this is… The Neighborhood
the Story within the Story
HOLD YOUR HEAD UP
“Stay up… ’till you come up…
when you come up stay up!”
― Johnnie Dent Jr.
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Uprising by Muse
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HOLD YOUR HEAD UP
by Kendall F. Person
When I walked into the St. Louis bookstore, 15 minutes before my planned performance, there was no way to mistake the fact, that I had overshot the popularity of Capturing Spring outside of the western states, for there was literally no one there, accept the owner. She and I made light conversation, both somewhat asking the other if there had been any promotions. But the 2000 miles I had driven, would not yet yield any sales or new fans, but it was a defining moment, thanks to my favorite cousin.
Fate Lamont Jackson
Fate Lamont Jackson – our mothers are sisters – is one of the few members of the Walker Clan to make a permanent home outside of the Rocky Mountains. When he walked into the bookstore, with 50 empty chairs facing a makeshift stage, he did not hold his head down in embarrassment, but rather sat in the front row, looking to seeing a show. After some silent encouragement from the store’s owner, I walked onto the stage and it was at that very moment, I decided an audience of one or a stadium of thousands, it would not matter. I was an artist and it was my work they came to hear. So I held my head up, and delivered a memorable reading to my cousin in a bookstore in St. Louis.
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I have been tepidly searching for a writer, that speaks in my voice but not in my words, admittedly the idea comes from President Obama’s ‘mean’ interpreter. When my first choice Rodrigus Williamson declined my offer, I pushed idea to the back burner. However, the idea to speak in two voices, is not for entertainment as much as it is to reach deeper into demographics that I long to reach. And now would be the time, that I would yield the stage to Rodrigus. While I cannot feign his powerfully direct voice, he is one of a kind that I probably would have to edit, but neither do I have the luxury to ignore an ugly moment.
by Voltamax
Collaborative shows are challenging simply by the nature. Shows like CITIES that have dozens of writers, and at far different comfort levels in both their skill as well as, their visibility in the public sphere. But even with The Championship Round yet to be played, and the fact that I am aware of the comfort that The Neighbiorhood audience gives, and so when a show of ten becomes three, they allow their imagination to fill in the blanks – to a certain degree – (chuckling) and my no fear of falling was a learned behavioral device, but when I see a teachable moment, I do not ignore it, but I treat it with literary gloves, when a Rodrigus approach may have been the solution, after all. Why the mental gymnastics? Because the alternative is that the intentions are bad and not their perceptions were off base.
The City of Baltimore was disqualified because their player plagiarized, and there is no bigger crime in a literary forum than the stealing of someone else’s imagination, converted into words. Three years ago he was thrown out without due process, for masquerading a song as his own. In neither case, was there such a benefit to him, to risk his young reputation and that of The Neighborhood’s, which I still believe he loves. And while the penalty is stiff, Baltimore has been disqualified and Keith has been expelled, because if he did not know 3 years ago, he certainly knew when he submitted an entire post word for word, that did not belong to him.
by Jeh6
But I consider this a teachable moment, because he is of a generation that has been hijacked with everything, that begs us to download, embed and share. Perhaps the serious nature of the arts is overwhelmed by fun loving spirits that populate the more peaceful nature of ourselves. Perhaps, until it happens to you and the theft is monetary, that the ugliness and the emptiness and the cheating of someone else by plagiarism is not equated with breaking and entering, and taking items that one knows is not his. And I call this a teachable moment for him and others, because I cannot grasp, that someone I have worked with so closely, had his head down the whole time.
I do not know anyone, who would not prefer a comfortable life. But I do know the difference between an artist, whose integrity would not allow such selfish acts, but I do not know if I can the tell the difference, until it is revealed so blatantly, and that troubles me for I have mentored so many young people.
But one thing they all learn, is that jedi mind tricks only work for so long. And that The Neighborhood truly believes that we are controlled by our imagination and an impostor, we will eventually see. And if you are student, do not ever hold your head down if you have a question. Hold your head up, ask questions, do not cower from what you do not know or are unsure of. We become richer by the wisdom without suffering the indignity of being thought of or known to be a plagiarist in the midst of some of the world’s great writers.
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Hard work, respect of commitment and a bloodlust to win, not default, has revealed our finalists. After 2 months, 32 cities and 4 challenges, on Nov 27 it’s CITIES The Championship Round ‘The Solution’
(6)Tampa vs (8)Montreal.
ON BOTH SIDES
Every truth has two sides;
it is as well to look at both,
before we commit ourselves
to either. – Aesop
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Orpheus With His Lute
by Bridgette Cooper-Anderson
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ON BOTH SIDES
by Kendall F. Person
On March 28, 1984, Seth Ian Glaser, of Culver City, California, died at the tender age of 17 months at the hands of his parents and before their God. The day before he died, both of Seth’s parents, members of the Christian Science Church, noted he seemed ill and very tired. Rather than seek qualified medical care, they sought treatment through an absent church practitioner, instructing them to pray, that God would remove the sickness from their child. While there were signs that baby Seth would recover, he soon relapsed with fever, coughing, rapid breathing and his little heart began to race. Holding firm onto their beliefs, that God would cure their son, neither thought too seriously about taking their baby to the hospital.
