Hide Ya Kids, Hide Ya Wife, and Hide Ya Husband!

Okay, hopefully you have not seen this clip I am about to post and more importantly, hopefully you will decide not to read the remainder of this blog, keep your competence, and read someone else's blog. Okay, you've received a fair warning....

NOW, obviously by reading this you've decided to indulge in this nonsense the will follow. Apparently in Hunstville, Alabama a man broke into a family's home attempting to rape a young woman while her children and brother were in the home. Her brother heard her sister yelling and met the intruder who was tussling with his sister and threw him off of her. Here is where the story becomes silly... WAFF News interviewed Kelly and Antoine Dodson (the woman and her brother mentioned above) about the attacker and received their responses. Here is the interview in full.

I'm not sure how, but this interview immediately became a web sensation on Youtube. Friends began sharing the interview with other friends, posting the video on Facebook and other social media outlets. Then the interview took on a whole 'nother spin... it became a song! A group named Auto-tune the News remade the interview into a song with the popular Auto-tune audio processor and it become a monster unto itself! People were downloading the song at insane rates, totalling over 7 million hits on Youtube, and eventually Apple bought the rights to the song and put it on ITunes for everyone to download at a low price of $1.29 (Hint of saracasm here, but can you believe Apple and Steve Jobs decided to purchase this song?? When Steve Jobs gets involved, you know its Official. It's something like the 'Oprah Effect' or when you announce a relationship on Facebook.) Here is the interview-turned-song, or more commonly known as the "Bed Intruder Song."

Granted the interview and song are hilarious!! There is no doubt about that; otherwise, why would over 7 million people visit Youtube to watch the video (please, don't answer)? But the reality is, how completely inane is it that anyone can become a video sensation and receive world-wide fame by acting so foolishly? And beyond that, why do we as a viewing audience feed into these frenzies and then mushroom them until they become some sort of a cult hit? Do you think I'm overexaggerating? Well, Antoine Dodson now his own website called Antoine's World where he allows subscribers ask him questions such as "will you marry me?" (to which he responded "it depends how big the ring is!") and "have you made any money from all of this?" Antoine now finds himself engulfed in 'fame' and participating in several photoshoots, commercials, and radio shows. For what?!?! Lol because you can "Run and tell that! Run and tell that! Hide ya kids, hide ya wife, and hide ya husband..."

Random Thoughts

Children out here dying and all we can think of is how many meals we're eating today,
They're hungry and we move away, tv screen not watching what we don't want seen,
Its the truth of the matter and you can't escape the truth,
Judgement isn't yours nor is it mine so I won't pass until I have no holes in my roof,
Blood diamonds, non-violent crime offenders, and those who don't retain their faith,
I want to discover the world that existed before ours,
See life for what it was...

What do you bring to this life? What do you bring to this Earth? And will it last? You can't take it with you, and the best things in life are forever. Can you fight war? Can you make peace? Do you know the purpose to life? Do you know the truth--and if you don't, do you really want to know? What will you leave for your children? How many times have you consulted someone else for the answers to your questions? Why can't you look within for the truth? Is my truth your truth? I don't believe in absolutes. What about Beauty? What is beautiful to me is unnoticed by you. Don't judge me. Don't judge who I am nor who I will become. I am not for you to judge. I don't care what you think, believe, deplore, ignore, or wish to condemn. Can we co-exist? I pray that we can. I pray that you can find you. And I pray that I soon do the same. I pray that we will see peace one day before there's no planet for us to walk.

I Know You're Tired of Seeing this, BUT.... R.I.P. Michael Jackson

The title of this blog says it all.

For months after his death (and even before we knew he was Really no longer with us), all we heard about on the news, radio, and in print was Michael Jackson's death. It didn't matter what else was going on in the world, the news of his death was the most immediate and urgent news that could be reported on. It didn't matter that the United States was fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It didn't matter that Neda Agha-Soltan and others died fighting for reform in Iran over President Mahmound Ahmadeinejad and the Ayatollah. It didn't matter that we hadn't yet discerned the fate of Laura Ling and Euna Lee as they were sentenced to 12 years hard labor in North Korea. And it certainly didn't matter that Farrah Fawcett passed the same day. As the great philosopher Dave Chappelle once said, "He made Thriller, man... Thriller." So why wouldn't we talk about him--even incessantly?

