Wait.... WHAT????

   So, incase you don't watch the news the real life Pedobear Jerry Sandusky got sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison for his conviction on 45 counts of child sexual assault.... Let that sink in for a minute.... 45 counts of child sexual assault and he gets LESS THAN 2 YEARS FOR EACH? Come on Justice system!!! How in the name of everything sacred and profane does you get less than 2 years per child that you abused sexually? Despite whatever mitigating circumstances that someone can come up with at the end of the day the lives of AT LEAST 45 people will never, ever be the same.

   But token, what mitigating circumstances could there be for such a reprehensible person??? Well, Sandusky is in his later 60's so for all intents and purposes (as foxnews.com so eloquently put it) Sandusky will die in jail. So even at it's minimum, Sandusky was given a life sentence. Furthermore, it's not very likely that he will get out on his first iteration of parole Like Morgan Freeman in Shawshank so he would certainly be in his 100's by the time he would likely see parole. So at the very least he will pay for this for the rest of his life.

  Everything else I've said here aside.... THIS MAN ABUSED CHILDREN AND DESERVES TO DIE. You molest a handful of kids I can think that maybe you can be reformed... Maybe. You molest TWO STARTING FOOTBALL TEAMS WORTH OF KIDS and you deserve to die. No, he shouldn't get taxpayer funded jail or prison you just need to die. He is no longer fit to share our air. This isn't even a case where the normal opposition to the death penalty! Even if say, 20 children are lying there is still 25 children whose lives he's ruined. Think about that somemore... if 20 kids, a whole classroom full of kids, are lying there is still another larger classroom of kids he still molested. In some small towns he molested ALL the children. 

   I'm not even going to touch on the obvious "what would have happened if he was black" debate that I am sure will rage on the internet. I don't care about that because it's a moot point to me.

Manly, Man Stuff pt1

   You ever sit back and wonder what the qualifications for being a man are, or rather should be? Are you tired of hearing grown males profess to be "men" but are clearly lacking in the skills needed to be a man? I see this all the time and it really worries me. I really don't know who to blame. Blaming the media and their constant assualt on manhood just seems to clique to me. I think the blame for such putrid levels of manlyness in our society squarely on the shoulders of our elder men. How else are boys going to learn to be men without a proper example. Anyway, here is a exhaustive  list of 5 qualities/ skills that every man should have.

1. Change a tire
   This should be a no brainer. You ARE NOT a man if you don't know how to change a tire on your car... Period. If you blow a tire are you going to have your lady get out and change it? If you said yes to this stop reading this blog, put on a skirt and have a tea party sweetie cause you have no purpose here.


2. Grill
   Possibly the oldest and most quintessential aspect of manhood from prehistoric times onward. Look, you need to know how to take a piece of bloody meat, put it on a fire and make it edible. In the days of our manly, testosterone driven forefathers this was a necessity of life, if you couldn't make that mammoth you just killed edible then you were going to starve to death. Today, grilling just needs to be done. A man should be the master of his own girl. Unless you have been drinking heavily and there is a more sober person around you need to be the master of your grill chief. I will judge the hell out of you if I come to your cookout and you aren't the master of your grill... If you call yourself a man and can't grill, put a dress on and be done with it.


3. Cry
    If someone ever tells you that men aren't supposed to cry is selling you a whole crock of boo boo. If you internalize your emotions and don't cry every now and again you're going to get a kidney stone or cancer or some horrible thing like that. (Did you know you have to pee those stones out?? PEE A STONE????) As the great philosopher Joe Budden said "tears are words the mouth can't speak". Sometimes you need to just let your emotions out and you can't always vocalize it. As a man when you feel the need to deal with those emotions you deal with them as healthy as you can (crying is authorized) and then you MAN THE EFF UP and begin the work to fix things. However, DO NOT get it twisted, you can't be out here getting all misty eyed at the end of the notebook or something... If I catch you crying at some ridiculous love story you will never hear the end of it.



