Man Lost in Missippi

Roger Kenneth Wilson is missing, most likely somewhere in Missippi or Tennesee but Louisiana, Western Georgia and Alabama are possibilities as well. He was last seen in Memphis, TN, and is not at any mission or jail. Picture used with permission of Holly Brooks of Southaven, MS, who is searching very actively for this man. He was said to be 6'2" and extremely skinny at the time he was last seen, and the hair he had left was borderline red/auburn. He does know how to live in the woods. He had been driven away from his family but his family is now concerned for his safety and well-being. He has depression and severe drug issues. Hollys Facebook here and online search group here.

Roger Kenneth Wilson is the loved stepfather of a Missippi woman with great faith and joy in her heart. Holly loves him for what he once was. Now, however, drugs have taken their toll on the man. He was driven away from her for putting her children through serious issues that I will not specify and only Holly should ever tell, then he found another relative, who also drove him away, and so it went.

Today, Holly knows that he has done many bad things, that "drugs won the war." It was the drugs, and not him, but questions of what is and is not us are all in gray for good reason. Somehow, there is a distinction between what we are and aren't, but there is also what we are becoming.

Holly was motivated to find her father after a homeless man was found dead near where she lived. They checked out the body, and it was not him, but we don't know how much longer this man has, if any time at all, for death in the ordinary sense is not the only danger he faces. He also faces the retrorevision of his own soul.

Sometimes we need to be there for people, and we need to get involved, and sometimes we don't, but it is never true that we are islands. No matter how irrelevant or small you may feel, the reality is that your actions have an effect on others, and through that effect on others, the actions of others. An atomic bomb operates by a single atom, a particle too small to even be imagined, being smashed with a neutron, even smaller, and emitting two neutrons to smash others, eventually working to one of the greatest explosions the world will ever see. One will never see the atoms, but one will see the mushroom cloud.

We ask for your kindness in helping to find this man, and reunite him with his loved ones, before the war with drugs becomes a little more won then it already is. Please contact Holly (links above) with any information you may have.

African America

A montage of 9 great African Americans by Therock, public domain by composition of original photos

I love this country, and I wonder how much of the country I love was really made by these wonderful people.

They dwell in the Inner Cities of all 50 States and the rural lands of the South. They have a distinctive accent, distinctive cooking, distinctive arts and music, distinctive ways of looking at people, and a history different from any other group of people, both immigrant and native, in this country. They don't know exactly where they came from, and their exact ancestors, having had their geneology erased by the net, but they know the basic idea, and what the ship captains wrote over the blurry half-erased pencil. They have been mistreated, abused, and hurt, and yet, many of their light still shines from every corner of the continent.

When they were finally allowed in to the cities, the cities collapsed. People see them as a threat, see them as hostile, dangerous, and yet, some of the kindest most wonderful people I've ever known have been African Americans. Some people see them as ignorant, and yet I've seen them far better informed about the things a citizen in a democracy needs to understand (elected officials, movements, parties and factions...) then those who silently hold such views. Their view of business, government and other people is very realistic. They do not have the luxury of idealism or happy ignorance. But when it comes to faith and the church, these Christians are filled with more hope and wonder then anyone else alive at the promise and majesty of our beautiful God. They are liberal, often seeing the free-market economy as cruel and corrupt, and those who support it even worse, and yet they value family more then almost anyone.

During the dark days of Jim Crow, these "victims" used radio, starting with WERD Radio here in Atlanta from 1949 to 1968, the church and the neighborhood organized from jazz bars and dance halls and hangouts of every kind to "fight" for their freedom. They wouldn't settle for anything less then "this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'" (Martin Luther King Jr, I have a Dream speech.) I've heard that when Elvis first started to perform, people called his songs "nigger music." That music is now called ROCK! And I'm sure they had colorful names for Blues, Ragtime and Jazz at one time too.

