Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Correcting a Wrong

Sometimes we do things thinking we are doing the “right thing.” Yet, later we discover we have done it wrong. This happened to me. I was scammed, fooled, and lied to on Proposal 2 coming up on the ballot Election Day.

I was tricked into signing the petition to put it on the ballot. Little did I know what mess I help start. Like all people approached on the streets at public places, I listened to a young man tell me about the proposal. I felt it was my duty to make sure affirmative action laws were not rewritten or changed in any way. They are fine the way they are. But it turned out to be a farce what he had told me.

The way Proposal 2 is set up, I and many others, especially women, will end up on the losing end. Women and other ethnic groups will no longer have a level playing field if this proposal passes. No longer we will be able to look at doors open for us to go to school, hired for jobs, and get appropriate medical services. We will have to face discrimination in housing, goods that are sold, and set back a few decades when it comes to discrimination.

I feel bad because I didn’t follow my usual line of researching something before I sign on for it. I listened to a pitch on the street and gave it the ok. Now it is up to the citizens of Michigan to decide if affirmative action should be as it is or eliminated all together. If it is, take a good look at California and know that you too will be left out in the cold.

If you are not white, rich, or from a family with a lot of heritage, the benefits of affirmative action you have now will cease. Remember how you are constantly told to read the fine print? I failed to do that and now the proposal is on the ballot. Don’t think you need affirmative action laws? Think it is only for minorities? If you are a female, you are a minority. And females will suffer the most.

Females will lose their chance to enter fields of study geared toward men on a level playing field. Women might lose options for medical care like breast and pelvic exams for free. Women will also be reverted back to the discrimination they faced when buying homes and getting jobs decades ago. We cannot let this happen. Stand with me in voting “NO” on Proposal 2.

Monday, October 09, 2006

I’m Back

I know, I know, I haven’t been around for a few weeks. To fill you in I was busy finishing up a writing assignment for a magazine with a deadline and two research papers for school. Yes, I am back in school. I am also now a reporter for USA Voice and I had articles to get online each week on business and politics. To make the situation even more stressful, I was getting ready for a writer’s conference I went to this past weekend in Ohio.

Now you can see I was not available to even write for my own blog. But today is the day and I don’t even know where to start. So I will give you what I think you should know first. The conference. The conference was in Dayton, Ohio. I got to listen to and speak with my idol, Dan Poynter, the self publishing guru. He was, as always, great. The information he shared, some I knew and some I didn’t. But that is why a true writer goes to conferences. You never know what new information you collect. It was just what I needed, a lot of new ideas and refinement of the old ones. I met a lot of people for the first time and saw many I knew and those I had not seen in a while. Boy of boy, did I have a lot of fun.

Moving on, I now write for USAVoice.org, the voice of the people with people biases, not sponsor biases. This new internet newspaper allows reporters to express what the public really thinks and feels. It is read across the country and around the world. Definitely check it out. Just go to www.usavoice.org and read some interesting information from around the country. No city or state is left out of the loop. If it happens or is something all should know, it is most likely being shared at USA Voice. Feel free to leave any comments too. Your thoughts are very important.

This is not a long blog this week because I now must play catch up with school work and more incorporation of the new ideas I learned. Remember, I have a new book to promote and I have got to get busy. If you would like to know what my new book is all about, visit my web site at www.scriblapress.com/bookshtm

Talk with you next week.