4.  Handle your liquor
    Look man, you need to be able to handle your liquor. ESPECIALLY being a token. First of all, white folks drink different than black people do. I'm not really sure why, it's certainly odd. You know how Dave Chappelle said never pass out around white people? Well that is true, you will get drawn on or balls in your face/ mouth. Why that shit occurs is beyond me... What possess a man to place his balls in the facial region of another passed out man??? Anyway, back to manly man stuff, you need to be able to handle your liquor because it's just not a good look for a man to be sloppy drunk and acting stupid (non bachelor party/ drinking holiday related).


5. Fight

    Fighting is not a good thing. Nobody will say that it's good to use violence to solve your problems. That said, sometimes it has to come to fisticuffs and you need to be prepared for that. A key element of manhood is knowing yourself and a fight or two is a good way to know exactly what you have. Do you have a glass jaw? Can you take a punch? These are all things that you need to know. If you know you have a glass jaw then you should probably just tell your girl to shut up with that big guy invariably disrespects her (or is talking to loud for her in a movie... A story will probably be told on that later days). If you know you can take a punch and deliver one equally well there are few better confidence builders, knowing that you are secure with just your hands. Now, don't go out to your local watering hole and pick a fight, join fight club and NEVER talk about it go to a gym and take up boxing or muy thai or jujitzu. There you can get trained in how to fight, get your ass kicked and kick some ass. Trust me, it's rewarding.


So there you have it, a gift from the token to you about what the things you need to know to me a man. There is more, lots more, a mans job is never done. There are always things that we men can continually be improving on to make us better. Stay tuned, pt 2 is coming soon.

I can get away with WHAT???

   To start this off I want to shoutout my ex (henceforth refered to as ginger) who prolly sayin f#$k me so shoutout to the sex. Through the wonders of creeping on facebook I found out that she got married. Without this story (which will be explained) I would have no impetus for this post.

   I, like many other tokens out there have many friendlies of the lady type. Through my relationship with these women I have heard many, many, many tales of the various men they dated. The thing that never ever EVER ceases to amaze me is the pure amount of bullhoey stuff that women will put up with. I am always, shocked that women will excuse and still stay with men who lie, cheat, emotionally and physically abuse and steal from woman. But let's get to this hilarious story.

  **Note** I'm 100% sure I'll tell the story of this relationship at somepoint on this blog, mostly because it kinda defined my life from 20-24... Now, that story will not be told.... Know what? I might never tell this story cause, well you know... Frack her.

   So, Ginger has married a guy who has REPEATEDLY cheated on her. Not only did he cheat but he did so in the brand new car that she just bought (Did I mention this reggin doesn't drive?). This reggin did this while she was preggo with his child. Here is the kicker she has known about this the WHOLE TIME. Wait.. There's more!!! He memorized her credit card number and spent thousands of dollars ON INTERNET PORN!!!!! WHO DOES THAT????? Oh, this isn't over a long period of time either, it's a few months. He once told her on Valentines day that they should break up and she can take care of the child. Oh, also, he brought his ex girlfriend into her house and his ex told Ginger that she was being selfish and he didn't want her.... IN HER OWN HOUSE!! Now, there are a lot of things you can tell me on the street and I'll have to wear it but you ain't sayin ish to me in my own house and I don't slap you so hard you wish your mother didn't make you... There is more to this story but those are the most scandalous details.

**Note again** I heard this 100% percent straight from her mouth.

   That story is by far the worst I have ever heard with my own two ears. However, it is nowhere near all of it.  I hear all the time about all this mess that people engage in and me, being the upstanding 20-something Token I am would never dream of doing stuff like this. That said, I can't help but wonder what exactly could I be getting away with scott free and suffer no reprisals. I really wish I would have known that I could have WILDLY disrespected her like that and stayed with her because my early 20's would have been ever more ridiculous then they already were.

The Coolest Story Ever

Hey! Sorry (to the 3 of you who may check this regularly) that I haven't posted in awhile... I'm living the struggle life and only have computer access when DA Monkay leaves her computer and/ or power cable at my house. Anyway, back to the lecture at hand....

