Category Archives: Editorial

God bless the editorial board that ever offers me a warm seat. Like my poetry, my editorial voice is loud and in your face, yet an intelligent opinion that I’ve learned to hone and temper.

If I could write my own ticket, I’d be an editorial writer 24-7-365.

Congratulations Judge-elect Suzanne Bass

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As a matter of fact,

YES ~ She Won!

“Penny Pundit” graciously takes a necessary pause from her usual political jabs at public service representative’s pitfalls and piss-fights to unequivocally endorse and promote a woman of integrity, valor, good will, and judicial qualification: Suzanne Bass.
With the utmost respect, I delve into this blog endeavor with the best of intentions because it’s necessary and, well, a nice thing to do. It is as much a political literary pursuit as it is a gift to my good friend of “Circuit-Court-Seat” pursuit who turned the young age of 60 on Saturday, June 9th. Happy Birthday future Judge Bass, you don’t look a day “Over the Rainbow” and on election day: August 14, 2012, the pot of gold called political victory will be yours. Duval, Clay, and Nassau Counties will “even handed” elect Suzanne Bass Circuit Court Judge for Group 34.

As a journalist, I love a good story, and the picture to the left speaks the familiar cliche of one million words. An eager, forward-thinking, young Suzanne sustains that straight forward look which historically defines honesty and strength, but somehow I get the feeling that even as a young Public Defender, Suzanne Bass harbored solid, career aspirations of upholding justice and firmly slamming a gavel. The young defender is soon to meet her destiny; a just reward for challenging an incumbent.

Just like Virginia Slims, “You’ve come a long way baby.” Look at the litany of accolades and accomplishments outlined above. Your current (and prior) legal and community life makes you more than just an “apt” candidate but more so, a definitive, qualified winner.  Unfortunately, most community voters aren’t even aware that it is incumbent upon us to elect our county and circuit judges.

Judges are public servants who make some of the most important legal/judicial decisions that affect our community. Yes. Some judges are indeed appointed by governors or presidents, but the election to be held August 14, 2012 is about community. It is the opportunity for a voting populous in Florida’s northern, tri-county to SPEAK their choice by selecting “B” for Bass on their local voting ballots.

Suzanne and I initially met at the San Marco Deli in Jacksonville, Florida. On that day, she was with “what’s his name,” and I was with “what’s his name.”  However, since then, she has been steadfast, unmovable, and positioned herself to be in the presence of the most important community leaders as noted in the image left. Pictured is Suzanne with Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown (of course everyone knows his name…a.k.a. “Hizzoner”). From initial meetings she and I enjoyed lunch appointments, discussions, phone conversations, (and my thumb getting slammed in a car door…ahem). I must say, I thought she’d be dead by April from campaign exhaustion, but Madame Bass is a MACHINE.

The beautiful aspect it is that she’s not just showing up in photo images simply for the sake of garnering votes, Suzanne really does love the Jacksonville community, and the rigors of campaigning have simply availed more time for her to do what she loves most: meet the people she’s advocated, represented, and/or mediated for over the past 30 years. 

True to her Suwannee, Florida roots, Suzanne easily transitions to Jacksonville’s urban landscape by walking “shoulder to shoulder” with community youth from the Jacksonville Coalition of Kids and/or supporting domestic violence initiatives.  She’s military friendly and proud of every American who courageously and unselfishly serves in the United States military.

As an independent mediator (legal proprietor), Suzanne has assisted countless First Coast residents in adoption precedings and/or served as an integral force in their quest to reach amicable solutions when discord threatens what some deem a “traditional” family unit.

Most impressive is that while some candidates for office embrace a posture that simply because they have declared candidacy and are running for public service, the public owes them their vote.

I admire that Suzanne is hitting the asphalt hard and with sincerity, she ASKS  future constituents for both support and their vote on election day, August 14, 2012.