He is arguably the great musical icon of the past century. Thriller, Billie Jean, Don't Stop Til You Get Enough, Beat It, Bad, Jam, and MANY MORE and you expect people Not to talk about the man? Ha! I say that every year this day, each television station should be required to play one Michael Jackson song or video clip for... the rest of this century. And each radio station should have a few minutes, or an hour, where they pay homage to Michael Jackson. I grew up on this stuff, man! Ha, you probably thought I was going a totally different way with this one, but nope! M.J. is the man and should be commemorated accordingly. However, even I get tired of seeing his face on the television all of the time or hearing how a Jackson family member is going to speak about how much he meant to the family--that is, until I listen to another one of his songs :)

The Student Communications Team can ball!

The other day while having fun at our job with the Student Communications team, Travis Pickens, Robert Collier, Cedric James, TJ Sokale, and myself pondered the idea of playing a game of basketball after we were through with our work. So at 9pm we headed over to the HPC gym for a fun, but competitive game. Little did we know the UT Tyler basketball players (current and former team members) were playing a game on the court. After a while of waiting for our turn to play Robert Collier and Cedric James joined forces with 3 guys from another team to play the winner. Mr. James had a solid game grabbing rebounds and playing tough man to man defense on a guy who called way to many fouls. Mr. Collier also had a very good game making a few jump shots and shutting down the best ball handler on the other team. Unfortunately they lost the game which meant, Hit the Lights...It's Showtime. Mr. Pickens, Sokale, Collier, myself and my friend KJ James (UT Tyler grad student) stepped on to the court ready to dominate. We caught the other team of guard with an early lead set up by good defense and fast break lay-ups. I myself had to guard a former player who had a 5-6 in. height advantage but after trying multiple times to score he realized it was not going to happen in MY HOUSE. Mr. Collier was handling the ball like Hot Sauce, and throwing passes like Magic Johnson from the point guard position. Mr. Pickens was a beast in the paint, during one play in particular a opposing player had a break away and went for a dunk but Mr. Pickens gave a solid attempt at a block which was called a foul by the opposing player. "No easy baskets" said Mr. Pickens about the play. On the offensive side of the ball Mr. Collier was dropping 3's like they were going out of style. While KJ James got into the scoring with some nice lay-ups and post play. Overall the Student Communications make-shift team played a great game and aside from one player on the wannabe WNBA players team they would have won. The opposing team led in the category of fouls called and ultimately the points category as well, 15-14. Unfortunate, but we will live to fight another day.

Travis Heim

Our Trip to Nicaragua: Day One (Ready to Do Work!)

After taking a morning jog around the housing complex in Chinandega, we returned to the Amigos for Christ home ready to packup our luggage and gear and go to work. Just last night we were leaving classes from The University of Texas at Tyler to the local airport to board a plane to Nicaragua. After a layover in Houston, we arrived in the capital city of Managua eight hours later and then rode three hours to where we would spend the night as our driver kept each of us awake, speeding past semi-trucks and swerving in and out of traffic. Little did we know it would be the only night that we would sleep in an actual bed until we checked-in to a hotel on our final night in Nicaragua - four days later.

The house was one of the nicer homes in the complex. There was a steel gate protecting the front of the home from unwelcome guests and a brick wall surrounding the rest of the property. To be sure that intruders would not be able to enter the house, a number broken beer bottles lined the brick along the top of the wall. Inside an atrium shone sunlight into the house and, unfortunately, a lot of heat as well. With no AC, the temperature at night got as low as 80 degrees.

Our guides for the trip seemed friendly as well, though they kept telling us how horrible the work we were about to do was. "Oh my god... I can't believe we're going to Chacraseca" they kept repeating. They complained about how hot it was going to be outside and made note several times that the work was going to be back-breaking. However, we already had something else to look forward to: our group decided that on our day off we were going to climb an active volcano and visit the beach with the time we had left! We talked more as we made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for our lunch about what they do, how long they'd been working in Nicaragua, and projects past volunteers introduced to the local Nicaraguans to benefit their community.

Then we packed all of our clothes in our bags, knowing that we weren't coming back, and loaded onto the bus that would take us to "Hell on Earth." Somehow, we were still excited. Ha! That would soon change...

Our Trip to Nicaragua: a Preface

Although the University is closed this evening due to the weather conditions--and therefore we do not have work tonight--I felt compelled to write a short blog about my trip that begins tomorrow. First, however, I'd like to put everyone on notice: you're reading the blog of a Champion; a UT Tyler Intramural Champion, more specifically. Our team, the Rooster Farmers, (horrible team name, I know, it wasn't my idea) won the intramural basketball championship last night very handedly. While that is not something that is necessarily noteworthy, Cedric James's blog will be. He recorded live video from the game and a few clips from after the game of us talking about who knows what. But he promised me it was pretty funny so I thought I'd put the word out there that he should have an entertaining video blog posting up soon! I'll keep you posted.

