Blue Lines Blog -Throwback Thursday

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Alton Sterling, Atlanta, Baton Rouge, Blue Hurt, Blue Lines, Blue Lines Blog, California, facebook, Falcon Heights, Fruitvale Station, Georgia, Key Yemaya Walker, Keypsiia, Keypsiia Walker, Keypsiia Yemaya Walker, LA Riots, Los Angeles, Louisiana, Minnesota, Murder, Oakland, OJ Simpson, Oscar Grant, Philando Castile, Photography, Police Brutality, Rodney King, Sacramento, San Francisco, twitter, UNC, UNC Chapel Hill

I wake up further enraged this morning…there is no time to mourn when the news of the next murder is broadcast. How much longer will we cast a blind eye, and allow locations, tweets, and posts to be evidence of our disgust and displeasure, yet let it end there? The pandemic of violence against us in the United States, and systematic violation and disregard of our lives is reported daily. Should my future wife have to worry whether I will come home, or whether she has to watch me die in public? Should I have to worry about my future son not returning home from college? Should my future daughter live in fear that at any moment, her father, brother, boyfriend…husband, will not return from their day? Will I make it home alive tonight?

I refuse to live my life in fear, but these are real questions to be asked in a country where increasingly obscure locations, towns, and places become unfriendly reminders of how devalued the life of a Black man is. Last year I felt an uneasiness as I rode past Fruitvale Station…what was simply a stop on the B.A.R.T. is now an eerie reminder of a New Year’s shooting of an unarmed Oscar Grant was murdered by a police officer. Our lives our being reduced to temporary outpourings of grief, vigils, speeches, and memories tied to a location. However, I wasn’t…we weren’t born to be symbols of tragedies that continue to repeated on, as we have seen the last two days, a daily basis. Alton Sterling and Philando Castile are simply the new names added the growing list of disregarded lives.

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#FMSPhotoADay – November – Day 20 – Communication

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#FMSphotoaday, blog, Blue Lines, Blue Lines Blog, Communication, Day 20, email, facebook, Fat Mum Slim, IM, Instagram, Instant Messenger, iPhone, iPhone 5, iPhone Post, Key Yemaya Walker, November, Phone, Smart Phone, text, twitter

The manuscript Blue Lines is the fictional coming of age narrative of a young California woman Key Yemaya Walker, and her 2 year growing journey through school, love, and life period piece, written by Kenneth Suffern, Jr., taking place at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill between the years of 1997 – 1998. Loosely based on true events, and experiences during that time, told through the eyes and voice of the main female protagonist, a freshman first attending the school.

Blue Lines Blog – facebook Launches It’s First Ad

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1 billion, 1 billion users, Atlanta, billion, Blue Hurt, Blue Lines, Blue Lines Blog, Brooklyn, California, facebook, Georgia, Key Yemaya Walker, Los Angeles, Mark Zuckerberg, New York

As facebook hits 1 billion active users they launch their first ad. Hot poignant ad. Weird, huh?


The manuscript Blue Lines is the fictional coming of age narrative of a young California woman Key Yemaya Walker, and her 2 year growing journey through school, love, and life period piece, written by Kenneth Suffern, Jr., taking place at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill between the years of 1997 – 1998. Loosely based on true events, and experiences during that time, told through the eyes and voice of the main female protagonist, a freshman first attending the school.

Blue Lines Blog – RIP Trayvon Martin

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Blue Lines, Blue Lines Blog, Child, facebook, Florida, Instagram, Key Yemaya Walkwr, Murder, Photography, photoshop, Protest, Trayvon Martin, Truth

I broke my facebook fast for something important.

The manuscript Blue Lines is the fictional coming of age narrative of a young California woman Key Yemaya Walker, and her 2 year growing journey through school, love, and life period piece, written by Kenneth Suffern, Jr., taking place at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill between the years of 1997 – 1998. Loosely based on true events, and experiences during that time, told through the eyes and voice of the main female protagonist, a freshman first attending the school.

What I Learned Sundays – Children and Adults

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Adele, Andy Allo, Blue Hurt, Blue Lines, Blue Lines Blog, Blue Lines Chapter 13: Beauty In Blue And White, Bon Iver, Chapter 13: Beauty In Blue And White, Coker Arboretum, Coldplay, Cuba, facebook, Foo Fighters, History, iTunes, Jill Scott, Key Yemaya Walker, Keypsiia, Keypsiia Walker, Lineage, Linkin Park, Martina Topley-Bird, Myla, Myla Watson, Nintin Sawhney, Philips Arena, Prince, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sade, SBTRKT, Songify, Spain, What I Learned Sundays, YOU

Opening with a very brief excerpt from Blue Lines Chapter 13: Beauty In Blue And White. (currently page 135)

“Blue closed his eyes, and she understood that he knew the truth in her simple words. Exhaling, he looked toward the idyllic hues of the orange and red leaves that still hung on to the last life of the fleeting summer. He knew that on the eve of their passing, a virgin love was being born between to souls who were occupying the right space at the perfect time. With Keypsiia’s girlish grin still wide, she closed her eyes and looked skyward to accept the warmth of the sun that seemed to caress her. She smiled at the emancipation of her words, and with thoughts of the frightening, unknown love that separated them from the world now.”

Looking back at these moments between these two semi-fictional characters, an 18 year old young woman, and 20 year old young man, the innocence of this time is apparent. Both lacking in experience, and idealistic in what the future holds, and in this instance, what it holds, insofar as “love,” their “love.” A “love,” not yet spoiled by bad decisions, broken and devastated hearts, realizations that these concepts that we believe at this young age, have the opportunity to be proved wrong. “Love…” these are also the transcribed words of a young man, still in that age at that time, far different from thoughts, beliefs, and knowledge now. The problem is, when at this age you a) don’t know the difference of what you “knew” then, but learned along your travels; and b) fail to take heed of the now, versus the then.