For the aforementioned reasons and more, future Circuit Court Judge Suzanne Bass has garnered endorsement and support from some of Jacksonville and the surrounding area’s leading media,political, and civic voices including:

  • The Florida Times-Union
  • Former Jacksonville Mayor John Delaney
  • Former Fernandina Mayor Bill Leeper
  • State Representative Mike Weinstein
  • State Representative Reggie Fullwood
  • John Thrasher
  • Nassau County Clerk of Courts’
  • Asian American Alliance
  • BEACHES, BALDWIN, ORANGE PARK MAYORS ENDORSE SUZANNE BASS FOR CIRCUIT JUDGE
    The mayors of Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, Baldwin, and Orange Park officially announced their endorsements of Suzanne Bass for Circuit Court Judge for the 4th Judicial Circuit of Florida
  1.  Jacksonville Beach Mayor Fland Sharp
  2. Atlantic Beach Mayor Mike Borno
  3. Neptune Beach Mayor Harriet Pruette
  4. Baldwin Mayor Stan Totman
  5. Orange Park Mayor Gary Meeks
  6. Former Atlantic Beach Mayor Billy Howell
  • JAX CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS ENDORSE SUZANNE BASS FOR CIRCUIT JUDGE
  1. Elaine Brown
  2. Matt Carlucci
  3. Lad Daniels
  4. Alberta Hipps
  5. Suzanne Jenkins
  6. Ginny Myrick
  7. Matt Schellenberg
  • SIX PAST PRESIDENTS OF THE JACKSONVILLE BAR ASSOCIATION
  1. Jephtha Barbour
  2. Reginal Luster
  3. Marc M. Mayo
  4. James F. Moseley, Jr.
  5. Mary K. Phillips
  6. Carl M. Stewart

Whether she’s networking with women at the I.M. Sulzbacher’s luncheon or enjoying a light moment with community pillars like Carlton Jones, Suzanne Bass is taking her candidacy serious and hasn’t made haste with letting the community know that she is not only in the “race,” but in the race to win it. (even-handed).

 

      Oh 2012, how I love thee with all your national attention recently focused on “Wit Romney” challenging my hero and POTUS over silly semantics that describe the Private Sector as “Fine vs. Good.” (Go with “Adequate” Mr. President).

Nationally, the gasp and grind and giggle is all part of what makes every four-year, national election season tense and temperamental for candidates, but also contemplative and cautious for the American voting population. Your conscious decision to vote on August 14, 2012 is about restoring a healthy (and respectable) legal tone to the city of Jacksonville’s judiciary community by voting and electing Suzanne Bass, Circuit Court Judge Group 34.

In order for the aforementioned to be successfully accomplished, I additionally, encourage you to choose the candidate who has accepted ACCOUNTABILITY as the foundation for both her candidacy and service. If you’d like to follow the progress of the Suzanne Bass for Circuit Court Judge campaign, make a donation, volunteer, and/or keep up with her growing media mentions, please refer to the following website:   www.suzannebassforjudge.com

Suzanne Bass is mentioned in Folio Weekly’s cover story: May 12, 2012              
Focus: “…A Rare Election Season Challenge…” 

                     http://www.folioweekly.com/folio0515wkl006.php

AUGUST 14, 2012

Penny Dickerson 2012

“Miss Jail 2011″ Pageantry trends and spin

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http://thestir.cafemom.com/beauty_style/118575/miss_jail_beauty_pageants_are

Just when I thought I’d never hear Burt Park’s version of “There she is…walking on air she is,” a new-aged, exploitative She has stepped into stilettos and left her prison cell to run for the coveted title, “Miss Jail.”  My mind flutters with a fury of thoughts running the gamut from, “How does one acquire false lashes behind bars? Is there a Loreal make-up room and Tre’ Semme hair salon likened to Project Runway? And my final itchy inquiry, what viable social platform does an ex-con covet that will advance a humanitarian cause?

In my Billy Crystal voice, “Pageantry has been veddy veddy good to me,” so don’t get my post-reign, tiara-stained views twisted, I just thought I’d never see the day. I recall pageantry being loads of fun and a respectable venue to pursue higher education via scholarship acquisition, but if you’re convicted of running drugs or kill your pimp, I mean really, fun for you behind bars should be squinting in dim light to find jagged-edged, puzzle pieces rendered unidentifiable by a  rat’s vicious gnaw. Fun for you should be the day Warden Big Bertha provides a random drawing for a pack of tampons with the hygiene string still attached.  THAT, my dear, is a prison privilege.

