Category: #PrayforLove Series

Baltimore Artists Expose CM.Ball Festival Organizer as Scammer Bringing Awareness to Fraudulent Business Practices and Misogyny

The 5th Annual CM Ball Music Festival was cut short after the owner of CM.Pops Ky McCoy’s mistreatment towards Saxophonist Rachel Winder post her scheduled Saturday night performance at the culture festival. Days later, a social media protest emerges bringing awareness to allegations of fraudulent practices and misogynistic abusive behavior against female performers of the festival. Spoken word poet Maya Camille and artist Amorous Ebony support artists in a Cash App campaign to pay performers not compensated for their participation in the event.   

Just short of a week following the blow-up of the Stardust Music Festival, Baltimore women speak out about abuse in the Baltimore arts community at another music festival held during Labor Day weekend. Allegations of fraudulent business practices by McCoy emerge on social media days after artists flock to social media with feedback of the culture festival. Maya Camille, the activist, and representative for Rachel Winder published a series of tweets outing abusive and dismissive business practices with the event’s promoter.

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The CM.Ball, as stated on the website, is “an annual celebration of Baltimore creators and entrepreneurs presented by food startup cm.pops.” It’s a complete DIY community-based art project in its 5th year taking a stance to educate on health, environmental, and social issues while stimulating the economy of small businesses and artists. A few Baltimore artists to perform at the CM.Ball in previous years is Blaqstarr, Kotic Couture, Ducky Dynamo, Baby Kahlo, Miss Kam, and many more Baltimore-based talent.

Maya calls Ky McCoy out to be a con via her Twitter. “CM Ball is a scam. Ky doesn’t pay artists. He is a disrespectful, unprofessional, who uses the iota of clout he has to scam artists,” she shares in her first tweet about business handlings with McCoy. She tweets nine days after Rachel Winder and numerous other artists were not paid for their performances. Maya also shares that McCoy blocked her and Winder as followers from the CM.Ball Instagram account when contacted about payment. She further explains on her Instagram McCoy’s belligerent behavior during the event. 

Ray Winder retweets Maya saying McCoy is “a true scammer and doesn’t know how to treat artists.” She follows up in another tweet a picture of McCoy. “This dude is a heartless and Spineless scammer. He’s blocked by several other artists. But He doesn’t know it’s not that simple.”

Maya and Winder’s disclosure of a scam artist sparked a wave of concerns from other performers that weekend. Some artists share their personal reviews via their social media accounts. Cash Liss, the founder of Tortilla Gurl, a small black Baltimore artist collective devoted to covering local artists in Baltimore’s arts scene, published a text conversation with McCoy to her Instagram Story. The conversation was a response after contacting McCoy about her payment. The conversation was later shared on singer and producer :3ION’s Twitter account. 

This public mishandling led to a “Cash App Roll Call” for artists not compensated for working the CM.Ball Music Festival. Maya led the campaign to raise money for Winder. A number of artists went to action sharing each other’s social media handles in support of the profit they lost. Cash Liss gave thanks to the artists who supported her in her hesitation to share her personal account with McCoy.

Say Her Name Coalition is a foundation that prides itself in “continuing the work of affirming, empowering, uplifting and fighting for the visibility and livelihood of Black women and femmes.” As stated on their website, “they seek to smash respectability politics, patriarchal and white supremacy systems, misogynoir.” When Amorous Ebony, activist, and founder of Say Her Name Coalition, caught wind of the debate between Cash Liss and McCoy, she expressed with us in an email, she personally reached out to Cash Liss to donate payment towards her performance “after seeing the disgusting texts.” 

We contacted McCoy for comments about the social media protest, and when or whether artists will receive payment from CM.Ball. Doc’s Castle Media is yet to receive a response.

How To Support Black Women and Femmes in Baltimore Community

We wondered if there would be future efforts to raise money for helping artists impacted in situations like this. Ebony shares with us she’s “open with connecting and organizing to support them with a separate fund.” There currently are no campaigns with the organization specifically for artists impacted by this incident. In the meantime, the Say Her Name Coalition is a great place to start if you’re looking to support Black women and femmes facing similar challenges. It is their mission is to end violence against Black women and femmes within this city!

Support the Say Her Name Coalition. 

#PrayForLove: Baltimore Women Demand You to Speak Up Against the Sexual Abuse in Baltimore Arts Community

Article Updated: September 13, 2021

Labor Day weekend Basement Rap Artist Butch Dawson celebrated the release of the album Stardust. The Stardust Music Festival took place at the YNot Lot. However, the celebration was short-lived as protesters put a halt to the event speaking out against Karlos Locke, alleged sexual abuser of 20 women within the Baltimore arts community. 

A video surfaced on Twitter and retweeted over 120 times, of performers demanding protestors leave the music festival for the disturbance. Protestors are seen in the video holding a white sign with red lettering that says “1 Man + 20 Victims.” Protestors called to bring awareness to sexual assault in the Baltimore arts community. Karlos Locke, former manager for Butch Dawson and numerous other artists under the Basement Rap label, is the alleged rapist in over 20 Baltimore women accusations. 

