deerstalker
https://blacknerdproblems.com/its-never-just-one-bad-day/
Content warning: gun violence.
When Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse came out last year, one of the concepts that it “introduced” was this idea of canon events (introduced insofar as codifying as a narrative storytelling mechanisms within the universe, not so much the concept of a canon event itself). The death of a loved one. The death of a cop figure. Certain fights with certain villains. Universal constants. Things that even across reality were steadfast and true.
And it got me thinking about my canon events. The incidents that shaped me as a person, that ingrained so deep into my being that they became a touchpoint for every action, whether consciously or unconsciously. And specifically, it brought up a particular incident, back in the late 2000’s (by which I mean 2007ish).
It was relayed to me that the boyfriend of my friend thought I was “the type of kid who’d shoot up a school.” This person had never met me before. This person who I would never meet in any capacity. And yet this person somehow managed to lodge a sentence that has been stuck in the back of my skull cap for several years to come.
You know the stereotypes I’m sure. The quiet, unassuming kid. Kept to himself. We talked about it in media all the time back then. It’s Pearl Jam’s Jeremy, a blending of a suicide and school shooting. It’s Warren from Empire Records in the final act. It’s Jimmy in one of the heavier episodes of Static Shock. It’s Jonathan in Buffy the Vampire Slayer in Earshot.
It was a time where we lived in the shadow of Columbine and Virginia Tech. Or rather the immediate shadow of Columbine and Virginia Tech. Twenty-five years later, we are still living in the shadow of Columbine. Fourteen years, still haunted by Virginia Tech. And those are just the two that happened to happen in April and the two that got me thinking about that single sentence fragment.
“The type of kid who’d shoot up a school.”
And somehow, the worst part of all of this is not the fact that it was said to me, but that it was said so casually and also by more than one person throughout the years.
I am in fact an introvert. I get overwhelmed by crowds of people, and I know that I am not inclined to violence, but not everyone knows me and nor do I expect everyone to know me, but that assumption is a wild one. The image painted, a terrifying one.
Hearing this dark future projection changed something in me. It did not break me, it steeled me in a way. I fashioned a resolve, a determination. I’m going to be undeniably better than the shadowy outline you see of me. I’m going to rise above this nonsense accusation. I’m going to be a better person out of sheer spite that someone would ever say that to me.
Now the public image of a shooter has certainly changed over the years. The conversation has become intertwined with talks of mental health. And I remember that shift well. I remember going to a 3AM showing of The Dark Knight Rises, getting home at 6AM, and then waking up a couple hours later to see that there was a shooting in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. Claims of being “The Joker.”
In 1988, Alan Moore penned The Killing Joke, one of the most iconic Batman stories for better or for worse, that detailed the sequences of events that broke the man who became the Joker. It was just one bad day. And maybe that is true in the world of comic books, where everything is in a heightened state of everything, where your name has an undue influence on whether you end up a villain or a hero.
But it’s just never one bad day. I can’t believe that a person can break that easily. Although, I can believe that the actions taken on a day can have a ripple effect. I can believe the actions have consequences that are permanent and heartbreaking. And I choose to believe that we can still choose to be better even when faced with horrors, both internal and external.
The mass shooting is both a trope and a dark reality we still reckon with. It’s the school shooting in the season 1 finale of The OA. It’s every cop and other type procedural as a kid or adult rages against a system, or a group, or an individual. It’s incels and MRAs and anti-establishment types.
It’s the news headlines. It’s the perpetrated violence of bullying. It’s the misconception that all of this could be mitigated with one good person at the right place at the right time with the right tool (in some cases, a gun. In some cases, proper deescalation training). It’s the sadness of knowing someone thinks you could be something awful. It’s the grit of trying to prove them wrong even though they never met you…and probably never will.
I have a bookmark buried somewhere with a quote from Edith Wharton: “There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” And most days, I chose to be a beacon, a lighthouse, a stalwart source of maybe a foolish ideology that ‘it didn’t have to be like this.’ But there are also days where I choose conflagration, a cacophony of “how dare you place me anywhere in the vicinity of those people” and “what possessed you to say such a terrible thing to a person.”
