Archive for August, 2017

Hurricane Harvey- A Haiku

Sandwiched between highs

The rain poured for many days

Leaving destruction.

2017 Albert Moyer, Jr. Poetry

Photo Google Images Weather Satellite

I am a native Houstonian of 48 years. I have never seen damage like what I have witnessed on the Texas Coast and in Houston, Texas from a Hurricane. I had some scary moments taking these photos. Our schools are closed for a week, our airports are closed, traffic is two-way on one way freeways, many people are in desperate and life-threatening situations, and we have 20 more inches forecast. This will cause damage for months to come on a financial level. These photos were taken in some of the highest sea level points in Houston. May God protect everyone and bring us all together! It is times like this that we realize we are all human.

Hurricane Harvey is approaching and the grocery shelves all over Houston are depleting. A metroplex with five million plus people and people are looking for food. This is very common for us in Texas during hurricane season. Surprisingly Jello and dish soap were plentiful.  If a hurricane can empty the shelves, just think if truckers strike or a pro-longed war happens. Food! Do not take it for granted or waste it.

Indian food is absolutely delicious! With Indian food you can quickly learn you do not need meat to have an awesome meal. Thali in India means “Platter.” Maharaja Bhog offers “THE BEST” Thali experience in Houston. The food is full of flavor, fresh, and the service is exceptional. Check them out! maharajabhog.com

The Blue Nile Ethiopian Restaurant in Houston located at 9400 Richmond offers amazing food, service, and authenticity. If you are in a hurry go somewhere else. They cook food from scratch. Excellent food! That takes time. Check it out! http://www.bluenilerestaurant.com/

No more Six Flags Over Texas! What a great move by Six Flags to not only take down the Confederate flag, but also remove flags of Mexico, Spain, France, etc. Six Flags showed no favoritism. If we are going to remove Confederate statues and flags we need to remove all statues of so-called men or women heroes. Let’s tear them all down. We honor no men or women in America. There no longer needs to be a preference for race in the United States because that is the sole cause of division. We need to make every single thing representative of America without race.  We are all American and nothing else.

No N.A.A.C.P., L.U.L.A.C., Chinese-American, Indian-American, etc.  No Chamber of Commerce except those holding title of American, etc.  All flags need to be banned for flying that represent various races or countries except state and American flags unless private in your own home without public viewing.

All applications need to say,” Are you American or Illegal.” No racial identity whatsoever. No more printing documents in anything but English because we are all Americans.

In schools we no longer need data on various ethnic groups. The only data we collect will be on Americans.  Let’s face it. Data is used to divide and shift money around to certain groups.

We need to start teaching all public and private school children they are American. When a child says,” I am Black, White, Hispanic, Chinese, Arabic, etc.” they need correction. No,”You are American. We are all the same.”

Once we have this perfect utopia that everyone is seeking because we are all equal and all American, we can fight over something else. Perhaps we will need to remove abstract statues because someone is offended by squares. Perhaps everyone will need to wear the same black uniform because someone is offended by red, blue, or green. Perhaps we will remove vehicles from America because their noise is offensive.

If history teaches us anything we know that when one group is marginalized at the expense of another we are heading into unrest or war. History also teaches us that humans by nature are often never satisfied.

So what is the true answer to our problems? How about we just learn to respect everything and value history for what it is? History!

For me, I could have a Hitler statue, Martin Luther King statue, Ghandi statue, Che Guevara statue, Cesar Chavez statue, and George Washington statue, across the street in a park and it would not matter. I appreciate history and art. Any man or woman who can make a beautiful statue of another out of bronze is a star in my book.

Let’s remove all racial identity in the U.S.A. Is it really a great idea? Perhaps we need to focus more on the lack of education people are receiving in America. Any person who lacks respect and appreciation for another really has no education at all. From my experience, they come in all colors, races, and education levels.

I’m hungry! Should I eat some Soul Food, Cajun Food, Chinese Food, Japanese Food, Indian Food, Russian Food, French Food, German Food, African Food, Vietnamese Food, Vegetarian Food, Latin American Food, barbecue, Toad in a Hole, or Spotted Dick? Man so much good food to eat in this world! So many different kinds of great people. Get out of your box and enjoy life, culture, history, and the diversity of America. Learn to appreciate the good and bad, because the lesson makes you educated.

Today I took a spin over to The Silos. The building has been re-purposed and is now shaping up to be one of the best art spaces in the U.S.A. for visual artists and photographers. It is only going to grow and get better over time. Here are a few murals and photos from the area.