Jail, prison, lock-down, lock-up, or the hole should be a place for conscious reflect and punishment by means of denying one access to life’s divine privileges and for the female gender, lack of fashion access should top the list.  Jurors across the country would be riddled with shock and appall to know their well-reasoned convictions allowed a murderer to one day strip from her over-sized prison blues and don a sequin or beaded gown with a slit up to there. I’ll bet they are also provided Nair; the mere ridicule forces poetic rhyme.

In fairness to the country in which I reside and love, this millennium trend has taken place in apparently more  liberal parts of the world like Brazil and Russia where murder is really code for mean. I can hear foreign judges across the globe now:  “I hereby sentence you to 15 years behind bars for drug trafficking and carrying a concealed weapon, now sashay your buxom self to prison and be the beautiful winner you are.”

There may be good intent of  reforming one’s character, in addition to providing social outlets for inmates, but allowing male guards and a prison populous the opportunity to applaud, cat-call, and whistle for their designate delight just don’t seem right.  Who does one complain to when a fellow contestant wardrobe shreds or sneakily puts glue inside platform shoes? Nobody. She also tied a man to a tree and shot him at point blank rage, so feel lucky!

While it wasn’t reported, I imagine the previous year’s winner’s farewell speech including trite salutations  like, “I’d like to thank the victim’s family for giving me this opportunity to mock his death by promoting glamour and glitz, and to the crew in cell block 152, thank you (sniff, sniff) thank you, for pooling your commissary funds to purchase bobby pins and endless cans of Aqua Net.”

I am stymied about the mind over this comical discovery, and ask employers around the globe to look closely at resumes that may not disclose exoneration and restoration of one’s civil rights, but under accomplishments – with  silicone, breast-implanted pride – includes the title, “Miss Jail.”

Undoubtedly, it would be in a 16 pt. font, bold, italicized and comic sans serif  appropriate.

Penny Dickerson 2011

The whimsy and woes of a writer’s life.

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This blog is featured in HBCU Lifestyles

http://hbculifestyle.com/category/culture/

The decision to write full-time is an aggressive endeavor despite talent or drive. Writing is a multi-billion dollar industry that is news-necessary, the cutting-edge of entertainment, and the pivotal intersect of social survival: Tweet or die.

African Americans have infiltrated the literary scene with riveting stories nestled inside book jackets donning sultry bodies and titles that speak to deceptive love triangles or the replicated “single woman finds groove”  tradition of Terri McMillan’s iconic classic.

Books are safe. If you have a literary agent you’re golden, or you can join the legions of novice entrepreneurs who self-publish and personally finance their publications and subsequent marketing/promotional efforts. My first poetry collection was published sans a book deal. It’s a hustle folks. A real-life, word grind (but I love it).

 The 21st century reality is that no writer can artistically or financially survive as a one-trick pony. Being diverse is key, so I am inclusively an independent journalist,  published poet/author, blogger, proposal and grant writer, and have augmented all of the aforementioned by serving as a collegiate instructor of English.

The Job Market Is Looking for Good Writers

http://www.mediabistro.com/mediajobsdaily/the-job-market-is-looking-good-for-writers_b7260

As a journalist, I enjoy longstanding relationships with editors, but abhor the blind pitch. Rejection is inevitable. The best story ideas are lost to budget restraints and pay can be laughable or impressive. Creativity to identify new gigs is a must, as is travel, workshops, grants,  fellowship pursuit, and humility. Writer’s write and that means daily, so if I’m not blogging, I’m nabbing notes for mymemoir, or chasing a deadline.   