When people think of that “that type of person” it has changed in some ways and in some ways it hasn’t at all. I can’t speak to the conditions of what it takes to break bad. I can only say that back in the late 2000s, someone said something so cruel and so callous that I haven’t forgotten and have made it a point to be a better person to spite them, specifically.
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The post It’s Never Just One Bad Day appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
Content warning: gun violence.
When Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse came out last year, one of the concepts that it “introduced” was this idea of canon events (introduced insofar as codifying as a narrative storytelling mechanisms within the universe, not so much the concept of a canon event itself). The death of a loved one. The death of a cop figure. Certain fights with certain villains. Universal constants. Things that even across reality were steadfast and true.
And it got me thinking about my canon events. The incidents that shaped me as a person, that ingrained so deep into my being that they became a touchpoint for every action, whether consciously or unconsciously. And specifically, it brought up a particular incident, back in the late 2000’s (by which I mean 2007ish).
It was relayed to me that the boyfriend of my friend thought I was “the type of kid who’d shoot up a school.” This person had never met me before. This person who I would never meet in any capacity. And yet this person somehow managed to lodge a sentence that has been stuck in the back of my skull cap for several years to come.
You know the stereotypes I’m sure. The quiet, unassuming kid. Kept to himself. We talked about it in media all the time back then. It’s Pearl Jam’s Jeremy, a blending of a suicide and school shooting. It’s Warren from Empire Records in the final act. It’s Jimmy in one of the heavier episodes of Static Shock. It’s Jonathan in Buffy the Vampire Slayer in Earshot.
It was a time where we lived in the shadow of Columbine and Virginia Tech. Or rather the immediate shadow of Columbine and Virginia Tech. Twenty-five years later, we are still living in the shadow of Columbine. Fourteen years, still haunted by Virginia Tech. And those are just the two that happened to happen in April and the two that got me thinking about that single sentence fragment.
“The type of kid who’d shoot up a school.”
And somehow, the worst part of all of this is not the fact that it was said to me, but that it was said so casually and also by more than one person throughout the years.
I am in fact an introvert. I get overwhelmed by crowds of people, and I know that I am not inclined to violence, but not everyone knows me and nor do I expect everyone to know me, but that assumption is a wild one. The image painted, a terrifying one.
Hearing this dark future projection changed something in me. It did not break me, it steeled me in a way. I fashioned a resolve, a determination. I’m going to be undeniably better than the shadowy outline you see of me. I’m going to rise above this nonsense accusation. I’m going to be a better person out of sheer spite that someone would ever say that to me.
Now the public image of a shooter has certainly changed over the years. The conversation has become intertwined with talks of mental health. And I remember that shift well. I remember going to a 3AM showing of The Dark Knight Rises, getting home at 6AM, and then waking up a couple hours later to see that there was a shooting in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. Claims of being “The Joker.”
In 1988, Alan Moore penned The Killing Joke, one of the most iconic Batman stories for better or for worse, that detailed the sequences of events that broke the man who became the Joker. It was just one bad day. And maybe that is true in the world of comic books, where everything is in a heightened state of everything, where your name has an undue influence on whether you end up a villain or a hero.
But it’s just never one bad day. I can’t believe that a person can break that easily. Although, I can believe that the actions taken on a day can have a ripple effect. I can believe the actions have consequences that are permanent and heartbreaking. And I choose to believe that we can still choose to be better even when faced with horrors, both internal and external.
The mass shooting is both a trope and a dark reality we still reckon with. It’s the school shooting in the season 1 finale of The OA. It’s every cop and other type procedural as a kid or adult rages against a system, or a group, or an individual. It’s incels and MRAs and anti-establishment types.
It’s the news headlines. It’s the perpetrated violence of bullying. It’s the misconception that all of this could be mitigated with one good person at the right place at the right time with the right tool (in some cases, a gun. In some cases, proper deescalation training). It’s the sadness of knowing someone thinks you could be something awful. It’s the grit of trying to prove them wrong even though they never met you…and probably never will.
