Writing, books, music & life

I started working this specific social network in June of this year & while I never saw myself as a journalist I kept trying to "report news". The truth is that I began to hate where "journalism" was going at an early stage in my life & as I am now working in a book store that is in the heart of one of the absolutely most conservative neighborhoods I have ever known; I see every nightmare about partisan "journalism" coming true. I thought I was going to cry when a customer suggested that we may end up have a book signing by Sarah PalinSarah Palin. I could go on about many of the "conservative people" making money with their books about an economic crisis that they created, but the nice part of that is that at least they are taking the money of people that are fond of them to begin with.

Last week I had the pleasure of learning that one of the Rappers I enjoyed peripherally during the 80s has embarked on career of writing prose as a young man asked me to help him find a book entitled "The Coldest Winter" by Sista Soulja. I remember some of her work during the '80s & remember it being some what political & enjoyed it, I was saddened to see that Rap went a different direction. I will admit I'm no authority of Rap or Hip/Hop, but I have seen some other artists go towards that direction & hope that that will always be an option.

While many of these ideas seem somewhat unrelated, I would like to return to the fact that I was more than a little disappointed by the direction I saw journalism taking many years ago & get back to the fact that I have always enjoyed reading the work of authors that saw the multi faceted world of the human being who was a true individual. People like Mark TwainMark Twain, Damon Runyon, Steinbeck, Jack KerouacJack Kerouac, Helen Keller. Tolstoy and many other wise authors wrote about & brought to us as people that we might meet ourselves. In that spirit, I have spent a lifetime learning about the people in my world & very few of them fit the cookie cutter image people expect us all to fit into in our own lives. I'm currently reading a book written by Cathy Ellerbee who was a real journalist in the '80s & '90s - I got to know of her work on a program called NBC Overnight & loved her. The program was only on for a year & I thought the fact that it got cancelled only proved my opinion of the business of journalism; which boiled down to a line written by Glenn Fry from a song he wrote during the '80s "Is the Head Dead Yet?" As she writes of her of her time with that program she mentions some of her favorite parts of the program & reminded me that one reason I enjoyed the program was because when news happened in another part of the world they would actually play reports created by news people that were in that part of the world when the story happened. I particularly remember many reports they did about Russia where they did use the stories filed by reporters in Russia. It was the first time I had ever gotten to see some kind of news from a point of view other than those of the people in our own country. Sadly as I read the book it becomes evident that while I spent years condemning journalists, they had been spending those same years trying to bring us the stories we wanted only to be shot down by the corporate interests that seem to run everything in our world. Even today, I watch & see journalists trying to bring their stories out only to be cut off @ the knees by the corporate interests that pretend to bring us news.

I hope as some people may begin to read this, that they may begin to understand that real people do exist in this world & we are just as important as many names that will be forgotten through history as eventually no one will care who slept with so and so or what kind of pet some politician may get. I want to believe that some one may care that there is an awesome organization in Houston Texas called "The Orange Show" that was envisioned by a man that believed that oranges were the ultimate fruit & a good reason to dedicate one of the most creative and unusual buildings ever dedicated to art on a small scale to Art in general. I want to believe that some people may care that that organization also inspired a group of art enthusiasts in Houston known as the HOUSTON ART CAR KLUB who ran the very 1st of the Art Car Parades that now seem to spring up all over the world after having been inspired by the original Art Car enthusiasts here in Houston. I have spent many years being inspired & influenced by these people & they have traveled the world to spread their word & art. I also want to believe that some people may care that some of the worlds' most inspiring people are not necessarily those we see on television & in the newspapers. I once met an older man that lived on next to nothing usually living in someone's storage shed while making some cash selling tip sheets @ local horse racing tracks; he may have been one of the wisest men I ever met - but most people just looked at him never seeing anyone but some old dude that they did not want to get near. People called him "Walking Man" because that was his major mode of transportation & he was always nice to everyone, no matter how ugly they were to him. One time he caught me as I was very angry & told me "Don't get mad, because people are like steel, they lose their strength when they lose their temper." To this day I think that may have been one of the shortest, but most important lessons of my life. I want to believe that some of you out there still care about these things & may actually want to share some of the wisdom that tends to get dumped by the corporate interests that run the media world that we live in now.

I guess that my desire to believe there are good people everywhere & life can get better is why I can be a liberal & after having spent most of my childhood & all of my adult life dedicated to those realities that tend to be swept under carpets by conservatives in the political world. I will always believe that there is a lot to learn from the people right in our own back yard & hope that many of you will share your stories & pay a little attention to people like my friend "Walking Man" because they have wisdom way beyond that of the current best selling author who most likely got his spot because he knew the right people @ the right time rather than because he/she wrote prophetic words. Next time you see someone you consider blowing off, consider talking to them & share what you may have learned, thanks for reading this & have a great day, yer pal Mel Bell.