Tears

Tears
By Ruhudeen Ali
June 29th, 2016

Everywhere I look, everywhere I turn

I see our cities burn and my stomach churns

When I see our brothers and sisters die

Suffering oppression, we suffer depression

Hoping for the day we make a positive impression

But that's falling on deaf ears my brethren

Cuz blind eyes turn a blind eye when I cry

But when I die it's only seen by my kind

And our shared struggle

is only shared within our bubble

Trying to juggle our identities, 

figure who's a foe or friend of me 

It's tough, who do we trust?

I'm getting snears on the train and bus

Told to 'go back to my country'

Or face the marines in humvees

pointing RPGs at my family overseas

Or better yet rednecks with tecs in Tennessee 

Cuz back home we're getting blown 

And shown who to fear, explosions on the TV

I swear to God none of these people are remotely like me

Or anyone I've ever known

I only know the kindest souls 

But what they show is the devil's hoe

So hateful that they kill- two, three, four birds with one stone

It's calculated in the code, they wanna see us grow cold

and take up one of our own to perpetuate the ode

That "Muslims are evil" and repeat the cycle

But I'm telling you we can't give in

The devil's trying to win 

violent people's patience is thin

and I'm afraid the tears are just beginning

Dear God we're lost from sinning 

Have Mercy Lord cuz I'm thinking

It's hopeless but I believe in your greatness

Watching your plan unfold is dopeness 

But it's still with tears that I wrote this

So please fix our broken wishes.

Blood

Blood

By Ruhudeen Ali

It's blood for blood 'cuz 

y'see blood only wants more blood 

Can't you see? They want more to bleed, its in their creed

'Attack their seed! Cuz blood won't say 'peace,' 

afterall, they want us deceased

Hot blood murders in cold blood 

murdered for a senseless grudge

When the One up above said 'Love' 

But they killed it, our blood, they spilled it

and now they won't be satisfied until rivers flow

of what used to make us grow

But now, No --- blood will flow

flow in the East, flow in the West

North & South they can't be routed

Voices shouting, touting, while the meek suffer defeat

the future's looking bleak...and so I bleed

cuz bombs and drones kill but make more clones

killing in droves like when Hitler used the stoves

as history repeats itself, or so I'm told

that's how the story goes

And I can only cry because they want our tears too

They want us to fear and when we denounce

they don't even hear nor do they see

remaining calm like the sea 

no longer guarantees safety

our flesh is tasty so they backbite

bigots with bayonets give us bullets and death threats

and pundits with bets on headliners readin' 'Who's next?'

I'm vexed cuz I'm a peace-loving being

and everybody in my community too

but the only priceless blood here I'm seein'

is of a White or a Jew

but our blood and tears are just water

that's why it's the juice of slaughter

its easier to stomp the grapes

like raping our daughters and moms

dropping bombs on St. Johns and Uncle Toms alike

Blood is a savage in the night

Blood loves to fight

Blood loves to lust

Blood hates to rust, and so it flows

as history repeats itself, or so I'm told

and that's how the story goes....

The Martian (2015): Review

THE MARTIAN (2015): REVIEW 

By Ruhudeen Ali

Hello Prisoners! Yes, I haven't posted in over a year. I almost forgot I even had this blog, quite honestly. Sadly, my busy schedule and lifestyle changes have made me forget how fun and therapeutic it is to write. Perhaps I was just waiting for the right occasion; in any case, it feels good to be writing again [enter The Martian.] Rarely do I watch media that elicits strong reactions from me, but after watching this film I had some thoughts and emotions to share.

*SPOILER ALERT* : If you did not watch the film or want anything spoiled for you, please do not read this review. You have been warned.