Okay, now onto the more important topic. In a recent blog that I wrote entitled "Can a gesture of goodwill have the adverse effect?" I mentioned that I would be traveling to Nicaragua soon and that I would provide you with more details of my trip. As promised, here is more information concerning the details of the trip and the origin of our project: in June 2008 during a meeting with UT Tyler's SIFE (the world's largest student organization) team of 4 students at the time, we discussed ideas that we had on how to impact the lives of others seemingly a world away. We brainstormed several project ideas from AIDS information seminars here in Tyler to inform our students about the epidemic in Africa to microfinance operations that we could begin to loan money to poor citizens in other countries. However, one idea was voted on by our group and stuck: a clean water campaign. Familiar with the enormous problem of the lack of access to clean water in several developing and third world countries, we decided to initiate a project at our university to help out in any way we could.

After months of potential collaborations that would seem to give us hope and then dampen our spirits once we found out that we could not achieve the level of success that we envisioned, we finally found a partnership that allowed us to impact others on a level commensurate to that which we hoped for. The UT Tyler SIFE team raised funds for, and paid for the delivery of, 65 ceramic water filters to be sent to a small village in Nepal which resulted in providing 150 families with clean water. What a difference that must have made for those families who were unable to access clean water before! And what a impression it left on those of us in our student organization to know that we can have such an impact on the lives of others by simply remaining persistent and committed to our cause!

Tomorrow we have yet another opportunity to make a substantial impact on the lives of others in need of assistance through a collaboration with the non-profit Amigos for Christ. Tomorrow at 1pm, 6 members from the UT Tyler SIFE team and the Dean Harold Doty of the College of Business and Technology will fly-out from Tyler to Nicaragua in order to build water distribution systems and dig deep water wells alongside local members of the community. After enduring the annoyances of receiving shots for Hepatitis, Typhoid, Tetanus, and the common flu and taking these odd-tasting, pink Malaria pills that give you whacked-out dreams (no lie), we are ready to embark on our 5-day service trip to Nicaragua. It feels good to know that we will be doing our part to help others, but what feels great is knowing that this project began with us; students that wanted to make a difference. And here we are, about to help in a very minor way, but help nonetheless.

During our trip, Cedric and I plan to take plenty of pictures and record some of our experience on video to share with you once we return back to UT Tyler. I look forward to sharing with you our experience, and I hope that it can provide some inspiration, hope, or tangibility to those who have an idea to help others and are looking for a way to make your idea become a reality.

If you have any questions for me, or if you would like to contact me while I'm in Nicaragua, feel free to leave a message on my Facebook page and I'll get back with you as soon as I'm able to do so. Y'all have a great week and weekend, and I will talk to you next Tuesday!!

The Semester of a Lifetime!!! (Bill Archer Fellowship in D.C.): Part Two

Swanky affairs really aren’t my style. I do like dressing up for certain events though--especially when I can get out on the dance floor and make someone laugh at my indecent dance-offs, or my impersonation of the Carlton. This was the first time that I would attend an event of such high stature.

Just four years ago, this is the event that the “Who’s Who” of Texas politics chose to attend—politicians, businesspersons, and celebrities who wield influence in the political arena. Of course at that time George W. Bush was just re-elected as President of the United States, and the proudest state in the union hosted the event. Still the proudest state, The Texas Inaugural Black Tie & Boots Ball gave the Archers one of the finest nights we encountered in Washington, D.C. Also, this was the night that was going to usher in the era of Change to Washington and end “politics as usual.” While I have not soured on our current president, I am not naïve to the realities of our bitter political climate and many of the same—and even more of worse—problems that existed before he become president still remain today. However, this was an occasion for celebration! And this was evident in the subway rides to and from home (one photo included).

Anyways, I just wanted to share with you a few pictures from that night. Here you go:

This is a picture with U.S. Senator (TX) John Cornyn & his wife, Archer Alum & friend Alina, & me. Doesn't Alina look pretty? She is a wonderful person, too! We were lucky to catch Senator Cornyn during the Ball because everyone was hounding him for a picture. Though we didn’t know it at the time, Archers are afforded an opportunity to have a coffee & brunch-style meeting with both of the senators from the state of Texas, so we met him again later in the semester. There is also a very funny story from this picture.


