Vote MUSED Magazine Online for Best LGBT Blog of 2013!

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It’s with great excitement that I announce that MUSED Magazine Online is a finalist for Best LGBT Blog 2013 for the Black Weblog Awards! MUSED is a pioneering “digital destination for lifestyle, entertainment & culture for modern black gay men. MUSED serves as a collective of experiences and issues we care about” (see About MUSED). Its mission is to raise the level of consciousness for our community and provide reliable, relevant, interactive, and engaging content for its readers. MUSED is the only weekly online magazine for black gay men.

MUSED offers such wide-ranging perspectives on issues that matter to black gay men. It’s substantive. And truly in a class by itself. I’m so grateful to have been given the opportunity to contribute to such a valuable, significant online resource. I look forward to contributing more in the future!

To cast your vote for MUSED Magazine Online, please go to: http://blackweblogawards.wufoo.com/forms/2013-final-ballot-copy/.

Congrats to the entire MUSED family on this wonderful achievement!

Does The GOP Really Want Your Vote? – Latest on MUSED

Image courtesy of MUSED.


A 100-page “autopsy” report by the Republican National Committee (RNC) confirmed that the GOP has an outreach problem.  Judging from the audience at the 2012 Republican National Convention, it was quite clear the GOP has been unable to connect with the youth and minorities for some time.  Looks like this is soon going to change.  Raffi Williams, son of journalist and Fox News political analyst Juan Williams, has been tapped as the Deputy Press Secretary of the RNC.  He will work to create initiatives to outreach to the youth and African Americans.  To learn more, read “Does the GOP Really Want Your Vote?” on MUSED.
 
MUSED Magazine Online is a pioneering “digital destination for lifestyle, entertainment & culture for modern black gay men.  MUSED serves as a collective of experiences and issues we care about” (see About MUSED).  Its mission is to raise the level of consciousness for our community and provide reliable, relevant, interactive, and engaging content for its readers.  MUSED is the only weekly online magazine for black gay men.


Major thanks and props to Drew-Shane Daniels and the MUSED family for featuring the article! 


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Peace, Love, and Many Blessings!

~ BuddahDesmond

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The Power Of Your Voice

My partner and I got up early this morning so we could get to our polling station before it opened (at 6 AM).  It was very good thinking on our part considering how long the line was, even at 5:50 AM.  But seeing the line of people this early was a beaming sign.  It meant people were not going to be swayed in any way.  They were going to let their voices be heard.  The coldeven with the temperature below freezingwas no deterrent either.  That’s because the cause was/is worth it.

The cause is worth it because my ancestors fought too long and too hard for all of us to be able to vote.  They knew the power of the voice and that we’d only falter if we remained silent.  They recognized the importance of the collective…and that if we all had the chance to vote that we could collectively change our world for the better.  My ancestors died so that we could we could be free and live in a world where equality and justice reign supreme.  Therefore I don’t take any of it vain. 

I also don’t take it lightly the (ongoing) issue of voter suppression and oppression throughout this country.  There’s too much at stake for any of us to be cast aside or denied our right to exercise our political voice.  And after being in a long line of voters today and seeing the long lines of people voting early in days prior, I know that this rightthis precious rightis something we all (should) hold dear.  As someone said exiting the polling station this morning, “You’ve got to show up in order to show out.”  And I’m so pleased, so happy, so grateful that people across this country have/are doing just that.

Never think that you don’t matter or that you don’t count.  Because you do.  If you feel you aren’t being represented well or at all, you have the right to voice your concerns and act accordingly.  If we fail to act or we don’t exercise our rights, then we’re giving in.  We’re signing off and are just as accountable as the parties in office.  Or as many will sayif we don’t vote, we don’t have a voice.  Remember, you and your voice are worth more than they’ll ever admit.  Why else do you think they up the ante on tactics to scare us away from the polls (especially during Presidential Elections)?

I don’t care what scare tactics they use.  I wouldn’t care if it was subzero or 100+ degrees outside this morning.  If I had to stand in line all day today to vote, I would do it.  I recognize the power of my voice and power of my vote.  And I’m glad to see that so many of my fellow Americans do too.

Related Posts:

Day 98: I’m Voting for Progress – Obama Biden 2012
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Alice Walker’s "Democratic Womanism"

 Image courtesy of the New York Daily News site.

I want to vote and work for a way of life
that honors the feminine;
a way that acknowledges
the theft of the wisdom
female and dark Mother leadership
might have provided our spaceship
all along.
I am not thinking
of a talking head
kind of gal:
happy to be mixing
it up
with the baddest
bad boys
on the planet
her eyes a slit
her mouth a zipper.
No, I am speaking of true
regime change.
Where women rise
to take their place
en masse
at the helm
of earth’s frail and failing ship…
~ Alice Walker, “Democratic Womanism,” 2012 

During an interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now, writer and activist Alice Walker recited her poem “Democratic Womanism,” written in honor of the late Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai.”  In this poem, she challenges us to rethink the current practices of our leadership and to question the effectiveness of a political system that has only let its people down, and has led to the further destruction of life and the well-being of the planet.  “Democratic Womanism” encourages us to look towards the wisdom of women, as they have have so expertly led, managed, and taken care of all aspects life and the planet.  By doing so, we ultimately have a chance to change the course of life and our world.

What does Walker’s “Democratic Womanism” mean to you?  What is its relevance in relation to the 2012 election?