5 Videos To Watch This Week On YouTube!

Hi everyone! 🙂

It is that time of week again. Here is my five video suggestions this week:

Music

Turntables is an amazing song and music video by Janelle Monáe. It really captures our times when we are mostly all doing our best to protest against racial inequality and against oppression. It is truly wonderful and thank you Janelle for this. It is incredible. 🙂

911 by Lady Gaga is a great tune to dance to and the music video is really creative.

I have recently been listening to a lot of Rina Sawayama’s music and it’s amazing. Here is her amazing track and equally amazing music video XS.

Dance

This performance by Matthew Richardson and another equally talented male dancer is so beautiful, romantic and well put together. Performed at The Arrow Live at the Carre Theater for the Circle of Live Event, we have stunning music from The Irrepressibles with Arrow.

History

In this wonderful video, the history of the amazing Statue of Liberty is told. A true queen of America. 🙂

The Teachers & The Preachers

Even a year ago, the idea that you must teach a person about social issues was popular. I will be honest, it irritated me because of my own life circumstances because both teaching and preaching approaches in my eyes are equally good but I could see my approach was still been put down in a very cruel way so often. I think in the past year things have dramatically changed and I think in this aspect for the better. Looking around me and seeing people speaking their mind without fear of how they think they have to speak to people who are prejudiced and ignorant on these issues has been really cool to see.

People are different and they approach things in different ways based often on their personalities, their lives and their pasts and I have never felt that we respect that enough. It certainly happens both sides. People on the preaching side often make people on the teaching side feel like they are doing something wrong. People on the teaching side often make people on the preaching side feel like they are doing something wrong.

But for a long time I will say that the voices on the teaching side were amplified more and I felt it and I’m sure many others on the preaching side felt it out there too. We were made out to be troublemakers, hostile, immature, didn’t understand the world, were not nice people, were unintelligent, wanted to be right, wanted to control everyone, aggressive, rude, offensive and the list goes on. And that is a lot to put on people simply because they don’t approach things the same way you do. Because you aren’t a bad person and in your own way you are trying to do things from a good place, after a while if you are hearing the same thing all the time it can get to your head and have detrimental consequences.

When I hear people saying you should teach people instead of preach, I have to ask where is that rule written down? It’s simply an opinion which everyone is entitled to but it is often put out there as a statement of fact. I’m not a teacher, I never signed up for that profession so I don’t really see it as my job to teach anybody anything. It’s a choice you make either way and you go with the best choice for you, not anyone else but you can also be respectful of the choice someone else makes because these people on either side are not prejudiced or ignorant or both, they are simply people with different approaches who are all trying to come from a good place in what they are doing.

But without a doubt people on both sides can show their bad side when they gaslight another person who doesn’t approach it the same way as them. I have actually seen the word gaslighting been mocked and while as always people are entitled to their opinions, that opinion always makes me want to vomit because gaslighting has extremely dangerous effects on peoples’ mental health and I know that from experience so to see the idea that people are gaslit been mocked and dismissed is really ugly and while I tend to notice that it happens more to people on the preaching side, it happens to people on the teaching side too. It is an ugly but unfortunately very powerful way of making a person who doesn’t act the way you think they should feel so low and unsure of themselves and everything they do and are that they close themselves off, they become what you want them to be and can’t handle life. And believe me, no one normal wants to go that far to win.

I don’t think people on the teaching side are cowards or anything negative to be honest. But I equally don’t think I am or anyone like me is and I like when people have that same respect for me and others that I have for them but sadly it doesn’t always work out that way and that’s just the way it is. It’s on their conscience, not on mine so I don’t have to worry about it. I have opinions and I have them passionately and honestly and lots of people do and none of us need to feel guilty about that. That’s us. People on the teaching side don’t need to feel guilty about being them either. In my opinion, it is people on either side who try to say people are unkind or not brave because their approach is different from theirs who are the problem.

The way I and many people are is that we have our opinions. Not for attention. Because we have voices, we all do, and we are putting those opinions across to do something good: to stand up for equality of people in our way. To make people feel less alone. And teachers do their things for good too, they are trying to understand every side. There is good in both sides and you won’t see this preacher debating with any teacher unless they pick a debate with me. We are only human, both teachers and preachers, and when confronted with difficult issues we react in different ways and if we can’t respect that we do then we as individuals, not either group we’re in, is problematic as hell.

I would love to see teachers and preachers coming together more often because both have skills the other doesn’t have and together they could make some amazing change which the world really needs right now and has always really needed. But both sides need to be more kinder to each other in order for that to happen.

Poem: Out Of The Box And Visible

Yesterday was Bi Visibility Day. This is my poem for the day with lots of wonderful bi flags. I hope that all the bi people out there had an amazing day and Bi Week. Happy Bi Visibility Day and Bi Visibility Week. Keep being amazing! 🙂 Hope you all enjoy the poem & I hope everyone else does too. 🙂

Not everyone is gay,

not everyone is straight,

not everyone fits into neat little boxes

which you feel makes your life easier

but then it has nothing to do with you

so that just sounds weird.

23rd of September each year,

Bi Visibility Day,

must drive the ones

who adore their little boxes mad,

might be a better idea to put a gift in those boxes,

you know to help bi people celebrate

instead of wanting to put the stars of the day

in the box like you try to do

every other day,

god it’s so boring

so instead bi people, bi+ people and allies,

all the normal thinking people in other words

are going to ignore you

like we try to do

every other day.

Wave those bi flags y’all,

the bisexual ones,

the biromantic ones,

dance like there is no tomorrow,

live and forget the negativity exists,

enjoy your life

just as you are,

you aren’t the problem,

don’t let the problems inflicted by

problematic people

make you unhappy today

or any day of your life,

sometimes it will get you down

but you’ll get back up and

you will be back to yourself again

waving those flags

and being as visible as hell.

