Pro Wrestler Nick Dinsmore discusses playing 'special needs' character Eugene

Nick Dinsmore as Eugene in WWE
Photo source: BBC

For most of you who read this blog, you know that I am very much an avid, diehard wrestling fan and because this is, after all, the Wheelchair Philosopher blog, disability is logically the common thread that binds this biosphere of topics together on most occasions.

Quite a few blogs back I profiled professional wrestler Colt Cabana's interview with fellow ring warrior Gregory Iron, the first professional wrestler born with Cerebral palsy in real life. But today, another detour in the journey of disability in professional wrestling is taken with fellow professional wrestler Colt Cabana's interview of Nick Dinsmore who portrayed "special-needs" character and wrestler Eugene for several years in World Wrestling Entertainment.

According to Dinsmore, Eugene's persona may have been modeled after one of WWE's writer's autistic son as a way to show triumph of the will in a new light for a new era. The premise of Eugene's story was that he would be a guy with a disability who grew up idolizing his favorite wrestlers and mimicking their moves with savant-like perfection so while having the disability, once in the ring, he would dominate his competition by being a harrowing hybrid of every great wrestler he grew up watching.

Colt and Nick discuss the controversy of the potential exploitation of a character such as Eugene and also the positives that have come out of the role.

Listen to the Art of Wrestling podcast with Nick Dinsmore at the link below.

Roll on!

From the podcast:

Eugene was a WWE superstar. Nick Dinsmore portrays the special needs character, Eugene. Dinsmore [has] been wrestling a long time and is full of fun stories. Find the origins of the character along with much more as Nick and Colt sit down and talk wrestling.

http://tsmradio.com/coltcabana/2012/08/22/aow-109-eugene/

Photosophical: The only disability in life is a bad attitude

Do You agree?

Roll on!

Hope springs eternal in Gotham and the world

May we learn something from the Dark Knight's rising.
Photo: Warner Bros.

Hi folks, it's been a while but I'm back. After a month of tech blogging and subsequently having that blog temporarily suspend certain activities therein, I now have more time for you.


A lot has happened in the past week or so. I've ended one job temporarily, applied to others, almost gotten hired by another blog only to be beaten to the punch, or the keyboard (during a power outage at my house mind you) by an earlier submission. Thems is the breaks I guess. I was luckily able to ask if any other positions were available and I was told that something would be opening up in about a month—fingers crossed.

As for disability and inspiration, the former hasn't been so much a factor, and truth be told, I haven't even seen the latest episode of Push Girls. But alas, I roll on into the Great Unknown with hope, perseverance and the occasional Subway sandwich to reinvigorate my soul's quest to conquer and triumph over perilous foes and in the process get jobs blogging, writing, editing, tweeting and creating as per the world's various needs while attempting to do it all with a smile upon my visage (also known as my face).

Also, I would be remiss in not mentioning the Colorado movie theater tragedy and the horrible reality of people who just wanted to watch a movie being hurt or killed in their simple effort to escape into a world of comic book heroes and mythical storytelling. However, it does make me value every breath I take all the more and I would hope that it has done the same for you as you go to work, eat dinner with your family or watch a movie with your friends. Life is just that fragile and precious and we should all be so fortunate to know this so that we might make the most of each experience no matter how small.

So with that I leave you with a hopeful message to continue to visit this blog while also enjoying life's simple and complex times with a greater vigor and verve and a smile whenever possible!

Roll on like Batman!

Click here to donate to shooting victim Caleb Medley's hospital care costs.

Sundance Channel's 'Push Girls' push reality TV to new frontiers

 From left: Mia, Auti, Angela and Tiphany roll on! Credit: sundancechannel.com

Sundance Channel's latest reality series is the progressively titled feminine treatise on life Push Girls. Push Girls  follows four women living their lives in wheelchairs after various fates have made it so. I only heard about this show during my random perusal of my Facebook feed, but as the saying goes, we gravitate to the familiar, and obviously being a wheelchair philosopher amplifies any notice of a new trend with regard to disability in society.

The show itself is like most shows: a documentary style  interspersed with some "off-script" commentary/confessionals and such. But why I like Push Girls personally is the sheer unmitigated and almost casual tenacity of showing people with disabilities as they are, without the need for pandering, proselytizing for sympathy, excessive empathy, political bullhorning or Rev. Al Sharpton-like social justice activism. Push Girls is the story of four women between their mid-30s and early 40s attempting to redefine themselves after life has given them a detour into a journey on wheels as the show's intro bold proclaims, "When you can't stand up -- stand out!"