White europeans who come to this country often can't understand America. They see it as hostile, threatening, out of control, ignorant, stupid, violent, cheesy and sleazy, a nation of criminals, weirdos, obssessive fools and religious fanatics. White people in this country stereotype Blacks the same way sometimes; the irony of the similarity makes me wonder how much of what makes America a distinctive nation, a distinctive culture, a unique place with unique ideas comes from these people.

MLK and what being a Christian really means

Image by Andre Engels, cc 2.0 generic.

Did you know he was a Reverand?

He was brought up in a family of ministers, to be a minister. He graduated from high school when he was 15, then graduated from a prestigious black university, downtown Atlanta's own Morehouse College, from which he went to a white seminary in Representative Murtha's Rednecksylvania, Crozier, and became senior class president. It was now clear what God had made him for in this life, and he seemingly took note. Earning a fellowship, he enrolled in graduate studies at Boston College, and after becoming the Reverand of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in that hang out of the old Southern rich known as Montgomery, Alabama, he went on to become the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. More can be found on his life here.

The reason I'm thinking about this is yesterday I read a little on Nero Ceasar. Large sections of Rome burned down, and no one knew whether it was accident or arson. A group of Christians confessed to have committed arson, but this confession was likely extracted by torture. They were hated group in society, and they were rounded up, at first for the arson, and later just for some kind of hate. They were put in animal skins and torn to death by dogs, burned alive to keep the city illuminated at night, and, like their Lord and Savior, crucified. They were hated for the "abomination" of believing different in Rome, which historian Tacitus described, in Annals XV, as: "where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular."

Martin Luther King was killed, by a gunman, for the abomination of believing in human decency and respect, for "one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers." ("I have a dream" Speech) For merely asking, in his I Have a Dream Speech, for America to fulfill its own promise, its own principle. He wasn't asking even for an alteration of the nation, but merely for it to genuinely fulfill what it is, to not allow its soul to be devoured whole by the flames of hate!

This was not the first time he had been persecuted. In Birmingham, King had protested non-violently, in the greatest traditions of Apostolic (pre-Catholic) Christianity, just as Saint Paul and Saint Peter had so many years ago. He did not tear apart city and civilization, but even as the firehoses inflicted much pain and panic, and dehumaized him and his followers, they, in the model of his leadership, stood for love and decency that they would never receive. Likewise, the Christians, through their conduct in Rome, proved that they could not have possibly done what they were accused of, just as MLK proved, through his conduct, that he would not have destroyed the South.

In fact, I'd go so far as to suggest that his killer may have destroyed the South by doing away with the one person who seemed to know what he was doing. As such, I accept the hard ship that Georgia and Atlanta have been through, in crime, in poverty, in humiliation, with despair, but knowing that it is a righteous judgement by God for righteous blood, shed by the hands of hate. "'VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,' says the Lord. 'BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.'" (Romans 12: 19-20, NASB) For it is often through the very consequences of our actions that the Lord judges.

Of course, for King, justice did not mean punishing the wicked, did not mean inflicting hate and pain in repayment or retribution, I'm not even sure Malcolm X believed in that, but the correction of behavior, the righting of wrongs, the establishment of good. Or as Paul puts it in the very line after the one I quoted: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. " (Romans 12 : 21, NASB)

MLK was a Reverand, and used the church to advance an agenda of hope, faith, and love, as it was made to advance. The Southern Christians Leaders Conference helped organize every one of Kings rally's, and gave him a powerful platform from which to speak on humanity. He saw how powerful the wretched KKK was in the South, and he found the organization, the church, that footwashing Baptist southerners love far more. And through the church, love conquered hatred, civility conquered tyranny, and respect conquered fear.

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5: 43-48, NIV)

MLK was a true martyr of Christ, and it's too bad we don't have more extremists of this type, extremists of love, extremists of decency, extremists of faith. How extreme? Extreme enough to allow himself to be killed for people who didn't even deserve his company. Extreme enough to grant respect that would never be returned. That's the kind of extremism we need today in this world. The extremism to never let yourself be the darkness, no we're too extreme for that, but to be the light that overcomes it, speaking loud, speaking true, but above all, speaking with love.

Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, MLK's Church, in Montgomery, Alabama. Image Public Domain by Altairisfar (wikimedia user)

Update 2/11/09: Representative Murtha, of "Rednecksylvania," has passed away recently due to complications from a routine surgery. We hope God is with his family during this difficult time. I guess the good news about being responsible for the most infamous single quote of the 2008 election is I'm sure it was much easier to forgive and be at peace with the doctor who messed up, and for that, we both can be grateful.

Ahn Cao (R - New Orleans)

Image Courtesy of the Office of Congressmen Ed Royce, public domain

There was exactly one Republican congressmen who voted in favor of Obama's healthcare bill. Ahn "Joseph" Cao of Downtown New Orleans, a district more liberal, on average, then Seattle, Washington - populated almost entirely by African Americans and hyper-urbanites who live in 500-square-foot lofts and go to parties all the time. The devil-may-care attitude of his hometown has led at once to a brilliant and sophisticated culture, utter extravagance and excess, and monstrous levels of poverty, crime, general sleaziness, and finally, corruption. He was elected as a pro-business, moderate, no-nonsense, relatively innocent and squeaky clean Vietnamese immigrant Republican against a Democrat who had been caught with 85 grand in his freezer.

His district probably has a lot of people without medical insurance. We know his district is generally very economically liberal, and so his conservative votes on the Stimulus and Cap-and-Trade likely had serious repercussions for him back home. His election was entirely the product of a two-party system and the lack of competition it creates. In short, something had to give.

I know a lot of conservatives are very angry at Mr. Cao, but they should realize that if he does not occasionally throw his constituents a bone - especially one that, from the special interests viewpoint alone, would be so delicious to them - he WILL lose this seat. If he keeps this seat, the GOP may have the opportunity to expand its presence not only in New Orleans, but in Inner City America in general, the kind of frontier expansion that Republicans have not really engaged in for a long, long time. May I remind you that we are not in the majority right now.

Beyond this, it may indeed have been a vote of conscience. Follow this link to see for yourselves. In particular, he used his bargaining power to arrange for an amendment, Stupak-Pitts, that will prevent federally funded plans from covering elective abortion, producing an effective abortion tax. Consider also that this fellow is VERY Vietnamese, and as such probably has a more collectivist view of life then is normal here in America. To him, denying some people medical freedom to protect the vitality of the whole probably (though I will emphasize probably, as I cannot see in to the mans head) does not seem quite so bad, and if he can get an anti-abortion amendment doing it, well that's just twice as good now isn't it?

So no, I do not believe Ahn Cao is a "traitor." Reagan himself said "you only have to vote with your party 80% of the time." I continue to follow his career with special and keen interest and to recognize the unique constraints on his power as a legislator as a result of his district. Like it or not, America is a democracy. Ahn Cao continues to provide a more clear and business friendly and hardwork oriented path for the people of New Orleans and to promote Conservative interests across America through his cooperation from a group of people (the inner-cities) that so far no other Republican has really reached out to. He voted with us on the Stimulus and the Cap-and-Trade, and this is a vote (Downtown New Orleans) we normally wouldn't have.

Why the Confederate Flag?

Civil War Monument and Cemetery in Owingsville, KY. Attribution conditional Fair Use license by C. Bedford Crenshaw

You look out at the great sacrifices of the past, those who have come, fought and died for family, land and what they valued, for the old and the young, giving their lives when they had barely begun for a home they would never see again, entire generations massacred, their blood trampled in the wine press. Proud flags flying high over the hills, strong spirits screaming loud through the valleys, young men in their prime, following orders from generals who drive up death tolls because they don't understand that the protective formations they were taught so long ago are killing their men in greater numbers now. Deaths by the thousands, thousands of unique individuals destroyed from the earth, cast to the uncertainty of the cold grave with bullets in their chest, broken bones, agonizing infections and tears of terror and rivers of blood dripping down their face as they look up in to the eternal sky for their final moments on Earth.

