Traditional Birthstones

Posted on by T. M.

I was searching for my Birthstone and came across an article that listed the traditional birthstones according to the Gregorian Calendar. I was pleased to find out that not only did they list the birthstones, but they had also put up poems associated with each month’s birthstone. They are by an unknown author, and Tiffany & Co. had them published in 1870. So, as a lover of poetry, I just had to share them on here!

By her who in this month (January) is born
No gem save garnets should be worn;
They will ensure her constancy,
True friendship, and fidelity.

The February-born shall find
Sincerity and peace of mind,
Freedom from passion and from care,
If they an amethyst will wear.

Who in this world of ours their eyes
In March first open shall be wise,
In days of peril firm and brave,
And wear a bloodstone to their grave.

She who from April dates her years,
Diamonds shall wear, lest bitter tears
For vain repentance flow; this stone,
Emblem of innocence, is known.

Who first beholds the light of day
In spring’s sweet flowery month of May
And wears an emerald all her life
Shall be a loved and happy wife.

Who comes with summer to this earth,
And owes to June her hour of birth,
With ring of agate on her hand
Can health, wealth, and long life command.
The glowing ruby shall adorn,
Those who in July are born;
Then they’ll be exempt and free
From love’s doubts and anxiety.

Wear a sardonyx or for thee,
No conjugal felicity;
The August-born without this stone,
`Tis said, must live unloved and lone.

A maiden born when September leaves
Are rustling in September’s breeze,
A sapphire on her brow should bind
`Twill cure diseases of the mind.

October’s child is born for woe,
And life’s vicissitudes must know,
But lay an opal on her breast,
And hope will lull those woes to rest.

Who first comes to this world below
In drear November’s fog and snow,
Should prize the topaz‘s amber hue,
Emblem of friends and lovers true.

If cold December gave you birth,
The month of snow and ice and mirth,
Place on your hand a turquoise blue;
Success will bless whate’er you do.
—Gregorian Birthstone Poems

Life’s Unfair and Death Doesn’t Discriminate.

Posted on by T. M.

I was on YouTube earlier today watching videos. I stumbled onto one called Ellie Shoal Potvin [1 Year Later], and I was curious as to what it was about. I assumed it was a child who had survived some illness, and being someone that tends to gravitates toward to these sort of things [especially when young children are involved], I decided to watch it. How wrong I was. It is definitely one of the saddest things I have seen in a while that has made me cry so hard I got a headache, and called a friend to blubber about how cruel life is. Perhaps I am abnormally emotional, but if these sort of things do not affect you in anyway, maybe you should get yourself checked. It’s a pretty old story, but it was nice to watch. Anyway, I am going to put two other videos and a link to the family’s website if you want to watch or read about her.

Her story, family journal, and photographs can be found here- “Lift Up Ellie”

This video tells a background story:

This one is pictures and videos at the end created by her Mother [I think]:

I do not know why I am sharing these, because her fight is long over, and she is hopefully in a much better place, but I really felt the need to put it on here as my own contribution to this beautiful child that fought so hard, but did not get to grow up alongside her sister. Terminal illnesses can happen to anyone no matter your age, race, class, or whatever, and this will forever serve as a reminder to myself to live life as best as I can and to always keep love, faith, and hope alive.

KONY 2012!

Posted on by T. M.

“JOSEPH KONY IS ONE OF THE WORLD’S WORST WAR CRIMINALS AND I SUPPORT THE INTERNATIONAL EFFORT TO ARREST HIM, DISARM THE LRA AND BRING THE CHILD SOLDIERS HOME. IF THE WORLD KNOWS WHO JOSEPH KONY IS, IT WILL UNITE TO STOP HIM. IT STARTS HERE.”

-Invisible Children

SIGN THE PLEDGE!

Link to the website —–> s3.amazonaws.com/kony2012/kony_new.html. Video is below!

WATCH AND SHARE!

Who Is To Blame?

Posted on by T. M.

I recently came across an article on The Guardian about how there is a lot of rape carried out on both men and women in the US Military, and it left me feeling so unbelievably sad and utterly furious. I found the stories in the article really troubling, and have been attempting to figure out what or who decided rape is an unspeakable taboo? Could it have been religious bodies to maintain some semblance of sanctity amongst its members or perhaps it came from some society or culture and then it became a widely agreed upon thing? Those are the only reasons I can think up to justify this insanity.

Taboos are, simply put, horrible things that should not be done, right? So why do victims feel so ashamed or scared to talk about rape, especially when the Law should be on their side? Why do others ask them to keep mum, rather than talk about it or report it? Is it really just to avoid stigmatization or is there something more to it? Why should these men, women and children have to suffer in silence for what they never wished to be done to them? What is this culture of hiding wrong done to you to avoid the stares/opinions of others (who obviously don’t care about you) about and where did it come from? Too many questions, and no understandable answers. I’m tired of reading or hearing, “You can’t understand it till it happens to you.” I am very aware of that, but still I impatiently and stubbornly struggle to understand why.

