humanity
The real lives of businessmen, professionals, the everyday man, stay at home parent, healthy lifestyle influencers, and general feel good human stories.
Little Black Book
Imma Poor Kid In A Home Of Hate. Some Nights I Was Allowed In And Some Nights I Was Not. Some Nights I Was Allowed To Eat, And Some Nights I Was Not. I Have Been Trying To Find A Job And Make My Way Out But Nobody Wants A, At The Time, Seventeen Year Old Who Wears Raggedy Clothes And Probably Smells. So I Just Dreamt Of Money And Getting Away From This Monstrous House Of Mines. I Said Dreamt Meaning, In A Past Tense Cause Now I Am Somewhere Better Sitting On Money. And I Am Still Shocked On How It Happened.
By Lucille Blount5 years ago in Journal
Addressing Love and Letters
The truck roared to life again….that is, if you could say life. Tom wasn’t sure how much of a life it was to only stop and start, stop and start all day long. Yet, that’s what this mail truck has been doing...seemingly since before he was born. One day, he thought, he would take this baby out for a long drive, let her see the world beyond her assigned blocks and the post office parking lot.
By Katie Hernon5 years ago in Journal
to dream or not to dream
“College is the key that will open all the doors to success and fulfillment of your dreams.” “Only through a good college education will you be able to land your dream job.” These are the statements that guided me throughout my years of high school. What I should have been told is that the hard part is getting into the right college and declaring the right major, the harder part is getting through college and paying for it, but the hardest part is actually landing your dream job after college, especially when you have no idea what your dream job is or if it even exists. I followed all the steps that I was supposed to. I graduated high school with honors, received multiple scholarships, went to a good university, and graduated only one semester late. I thought to myself “the next step is finding the dream job...or at least a job that I’ll enjoy.” Little did I know that only two months after graduating, a worldwide pandemic would wreak havoc on the world as we knew it. People would begin to lose their jobs, their homes, their lives. We would be quarantined inside our respective spaces for months, anxiety-ridden, fearing what the future would hold. Covid was an unknown, unexpected curveball thrown into the mix and unfortunately, we could not ignore the chaos it entailed and the struggles that would follow even a year later.
By Kimberly O'Brien5 years ago in Journal
Yet another treasure hunt
Having heard so much about "The Bins" from her cohorts and comrades in the creative community, curiousity and a deep-seated frugal nature demanded she explore. Horror stories had filtered down from disgruntled employees she'd met, so the mega-thriftstore had subconsiously slipped to the bottom of her preferred spots to bargain shop. Despite the anti-coporate stance she'd acquired as a 1960s survivor, having survived for years in poverty made such bargain-hunts a sweet indulgence for this grandma of five.
By Lindsey Grant5 years ago in Journal
The Captain's Log
“Drop anchor here,” Eugene barked from the stern of the Mele Kai. I scurried to undo the clove hitch and drop the beat-up anchor off the port side. I had become a quick study in the art of fishing. What had started as an impromptu summer job had quickly morphed into a daily ritual. Each day I would wake with the dawn and meet Eugene down at the boat-slip, his grizzled frownlines growing deeper into his sea-worn face as the sun climbed higher into the sky. His barked orders about the slack mainstay and the state of the tack, which had once been my constant companions, began to quiet as I gained my sea legs.
By Alexandra Olivero5 years ago in Journal
Services Offered by an NGO for Social Change and Development
Social change involves initiatives that focus on the betterment of society and all of its citizens. Such a change requires dedication and constant efforts. Facilitating social development for the benefit of people is the main objective of most Non-Governmental Organizations. Their focus lies in several areas, including education, healthcare, finances etc. These programs work towards the betterment of the underprivileged sections of society that are left ignored by other agencies.
By Vishal Kumar5 years ago in Journal
Drawing a Blank
Do you ever feel absurdly alone? I do. I feel it when I am surrounded by faces possessed by the most beautiful of stories. I will never know them, but I daydream about their possibilities. How outrageous is it to fantasize about the adventures constructed by Hemingway and Austin, when I am at a complete lack of words myself?
By Emma Bradley-Island5 years ago in Journal
I BEEN BLACK
Being a black business owner has been a consistent spiral of possibilities, leading to new connections with others like minded in their own personal projects. I studied graphic design at the university of illinois urbana champaign, but I didn’t finish. I was busy caring for a loved one who is now an angel, But my love for art never ended. I notice that I am not the only one in my field there are so many talented and skilled creatives giving me competitions for customers. Seeing my brother improve himself didn’t make me want to be better than him, but to be better than myself everytime I do something new. Soon there was an abroad group of people who noticed not just my attention to detail, but the hard work I would put in on assignments. In the black businesses I would work for lacked many things, including the lack of respect for their employees. A level of selfishness consumes my community, most of us have to learn this phrase “there ain’t nothing in these streets” the hardway. My area is surrounded by abandoned buildings, torn down by the dreams that built them. I learned what it meant to own a small business, mixing this with friendship could lead to self doubt then giving up; however, from the ashes we rise. I learned that you don’t stop living and new ideas come and become last week's newspaper, the experience showed me what I should do better from that point on in my life. My passion for art only grew with every mole hill, which seemed so much bigger when I was younger. I outgrew jealousy of the next big thing because I am one of many rising stars, but only seen when the sun sets. No one can carry the number one headband forever, there are kids younger than me writing featured films. My love for music showed me the redundancy of life, how everything follows a certain pattern like a math equation. I could manipulate what I know, producing different outcomes. Experimenting is how you find new things, my interest in science only made me want to dissect in detail everything that makes music. I eventually learned that as an artist confidence in yourself is gaining the ability to share your mind and way of thinking with other people. To be transparent with others is showing your vulnerability and compassion for them. Reflecting on myself has shown me history is important; it tracks the progress of life regardless of how that life is lived. For history to exist a series of events must happen, meaning you must do something whether you fail or succeed there is data to be analyzed. Doing nothing will result in the absence of experience, with experience you're more likely to get it right the next time you do it. Having a business takes trial and error, the hardest part about it is bouncing back after taking a loss that alters the way you think. This process is called “Reinventing yourself”, where you sort out the data producing new questions leading to many hypotheses. Guessing what things do and how they work before doing them produces information on whether you were right or not. This helps with adaptation, finding what’s wrong and adjusting your game plan, if you find yourself where you were then your path is no different than the staircases that lead to more stairs. Walking on a familiar path leads to the same result which isn’t always bad, and as society gets more advanced you notice the staircases moving. This is the moment when direction is lost, being a talented person surrounded by other skilled individuals I could do the wrong thing. Stab my brother or sister in the back for pennies when I can work hard on myself like my video game avatars. As a black business man my advice is to learn from your failures and you’ll always have new ideas in the positive direction. You are robbing yourself of your moment by choosing the “easiest” may not be as fulfilling as the long route, so let your awareness of responsibility grow overtime.
By La’Garyus Bonney5 years ago in Journal