One of the most important self-marketing tools I’ve adapted is developing my own website. I’m no techie, but if I can manage a WordPress site, anyone can. To utilize the best of both worlds, I purchased a separate domain and host and “mapped” my WordPress site (total investment: $24.00). The latter eliminated the need for a webmaster, and I now have a portal for potential editors to peruse previously published work.  A writer without a website is like a doctor without a stethoscope: the heart needs to be heard and a writer’s site is their artistic hub (or heart). pennydickersonwrites.com

I’ve experienced great rewards including high profile interviews, front-page features, and community covers, but I want more and currently have my sights on global reporting.  Too often, African American writers tend to “stay in our lane.” Well, the discourse community for writer’s is vast and profitable. Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box and take risks. Challenge yourself. If you shoot an arrow in someone else’s backyard, you just might hit a tree. The entire world is our lane (and backyard), and too often there are not more of us in a specific writing arena because we are hesitant to venture.

I attended a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) for one semester, but ultimately transferred to Temple University where I earned a bachelor of arts degree in Journalism.  The southern school of mention is Florida A & M University (FAMU) who along with its northern, HBCU counterpart – Howard University- are both known for their excellent journalism programs. Either earn my high recommendation, but I encourage any prospective writer to closely examine their long-term goals prior to selecting a school.

Can “talent in the raw” professionally excel without formal study? Of course. Many have and others will, but beyond my undergraduate degree, I additionally earned a M.F.A. in Creative Writing (15 years later) and the exposure, mentoring, and formal indulgence of my craft have proved immeasurable complements to my existing talent.  Even with two degrees and experience, employment trends have shifted to mixed-media, back-pack journalism, and social media expertise; being talented in verse is a mere base-level expectation.

Learning is continuous and imperative to maintaining competitive edge, so this year I applied and was selected to participate in a Creative Capital Professional Development Workshop sponsored by the National Endowment of the Arts and also the Minority Writer’s Editorial Seminar in conjunction with the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute. Both have tremendously helped my writing career and taught me to manage time and the value of networking.

Have I mentioned that this writing life is an insatiable hustle, a word-grind, a 24-hour on-line hunt for work? It’s all of that and more, but it is also my passion and never shall I abandon it. Why? Because I love it!

Penny Dickerson 2011

HBCU Alert: Florida A & M University and Howard University offer “Media Sales Institutes.”

http://www.bccanews.org/2011/03/media-sales-institute/

4 Reasons FreeLancers Should Try Ebyline

http://www.mediabistro.com/10000words/4-reasons-editors-freelancers-try-ebyline_b4454

BCCA provides technical assistance to 40 communications programs within the 105 HBCUs in the US.

http://www.bccanews.org/

Develop A business plan for your media start-up

http://www.mediabistro.com/10000words/media-startups_b4672

MAYO CLINIC: Money woes eliminate Medicare & Medicaid patients

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Residents in need of specialized health care have been  blessed to have one of  the countries prestigious Mayo Clinics located in Jacksonville; however, recent state cuts to eliminate both Medicare and Medicaid will literally “cut-off” many who have lost insurance and can’t afford to pay “cash” due to the recessive state of our nation’s economy.  Bureaucracy & budget cuts now eliminate access.

I have the good fortune of being a coveted, Mayo Clinic patient. At the beginning of treatment, I was gainfully employed and paid egregious health care premiums to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama (Corporate headquarters for my former employer).  After jumping through preexisting condition hoops, pushing paper back and forth, and pulling out my few buds of hair, I was finally approved to receive a medically necessary “Neuro-stimulator” to combat nerve damage and chronic pain resulting from multiple, cancer-related surgeries. I am lucky.

The high-tech spinal cord implant is costly and manufactured by St. Jude’s Medical division. The coordination of many medical professionals and representatives was strategic to take me from the initial “trial” phase of the implant to the more complicated neurosurgery. Time lapsed. Blue Cross Blue Shield took their time. My employer grew weary of continuing to afford time off.  By the time I finally completed the trial and had my next surgery, four months and more than $200,000 in total cost has been incurred including office visits, labs, image studies, physical therapy, and I choose to include “out of pocket” expenses for frequently driving to the south’s, sprawling Taj Mahal and valet parking. The latter wasn’t a requirement, but just in case you don’t know anything about Mayo Clinic,  the only thing worse than missing a scheduled appointment is being a milli-second late.  Valet parking saved me on many tight-squeeze days.