Numerous other videos surfaced on social media displaying disorderly conduct and commotion amongst the crowd. In one video, Butch Dawson is seen provoking violence towards demonstrators saying “I ain’t got nothing to do with no motherfucking rape….Y’all doing all this performative stupid ass bullshit…. If y’all don’t want to support me, don’t support me. Anybody say something negative, pop one of these motherfucker, yo.” A supporter of the protests yells “stop gaslighting,” as a response. Another video raised concerns of safety as one individual on the stage was seen flashing a weapon towards the crowd. The event ended early due to the disruption. 

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Later, Basement Rap states the artist flashing the gun to the crowd as a non-affiliate to the label in a photo published to their IG Story.

Butch Dawson’s Apology

Two days following the Stardust Music Festival, the Basement Rap brand released a public announcement addressing actions that took place that evening. 

Butch Dawson also released a statement further apologizing for how he handled events that occurred that evening, disassociating his affiliation with Karlos Locke and the CMND Group, and apologizing to all the women in his life. He, later in the week, deleted the video along with remaining photos on his Instagram page.

Source: Butch Dawson’s Instagram

DMV Artists affiliated with the free festival apologize for the position they played during the protest. Miss Kam and Detranada published video apologies to their social media channels while artist Kelow Latesha and numerous other performers personally reached out to supporters of the event regarding how they responded to the protest during the show. Journalist and creator of A Ride Down 95 Kosso is spotted in a video shoving one of the protestors on stage. He also released an apology video. Later in the week, he deleted the video from his Instagram profile.

Source: comment under a supporter’s Instagram post.

Baltimore Curators Speaking Against Sexual Assault in Baltimore

Following the commotion, at the Ynot Lot Saturday evening, event curators and small businesses in Baltimore Station North Arts District postponed shows and made public stances on their social media accounts to stand in solidarity with those silenced and to find solutions that’ll resolve conflicts inflicted upon underrepresented communities.

Mia is the co-founder of Invisible Majority, a “Baltimore-based creative community incubator providing space, services, and support to Baltimore’s independent creative business community.” She often shares her opinions via her social media channels. In her video shared on her business Instagram profile, she shares her support with those who were silenced at the Stardust event. Mia talks about supporting the women in the movement brave enough to stand against sexual abuse, the importance of holding people accountable when wrong is being done, and why this is such a vital time to ensure that we stop injustices brewing in the art scene.

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City Beach, a group of artists and event curators known for the Pretty Beach and Heathen Beach Drag Shows, postponed the Strange Family Variety Show to use as a time of reflection. Curators will use the time to send surveys to supporters in the Baltimore Arts community for feedback in order “to hold themselves accountable as event curators, space holders, and humans in this city to ensure that moving forward [they] can be a safe and secure space for everyone to feel heard and welcomed.”

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Previous Doc’s Thumbs Up feature Kotic Couture publicly announced their break, as well, deciding to pause performances and withdraw from the majority of their upcoming bookings. 

Sexual Abuse is Unacceptable

How unfortunate it is to write about a #MeToo moment in my very own neck of the woods. It’s unfortunate, but not surprising because the majority of women face sexual assault, especially in the professional environment. There’s no exception to the Baltimore arts community. There is no right or wrong way, or time, for exploiting intolerable and inappropriate behavior such as sexual abuse. Silencing someone’s choice to speak out against it does more detriment to an individual’s mental health than finding a resolution. Seeing the protestors brutally treated as if their words are falling on deaf ears is an outrage! 

As a woman myself, I can speak as a victim of sexual abuse throughout my working career. I stand with the women silenced during the Stardust Music Festival. I understand that I have a platform I can bring awareness to this injustice that these 20 victims and many other women face. This is why I chose to document the demonstration using Doc’s Castle Media. It’s important that women, AND MEN, speak up and use available resources to spread the word about sexual assault to stop biases and corruption within the arts community.

I am not associated with the protest that took place during Stardust, but I am a listening ear to those ignored. Sexual assault is unacceptable. It is intolerable. All in all, abusers must be held accountable.

What do you think? How can we make sure that the Baltimore Arts Community has the resources for victims of sexual abuse? Leave your thoughts below.

American Idol Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon Lead Aspiring Songwriters in Baltimore Workshop

Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon is an awesome talent to watch from Baltimore who once graced our television screen on season 17 of ABC’s American Idol in 2019. Now he’s back in town with the help of the Baltimore County Arts Guild to teach aspiring songwriters how to compose their very own successful ballads.

Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon
Photo Sources: Jeremiah Lloyd’s Instagram

Jeremiah’s story touches my heart because of the personal connection I have with him growing up being once a part of the congregation his dad preaches. I’ve followed and supported Jeremiah for as long as I could remember. Way past the point of our grade school days as we both grew up in the same church community attending the same Sunday school, Awana Club Meetings, and Vacation Bible School services in Baltimore, MD since our wee single-digit years. I never knew what Jeremiah was experiencing dealing with the pressures of being the son of the pastor until his appearance on American Idol where he briefly shares his tribulations, and later in a documentary “The Mirror Will Take Us Home” that focuses on his life growing up as a pastor’s kid.

Despite whatever Jeremiah has been through, I remember him being the talented singer whose voice always shined radiantly Sunday mornings whenever he sang his solos before each sermon. Such a beautiful voice that has sparked an interest in my heart to keep up with his journey well into our later years, even in our bump in collaborations with Today’s 101.9. I’m here to lend my support as another artist in Baltimore proud of the odds that he still chooses to rise above. This is why Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon gets a shout out on Doc’s Castle Media.

Photo Source: Today’s 101.9 Entercom Baltimore

Jeremiah, as a contestant on American Idol, performed while his family rejected him in his desire to pursue a musical career. His story touched the hearts of millions, even pop star Katy Perry when she shared her experiences growing up as a pastor’s kid. His passion for music leads us now with a great opportunity to possibly have his musical genius rub off on us with the rare opportunity to participate in his songwriting workshop in Catonsville. 

This isn’t the first time Jeremiah has gotten involved and shown his support for the Arts and performance district in Catonsville, MD. Jeremiah has contributed to donating to two arts and entertainment organizations, The Listening, Inc. and The Catonsville Clubhouse. He also teaches online using The JLH Songwriting and Vocal Scholarship Fund to help aspiring musicians “afford an opportunity at expanding their artistic abilities in his online community through songwriting workshops and one-on-one voice coaching.” During the mid pandemic, Jeremiah hosted the 1st series of virtual songwriters workshop with the Baltimore County Arts Guild in the Summer and Fall months of 2020. Wrapping up his first workshop, participants performed in a virtual recital during the holiday season sharing what they came up with while enrolled in the course. Now he’s back with another 8-week session that will conclude with another live recital of new music.

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Jeremiah’s dedication to pursuing his passions motivates me to share with my readers as a #PrayforLove message. I’m big on believing that God does things in people’s lives to show us how to define the true meaning of “love.” Jeremiah’s story is no exception. He should continue striving to share the talent that God gave him through any adversity. His story is inspiring and it’s important for other people to see. It speaks deeply to someone in ways unimaginable. Though his life may have some turn of events, God still provided him with what he needed, which is a positive and much larger community accepting of his gifts. But now also a gift along with a story of acceptance and encouragement for many others seeking inspiration. We actually need more #PrayForLove moments like this.

Listen to the new single “Mama, I Don’t Wanna Go to Nashville ” by Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon via all streaming services or at www.jeremiahlloydharmon.com. 

http://www.instagram.com/p/CJ6dww2Bak5/?igshid=n5bxmmy73t5t

What do you think? Do you know any more Catonsville art natives? Share in the comments below.

#PrayForLove: Visit Loring Cornish’s #ICantBreathe Exhibition at How Great Thou Art Gallery

On another walk around Baltimore, I came across another outside art exhibition like the Black Lives Matter Mural in Patterson Park in September. This time in Baltimore’s Fell Point to get out of the house for a bit and visit Sound Garden to browse some vinyl and old flicks. A trip well spent because I bought some cool new socks. But also set my eyes upon a beautiful exhibit at the How Great Thou Art Gallery worthy of a PrayForLove highlight on Doc’s Castle Media. Baltimore Mosaic Artist Loring Cornish creates I Can’t Breathe outside exhibition to bring attention to police brutality.

Last month, we were hit with the devastating news of Breonna Taylor’s verdict. And just like when I scroll my social feeds, days later, I strolled by a reminder, in person, that we’re still in the midst of a war with police policy and reform. I’m tired.

Cornish exhibit is a pause in time. It makes you think. I took a moment of silence before I visited the Sound Garden next door. I saw all the names of victims fallen by police brutality represented by burning candles just under the “I can’t fucking breathe” sign. George Floyd and Breonna Taylor’s pictures displayed large as day with words of frustration and “I will never understand” written in all caps all around them. This case is the loudest breakthrough we’ve had in recent years. Two pictures of Breonna Taylor stand directly along side the burning candles. The exhibit makes me upset. The build-up of all of this has gone on far too long. I don’t understand, either. So I pause to take it in.

The exhibit is getting quite the buzz as people share their experiences on their social media using the hashtag #LoringCornish. On Instagram, there are over 500+ shared posts of Loring Cornish’s exhibit. 

Cornish had many other exhibitions focusing on race and police in previous years. In 2015 following the death of Freddie Gray, Cornish decorated a police box in Station North “to bring attention to police operating practices that have made millions of Americans uncomfortable.” He also received national attention for his Black “lynched” doll exhibition in response to Eric Gardner, Walter Scott, and Michael Brown. Cornish used his passion and talent to raise awareness of police brutality throughout the decade.