Each woman in the series has her expression of herself carried out in interesting, yet  very much unforced ways. Auti is a former traditional Hip Hop dancer who has spent the better part of a decade redefining the "dancer" as she continues to do shows and reinvent the wheel (pun intended) through a slinky style of dance that somehow allows for her wheelchair to seem like a prop in a kind of avant-garde, living hybrid car kind of way. Tiphany is a workout fanatic and perpetual flirt as she would tell you in different words. The pilot episode follows her relationship woes with her ex boyfriend and dives seamlessly into her current romance with a woman as Tiphany makes clear to the interviewer that she does not want to define her sexuality anymore than she wants to define herself as "the wheelchair girl" while her roommate Mia struggles to dive back into both her relationship with her boyfriend and, quite literally, into her former life as a competitive swimmer prior to a spinal infection at age 15. And finally there is Angela, a former model whose career took off to near supermodel stardom  at the leafy green age of 18. She is attempting to return, at least somewhat, to her former glory as she looks to get work as a now quadriplegic stunner.

For all the attempts that may be made to sentimentalize the aim of Push Girls, there is a bold simplicity to the show's premise. Simply put, it seems to convey unapologetically that life goes on for these four women not because they were forced into the "strong role" by their loved ones, or that they wanted to go on to inspire successive generations of little girls to redefine themselves, (though inspiration may play a part). More essentially, Push Girls shows life as it is for four women who simply do not know any other way to be. Like many with disabilities, for these women the goal is never really about being an inspiration to anyone, but as it seems, the real goal is for these women is to inspire themselves to be themselves no matter what obstacles, limitations or risk factors may be placed in their paths to a fulfilling life that we all might strive for, disability or no, for the greater good of ourselves and the  simple joy of living in itself.

Push Girls airs Monday nights at 10 pm Eastern on Sundance Channel. (Click here for more).  

Here is the pilot episode via Hulu:

Roll on!

Let me tell you a story about moving past limitations (Revised 5/3/12)

 This image of rapper-singer Drake is taken from an anonymous source on Facebook. Copyright is granted in full to the original owner of the image.

How many times in our lives have we intended to do something? We say, "I meant to do this, but I didn't because…." We make excuses as to why we can't accomplish a given goal or why it'll just be too hard to complete or even try to do that which we always wanted to do. I am no exception to this rule. For years, I never tried drawing or painting because I assumed my hands were too spastic from my Cerebral palsy. For the same reason, I never learned to play Jazz piano, or how to rock on the guitar.

But one day, at the age of 15 in the 10th grade, fate would seem to strike me the face with an opportunity. You see, for some odd reason, my guidance counselor thought it would be prudent judgment to put me in a technical drawing class rather than an art class because of my disability. Somehow she seemed to think that rigid rules, rulers, wedges, compasses, lined graph paper and the rest would be easier for me to handle than a basic studio art class.  So, after about a week of being bored by drawing straight lines with rulers, I opted instead to take Studio Art with Ms. Wheeler -- a choice I credit with encouraging me to explore my creativity more than I ever had in the past. I had written poetry and short stories, tinkered with computers and all that. But in my mind, I was limited by something I had no control over. But as I would later discover, I was, in truth, very literally "disabled" by my own thinking.

When I first entered the class I felt immediately at ease with Ms. Wheeler. She was an upbeat, jovial woman seemingly in her late 20s who told us all that she didn't believe in people who couldn't be creative. So she started us out randomly enough by drawing tree bark. She told us to look at the lines and contours and to carefully examine each bit of the tree and really pay attention to the tinniest details. Somehow by doing this, breaking down the lines into smaller, more manageable pieces, the lines seemed so much more accessible, even easy for me. Ms. Wheeler would then send us all home with a sketchbook to draw everything from telephones, pets and simple versions of human faces for the entire school year. I went on that year to draw monochromatic still lifes, to create abstract tissue paper tapestries and even create one watercolor painting that seemed to remind one administrator of a Salvador Dali piece. I went on even further in my remaining high school years to take up courses in black-and-white photography, drama/improvisational acting and even international cooking. But none of this would've been possible without someone like Ms. Wheeler to show me how to think beyond my limitations. For this much I say thank you to Ms. Wheeler, wherever she may be now.

