In My Humble Opinion #2

Terrorist? No Way
I am proud of my home country Nigeria, but recently Nigeria has been portrayed in a negative light through the American news media. My country’s name has been dragged through the mud because of an alleged bomber from Nigeria. A 23 year-old- named Hmar Farouk Abdulmutallab was caught hiding and trying to detonate explosives in plane 253 was carrying passengers from Amsterdam to Detroit. I personally would gladly say on behalf of all Nigerians that we are pleased that Abdulmutallabs attempted act of terrorism failed and he was contained by the American authorities or else Nigerians will be singing a different tone and not a good one.
For this act of terrorism, Nigeria is now listed as a terrorist country and now being monitored for any terrorist activities by U.S homeland security. Although, it is a very humiliating situation, that someone’s evil intentions puts the entire country of Nigeria on a constant terrorists watch list.
The story was all over the news media especially CNN. The phrase “The Nigerian Bomber” was constantly slash all over or stretched across the television and radio news.
In my humble, opinion Nigeria is definitely not a country that practice terrorism.
It is a country that would never be associated with terrorism. We Nigerians will definitely not fold our arms and watch this act of terrorism to be a big smear on our already sodden image of our great Nation and puts the traveler’s comfort of over 150 million in great danger.
The recent news from Nigeria, is that the Nigerian officials have decided to denounce the alleged bomber their country despite the fact that he left the country about ten years age and the Nigeria has also decided to tighten its security from such an alleged terrorist plot to ever happen to them.
The U.S had released a list of 14 countries under terrorist watch in which Nigeria is part of; the remaining 13 countries are Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, Cuba , Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.
Not to talk of the nightmare Nigerian passengers travelling would have to go through and face extra security screening. This screening includes body-pat and carry-on baggage checks. The sense of security has heightened in American airports.
Nigerian- Americans are having to signed up on Facebook to petition in getting Nigeria off that horrible list. Nigeria has contributed the 4th largest contingent to UN peacekeeping missions for over 5 decades now. We have produced world-class citizens like Nobel Peace Prize winner Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe a great international novelist amongst others.
So why should we now acknowledge a Christmas Day attempted bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab; a terrorist? No Way!!!! Like the Facebook page said “Nigerians are good people, we are not terrorists, we love life.”

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Fish Out of Water

Curiosity kills the cat; they say. Well that is true in my case. As I walk around campus and came across a poster for a Drag Show to be held at Morris Daily Auditorium. The Drag Show is presented by the Q.T.I.P. The full meaning of Q.T.I.P is (Queer Thoughtfully Interrupting Prejudice) a program solely for the gays and lesbians, bi-sexual, and transgender students.
This program is funded by the Mosaic Centre and it was their third annual Drag Show on campus. A drag show is show hosted by a drag queen who is usually a man dressed in drag or in women clothes and make-up for special occasions, usually because they are performing and entertaining as a host or hostess, stage artists at such event. Drag queens are also known as cross-dressers, they something look like a Transgender person.
The Show had about seven drag queens some of which are students and professional performers alike. I have never been to a drag show; I only see such shows on television, so I chose to curiously witness this evening event. It was truly an out of body experience because I never have been to a place filled with men dressed like woman and female stars impersonators.
Some look like Britney Spear and most looked like the highly anticipated Lady Gaga.
There were also some participating female drag queens (dressed as men), but despite there were ladies at the show, I could not help feeling out of place or more like fish out of water.
The show had a D.J that cranked up the volume of a mix of power ballads, nice oldies, and definitely, lots of Lady Gaga’s music. There were drag queens walking around the campus auditorium. The host for the event was a drag queen named Tiffany. He really knows how to work up a crowd because he hopped all over the stage and kept shouting “Make some noise” and the crowd went wild. There was a drag queen competition both male and female drag came on stage to show who look more like the celebrity they were impersonating followed by lots of singing, dancing, clapping and shouting from the queens and the crowd.
In the competition, there were lots of Lady Gaga impersonators and of course the drag queen named Jason who pull off the most look alike of Lady Gaga won the competition.
The Drag Show was not only for entertainment, but it is also a support ground for the gay community because ten percent of its proceeds will be donated to the Billy Defrank LGBT (Lesbians, Gays, Bi-sexual, and Transgender) Center. The show was truly a fish out of water experience for me.

