humanity

Humanity begins at home.

A World of Cheese
Arcuri's Cheeseworld When you were a kid, how many times did you wish for all the ice cream your little heart desired? What about access to candy bars, gum machines, milkshakes? Then as you grew older, all of the coffee you could drink, delicious subs, PASTA!!, the best homemade Italian sausages around, and cheese! (Stop drooling). For twenty-four years of my life, this was my reality. (God, I miss the cheese!!) I got spoiled, and I mean SPOILED, when it came to food. On top of it all, my Nunu and Nana Bella lived across the street from us. Needless to say, I was in no danger of going hungry.
By Adrianna 6 years ago in Families
Conscious Me
Hi I'm Starlet, my friends call me star, I've been through a lot and it is very hard to trust people. Soooo .....Let's start from the beginning. I was born and raised in our Nations Capitol, for a long time I did not believe, there was a better place to live. DC is broken down into four sections. Northeast, Southeast, Northwest and Southwest. My life started in Southeast DC, April 1985. Born to James and Essie Gorman, I have two much older sisters. Sarah who is 15 years older and Fatima who is 12 years older. Fatima often called me the mistake and the unplanned child and honestly, its true. Ma and pop were having marital issues, apparently mom caught pops with another women and put him out. Obviously he came back at some point because Boom .....Here I Am. I like to think of myself as the child who kept the family together but me being an accident help Fatima coup with life better, I guess. Because of the age difference my sisters and I were never close, in fact they don't know me at all and what they think they know is all wrong, Hell up until recently, i'm just realizing who I am. Here is Starlet's Story.
By Teresa HOLT6 years ago in Families
The Visit
I made my way through the door. A room of expectant faces stared in my direction in answer to my presence. “Annabelle!” The lilt of my voice rang clear across the room. My eyes scanned the group of faces before me for any signs of movement or recognition. Nothing. “Annabelle!” I called again as I shifted my weight, impatiently resting my back against the wall. An elderly lady in a wheelchair made her way forward, ever so slowly, as I held the door open for her. “Are you Annabelle?” I asked. “She is.” Her aid replied rather matter of fact. “Right this way,” I directed, pointing towards the the scale.
By Muse.Monkey 6 years ago in Families
Story of my life
This is the story of my life. Where can I begin or even start? As you may know I'm Grace but I go by Gracie. To those who don't know me; Hi thank you for taking the time to read this.
By Gracie Crusinberry6 years ago in Families
Is There A Normal Life?
What is a normal life? Can someone truly say that the life they are living is normal? I'm sure everyone has asked themself this question at least once in their life. In this article I want to share my experiences with you, in Hope's of clearing up the answer to this question.
By DubJayMusic6 years ago in Families
76 West Street
76 West Street The veranda had recently been given a facelift. The smell of the pine wood from which it was built was still fresh. My mother and her 8 siblings had long since left the old house. Only my grandparents and I now called it home. Butterflies did aerial dances atop the hibiscus flowers that stood at the entrance of the yard. The gentle breeze caressed my face through the unpainted wooden louvers; each spaced four inches apart from the other. At five years young, I was rather frail and short. Therefore, I wasn’t tall enough to look over the horizontal part of the porch’s frame as I would have liked.
By Tuye' Naphtali6 years ago in Families
The Necessary Talk: Discussing Racism with Your Child
In some households, the only "talk" that was had was the birds and the bees. In other households, the "talk" or discussion rather, was how to stay out of the way of white men and white people in general. During this time, Black people wanted to be treated fairly, treated equally.
By Demeter6 years ago in Families
Death of a Girl
"But it was only a sticker!" Please! Please!" She begged and cried to her mother. A unicorn sticker! At some point, she knew her little pleadings were falling on deaf ears. Her mother's mind was set. She watched as her mother concentrated hard on the road and her grip on the wheel tightened. There was no escaping her fate and that terrified her for some reason. The threat hung in the air between them,
By Laura Martinez 6 years ago in Families
The London Manny
Where do I begin with this? I'm The London Manny. A guy from Venezuela, who decided one day to leave his country, looking for a better life in England. Better opportunities and choices.