Today, I take that creativity with me and so many lessons learned from people like Ms. Wheeler. Since graduating over a decade ago, I've discovered several hobbies and abilities. I stuck with my poetry and have expanded it into new forms and I'm now writing with greater depth and intensity at 31 and I ever thought I could at the green and often unripened age of 15. I began taking on music in the form of DJing in my early undergraduate years for friends, relatives and neighbors. For a moment I tinkered with the idea of doing Hip Hop mixtape of my original raps; and I only stopped because I realized that the life of a rapper was not something I wanted. But, as funny as it may seem, I am absolutely convinced beyond all doubt that had I pursued it, rapping could've taken me to some very interesting places in my life.

In the same creative vein so to speak, I began thinking of a screenplay idea and eventually  would become fleshed out more and more in a screenwriting class in 2006. I'm still working on this. I also began a freelance writing career in 2007, built a portfolio by 2009 and by 2011, I moved into the realm of promotional work for everything from a performing arts studio to an interior design blog. At present, I'm still freelancing and promoting while being 25% owner of the novelty store LoveList.com. Also, my recent editing adventure with author Andre Burrell, The Fight Versus Reality, is now available at Amazon.

The moral: You are not as limited as you might think you are.

Roll on!

Karly Fesolowich performs "A Letter to Alexander Graham Bell from His Deaf Wife Mabel"

The following spoken-word poem is a narrative retelling of the story of Mabel Hubbard Bell, wife of telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell by SUNY New Paltz student and Slam Team member Karly Fesolwich. 

In the piece entitled "A Letter to Alexander Graham Bell from His Deaf Wife Mabel," the character of Mrs. Bell speaks candidly and unabashedly about her feelings toward her curious relationship with her husband and touches with a firm thumb on what may have been the prevailing stereotype regarding deafness and disability in the late Nineteenth Century with a poignancy and potency that shakes the hearer of the poem  into a vivid imagining of the almost cruel paradox of Mrs. Bell's role as her husband's public touter  -- and the poem does all of this not withstanding the irony of an auditory poem being performed from the perspective a deaf person.

MABEL HUBBARD BELL
by Stan Griffin, Deaf Friends International Special Contributor 

Before teacher and inventor Alexander Graham Bell married Mabel Hubbard, he described her voice as " ... naturally sweet ... (having a) beautiful quality ..." Unfortunately, she was never able to hear it herself because Mabel was deaf. And when Bell's most famous invention (the telephone) became extremely popular throughout the world, Mabel was unable to use it for the same reason.

Source material here

Roll on!

You are not a tree

Source: Steve Warrene's ActiveRain Blog

Often in life, we find reason to complain. "I lost my job!" "My income isn't enough!" "I have a job, but I hate it." "I'm so poor!" And while some or all of these things may be true, in the Western world we have a distinct advantage from other parts of the world. While poverty abjectly maybe all around us, while the economy may have gone to crap, while we may have been born with a disability, a disease, a perceived inferior racial makeup -- there is still a choice of what to do about it.

For many of us who live in a democratic country, we have things available to us that we too often take for granted. For instance though it may not always be the best, we have free K-12 public education,  free public libraries with Internet access, running water, the ability to vote, the ability to think and the ability to decide where we want to go in life. The path may not be paved well and the journey may be difficult. But as the above quotation reminds you, you are not a tree. You are free to change those undesirable things. It may not be easy, and in all likelihood, it won't be. But try anyway, do anyway and fail in order to learn exactly how to succeed. You are not bound by your roots. Yo can move, change positions, go beyond where you stand and you can flourish in many environments! You are not a tree.

Support 3E Love's 96-hour Spring Hoodie Sale

Please support this product... AND the right to wear hoodies freely no matter what you ability... or color.

From 3elove.com:

What is 3E Love...?

3E Love, LLC. is a social entrepreneurial experiment to change the perception of disability. The company was started by siblings Annie & Stevie Hopkins in 2007 with the intent of promoting their unique symbol and social model of disability. The company's trademarked International Symbol of Acceptance (wheelchair heart logo) is the drive behind it's social mission to provide the tools for others to embrace diversity, educate society, and empower each other to love life. What was once just a small Chicago disability pride clothing brand is now an international movement of acceptance. People with disabilities are everywhere, and thousands of t-shirts and other items later, so is the 3E Love message.