The following morning, baby Seth turned blue and begin vomiting up every ounce of food in his tiny, unwell stomach. Deciding to take action, they made an appointment to see a church healer, but en-route things went from bad to worse. Baby Seth began convulsing, which lasted a mind-numbing :90 seconds. His arms and legs became rigid, and to even the most optimistic, it had to be clear that their son was dying.
Upon arrival and attention by the healer, it was found necessary to contact a church practitioner who had supposedly, successfully resurrected the dead. Sometime between the performances of church personnel and the time the mortuary was called, baby Seth’s mother had stopped believing.
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There is indeed two sides to every story. There is but one side, however, when the subject is a statement of fact. But even fact has real detractors, as perception and intent are sometimes friends, but more often – mortal enemies. But to be sure, this is not a default mechanism or God’s glitch, but human error from a breakdown in communication. Internally, we shield ourselves from any knowledge that conflicts with what we are comfortably believing. And with self-righteous indignation, we can stand proudly behind our truth. Externally, when we are pushed against the wall, and rather than accept that there are things that we do not know, we instead raise our voices, turning civility into you against me.
A being with an open mind, an eternal student at heart, or a seeker of truth will not be afraid to speak nor too proud to listen – on both sides – and form an opinion of fact, based on truth. Whether we believe it or not, does not matter, but sometimes only one side can be true.
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In the aftermath of baby Seth’s death, only the mother was charged with the offense of 
manslaughter and child endangerment. Many states and countries have laws against religious persecution, and perhaps this was the logic behind not charging the father in the death of his child. It is the understanding, that while the mother’s faith did waiver, the father stood firm, truly believing that prayer would save his child.
*cover photo courtesy of Today in Religion
this is… The Neighborhood
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Picture me on a megaphone at high noon on the busiest street, shouting “Support The Neighborhood!” I’ll do it. You know I will (huge smile, but chip in a buck).
GROWN WOMEN and YOUNG GIRLS
Grown women are Queens young girls are princesses.
Juanita Rodgers, Diamonds on a Black Sheep
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Some Days
by IvySoul Robinson
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GROWN WOMEN and YOUNG GIRLS
an artists collaboration
storyboard by Kendall F. Person
produced in The Neighborhood
and a host of writers & photographers
“When the memories come, I go back to being a powerless little girl. I only wanted to be a child, who got to have fun, play and feel loved. Instead, I felt much like a rag, only needed at times by others to benefit them, no say so in the matter: just used, and hung alone to dry, till the next time. ” Heather Works, When the Abuse Stops
Five days after Heather triumphantly told her story, she would make the permanent decision, to rid herself from the ghosts of her abusers, once and for all – but it took putting a bullet in her own head.
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Young girls are the seeds we must nurture now if
our future is to be bright. – Young Deveraux Frazier,
An Aspergian’s Chemical Romance
Grown women are a complement to men,
and a mirror, that enables us to reinvent
the way we nurture the world. – Young Devereaux Frazier
“Today it is is our patriotic duty to lift up Special Agent Benjamin Grogan and Special Agent Jerry Dove from the streets of South Florida and place their names and pictures high where the world will know that we are proud of their sacrifice, sacrifice for our nation.
“It is only fitting that their names should be placed on the same mantle with the letters FBI. Because Special Agent Grogan and Dove embody the sacred motto of which the agency has become known. Please repeat it after me: Fidelity. Bravery. And integrity.”
– Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, April 15, 2015 FBI Field Office Dedication, Miramar FL
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In a final, desperate attempt to bring his wife under his control, he would pull a gun on the people’s candidate for President of Liberia, and threatened to blow her to kingdom come – if she did not pull out of the race. She thought about her people and all their hard work. She thought about the struggle of every Liberian boy and girl; and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf would stand her ground. With the help of her son, who sprayed poison in his face, the coward would back down. And days later, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf would become the first woman in history, to be elected as leader of an African nation.
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“All men are assholes and if you forget that,
they will remind you.” – some ecards
Settlements in the millions, even between corporate offices and government entities in representation of we the people, are rare occurrences indeed. Which is exactly what makes Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly’s $32 million settlement for the sexual harassment of Lis Wiehl not just staggering in its weight, but horrifying in scope and context: This was a settlement not a courtroom judgement, which would have triggered an immediate appeal and the jury labeled as a runaway. For $32 million, all he bought was her silence, which begs an answer: What in God’s name did he do to her; or was Bill O’Reilly – Fox News’ $100 million dollar man – outsmarted by a woman? 
