, primarily Facebook, trying to tactfully tell people that nothing good could come from voting for this guy. How morally deficient he is. How his words and even more important, actions, have encouraged white supremacists to be more forward and demonstrative with their actions. ...

I never wanted to pay attention to politics and I want you to know that is as true of a statement as I ever said. As a black American, I would say I went along as I got along as much as any other person for most of my life, even if starting my career as a black officer in the Air Force made me a minority of a minority. I was aware there were racial things, issues,  events . But I stayed away from politics. I remember when I was in college and eligible to vote for the first time, in Air Force ROTC it was talked about how military was supposed to vote Republican. I remember an e-mail going through ROTC channels about how the Clintons were connected  to dozens of murders. This was somewhere circa 1996-1998.  I remember maybe 10 years later in one of the best assignments I was a part of in the Air Force that people, if you had a set of ideas they didn’t like, would call you derisively a “liberal”. This made you defensive about not wanting to be one. I remember not liking that...