The How Great Thou Art Gallery is owned by Cornish and is the home to a plethora of beautiful creations made by the Mosaic artist himself. Check out more art at the Loring Cornish website.

“I will never understand,” either. Would you visit this exhibition? Leave your comments below.

#PrayForLove: Support #BLM Murals in Patterson Park & The North Avenue Window Joint for September 2020

Outside art exhibitions are one of the best things to emerge out of this 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. I spotted another art exhibit in Baltimore worth visiting if you’re looking for something to do but still want to social distance. Patterson Park is holding Black Live Matter Murals after recent George Floyd protests in Minneapolis.

Photo Credit: CtrlMyCamera

The “invisible enemy” Covid-19 has required businesses of all industries to maneuver differently because infection rates in America are at record-breaking highs. Restaurants, bars, casinos, and nightlife are closed or open with limited capacity throughout the state of Maryland. It wasn’t until last Friday, September 4th, Governor Larry Hogan announced Maryland is ready to move forward into phase 3 of reopening. As news that infection rates continue to rise in Baltimore city, there doesn’t seem to be any new changes with the city moving fully forward into Phase 2. Restaurants dining increased to operating at 50% capacity or with outside dining. Masks are required in every place of retail. Baltimore city must continue operating like there is a huge risk at stake.

There are precautions being taken at many Maryland businesses, and new creative avenues are being explored for how to continue conducting business as usual. For art galleries and museums, there are fundraisers, window exhibitions, and virtual workshops considered as options in this industry during these trying times. In Baltimore, there is no exception. Art lovers can find alternative options to continue enjoying popping up all over the city. Labor Day weekend, Baltimore creative Alanah Nichole hosted The North Avenue Window Joint opening reception for the window exhibition at the Impact Hub in support of financially helping artists during the pandemic.

Source: The North Avenue Window Joint/ Station North Facebook

The North Avenue Window Joint will be in Impact Hub on North Avenue until October 31st. 

Companies opened for business highly encourage patrons to take safety precautions by practicing social distancing with face masks and utilizing hygiene stations. But at the start of the pandemic, it never crossed my mind how a virus could affect almost every social activity humans partake. It’s really changing how we operate in our daily lives. I see people being affected, and for the first time, I saw the entire world react in either fight or flight mode. It’s weird that we’re still in the midst of it, but also awesome to see how new opportunities are created.

[Read: Baltimore Creatives Become Forefront Activists for the Perception of Baltimore Housing and Community Change (Support Vacants Tour and The People United Exhibition]

Alanah isn’t the only activist making things happen during COVID. I saw a post of a #BLM mural shared by Baltimore based artist Jasmin Manning via Instagram. But didn’t expect that the following week I’d stroll past it while on a mission to get fresh air and clear thoughts from Covid-19 isolation at my house. I found several Black Live Matter murals along the sidewalks of Patterson Park.

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According to a post shared to the Reginald F. Lewis Museum Facebook page, these #BLM murals were “erroneously removed by park rangers. They were loaded into the back of the truck with the intention of taking them to the city dump. Due to the vigilance of the Patterson Park community, the removal of legally displayed murals was halted.”

The Reginald F. Lewis Museum located in downtown Baltimore, MD will display these selected murals in Fall 2020 if you fail to get the chance to head over to Patterson Park in Baltimore to view these great works in person. The murals will be part of an exhibition on the power of protest.

Have you seen any art exhibitions or attended events during the pandemic? Let us know what cool things you’ve done while social distancing in the comments below.

Is this the Revolution I talked about not being Televised? My #BlackOutTuesday Protest Against Racism in the Wake of the 2020 Minneapolis Riots

I started writing this blog last week. I revised and deleted it a few times. I’m still weird about publishing this now. But to tell you the truth, I feel the same feeling of word vomit eroding my mouth today as I did 5 years ago when I wrote “#OpinionEssay: The “Real” Revolution Will Not Be Televised. #ILoveBaltimore” during the unrest in Baltimore resulting in the Baltimore Uprising. I don’t care how the blog comes off because it is another protest about what is happening around me. I just asked God to use me as he did before.

On Memorial Day, May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a black American man was executed on video by Officer Derek Chavin of the Minneapolis Police Department. The video went viral like a plethora of other police brutality videos that surface online. But this one…this one might just be the video that dropped a major bomb into white people’s reality. Do we actually have white people on alert as to what happens to Black people in America? Because a week later after this horrific image was shared countless times on our feeds, America also has seen protests and riots in cities across the country calling for justice for Floyd. 