It's no wonder that such a thing would leave an imprint on a people. And it's no surprise that those who lived took back both horror and pride at their ordeal and their survival. It is true that it has not been forgotten, though it is untrue that people are bitter - that's something Yankees like to think. But there is a proud rivalry, and like it or not, people down here think of themselves as American AND Southern at equal levels.

It is true that to some people find the Confederate Battle Flag offensive. It is also true that it stands for many things to many people.

To me, this symbol stands for the following: standing up for yourself, especially local vs. national, the cultures of the Southeastern United States, both refined and otherwise, rebellion from oppression, and standing up for the weak against the moneyed interest of Northern Industrialists, and a better, more honest America. There are two groups of people who object tot this symbol.

Addressing the first group: This symbol also stands for History, and who Southerners are as a people, and that's where I think some people, though they do not realize the source, object to it. Some people would erase the past. This is especially common among the white, educated wealthy Southerner who doesn't want to be associated with redneck land, slavery and past abuses. They would take all the pain, all the death, the agony, the abuses, and throw it out, but they don't realize it runs in their blood, and they don't realize that it's a complete package. You can't have a past and have no pain, you can't have a future and have no values, and values are rooted in the past as they have to be. You can't stand for something - and destroy yourself so someone doesn't get angry at you or feel hurt.

Some people would lie, and demand that others do so. The minute they here a criticism, an idea they don't like, they demand an apology, surrounding themselves with yes men. They demand conformity, comfort, and what isn't theirs. They don't care what's inside the dish, they never did and never will. To them, there's no value to anything that can't be seen and therefore doesn't touch their petty hearts. As we lie and lie and lie, our enemies become clouded in fog, our up becomes down, our down becomes up, our anger becomes passive aggression, divisions become permaneant as people are too afraid to express them, and they pass them on to their children and their friends to express themselves the only way they can. Lawfulness becomes a joke, and the individual becomes condemned to a spiral of delusion, deceit, and paranoid back watching.

But there's one other group, those who have memories of their own, and those who believe they are standing up for them. These memories are sad, and true, and I deeply regret what has happened to those people. But to allow these racial terrorists to steal symbols that stand for the South, good and bad, is to let them win. See, to let them steal our values, our past, our lives from us by the inevitable rubbing out that accompanies this silencing is to ennoble them, to promote them, to give them free space in our hearts and minds, in our memories and in our soul. You take the symbols, the analogies, the stories, the way of living, and you push it out of public sight, along with those who still cherish it lovingly delivered to Satan for his evil use. It is to give them, our Satan, Southern history, to give them Southern culture, to give them the South, along with many of the people who reside in it.

You can't destroy everything just because of a flaw, for if you did, the fires would burn the entire Earth to ashes, for there is nothing that is flawless on Earth. There is still a lot that is beautiful about the South: the millitary tradition, the sense of honor, the hospitality, the delicate style and refinement of Southern art, architecture and design, an extremely open society that includes people much more readily then it excludes them, the sense of history and the deeper side of life, and a quiet stubborn strength that will not submit to anyone, under any conditions, often to the aggravation of Dixieland itself!

Those whose character is destroyed have no values, no roots, no sense of history or depth, no idea of who they are. Maybe they can discover it, but that takes years, years wasted, years lost, years never seen again. Why waste the youth of our children over pettiness? Especially since they may well turn out exactly like we did anyways.

We can't just abandon our past. It is part of us, and we are a product of our past more then anything else. The Confederate Flag will continue to be the standard of this website, for now and the future to come, exactly because I hope to promote its use as a symbol of the South and Culture in general.