Most of the aforementioned is behind me, but my FMLA  ended with reasonable employer notification, and COBRA was gleefully offered. Who can afford to pay $600+ a month for health insurance premiums? No one I know. I was granted Social Security following my initial cancer diagnosis, so I am entitled to Medicare Part A & B.  The latter would be a blessing if I lived in a state with a sane governor or didn’t need my spinal cord implant serviced by both the hospital of my choice and the facility best equipped to monitor its functionality and progress.

There has never been a more important political climate than now for Americans to use their voice regarding the state of health care. This issue directly affects me, and I’m sure countless others you know and love.  Specifically, the elderly population who command the highest need for world class, specialized health care. For this populous, it’s dire. Use your voice!  Write your legislators, congress, and health care lobbyists.

Penny Dickerson 2011

                        ~  Please CLICK the important link below ~

http://www.heartland.org/healthpolicy-news.org/article/27913/Mayo_Clinic_Makes_Medicare_Medicaid_Cuts.html

   

 

Obama Trumps Trump

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It seems so trite to write a blog entry about this political, career-altering event that galvanized a social network to launch a blitz-post.  Everybody is going to write about this. Everyone is talking about this – as well they should. A man responsible for claiming the lives of thousands is dead. Hurray? or Hurry? Hero.

Yeah. That’s the word I’m hoping will emerge: Hero.

Within the confines of my colorful world, I sat with my sister Natalie watching “Celebrity Apprentice” while we munched on expensive peanut brittle from Williams-Sonoma. It was God-good. We marveled at the rich, buttery flavor and traded crunches and smacks from my reclined seat on the chaise to her body sprawled and sofa-lateral.  The reality show spectacle of NeNe Leakes versus Star Jones “I will cut chu” fame was nearing another predictable end and my sister gave notice to the informative “crawl”  creeping across the flat screen.

President Obama will soon make an important message regarding Osama Bin Laden.

He’s dead.

He’s dead or we killed him?

I was really hoping he didn’t kill over- from kidney failure. What a waste of time that would have been for our military troops. It felt a bit macabe to wish we killed him, and by “we” I mean our gear-clad, dusty and armed troops who’ve forsaken holidays and their own family nights to fight for justice and to fight for just us.

The Donald is in the Celebrity Apprentice Board Room. His golden hair is glistening and molded in its iconic, stiff wave and he’s network-ready to assert his coined phrase, “You’re Fired.”  Me and my former Air Force Recruiter sister are impatiently waiting for both The Donald and President Obama. Correspondents are pumping the prelude and The Donald is in ratings control. The reality consumed world is also watching and waiting: Will it be Star or NeNe? Will a fight ensue and weave tracks become airborne? Will Marlee Matlin’s translator break his fragile wrists trying to keep up or will……………cut to the fade of a presidential black.

Here comes Soul Brother President Swaggaligious walking in glorified authority to his Oval Office podium. The Donald has been silenced. The world is edge of seat. The news is big. It’s breaking news that has been previously leaked.  The words are strong and piercing and sharp and clear:   Osama Bin Laden was basically taken down by an intelligent intelligence and beat at his own game of hide and go die.

OK. That’s not what President Obama said, but as words dropped from his lip-glossed lips to hide  smoke inhalation’s black impression, me and my social network community heard:

GANGSTA…RESPECT MY GANGSTA.

I heard:

OBAMA TRUMPS TRUMP

Like buttons were clicked and lit. Comments were dropped and threads began to grow long as self-appointed, peanut gallery pundits offered their view of what has happened and their fear of what’s to come. Footage of flag waving took over the big screen. Crowds emerged upon the White House Lawn. A hell raising, editorial prone, Facebook friend posts:

Osama Bin Ladens death<Michael Jackson’s death.

I comment:

Global acuity.

The world as we Monday-morning know it will forever change and two, newly married Royals have been given an unexpected gift called publicity diversion. Next week will not be like next week and no week will ever again be like this coming week. Momentum is about to have her moment and she will likely birth a bevy of hours and days and months of both fervor and fodder.

We like his speech. We like President Obama’s measured words, his no nonsense tone, his direct “camera-eye focus” and his sincerity to save and preserve the safety and lives of American citizens, our friends and allies. I loved that latter line. Don’t mess with my people or my friends because  “I will cut chu” or in this case: kill you.