By Hernán Arteaga6 years ago in Families
Misunderstood Afro-Latina
I know a lot of people out there who think I am crazy one of those Light skin Latinas who has her head up in the clouds; Or maybe I should say up in the music. I was born in Brooklyn back in the 80s. I am my mothers’ youngest child and probably also her favorite. Not Kidding. My mother is one of those strong Afro-Latina Single mothers that could probably destroy you with just one look. You know that look that that would send chills straight down to your ass, it would immediately make us behave. I love my mother dearly though and I am the woman I am today because of her. Would not be able to imagine my life without her. She is such an amazing soul and I believe I am a lot like her; but like 74.9% crazier. Now when you go online and you see those memes like “date a Latina they said” “it’ll be fun they said’ and you see the guy stabbed on the way to the hospital or maybe she just cut his dick off. That is me. I cannot say that I have stabbed anybody but crazy in a sense where I have no filter. I say whatever the fuck I want when I want to. There are just some things that people should not let slide. Like letting someone be completely utterly disrespectful to you. We should have all been taught to stand up for ourselves but not with violence with our words. Honestly, the world right now is not the best place to live now. There is chaos happening all around us, feels like every corner we turn something new comes to life. As an adult now I find myself wanting to spend more time with them. I do not really get to right now because I am living in Central Jersey. I truly am very family oriented. Unfortunately, family is not what it once was. From what I can remember being a child I was always spending time with my cousins; there was ALWAYS a party happening in my family. Cousins all in the room doing mischievous things to the other cousins I know I was always trying to prank my brother. I remember one night it was a full-blown Dominican party on the second floor to our project apartment. Our apartment was packed with first second and third cousins. I was hanging out with my twin female cousins when I decided to make cool-aid and bring it to my brother. The only thing was that there was a secret ingredient in this so-called cool aid. HOT SAUCE. I cannot honestly say I remember why I did it all I know is that I must have been trying to get back at him for something else he did to me. My brother drank the so called ‘cool-aid’ and his mouth was on fire. You know when your thirsty and someone brings you a drink and you go in on it. Well he did and my mother was not too happy about what I had done to him. I got my ass beat. In front of everyone and I was told to stay in my room. I apologized so much to him I felt horrible especially doing that to him in front of everyone. I was only about twelve though, so we live and learn. I am my mother’s wild child in every sense. I love to say that I am free spirited, and I just love being genuinely nice to people. Until you fuck with the ones I love, disrespect me or try to belittle me in any type of way. I feel like I am always in a heated argument with someone trying to protect my name but that ends tonight my energy will always remain unbothered. Earlier in July I was out with my cousin it was her birthday. I was not really in the mood to go out; I had received yet another one of my sons fathers crazy people harassing me. Its been going on for years but I was really upset. I tried to put on a brave front and decided to just go for a few. I remember telling my cousin that I was not in the mood but because it was her day that I would go. We get there and I am in my head. You gave to understand something. I get e-mails. Text messages from different numbers with this person literally trying to cause me emotional and mental pain for over a decade now. No matter the times i have changed my number this person always seems to find me. So I am quiet but I am trying to be there for her. So there is live music going on it is a entire vibe. So we ordered food sat at a table. As soon as we did some guy passing by I crack a joke with him he invites himself to sit with us. I say its the birthday girls choice she doesn't mind and he joins us. We exchange a few words and I get a phone call. After I am off the phone a lady that we had a few brief words with earlier comes over again. The guy and my cousin had been talking while i was on my phone now the lady is talking to them and I try to join in on the conversation but I'm honestly still in my thoughts. So the lady starts asking me questions at that point I already felt like just being home. So i was trying to get my cousins attention with eye gestures but i promise you at this point my cousin and I have not exchanged two words its been well over 40 minutes. Lady has left and I run to the restroom and come back and they were still talking to each other. Not in a way where i felt invited to join in on the conversation he was talking in her ear. So they decided to acknowledge me. We exchange very few words until he decided to turn again and whisper something in her ear. At this point I was livid. I felt disrespected and I just wanted to leave. I really felt it was extremely rude of him to brush me off mid-sentence when we were the one who invited him into our outing. I immediately said he was rude as fuck and that i wanted to leave. I pay my tab and head to the front where the owner of the bar is and close to the live music that is going on which was literally maybe ten feet from where we were sitting. I waited for my cousin to come out and she went off on me. She told me that I was selfish and threw things in my face that I trusted her with. When people sit and talk to you about their personal lives and trust you with that you do not sit here and try to use those things against them. Which is the reason why I am ok that we are not speaking. Her sister called me tonight and accused me of sleeping with her fourth kids father. I literally can not make this stuff up. This is someone who i have always been there for. When her own mother has treated her like trash and whos sister does not even speak to her. YUP the two sisters my cousins yea they do not talk. You see how fucked up this situations is. He lied on my name. I do not know why he would do that but I cant believe she would believe him. I would go out my way to make sure she and her 3 babies were good. One of her daughters is my God daughter. In this life the devil will come and try to get you. It might be in the form of a family member disguised to be a good person. Those people the ones who try to bring you down instead of building you up the ones who listen to your problems and try to claim they only want good intentions for you. Those are the ones you have to be careful with because any chance they get they will try to take what you are going through and make you feel worse about it. I will continue to shine throughout all the wickedness that this world brings my way. I will still be here standing five foot two inches and a half tall. COME TAKE YOUR BEST SHOT! I have the universe and a clean aura. I have been known to step up for people who cannot step up for themselves. I didn't think that I would have to stand up for myself so much and to a family member at that. I think there is a lot of injustice going around every place we walk in and if we as humans just speak up and say something when we see something than the world would be a better place to live in, if we do not stick up for one another then we really are alone in this world and I would really like to think otherwise.
By Jessica 6 years ago in Families
Personal view on Culture, Past and Present.
Definition of Culture, in your personal view would be described how? "Culture is learned, integrated ideas and behavior patterns shared with other members of society. Culture is the way I express myself and how I deal with my enviroment. Culture is ideas, more mental than material. The function of culture is to make life both logical and practical."
By Daisy ODay6 years ago in Families
Barnegat Lighthouse
The Barnegat Lighthouse is 172 feet above sea level and celebrates 185 years of history. It's located in Barnegat Lighthouse State Park on the northern tip of Long Beach Island, New Jersey. The lighthouse is a symbol of human presence, a navigational guide, protection, guidance and illumination. It is an architectural icon.
By Amy Bezek6 years ago in Families