Georgia Tech - Portrait of an Engineering Mad House

Georgia Institute of Technology, 1898, Courtesy of Wikimedia

After this next post, I will be taking a break for the next couple weeks as I first buckle down for finals and then close out my dorm room. But as I prepare for the Big F's (not really), I decided to take a moment to reflect upon the stimulating, fun, industrious, and nerve-wracking school that I affectionately call Tech.

You know that I did not grow up here because I was willing to name my blog "Hailing from Georgia" despite being a Tech guy. To me, Georgia is where I live, and although I will most certainly chant "To Hell with Georgia" at our school's football game, along with large numbers of red-faced fans that are both angry at Uga for being Uga and me for not being angry enough, I guess having not grown up here it's hard for me to really dip in to that rivalry. But do know that it is a very important part of our school, embodied by our unofficial school motto:


Courtesy of Photobucket and user brandontara

The motto itself is also somewhat symbolical of where GaTech is located. Being in the heart of Atlanta, it is located in a part of the state that has always, going all the way back to Reconstruction (1865-1876) and maybe before, been at odds with the rest of Georgia. There are even occasional calls for secession. The student body, however, has it's 60% of in-state students coming from all over the state, so you definitely will not miss your rednecks.

In addition, GaTech will attract applicants from all over America, ant the World. I have friends from Massacheutsets, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Alaska, and California, as well as Iran, India, China, Cameroon, Haiti, Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil (why major in "foreign cultures" when you can go to Engineering School?) and I myself am from Seattle. Ranked at 4th for America in Engineering overall (US News & WR), 1st for Industrial Engineering, 3rd for Civil, and within the top 10 for all Engineernig Majors except Nuclear (also US News & WR), Tech has a reputation to live up to, and Jimmy Carter believes it tougher then the Naval Academy, always a good sign.

There is a split admissions preference though, between the in-state students and the out-of-state students. For out-of-state, admissions are tough, taking an average GPA of 3.7 and a SAT average of1280 (Math + Verbal, no one cares about the Writing test.) For in-state, however, to keep that high percentage, they must submit to state-mandated Soviet admissions standards.

Tech is also a school of many traditions. In particular students love to hijack the T from this tower:


Brooke Novak, from this website, under CC 2.0

They also love to race tricycles:


Photo Courtesy of Apringstone, public domain

And build moving contraptions of dubious engineering:



Retrieved from CU Tigers message board.


And although we work hard, we also play hard, sometimes too hard:



Sebastian Paquet, cc 2.0


What really impressed me most about Georgia Tech, besides it's spectacular location in the heart of the South but admist city lights, was it's attitude. I don't believe there is any better way to communicate this attitude then with our school song:

"I’m a Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech and a hell of an engineer,
A helluva, helluva, helluva, hell of an engineer,
Like all the jolly good fellows, I drink my whiskey clear,
I’m a Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech and a hell of an engineer.

Oh, if I had a daughter, sir, I’d dress her in White and Gold,
And put her on the campus, to cheer the brave and bold.
But if I had a son, sir, I’ll tell you what he’d do.
He would yell, “To Hell with Georgia,” like his daddy used to do.

Oh, I wish I had a barrel of rum and sugar three thousand pounds,
A college bell to put it in and a clapper to stir it around.
I’d drink to all good fellows who come from far and near.
I’m a ramblin’, gamblin’, hell of an engineer."

At a time when colleges from sea to shining sea are forcing you to apply for your major, are instituting curfews and mandatory service hours, and are indoctrinating their students with shameful partisan propaganda, Tech continues to tolerate good ole fashinoed chaos and an atmosphere that allows a true individual to excel by his own merits and will. We don't mandate, we don't force, we don't coerce, we let people grow and find for themselves how they want to be.

Come to our school as a momma's boy, and our high standards and lack of external direction WILL tear you to shreds until you can either find the integrity to push yourself, or the door. We don't just tolerate individuality, we WON'T tolerate anything less.

Adios!