First off, I want to say that I did, in fact, enjoy this film- despite what may seem to appear. The film was riveting in a magical sense and the wonderment of watching a man survive the impossible was both uplifting/inspirational and at the same time great movie-making. Each obstacle Astronaut Mark Watney encountered was challenging and, by every stretch of the imagination, barely "premise-able" yet it was fun to watch humanity gather in unison, quite nobly, over a one-man rescue mission stranded on a desert planet over 50 - 250 million miles away. This film, in a nutshell, is a great feel-good film that celebrates the best in humanity and optimism, with a sprinkle of humor and adventure.
As a film that is viewed as a piece of fiction and story-telling, it hits all the marks.

However, the problem with this film begins when it purports to be based on realism (vis-a-vis science.) When the film wears the face of NASA and as its premise surmises a man can survive alone on an abandoned planet with dwindling resources for an extended period of time, seemingly immune to harsh terrain, climate, mental and physiological mishaps that occur on planet Earth, for example, are not very plausible. At all. Don't get me wrong, there are mishaps, but they are not insurmountable problems that the luckiest man on Mars (and probably Earth) cannot overcome and figure out thanks to his innate genius and superhuman abilities. If he were wearing a cape or if this were an anime, cartoon or even a puppet show I wouldn't be insulted, but its the fact that the film pitches the notion as semi-plausible that it begins to become an affront to our intelligence and, more importantly, our sensitivities as well.

Matt Damon is the happiest, cockiest stranded Martian I have ever seen. The film rarely allows us to see his vulnerabilities where we want to share our sympathies with him. At one point in the film after his makeshift farm goes to hell I was even saying 'thank you!' to myself that something believable finally happens. If the film had an inkling of realism, the mission would have ended in the first five minutes (oh wait, it did) but then it reignited into a fantasy of scientific masturbation and the underlying belief that we can conquer all - no humility nor acceptance of forces beyond our control. Scene after scene, whether on Mars or on Earth, the odds are always in Mark's favor. As much as I wanted to cheer him on, I got lost somewhere between all the jokes and heroic music, all the improbable resources, top minds collaborating, and common humanity displayed in the film, that I forgot I was watching the exact opposite of what really would happen if this were to happen to a man left-behind on Mars. And this is where the film crawled under my skin and touched a sensitive nerve.

The real planet Earth is plagued by unfathomable human tragedies on mass-scales that tragically get marginal interest and attention, if any at all. As humanity gathered in Times Square, Trafalgar Square and other human epicenters for the crew's triumphant return in the film, I could not help but think about the poor Syrian child refugees washing up on shores, borders being closed on millions of people with no where to go. Palestinians - among other nations- facing genocide and systematic terrorism; the rivers and oceans of blood that have been spilled over stupid wars, politics, ignorance, racism, human-trafficking, and every other ill of human society - the real issues worth addressing and people worth rescuing deserve SO MUCH MORE attention and ironically are so much more tangible and solvable than anything shown in this fictitious film. The fact that everybody came together in this film despite impossible odds to save this man, as if he were a savior of humanity, really upset me as to the actual reality of humanity. The film, shows humanity at its absolute best, but when we walk away from the screen we are reminded again of the harsh reality of life and the tragic true nature of humanity. Perhaps ironically, the film makes us (the viewer) the Martian when it comes to the solvable yet ignored problems of Earthlings. Because either I see Martians in real life ignoring Earthlings in the news or Earthlings turning their back on Martians in the media. In either case, I don't see any attempts to save the real and much more deserving Mark Watneys of this world let alone in another world. The only logical conclusion is that humanity is split between the privileged and the under-privileged and these two are alien to each other. In reality, the Mark Watneys of this world- much closer to home- still die and will continue to while nobody cares, and that's the hard truth.

Presentation/Story: 7/10
Characters: 4/10
Setting: 9/10
Music: 5/10
Value: 2/10
Quirks: 9/10 (+1)


THE GOOD: A story we can all "believe-in" to make ourselves feel better. Good story-telling.
THE BAD: Insults our intelligence and sense of realism.
THE UGLY: Awakens a sadness about the other missions Earthlings ignore that are much more pressing than saving Matt Damon...yet again.