"3E Love is more than living disabled but is simply about living. Everyone has the freedom to live their life. We challenge you to do what you love, because you'll meet some amazing people along the way, and that, our friends, is how you'll enjoy this ride that 3E Love calls, life.

Embrace diversity. Educate your community. Empower each other. Love life."
- 3E Love Founder, Annie Hopkins (1984-2009)

The journey of 3E Love actually began in 2004 when Annie created the "wheelchair heart symbol" for a dorm t-shirt while she and Stevie were undergraduate students together at the University of Illinois. At that time, neither of them had any clue what they had stumbled onto nor fully grasped the potential and meaning of Annie's creation. As a community health major with an interest and passion for disability studies, Annie used the symbol on her shoulder for a permanent tattoo. Friends, family and peers in the disability community were instantly drawn to her new tattoo, and many even got it themselves. The potential behind the symbol was clear!

Annie soon thereafter moved to Chicago after graduation to pursue independent living and a PhD in disability studies at the University of Illinois-Chicago. There, she found her calling in life to be an advocate and leader in the community. Stevie graduated at the same time to work a full-time job with investments and part-time jobs in the local music scene. They both knew that eventually they wanted to combine forces to make a difference behind Annie's "wheelchair heart symbol", but was unsure how and when. 

The first big step was in 2007 when they incorporated 3E Love, LLC. and legally protected the symbol. The future plan was to move-in together and take it full-time after Annie completed her studies. In the meantime, 3E Love was a placeholder for a future neither understood, but the motto and corporate mission were ironed out in the meantime and t-shirts were sold at events to keep the company afloat. Things were going as planned – t-shirts were selling well and Annie was making huge strides with her education and advocacy work. 

Then in January of 2009, an unexpected tragedy occurred when Annie went into the hospital for a simple procedure but had complications that led to infection and her eventual passing. She died at the age of 24 and left behind friends to wonder not only why, but also what could have been. Annie's future was bright and her work in advocacy had only just begun, and 3E Love had not even taken off yet. 

Driven by the support and love of family, friends and the Chicago disability community, Stevie decided to continue the plan without his little sister. He knew that it would be so much more difficult without her charisma, passion for advocacy and disability studies education, but he sought to do his best to spread her symbol and accompanying message to embrace, educate, empower and love life. 

Annie had already done all the difficult work, to create the powerful symbol and message and generate the movement and momentum behind it. All he had to do was take his experience in marketing, music apparel sales and internet social networking and put it to work for 3E Love. Annie created the product, so now he had to sell it and expand upon it!

With the help of Facebook and disability-related expos across the country, Stevie was able to quickly spread the word about 3E Love. Less than two years and thousands of miles later, the company has sold tens of thousands of items to customers in all 50 states and over 20 countries. The response to the symbol and Stevie's efforts have been nothing but positive, pushing him to do more and more. The company has dozens of products and controls production and distribution from start to finish. Having the ability to make all of the products has allowed Stevie the flexibility to offer 3E Love products at lower pricing to fundraising groups, customize them for events, and even screen-print for others.

Today, the warehouse is stocked and Stevie has a fire lit under him to make 2012 a huge year for disability awareness through an even stronger push behind Annie's vision! But, he knows he cannot accomplish Annie's goals alone. For 3E Love to be successful, others need to believe in the symbol and message and join him on the journey. Although Annie and Stevie's names may be all over the paperwork, the long-term vision was always and will always be to create an all-inclusive disability social media and marketing company where everyone is welcome to join them.

Great things take time. Great things require help from everyone. And great things can be a lot of fun.

Love life.

Roll on!

Reblog Rerun: Is having a disability in any way like being gay?

As of Tuesday, California's ban on same-sex marriage (Proposition 8) has been declared unconstitutional by the U.S Supreme Court. In light of this, I felt it only right and propitious that I revisit the topic. At the time I that I wrote it, New York State has just legalized same-sex marriage. I smell a trend.


Read with care and discernment and as always... roll on!


The Wheelchair Philosopher: Is having a disability in any way like being gay?: In light of the recent landmark decision to legalize same-sex marriage in my home state of New York, I decided to repost an except from a...

