Mel Hopkins

You really do crack me up... you disagree but intuitively hit on all the right notes. (You know that’s why I hang around here... it’s like manna for my 3rd eye) It’s not a spiritual mecca because it’s home to financial markets - it’s home to financial markets because of its spiritual energy. Thank you for reminding me - 😊 By the way, does Dallas have a Giant Ferris Wheel ? Oh never mind - I guess the churches aren’t working - they have plans for their own Giant Ferris wheel on the water.. (I didn’t even know Dallas had a body of water lol! Welp, now they’re getting their own Sun Dial... to Join London, New York, Dubai, Chicago , and the list goes on

@Troy, I kind of feel sorry for you - most likely when you marry again it will be to some PYT and you will have to revisit fatherhood again... That is another thing that hasn’t changed. Yes, I’m casting a wide net with my generalizing but if a woman wants to marry these days it’s for financial asset growth and babies! As for your comment lol - my mother always says, “men come into this world through the Pu-C and spend the rest of the life working to get back in it.” 😊

THE ARTS and OCEAN! - New York is a spiritual mecca - it is situated on energy vortex that I think I’ve only felt in Peru and Rome... (I’ve never been to African or Australian continent )

Me too! And She’s on my list to read too! Thank you for introducing her!

When I read the Hugo caption I thought about Octavia Butler too! However, I was thrilled two black women won the coveted award. Thank you for the follow-up. I thought about it but didn’t care enough to find out since I’m not a huge fan of awards.

That’s the best part! I used to love having men finance my entertainment. There is no shortage of men willing to take a woman out on a great date. And I’ve been on a few - my daughter called one of dates a “bae-cation” because we went to Peru for a week. Another date - was so good it was the end of all dates because I know no man can top it. Further, dating just to date gets old fast. I find that most men bore me for the very reason you’ve expressed @Troy - They can’t shake the hack ... and so to sit across from a shell of a man who has been socially engineered to the point that he doesn’t know who he is - is heartbreaking. I’ve been single longer than any relationship I’ve ever been in, including my marriage - and I’m good. So, unless, I meet my wealthy prince charming and marry him -this woman is leaving the planet the same way I arrived.

I left the black church back in the early 80s... why would any woman listen to some man spew misogynist bs. I Also left because I’m not into worshipping Ha’Satan.. It never made sense to me to give equal time to an entity that according to scripture work for but is no where near the greatness of THE ALL. The reverend at my church helped baptize me into the First Christian disciple of Christ denomination -and they don’t mention the accuser in sermon, song or praise or worship. Only thing I missed was some “ Sanging”. I can’t imagine black american women are actually leaving the church - but i can see the young women not joining in the first place.

Inspiring fitness stories! I’ve done this so many times in my life, I’m embarrased by it. Especially since I usually fall off the wagon by year 3. These women came here to slay! Bravo to them and much success to you @Chevdove !

Hangs-man noose and the word nigger weren’t chosen black Americans nor did they give either meaning. However the symbol and language incites fear and triggers anxiety in an individual or in a group dynamic. This may interfere with their decision-making abilities and in no way can they divorce themselves from it. But to be clear it was never their choice. However, those who did choose to create the symbol and the language have done a great job of divorcing themselves from it. In fact, they’ve created a whole tiki-torch carrying group and assigned it to them. So again, decision (strike down) choice - to perceive. Now i’ll agree outside forces can interfere with our decision making abilities ... but even then, there are ways to keep outside influences at bay.

why when you , @Delano explained it perfectly in the Cynique’s Kaepernick post when you spoke of the genius of Apple - which is an old symbol made new again... They’ve made a conscious effort to “fit in” with a group - I’d even say that it’s a choice because they perceive themselves an identity that goes with being an Apple head.

Symbols. Except I’ve never experienced group think - but rather people trying on “identity”

They aren’t shapers but rather tools to communicate. Like someone mentioned in another post “code” - you learn a code you don’t necessarily think in the communal code. Even in the same immediate family there are nuances that are unique to each. So, as I mentioned earlier - language shaping thoughts is a concept/theory- I reject. I especially reject the notion that without language there can’t be thoughts...language is an expression of thoughts - and it’s lousy at best. Still, if we spend all day discussing this, it won’t change the genus of choice/ choosing is in perceiving/creating.

I’m not the arbiter of what someone perceives. Perception is personal. Perception happens through my senses. I can perceive the world how I choose. -BUT I cannot perceive what another receives. I can only decide to accept or reject the interpretation of what someone else perceives. I.e, you perceive the sky to be cerulean blue - I decide it’s not. The spider analogy is to illustrate even if you’re locked up in a cell - you’re still free to choose even when there is nothing left for you to decide upon.

@Delano this question excites me! First, understand I’m answering this in the spirit that what you’ve written is a theory and not a fact. If it were everyone in the culture would be exactly the same. This forum would simply be an echo chamber and we would have nothing to contribute. - Our thought process is NOT a function of language and culture...our thoughts are independent of communication. It is only when we seek to transmit to another what we’ve conjured up does it get tricky. When I think, dream or even contenplate it is in symbols and pictures - and then attempt to translate what I have envisaged into a symbol someone can understand. BUT none of that is predicated on our ability to think freely.

Why isn’t that free will. Who controls my perception or your perception for that matter? Who controls what you think? And how you process what you conjure up? But anyway this is the difference between choice or decision. You read what i wrote ... and decided against it (“strike down” ) you didn’t choose it because you couldn’t. You can only choose what you create - but you didn’t create my response. So, now you have your answer as to why people think they have a choice - - in most situations since people rarely think for themselves - they don’t choose. They merely decide on commentary.

