Lets start to do some of this good ourselves.  I”m not really trying to tell you what to do, I write that down to tell myself.  I have had lofty goals of how I would fight the good fight, I don’t find myself as active as I would like.  Just texted 90999, and put the word Haiti in for the subject, and boom…. $10 of mine goes to bucket.  I”m broke, but  I got ten at times.  So yeah, if your reading, and you have felt a small tug, and the empathy in you needs some short outlet, or great outlet.  Give some loot, those peeps have been on a tough road as is, then some big planet shaking event goes down.

Red Cross Raises $1,000,000+ for Haiti Through Text Message Campaign~ Pretty cool eh?

That was yesterday, as tough as life seems for some of us, there are always greater needs for others.   Go team us.

I’m not really a “in my prayers” kind of fella, but my thoughts go deeply that way.

I know I know, they do it for the lost souls who left the church.  Big come back kinda vibe.  Best of luck to them.

I feel pretty educated, and well… life is good.  But every once in a while, I let the pretty lights effect me, this is one of those pretty lights.

My long ago roomie, and good good friend Tim was in town, we had some house beers, and chatted it up for a while.  He suggested going out for food, and well… we did.  We walked down Chicago Ave, on our to the Highdive, or Cleo’s.  We passed El Taco Veloz, and I made a comment about it being really good, but not as put together as my favorite Mexican food joint up the road a bit further, Tecalitlan.  What does that even mean? better put together?  Whatever, Tim said Veloz looked authentico, and with that word of an old friend, we went in.  I explained that I sometimes go there to brood over a steak after a rough work day, not often, but sometimes.  They have all the pickled goodies on the tables, the vat of sliced carrots, cauliflower, peppers, garlic, and onions.  That alone is a reason to go and eat chips and Salsa.  Here’s the deal.  The food was super amazing, that is not what the coolest thing of the night was.  The best part of our meal there, was between the nice jukebox playing Mexican jams, the TV would blast.  As I sometimes looked up, it was mostly the big breast popping out of the tops of these reporter type women, I don’t speak a lick of the Spanish, so I would just look, and wonder what they were talking about, using the cut away shots to further my investigation.  But eventually I noticed that they were reporting on something special, and before I knew what was what, the President of Mexico was standing on a balcony overlooking a very large square in Mexico City, I only know that because Tim knew the name of the plaza.  He waived the Mexican Flag, and that is when I remembered my buddy Nata telling me that I was Mexican Independence Day at midnight earlier in the day.  I looked at my phone for the time, funny right? what happened to the watch?  It was 11:07 Central, so i’m thinking in Mexico City, it must be midnight, I’ll need to fact check that later, but for now… whateve, Then he walked over to a nicely covered bell, and began to ring it!  Awesome.  I said something to Tim like, “our country is so lame”.  I loved all the midnight celebration.  We do that for new years, sure, but so does everyone.  As the Mexican national anthem played through the TV speakers, I slyly watched the table of 8 near us.   Two women that were maybe in their 30’s were softly mouthing the words of the song.  The couple younger men, watched with importance, and the lone teenage girl looked, and mouthed some of the words.  I couldn’t help but wonder if she was born in Mexico, and left when she was super young, too young to know the words to this song.  Or maybe she was born in the US, and just kinda knew the song from family heritage vibes.  Regardless, it was beautiful.  The very small children while playing and not paying any attention to the TV, were decked out in full on Mexican colors, Even if they didn’t understand, they were taking part.  Yeah, El Taco Veloz, tonight was about more than the food.