HBO's new documentary miniseries showcases the near-perfect skills go a man with an imperfect illness

HBO's new documentary miniseries On Freddie Roach explores the mind and myth behind the man behind the man who in under ten years' time has taken the boxing world to new plateaus Manny Pacquiao-a man who has conquered seven weight classes and even more world titles. But alongside "Pac-Man" is is Freddie Roach who with over 200 lifetime fights has taken his boxing IQ into the history books and his brain into a daily head-to-head battle with Parkinson's disease.

This series takes the viewer into the mind of Roach. The epic and the average in Freddie show up unapologetic at once. He is frail, but focused, finicky, but, as viewers are granted a unique look at his training style and his home life. a more tender side creeps out of the man.  From stories of his father's abuse of him and his brothers as well as his mother to an interesting dynamic between Roach and his fighters such as Amir Khan and, of course the Filipino firecracker that is Manny Pacquiao.

HBO is currently running the first two episodes on its on-demand channel. Don't miss this unique look into the life of the man voted Trainer of the Year by boxing's elite on several occasions as told behind the quiet yet powerful backdrop of a disability.

On Freddie Roach airs Fridays at 9:30 pm Eastern/6:30 pm Pacific on HBO.


Until then... roll on!

Does Charlize Theron not understand PreJudice, yes, no?

In this video taken from both the Daily Beast website and Newsweek's Roundtable interview show, actress Charlize Theron when talking about the plight of black actresses in Hollywood doesn't seem to get the point of of help costar Viola Davis when she says she's not young and hot like Halle Berry.

Watch the following video and judge for yourself. Does Ms. Theron misunderstand? Or is Ms. Davis really holding herself back with negative thinking?

In my life, it has been a common theme for many of my friends and family of color to say that I as a w

White person may not understand what it is to be less sought after, less understood. And while I personally agree that systemic issues exist in a culture that seems to compartmentalize ethnicity, heritage and even job titles, does Ms. Theron make a valid point that thinking that you can't do a thing from the start may make it that much harder to do the thing you want to do?

I've personally found in my own life, whether it be me (a White man with a disability), my fiancée (A Filipina woman) or or say, another friend (A black man with a disability), condemning the problem  -- whatever it may be often does little to solve it. For instance, if I am poor, do I do any justice to my situation  by mulling over and philosophically contemplating my poverty? If I am racially discriminated, do I serve to lift myself up by attacking the person who is ignorant toward me? It's likely I do not help any of the situations by dwelling in my negative thoughts, but  rather by contemplating solutions, whether they be as expansive as Warren Buffett's Giving Pledge and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream of racial harmony between all God's children,or feeding a starving baby, these all come from stances of action. For me the Epistle of James says it best in the New Testament when he declares that faith without action is dead and serves no purpose but to delay the right thing from being done:

 ¹⁴What is the use (profit), my brethren, for anyone to profess to have faith if he has no [good] works [to show for it]? Can [such] faith save [his soul]?
    ¹⁵If a brother or sister is poorly clad and lacks food for each day,
    ¹⁶And one of you says to him, Good-bye! Keep [yourself] warm and well fed, without giving him the necessities for the body, what good does that do?
    ¹⁷So also faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back it up), by itself is destitute of power (inoperative, dead). - James 2:14-17

What do you think? Leave your comments below and as always… roll on.

A White guy in a wheelchair speaks to what Dr Martin Luther King Jr. means to him

Case and point.

About five years ago, while I was perusing a small poster sale in my college, I came across a poster with a certain photograph of one Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. giving  his now famed August, 1968 speech -- you know the one with the dream. And as I don't often hesitate to pick up things that move me so to speak, I bought this poster, for as I remember less than five dollars. It was a meager price for what I saw as a small way to commemorate someone who I thought exemplified a philosophy that to me seemed only natural in that I had grown up in a multiethnic neighborhood with Italian Polish, Jewish, African-American, Puerto Rican and Indian cultures being represented. My best friend of over 15 years (and future Best Man at my wedding) was Black, my girlfriend (and soon-to-be wife), Filipino and even my college friends seemed to exemplify a cultural diversity that just wouldn't exist without this man. So like most any student who just bought a poster, I went back to my dorm and hung it and that seemed to be the end of it.