Choice is always an option because it is dependent on nothing but thought. Choice is about you and your perception. As long as you can imagine you can choose. God forbid, if you were locked up in an 8 x 10 cell 23 1/2 hours a day you could still choose. Without getting too deep - in that cell you could envisage the perspective of a spider... you can choose to determine how a spider exist in the world... drawing on everything you witnessed about a spider before lock up - you can choose to create and recreate a spider like life.. You can’t decide to become a spider - it’s not a option for us based on our biological makeup - but you can choose to live out your days attempting to become the highest life of spider - you can. That’s choice. That’s exercising “free will”.

@Kalexander2 Because words matter. Some confuse the words “choose” and “ decide” . We are free to choose but deciding is limited to the options available. Case in point, the origin of choice is “perceive” . If we go back to the old english meaning - choice actually meant “free will” so to choose is to exercise free will. The origin of decide is “cutting off”. In fact when you look at the Proto-Indo- European root word caedre - from where decide originates - we see the origin is to “strike down” - as in getting rid of the options. Therefore, a man or woman chooses to run for president. We, the electorate, decide whether he or she will represent us.

@Delano I would agree and high-five this statement but black american men got the right to vote here in the U.S. before white women. Only white 'spinsters' could enter contracts and own property but still couldn't vote. Meanwhile white married women were still considered chattel almost two scores after slavery ended. But yes, today black men earn 70 cent on the dollar that white men earn - down from the 80 cents - a few years ago. Today, white women earn 80.5 cent on a dollar...so economically and socially, everyone in America (and apparently abroad) believe they can ish on black women.

@Troy I just saw this on Ingramspark distribution page - "Entering into exclusive deals with Amazon and beyond limits your distribution and your book’s potential reach. While Amazon is a very large part of overall book sales, it is not the whole marketplace and we recommend not wagering your book’s future by ignoring every other retail option. Doing so could be turning your back on potential sales." 😄 Seriously, I'm so glad that aalbc is in the printing business too - because amazon is on some crazy ish! @Troy when I had a kindle book through amazon, I didn't enter any agreements that required them to have exclusive rights. For example, if an author agreed to the rent a book type program, I think it's called "Amazon prime reading" then you had to give amazon exclusive rights to your digital book. There was another program they promoted too but I can't remember the name. Needless to say I said "no". I don't give away my rights to anyone. ( I barely like writing "work for hire" lol). Anyway, I removed my books in 2014 or 2016, I think, because I didn't like the path Amazon was heading down.

Here's a perfect example of what I was referring to earlier. This comment was in response to my answer about a low point in my flight attendant career. As far as society is concerned, black women aren't allowed to display human frailties. This is what Serena has been dealing with her whole career but on a global scale. It is actually more than frustrating; it's infuriating. But as the Angel Maya Angelou wrote "Still [we] rise". typical. You are American so you can et away wit anything bc you're black. You are propagating the reality in your country tat black American females are aggressive and cannot control themselves. I am glad you shared this. o hand btw try tis in Europe sweetie and you will be fined or arrested. black women are not allowed to attack anyone especially white women in beautiful cultured Europe. no black entitlement special status bc of slavery tat happened 200 yrs ago wen black on white crime is the norm. which is why I live in Western Europe.<3 you do your job THEY should have fired you. Any classy airline would but you work for an American company. you are incompetent and bc you are black they are afraid to. psycho. You are a servant in the air nothing more. Quora https://www.quora.com/As-a-flight-attendant-whats-the-dirtiest-thing-you-have-done-during-a-flight/answer/Mel-Hopkins-1/comment/72884111?__nsrc__=4&__snid3__=3214182566

D. All of the above.

CreateSpace and KDP to Become One Service CreateSpace and Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) are becoming one service--making KDP the single place to publish and manage your print and digital books. To learn more about the move, see the topics below. Lulu.com has their own take how this merger may impact the independent publishing world and it doesn't look too favorable.

@Troy As a black american woman, I'm used to the double sometime triple standard that we operate under. Black american women are regulated to the "de mule uh de world" position in this society- so anytime I hear of us doing well; I cheer. However, if we do too well we become targets. Therefore, this cartoon doesn't surprised me and neither does exaggerating the physical features of the darker woman in contrast to the drawing of a petite fair-skinned blond-hair allegedly subservient women . It's par for course when others seek to put us black american women in our place. Sadly, it appears to be working too. So many black women in my twitter timeline are truly butthurt. As for me - I ain't got time for it. Amazon has just merged Create Space and Kindle Direct Publishing. There are far too many gullible writers in the world looking for the easy button that won't see that this merger will ultimately hurt independent publishers. So later for that stupid cartoon...we folks who like to keep control of our intellectual property are busy right now.

@ChevdoveI do owe you my notes which I'm still gathering to package. In the meantime, I found this some time ago and used some of the information to create the "fictional" events in my novel. I haven't verified all these accounts but it appears you have; so you might find this interesting - HISTORIA AFRICANA calendar that begins in 100,000 bce to the present. http://www.africanfront.org/calendar.php Just in case someone changed some, I copied and pasted every single page for my files. And I posted it here too http://thedailymindf-ck.blogspot.com/2011/10/historia-africana-part-i.html http://thedailymindf-ck.blogspot.com/2011/10/historia-africana-part2.html http://thedailymindf-ck.blogspot.com/2011/10/historia-africana-part-3.html http://thedailymindf-ck.blogspot.com/2011/10/historia-africana-part-4.html