Genesee County Days

Genesee County Days

Black History Month Celebrated in Flint, Michigan along with Remembering BB Nolden

 bb nolden - Burton View (mihomepaper.com)

Tiny Homes for Veterans becoming a Reality

https://flinttownshipview.mihomepaper.com/pageview/viewer/2024-01-25#page=1 

Click on the link above. You will want to go back to page 1 as it takes you to page 2. Please be patient as I learn more about the technology. You will definitely want to read this article if you are interested in helping veterans in your community.

Is Faith Enough to be Redemptive?

In a world that is unkind to the poverty stricken perhaps my own family could be held up as the object of Hitler's cruel world magnified, emboldened by the existence of Trump, who if he only knew would decry, your family is the surplus robbing us of the benefits that the privilege few may enjoy. Only the privileged should exist as you are the burden on society.

I have never witnessed a crueler time in society, such as, with Netanyahu killing the Palestinians in Gaza when it is a small sect, Hamas, that attacked Israel. I am not dismissing the 4,000 that were killed in Israel; however, I view the response as excessive, 20,000 killed and White Phosphorus being used by Israel to further induce pain.

Trump is much like Netanyahu in being a dictator and let us not forget Putin is in that same category as well as Xi. So, what has all of this to do with my family? Both of my parents had mental illness. All of my brothers have had at least one bout. As for our children, the illness is rampant. Now my little grandson is said to be developmentally delayed. In Trump's world, like Scrooge in Dickens' novella prior to Scrooge's reformation, those that do not contribute to the traditional workforce are expendable and thus forgotten while rendered to a life of poverty.

Is this my plight, no but for an aunt who looked after my welfare. My plea is for not only my family, but for others who are disabled.

How do we value a smile? How do we care for our young? Today, society under the capitalist system does not value our disabled. More than likely, if one is disabled, that person will be rendered to a life of poverty. I want to write a novel on this topic that will be as moving as Charles Dickens' stories, but without all the adjectives.

I have experience with the orphanage for ten years and the fall of orphanages throughout the nation. I need to write the story from a child's perspective. I want to write about the mental institutions and how this is also a failure in society from a teen's perspective to an adult perspective.

I will be visiting these topics in books I hope to write. From time to time, I will update you through my blog.

An opinion on the crisis in Ukraine and Israel

 Reaction to President Biden's Appeal an Opinion

Tonight, I feel compelled to respond to the President's address. First, I will respond to our President's position in Ukraine. I am an ardent supporter of the actions the US is taking to support Ukraine. Putin as a former member of the KGB has continued to take actions to not only suppress his own people, but neighboring countries as well. Putin is a dictator and will hurt anyone who is at odds with him.

I take exception to President Biden's position in Israel. Netanyahu is problematic. He is a dictator and corrupt. I want to make it clear, I do not support Hamas. I believe the Palestinian people deserve to be protected. Some have said Netanyahu by giving 48 hours for the Palestinian people to get out of Gaza was sufficient. Imagine trying to leave in the chaos.

The tragedy of this whole thing is the innocents on both sides. As the daughter of a veteran, I was twelve years old when I went to a Veteran's Hospital and witnessed a young man with no legs and no arms on a gurney without anyone speaking to him.

I would see more in later years, which impacted me greatly. My father was a WWII veteran. I am grateful I never witnessed the atrocities of war that he saw.

As a child, I was shaped by many events including being raised in an orphanage for ten years and tended to by a Roman Catholic order of nuns known as the Daughters of Charity. I was not ready for the world I would come to know having led a sheltered life.

War creates orphans who may become embittered and want to seek revenge. It is for the children that I pray as I am older and have lived a life that though it was filled with strife, I am grateful for where I am in my life now.

I don't have the answers for these conflicts, but I am grateful there are so many people trying to come to solutions, and I believe in the United Nations to help facilitate peace.

Half-staff after 911

 I look at the flag today in front of our federal building and it is September 14, 2023. Our flag is still flying half-staff. Many of the workers have quit from our housing project over the years.

Sadly, someone was stabbed yesterday and is in critical condition. The person stabbed is not memorable as she walks in her own dangerous circle. So no, the flag is not half-staff for her. The flag has been this way since 9-11.

Why is it this person could not be helped? Sadly, I don't know.

I just came to the realization the other day that her attacker asked for ice cream and cake at my birthday party. I didn't know him well, but if he wanted cake and ice cream who was I to tell him no. I had no idea he had a drinking problem and could be dangerous.

A Monologue to be Presented at Open Mic Night at Totem Books in Flint, Michigan, Aug. 26, 2023

 This may bore you, shock you or amuse you, I hope it is the latter.

I lived in Fowlerville, Michigan for a number of years in a handyman special home. You know the kind of places with a stop sign and one stop light and if you blink you miss the village. At any rate, for those number of years we contended with a lot of issues. You may remember the movie, “Money Pit.” One of the first problems was the water line that gave a direct source of water to our crawl space, so much so, it might as well have been a swimming pool. Needless to say, we had to have the water shut-off, fix the problem and turn the water back on.

In the course of that time, I began working at the village offices. I made the mistake of letting the clerk know that our water was shut-off and then turned on again. So why is that important, the Department of Public Works (DPW) Manager also served as the Village Manager. He did not charge us; however, the clerk that I opened my mouth to did charge for the shut-off for services rendered. Oh well, the story goes on.

A new Village Manager was hired, Dan Bishop. He offered to have me be the Assistant Village Manager. The Clerk then made the decision to let me go as I was an, “at will employee.” I discussed the situation with George Tait, a trustee, who thought I should contest the decision. I decided; however, I did not want to work in a hostile work environment.

As it turns out, I was hired by the Fowlerville Schools. Yes, it is a small world as there were times I substituted for my son’s kindergarten class and low and behold, his teacher was the clerk’s daughter. The position worked out well though and I received $5.00 more an hour than when I worked at the Village offices. Sometimes it pays off to keep one’s mouth shut.

Well, turning along in time, the clerk ultimately became the temporary village manager as well as serving as clerk, which became an issue for the Attorney General, Frank Kelly. Remember small worlds, Frank Kelly graduated with my mom from St. Theresa’s in Detroit. Kelly ruled the clerk could not serve in an elected position and a hired position. I am glad I never confronted her myself, and we remained amiable over the years. She was forced to give up the village manager position. 

In the course of all the reminiscing, I nearly forgot to tell you about our resident bats for twenty-two years. The first night we resided in our new home, which was a VA, FHA, HUD home, my ex-husband and I were sleeping in the bed along with our two-year-old in the living room when dashing out from the ceiling light was a bat.

I immediately pulled the covers over myself and our daughter while my ex-husband chased after the bat like Pete Rose hitting a homer or for you younger generation, Miguel Caberra.

For whatever reason, maybe because my ex-husband didn’t know how, we never had an exterminator.

For twenty-two years and after a divorce I contended with bats. My neighbors, who I will call the Handy's, told me about the trick of a tennis racquet where the bats are unable to detect the swing and low and behold… I could probably have volleyed with Venus and Serena Williams as I learned how to nail those things.

For our environmental enthusiasts, know that we had a high number of rabid bats in Livingston County. So much so, that one day I was on a walk with my ex-husband in daylight and a bat leaped from a tree right into my right ear. My ex-husband ran and got a shovel and smacked that thing. 

My neighbor, Mrs. Handy, who was about in her eighties at the time, said I should take it to the health department. Just my luck, the bat had rabies, so I had to take the shots. It was in 2005, and my mother passed away that year.

I will share more of this story when time allows.