Credit:Nick Oxford/Reuters

When I wrote my Opinion Essay about how a revolution and revolt would not be televised, it was to send a message to Black people to come together and educate their families on the realities of being black. I wanted people to talk to their children about Black history. I needed black parents to take the time to teach their kids about a culture and a reality that has led their children to face a different lifestyle than those of other backgrounds. I wanted black people to heal in their black pride by sharing themselves with each other. It wasn’t my intention to tell black people to seek help or compassion from anyone who is white. When black people feel betrayed, that is the last thing they’re thinking of doing. I really believe many black people, like myself, took the time to immerse themselves in their blackness and grew in their pride because I saw so much uplifting and positivity living in the midst of the 2015 Baltimore Uprising. But the revolution was not going to be televised and all the positivity Black Baltimoreans experienced was short-lived. 

Source: Vice ID

Today I feel different about this revolution for Black America. I mean, the revolution is definitely on TV lol. There are so many black people who are already strong, having pride for themselves and culture. Black people live in their blackness daily. We don’t need to keep being reminded of why we go through these harsh realities. We’ve even gotten accustomed to healing each other whenever we’re knocked down with each release of a new video or news story. Though so many people yell #AllLivesMatter or Black on Black crime -blah, blah, blah- that is absolutely irrelevant to what attention we want. Black People are faced with injustices that people are deliberately ignoring. The revolution we’re watching for sure needs to be televised but this part of it is not for our spectatorship, it’s for our voice.

This revolution needs our labor at this moment to be a voice in our pure authentic blackness. This revolution needs for us to share our black stories, our black experiences, our black pain, and our black hopes. We need to share these things with our white friends so they can empathize with them. We need them to find some way to feel how we feel so that it can provoke them to fight for their allies because when white people care, they fight. It’s liberating to see more of my white friends, co-workers, and acquaintances speaking up after seeing this video. It’s amazing seeing white people taking the initiative to do the things that I asked of from Black people.

June 2, 2020, is a unique day in history particularly because #BlackOutTuesday will mark a day when industries and companies around the world chose to stop what they were doing to stand in solidarity against systemic racism. It’s the day America is literally acknowledging the bullshit. It might not be the whole country because there are still many doubters. But America today looks like it wants to listen to what we have to say. Black people have been screaming for such acknowledgment since forever ago. I’m a little overwhelmed with America lending an ear to Black folks, but goddammit about time. It’s the first time in all my life that I’m seeing white guilt on such a huge magnitude. I watched a video on Baltimore Fox 45 Facebook Live of hundreds of white people kneeling in solidarity on Northern Parkway and Roland Ave. We’re nowhere near the endpoint of racism but at least I’m seeing white people just as outraged as we are.

Several hundred protestors are kneeling for 9 mins on Northern Pkwy and Roland Ave.
Eddie Kadhim WMAR is on scene (Source: Facebook WBAR-2)

It’s not over. We still need our white allies. But we need this issue to be in their faces constantly. That’s the just reality of it. Once George Floyd’s investigation dies down in the media, will white people stop trying to learn what’s really affecting people of color? When I think of the answer to this question in general, it’s no because it’s a really uncomfortable subject. People do not like facing being uncomfortable. A huge part of me believes that once we stop talking about it, we’ll fall back into this being black people’s reality, and I’m not being a narcissist when I think this because this is my reality. I’m black and there are a lot of wow factors about my daily escapades of being a black woman I often gaze over as just another thing I’m used to.

This is the new challenge that I would like white allies to face now that we’ve got a lot of their attention. I challenge them to continually diversify their mind while learning black culture because many of us have concerns about what’s genuine. All these awesome stances are being made, but will they make an effort to continue to learn about systemic racism and seek ways to help fight it? Will they deliberately seek moments that may make them uncomfortable with the intentions of it helping them grow? The country needs unity and in order to get there, we need collaboration and understanding that will not expire once the next headline takes the lead, I’m just saying.

Credit: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

I’m tired. So are a lot of other black people. Are white people truly tired?

Have you read What You Missed at the 20th Anniversary of the Million Man March… (Four Main Points Minister Farrakhan Shouted at Us)?

#PrayForLove: Are you with the right partner? By Jepoy Pakundo

This post was carefully selected for our #PrayforLove series because it addresses the meaning of love in intimate relationships. This excerpt was found on Facebook.com by Jepoy Pakundo.

Source: Facebook

During a seminar, a woman asked,” How do I know if I am with the right person?”

The author then noticed that there was a large man sitting next to her so he said, “It depends. Is that your partner?” In all seriousness, she answered, “How do you know?” Let me answer this question because the chances are good that it’s weighing on your mind
replied the author.

Here’s the answer.

Every relationship has a cycle… In the beginning; you
fall in love with your partner. You anticipate their calls,
want their touch, and like their idiosyncrasies. Falling in love wasn’t hard. In fact, it was a completely natural and spontaneous experience. You didn’t have to DO anything. That’s why it’s called “falling” in love.

People in love sometimes say, “I was swept of my feet.”Picture the expression. It implies that you were just standing there; doing nothing, and then something happened TO YOU.

Falling in love is a passive and spontaneous experience. But after a few months or years of being together, the euphoria of love fades. It’s a natural cycle of EVERY relationship.