When you look at life/events/etc., many things happen for a reason, finding that reason is a challenge in the process. What do I mean by that, well let me first preface, this post has had many directions, however working the weekend, opened a few directions, while challenging my focus in writing this post. To regain my focus, I notice repetition, I notice new experiences, and I notice the past, now repetition continues, as unhealthy as it is, new has reared its beautiful head again.

I will start with the most interesting tidbits that I learned this week. Through facebook, twitter, BlackBerry messenger, twitter, my dealings with YOU etc. my cousin and I have grown extremely close. I’ve never really thought to look into my Cuban and Latin heritage, because it is basically clearcut…or more clear-cut. I found out that my maternal great-grandparents were a Cuban and a Spaniard. A revelation that makes me look in the mirror very differently, as a Hispanic, a Caribbean Cuban Hispanic, Spaniards are looked in a certain light, and to discover that I have Spanish heritage not through rape, pillage, but an actual marriage, and that my family roots on one of the Hispanic sides cleanly reach back to Spain. I hope this statement is understood, cleanly meaning that I have something tangible that I can trace. As a Cuban, I luckily can trace my roots through Cuban and back to Africa in some respect, now this adds a layer to added family knowledge. Cuzzo, we should have the first Family Reunion in Spain, that would be a shocker!!!

What I Learned Sunday (Monday) Don’t Settle 4/11/11 Part 2

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Blackplanet, Blue Hurt, Blue Lines, Chapel Hill, facebook, Key Yemaya Walker, Keypsiia, Myspace, twitter, UNC, What I Learned Sundays

At sometimes, when trying to post content, and losing the initial; idea that led to said post, you forget the idea that led to the post first being created. Rather than edit the previous post, I will add a separate addendum, privacy in the Post Social Network world. Last weekend, I reflected on how “public” my “private” life has become. Yes, depending on what social network you are a part of, you may see things such as foursquare posts, specific tweets, etc. that may give the guise of a rather public life, however if i asked those “watching” me, the same question as those who know me, the answer would be starkly different.
When I first set up these networks, the primary goals were to promote a manuscript that i began in 1998 and virtually completed by 2000 – 2001. Though there have been edits, there have not really been structural reworks to change the content, story, etc. (not to say that the future doesn’t hold that). I used the main male character of my manuscript, Blue Hurt, as the persona as which to drive these sites, facebook, twitter, WordPress. But not as far as creating pages for the character as I did in the late 90’s early 2k with Blackplanet. It’s funny in some respects being that at times, i am addressed or referred to as “Blue,” whether it be mentioning me in Hawks broadcasts (yes that has happened frequently), or friends and coworkers addressing me by that name, Blue is a minor character relative to the main character of my work, Keypsiia Yemaya Walker.
As this Blue persona began to take his shape in cyberspace, it did not add to the development of the character, but rather the development of this public/persona that offers a glimpse into some things that are true part of who I am, but only pieces. Behind that, and the growth of what I’m trying to do here, I can, in retrospect, look back at some of the events that have changed what facebook, in particular, was when I first joined.
As I alluded to earlier, a friend setup both my facebook and Myspace accounts after I repeatedly ignored requests by two other friends. They were actually setup while I was in Chapel Hill doing onsite research for my manuscript Blue Lines. Although the accounts were setup, I ignored them and never logged in. When I had my plan on execution in place, I began to make use of them. At first i was very intrigued, dropping a “poignant” quip every now and then, to make it interesting, but not say too much. At the time the verb is was automatically populated, and I could say, “Blue Hurt is elated,” “Blue Hurt is writing.” Simple enough to give you insight, but nowhere near as detailed and specific as posts now. It was very interesting how with this small interface, I could keep up with long lost friends, and leading into a High School reunion, much of the ice was already broken before meeting these friends again, and the starting place of relationships was further progressed and the awkward reintroductions were skipped. Again, it intrigued me to redevelop attachments, on a non-personal level…if that makes sense.

2010 in review

Tags

Above The Clouds, Blue Lines, facebook, Fugeez, Gangstarr, Inspectah Deck, Kanye West, kanyewest.com, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, My Love, Nappy Heads Remix, Nicholas Rogers, Sia, Souls Of Mischief, twitter, Without You, Wordpress, Yael Naim

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is on fire!.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,500 times in 2010. That’s about 4 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 244 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 283 posts. There were 347 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 169mb. That’s about 7 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was November 21st with 57 views. The most popular post that day was Album Review Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, kanyewest.com, en.wordpress.com, and twitter.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for gang starr quotables, prazwell fugees, sia my love, yael naim boyfriend, and souls of mischief 93 til infinity.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Album Review Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy November 2010
2 comments

2

Blue Lines Blog – En Memoriam, “Without You” from the Manuscript Blue Lines May 2010

3

Musical Inspiration Sia – “My Love” June 2010

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Hip-Hop Quotable Wednesdays Gangstarr “Above the Clouds” June 2010

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Hip-Hop Quotable Wednesday – Fugees “Nappy Heads (Remix)” July 2010
The manuscript Blue Lines is the fictional coming of age narrative of a young California woman Key Yemaya Walker, and her 2 year growing journey through school, love, and life period piece, written by Kenneth Suffern, Jr., taking place at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill between the years of 1997 – 1998. Loosely based on true events, and experiences during that time, told through the eyes and voice of the main female protagonist, a freshman first attending the school.