Review: 4.7/10

Update Q2 2014

Hello fellow prisoners! It's been a long time as usual. It's customary for me now to give periodic updates on myself and this blog. I realized its been several months since my last entry and (again) I was gravitating toward musical tracks to explain the emotions I was facing at the time. With some recent changes to my life I've felt disconnected from writing for some time now but lately I've been rediscovering some of my earlier writing and its made me want to share my thoughts again. This is going to be a random (or should I say 'rant 'em') update but here goes....

For starters I forgot how nice it feels to re-open this blog and let my thoughts flow here. Expression is truly what separates us from other people...(well that and a few other things.) Since my last entry I've switched smartphones and now Google owns 90% of my soul (Android-user now.) And oh the loveliness of syncing everything about my life to one company is so convenient and disgusting. I'm waiting for Google Poop to inform me of what I've eaten and break down the ingredients so as to integrate it with my other biometric data it will collect. The future is scary for those who value the vestige word "privacy" in the 21st century. (Btw, yes I'm aware that blogger is owned by Google - I love you guys!) Anyways, the future of control is information. Nothing revolutionary there as its been the practice of every ruling regime since human civilization but there's something more sinister about census 2.0. The age-old census was the way ruling parties collected stats on its citizens and with accurate info they were able to make informed decisions. In today's targeted-everything world, knowing just who we are, what we like (and look like,) how and what we consume will not only result in more security, and by extension more stability for rulers, but more efficient marketing which will result in more money saved by investors and more money spent by consumers. The end-goal is clear: transparency means security and security means stability while transparency also means efficiency and efficiency means good economics. We see that in recent years governments have pushed private Internet companies to share their amassed data for a hefty sum and most companies can't resist the payoff; the few that do face a losing battle in the courts. The giants of our tech age (Google, Facebook, Microsoft, etc.) all provide us with convenience at the expense of our privacy. They make money while the government gets info. It's a win-win formula for them but who loses out?

Not that I'm against transparency all-together but I would rather see a limited-transparency of the Internet, kinda like how I advocate limited nakedness of ugly people on the streets. Cover that shit up please. In the same way, our rights as citizens (if "rights" still have meaning) entail that we have limited privacy. Sensitive information should not be shared with third parties for the sake of making profit and governments/authorities should only have access to that information should they need it, and after due process of law (i.e- seeking warrants.) Like the good ol' days. The government already knows everything it needs to know about everyone so there's nothing to hide from them and that's fine. But what gets me is these private companies that want my data- my location, biometrics, contacts, pictures, files, media, etc. And we give it away willingly via "app permissions" which in-turn make our mobile devices little surveillance appliances in our pockets. I love my phone but its almost got a mind of its own sometimes. Lord knows what app-permissions I signed off on when downloading cool apps. Random third parties now have access to your most sensitive info. That shouldn't be cool with so many people but it is. To me, Internet privacy is akin to wearing clothing; complete anonymity is farce and unsafe but we shouldn't be completely naked in the eyes of private companies either. The government is a separate issue, it will know what it needs to know and we should respect that, but private companies do not need to know that I like the color green and advertise green clothes to me as I walk by a clothing store and yet this is the kind of targeted advertising tech companies are aiming for. Ever wonder why the Internet was never taxed? Well, how else do you give billions of people a platform to willingly share all their private information with the world? Exactly. The Internet is free like a free podium, a free mike-night. Say whatever you want but know that what you say is stored somewhere forever. I know I'm stating the obvious, but it was what was running on my mind (I told you it would be a random rant! ;p) Ay yai yai! I need to get back into my poetry. Prose sucks. Peace prisoners!
-RA


P.S: Shout out to all my dedicated fans who show love by visiting my site. I'm truly touched by all the visits and attention on some of my posts. You guys make it fun and worthwhile to keep writing. I am always sad to leave you guys hanging after long windows of no entries but posting again makes me happy and happy for you all. This is my first post of 2014..wow. Here's to more. Buenos Noches.

FF7: CC OST- "A Flower Blooming in the Slums" (Aeris' theme)