   As you may or may not know I have lived a ridiculous life. I have done many ridiculous, outrages and/ or awesome things. The "Coolest Story Ever" comprises none of that, at least not in the way that I'm used to telling stories.  As a note, I pride myself in being able to tell amazing stories without any embellishment, life is awesome enough and the story tells itself. I will try my best to tell this  tale as accurately as I remember it (even though it's been tenish years). I should probably refer back to the time that I told this on tape but I'd probably ball my eyes out and I'm too trill for that .
  One day a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away my family and I went to the Merritt Canteen. I remember it was really rainy and cold. When we were leaving my mom, brother, sister and I were going to pile in the family vehicle and drive home. That was not to be. My mom saw these older women who were standing outside of the Canteen obviously freezing. My mom turned and talked to the women and I could see the gears turning in her head. I knew what was about to happen. It made no sense to me what she was about to do but she was going to do it. I'm around 3000% sure that my siblings had no idea what was about to transpire.... My mom told us to wait while she took the women home. She made us wait, in a city we know nothing about (we had only been living here a few years) while she brought three complete strangers home.
   I admit, this story doesn't seem that cool written down. Maybe you had to experience it, maybe you had to know my mom to really feel it, maybe it really is that cool and I just don't know it. I'm not too sure myself. What I do know is that the most compassionate thing I have ever seen in my entire life. That doesn't seem like what would be the coolest story (other than it being about my family) but it really really is.


I said once that I would consider my life a success if I grew up to be half the person my mom was and 9ish years later, I still stand by that.

Bad Token?

    I like being a token. What it means to me is that can seamlessly transition from any corner in America to any boardroom in America and feel completely comfortable. I know exactly how to relate to both drastically different segments of American society. It's actually really cool. I know very few people who I can take from the comfort group of the people they grew up in and transplant them into a completely different culture and they will be comfortable.  If this isn't something that you normally do I STRONGLY suggest starting to hang out with people who grew up totally different than you. No, not just not from across the country, but from a different ethnic group that you're not used to. It is the only real way to get rid of the fear that drives racism (no you're not racist... I didn't claim that!). Perfect example? I'm wary of hispanic people, mostly because I never really have a chance to hang out with them. 

   You know the hardest part about this token life? Keeping it real. No, not that "Keepin it real" where you have to act like a reggin do what group wants you to do. I mean in the midst of fitting it with various types of people, keeping who you ARE constant. There is nothing wrong with changing your vocabulary or your mannerisms, but when values and beliefs begin to change THAT is a problem. Yes, when I'm around professional people I just might open up my vocabulary and tighten up the Kings English but when I'm not around that group of people I'll speak in more slang. Nothing about me changes, just how I speak and carry myself. 

Word of the Day - Bollocks

Welcome, welcome, welcome to Token's second Word of the Day!!!!!!

Bollocks - (n; adj) Literally meaning testicles used more simply in this Token's everyday life as nonsense. Something may be described as and be bollocks. However, you cannot have a bollocks bunch of bollocks because that wouldn't make any sense and would be, by definition, bollocks.

Try that today, in your everyday life. When your boss tells you to do something you don't feel like doing just say bollocks!!! Chances are he won't know what in the seven realms of actual frick you are talking about anyway.

Fan Rules

   FOOTBALL BACK!! FOOTBALL BACK I got all these (people) yelling that FOOTBALL BACK UGH (Rick Ross voice)

   So a long, long time ago in a galaxy far far away a group of people got together to play a game. At the same time there were also a group of people who sat by and watched those people play a game. Those people were our fan ancestors, the first fans. In the beginning, the life of a sports fan was harsh, chaotic and brief. Then the sports Jesus aka Ray Allen descended upon us to give us fans rules to govern our allegiances. 

1. Thou Shalt NOT be a fan of "city A" in football and city "B" in basketball. 

   A perfect example of this are people who are Patriots fan and Yankee fans. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE????? You cannot like a New York team and a Boston team. NO NO NO!!!!!!!! The NEW YORK Yankee's HATE the BOSTON Red Sox so how can you root for a team in NY and Boston? 

Possibly a better example, I am a fan of THE Ohio State University. As such I hate any and all things Michigan. I don't give a damn for the WHOLE state of Michigan. This ties into commandment two.