The way I see it, rape seems to fall under the unmentionable sort of taboos; those sort of things that happen but you never tell anyone, and that’s just wrong. Unmentionable taboos for me can be maybe prostitution, abortion.. I don’t even know… But certainly NOT rape. Whoever decided it is wrong to talk about being raped must really have been the most insensitive person and if anyone supports this, you’re in that group, too. What I cannot even stand at all is people that say maybe the person was asking to be raped because of their behaviour or dressing. For Military people, I once read about people making jokes on how there are so many men and so few women, so what’s done is done and everyone understands. Who is everyone, really, and how do these make sense to anyone? Why do people even think this way?

People that have been raped should not be afraid to speak about it because it truly is their right to to do so. It is good for them, and benefits others, especially if they are able to identify the rapist. It shouldn’t matter in any way whatsoever what anyone says, what’s in the constitution, or what your religion believes. Also, people should under no circumstance coerce rape victims into keeping quiet and anyone that does so should be severely punished by the Law.

Rape is bad, the US really needs to fix its Military laws, rape victims should not be afraid to speak about their attack(s) and should point out the rapist no matter who it is! People need not treat them like pariahs, because they are innocent victims of a terrible crime.

That’s my own two-cents.

Hey!

Posted on by T. M.

Happy New Year to you and all of that! 🙂

I am back- Sort of. Kind of. Maybe so!

I will most likely still be irregularly posting on here , but I hope not to leave it for as long as three months again. I don’t exactly have anything right now, but I hope to maybe by next month? Just wanted to put this up and let y’all know I’m still breathing and I have not yet given up on this blog!

 

Turie.

Shinan’s ‘Sick and Tired’ Poem

Posted on by T. M.

I found this poem pretty interesting, and decided to copy it off a friend’s Facebook notes to share. It was posted in 2007, and I am not too sure of when the actual poem was put out for public viewing. As the title says, it is a poem by Shinan who I’m assuming is  a Spoken Word artist (I don’t have the means to verify this right now, and I hope that link still works fine).

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————

I’m tired of niggas in expedition
I’m sick of girls with two way pagers
I’m sick of that’s fucking cool
And I’m tired of girls thinking that being attractive’s an occupation
And I’m tired of J-Lo having white parents in every movie she’s in
And I’m sick of Eygptians looking like old white men with an English accent in cartoons like The Prince Of Eygpt when the Prince of Egypt was black and so was Moses for that fact
And I want to smack people who don’t even realise that Eygpt is in Africa
And I’m sick of people acting like slavery don’t affect the present state of blacks in this country when slavery was a race with 450 year head start for everyone else and truth be told, my grand mother’s grand mother was a slave so truth be told it wasn’t that far back
But I’m sick of us still using it as an excuse
And you know what, I’m sick of black features being attributed to everyone except blacks
Like having big lips is cool but only after Angelina Jolie has them
And having a big booty is cool but only after J-Lo has ’em
And I’m tired of the media pushing this African models and trying to convince me they’re exotic when they’re plain ugly
There’s not only one type of black beauty
And I’m tired of Master P being allowed to speak on behalf of hip hop when he represent nothing but everything wrong with it
And I’m sick of being an invisible man to everyone but the cops
And I’m sick of George Bush acting arrogant about his ignorance
And I’m sick of us not suing for black taxes because taxation without representatin is a legitimate case ’cause until the late 1970’s blacks weren’t allowed to vote but we were still paying taxes
And I’m sick of apartheid
And I’m sick of American Idol and the whole survivor phenomenum
And I wanna dropkick my narnins who vote for republican
And I’m tired of poets who talk like this( cute n girly)
And poets who talk like this (manly and macho)
And I’m tired of poets who do puns for pussy
And audience who be snapping in poetry readings
And I’m tired of Cuba Gooding Jnr crying in every movie he is in
And I’m sick of Samuel L Jackson wearing ’em fucked up wigs in every movie he’s in
And I’m tired of clubs making you wait in them long lines to make them seem popular
And then I’m sick of myself for waiting in ’em long lines to be seen in a popular club
And I’m tired of people bragging about the ghetto, the ghetto is a situation we’re supposed to be trying to get out of and not embracing
And I’m sick of everyone trying to be in the entertainment industry
Soon there’ll be no audience just a bunch of monkeys on the stage, dancing

This is a poem by Shinan. If you want to see the real deal, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQMOD8Tq2hw&mode=related&search=

UPDATE– I just got around to checking and I realise now that the poet/spoken word artist has deleted her/his YouTube account. I never knew as I got this off Facebook so don’t bother clicking on the link and sorry about that.

The Gentlemen’s Rant on Flying

Posted on by T. M.

Hey!

 

Stumbled upon this video on YouTube and it is too ridiculous and true! The window seat one actually happened to me once- minus the fiancée part. It was a guy sitting all the way at the back in the middle seat of the middle row that came up to me asking to switch my much coveted window & exit row seat with him so he could have a view of the sky as we fly… Yeah, I’m pretty sure my answer to his request is obvious (I am not a mean person). Also, I tend to turn into a professional ninja warrior when it comes to picking exit row seats for the same reasons  as the one in the video (I would probably help seniors, young children and disabled people, but that’s about it).

P.S.- Let’s all be grateful that we actually do get to fly. I’d rather have all the trouble that comes with flights than have to spend weeks on a ship or God alone knows how long driving. Many thanks to the Wright brothers!

Enjoy!