Thanks for the memories WBRU

I've listened to WBRU for years. It's where I first heard REM and U2 before they hit big. It's where you could hear local bands as well as foreign ones. The songs 92 ProFM or WHJY wouldn't play. Songs that weren't commercial and actually said something. Where radio wasn't corporate dictated. On Sundays you could hear the soul of our community spread it's wings and fly high as well.

But more than that they also covered news stories in a way corporate news never will. That voice will go silent tonight. It will truly be missed.

It's weird to feel loss for a radio station, but WBRU has been so much more to our communities. I don't think a corporate run "christian rock" station will fill the void.

Joel Olsteen, really?

Why does a Pastor need a 16,000 seat hall? Or a $10 Million dollar home? Perhaps it's just his way of scamming the system. Really is a shame as I am sure that money could be spent on better things, like the poor.

Joel Osteen you are a piece of shit.

Bike

I didn't ride my bike at all last year, after two heart attacks I thought it would be best not to. Today would be different but first had to get both tires inflated. Walked the bike to the bus stop and waited for the bus to arrive. Now in all these years I've never taken the bike on the bus as I would just ride it so I had no idea how the bike holders worked. Thankfully the driver was nice enough to get out and show me.

So off I went to find air which isn't as easy as I thought. Either the machines were broken or they charged a dollar which I did not have. So took it to the bike shop on Warren Ave and they were nice enough to fill the tires for me for free. So with the tires inflated I rode my bike (rather badly) for the first time in a few years. I almost fell a few times but I was getting back into it when it happened, a massive chest pain. I fell onto the ground and laid there with my heart racing and skipping, feeling pain. Lying there I did what my doctor has drilled into my head and took one of my nitro tablets.

I felt fine within minutes yet I felt exhausted too. I finally got up but slowly walked the bike to where I could catch a bus again. Then something happened that in my 54 years has never happened before, a pigeon crapped on me...right on the fucking head. I thought I was gonna puke! I've been told that brings luck but what it truly did was make my resolve to get home and take a shower stronger that the exhaustion.

So here I am, home and clean. If anyone tells you they saw a fat middle aged man lying on the ground in East Providence you can tell them you heard it here first.

4th of July

Today is the 4th of July, the anniversary of our country declaring independence from the United Kingdom. We the people, though they didn't include slaves, natives, women, or non land owners but we the people sounded better than us white men. Anyways we stood up for our rights. Sadly those left out are still struggling for their rights.

Descendants of slaves can still be killed by police. Like the men who rounded up slaves back in the day they get away with it by blaming the victims. They shouldn't have run away. Until all races are treated equally we can never really call ourselves the land of the free, can we?

Native Americans were slaughtered for their land. Pure and simple genocide but still today they have no rights when it interferes with what white men want. One only has to look at whats happening at Standing Rock to see little has changed for them. Land of the brave, yeah.

Women have had equal rights since the equal rights amendment passed. Oh wait, it never did. Until it is written into law it is just lip service. Is it too little to ask that our elected officials guarantee the rights of half the population?

Non land owners are at the whimsy of landlords who make keep them in substandard housing so they can turn a buck. In the "so called" greatest country in the world a little rent control would be a great thing. Much like a living wage and universal healthcare it is truly needed in this land of ours
So Happy Birthday America! Nice to see we celebrate genocide, terrorist acts, and traitors, the true ideals our country was founded on and still stands for today. If only we lived up to the principles set forth in our constitution and our bill of rights.

Food stamps

I've been on food stamps, nothing I'm ashamed of. There was a time in this country people who didn't have food went hungry or worse, ate dog food as it was the only meat they could afford. Thankfully my family never had to do that as our government created a safety net to catch families like mine.

Food stamps then as they are now are used to help people survive. I remember my mom saying she wasn't hungry while making sure we ate. All parents sacrifice for their children that way and as a kid you don't question it. There is the possibility that your parents went hungry so you wouldn't. Don't criticize others for being poor.

Yeah, I've been on food stamps and the only thing I'm a shamed of is being a shamed to talk about it.

Seriously!

The other day a Trump supporter on CNN compared Donald Trump to Martin Luther King Jr, seriously! I feel like we are all living in a madhouse.

I see so called liberals who feel supporting diversity is eating at restaurants owned by immigrants. No, diversity is not making people of color wait and serve you, its actually involving yourself in their lives and communities and inviting them into yours. Its sharing the human experience.

Then we have people on the right who believe Hitler didn't gas his own people. Are you fucking stupid? Did you not learn anything in school, that was one of the first things we were taught! And now we are calling concentration camps "Holocaust Centers"? Joseph Goebbels would be proud.

Idiots on the left, racists on the right, and I am just stuck here in the middle with you.

See

I am slowly going blind. It's tough to face that but I am, probably in ten years or less. Today at work someone snuck up on me. She even said she knew I didn't see her. She didn't mean to be cruel as i don't think she has a mean bone in her body. She just thought it was funny to startle me. I laughed it off by saying you shouldn't scare someone with a heart condition but inside i just wanted to cry.

Handicapped and disabled people are mocked all the time. It wasn't the first time my disability was the butt of a joke and it won't be the last. When I make fun of it though I am laughing with you, when someone else does I am being laughed at. People need to think.

United

You know I keep seeing memes about United Airlines and lets be honest, if they are the cheapest offer we still are going to fly them. Wealthy people have the only option to boycott them as us working people cannot afford to. Its the same reason why we eat a burger at Burger King over the salad, economics.