2. Thou Shalt NOT be a front runner.

(Yankee fan, cowboy fan, Cavalier fan, Heat Fan)

    

You know those people who just sooo happen to be a fan of not just one successful team but LOTS of successful teams? That person who suddenly JUST became a Heat fan out of nowhere? Yea that guy. Don't be LeBron. LeBron is a fan of every singlesolitary successful sports team of his teenage years/ "America's Team". Fathers.... Raise your sons so you don't have to be embarrassed by this horrific trend.

3. Thou Shalt NOT be a Sports Bigamist. 

   Simply put, pick your favorite team and stick with it. You can't like the Cowboys in the NFC and Dolphins in the AFC. Pick a favorite team and you root solely for them. What happens if both of your teams wind up playing each other? Worse, what if it's a Super Bowl??? Nobody wants to hear about how you love both teams.

         - Admission of guilt... I love two teams. I have forced myself to give up my beloved Utah Jazz and remain loyal to the Celtics. Although, Karl Malone is the greatest player ever to play the game.

4.  Thou Shalt NOT covet thy neighbors team.

   If your friend likes a team that isn't your rival, leave that man alone. If he loses a big game don't rub his nose in it. Don't heap more abuse on him than you already need too. We've all lost a tough game... No need to rub it in. **All bets are off if he's a fan of a team that Universally hated (Yankee, Laker, Michigan) Or if he's been a real d*ck about it.

5. Thou Shalt hate Michigan.

(That is Osama Bin Laden and he is a Michigan fan.)

  

  Let me just get to the point. Michigan is an evil school. I suggest avoiding the entire state. The great Woody Hayes wouldn't stop to get gas in Michigan on recruiting trips because he didn't want to be in Michigan any longer than he had to.

That's it for now. I don't have all day to write this nonsense so sometime in the future I'll scribble some more sports commandments.

   

Token Struggles

 In the last post I defined a token is. In case you are still wondering if you are or aren't a token I will describe some of the struggles

In high school, did you find yourself conflicted over what table to sit at because all your "black friends" sat at one table and your "white friends" at another one? 

Were you in advanced classes and a significant portion of your friends not represented in those classes?

Have you ever had to restrict your vocabulary around your two separate groups of friends in order to be understood? (and sometimes accepted)

Do you regularly get invited to places where you are the only black person there? When you invite others to places where they are the only white person there do they make it known that it's uncomfortable?

Has anyone ever told you that you are well spoken?

Have you ever been called on to give the opinion of your ENTIRE race during a conversation that involves black people?

Have you ever been reluctant to order Hennessy in a bar out of fear of being labled?

Have you ever gone to a bar and been saddened that they didn't have Hennessy?

Do you not understand why it's a black stereotype to like fried chicken and watermelon when everybody agrees that fried chicken and watermelon are delicious? <~~~ That I just don't understand... AT ALL

   *** STORY TIIIIIIIIMMMMMEEEEEEE*** During my first deployment, I REFUSED to eat watermelon. I didn't eat it because I didn't want people to make fun of me... Even as they ate watermelon themselves. This stood for the entire deployment except when we were at a farm and a farmer gave us slices of watermelon. I don't care who you are, if a farmer gives you some FRESH off the vine watermelon and it's 120+ you will EAT THAT ISH!!!!

Have people ever made fun of you for getting good grades or speaking properly?

Do you have two entirely different sets of vocabulary to use with your two friend sets? (This is less so for me because more and more I seem to not hang out with degree less people)

Have you ever been accused of being "angry" when you're just speaking normally?

All of these (and probably more) are the struggles that I've gone through and go through as this token travels. I'm willing to be there are some non black tokens that experienced, are experiencing and will experience as those tokens travel.

Word of the Day- Token

Well since this is called token travels I might as well define what a token is. Oh, you know what a token is. You seen us everywhere. We are in your bars, your movies, in your classes and at your parties. So there we go!

Token: (n) A (historically black) person who is surrounded by (normally white) people. In modern movies the "token black guy" can be seen as the only black face in the whole movie (this is excellently made fun of in "Not Another Teen Movie). In everyday life you can see the token black guy nicely dressed in a bar in a nice area of town trying to fit in.



In other news, I'm going to see if I can have user id's from fb be able to comment.

How Far?

