I’m not ready to let this journal end, at least not yet. But more importantly
and more for you to understand, this is my reach from a place here in fact,
I have either been held captive or been set free.

In part, my efforts are to explain ideas and thoughts and with hopes
to create a vision or something you can touch or hold and understand, I began
this journey to write my way into your heart and mind,
to help me understand life and, along the way, I hope to help people understand life,
which is currently going on, all around us.

Can’t you see it?
It’s right outside our door . . .
Life ~

(Written respectfully for the McGinley Family)

Thank you for teaching me –

I come from this. I am this and because I am,
I want to be this
especially to the best of my ability because
behold the worker,
the doer, the prime mover of the world
the one who aches and hurts yet
regardless of time or the weight upon their shoulders
because of them,
the gears of this world still turn because, in fact,
it’s us, the breed of us,
the workers and the working-class
who turn the wheels
and make this factory go round

I want to be this –

I would like to begin this with my hat in hand,
humble as I can be and with all I have,
I want to thank the artists who’ve taught me
inspired me, opened my eyes
to allow me the understanding
that it’s alright for me to be who I am
and that in my form
I do not have to adhere to anyone’s expectations,
except for mine.

I am not alone
but . . .
it has taken my a long time to understand
what it means to stand by myself

Be advised,
your words have more power than you think.
Be aware that you have more might
than you believe you possess,
and in your stance to fight back,
the remedies to your weakness are as follows:
if your will and intent can outweigh your fears and intimidations
you can withstand and endure anything.

You just have to keep this alive.
You have to keep this in mind because
I’m not going to lie, sometimes,
the fight is bigger than you think.
But that doesn’t mean
the fight’s not worthwhile –
because trust me
It is!

It was not the first time I had ever walked through electric doors
and motorized gates that shut with a loud slam
that sounded like a loud exclamation point,
which exclaimed about the absence of freedom.
Also, it was not the first time that I was escorted
or led through a hallway yet this time,
everything was different.

This time, I was walking through the hallways
and moving through the corridors to a specific wing
and led to a place in a correctional facility
as a specialist and/or quite possibly
a professional.

Let the drums beat.
Let the rage come out.
Let the music take over
and let the foot hit the pedal
so you can drive off
as fast as you can
and just go.

Let the sun come up.
Let the road be empty
and the mind go clear.
Let it go
Whatever “it” is
Or whatever this means to you –
let it happen.

What does it mean to be a pioneer?
What does it mean to be the first of your kind
to lead without being led
or to step away from the predictions that tell you,
“You can’t do it,”
yet when you go ahead and do it anyway –
See?

So then,
what does it take to defy the odds
or turn off the volume
on the voices that speak against you?

It is quiet now. Then again, of course it is –
quiet, I mean
The sun is up. It’s Sunday.
I can see the sunlight passing through the trees
and everything else is silent, like it’s supposed to be
I suppose . . .

What I do now and what I say here,
of course, I hope this is something
that we can keep here,
just between us – but,
here’s the trip –

I remember seeing a picture –
maybe we spoke about this
or maybe we didn’t;
however,
I think the relevance of this picture is true to life.

I think that the picture is brilliant –
no wait, the picture is powerful
and the reason why is the picture
is called
The Power of Stepping Away.

We have entered into these negotiations for life
with the best intentions. We are here to negotiate
the terms of our next chapter and
therefore, going forward,
we have to come to a clear agreement
and therefore collectively,
we have to come to a decision
that from this moment onward,
whether our motivation changes or our levels of discipline
whither or vanish;
whatever we choose to agree upon at this point,
we have to be sure of all we agree upon.