Slowly but surely, phone calls become a bother (if they come at all), touch is not always welcome (when it happens), and your spouse’s idiosyncrasies, instead of being cute, drive you nuts. The symptoms of this stage vary with every relationship; you will notice a dramatic difference between the initial stage when you were in love and a much duller or even angry subsequent stage.

At this point, you and/or your partner might start asking, “Am I with the right person?” And as you reflect on the euphoria of the love you once had, you
may begin to desire that experience with someone
else. This is when relationships breakdown.

The key to succeeding in a relationship is not finding the right person; it’s learning to love the person you found.

People blame their partners for their unhappiness and look outside for fulfillment. Extramarital fulfillment comes in all shapes and sizes.

Infidelity is the most common. But sometimes people turn to work, a hobby, friendship, excessive TV, or abusive substances. But the answer to this dilemma does NOT lie outside your relationship. It lies within it.

I’m not saying that you couldn’t fall in love with someone else. You could. And TEMPORARILY you’d feel better. But you’d be in the same situation a few years later.

Because (listen carefully to this):

The key to succeeding in a Relationship is not finding the right person; it’s learning to love the Person you found.

SUSTAINING love is not a passive or spontaneous experience. You have to work on it day in and day out. It takes time, effort, and energy. And most importantly, it demands WISDOM. You have to know
WHAT TO DO to make it work. Make no mistake about it!

Love is NOT a mystery. There are specific things you can do (with or without your partner), Just as there are physical laws Of the universe (such as gravity), there are also laws for relationships. If you know how to apply these laws, the results are predictable.

Love is therefore a “decision”. Not just a feeling.

Remember this always: God determines who walks into your life. It is up to you to decide who you let walk away, who you let stay, and who you refuse to let GO! ♥

This Facebook post was published in April 2013. Three years ago these words were written and continue to go viral on the social site today. There’s a reason this post continues to circulate online. So many people agree with what the author had to say. Love is a decision many people must learn if they’re willing to sacrifice a part of themselves to keep them happy and a part of your life.

What do you think? Do you agree with the author? Tell us how you view love and relationships in the comments below.

Have you read our last #PrayforLove post? Read #PrayforLove: A Major Message After 2015 Paris Attacks on Doc’s Castle Media.

#PrayForLove: A Major Message After 2015 Paris Attacks

It’s one year after the ISIS terrorist attack on Paris. News outlets from around the world are giving their annual recap of what has changed since the attacks. Many still live in fear of what happened that night as over 130 people were killed from acts of terrorism enacted by ISIS. It became one of the deadliest attacks the country has faced in many years and the country is still working to recover from the eerie night.

In my Facebook memories, I was reminded of the tragedy and how it affected many people around the world. My social media timelines looked divided while people argued over whether to change their profile pictures to the French flag. People screamed about such coverage by our news stations in America covering those attacks as being a distraction from issues happening around our country. There was a fear that if people paid more attention to issues outside of the nation rather than the issues within, America would continue to fall by the wayside like there wasn’t enough compassion to go around. There was a lot of bickering between folks trying to persuade others on how they should feel about terrorism.

Experiencing the social effects of the Paris attacks brought me to the realization that many people are selective in what they choose to have empathy towards. I went on to share my thoughts on Facebook about what I believe could help us move past the grief. What I expressed to my Facebook friends is still relevant so I thought I’d share it again on Doc’s Castle Media as the first excerpt to #PrayForLove series, which is 8-months overdue. (haha) The attacks on Paris also was my motivation to start #PrayforLove.

Drawing by Alissa Fere. Nov. 13, 2015
Drawing by Alissa Fere. Nov. 13, 2015

Doc’s Facebook Post:

I see everyone’s point that’s being made about the Paris attacks yesterday. There are no right and wrong answers or statements, here. These are all opinions. I’m happy it has people talking about violence and making everyone think of ways to reduce these issues.

Actions are louder than words, and what these attackers are doing is making everyone speak! That is an action! It’s starting there. But we need to speak these thoughts so loud enough that it provokes people to make a move. We should talk about all the problems we’re facing in the world today so much it’s sickening; that it makes someone want to do better and it makes someone want to Lead as an example. We should challenge ourselves every time we hear about these horrendous acts to LOVE and to not argue who’s right or wrong! Talk about love. Love our neighbors, families, co-workers, pedestrians, strangers, and friends so we can BE BETTER people. Let the thoughts of being better people consume us every day by acknowledging every problem in the world and doing the opposite of what’s expected. There is no distraction from anything!

Y’all make me laugh saying this is a distraction from other stuff happening. Do y’all only want to focus on only one thing or something? Are y’all not capable of seeing more than one issue at a time? Is one place more important than the other? Who makes the decision on what is more deserving of everyone’s attention? It doesn’t even matter because change starts in the mind and body. It starts from within ourselves. It starts with a simple understanding of a word. It starts with understanding the meaning of Love.