A few weeks later, however, a family member who I considered to be a  pretty smart guy, and still do for that matter, while visiting one day jokingly but somewhat quizzically asked me, "You know you're White, right?" I quickly quipped back, "That's not the point," and proceeded to tell him what I've just told you in this blog. He seemed to get the message well enough, and so I went about my business. But his assumption was clear: because I was White, Martin Luther King Jr. was not MY civil rights leader and that in my family member's mind, Dr. King and his legacy belonged to Black people. This view, prevailing as it may be in many people's minds, saddens me very much in that this brilliant man, educated, well read, deeply faithful and convicted by conscience is, to this day still seen by some to embody the problems and remedies of  just one type of person, one ethnic race or one skin color. As a man with Cerebral palsy, civil rights and the civil rights movement of the 60s, was never just a Black thing, a White thing, a conservative thing, a liberal thing, a religious thing or a secular thing. It was simply the right thing.

How would I, for instance, as a man who uses a wheelchair, be able to justify demanding the physical ability to enter a public space where the able-bodied walk if I were to allow myself to disallow others with particular physical features to enter the same square? How would I have been able to attend school with the general population as easily as I did from a political standpoint if racial segregation had still existed in law books in the United States? And lastly, would I be able to have the relationships I do, the friendships and even the wife that I will have soon without a society which embraces cultural diversity in the name of respect?

Today, I live in a society that elected a bi-racial man, Barack Obama President of the United States in 2008, 40 years hence from Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech and just 50 to 60 years after the wounds of abject racial segregation. Yet today, in 2012, despite the lingering prejudices that may exist, you and I now live in a world where all this is possible. We live in a world where neither friendship nor romance nor business partnership nor love of neighbor need be bound by the color of skin, the dimensions of disability or the preconceptions of culture, but we as a people, a humanity -- that we are at very least able to embrace the true content of both our distinct as well as our collective characters. For that I am forever thankful. Thank you, Dr. King and thank you to all like him who believe that the world is better because it is a little more together.

Roll on and dream.

Will Smith talks rebirth on Oprah

Here is some interesting insight from Will Smith on life, death, birth and rebirth. Will speaks to the idea that though we so often think things happen on a straight path, it's often the detours that make life interesting and worth the temporary growing pains. This is a concept that I've tried to capture in this blog since its beginning. From disability, financial hardship and the things that make us different or the things that make us feel alone, it all seems to have a grander and more definitive purpose than we ever see. And with this understanding, I'm thankful for each day I take another breath and another look at life through this forever changing lens.

Until next time,  I challenge you to live, grow and roll on!

Occupy Yourself with a Solution by The Wheelchair Philosopher Michael LaPenna

Know how to read the signs of life.

In this life, we have no storage struggles and disappointments. We lose a job and we gripe. We fail at a sport and we feel like a loser. We fail a test in school and we feel stupid. The economy goes bad and we, the people in New York City Occupy Wall Street and begin complaining about all the many things what we don't have: a job, a house, income to pay that latest student loan. We feel most assuredly like rejecting any optimism at all in these kinds of moments. The hurt is just too piecing, the barriers too mountainous. But there is another view, one that takes takes said job loss as a learning experience. To this way of thinking, if we fail at a sport, we utilize the opportunity to analyze what we did wrong and right. If we fail a test in school, we only study harder and well, if the economy goes Bad News Bears' market on Wall Street or on Main Street, we inevitably run for City Council to BE THE CHANGE WE SEEK as Gandhi so famously proposed.

The Occupy Movement of America in 2011 as with nearly ever protest including "New Coke" in '85 is one of unrest and want of change. It seeks freedom from domination of the Mega-rich, what is thought to be an oppressive system.  It seeks freedom from  job-loss, freedom from lack. It seeks immediate answers to why so many gaps between those who have and those who have not seem so immense and cavernous. The questions circle in our heads and we dwell on them. But the follow-up question is then, "How do we dwell on them?" How do you deal with the them? Occupy-ers invariably see the "system" as favoring those in high-level positions in America's financial and business sectors and part of a system that has failed to hold those institutions accountable for debacles like sub-prime mortgage lending, misguided credit policies and a seemingly unjust consolidation of power and corporate influence over the political landscape in the country. Yet while November 17 has been call a Day of Action in Lower Manhattan, what that action actually is remains ambiguously uncertain and frankly, as of this writing, seems undecided. But mainly and in no uncertain terms, the natural human tendency to blame is central to the theme here.