Yes, we know Daddy Bush and then his son Dubyah vowed to get Osama Bin Laden.  He didn’t.

Yes, we know measures were in place to find him, kill him, and bring his body dead or alive. They didn’t.

On my Facebook news feed I read:

“It took almost ten years and a black president to get that nigga.”

Some will read that and only see and hear the “N” word.  Others will read that and equate time.  And yet, others will read that and ask, “What’s a black President got to do with anything?”  No one black will read this and think that.

It’s not a black thing, it’s not a white thing, it’s really not even a presidential thing. It’s a good thing. A humanitarian thing. A finite justice. A deserving end to a tragic era preparing to commemorate a 2011 anniversary.

It’s over and it’s just beginning.

I am 1000 miles away from my Florida home and scheduled to fly from BWI to JIA tomorrow evening.  I feel compelled to find time to embrace D.C. tomorrow afternoon with camera in tow to capture history as it unfolds in the streets, on headlines, on the Metro, and of course, in Starbucks lines.

I feel compelled to call Southwest and ask if I can reschedule my flight so that I can stay with my sister until there’s not a crumb of peanut brittle left in the wide of the can. Do I really just want to stay with my sister or do I just want to avoid being 30,000 feet-high in revenge-air? I certainly wasn’t thinking any of this 24 hours ago, but now me and the rest of the world will have to pause and ponder our movement.

Osama Bin Laden is dead.

I pray his demise doesn’t kill my freedom.

Penny Dickerson 2011

Why Anthony Weiner is a Silly Tweeter-Twit

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Anthony, Anthony, Anthony.

The Shame you have brought to social media and the rudiments of basic instruction. Kindergarten students world-wide have laid bets that you also had trouble coloring inside the lines.

I’m personally not offended that you have disgraced the borough of Queens and humiliated Huma, your pregnant wife. Forget that your 17 year-old subject admitted that your interaction wasn’t actual “sexting,” and I’m even willing to suppress the fact that you don’t own a fly, smart-phone with “front-focus” camera capabilities.

Congressman Anthony Wiener, I am ten thousand ways “pissed” that a 21st century politician with mayoral aspirations doesn’t know how to properly TWEET.  And you call yourself a politician? (Gag reflex). Even my 21 year-old, college-student daughter has chimed in: “Clearly he shouldn’t have hit “skip” on the Twitter tutorial.” (Oh Anthony!)

(Link to Anthony Weiner USA Today Topic page)

http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/ANTHONY+WEINER

I tried to maintain respectable Weinergate distance. I deemed this to simply be another political sex scandal worthy of sensational media coverage for a few weeks and then you’d shrivel like an over-boiled weiner (couldn’t resist). But then, I read a Wall Street Journal hard copy during breakfast at the Marriott and just chuckled my nappy head off when I learned you got yourself into this career-altering debacle because you meant to send a Tweet to one person, but accidentally tweeted more than 10,000 followers? Priceless. Way to go Tony. Me and Jimmy Fallon thank you. Oscar Mayer – on the other hand- is miffed.                                                                                              

Twitter Tutorial Overview

The only thing more humorous than your Twitter deficiency is your interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in which you not only lied, but improperly used the word, “manipulation.”  Gosh. I thought every politician knew the power and pitfalls of that pretty lil’ word (and its prefix). Then, you chose to “admit” that you lied. What happened, Bill Clinton ring your celly?
THEN, and this really is my last point, you fought hard and decided to “seek professional” help via a leave of absence. You would have been so much better off  just checkin’ yourself into Shady Oaks and sending an email to your trusted colleague Steve Israel. I guess in hindsight you did the right thing because gee, if you can’t Tweet, you probably would have accidentally blind copied the congressional listserv.

(Read Why Penny Dickerson doesn’t Tweet)

Today you are expected to resign from Congress. (After all, what would Barack Obama do?) Interesting that the press conference will be held in Brooklyn. This is probably your single best move as your New York borough of residence has disowned you. If there is a single, silver lining in this outcome, I hope your wife Huma reaps the benefit. At least now she knows to reject any baby girl name you suggest. Especially, Ginger Lee.

