Darling Nicky

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I meant to post this a few days ago, but it slipped my mind. Prince Harry of Wales was busted calling a fellow soldier a “paki” and another soldier “raghead”. This is the same royal who was pictured on one Halloween dressed as a Nazi. He has since apologized for both incidents respectfully. I’m not exactly surprised by this, not because of what I think of Harry’s mindset but because I know that soldiers (US or British) tend to use rather harsh language, especially when it pertains to who is the perceived enemy. I’m more shocked that there is a video of him saying things like that. The British Ministry of Defense says they’ll investigate his behavior and that name calling and racism is definitely inappropriate behavior. 

If they investigate Harry’s actions, they should also look into the actions of his comrades. I’m pretty sure that he is not the only one using this sort of language, especially since he felt so comfortable saying on camera to other soldiers in his platoon. I don’t want to come off as trying to excuse Harry’s remarks, but I certainly think it is hugely unfair to investigate only him unless the British Defense is just talking about an investigation to save face. It does seem embarassing for a royal serving in your army to be caught on camera saying racist things.  

I don’t even want to pass judgement on Harry. I think most, if not all, people are guilty of being racist or prejudice in one way or another. Even if you don’t say or do something racist, but you still have bad thoughts about a group of people for whatever reason you’re still a racist. And how many times have you played with a friend and jokingly called them a nigger, wop, etc.? I can say that I do hear a lot of that same “joking” on the streets here in Harlem and in other parts of New York City where there are people of many different backgrounds living and working beside each other.

I guess you could say I consider NYC somewhat of a war zone in itself.

On Tuesday, I went to a job fair held sponsored by the New York Daily News at the New Yorker Hotel. Cut straight to the chase: it was a wash! I, along with about 300 other people, waited in the freezing cold and wind from 9am to 10am to get into the auditorium where only 15 companies were there to seek prospective employees. At least three companies were there to actually make a buck: a college, a bartending school, and a company who teaches people how to make online profiles (aka scam).

The real kicker for me was waiting on a line to speak with one of the representatives from Time Warner Cable for 45 minutes only to be told “I can’t do anything for you.” The wait was long because the woman was talking for at least 10 minutes to each person that talked to her. The other respresentative was much quicker and the line for his side was faster. I should’ve gotten on that line, but I was told that his line was for Metro Health Plus. I didn’t know that he was also there for Time Warner until I got closer to the front, and saw the sign for the table.

I made some friends on the line though. We shared in each others’ frustration on the line. There was a woman one person behind me who talking about job fairs in the ’90s, a woman in front played eagle eye to what was going on in the front of the line (line skippers), and the woman right behind me whose cousin was on the faster line; they both gave me some good advice on where I might be find work for what I got my degree in.

So, here’s how it went when I got up to the woman representative:

Me: I’m recent graduate and I’d like to work for Time Warner.

Rep: Where did you graduate from? With what degree?

Me: I graduated from Pace University with a bachelors in Communications Studies. Would you like to see my resume?

Rep: (annoyed) Yeah, sure.

::Hand my resume to the rep. She glosses over it, and sees my magazine internships, wrote for the school paper, etc.::  

Rep: I don’t see anything… What do you want to do?

Me: I want to be a journalist, but the industry is not good right now. I’m thnking I could be a clerk or sales rep…

Rep: I really don’t have anything for you based on your resume. You go online to the Time Warner website, see what is there, and upload your resume.

Me: Thank you.

:: Dismayed. I walk away. ::

After I talked to that rep, I thought about going to more tables, but I figured I’d be hearing what Time warner told me. So, I decided to get the hell out of the hotel, and go on with the rest of my day. I was glad to get out of there, but I wanted to cry so bad. I just walked around for the rest of the day. Walking off the adrenaline of having to prove to hiring managers that I’m worthy of their employ is my usual after a job interview. I walked from 34th street and 8th avenue to 9th street and 4th avenue. From there I went home, where I finally cried.

At least 30 states have allowed voters to cast their ballots early, and lines to vote before election day have people waiting up to two hours. With voter registration having more than doubled, what has the rest of the 50 states not allowing their citizens to vote early? I live in New York City, and I can’t imagine what the lines are going to be like on Novemeber 4th. I got up early four years ago to vote thinking I might have to wait, and while there were people ahead of me, there was no line. This year will definitely be different, especially because NYC is one of those states that does not allow early voting. I certainly hope that every vote will count on Election Day ‘08. I plan to get up early again this year, and I defintiely expect to see a line. I think I might just cover all the long lines around the city, and ask people how they feel the city could’ve handled the expected surge in voter turn out, and you know in this town everyone’s a critic so someone will defintiely have a gripe.

Don Cornelius was arrested on Friday night for domestic violence. Seriously, Mr. Cornelius? I know you must be mad that Soul Train  was canceled, but you shouldn’t take your anger out on other people! Violence isn’t the way, and only adds to your problems. Looks like being a bitch is one of them…

Sister Cecilia has lived in a convent in Rome, Italy for the past 50 years and says she inspried to vote for Senator Barack Obama. For people who feel as though their vote don’t count, this 106 year old nun is voting via absentee ballot despite not having “plans for the future” she keeps up with the election on television and in newspapers. I hope this story compels people, those who are much younger than this woman especially, to vote. Your vote does count, everybody counts.

Jim Jones and Maria Davis

On Saturday, the neighborhood bakery Make My Cake held a “Client Appreciation Day” fair right outside its doors to honor it patrons for the great business they’ve been getting. There was cupcakes, hamburgers, hot dogs, voter registration, community groups, and music. I talk at length to a few people, not including neighbors, and the one person that really impressed me was a woman who told me she is an HIV survivor just past me asking what she had set up a table for and then asked me. Her name is Maria Davis and she was advocating safe sex for LIFEbeat. She was a music promoter in the ’90s when she contracted the virus from her ex-boyfriend who kept his status hidden from her and even his family. She is very serious about speaking up on people knowing about protecting themselves and knowing about AIDS. She even grilled me on my status, what HIV meant, what AIDS meant, and how would I know if I had AIDS? I aced the pop quiz, by the way!

After finishing up at Make My Cake’s street fair, she was setting up to drive out to Long Island to promote condom use, getting tested, and knowing your status at a Latin music concert. She was very well prepared with condoms and sex education literature in Spanish and she met a woman who works at a voters registration office in Harlem that has Spanish language voter registration forms she could pass out. I expressed to Ms. Davis that I am interested in interviewing her and she gave her card. I am very excited to talk to her, especially since the HIV/AIDS rate among African-American women is is higest due to unprotected sex and many still believing that HIV/AIDS is a homosexual disease. I can’t wait to interview her, although I don’t know where I’ll send the article to. It’s still a very important issue that needs to be stressed – that HIV/AIDS and other UTIs do not discriminate, anyone can get sick and that if you are sick you need to get help and treat your illness and not get bitter and angry.