Listening to the Dixie Chicks and Madonna...

Thinking about tons of things since classes & exams have been over...What life will bring after graduation...Will I get hired at Girls, Inc. And if I do, how will that work out w/GEARUP & MBR/C's class & work schedule...And lastly, if I was utterly brainless to even entertain the idea of CP & I getting back together.

For the longest time now, people have asked what would I be doing after graduation. Immediately my reply would include how adamant I am about not returning to Memphis, getting a "real" job and going to graduate school after I take a semester or two off. Here's a thought: Isn't it hilarious how with the onset of graduation (it's only 3 days away), everyone keeps talking about "life after undergraduate" as if life is totally altered somehow once it happens. No real miraculous change will occur...My feet won't get any bigger, my rent won't be lower and I won't get a free, new car. I just won't live my life governed by semesters, at least for a little while.

I was IMing an old friend from high school during the wee hours of this morning & we got to discussing the animated version of the Confederate Flag he has posted as an avatar on FB. It seems that it excited lots of people and he felt the need to offer this rant to clear up his stance on the stupid flag (that what I call it):

So, let me get this straight. The Confederate Flag, which flew only after slavery had long been an institution in the U.S., and which today does not have any significant impact nationally (except when it is brought up in debate) is viewed as a symbol of hatred while the Stars and Stripes, which have been officially flying since 1777, stand tall as a symbol of freedom. There is something very wrong, and ironic, with this picture. I know of late there has been a lot of nostalgia for the American flag. Most of the atrocities committed against blacks have been done while the Stars and Stripes have been flying. I grew up pledging my allegiance to the same flag that flew while my ancestors were being enslaved, hanged, and brutally beaten but now I am told not to sympathize for those people who want to display their heritage by flying the Confederate Flag atop their State Capitol, or anywhere else publicly, because it, stands for slavery. I have no problem with the Confederate flag flying anywhere. As far as I am concerned, it stands for the beginning of the end of slavery. When southern states seceded from the Union and raised the Confederate Flag, it forced the powers that be to finally take a realistic approach at solving a problem that for too long had been ignored. I believe that slavery would have eventually ended but it may have been centuries later (for those of you who think it would have been sooner, remember the 1960's, and that was a hundred years after the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery).

The Confederate Battle Flag today finds itself in the center of much controversy and hoopla going on in several states. The cry to take this flag down is unjustified. It is very important to keep in mind that the Confederate Battle Flag was simply just that. A battle flag. It was never even a National flag, so how could it have flown over a slave nation or represented slavery or racism? This myth is continued by lack of education and ignorance. Those that villify the Confederate Battle Flag are very confused about history and have jumped upon a bandwagon with loose wheels. Dispicable organizations such as the KKK and Aryans have taken a hallowed piece of history, and have plagued good Southern folks and the memories of fine Confederate Soldiers that fought under the flag with their perverse agenda. IN NO WAY does the Confederate Flag represent hate or violence. Heritage groups such as the SCV battle daily the damage done to a proud nation by these hate groups. The SCV denounces all hate groups, and pridefully boast HERITAGE - NOT HATE. Did you know that at KKK rallies US flags actually out number the Confederate battle flags 100 to 1? Did you also know that The US flag flew over a slave nation for over 85 years! Or that the flag actually flown on slave ships was actually the US flag not a Confederate flag? The North tolerated slavery and acknowledged it as a Division Of Labor. The North made a vast fortune on slavery and it's commodities. It wasn't until the South decided to leave the Union that the North objected. The North knew it could not survive without the Southern money. That is the true definition of hypocrisy. But I see no one getting all emotional over a US flag.

I just had to include this in my post. I was telling him that I think the biggest issue about this flag is the disagreement over what the flag symbolizes; for some it is seen as a symbol of regional pride and heritage; for others is serves as a as a symbol of the institution of slavery which the Confederate government defended, or of the Jim Crow laws and the racial segregation it brought in the Southern States for almost a century later. To end this part of our chat, I just let him know that FB wasn't the appropriate forum to blast anyone out about the Confederate flag...