Blame is a tricky tradesman though. It can act as a prosecutor and hold the accused accountable with the culprit's feet aflame, yet it can also be the scapegoat for our anger that breeds bullying, prejudice, racism and yes --dare it be said--  ill-fated, decade-long wars. The former is usually the mark a protest of large demand such as the Civil Rights rallies of the 1960s and Gay Marriage movements of today which both have had their own specified agendas for equal treatment under the law. But the latter is visceral and unsure -- an  impulsive reaction to an irregular heartbeat so to speak caused by fear of what might happen in an unfair, mean world.

Asking yourself how you see your lot in life is crucial. Do you see yourself as oppressed, disadvantaged and stricken with bad luck? Do you complain and soak into your circumstances, or instead -- and this is equally critical-- do you see yourself  in control of your circumstances despite economic inequality, racism, sexism, disability, abuse, rejection and so forth? These are questions that you may have asked yourself before, or they may have never entered into your consciousness even in the most peaceful of times. Nevertheless, ask. Ask with intention. Ask with purpose. Ask with vision. After asking you will find something remarkable more than likely,  you'll find that you have become what you have focused on most intently. If you're protesting in anger only, if you let yourself become peeved all the time while attempting peace, you'll notice that you never really become at peace.  However, if you turn your rally against what has oppressed you into the inspiration to do better -- to abolish every bad thing by focusing on  positive ideas, positive intention and positive results, you will--in no uncertain terms-- become affected positively. Answers will come and solutions will become clear because you have become occupied with a solution. Try it... if you dare.

My friend, be the change and watch the change be. It really is that simple. We may look outside ourselves for solutions, we may ask others to help our causes, but  as Willy Wonka once said, we are inevitably, for better or worse, the  true makers of our dreams.

Roll on!

Jesus, blind people and wheelchairs... what?

¹ As [Jesus] went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
   ³ “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

- John 9:1-3

I'm very often asked a certain type of question when I tell people that I was born with my Cerebral Palsy. They ask if I ever get depressed. Am I resentful of that fact that nature and/of God has allowed me to be "this way?" Their faces become masks of a self-evident sullenness -- a  sort of grief that a person might have if she found a dead kitten in the road by her cozy suburban home on a random Wednesday evening. It's the kind of thing authors put into their novels to give a subtle twitch in a character's psyche to add depth to a story. My answer, however, has always been that I am no more depressed in not walking, for instance, than any person would be in being able to walk. It is what I know, who I am. To paraphrase Lady Gaga: I'm fine in my own way and God make no mistakes. I was born this way and in the above Biblical verses, Jesus seems to agree that this at least might be true foe some folks.

When I first read this verse, I felt instantly assured that the plight of the anonymous blind man was like mine and many people who are different from the norm in any walk of life, whether blind, deaf, wheelchair-using, dwarfed or even gay -- that the glory of God may indeed be shining through people in such situations rather than burdening it as so many strangers I meet would seem to presume. I often hear in my social circles sentences like, "My cancer made me a kinder person," or "My accident made me appreciate my life so much more than before" -- as if these automatically assumed stricken or suffering people have found a secret angel who has enhanced their lives with an invisible cloak that the everyday passer-by fails to see the same way an attacker might fail to perceive a cab driver's Kung-Fu training.  These are metaphors of course, but nevertheless,  I do believe beyond all doubt that we all have something special hidden within us to contribute to existence by which particular glories and graces might be shown.


Through my disability I've known what it is to be ignored by the girls in the nightclub, thought incapable by an employer and I've known what it is to struggle in doing simple tasks like clipping my toenails. I truly have been given patience beyond my peers. I can't walk out of my front door, literally. I'm not medically cleared to drive a car either. You may be asking yourself where I'm going with this rant, but there is a point. That point is this: I know prejudice. I know ignorance. I know "having not." I will never be the spoiled kid. I will never be the man disgruntled and dismayed by not having his car that's being fixed ready in time. I will never be the pontiff claiming that racism doesn't exist and I will never not know what it is to be the minority in the room being stared at and judged. Yet, I remain steadfast in knowing what it is to make the best of every situation -- that every time I do get the chance to travel, I love it. Every moment with my wife-to-be  is  a blessing in that I know what it is to be without that blessing. Every dollar I make feels like $100 because I know what it is to be unable to freely travel to every job within a 15-mile radius. Thus, my attitude is, as the saying goes, gratitude.


