Urban Predators Speak Out

  "X" Mas For Who   Times are rough and it’s getting hard to believe in better days to come. But it’s the end of the year and if but for a moment, time to put all that aside for a new dawn underway! It’s time to pull out that credit card and celebrate: Buy! Wrap and exchange gifts, put on that special attire, gather, eat, drink, and be merry. Really? My! My! How the spirit of Christmas has somehow been compromised into an “X”-Mas-MORE ! Corrupted, exploited, and commercialized into the best month to cash in and exchange debt. And yes! For many it’s still time to visit church and be reminded (for an hour, a day, maybe even a week) of the virgin birth promising a global change of order, direction and command. Still resounding is its call for individual reflection, introspection and choice. But this is the verdict : Light has come into the world, but people have continued to love the opportunities offered by darkness (John 3:19). And it’s ok – it is what it is! It’s already...

  The Jesus Factor  Humanities Map, Legend, And Compass  We’ve all heard of the light ! That enlightening knowledge and understanding of how God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit will converge to give humanity a second shot at a life full of harmonious coexistence free of growing pain and suffering. But the uncertainties of daily life have given rise to a fear of lacking tomorrows wants in ways that justify an unprecedented need for hording greed. Under such external pressures, it’s time to question: How much of that light (e.g. peace, love, and joy) is actually still in you?   Darkness is quickly spreading a blanket of worldwide despair ; humanities intended fruits (e.g. kindness, goodness, gentleness, forbearance and self-control) are becoming but mere shadows as we walk along the corridors between “Once Upon a Time” and “It Is what It Is.” Thus question: How deep is the darkness within you?   Seemingly overwhelmed, we fail to grasp the simplicity of common sense. ...

  What You Gonna Do When They Come For You   The stage is set! Throughout our present human existence, the veils of convenient naiveness and avoidance are being lifted and everyone is starting to see the writing on the wall: We are all treading dangerous waters full of little nipping piranhas , big biting sharks , and while looking up to our global leaders to make the right decisions: Prey ! Innocent bystanders awaiting their fate. Bottom line, the script has been written, the curtain is about to go up and the characters, everyone, is about to play their part. Are you ready?  Are you, behind that identifying social security number, a person or an automaton? An expendable, easily replaced, cog in that self-serving wheel we’ve learned to accept as progress. The guns have been loaded , their chambers have been spun, and the targets have been raised: Utopia (heaven on earth) or Dystopia (hells wrath unleashed).  Last chance to choose! Front and center stage are the ma...

  The Jesus Factor  Split, Splitting and Set Adrift Is it fact, hearsay, or what we’ve been conditioned, manipulated to believe and endorse without considering: What’s the end game? Many are too busy trying to survive. They just want to believe, be consoled, AND OBEY! With all the growing media hype focused on controversies, many are just getting isolated and secretly confused. But some are becoming concerned and beginning to question: Are we alone and left to fend for ourselves ? Yet, some are simply sad and asking each other: What Did You Read? There is an obvious difference between what He said and what they profess he implied! Consider the nature of denominational dogma . They all agree; one god, one son, one spirit, one reference book, and one destination: Life in the hereafter! HERE! AFTER! Would it had said here AND after! Without adherence to what He said, the “ MEANWHILE ” continues to be at the heart of today’s escalating drama. Or should I say “Saga?”  Simpl...

  Dystopia! Alive and Thriving THERE’S NOWHERE LEFT TO RUN! Dystopia (a nightmarish society characterized by widespread oppression and suffering, monitored and controlled by powerful state entities of surveillance) is alive, well, and thriving. Spreading like a cancer, it’s going viral without boundaries. Worse! What available vaccines may come to aid the mounting innocent casualties are buried in a poker game where only the hi-rollers with the deepest pockets and influences have a seat at the table. However, holding all the bank notes, there is one player sitting in the shadows watching and waiting with a trump card well in hand. The question is what will it take for humanities banker to spring back into action? Consensus ! After all, that trump card states “let no believers or innocent bystanders be lost.” How hard can that be? Tear down the dividing walls and come together, in one accord, to give each other the right to agree and disagree with an understanding : We need ...

