can't be unbiased so i just wanna cut right to the chase: there is no such thing as not coming from a culture or being without culture.

sometimes white people talk about not belonging to a culture unless they're more directly european or whatever.

but america has its own culture. the part of america you're from has its' own culture. whiteness factors into culture. the reason why you can pick up on other cultures is because they're different from your own culture, which does exist.

there is no such thing as not having an accent.

color influences your life.


==**peace**==

"Words without work is not enough." Sizzla

There is more danger in the word exotic than in a sharpened machete --me

"The logic of divide and rule is still valid today." Capleton

DPP; DomePoem Poets; Vibe Nation; One ppl under the spoken word

and not as attractive as those you see around you.

White folks are starting to talk about the emptiness of suburban life. Thus they are moving back to the city (or should I say gentrifying..).

Many have reasoned that part of the appeal of hip hop to white surburbanites is that it is very alive and real in the context of their plastic and soulness existence in Ivory Creek Estates.

peace
k. orr

and it's a myth that the suburbs don't have culture.

k. orr

from the dysfunction growing outta the suburbs

mostly about sacrifices

and materialism

okay, so you have all these things, but at what price?

i wish that lesson spread faster than jealousy often does-

but my neighborhood is gentrifying by the second. cellphones and little dogs. boarded up houses suddenly being fixed. gourmet stores. fur coats walking past the kfc-taco bell..... that's some scary shit. had a tenants meeting in my building in which one ignorant woman stated that it is the responsibility of the building management to have a plunger for us.

so you can afford to drink red wine and cappuccino every day, but a plunger is one expense too many? hello?

so we're moving out to the burbs, where communities are diversifying and rents are getting more affordable. i'm interested to see what happens with the school systems. and to see if my new neighborhood can foster a sense of community-


==**peace**==

"Words without work is not enough." Sizzla

There is more danger in the word exotic than in a sharpened machete --me

"The logic of divide and rule is still valid today." Capleton

DPP; DomePoem Poets; Vibe Nation; One ppl under the spoken word

>so we're moving out to the
>burbs, where communities are diversifying
>and rents are getting more
>affordable. i'm interested to see
>what happens with the school
>systems.

lookit p.g. county. perfect example of what happens. 20 years ago, p.g. was about 80%white, 20 black.....now, those numbers are reversed and the school system has gone to hell. As blacks moved from the city to places like fort washington and oxon hill to achieve the house and picket fence, whites moved further out to places like waldorf....or, back into the city. we know have white flight INTO the city....course, most of them are the only ones who can afford to fix up the houses that were borded up. the think that gets me is, they arent sending their kids to the schools in d.c....they send them to private schools. So the schools stay the same.

p.g. just got 1 billion to put into education....if they have a comprehensive plan, thenj p.g. county will be come the only county in the u.s. that is predominately black, where the average income earner makes at least $45,000 and college educated, AND they could, in theory, end up with the best public school system in the country. That's a big IF.


and to see if
>my new neighborhood can foster
>a sense of community-

i dunno.....i live in an area that used to be all black....now its getting very mixed...black, white and latino......but no one speaks to each other. the latinos stick together....the whites keep to themselves and the blacks who live here a mostly old and retired who's kids are waiting for them to die so they can sell the house.

they send them to private schools. So the schools stay the same.

ding ding ding ding ding

yeh i hope pg jumps up like that. it's about time...

i'll see about silver spring. hopefully it's not gentrifying cuz i'm sick of my rent chasing me around like this

but right now seein these fkn law school kids complain about summa the hispanic families tryin to squeeze into apts-- when the families been there since before law student was born--- man, my building makes me sicker by the day.

reminds me of an old "you are what you eat commercial" where this man's voice comes on saying "am i the pate de fois gras i had last night?"


==**peace**==

"Words without work is not enough." Sizzla

There is more danger in the word exotic than in a sharpened machete --me

"The logic of divide and rule is still valid today." Capleton

DPP; DomePoem Poets; Vibe Nation; One ppl under the spoken word

>
>i'll see about silver spring. hopefully
>it's not gentrifying cuz i'm
>sick of my rent chasing
>me around like this


too late.....gentrification already in process.

I'm sorry, P.G.? What does that stand for?

==**peace**==

"Words without work is not enough." Sizzla

There is more danger in the word exotic than in a sharpened machete --me

"The logic of divide and rule is still valid today." Capleton

DPP; DomePoem Poets; Vibe Nation; One ppl under the spoken word

the think
>that gets me is, they
>arent sending their kids to
>the schools in d.c....they send
>them to private schools. So
>the schools stay the same.

