The one about day 3 of 366: graffiti edition

There is a lot of beautiful graffiti, this example is not one. But in a sense... The entire scene is a piece of art. I used to live in this St. Louis neighborhood (Dutchtown) for several years. This building was once a theater, then at some point it became a church. I was always curious of what it looked like on the inside, sadly I never gave in to my curiosity to see. Anyways, I'm not sure what the graffiti means, but the whole scene was art to me so here it is.  

Bad graffiti  

Ps. This is straight out of my Lumia 950 phone. No edits, obviously no flash.  

The one about day 2 of 366: too much moisture edition

I totally forgot that 2016 is a leap year. As such I  messed up yesterday, since I labeled my post as 1 of 365. Alas, on to the next one. Today was weird, started with a funeral and ended with a party for a one year old. I took photos at the birthday party but never really took a picture for my yearly project. I thought I was going to have an immediate failure. But alas I didn't as my car which my logo is based on got my ire.  

See there is frost. But that frost is on the inside.  I have a leak somewhere and during the rain that caused Missouri to flood my car took on a lot of that water. I've got dampRid inside the car but I'm not sure if this stuff works during frigid temperature. We shall see.  

The One about picture 1 of 365

Every year I start the photo 365. Every year I fail. Well, here goes nothing I have tools. And hopefully I have accountability from this blog.  

Here we go, let's call this first picture:

Unbridled Joy

Unbridled Jpy

The one about faith & hope while raising black male children

I have two boys. They are just like any other boy in America. My wife and I continue to raise them in such a manner. But, to be honest this is a difficult act. But why is this act growing more and more difficult? Think about it, you see so many stories of random killings from guns in people's homes, random acts of violence in schools, and police violence against "black" men. 

I can't raise them to be full of fear, and i have to know that i can't control every situation. I can't remove prejudice from anyone from the police who might assume that my children are criminals, to people in my city who might believe my kids aren't "black" enough, or to other people in my city who think that my kids are too black. 

The Tamir Rice situation is tragic and breaks my heart when I think about it. The idea that a boy was gunned down because someone felt threatened (step 1) and an overzealous police force shot him because he fit a broken profile(step2). So much wrong with this situation and all of this boils down to fear.

Let's spin this the other direction. If I start becoming a helicopter parent and raise my kids out of fear, I feel as if I will force  unnatural feelings on to my kids, that in the future could cause them to act out because of feelings that I placed on them. The police which we see doing wrong, to me, this comes from years and years of fear that has been placed on them. I can't raise my children them in a way that makes them victims before they ever get a chance to live. If i did, this cycle will just continue. Fear leads to fear leads to irrational judgement and poor outcomes. 

Maybe a lot of my attitude comes from my Christian faith. I realize I have no control and that in the end I just do the best I can parenting (Check Romans 9). I can't control if the person next to me is racist, prejudiced, xenophobic. I don't know who is carrying a gun or not. I'll raise my kids to be respectful, and to recognize their situation. 

Now while I am saying this. We aren't blind and our children are aware that people can have prejudice. Not a particular race, but people.  

Faith & Hope. I have to raise my kids, my faith gives me hope that regardless there is a plan. And with that I raise my kids to have no fear. 

The one about Drivers in Saint Louis

I am collecting dashcam footage with the Christmas gift my loving wife gave me. My plan is to use this footage for two purposes. 1, Just a running dialog of whats on my mind and what I've noticed during my journey and 2. I'd like the world to see the quality pedestrian skills and what indecisive defensive driving looks like. Is that a thing? "IndecisiveDefensiveDriving" If its not. It should be.

Anyhow, I still haven't decided how or where I'll post this footage. But I will share as soon as I do.