Poem: An Invitation To Be Shocked

Sometimes I don’t know what I’m listening to,

I get sick to my teeth of hearing

the prejudiced,

the ignorant,

the gaslighters especially

playing the goddamn victim,

the world is hard enough right now

without hearing your sob stories

on the bleedin’ regular,

honey you are entitled to your opinion,

own it if you like

but I’ll disagree when I want to

and if debating like two adults is too hard,

darling you need to learn what it means

to be an adult.

Because I am sick to my teeth

of you playing that card

because you know your opinions

will make no sense and come over ugly

if god forbid you actually debated it

instead of taking that time to tear down

every aspect of my character,

if you don’t like me and think I’m a bitch,

fair enough I probably think the same about you

because adults are able to think that

but this whole “everyone is getting at me

because they debate with me and they don’t like me”

is pathetic.

I can listen even when I don’t agree

so please do tell me why you want people

treated differently to you?

Please don’t tell me it’s your religion,

your generation,

your country,

they are aspects of you

but you are an individual,

tell me why you think it

because from my perspective it looks like

you want power,

convince me otherwise

because if you can’t,

your moaning falls on deaf ears.

I have had so many people

like you try to tell me what I’m about

and many other people sadly have the same story

so tell us all about your motives and agenda for a change

in human terms for once please,

with feeling as they say in the music business,

I personally don’t think it’s there within you

but shock me.

My New Book Positive Affirmations: Be Confident Is Now Available To Purchase!

My new book Positive Affirmations: Be Confident is now available to purchase on both Amazon and Payhip.

Positive Affirmations: Be Confident is a book with 50 affirmations to help you to be confident in yourself, your life, your attributes and your talents. It aims to help you feel confident in yourself and not waste your potential.

I really liked putting it together. These affirmations books are very relaxing even to write I have to say! I love affirmations and I hope the affirmations in this book which help me will help other people too. 🙂

To purchase Positive Affirmations: Be Confident go to:

https://payhip.com/b/VUOk

5 Songs To Celebrate Bi Awareness Week!

Bi Awareness takes place each year between September 16th and September 23rd. To celebrate this amazing week here are five amazing artists who are bi. Happy Bi Awareness Week to all the wonderful bi people out there. 🙂

Ma Rainey – Runaway Blues

Halsey – Bad At Love

Frenchie Davis – Home

Ezra Furman – Every Feeling

Billie Joe Armstrong – Wake Me Up When September Ends

5 Poems To Celebrate Culture Night!

On the 18th of September, Culture Night took place. Here is 5 amazing poems to celebrate the event. Enjoy! 🙂

Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48985/phenomenal-woman

Her Voice by Oscar Wilde

https://poets.org/poem/her-voice

Mother To Son by Langston Hughes

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47559/mother-to-son

Untitled by James Baldwin

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/88936/untitled-56fd7727ab2dd

Daffodils by William Wordsworth

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45521/i-wandered-lonely-as-a-cloud

5 Videos To Watch This Week On YouTube!

Hi everyone! 🙂

It is that time of week again. Here is my five video suggestions this week:

Music

First up is Luther Vandross’ Stop To Love. This song is mine and my sister’s favourite Luther Vandross track. It is a really great bop and the video is brilliant, wonderfully cheesy and the whole way the standing on the vehicles thing was done was really cool.

Next we have X Factor semi-finalist Brendan Murray’s cover of Harry Styles’ Watermelon Sugar. Produced by Dylan Connolly, I think it’s a really great version of the track and the video is great too.

This is Gladys Knight’s bond theme License To Kill. Bond themes often have that amazing dramatic vibe to them and this song and music video are no expection to that. Wonderful. I love the song, a pure classic. Gladys voice is superb on it and I adore her outfit in the video.

Sport

This is a classic English Grand National from 1973 where Crisp was narrowly bet by a fast-finishing Red Rum who ended up making history by winning three English Grand Nationals. Amazing race made especially by two brilliant horses. R.I.P. to the amazing Grey Sombrero.

Make-Up

In this excellent tutorial, beauty influencer Jackie Aina does a stunning soft glam look using inexpensive products. Absolutely incredible look.

Poem: Enough?

This poem is from the perspective of my character Darnell in my Work in Progress Darnell & Dylan. Hope you all like it. 🙂

I want it to work

but that doesn’t mean it can

or will,

we love each other

but do we get each other?

I know the answer is no

and I like to think that can change,

I know he likes to think that too

but hope is not reality.

We might think we are perfect for each other,

we might hope that we are,

we might want to be

but that’s no good

if we make each other unhappy

if we spend too much time together,

I think I’ll always love him

and he will always love me

but is that enough?

His Reality By Dakota Matos Review!

His Reality (2019) by Dakota Matos is a good read.

The plot follows the story of protagonist Michael who is in high school and his prom is coming up. But he is having some visions lately which he isn’t sure are real or not.

I think the plot is very good and interesting. Domestic abuse is highlighted in the book and I think that was a very important issue to bring into the book. Highlighting that toxicity was something I appreciated very much. I also liked the characters of Samantha and Crasco. They seemed cool. I liked the way the plot changed because it was interesting and different but I did get a bit confused through that about what was happening especially towards the end.

I liked the book but I didn’t really like Michael and James to be honest and a lot of the book is about Michael and James and their stories and reactions to things so that made it less interesting for me. That’s of course subjective so other readers might like them and might find the read more enjoyable but all in all, a good read.

To purchase His Reality by Dakota Matos go to:

For more about Dakota Matos and his work go to:

http://horror3day.com