This photo is of (from left to right) Archer Alum & good friend Jon, Bishop T.D. Jakes of The Potter's House, me, & Alina. Bishop T.D. Jakes serves as a spiritual advisor to President Obama and his weekly sermons attract over 30,000 members to his church in Dallas, TX! And Jon is the friend that I mentioned in a previous blog whom was recently offered acceptance into Harvard Law. I'm still extremely happy for, and proud of, him!

Haha this picture brings back a good memory! On the way home from the Inaugural Ball, we took the subway back to the Capitol. This subway was Packed with happy people and filled with positive energy in anticipation of the Inauguration the following day. People were chanting "O-bam-a! O-bam-a!" and pumping their fists while cheering "Yes We Can! Yes We Can!" In the moment, I erupted into my own rendition of the Martin Luther King Jr. "I Have a Dream" speech tailored to Obama’s presidency. We got a lot of laughs from it.


Just a reminder that applications for the Bill Archer Fellowship for University of Texas at Tyler students are due on February 26, 2010 in UCX206 to Ashley Ward (YOU STILL HAVE TIME!). If you’d like more information on the fellowship, please feel free to contact Ashley Ward or Michael Eidenmuller. You can also leave a comment or message me and I’d be happy to answer any of your questions!

The Bill Archer Fellowship is a wonderful opportunity! Take a look at the website (http://www.archercenter.org/) to see if it is an opportunity that interests you! Also, if you liked that Fresh Prince shout-out earlier in the blog, check out this link. It's from one of the funniest episodes on the show and it's something I like to bust out when I feel like the people are ready... Unfortunately, there's a video somewhere of a friend and me doing it on Facebook. Please, I know you've done it too--don't judge. Anyways, enjoy!

Can a gesture of goodwill have the adverse effect?

I'm still groggy from my nap about an hour ago. I drove about 4 1/2 hours to and from Dallas today. I know that doesn't seem like much, but it took a toll on my body today for some reason; probably because I worked out very late yesterday evening. I went to Dallas in order to get an international passport for a trip to Nicaragua at the end of this month. (You can go to a regional passport agency if you plan to fly out of the country in less than 14 days and still require a passport to due, provided you have the necessary application requirements.)

As a member of the student organization SIFE and our Clean Water Campaign for the Tyler SIFE Team, 6 students and Dean Doty from the College of Business and Technology will be flying to Nicaragua to take part in a service project to build water distribution systems in Managua from February 24 to March 1, 2010. I look forward to telling you more about this exciting project and great student organization, but I just want to express something that bothered me from my trip to Dallas today...

After I walked out of the Dallas Passport Agency, I realized that I had a few minutes to spare before returning to Tyler. Also, I was a little hungry and I needed a few minutes to simply rest before getting back on the road. So what do I see conspicuously plotted on its own island directly across the street from the passport agency? Here's a clue: Its golden arches feeds salty-goodness to nearly 47 million people everyday. McDonald's. What else, right?

I decided that it would be nice to have sit-down to have an ice cream and a small burger before hitting the road again. So I jogged across the street to beat the red hand that tells me I shouldn't be jogging across the street, and I began walking towards the McDonald's. But as I did so, I saw a man sitting on one of the benches in front of the building. His clothing--a worn, plaid t-shirt; a heavy, navy blue hoody with white lining; black and white striped pants that flared out at the bottom; and a dirty, black toboggan that he wore on his head--coupled with his facial features signaled to me that the man was likely homeless. Even though he couldn't have been older than 25 years of age, he had the kind of eyes and rough facial features that told me he has survived through difficult times and he exuded the maturity of an individual that has been forced to come to grips with the world as he knows it.

As I walked toward his direction, I asked "How's it going?" "Good," he replied. "Hey... can you spare some change?" I stopped walking and dug into my left pocket. As I searched through my iPhone headphones, gel pen, and mechanical pencil, I felt some metal loosely jiggling around and heard the clanging of what sounded like some change. After further inspection I found that is was only my keys and apologized to the man. I didn't have any cash either, so I continued to make my way to McDonald's. Seeing me doing so, the man asked "Hey, are you going to McDonald's?" I said "Yea. You want me to get you something?" He acknowledged that he did and after asking if a cheeseburger would work for him I finally made my way into McDonald's.