In most places, the schools are funded largely by property taxes...so even IF the send all their kids to private schools, the public school will still benefit becuase the property will (for some strange reason) increase in value and the tax money will go to educate kids that need it.

there are no property taxes for 5 years.

there is a buying incentive in D.C.....that money is not going to the schools. you've got schools in middle and upper middle class neighborhoods where the kids who live there, particularly if they are white, do not attend them.

>In most places, the schools are
>funded largely by property taxes...so
>even IF the send all
>their kids to private schools,
>the public school will still
>benefit becuase the property will
>(for some strange reason) increase
>in value and the tax
>money will go to educate
>kids that need it.

i went to a private school outside of my city, and i seem to remember my mother getting property tax benefits because i didn't attend the city public school ... it's a nj though, so it may be a different story


-------- B EZ ------------

IM and ICQ name: reefdogg1 (number one at the end)

Mondays, 9pm-12pm EST - hip hop by stressed Brown undergrads (yes, black people do exist in the Ivies!)
http://www.bsrlive.com

"It aint all about economy
so the fact that these wack emcees is making G's don't bother me
Honestly, my number one policy is quality
never sell my soul is my philosophy" - Binary Star

>
>and it's a myth that the
>suburbs don't have culture.
>

the film "american beauty"...a look into the suburban world, in a way. I mean, I guess I watched that like someone from "Ivory Creek Estates" would watch Boyz N the Hood....mind boggling in a way.

L.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"my mama said/a lady ain't what she wears/but what she knows"~~India Arie

KizzMyBlakAzz: you've made yourself a shell
KizzMyBlakAzz: i know you're soft and gooey on the inside
LHoney17: I know I am....never said I wasn't
LHoney17: but that doesn't mean I get stepped on or that I'm not strong
KizzMyBlakAzz: Gooey
LHoney17: lol
KizzMyBlakAzz: Caramel
KizzMyBlakAzz: Center
LHoney17: lol....well that's a nice way to think of it
KizzMyBlakAzz: with like a hard choclate shell
LHoney17: think I'll put that in a personal ad
KizzMyBlakAzz: You're a Rollo
LHoney17: lmao
KizzMyBlakAzz: lmao

"Ignorance: The Verbal Airborne Disease" (c) my friend Ty

"Quentin's on his way/Quinton's on his way/Quentin's on his way/with another J/and it's ok!!/(we're gonna get high!!)" ~~Pharcyde

ain't NO way you can be without culture.
You're so right:).
Yabbadabbadoozilla! (c) Bootzilla
http://www.funkknots.com
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"You might as well pay attention/ you can't afford free speech" -George Clinton

"People need to stop saying that there is one way to be--and then the issue will disappear." Ntozake Shange-interview in _Mother_ _Jones_

Thanks for reading. I love you.

"y'all funny...like that time on looney tunes when the sheep and the coyote clocked out for the day and just chilled.
airybody will be back at each other w/ the guns an knives tomorrow but this was peace." - poetx

"What are you but my reflection, who am I to judge or strike you down?" - MJK

In Rotation:
Tool - Aenema
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
Lee Perry - Return Of Wax
Jay Dee - Welcome To Detroit
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Lonnie Liston Smith - Cosmic Funk

....i think that might be the closest one can come to being culture-less.

But then, within itself, its a culture of its own.


Growing up, because i never lived in one place long enough to be impacted by the local culture, i can say that i felt 'cultureless' many times.

People would inquire where i was from 'originally' because i had no accent....all they knew is that i was 'different'.

I found it easier to assimilate as i got older....lived in new orleans, picked up pieces of that culture..moved to florida, dropped n'awlins and picked up that...and so on.

even now, after living in D.C. all these years....i still feel far removed from the 'culture' that society says i'm supposed to be a part of.

dont know if any of this makes sense....i'm sleepy and tarred

peace

Yes, you're right, the military is its own culture. Unfortunately, the military culture often forces its members to rid themselves of their own individual cultures with which they came into the military. I won't speak for all military people, but many feel this is true.

i don't know so much about military culture as i know about moving around a lot, and that definately helps a person to feel like an outsider, and part of what you feel very much outside of is the culture of the places where you live-
and the schools that you attend
etc etc etc

i'm always surprised when i hear people fondly remembering their gradeschools or talking about reunions or people whose names i can't place

because none of it takes hold when u're movin too fast- and i do think in a way that's very much a culture of it's own. a culture of instability and a changing of values.

