:: Aham Prema ::

We all have a past with moments that we treasure and experiences that we wish went completely differently.  But that's behind us now and that's where it should stay.   Everyday is a new day.   Every decision can change your life.  It sounds hokey pokey, I know, and you've heard it before - but it's true!   So get a clear perspective.  Get over your limited thoughts. What weighs heavy in your heart today?   Think about it.  Slow down and do it, now.  Or just pay attention and you'll know very soon.  I'm sure you know right now. Why do you let it stay that way?  Why do you carry these burdens in your heart for any length of time at all? God didn't bring you to these challenges for you to keep them inside.   You don't have to figure out everything all by yourself.  You don't think that, right?  You have so many resources available to you.  You have got to see the reflection in this situation to soften ...

From my American Studies 301 Class: American Character.  Lawrence Levine writes, a Culture is not a fixed condition but a process: the product of interaction between the past and present. Its toughness and resiliency are determined not by a culture's ability to withstand change, but by its ability to react creatively and responsively to the realities of a new situation. (Levine, Black Culture and Black Consciousness, p. 5, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1978).  Using Levine''s idea as a jumping-off point, below I discuss the emergence of the musical form "the blues" as a response to the situation in which Blacks found themselves in the generations following emancipati on. The blues gradually emerged in African-American culture as a response to their daily life after emancipation.  Freed slaves ran into a whole new set of struggles with emancipation.  They learned that they were not free to enjoy life at all and had extreme hardships to overcome.  A...