"Hi! Can I get an ice cream cone, a cheeseburger... umm... a Big N' Tasty aanndd... medium french fries? Thank you!" After 60 seconds, I grabbed the bag of food from the woman behind the counter, thanked her for handing me the salty-goodness, and found a table to sit at. After I took out all of my food, the man I had met outside on the bench came inside in perfect-timing. I handed him the bag with his cheeseburger inside and proceeded to chow down on my meal as he sat at the table across from me and faced my direction. We didn't say much... we didn't say anything really. We just sort of sat there, both of us surveying the room and our surroundings. Toward the end of his meal, he asked "My man... what time do you have?" "2:15," I responded. He crumpled up the cheeseburger wrapper, through it in his bag, and headed back outside.

It was at that time I began to question myself. 'Am I being selfish? I have money; he doesn't. Yet, I am sitting here eating a full-meal when I could only spare this gentleman a $1 burger. And I'm not even that hungry! What if he is?' I decided that I would save some fries for the man so that I could offer them to him after I passed him on the way to my car. I followed the same routine--crumpling my wrapper, throwing it in trash, and heading outside.

As I walked outside, I began doubting my decision. Am I right to offer this man left-over food from my meal? Would that not be offensive? 'Hey, here's some fries that I didn't finish. Do you want my scraps?' I don't want to offend the man, I simply want to make a gesture of goodwill to let him know someone cares and offer him food if he is still hungry, but how will he perceive my actions? Before I could gather my thoughts and come to a conclusion on how I would act, the man said "All right big dog. Take care!" "You too," I replied with the fries still in hand. I walked away even more unsure because of my lack of initiative.

Crossing the street--this time the green man signaling to me that it was okay to do so--I replayed the scene in my head as I focused on the ground beneath my feet. Shaking my head at what just happened, I instinctively turned my head over my left shoulder to catch a final glimpse of the man. He was gone. The 2:20 bus arrived early and was driving off. Man... as simple as this scenario is, my inaction left me with some doubt.

Can a gesture of goodwill have the adverse effect of its purposed intention? Unfortunately, I think I already know the answer...

The Semester of a Lifetime!!! (Bill Archer Fellowship in D.C.)

It took a while to 'hit me.' It usually does take time--most things do in order for me to get truly excited, this was no different. It didn't hit me when my speech communications professor told me of the seemingly unattainable opportunity in his class my sophomore year. It didn't hit me when UT Tyler announced that the selection committee had chosen me and then informed me that I would become 1 of 23 students from the entire University of Texas School System to represent my university in Washington, D.C. for a full-semester. It didn't hit me when I was buying dress shirts and ties for my 35-hour a week internship, or when I was fitting myself in my father's vintage '70s tan pea coat from his days living in South Side Chicago, or even when I was packing all of my newly-purchased clothing and warm winter gear into stuffed, overweight suitcases that ended up costing me $150 extra to travel with on the flight out-of-state. I didn't fully-realize the opportunity that was afforded to me until I actually set foot into my new room for the semester (equipped with a Step Brothers-like bunk bed which was quickly disassembled) inside a three-story house located on Capitol Hill with living arrangments that highly resemebled a season of MTV's Real World. It was at that moment that I thought to myself, 'This is going to be a great semester!' It did not disappoint.

The Bill Archer Fellowship gave me the most rewarding, intellectually-stimulating, and fun semester of my college undergraduate experience! Students live in Washington, D.C. on Capitol Hill for a full-semester, participating in an internship working 32-40 hours per week while taking evening and weekend classes on communication and persuasion, policy-making, and a course focusing on D.C. "Beyond Congress and the White House." The Bill Archer Fellowship seeks highly motivated and accomplished students and rewards them with opportunities to make social and professional contacts, meet prominent and remarkable individuals, and establish friendships that can last a lifetime!

The University of Texas at Tyler is accepting applications for the Bill Archer Fellowship Program. Applications are due Friday, February 26 to Ashley Ward. For more information, contact Ashley Ward at (903)565-5730, email her at award@uttyler.edu, or stop by UCX206 for an information packet. Also, you can email Dr. Eidenmuller at meidenmuller@uttyler.edu.

(Here's a shot of the Capitol at night taken from my first night in Washington, D.C. Walking by it would put many things in perspective for me, and I had the opportunity to do so often because the Capitol is 2 minutes walking-distance from where Archers live for the semester!)

If you'd like, you can feel free to ask me questions about my experience or simply leave a comment and I'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have! I will continue to blog about this wonderful opportunity and share my experiences throughout the month!