Blue Lines Blog -Throwback Thursday

Tags

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.

#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.

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

Tags

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.

What I Learned Sundays

Tags

Aaron Rogers, blog, Blue Lines, Key Yemaya Walker, music, Super Bowl XLV, Things I Learned Sundays, twitter

New experiences are cool, but they are better when shared with others.
Sometimes you can be there for a person, by not speaking.
It’s great to be appreciated, when you weren’t trying.
It’s good to be right (Super Bowl) sometimes.
I can’t wait for baseball.
This year in the NFL was underwhelming.
Still trying to figure out how my blog views have been out of this world and seem timed with and offer I received/decision I made. Thank you.
Eating meat by mistake isn’t cool.
New music is always great, sharing is better.
I’m still waiting on that call/e-mail…come on…I’m trying to be patient.
Still smiling.
I find it strange that I see scenes that are similar to Key’s experiences in Blue Lines. It makes me feel better that I “nailed it” in creating her character. I just have to clean up, and finish it now.
Three short stories I’m supposed to be working on are behind.
It’s great to be back in the gym, I have to keep it up.
Sitting around just thinking is not always good.
I have to make my own future.

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.

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

4

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

5

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.