Random Thoughts

1) Don't underestimate the power of young people, and if you are a young person, don't underestimate yourself.

2) So two Walgreens store, not even a mile away from each other, got robbed in Oakland in the AM today: http://www.insidebayarea.com/top-stories/ci_14229313.

I have always been suspicious of any media outlets and organizations (including the government) that depict "happy" news/events. By happy, I mean things that inspire only positive feelings from the viewer. Why? Well, for one thing, it's because I am a pessimist. The other half of it is that I truly believe in confrontation. If you don't bring out the negativity into the open, it is dam hard to resolve the problem. It's pretty much like sweeping the dust under the rug, rather than sweeping it out in the open to grab it by the dustpan and trash it. Mind you, the rug just becomes soaked in nastiness.

But, I am also starting to think differently--after reading and watching the news this morning about the robberies. What if the news media don't portray Oakland as this bad ass town the majority of the time? If there was more coverage on the many positive community events that take place in Oakland, maybe residents will start to see that there is some humaneness in this ghetto, and then take part in it.

If you are constantly treated by others in a negative light, and you see in their eyes and actions that they view you in a low-down way, chances are you become what they push onto you.

Oakland has its problems, and all people do is try to "survive". To survive, though, is also to have positive human relationships. Maybe the media can be used in a more conducive way to harbor community development.