I was coming back into Oakland from a supertastical day of walking around San Francisco, Streets, Canyons, Hills, Shops, Hills, Hills, Hills.  Fruit was had, water was drank, and when the call for a real meal hit, we ate at Herbivore on Valencia.  Full on vegan spot, I got the Mac N Cheese, and an Artichoke Soup….. Yeah, it was good, real good, and good for me, but I was thinking about the Spicy Indian Food joint next door during the entire meal, that and the good company I was in.  My legs were literally throbbing from the hiking of the day, and I was super ready to have a low key Saturday night at Alejo and Amber’s house in the Temescal neighborhood of Oakland.  I got off at the Macarthur Bart Station, and walked a couple blocks to Telegraph, took a left, I had only like 8 blocks to walk before I could just chill for the night.  I knew I was in trouble as soon as I took that left because Churches Chicken crept into my thoughts.  I hadn’t been to a Churches since like 1986.  There was one on the corner of Bradley and Prospect in Champaign,  my family lived on Bradley and Mom would often bring home the Churches.  I think I was into the novelty of it at first, but then I realized as I had my hand on the door handle that I was damn hungry.  This is about day eight of a ten day trip, and the prior meals of most of my vacation had consisted of lots of healthy food.  Vita Cafe in Portland was very good, and very Vegan, Even the lightly breaded Oyester from Fishtale in Olympia had a fresca feel to it.  The meals the Alejo prepared in Oakland were beyond yummy, but again with the lightness… I felt more than ready for some Fried Chicken!  I ordered the 4 piece meal, and added a leg to make it a 5 piece dinner.

There was only one other person in the spot, he was an older African American fella rockin a Jamarcus Russell Jersey (#12), Black dickeys, and a Raiders cap.  He was very much enjoying his chicken, I could hear it.  I sad down a couple tables away and began my munch.  We made eye contact and said our “what’s up’s”.  I mentioned that I had Russell early last season as my sleeper quarterback in my chill fantasy league, and he told me that was most likely a mistake, he was right.  Russell had a horrid year, but I still like and root for the guy, he just won’t be on my teams in the future.  He was just coming from a 36-0 preseason Raider game.  I think they played the Saints.  So we talked football between bites, and that turned to me being in from Chicago, and what I was doing in Oakland.  I told him that I was thinking of relocating to the Bay Area, and that I really thought Oakland would be the place for me, and that my dream deal would be for the store I currently work for, to open a spot out there.  He suggested a couple neighborhoods, Merritt Lake area, Temescal, where we were, and he even mentioned the Mission.  Which is kinda funny, because of the areas that I was looking at, that other people had suggested, he was right on.  Might be something to that.  We spoke about working in SF and living in Oakland, something he did.  And how if you do, you might want to drive.  That conversation turned into a conversation about how fucked up it is to have the Bart run 24 hours a day, or at least until like 3am.  He spoke about how it keeps things separated in a way, Race and Class style.  He asked me if I had heard about how the transit cops shot a brotha on the train the last time the Bart ran late, New Years Eve I think he said it was.   The whole thing was caught on tape, Bart security cameras that is, and it shows the guy being restrained, with a cop on top of him, no sign of struggle.  The cop said he was reaching for his tazer and pulled out his gun by mistake, AND FIRED IT!  He said white folks were right out with the black folks when people decided to make some noise in the street.  He like that about Oakland.  He also said Oakland was Wacky.  Hoods, next to little peaceful pockets.   We talked about how the Police suck everywhere, except for the good ones, but we both used the words occupying force.  He asked me if the Windy City was really windy, I told him how that name came from some yellow press shit back in the day, but that yeah, downtown if a canyon of wind, and how the lake is really amazing, but also the reason for such cold actions of winter for us Chicago folk.  I did talk some smack about how the Bears are going to be quite nice this year, and he agreed.  The next thing I new my chicken was gone, and he was still eating.  I think I was hungry, we gave a pound and said our goodbyes.  He said “stay cool in Chicago”, but my favorite thing was when he said, “if you make it out here, I’ll see you around”.  That was some friendly shit, and even if we never see each other again, he is my Churches Chicken Friend.  Why does the Bart Stop so early, is the Bay Area Trying to be like Boston….?   In the way that Boston is LAME!   Come on SF peeps, change that.  The chicken treated me well.  I went back to Alejo and Amber’s place just in time to babysit so they could go out on a date.  I was happy to do so, and the little one stayed asleep the whole time.  I watched 5 episodes of The IT Crowd.  Very funny Brit show. Go Raiders.

Please leave the cubs on your own, please… just do it.