The distraction is when you choose to think you’re right and someone else is wrong, and then y’all arguing about it, completely missing the point, and displaying the total opposite of what love really means. Get it together! Respect and love everyone, period.”

With that being said, there should be an exception to love.

How did you feel about the Paris attacks last year? Were you one of the many who changed their profile picture on Facebook to the French Flag? Leave your thoughts below.

#PrayforLove Movement: A Response to A World of Tragedies

Pray For Love

 

The year 2015 was very rocky. Before the year’s end, by mid-December, I felt like I reached 50 years old through experiencing so much internal suffering and empathy for all the tragedies happening throughout 2015, in addition to the little struggles I’ve experienced within my own life. I thought I was going to explode.

The year was a killer, literally.
But I cannot get over all the ignorance I’ve seen from humanity last year. I’m disappointed in the human race. My heart aches from seeing man become such a disgrace in the most recent blunders of current events. From the increasingly publicized stories of police brutality and racism to acts of horrendous terrorism from ISIS, humanity has orchestrated a very effective visual of what selfishness looks like. It’s so saddening and makes me feel that there is little hope for what our world will become in the next few years. Will it get better or worse?

PrayForLove (Blog)

In the wake of how terrible last year has made me felt towards man, I’ve come up with lots of questions about compassion, sympathy, love, generosity, and anything that could be considered humanly traits that make a man be considered human and not a vicious, self-seeking, destroyer of the living robot. I want to observe what love is. I want know why people can’t give compassion to another. Why is it so hard to give another person a piece of happiness.

#PrayForLove is not just a hashtag I’ve adopted just to post on all my social accounts each time I have a new picture, meme, or status to share.
#PrayForLove is my call for attention for people to mind to what’s happening around them. It’s a one woman movement where I’m spending my days recording my thoughts of what’s happening around me. We as a people are losing touch with our spiritual selves. People aren’t awake or aware of anything worth being proud of. We all just seem to be getting by.

Pray for Love is something I hope will start with Doc’s Castle Media, along with all my other social sites, a call to action to possibly influence other people to learn to love themselves and everyone around them, regardless of what’s happening in the world or in their personal lives.

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I want to make a difference in the hearts of many. I want the world to focus on the positive and not feed into the world’s demons and devils working to destroy a sense of peace. My post is here to provoke thought; to create a second for someone to think before they act. Though biology may beg to differ, humanity is not a bunch of animals without the capability to overcome hate. As the most developed species to walk this earth, we do not often act as such because of selfish intentions. Not to say ignore what you want, but people should learn to be more considerate and mindful of choosing to not harm another through their words and actions.

As you read this blog, I challenge you not to only #PrayForLove but to notice the areas in your life where love is needed. Ask yourself, what can I do to change the world around me? Does your elderly neighborhood need someone to help with shoveling their sidewalk? Does your boss seem like they need a word of encouragement after having to discipline an unreasonable coworker? Do you need a moment to yourself to distress from constant turmoil? Let’s learn to love through pulsing and considering what is best.

What do you believe can be done to spread love? Name one thing you can tribute to this movement in the comment below.

#OpinionEssay: The “Real” Revolution Will Not Be Televised. #ILoveBaltimore

Special Note: This post will be my least uniformed blog post due to the built up emotions from recent events caused by the death of Baltimore black man, Freddie Gray. It’s my duty as a Baltimore writer to talk about this the way mainstream media does not want us to. PLEASE KNOW THIS FIRST WHILE YOU READ THIS: I AM NOT A JOURNALIST, now. I AM WRITING AS A BLACK WOMAN FROM THE CITY OF BALTIMORE!

Words pour onto paper as I’ve become a part of American history today while I write about what my eyes have witness on April 25, 2015, a day which I thought I would never see my city be the forefront of America for something so severe and extremely civil. I thought it was a part of mankind’s inhumane struggle that Black people conquered, or at least scratched the surface of overcoming. But we haven’t and it’s obvious to the world now.

America is governed by a system corrupt that uses the very people who help build this very nation as a stepping stool to bringing the world back to square one by embarrassing my whole race through provoking us to move; by tormenting Blacks unfairly.

As a Black woman, myself, and a blogger who lives in Baltimore, it is my duty to talk about the problems my city faces in the eyes of millions, nationally and internationally, who are watching my town react to police brutality towards yet another African-American male, who met his end in the most unfortunate and unfair manner society could ever grant, death by the very people meant to protect him.

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Who is Freddie Gray?

If you don’t know by now, get the fuck off my blog. You don’t care enough. This post isn’t for those who rather sit in their ignorance while we are at war. This post isn’t for the people seeking to view how “ratchet” and “routy” my city is to confirm our “home of The Wire” reputation. This post is not for people who go on major media outlets social media pages to read and participate in the racist comments. This post is to wake you the fuck up! This post is meant to make you realize from the eyes of a Baltimore writer that something really messed up is going on. So open your eyes.

Baltimore, what are we doing? No, let me redirect my concerns to the correct group of individuals… America, what are we doing? No, no, no. WORLD, what the fuck is going on?!