i definately relate best with people who did not live in the same place consistently when growing up, and i'm quick to say that family is all you have in the end, so you'd better hold tight.

man, i can talk about this stuff for days--



==**peace**==

"Words without work is not enough." Sizzla

There is more danger in the word exotic than in a sharpened machete --me

"The logic of divide and rule is still valid today." Capleton

DPP; DomePoem Poets; Vibe Nation; One ppl under the spoken word

I hear what you're saying about it being impossible to have no culture. White people do have a culture. The problem is that young white kids feel out of place in their own culture. I think the reason is that so much emphasis is put on things rather than people. Status in the suburbs is based on possessions, not relationships and not wisdom or knowledge. People try to fill the void in their lives with stuff and then throw in some conservative Christianity to justify it.

In college I began to seriously question my roots. First I did it by throwing off Christianity and condemning it as ignorance. Then I discovered Buddhism and found answers to the questions that weren't even being asked in my white culture. The materialism, the exploitation and the sexism of my culture all became clear to me and I was filled with a desire to right the wrongs I had done to those around me.

At this same time I began listening to hiphop and found that as a form of self expression it was unparalleled. The pure emotional input possible in hiphop is refreshing when youve grown up listening to canned top 40 hits. (This is not to say that all hiphop has this element of self-expression, of course.) So now I am in a position where I am being affected by three different cultures and I am trying to create a personal balance that will bring me happiness and let me affect some good on the world.

Hiphop is good for white kids because it helps them question their fucked up, materialistic and racist culture.

Russell
Austin, TX

to me suburbs mean sacrifice. means sacrificing time and priorities in order to work and earn money. sacrificing these things for material success.

oftentimes suburban kids grow up feeling un-nurtured and unconnected because their working parents didn't have the time to spend with them that they needed, or maybe there was a huge gulf between child and family due greatly to social conventions-

it does take a whole village to raise a child, and children who barely got their parents attention much less the attention of a village of parents, as in communities where all the neighbors raise all the kids, feed all the kids, watch all the kids, discipline all the kids, etc.

a lot of suburban kids grow up feelin like if they turned and walked away their parents firsrt concern would be what people think and the second would be the child

people who are afraid of emotions avoid them like the plague but they are very natural and very real

i think that as a kid i was very jealous of my minority friends' communities because i felt no sense of community in my own life

i worry that a lot of people don't grow from that point, and people can be very dangerous at that point


==**peace**==

"Words without work is not enough." Sizzla

There is more danger in the word exotic than in a sharpened machete --me

"The logic of divide and rule is still valid today." Capleton

DPP; DomePoem Poets; Vibe Nation; One ppl under the spoken word

When you get into dodging emotions and culture you subconsciously start to recognize the fact your just EXISTING and NOT LIVING.

you struggle and scramble for anything that has "life" in it.

Everyone loves wack music? I'll Give it a try, and love it too.
They're racist? F--k This whole creed of people over here then..
We're Christian Now? "Buddist are going to hell"

Its all just reaching for life, and it gets obscured when all the question you have go 100% unanswered. Unanswered questions, lead to confussion and denile. Not being able to relate to your "own" (on top of the confussion and denile of unanswered questions) you wind up LOST. Living through some American Beauty scenerio-- let's continue waking up.

this could lead into a whole new topic..
how the industrial revolution has led to the dissemination of the community at large in america, perhaps?
i've lived in some towns that seemed small enough for pretty much everybody to know everybody, and there still wasn't the sense of community i see you guys talking about. i agree that it really does take a village, because i think you need something different from everyone.. you get a certain kind of nourishment from your parents, from your teachers, peers.. etc. and perhaps it isn't missing so much from the parents and nuclear family, but outside the home i definitely think it's not there like it could be. a lot of problems people have are just compensating for the lack of a certain niche someone has, ex: you don't really have any peers, so you rely more heavily on your teacher..
as far as culture.. i suppose i could argue that there's a culture of not really having a culture of your own.. i've seen people like that.. culture sponges. it's weird. but that in itself as i said, is a culture all its own.

.
.
i'm an okayproducer. and how.
http://www.okayplayer.com/dcforum/lesson/12674.html
http://urgent.rug.ac.be/vinylators/okayproducers


"I think of writing as a way of letting my soul speak...& sometimes the soul thrives in silence. Only way I can explain it." LexM

http://dreamwater.net/estrangular - the definition of underachievment. YES!

"stress relates to those who walk around protected"

The culture of culturelessness is a culture.:D