Holy declaration there, or a scramble of words to work around.  Different looks at those words from different people, folks with meandering agendas.  We know we don’t have time for all the divisions, all the barriers of thought wrapped up in clannish phobia.  The water and air, stuff like that… things that we all have and take for granted.  At some time, those things could bought and sold?  The poor get fucked now, the poor most likely will be getting it the same in the future.  No need to take it to the battle point, after the uhm… tipping point thingy.  It feels like grains of sand being tossed into a big bucket, the measurement in my mind sometimes,  when i’m biking the recycling to the blue bins on the way to work.  When you see all the trash in so many of the blocks here in Chicago, the cars that fly by tossing shit out the window, or the cowardly, stoplight, open door, dump ashtry and old frosty cup from Wendy’s onto the road.  Yeah, all of that accumulates inside sometimes, and just makes me want to buy a Muscle Car, and just waste and ride in ignorant bliss.  I won’t.  I did rock a nice vintage car for a sec, it was beyond dope.  Oh well, that was then, and im falling off the course of this writing.  Its not just the ramblings of a blazer patrolman, its noting like that.  It is just the silently typed out loud plea type action.  Lets talk shit to folks who do the little things wrong, try to get the vibe of social planet awareness going.  So yeah, you know were gonna need pretty cool rock poster deal, and some nice cloudy words to work with.  The Incredible Shrinking Lady wasn’t some kind silly movie, it was a sign, a street sign even.  It read, don’t use a bunch of products that are chalked full of chemicals, and I mean… The combining of so many complex agents has to add up to some kind of hot spot happening.  So lets pick up stuff around our houses, or back of the alleys.  Its not your stuff, yeah yeah, just show people around you how to do things.  Most people do this, I know, but some don’t, maybe some of those some will read this and get some kind of click moment.  I have this habit of saying “litter bug”, nice and clear, but in no direction.  Ok in the direction kind of away from the person I see littering.  But they always hear it, and they always look around and at me at some point, but they never say anything.   In one occasion, the person picked up the litter, that felt cool.  So maybe the one chances are what its about.  There is more to do than I can conceive while writing this down.  But the little things that we can almost stumble into doing.  Peep your animals that are not just around you, but that are in the debates of space just outside your cities.  Those animals are surely under attack in some kind of general bad way.  Get all of your….. totally lame no kind of recycling friends, to enjoy drinking more canned beer, and to enjoy giving the cans to the alley dwellin’ folk who dig through all the garbage looking for cans.  While were on that, Its very ok to tell the people who rip through the garbage and spill some out onto the ground while they dig deeper for cans, that your going to always have what cans you have from the household put out in a bag off to the side when there are enough to make it a nice size bag.  That did it for me when I live on Potomac.  Pretty street, nice and tree lined.  The trees reached over the street and touched hands often.  Oh yeah urban ecology.

Animals i’m thinking about right now:

Red Tail Hawk, Crabs, Squid, Ants, Yellow Coated Dogs, Zebras, Ant Eaters, Deer, Fox, Turtles

Iran, right now…. folks are up and at it.  Peacefully gathering with a will to be felt.   And if they are forced upon, it will be justly,  the blow from defense.  I”m not really sure where I was going with that.  Just a fuzzy flow.  Something like the writing gits I would get at the Dancing Goat, OLy way.  Wired from the shots of espresso that I was sipping on for the first times, still a baby my coffee addictions were.  I was on some race, class, and gender overload style writings, trying my best to be a bell hooks.  I think i’m at the goat with this, from the start of Iran, is because of something about a need to smell the moss in moist woody Northwest.  I have a trail in F lot to find, I have to get a piece of chicken at the most silly KFC ever, at the very tip of the Southen most point of Pueget Sound.  Right there next to the salmon ladder, where the harbor seals chill and get full from the high stepping salmon, I have to peep Priest Point Park, walk up to the Mill House, maybe head to Lacy for some Korean bbq.    So yeah, I gots to head that way.  Peter Bohmer might be behind my thoughts on Iran now that I think about it.  I love it.  That dude is a super teach prof fella.  He trusted me to write something called the Free Lunch, if you’ve ever actually had the free lunch program, lunch tickets and all,  you know what i’m saying.   Ok, then…

This Photo above is my brother John.  He is locked up in Vienna Illinois DOC and will be released within a year or so.  My other brother Fahim  (Keith) Helmick is locked up in a federal prison in Terra Haute Indiana.  We try to send them what we can, but they rely on such jobs  that the  article below will shed light on.   Fahim and John both tell my mother and I that this is nothing but slavery.  So be careful, one chunky  drug charge  put on you can make you a slave in the eyes of the law.  Fahim will also be released within a year.  They have both been locked up since late 1997.  You gotta love this country.  (more…)