I have a bookmark buried somewhere with a quote from Edith Wharton: “There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” And most days, I chose to be a beacon, a lighthouse, a stalwart source of maybe a foolish ideology that ‘it didn’t have to be like this.’ But there are also days where I choose conflagration, a cacophony of “how dare you place me anywhere in the vicinity of those people” and “what possessed you to say such a terrible thing to a person.”
When people think of that “that type of person” it has changed in some ways and in some ways it hasn’t at all. I can’t speak to the conditions of what it takes to break bad. I can only say that back in the late 2000s, someone said something so cruel and so callous that I haven’t forgotten and have made it a point to be a better person to spite them, specifically.
Want to get Black Nerd Problems updates sent directly to you? Sign up here! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram!
The post It’s Never Just One Bad Day appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
Lama Rod Owens, a 44-year-old Black Buddhist educated at the Harvard School of Divinity, blends teachings from Buddhism and Judeo-Christian religions to nurture what he terms “New Saints” among his students. Raised in the Black Baptist and Methodist traditions, Owens departed due to unwelcoming attitudes toward gender and sexuality, seeking personal religious autonomy and a more inclusive spiritual path.
As the Associated Press reports, Owens credits much of his spirituality to his mother, Rev. Wendy Owens, whose path as a United Methodist minister inspired his spiritual journey. “Like a lot of Black women, she embodied wisdom and resiliency and vision.” Owens told the outlet, “She taught me how to work. And she taught me how to change because I saw her changing,” he shared.
After graduating from Berry College, a non-denominational Christian school, Owens redoubled his commitment to service, which he told the AP was his new religion. Owens trained as an advocate for sexual assault survivors and also volunteered for projects focusing on HIV/AIDS education, homelessness, teenage pregnancy, and substance abuse. “Even though I wasn’t doing this theology anymore, what I was definitely doing was following the path of Jesus: feeding people, sheltering people,” Owens told the AP.
Shortly after graduating from Berry College, Owens joined Haley House, located in Boston, where he would meet people from all walks of faith: Christianity, Buddhism, Wicca, Islam, and even Monasticism. He credits a friend who gave him a copy of “Cave in the Snow,” written by Vicki McKenzie, which tells the story of Tibetan Buddhist nun Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo’s search for enlightenment that set Owens on his spiritual path.
— Lama Rod Owens (@LamaRod1) February 17, 2024
“When I started exploring Buddhism, I never thought, ’Oh, Black people don’t do this, or maybe this is in conflict with my Christian upbringing,’” Owens said. “What I thought was: ’Here’s something that can help me to suffer less… I was only interested in how to reduce harm against myself and others.”
His exposure to various religions only deepened at Harvard Divinity School, where Owens met a member of the Satanist faith. According to La Carmina, the author of the “Little Book of Satanism,” despite the moniker, most Satanists are non-theists.
“There are many different kinds of Satanists, but most don’t actually believe in Satan and don’t worship him as either a god or as a force of evil. For the most part, Satanists are non-theists and view Satanism as a personal liberation from traditional theistic beliefs.” La Carmina told Columbia Magazine. “We value nonconformity and revolt against the ideas of superstition and arbitrary authority. Modern Satanists are nonviolent and interested in the pursuit of reason, justice, and truth.”
Owens has gone from “breaking up with God” in college to reconciling with God and refining his image of God, as he told the AP, “God isn’t some old man sitting on a throne in the clouds, who’s, like, very temperamental. God is space and emptiness and energy. God is always this experience, inviting us back through our most divine, sacred souls. God is love.”
Owens continues to find inspiration from figures as varied as James Baldwin, Harriet Tubman, Alvin Ailey, Andre Leon Talley, Toni Morrison, Tony Kushner, and Beyoncé. This wide-ranging group of influences motivates him to continue to be fluid, as he told the AP, “I want people to feel the same way when they experience something that I talk about or write about.”
