Just tonight, I was working on a song collaboration with a friend. I rap and sing, and she sings. Taking one of her previously written songs, I remixed it and added my own sick little twist to it. It turned out incredibly dope, check it out:
Moments Start Us (G-Nacious Remix)
(Verse 1: Ms. Morrill)
There are moments in your life
That make you you
And sets the course
Of who you're going to be
Sometimes they're little
Oh ho, little subtle moments
Sometimes they're big
Yeah yeah, everest moments
That you, yeah, you never saw
You never saw coming
(Chorus: Garrett "G-Nacious" Keith)
You see the reflection of yourself in the mirrors in your mind
They can't show the worst of others,
They just show the best of you... and it's kind
And even in the acrimony, they reflect your smile
Watch all your memories, and burnish the bad ones
And if you need to cry, let the river flow for a while...
That just makes you who you are
And from all the moments you have made it this far...
(Verse 2: Garrett "G-Nacious" Keith)
Yeah, and we started from the bottom now we're here
Man, these moments lasted us all these years
Now we're preaching to the congregation
Put the hate inside the conflagration
Let it burn, let it burn and this is our turn
Why I'm this way is not of concern
We're made from the moments that we cannot spurn
And all those bridges that we cannot burn
Yeah, we can get wasted
Red eyes red face, nigga we faded
But we can never hide the moments of our lives
I know you upset, I can see it in your eyes
Remember from the moments that the fire still thrives
The moments make us who we are, and we are still alive
Nigga you are beautiful, haters don't know what to do
We all come from different places, we all wear a different shoe
No one is perfect but that's something you already knew
Moments set our path of life, try not to misconstrue
You will find, when you look back upon your life
The moments you truly lived were the moments you were doin right
But the moments you were fucking up, gave you the right stride
You lose some, you win some, celebrate nigga, party all night
And when the nights over, don't be afraid to say a goodbye
It's alright
Bridge (Garrett "G-Nacious" Keith)
The most glorius days in your life
Are the not so-called days of success
But rather those days when, you're breakin'
When out of dejection and despair
You feel the rise in you, a challenge to life
And a promise of a future
And the moments that nurture
(Verse 3: Ms. Morrill)
No one asks for their life to change
But it does, oh ho, it does
It's what you do afterwards
Afterwards, that counts
Oh ho, oh ho
That's when you find out
When you find out...
Who... You... Are...
And there are moments in your life
That make you you
And sets the course
Of who you're going to be
Sometimes they're little
Oh ho, little subtle moments
Sometimes they're big
Yeah yeah, everest moments
That you, yeah, you never saw
You never saw coming
That's when you find out
When you find out...
Who... You... Are...
(Chorus: Garrett "G-Nacious" Keith)
You see the reflection of yourself in the mirrors in your mind
They can't show the worst of others,
They just show the best of you... and it's kind
And even in the acrimony, they reflect your smile
Watch all your memories, and burnish the bad ones
And if you need to cry, let the river flow for a while...
That just makes you who you are
And from all the moments you have made it this far...
(Outro)
And now you know who you are
Oh ho, oh no, now you know who you are
And I know who I am, I'll do me
You do you, always keep it true
You know who you are, you are you...
G-Nacious, G-5, G-Money, G-Nacious/G-5 Records
Monday, April 15, 2013
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Drug Debate: The abuse of illegal drugs ought to be treated as a matter of public health, not of criminal justice.
Today I want to present my negative speech for my Debate class on the resolution: The abuse of illegal drugs ought to be treated as a matter of public health, not of criminal justice. Enjoy.
"Illegal drug use runs contrary to the image of health depicted by cycling. Distributors of these drugs must be prosecuted more harshly as they are criminals." (Bernard Hinault)
With these words in mind, I stand firmly in negation of the resolution which states that: the abuse of illegal drugs ought to be treated as a matter of public health, not of criminal justice. For the sake of clarification in this debate, I would like to define the following terms: (Google) Drug abuse: the habitual taking of addictive or illegal drugs. (Merriam-Webster) Illegal: contrary to or forbidden by law, esp. criminal law. (Merriam-Webster) Public Health: the art and science dealing with the protection and improvement of community health by organized community effort and including preventive medicine and sanitary and social science. (Legal Dictionary) Criminal Justice: the system of law enforcement, the bar, the judiciary, corrections, and probation that is directly involved in the apprehension, prosecution, defense, sentencing, incarceration, and supervision of those suspected of or charged with criminal offenses. My value premise for this debate is Societal Welfare, which is what is best for the community as a whole, I chose this because the resolution specifically uses the term “illegal drugs”, which means that which ever system we use, drug use will remain illegal. The resolution does not focus on the legality of drugs, the debate is about how we best treat this illegal activity so that the least harm will come to society. My value criterion is Justice because it is the best tool with which to measure if my value is being upheld in this debate. Societal Welfare is promoted through the use of Justice, which is best achieved by punitive aspects and the recidivism prevention of the criminal justice system.