Japanese Internment Memorial

The Japanese Internment happened during World War II. The date was December 7, 1941, a day that went down in America’s history and a tragic one. It was Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
It was a sneaky and well-executed attack on United States Navy's battleship and over 2400 Americans were killed. After the attack, America declared war on Japan; so on February 19, 1942 President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066.
The order was to force the evacuation of all Japanese Americans, stripping them also of their constitutional rights to be protected as American citizens in the name of national defense. The order also bans people of Japanese descent who were living on the West Coast from getting a liviehood in certain locations in America. Now perceived as the enemies of the state, the U.S. government forcefully uprooted more than 120,000 Japanese Americans from their homes, schools, farms, jobs, and businesses.
They were forced to live in bleak, horrifying remote camps with deplorable conditions, behind barbed wire and under the watchful eyes of armed guards. From 1942 to 1945, almost four years the Japanese Americans stayed in the Internment camps.
Ruth Asawa is one of America’s highly recognized women artists of the 20th century. She is an advocate for the arts that celebrates the richness and beauty of everyday life. She is able to use grace and intricate forms to create her famous masterpiece wire sculptures. She is also called the "fountain lady" because she displayed so many of her fountains art work for public view in San Francisco.
Born in Norwalk, California in 1926, Asawa is the fourth child of seven children. Her parents who are immigrants from Japan works as truck farmers growing seasonal crops for a living until she and her family were forced to go to the Japanese American internment camp during World War II. As a teenager, she experiences the deplorable condition in the camp but she used her experience to express her work in artistry.
As proof of her work, in 1994, she made the Japanese-American Internment Memorial Sculpture put on display in San Jose. In San José over 3,000 Japanese Americans lived in the Valley before World War II period.
After the war, many Japanese Americans came to San José to re-establish themselves. As the started-over, San Jose's historic Japan town was founded.
It is like starting over after the Japanese internment policy was revoked in December of 1944. There is also the Japanese American Resource Center in the Santa Clara Valley. The purpose of the Center is to preserve the rich history Japanese Americans contributions to the American growth in arts, culture and the significant development of the Valley.
One of the vignettes that I found very compelling was a picture of a man trying to comfort his little daughter holding her doll, who would not stop crying after seeing her home with their mailboxes on the side is for sale and a huge “Evacuation” sign on it. I understood the little girl’s pain because it is devastating that place you grow up or things that you are use to be suddenly taken away from you. Another picture of a U.S guard holding a gun and shoving Japanese Americans and their frightened children toward the houses in the camp.
The third vignettes has a picture of a huge train that is transferring hundred of Japanese-Americans to various Internment camps in the country and many of their friends and relatives holding their hands from the train windows and waving goodbye to them, not knowing if they will see their friends and families ever again.
As I went studied the history of Japanese-American lives in American, I looked into the events and the factors which led to Japanese American internment.
The Japanese were treated the same way the Nazis treatment the Jews on the concentration camps. After 75 years, I know horrible events like this will never happen again.
Browsing the web, I came across a photograph by Dorthea Lange from the National Archives. It was a picture of a Japanese American posted a banner saying “I AM AN AMERICAN” on his store front the day after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and shortly before he was sent to an internment camp. Seeing this, it shows that nobody or country wants to have America as an enemy. I believe America has matured over the last 75 years to know how the deal with terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.

P.E.T.A SUCKS

P.E.T.A is People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. It is an organization that focuses on Animal Rights or protecting animals; making sure that animals have the same rights that we humans do.

Peta! Peta! Peta! Frankly, in my humble opinion, I am really sick of this organization.
President Obama can’t even kill a pesky fly in one of his publicize White House interviews without being hounded by them. Former Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, was criticized by Peta because there was a clip of a butcher severing the head of a turkey right behind Palin’s interview at a turkey slaughtering plant.
Now another famous person, socialite Kim Kardashian is in hot water with Peta. In her recent photo shoot for Harper’s Bazaar in Australia, Kardashian was snapped as held a black cat by the scruff of its neck without supporting it.
Peta is not happy with Kim and the picture because they found it very offensive. The photo agency had to issue a statement on Kim behalf saying she was not mistreating the cat.

http://health.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978185676

Peta is one organization that gets me fired up whenever I hear their name, because the thought of what they do makes me sick.
If Peta is not busy attacking a celebrity, then they will be attacking the food industries like McDonald, Burger King, KFC, and Taco Bell.
The reason why I do not approve of Peta is because I am African girl. So from my point of view, from where I grow up, I have seen many animals killed, used for food and their hide for wears.
The Bible said that God told Adam and Eve to be dominion over all plant and animals, just as to all humans are to do now and forever. So who are we to defy God’s orders? I can understand the fact that Peta wants protect animals people use domestically as pets like dogs, cats, horse, goldfish and dolphins.
Peta is imposing their ideologies on people trying to scare them into vegetarianism and to stop wearing animal furs. They have shown behind the scene clips and videos of the horrific treatments of the animal of all kinds.
Don’t get me wrong, Peta is entitled to do what they feel is right, but they should stop forcing they ideologies on people who don’t like them.
Like Me!

Mystery Character Revised

A poet and an entertainer is what I am.
I teach, write, act, produce, and recording artist. I have achieved Grammy Awards and collected many honorary degrees from across the United States.
I went to high school where I took drama and dance classes. I worked part time outside of school at many different jobs like a cook, cocktail waitress, streetcar conductor, and dancer. I became an unwed mother at sixteen, did drugs which I was not proud of, and moved to Africa for a while. I later, fell in love and married a man, but the marriage didn’t last.
To support my son, I had to take a job as a dancer and from there on I have being successful and started performing all over the United States and Europe.
I have seen sorrow and experienced pain.