Owens added, “That’s part of the work of the artist — to help us to feel and to not be afraid to feel. To help us dream differently, inspire us and shake us out of our rigidity to get more fluid.”
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Delaware Public Media By Melissa Noel ·Updated April 22, 2024
A tragic shooting incident at Delaware State University has left the campus community in mourning. Camay Mitchell DeSilva, an 18-year-old from Wilmington, Delaware, lost her life after sustaining a gunshot wound to her upper body on Sunday. Despite efforts to treat her injuries, she passed away at a local hospital.
The HBCU campus remained closed on Monday, and counseling services are being provided to support students and staff. Authorities are actively investigating the incident.
A news release from the Dover Police Department reports that shots were fired in the area of Warren-Franklin Hall shortly before 2 a.m. on Sunday. According to the university’s website, Warren-Franklin is a primary campus residence hall housing more than 300 first-year students.
“At this time, no suspect description is available,” police said in the release. Both university police and Dover police are investigating the incident. The shooting, which occurred in a residence hall, has prompted increased police patrols on campus as both university police and Dover police work to gather information and identify suspects.
DeSilva was not registered as a student at Delaware State University but was said to be visiting the campus at the time of the incident. As investigations continue, authorities urge anyone with information about the shooting to come forward and assist in the ongoing efforts to aprehend the suspect.
TOPICS: HBCU shooting deathThe post Delaware State University Cancels Classes As Police Search For Suspect That Shot And Killed 18-Year-Old appeared first on Essence.
The 1960s was a wild time for Black folks in the US. While the needle was starting to bend toward justice and equality in courtrooms across the country, that progress was paid for with the lives of many. History always recalls Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated four years apart and in the wake of the passing of the Voting Rights Act. These United States were anything but, with racist segregationists beefing on all fronts to keep things separate. During this tumultuous cultural upheaval, a teacher living in suburban Los Angeles writes a letter to one Mr. Charles Schultz. She suggested Schultz add a Black character to his hit comic Peanuts to address the tension subtly. Comic strips were forever changed as Franklin Armstrong entered the funny pages on July 29th, 1968.
After many more ‘firsts’ but not much justice, Apple TV+ debuts a short film that provides the first-ever filling out of Franklin’s character. Ever. Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin marks the only time we learn anything about this character in their sixty-year publication history. The short wastes no time putting viewers squarely into Franklin’s shoes (voiced by Caleb Bellavance) and looking at the world through his eyes.
Franklin has been Black in a white town for sixty years and has never uttered a Black word. Right out the gate, we learn that Franklin comes from a military family that moves so often he has grown accustomed to living out of a suitcase. So accustomed to living out of a suitcase that he rarely unpacks it. It’s here, early on in the story that we are shown the core of this story, the adaptive capability of Black resilience. The moment Franklin moves into this new town, he makes a mental note about the lack of diversity, and we are treated to a slew of childish microaggressions (entirely from Lucy). It was like experiencing a condensed microcosm of what Franklin’s life would have been had he existed as a real Black boy in the 60s.
Hijinks ensue as the kids ramp up to a soapbox derby, but the film’s most impactful moments are the simple, cultural expositions. Charlie Brown and Franklin pair up for the derby and are in the Armstrong garage where a conversation around music sparks up. Franklin shows Charlie some of his favorite vinyls. James Brown and John Coltrane (his fave!) have now entered the chat in the Peanuts universe. Just like that, Black history is intertwined with the mainstream 60s zeitgeist. Do you remember the amorphous ‘womp-womp-womp’ sound associated with adult speech in Peanuts? Well, Franklins’ folks have a slightly different, deeper horn to display their speech pattern. More jazzy. But it’s those little changes that bring the fact that Franklin is different from the rest of the cast but still just a kid making his way.
Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin is a wholesome and well-designed short film that centers the celebration of our differences by focusing on the moments we all share. As we fall headfirst into an election year that looks to split the country into more and more pieces, I’m glad Charles Schultz left us with a piece of this allyship behind. Even a few of Schultz’s friends make up the writing and producing team. You can find Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin on Apple TV+.
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