My first contention is that drug use leads to addiction, rendering conventional solutions to public problems ineffective without criminal justice. Many drug dealers will abjure their "business" as illegal activity and justify it as a mean of personal finance when they can not uphold a real job. Drugs are illegal for a reason, they pose various health threats and the ways that these drugs are produced have deleterious affects due to the amount of different chemicals and items that can be poisonous to the users. Drugs also have started much violence and war among many countries. The only way we can stop the spread of drug violence and harm to society is to penalize and punish the providers of drugs to the community. Whether it is the dealer or the buyer, they both pose potential harm to others and themselves. Without the appropriate backing of the justice system then drugs will remain a scourge to the world and continue to harm the welfare of society. The growth of illegal drugs has had a tremendous impact of the health of world, and not just the health, but on the society as a whole. The production and distribution of drugs costs an extensive amount of money and serves no real value to society, all that this does is create a mass epidemic of growing addiction and dependency of illegal substances that have no redeeming affects. "Drug addiction is a major public health problem that cost the U.S. a staggering $468 billion in 2005, according to The New York Times. Costs result from disease, crime, accidents, child abuse, domestic violence, homelessness and lost wages. Alcohol abuse, smoking and illegal drug use cause one in four deaths and many other serious economic and social consequences. The negative effects of substance abuse affect everyone," states Lauren Hunter of Live Strong Magazine. The United Nations states that "Global illicit drug users to rise 25% by 2050".
My second contention is that illicit drug use costs U.S. economy more than $193 Billion annually and since users have acquired egregious side effects from the use of illegal substances that these users should be criminally charged for active participation in illegal activities and causing the economy of their nation to wither for their actions. The order of magnitude of the extent of the illicit drug problem should be established in the light of at least two of the unique characteristics of illicit drugs: first, they are all addictive substances, a fact that sometimes blurs the dividing line both between use and abuse and between consumption and addiction; and secondly, though commodities that are traded or trafficked, they are distinguished by low volume but enormously high unit cost and value. Statistics show that drug abusers represent 6.1 percent of the population aged 12 years and over. An estimated 3.6 million people have severe drug problems and are in need of professional drug treatment services. It is the cost of the services that the U.S. should not have to pay for the shortcomings of its people. There are apparent benefits to the economy for the production of drugs because of the amount of retail and taxes that are paid in production, but these "benefits" of consumption for drug abusers tend to be transient and are quickly superseded by a considerable health and financial burden on society. Drug abusers and dealers should all be criminally charged for the detrimental affects on the economy and to society.
The abuse of illegal drugs has had an extensive negative impact on today's public health, the society, and the economy of the United States. Having supporting my value of Societal Welfare, I strongly urge you to vote in negation of the resolution that the abuse of illegal drugs ought to be treated as a matter of public health, not of criminally justice.
I hope that my points are clear. This should be a fun debate tomorrow.
- G.
"Illegal drug use runs contrary to the image of health depicted by cycling. Distributors of these drugs must be prosecuted more harshly as they are criminals." (Bernard Hinault)
With these words in mind, I stand firmly in negation of the resolution which states that: the abuse of illegal drugs ought to be treated as a matter of public health, not of criminal justice. For the sake of clarification in this debate, I would like to define the following terms: (Google) Drug abuse: the habitual taking of addictive or illegal drugs. (Merriam-Webster) Illegal: contrary to or forbidden by law, esp. criminal law. (Merriam-Webster) Public Health: the art and science dealing with the protection and improvement of community health by organized community effort and including preventive medicine and sanitary and social science. (Legal Dictionary) Criminal Justice: the system of law enforcement, the bar, the judiciary, corrections, and probation that is directly involved in the apprehension, prosecution, defense, sentencing, incarceration, and supervision of those suspected of or charged with criminal offenses. My value premise for this debate is Societal Welfare, which is what is best for the community as a whole, I chose this because the resolution specifically uses the term “illegal drugs”, which means that which ever system we use, drug use will remain illegal. The resolution does not focus on the legality of drugs, the debate is about how we best treat this illegal activity so that the least harm will come to society. My value criterion is Justice because it is the best tool with which to measure if my value is being upheld in this debate. Societal Welfare is promoted through the use of Justice, which is best achieved by punitive aspects and the recidivism prevention of the criminal justice system.