These last two years of my life has been about watching a massacre of black men, AND black women, being slaughtered by a system who prays on a culture who isn’t united and hasn’t been since we were active in the 1960s US Civil rights movement. The way that I feel about it, I have no words for what’s going on in my heart. I have no words for how I see my country being portrayed. I have no words for how my race is being treated. I only feel a fire burning within me from how close to home Freddie Gray’s death has hit thousands and thousands of hearts around this country, and I’m in awe because I would have never thought something this relentless happening in front of billions of people watching is happening in my very own backyard.

I CANNOT BELIEVE MY EYES! This shit happens everywhere else, not in my home.

As each month unfolds since the death of Trayvon Martin, I started to view my country as the ultimate hypocrite and bully. I use to watch and read about the United States in international affairs while growing up, thinking how phoney we must be to walk into other countries, like Liberia and South Africa, trying to assist with their racial issues when in neighborhoods where I live didn’t match up to the persona America tries to paint for the world to see. It is here, the media hides what’s really happening between blacks and whites, until now. Why? Our country’s own racism was hidden and blocked from mainstream media and majority of this country’s citizen for so long, so we could believe we were past oppression; to make us feel like we could give a helping hand to other cultures around the world. America needed us on the same page so we could be viewed by countries around us as “land of the free” and “home of the brave.”

Black people have fallen by the arms of police officers since forever ago, and white people, and even black people, still want to yell out one of the most irrelevant and most repeated statements recited in recent years as if it’s an excuse for why we shouldn’t make a difference in our law enforcers policies. “Blacks kill blacks all the time.” WE KNOW THIS! WTF DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH POLICE KILLING US TOO!?

Black people I need you to listen! I need you to open your eyes because this is what’s real.

Do you know we are being manipulated by national news? Of all things to capture and broadcast to the world, they choose the most uncalled for and offensive images to represent our race at such a delicate moment in our history because they know it will make our uneducated youth move and take an opportunity like protesting as an excuse to “show out” and express their anger, when they don’t even know what to be angry about. Do you know we are being made to have opinions that we’re unsure of because the media knows this will make us angry and ready for a revolution? And why is it that our own news stations WJZ and WBAL are taking a different approach in reporting about Freddie Gray than stations like CNN and the Huffington Post? Nothing’s making sense. This isn’t adding up.

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Do you realize the media’s power, now? LISTEN!

Though we are made to believe the media is not bias, people of Baltimore and black people around the world, we do not have control of the media’s motivation to stay unbiased. Even I am being bias now (and I encourage you to continue to have your own opinions during this time. All I ask is that you realize and watch everything going on)! The media is what’s making police brutality the fuel of our anger ; it’s turning it into something bigger than expected. The media, which is funded by BIG corporations who bank on black people’s money, are making my culture out to be unruly savages and it does not sit well with me. It makes me angry. It’s what made me step up and write how I feel today. Black people I don’t blame you at all. We have a right to be mad, but it is unwise to be so turbulent.

To me, this is beyond race. Racism is being used as a tool to push a bigger motive because it’s the only way to get large bodies of people to move. We have to be wiser. We have to be smarter in our decisions because 10 years ago, we lived in a better peace. But with the media suddenly pushing stories about police brutality incorrectly more often, seems every couple of weeks to days, it’s also corporations that are funding the media’s weapon to wither our peace away and box us in for something we don’t fully understand yet.

So what is real? What is true? We can’t rely on our reporters to be honest and staying away from these stereotypes we’re fighting about.

To all the kids who are reading this, you must choose now to learn your history. You need not act before you are educated. Do you see how dangerous it is to go through this? This entire ordeal isn’t transparent enough, and this anger escalating within us is not good, especially coming from a group like us who can’t get past light skin and dark skin.

Peace, love, joy. Peace, love, joy, everyone.

Why is it that America decides to use my backyard as a war zone this week? America decides to take the city that I’ve spent the last 3 years trying to help put on the map, positively, as a target and guinea pig for a bigger agenda. Can you image how I feel right now? For someone who spends all her spare time trying to help the city become angry with her fellow Baltimoreans. They don’t see the bigger picture, and rather dig a bigger hole for us to climb out of? I’m so disappointed and proud at the same time. This is why I have no words. I’m so all over the place.

I doubt this will be my last post on this. I’ve been awakened.

I ask that anyone who lives outside of my city to turn to the World Wide Web for real accounts of what my city is doing in honor of Freddie Gray and not CNN. I ask you to read about what we are really going through from us. I ask that you empathize for us. I ask that you pray.

#PrayForBaltimore #PrayForMyCity

Scornful men bring a city into a snare: but wise men turn away wrath. -Proverbs 28:9

Let us be wise men. To Be Continued…

Did you participate in the Baltimore Protests? Read “The Current Generation Doesn’t Take Part In Civil Rights Movements Because…” on Doc’s Castle Media.