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If only it were the savage beatings she had to endure, perhaps her mind would not have snapped, but when a drunken John Bobbitt proceeded to rape her, she was pushed straight over the edge.
As he lay sleeping in a drunken stupor, rolling off his bride as if she were a common whore, she walked into the kitchen, calmed her nerves with a tall drink of water.No second guessing of should or should I not, she simply grabbed hold of a butcher knife, the sharpest one she could find. Then calmly strolled into the bedroom and faced her husband down. She would roll back the covers and become more enraged, for even after he used her, his penis still did beg. Giving no further consideration, she grabbed his manhood in one hand, while whirling the butcher knife in the other. After he awoke but before he could stop her, and with the power of a crazed goddess and the precision of a steel cutter, she swung the knife though the air and sliced his penis in half.
It was clear the jury of her peers understood or believed her state of mind, for they returned a verdict of not guilty, for the mutilation of her husband.
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I’m here, hidden by the veil of myself, another self, not the one you know, but the one you expect and respect and reject so easily. Can you see me? – Zoe Grey, A Queer Cherokee Transwoman
Retired Navy Seal Kristin Beck, all by herself makes proposed ban an out the gate train wreck. As the first transgender to serve openly in the US Military; she served and protected with honor: Twenty years as a member of Seal Team Six – the same unit that took out Osama bin Laden – 13 deployments, seven combat tours, and a host of awards and medals, including the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.
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Please visit Grown Women & Young Girls at unsplash to discover the artists behind the photography
And please make a donation of any size . Receipt of payment bares the name Kendall F. Person, but literally every cent goes back into The Neighborhood. Your support is needed and I believe a donation is fare. (big smile) – KP
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CITIES RD4: A MILE IN MY SHOES
Posted on by Kendall Fredrick Person
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CITIES the first 3 rounds and more
Take A Walk With Me
photo by Jason Ufkes on Unsplash
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Freedom Isn’t Free
by John Anderson
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The Year 2027
CITIES RD4: A Mile in My Shoes
developed by Kendall F. Person
Only Bangor Maine remained as the sole city that had not been bloodied by a mass shooting. After Las Vegas, when we refused to talk, and come together to imagine a solution, the problem never went away and even Canada was not immune. In fact, it got bigger and more bombast, until mass killings of under a hundred, no longer registered.
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Wichita
by Frances Waterman
& Nadine Jordan (Montreal)
Wichita has been crippled by continual massive layoffs and salary cuts.
The layoffs kept coming. The companies had created a vortex that was spinning out of control. The companies just couldn’t survive without their contracts. The government kept going outside their country for their contracts because it cut costs and labor was cheaper. This was about business with no regard to the people in Wichita. So much for making America great again.
Due to these massive layoffs and salary cuts, people started to leave in droves, abandoning their homes and lives for survival. The companies couldn’t survive without employee’s and their important and much needed contracts, so they too folded like a house of cards, and Wichita Kansas became a veritable ghost town.
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Bangor Maine became the Jerusalem or the Mecca of the United States. Everyone began making pilgrimages just to see what it was like there. To drink the water and eat the food and pray in their churches, because it remained as the last ray of hope for a nation that was killing itself.
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Detroit
by Michael John Mele (Tampa)
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On the first day of 2027, millions had decided to spend the day in Bangor. To usher in the new year in a place that still felt like the United States; the only place that love and peace and civility still saw the light of day. But no one was thinking of everyone, and everyone was thinking of only themselves. And when the countrymen and women began to stampede, those with guns -by instinct – began to reach.
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CITY OF BALTIMORE HAS BEEN DISQUALIFIED
and Keith Mon after returning from a 3 year suspension, has been permanently expelled from The Neighborhood for unsportsmanlike conduct, confirmed by Madam Chair Kelly Lewis.
The Budget Crisis can be read at its original location, Save Texas Schools.
The City of Houston was not involved. They have been eliminated as a no show, but NOT disqualified.
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But before the biggest mass shooting in American History could take place, from deep inside the crowd, a young child’s voice could be heard…. “Just kill me and then you don’t have to shoot anyone else.” And all at once, the brothers and sisters dropped their guns and stood in silence, because no one new what else to say.
RD4 Challenge was to imagine what your opponent city could be like if a solution was not found to THEIR stated challenge in RD3: ‘Causes’. Of the Top 10 Cities, only 3 (Montreal, Tampa and Baltimore) represented in RD4. So the quarters, become the semis. One City will be eliminated and the Championship will be set. VOTE
Category: Cities Tags: a mile in my shoes, Baltimore, cities round 4, Clarence the Holmes Bloodline, commentary, Detroit, Frances Waterman, freedom isn't free John Anderson, houston, Keith Mon, kendall f. person, Michael John Mele, montreal, original quote, Tampa, vote, year 2027