  Utopia! Let Come or Run Spearheaded by a vision where problems are dialoged and solved in ways for everyone to live in harmony and contentment: A Utopian society , although easily dismissed as idealistic, is a heaven on earth pursuit with social, economic, political, and moral commitments for mutual coexistence. Quite the opposite, spearheaded by the currently viewed potential of inherent unchecked capitalism: A Dystopian society is a nightmarish vision of a society characterized by oppression, control, and widespread suffering under an easily endorsed totalitarian regime where citizens are monitored and controlled by powerful state entities of surveillance. As depicted by the classic literature of George Orwell's “1984” and Aldous Huxley's “Brave New World”; conformity is enforced by suppressing individual thought and freedom of speech with severe restrictions. Lacking guidelines against environmental degradation, even the natural world gets damaged as growing; citiz...

  ELDERS! Targeted! Exploited and Waysided!   Ouch! Shame on us! They worked hard, paid their dues and invested with but one expectation; that they would be respected, accommodated and at least represented. Nothing can be further from the truth. Starting with family members and neighbors to intended social services and local elected officials as far up the chain to include what’s happening on Capitol Hill; the elderly seem to be expendable and left fending for themselves. And yes! If they can’t afford the expense, even the courts of law tend to offer them a deaf ear. In present day, a fast paced, techno, socio-economic setting where it seems people are becoming, or treating each other as little more than commodities to exchange or expendable burdens to exclude: The implications are far more reaching than people are taking time to consider.   But let’s be honest! If you’re not young, pretty, techno savvy and marketable: You’re Invisible ! So just where do you think the...

  July – Dramatic Change Due and Coming Struggling through the anti-social jungle of asphalt and concrete, one can sense the growing helpless, hopeless despair fueling current hidden mistrust and fear of tomorrow unmet wants. Thus, the aftermath of hoarding greed and the self-absorbed need for immediate gratification is not rocket science; it’s simply the inevitable consequences of unchecked economic pursuits turning individuals into lions, tigers, and bears lurking in the shadows for expendable lambs, innocent blood to exploit and sacrificially spill. As being exemplified in Gaza, Ukraine, and Rwanda:   Genocidal acts are flourishing as the spread of capitalist-driven dictatorships endeavor to secure positions within an ever-centralizing global economy. Under such dark circumstances, it’s important to look up to the evening sky where, regardless of the pressing moments of anguish and despair, sprinkled to shine throughout the night, there are STARS! Beacons of light giv...

  What did you Do Whether one believes and accepts it or not; we have been gifted, more so blessed with imbedded talents and skills to achieve and fulfill what many call some preordained destiny. Thus, we each have both the right, and the obligation, to coexist while pursuing that which would provide individual meaning and purpose. The very bible not only instructs us to “Be Fruitful and Multiply” but was referenced when this country’s founding fathers, asserting as self-evident, that all men are created equal, went on to coin the term “Inalienable Rights” to mean God given birthrights assuring “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” for all of earth’s inhabitants: Regardless of what legal guides man may seek to instill thereafter. So important “WAS” the thought that they went on to say, “Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends (as currently being witnessed), it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish” what powers be and “institute a new gov...

  Voices in the Wilderness Fellow artists, blessed and gifted with talents and opportunities to be yet another historic voice in the wilderness crying out for justice to be made manifest; may our weapons of choice be sharpened to be heeded and heart felt. May our work’s, howsoever small but still flickering, become beacons of light against the seemingly growing social darkness gripping so many with feelings of helpless, hopeless despair. May our performing platforms serve as battering rams able to shatter the illusions blinding so many from the truth: We Are One! We are stewards, co-heirs destined to harvest and share what this world, this planet, this society still has the potential to offer and make manifest. For promised better days to come we need just accept that we are the voices, the hands and feet of a cosmic force made manifest thru us, for us, just because – because we’re built for more than present minds and hearts have come to accept. We’ve been granted eyes, ears a...