   At what point are you no longer helping someone and have started enabling their destructive lifestyle?  Obviously, you want to help people and see that they make strides to get their life on track and in many cases you will do whatever you need to facilitate that. At some point I think you reach a point when the things that you are doing to help that person are no longer helping them, indeed you are doing the exact opposite. Take for example a woman who we will call "Sara" who has not held a job in nearly a year, lives with "James" and pays what amounts to a pittance when she does have money. 

  In exchange for providing Sara with a roof over her head and food to eat and sometimes even childcare of Sara's baby James only asked that Sara clean. James did not think this to be a problem because Sara does not have a job. Yes, Sara would have to clean up after James sometimes in addition to other cleaning but it's only right because James is paying her living bills. James does all of this because he wants to see Sara progress and do something with her life. Partially because James loves Sara and wants to see her do well and partially so Sara can stop mooching off of him. The problem is that Sara hasn't done anything tangible besides talk a good game about doing something with her life. She isn't in school, doesn't seem to be looking for a job. On top of all of that Sara doesn't even clean up after herself properly. 

In this example, when is James doing Sara a disservice by allowing her self destructive lifestyle to continue? At what point does James tell Sara, look you either achieve "x" by "x" date or you have to get out and find your own road? What exactly are James' options here?

Obama fallout

   Is it just me or does anybody else see a serious uptick in racism since Obama got elected. No, I'm not talking about the political scene (which could be a post all by itself). I'm talking about the good old fashioned racism that you can do nothing about, the racism from your fellow everyday people. There have been well, over a few occasions since 4 November 2008 that I have experienced BLATANT racism... The kind that you cannot overlook even if you tried. When I returned home from my first deployment and went snowboarding in Vermont with a few of my fellow deployment friends we were denied service in a restaurant. Now, obviously they did not come out and say "reggin you are not welcome here" but they just didn't seat us. Several families were enjoying a delicious dinner and several employees walked out of the kitchen, saw us standing there and went about their business. In addition to this I have heard people saying and also calling me reggin. Many of the times this had led to physical altercations because I'm a prideful man and someone isn't going to call me reggin and have me not take my rage out on your face and chest region. Most of these stories I'll probably write about because some of them are pretty hilarious.

   Anyway, back to the title of this post. I think the reason that I've experienced so much racism recently is because of Obama. (Yes, I blame Obama for the uptick in racism just... Not like that.) I think that people are so angry that a black person is in office that the hidden racism that just wasn't "cool" before is rearing it's ugly head. I'm not naive enough to think that it ever went away, just that it went underground and Obama's election made it bubble to the surface. Think about it, if you were a closet racist who thought that you were intrinsically better than another group of people and the most powerful man in the world was the head of your country, wouldn't you look for revenge.

   I'll end this with a story.... On November 4, 2008 I was in Talil, Iraq. I was living outside at the airport a football field or so from where planes were landing. Eight of us were waiting to go back to glorious, glorious America. Of course I knew that the election results would be in so I woke up at 7am (technically on the 5th from my standpoint) to see the results come in. After learning that Obama won I quickly left our area to go get breakfast, arms up in the air TRIUMPHANT!!!!! When I got to the dining facility I was SHOCKED to see grown men crying... Not cause they were happy either, because their Commander In Chief was black.

   Outrageous isn't it.

How I'll Know When I Made it.

   This is my first post and I have no idea how much I will be putting into blogging continuously. Hopefully, I'll keep this going and it won't be relegated into the depths of potentially incriminating nonsense that makes up most of the internet. Anyway, I'm a token and I've been traveling this token life for a while now. Most of this will be from my perspective.

   Anyway, I'm kinda broke. Not really broke as in "where will we be living soon" but "my bills take all my money and my job sucks my soul right out of me" broke. Is that even broke? I'm not sure. Anyway, this is how I'll know I made it.

I know I've made it when you can walk around in shorts in my house in the wintertime cause my house is warm.

I know I've made it when I can leave the lights on in my house and not worry about the electric bill.

I know I've made it (at least partially) when I can tell people where I work with pride.

These are just a few of the things that I'l be able to identify when I've "made it"... I'll let you know if it ever does.