Do you have a Google Alert set up for your content?
There was also the matter of being employed with two other companies as the Web Editor, where I regularly went to other Web sites to notify them when they were taking content from my employers' Web sites. These other sites would put my employers' articles on their sites without contacting me or the reporters and finance managers. What bothered me was not that I had to constantly look for these legal issues but how often it would happen. Even worse was when it was constantly happening to me.
My older brother warned me about Ms. Ricks, my new third grade teacher, who loved to cuff people behind the ear when she was upset with them. But I was a studious kid and didn't look for trouble, so imagine my embarrassment when Ms. Ricks slapped me upside the head for not knowing the answer to a math problem. The class erupted in laughter, and I cried for the rest of class. Twenty-one years later, I still remember that. But when I read WISN's report about what happened to Lamya Cammon by her first grade teacher at Congress Elementary School, my incident seemed lightweight.
A Milwaukee teacher was charged with disorderly conduct and a $175 fine for cutting off one of the braids of Lamya Cammon. Why? Because the teacher got tired of her playing with her hair. I guess Chris Rock's "Good Hair" movie wasn't enough proof of how black women and girls regard their hair. You do not cut anybody's hair because you're tired of them playing with it. I don't care who you are. I've never even heard of a black mother cutting her daughter's hair off. Do you know how long it takes for black females' hair to grow back? We don't wake up a month later and the hair is just back to its previous length.
Jeremy Olson
According to MyFox9.com, 33-year-old Jeremy Olson was at the Mall of America today and allegedly had four tomatoes ready to aim and plow. He allegedly threw two in the direction of Sarah Palin during her "Going Rogue" book signing, missed completely, but he managed to hit Bloomington Commander Mark Stehlik right in the face.
Jeremy, what are you doing? As big as her mouth is and as much as she just loves to be in the spotlight, how could you miss? He threw two of the four tomatoes from the second floor balcony and was then arrested for suspicion of assault and disorderly conduct.
Are you a victim of the debt settlement program?
Debt settlement companies ask for the following when they speak to you:
- Social Security number
- Copy of your driver's license and driver's license number
- Full credit card numbers (the credit bureaus will only give partial numbers to protect our privacy)
- Verify the balance due on each card (they will look it up by your Social Security number)
- Annual salary or unemployment monthly rates
- Contact information (name, address, home and/or cell number)
- Monthly medical, grocery, auto, housing, utility and insurance expenses to calculate your income to expense variance
- A voided check to deduct the agreed-upon amount directly from your checking account
Now that's quite a bit of personal information that this company is asking you for. However, some of this information is no different than a consolidation company. However, here are quite a few differences between a consolidation company and a debt relief company, and all of them are red alerts.
Red Alert 1: The debt settlement company states that the credit card owner may receive threatening or continuous calls about late payments. The debt settlement company says to ignore those calls and to have the credit card collections agencies call them. But if the debt settlement company has already negotiated a settlement amount, why would a credit card collection agency call you in the first place? The contract should be clearly stated.
Rhaea Albert, at a neighborhood gathering on violence, weeps for her 16-year-old brother, Derrion Albert, who was beaten to death Thursday, Sept. 24. (Tribune photo by Terrence Antonio James / September 28, 2009)
Part 1: The Emotion
There's a photo of Rhaea Albert in the December 2009/January 2010 issue of Ebony magazine taken by The Chicago Tribune's photographer Terrence Antonio James. It's a photo of Derrion Albert's little sister with tears streaming down her face (similar to the photo in this blog) but closer up, and it reminds me of the reaction one of my cousins had when one of her twin brothers was killed in their neighborhood. Just like parents say they should never die before their children, the bond that siblings have make them feel the same way.
Looking at that picture of Rhaea Albert with tears streaming down her face broke my heart. No child should have to die at the hands of another child and definitely not for something as simple-minded as neighborhood beef. Although I wish that the photo never had to be taken or the Derrion Albert incident never occurred, as I stated in my Christmas wish list, the photo is so raw. But what's more important is that she doesn't have the stone-faced look of a child who feels like murder is just another day.
A child who has given up on life is the scariest person you ever want to meet because they sincerely believe they're not going to be around. And even children who are numb to those around them being hurt is scary too. They become desensitized to violence. And as much violence as I saw around me and that stone-faced look from a few of my peers, my parents refused to let me lose hope.
Part 2: The Experience
I never could comprehend having animosity over a neighborhood, but I do completely understand why families at Fenger High School are so frustrated with the issues between CPS, other students, the police and Chicago youth violence.