I am getting old and wrinkled, because I am 80 years of age but my wisdom makes me feel younger. I am five foot three in height and I have a little white in front of my hair.I am an African-American woman

I inspire people and the media. To me the words are tools. I feel proud of my African heritage for I became assistant administrator of the School of Music and Drama in a University in Ghana. I read and study hard, I sing, dance, and speak five languages: French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and a West African language Fanti. I am a good cook for I also wrote a cook book.
Today I just use my words of poetry as a weapon to heal, entertain and love.

ad problems

so of these ads have typos or has a wrong message to their ads

There is a typo in this newspaper headline. Most of us know this famous Rocker or Rock band’s name is Bon Jovi not Bob Jovi

There something wrong with this advertisment for organ donor. First, the ad seems to encorage people to sign up and go get their organs removed to save lives right away. Secondly,this looks more like an adoption ad poster for gay couples.

What Make It News?

"SeaWorld will keep whale despite trainer's death"

This is a very interesting story with a compelling Headline I choose to write or comment about. It amazes me to learn how a human life can become less important than that of an animal. Here are some excerpts from The Associated Press by Mike Schneider and Tamara Lush

Despite calls to free or destroy the animal, SeaWorld said Thursday it will keep the killer whale that drowned its trainer, but will suspend all orca shows while it decides whether to change the way handlers work with the behemoths.
Dawn Brancheau, a 40-year-old veteran trainer who adored whales, was rubbing Tilikum from a poolside platform when the 22-foot creature grabbed the woman's ponytail in its jaws and pulled her in. Witnesses said the whale played with Brancheau like a toy.
Tompkins defended SeaWorld's use of a whale that had already been blamed in the deaths of two other people.
"We didn't ignore those incidents," Tompkins said. "We work with him very, very carefully. We did not get in the water with this animal like we do with other killer whales because we recognized his potential."


"The show must go on" is what the SeaWorld’s administrators is implying because Shamu or Orca (the name of the killer whale) is known to be a multi- million dollar show, and it cannot be interrupted or stop over the death of an employee. The deaths of two other people in past evidently does not count on how people should trained on how to work with wild animals.
For money to be involved, I know this not a good way of remembering Dawn Brancheau: the trainer killer by the whale. A wild animal will always be a wild despite all attempts humans can do to tame it. Something in a wild animal can snap or they can develop a sudden burst tempter. So whoever is with that animal may experience a tragic moment just like Dawn.

A Fly On The Wall

I am in a room on campus called the “Music Room”. The room is where students came to read and unwind with various genre of music playing in the background.
It is more like a library with a radio studio. The Music Room is located on the top floor of the Student Union.
There are about fifty students in the room. The music room has chairs and tables for reading, eating and playing chess. The room is more like a lounge room with couches and sofas for relaxing, unwinding and sleeping. There are also three private cubicles for students who want study or sleep privately without being bothered.
I see students browsing on their laptops. All students except three have Mac-book laptops.
The other three students are using laptops of other brands like Toshiba, Sony etc.
There is a D.J (Disc Jockey) in a music booth alternating the genre of music played in the Music Room. The music is now reggae playing from the speakers installed into the ceiling walls. There is a picture of an artistically drawn woman on the wall.
A boy is eating a sandwich; a girl with her laptop is watching a TV show named "Top Model” on YouTube and a boy in a black jacket is whispering affectionately into the ear of his girlfriend, who constantly giggles at him. The radio is now playing an R&B (Rhythm and Blues) song from one of my favorite artist named Monica. The song is titled “Do Take It Personal”. I listen to the song and begin to feel at ease.

My Favorite Writing

This is an excerpt from a novel titled “The Undead Next Door” by Kerrelyn Sparks.


Jean-Luc forgot to speculate when his gaze drifted back to the customer and stuck. She is moving into view, and what a view. She had curves. And breast. A derriere a man could grab on to. And mounds of curly auburn hair the fluffed her shoulders. She reminded him of lusty tavern wenches from medieval pubs who laughed heartily and made love with abandon.
Mon Dieu, how he had adored those women. She was like the old movie stars he had loved to design clothes for. Marilyn Monroe, Ava Gardner. His intellect might design clothes for a size zero, but the rest of him yearned for a lusty full-figured woman.


This is a paranormal romance novel or vampire romance novel. Heather is a plus-size, hardworking, single mother and teacher. Her quiet life was forever change when she came across a handsome, famous odd fashion designer named Jean-Luc. Jean-Luc is a vampire. The centuries’ old vampire had a taste for (attracted to) women that are full-figured or plus-size.
This is my favorite writing because Sparks is able to connect with her readers like me; the everyday average woman. She uses reality mixed with fantasy to stomp out the media’s presumption of beauty, which means being skinny or thin is good. Sparks could have easily used the cookie cutter skinny heroine that most romance novelist use but she chose not to; instead our heroine is a beautiful full-figured woman. This proves that plus-size women are also entitled to find love or romance.
Sparks does uses comparisons and imagery of the past and recent centuries on full figured women to relate to her readers.
The readers knew that old movie stars like Marilyn Monroe and Ava Gardner represent plus size women the media portrayed as beautiful women. The lusty tavern wenches, was how Jean-Luc loved his women centuries old and plus sized.