Maybe if there was a real living wage, maybe things would be different. But when you only have so much, you go with the cheaper option. Yeah, people will keep flying United.

I am 53 years old and am getting tired of protesting. Tired of all this bullshit going on in this country. It's 2017 and we are still fighting for equality and respect for all of us. I watched yesterday as Trump supporters disrespect women and people of color over and over. They felt empowered by our new president and his administration.

I felt empowered too, by the many faces of resistance I saw. The women who stood face to face with white men as they were verbally sexualized and degraded, the older people called named and disrespected, and the people of color who endured racial slurs. They were the true heroes of yesterday and showed what we already knew, the power of the people can never be defeated.

The fight continues, we must continuing moving this country forward, we must stand our ground, and we must persevere. Not for us but for those who come after us. We must solve these problems today. We cannot let another generation be poisoned by hate and prejudice. We must resist!

 

Friday at work

Some are asking what happened Friday at work. I was put on a final written warning for being violent at work and for swearing on the floor. Both accusations were supposedly witnessed by multiple co-workers (though their names are being withheld by management) and both accusations I categorically deny. I was told any act of retaliation would get me terminated.

I'm at a loss of words regarding this but I believe it has more to do with my union organizing than anything else. I wonder if they will say I'm only organizing as retaliation. Since I've been doing it for a few years that won't hold water. Like others who have stood up for their rights against corporations I may get discredited. However workers need to be protected and this will not stop us from organizing.

BofA or why my work life is a living hell

I can honestly say my time at Bank of America is coming to an end. I have worked there for almost 14 years and can say I am fucking tired of their shit. Back in December I was harassed by Candace and absolutely nothing was done. To have to see her every day pisses me off beyond belief. But my harassment has been business as usual for the last few years. Kyra used to spy on me and actually would surf my facebook page. Don't call me paranoid, she admitted it after accidentally emailing someone she didn't mean too. She said John Cameron told her too keep an eye on me as I was the "pulse of the building". Had nothing to do with union organizing I'm sure. 

Today was the straw that broke the camels back though. My customer wanted a manager and mine was standing next to me. Over and over this customer called me names for not getting her a manager while he refused to take the call. "We can de-escalate" is all I heard from him. Sorry policy states that if the customer wants a manager we MUST get them one, they cannot be denied. He still refused. Finally I told her my manager John was here and he would take the call. I handed him my headset and left.

Not the job or even the building, just the area. I went off to find JC. He was here so I went to Stephanie. Amazingly John followed me there (got another manager to take the call) and interrupted my complaint against him. Yeah I filed one with Stephanie and advice and counsel.

Of course this is where I discover my original complaint about Candace wasn't even filed, HR just gave me lip service. Now that pissed me off even more! I demanded that advice and counsel do something, they said they will. Who knows maybe they will but I truly doubt it. I said so when I complained about that, yes I emailed Brian Moyhnihan today.

So that's todays story. If I'm fired it wasn't for rudeness to a customer, it wasn't for stealing from the cafeteria, and it wasn't for hanging on a call after it was transferred, it was for having the backbone to stand up for myself. I just wish others had that courage, maybe it would be a better place to work. More importantly, maybe so many of my great former coworkers would still be there.

Let the refugees in

I wonder how many of my friends would have opened their homes to Anne Frank if they lived in the time of Nazi Germany. Why do I feel like most of you wouldn't care one bit. My great grandfather was jewish and lost family in the holocaust. He never talked about it or shared his pain. I wonder how many family members of Syrian refugees live with that pain knowing people could care less about their family and friends.

The picture below is a child, drowned escaping a war torn country. He never asked to be the poster child of refugees but has become it. How many other children are dying because we Americans are cowards and won't stand up for refugees. 

Funny though I see people asking and supporting animals more than I ever see them asking or supporting fellow human beings. Honestly it sickens me that people are so full of fake fear that they let others die.

If you care, do something! Network with others, call your elected official, get involved. Because as the old saying goes after they have come for every one else no one will be there when they come for you.

On the eve of destruction

America took two big steps forward with the election of Barack Obama. He brought hope and change to many people in our country. Can you imagine what a better world we could of had if the republicans had cared more about our country than their party? They blocked him and in doing so hurt our country more than any terrorist could have. But hope, prosperity, and opportunity thrived under Obama and will thrive again. Thank you Mr President for showing us that politicians can have class, dignity, and be honest too.

Now here we are on the eve of the Trump administration and I am at a loss of words. How could Americans have elected such a con man? I don't believe it was all racism though that did play a hand in it. The Democrats brought this upon themselves. They anointed Hillary Clinton and wanted to push her on us. The woman had extremely high negativity polls but that didn't matter. They schemed and colluded to make her their candidate. In doing so they didn't listen to the people and the party lost.

More importantly the people lost. Now instead of having a country that respects individual rights, we won't. The billionaires will stack the courts and under Donny Trump we will take one goose step back in time.

Hold the presses, NOT!

There is only one profession, one industry protected by the US Constitution. It's the press. The ability to shine a light on corruption, to hold those in power accountable, to share those truths with others, those were so important they were protected in our great constitution. Mr Trump did mock a reporter, but he more so made his followers believe it was ok to do so. He labeled news sources as fake as to discredit any reports about himself and to call into question any reports from those sources in the future. He is dangerous to not just America, but the world.