My first contention is that drug use leads to addiction, rendering conventional solutions to public problems ineffective without criminal justice. Many drug dealers will abjure their "business" as illegal activity and justify it as a mean of personal finance when they can not uphold a real job. Drugs are illegal for a reason, they pose various health threats and the ways that these drugs are produced have deleterious affects due to the amount of different chemicals and items that can be poisonous to the users. Drugs also have started much violence and war among many countries. The only way we can stop the spread of drug violence and harm to society is to penalize and punish the providers of drugs to the community. Whether it is the dealer or the buyer, they both pose potential harm to others and themselves. Without the appropriate backing of the justice system then drugs will remain a scourge to the world and continue to harm the welfare of society. The growth of illegal drugs has had a tremendous impact of the health of world, and not just the health, but on the society as a whole. The production and distribution of drugs costs an extensive amount of money and serves no real value to society, all that this does is create a mass epidemic of growing addiction and dependency of illegal substances that have no redeeming affects. "Drug addiction is a major public health problem that cost the U.S. a staggering $468 billion in 2005, according to The New York Times. Costs result from disease, crime, accidents, child abuse, domestic violence, homelessness and lost wages. Alcohol abuse, smoking and illegal drug use cause one in four deaths and many other serious economic and social consequences. The negative effects of substance abuse affect everyone," states Lauren Hunter of Live Strong Magazine. The United Nations states that "Global illicit drug users to rise 25% by 2050".
My second contention is that illicit drug use costs U.S. economy more than $193 Billion annually and since users have acquired egregious side effects from the use of illegal substances that these users should be criminally charged for active participation in illegal activities and causing the economy of their nation to wither for their actions. The order of magnitude of the extent of the illicit drug problem should be established in the light of at least two of the unique characteristics of illicit drugs: first, they are all addictive substances, a fact that sometimes blurs the dividing line both between use and abuse and between consumption and addiction; and secondly, though commodities that are traded or trafficked, they are distinguished by low volume but enormously high unit cost and value. Statistics show that drug abusers represent 6.1 percent of the population aged 12 years and over. An estimated 3.6 million people have severe drug problems and are in need of professional drug treatment services. It is the cost of the services that the U.S. should not have to pay for the shortcomings of its people. There are apparent benefits to the economy for the production of drugs because of the amount of retail and taxes that are paid in production, but these "benefits" of consumption for drug abusers tend to be transient and are quickly superseded by a considerable health and financial burden on society. Drug abusers and dealers should all be criminally charged for the detrimental affects on the economy and to society.
The abuse of illegal drugs has had an extensive negative impact on today's public health, the society, and the economy of the United States. Having supporting my value of Societal Welfare, I strongly urge you to vote in negation of the resolution that the abuse of illegal drugs ought to be treated as a matter of public health, not of criminally justice.
I hope that my points are clear. This should be a fun debate tomorrow.
- G.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Open Discussion!
I hope you all enjoyed my last post about the execution of the mentally retarded. But anyway, good news! The Open Discussion forum page is now published and functional! Please feel free to debate and talk about ANY current and past topics and issues! Have fun, discuss all you want, if I find it interesting, I might join the conversation or even give you a personal shout out and create my own post about the topic! Enjoy!
- G.
- G.
Execution of the Mentally Retarded*
*controversial
Wooh now. Hold up, what the fuck? Over a decade ago, in Atkins v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to execute the mentally retarded. Yet, there are several inmates on death row who have diagnosed with mental retardation and are still set to be executed. First off, this violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishments. Who are we to put someone down for having a disability for which they cannot control their actions, the answer isn't execution, it's intense care and rehabilitation. For everyone to be equal, everyone must be treated unequal, meaning there are people at there who have different disabilities who commit crimes but we should hold the crime against them harshly, we have to take in to account that they have a problem that cause them to do the crime and that being held in a detention center or psychiatric hospital is equal enough punishment because they are being confined and being helped treated for their disability. Being mentally retarded means that a person not only has substandard intellectual functioning but also significant limitations in adaptive skills such as communication, self-care, and self-direction. There is a difference between mentally retarded and mentally insane, and condemning a man/woman to death for something they can't control themselves is immoral. And even though the Supreme Court ruled that the execution of the mentally retarded was unconstitutional after the case of Atkins v. Virginia in 2002, people still continue to do it. The "relationship between mental retardation and the penological purposes served by the death penalty" justifies a conclusion that executing the mentally retarded is cruel and unusual punishment that the Eighth Amendment should forbid. In other words, unless it can be shown that executing the mentally retarded promotes the goals of retribution and deterrence, doing so is nothing more than "purposeless and needless imposition of pain and suffering", making the death penalty cruel and unusual in these cases. The execution of the mentally retarded is immoral, unjust, unconstitutional and needs to be stopped.