There is a saying by a man whose name escapes me at the moment. It says that if the only prayer you ever say is  "Thank you", that would be enough. And while this message is a Biblical one, it is also universal. My struggles have made me realize the universal truth that gratitude creates  humility -- it drops ego and entitlement and replaces it with grace and appreciation for the gifts that life will offer us.


In closing, I hope that you re-blog, tweet and share this post with your loved ones and maybe a few enemies and urge them to be grateful for what they have and even  for what they might not have. May you and I always be thankful in this sense and may you always...




Roll on!

The Wheelchair Philosopher rolls through J. R. Smith's '26 Rules of Media, Money and Life'

A generic inspirational photo in Lieu of a pic of the Professor  -- waka, waka, waka

J.R. "Jim" Smith was my undergraduate  Communications and Media professor during what I might call my Renaissance years at SUNY New Paltz. And while the now retired, and as I remember, Hawaiian-shirt-adorning prof of profs has no immediate correlation to disability, his motivational insights are that of ball-busting legend and have kept my spirits up through quite a number of adversities related to this blog. For this much I say, "Thank you, Professor Smith!" 

SMITH’S 26 RULES OF MEDIA, MONEY, AND LIFE

 © J. R. Smith, 2005

PEOPLE

1. Networking is the single most important skill you’ll ever develop.

2. Dump your “loser” friends they are a waste of time and energy. You will be known, whether you like it or not, by the company you keep.

3. Treat everybody the way you want to be treated.

4. Don’t ignore the “little people.” Often the vice president’s secretary knows

more than the vice president.

5. Hire people smarter than you are.  It’s more important to be successful than

to be right or in control.

6. Keep your mouth shut. You learn more by listening and it is not always

necessary for people to know what you are thinking.

7.Don’t be afraid to sell!  Selling is building personal relationships…solving somebody’s problems or meeting their needs.

 

PERSONAL VALUES

8. Stay focused. Be passionate. Work hard and provide value. Don’t waste time.

9.Have integrity. Don’t cheat anybody. Be honest.

10. Be flexible, adapt.  Darwin was right.

11. Resist the urge to enhance your personal life until you have started to achieve

your professional goals.

12. Max-Min.  In all endeavors, maximize the upside potential and minimize the downside risk.

13. Relationships, life, and business are cyclical.  Learn to recognize the cycles and how to deal with them.

MONEY

14. Buy low, sell high, and know when to leave the table.

15. Use OPM (other people’s money) but retain ownership. But, borrow when interest rates are low, pay back when they are high.

16. Ask for more than you need but don’t be ridiculous.  When you get the money, follow the budget and keep some in reserve.

17. Think “investment” not “spending” when handling money. A corollary;

If you out-think them, you don’t have to out-spend them.

18.  Work for yourself, always own a business, even when you work in a corporate environment.  It also makes good tax sense.

19.  Divorce and business have much in common.  Be sure to leave relationships

with more than you brought to them.  And you will be leaving!

MEDIA RULES

20. Think software, not hardware. Content is king.  Don’t focus on technology or delivery

systems they quickly become commodity businesses.

21. There’s always somebody with more gear or more money than you have.

22. Define and know your target audiences.  They will make you money

if you let them.

23. Do your homework.  Research everything, including the failures. Profit from the successes and learn from the failures of others.

24. Pay your dues.  Learn the business from the ground-up.  In the beginning, you’ll have to work long hours for little pay but know, in the end, it’s worth it.

25. Egos.   Never lose sight of the fact that the media business is full of people with large egos.  Accept it and learn to deal with them.  Turn their ego into your “employee.”

26. Know the basics of contract law and accounting.

Regarding millionaires, did you know?

            Of those who didn’t inherit their money, less than 40% got rich by working for a corporation.

When somebody asks “What’s your sign?” 

           **Tell them © and ®**.

Remember Alan Alda’s famous quote: It isn’t necessary to be rich and famous to be happy. It’s only necessary to be rich.

If you commit  any of these missteps on a regular basis will definitely shorten your career path:

-Participate in Office Gossip

-Miss Deadlines

-Send a Lot of Personal E-mails

-Take Credit for Others' Work

Roll on!

Re-blog: The Wheelchair Philosopher: Video Sidebar: My disability is a gift! Part 1

The Wheelchair Philosopher: Video Sidebar: My disability is a gift! Part 1: People often ask me if I ever get upset that I was born with a "handicap" or "disability" and I usually tell them that my Cerebral Palsy has ...