Big Sole Blog (BSB)

"Don't Let Me Be Understood" by Nina SimoneA little Nina Simone for the new year, 2012. I cannot resolve that we shall overcome all strife, racism, and injustice because no one person can resolve for the whole, but I can pray that we shall overcome.

When I took my family out to breakfast Saturday morning, my son, who should not have been surfing the Net during family time, chuckled loudly while looking at something on his Droid phone. He then showed me the picture of a black man holding up and looking at a bag of Negro, some kind of snack food. I laughed pretty hard, and my daughter laughed as well.The bag clearly had foreign words on it,

I found the video I've posted above at Mashable; it shows a woman being nearly crushed to death as shoppers go wild, knocking down displays and each other at a Wal-Mart in Mesquite, Tex. Similar reports of Black Friday mayhem appeared on CNN's website yesterday, one about a grandfather and a "bloody arrest" at Wal-Mart, and another about a woman pepper spraying people at where? You guessed it!

With this podcast from Ira Glass and company at the public radio show This American Life, I'm simply sharing something I enjoyed. A great listen, including the music from Oceans 12. The show's teaser says:What do you get when you take a P.I. firm, then add in a bunch of sexy soccer moms, official sponsorship from Glock, a lying boss, and delusions of grandeur?Life as fiction.

As I said on Twitter yesterday, "I was in New Jersey when [the] towers came down. I've written about it before. I don't know if I want to again just b/c of [this] 10 year anniversary." I grappled with whether or not to write anything about September 11 a decade later because it took me until 2004, a whole three years after September 11, 2001, to write anything at all about what I felt on that

It used to be that if it sounds too good to be true, then it's probably not true, but today the story opens:If it sounds too good to be true, welcome to the world of penny auctions. It isn't a scam, people actually win, but there are things you should know before you jump in." ... Jonathan Mason from Frankenmuth is the proud owner of a brand new $35K Chevrolet Camaro, and you're not going to

So, Japan has digitized commercial spokespeople and holographic rock stars.CreationBy Nordette N. AdamsThe new world comes at us fast:Unhuman creatures, made to last.Pretty zombies of our minds—not of flesh, born of time—will count our days and nightsas we inject nanobots to spiteour blood. Desperate, we fight Deathor God to overcome the soiled breathwe have called life. Dust mocks us to the

After reading the depressing New York Times article this morning about recent developments in the DSK rape case, I was glad I found this video. It's called the "world's largest flash mob dance video" produced by Eurovision Song Contest 2010, and I really needed to see something to make me feel better about humanity, at least a way to look at the brighter side of the species.However, I don't think

Some people will read this article at The New Republic, "Why Can’t More Poor People Escape Poverty?," and without going very far into have a knee-jerk reaction and reject its information because the article can be misread to say that all poor people lack impulse control. That's not what it's saying, but I know that's what that I thought until I realized I was wrong.What the article is saying is

I just read a provocative article by John Blake at CNN.com, "Actually, that's not in the Bible," and I left a comment, but with 6,200 comments and rising, I doubt he or anyone else will read my thoughts there. (The article's been shared on Facebook nearly 46,000 times already) So, here is what I said:I agree with this article, but have two considerations. I think the saying "This too shall pass"

I saw this segment yesterday on CNN with Alexandra Robbins, author of the new book Why Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth. I used to say regularly to children who complained about not fitting in at school, "Geeks rule the world," and sometimes I'd end up in a debate about the difference between geeks and nerds. If you check Amazon, you'll discover a lot of books have the word "geeks" in the title, but

According to this CNN report, your television may be watching you, sort of, through your cable box: what you watch on TV can give advertisers insight into who you are and what you're likely to buy. Armed with the data collected from viewers' cable boxes about their viewing tastes, an advertiser can send commercials to a television screen customized to the interests of viewers in a specific home

In the video below, Jay Smooth recites excerpts from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" on the topic of extremism. You can read Jay's post at Illdoctrine.com. I listened and thought that we have Talk Like a Pirate day and Talk Like Shakespeare Day. Perhaps we should also have a Speak the Words of MLK Day.

What I miss about driving less is getting lost in a radio show, specifically narratives on NPR via WWNO here in New Orleans. I can't seem to listen to talk or narratives on radio sitting still in my bedroom or living room because my mind starts to travel to all the things I need to do in my house, and if I try to do chores and listen, I don't enjoy the story the way I can in the car.This Saturday

By now you've heard the news that Oprah Winfrey has a half-sister named Patricia. Oprah did not learn of this news until late October of last year, and on Thanksgiving, she and Stedman Graham drove to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to meet Patricia.The talk show host has made it clear that Patricia is the daughter of her mother Vernita Lee and is not the daughter of Oprah's father, Vernon Winfrey. Also,

UPDATE: Fox News reports that Marrero has a criminal record and some speculate that she may have staged her fall to get money. The speculation is understandable, but nevertheless posits a less probable scenario unless Marrero's detractors are saying the security guard was also involved with the staging. If the security guard had not caught the fall on tape, laughed and put it on YouTube, and the

A Brand Named HumanBy Nordette N. AdamsPeople play. See me when you try to care how I see.See you when you stop chasing fame.See me when you learn my nameStop tripping 'cuz I'm deep!Lost to you and the games,I'm deep under midnight in what you call blue funkHowling in my soul's blues trunkafter hanging low to weepSee you when I rise for air.See me.See me when I rise for airafter hanging low to