#american

The American press has the blues. Too many authorities have assured it that its days are numbered, too many good newspapers are in ruins. ↗

— Russell Baker

#assured #authorities #blues #days #good

The crack in your heart allows light in. ~ GOOD FORTUNE page 238 ↗

— Leslie Bratspis

#chinese-wisdom #compassion #inner-wisdom #life-lessons #meditation

In the distance of my years I cover myself with time Like a blanket which enfolds me with the layers of my life. What can I tell you except that I have gone nowhere and everywhere? What can I tell you except that I have not begun my journey now that it is through? All that I ever was and am yet to be lies within me now this way. There is the Young Boy in me traveling east With the Eagle which taught me to see far and wide. The Eagle took his distance and said, There is a Time for Rising Above So that you do not think Your small world too important. There is a time for turning your vision toward the sky. There is the Young Girl in me traveling west With the Bear which taught me to look inside. The Bear stood by himself and said, There is a Time for Being Alone So that you do not take on The appearance of your friends. There is a time for being at home with yourself. There is the Old Man in me traveling north With the Buffalo which taught me wisdom. The Buffalo disappeared and said, There is a Time for Believing Nothing So that you do not speak What you have already heard. There is a Time for Keeping Quiet. There is the Old Woman in me traveling south With the Mouse which taught me my limitations. The Mouse lay close to the ground and said, There is a Time for Taking Comfort in Small Things So that you do not feel Forgotten in the night. There is a Time for enjoying the Worm. That is the way it was. That is the way it shall continue With the Eagle and the Bear With the Buffalo and the Mouse In all directions joined with me To form the circle of my life. I am an Eagle. The small world laughs at my deeds. But the great sky keeps to itself My thoughts of immortality. I am a Bear. In my solitude I resemble the wind. I blow the clouds together So they form images of my friends. I am a Buffalo. My voice echoes inside my mouth. All that I have learned in life I share with the smoke of my fire. I am a Mouse. My life is beneath my nose. Each time that I journey toward the horizon I find a hole instead. ↗

— Nancy Wood

#buffalo #cardinal-directions #eagles #east #growth

Where, indeed? Captain Vincent Reed had been born in the city of Richmond, Virginia, of northern parents who were stationed there by the telegraph company. He had attended West Point and he thought he knew something about warfare, having served under General Pope in his long and futile struggle against General Stonewall Jackson. Those men were fighters who would face the enemy till the last bullet was fired, but neither would participate in such a slaughter. Reed had had his troops in position. He was quite prepared to rush in for the kill, and he had positioned himself so that he would be in the vanguard when his men made their charge against the guns of the young braves threatening the left flank. But when he saw that the enemy had no weapons, that even their bows and arrows were not at hand, and that he was supposed to chop down little girls and old women, he rebelled on the spot, taking counsel with no one but his own conscience. ↗

— James A. Michener

#native-americans #slaughter #men

The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife,—this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face. ↗

— W.E.B. Du Bois

#africa

However, research in the years that followed found that in many of its important features, African American Vernacular English was becoming not less, but more different from other dialects. ↗

— William Labov

#african american #american #becoming #dialects #different

This African American Vernacular English shares most of its grammar and vocabulary with other dialects of English. But it is distinct in many ways, and it is more different from standard English than any other dialect spoken in continental North America. ↗

— William Labov

#african american #america #american #any #continental

I was fortunate enough to be an American citizen by birth and I have the birth certificate to prove it. ↗

— Raul Labrador

#american citizen #birth #birth certificate #certificate #citizen

American men, as a group, seem to be interested in only two things, money and breasts. It seems a very narrow outlook. ↗

— Hedy Lamarr

#american men #breasts #group #interested #men

Property as compared with humanity, as compared with the red blood in the American people, must take second place, not first place. ↗

— Woodrow Wilson

#american people #blood #compared #first #humanity