- G.
Wooh now. Hold up, what the fuck? Over a decade ago, in Atkins v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to execute the mentally retarded. Yet, there are several inmates on death row who have diagnosed with mental retardation and are still set to be executed. First off, this violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishments. Who are we to put someone down for having a disability for which they cannot control their actions, the answer isn't execution, it's intense care and rehabilitation. For everyone to be equal, everyone must be treated unequal, meaning there are people at there who have different disabilities who commit crimes but we should hold the crime against them harshly, we have to take in to account that they have a problem that cause them to do the crime and that being held in a detention center or psychiatric hospital is equal enough punishment because they are being confined and being helped treated for their disability. Being mentally retarded means that a person not only has substandard intellectual functioning but also significant limitations in adaptive skills such as communication, self-care, and self-direction. There is a difference between mentally retarded and mentally insane, and condemning a man/woman to death for something they can't control themselves is immoral. And even though the Supreme Court ruled that the execution of the mentally retarded was unconstitutional after the case of Atkins v. Virginia in 2002, people still continue to do it. The "relationship between mental retardation and the penological purposes served by the death penalty" justifies a conclusion that executing the mentally retarded is cruel and unusual punishment that the Eighth Amendment should forbid. In other words, unless it can be shown that executing the mentally retarded promotes the goals of retribution and deterrence, doing so is nothing more than "purposeless and needless imposition of pain and suffering", making the death penalty cruel and unusual in these cases. The execution of the mentally retarded is immoral, unjust, unconstitutional and needs to be stopped.
- G.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Sexuality
Just today an article came out in my schools newspaper (mphoofprint.com) about the acceptance of homosexuality. Many teachers and students (including myself) are mentioned and have quotations about their views in the article. Many teenagers in this generation have to abjure there sexual orientation just to acquire acceptance from their society; even after many years of civil rights and equality battles society still cannot face the fact that everyone is different. Homosexuals are an anathema to a lot of people who don't truly understand the concept. Everybody's journey is individual. If you fall in love with a boy, you fall in love with a boy. The fact that many Americans consider it a disease says more about them than it does about homosexuality. America has freedom of speech and expression and history of wars just for the sole purpose of having equality yet when someone comes out of the closet then nothing but antipathy is shown towards them. Yes, we as Americans have the right to decry the choices of people but not in as such harsh and demeaning ways as we do towards homosexuals. Gays all over the US are being discriminated against and bullied by those who are non accepting of them. It is hard to change the views of people, we can get them to say they don't hate gays and they can pretend to accept them, but underneath that facade is still the hate. Discrimination and bullying persists in the country, especially in the school systems. As I said in the Myers Park High School Hoofprint, "It's subtle. People act like they don't have a problem with it, but inside, everyone judges everyone. If they don't say something out loud in school, then they'll always end up saying something in a message or on Facebook. Someone always has a problem, it doesn't matter how much you talk to them about it, you can't change the way someone thinks about a certain group until they've actually been one of those people and experienced their culture." Which is something we need to do as a society, become more integrated with every other culture that we are around everyday. I, myself, am bisexual; it is hard to deal with the constant hate from everyone on a daily basis, but we need to get people emerged in our culture and help them understand that it is not wrong and that we're still people. From a religious point of view, if God had thought homosexuality is a sin, he would not have created gay people. People have been told for thousands of years, from religion, culture, media, etc. that homosexuality is wrong. I don't know why, but I think people feel threatened by homosexuality. The problem isn't about gay people, the problem is about the attitude towards gay people. People think that all gays are Hannibal Lecters. But gay people are sons and daughters, politicians and doctors, American heroes and sons and daughters of American heroes. It is time that we as Americans come together united on the same front to protect and accept everyone like we have been fighting for our entire lives. It's time to truly live by what we have fought for in the fight for equality
- G.
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