Penny Dickerson 2011

VOTE ALVIN BROWN for Jacksonville’s Mayor

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“Jacksonville Florida may elect its first black mayor”

http://www.bet.com/news/politics/2011/03/30/jacksonville-florida-may-elect-its-first-black-mayor.html

“Should majority black cities have a black mayor?”

 http://thefreshxpress.com/2009/09/should-majority-black-cities-have-a-black-mayor/

Alvin Brown sure is a good looking guy.  Clean shaven with trusting eyes. Pearly white teeth and flawless skin showing no sign of wrinkle or stress from campaign rigors or life’s daily regime. Pinstripe dapper and politically appropriate in a conservative red tie resting flat on a pinpoint collar.

I’m voting for him. I want a pretty mayor:

pretty sharp, pretty experienced, pretty astute, and pretty qualified.

Overlooking the advantageous apparent that his captivating head shot perfectly matches my blog’s color scheme, I want it to be known that I really like Alvin Brown. Politicians generally suffer the unfortunate connotation of being sleazy liars with great smiles. The public often perceives them as “promise peddlers” who peddle in reverse and back out of rooms with crossed fingers once elected. Not this guy. He’s a stand up.

How do I know? What makes me so sure? I’ve met him.

Sure, many others have met him as well, but my circumstances were different. I was one of 30+ “Brown-Believers” hired to canvass for Alvin Brown prior to his making the upcoming run-off election on May 17th against a conservative candidate destined to help our governor turn Florida into a coastal, third world country. Of course you’re thinking that a democratic canvasser would have nothing but glowing remarks for their candidate of choice, but the fact of the matter is that I knocked on doors for three days, got pneumonia, and never returned to his Bay street campaign office. My loyalty was solid and I absolutely early voted, but on that first day, I pressed Alvin Brown to give me good reason why I should hit the streets, knock, and explain to “everyday people” WHY he is  The People’s Politician.

Somehow, my big mouth and that moment has gone down in campaign-circle infamy as “The day that woman confronted Alvin.”  Actually, he pissed me off that day. I found him defensive, but in retrospect and through extended interaction, I learned: he simply marches to the beat of his own drum, cowers to no one, and guess what folks? Alvin Brown’s got mad moxie.

I remember when he walked in the room with two precocious sons and a stunning wife in tow, his charisma was apparent.  I didn’t necessarily hear “Hail to the chief” in my head, but I absolutely remember hearing a Sly and The Family Stone throw-back, “Everyday People.”  If you’re not familiar with those lyrics, allow me to digress:

Sometimes I’m right and I can be wrong
My own beliefs are in my song
The butcher, the banker, the drummer and then
Makes no difference what group I’m in
I am everyday people, yeah yeah
There is a blue one who can’t accept the green one
For living with a fat one trying to be a skinny one
And different strokes for different folks
And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo-bee
Oh sha sha – we got to live together
I am no better and neither are you
We are the same whatever we do
You love me you hate me you know me and then
You can’t figure out the bag l’m in
I am everyday people, yeah yeah
There is a long hair that doesn’t like the short hair
For bein’ such a rich one that will not help the poor one
And different strokes for different folks
And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo-bee
Oh sha sha-we got to live together
There is a yellow one that won’t accept the black one
That won’t accept the red one that won’t accept the white one
And different strokes for different folks

Alvin Brown did not profess on that day to  always be right, and has proven that he’s willing to admit if he’s wrong. The occasion just hasn’t presented itself.  He’s very prepared, highly articulate, and darn smart. Note the difference: not slick, SMART. He is a man of faith and yes…his beliefs are indeed in this song. He’s been a butcher (for Winn-Dixie) while pursuing a Jacksonville University degree, and as for his banking, he’s a former White House budget manager who successfully served as senior advisor to President Bill Clinton and Vice-President Al Gore, served as former advisor to late Secretary of Defense Ron Brown and HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo, and managed a $100 million disaster recovery initiative at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, plus he administered a $4 billion White House initiative to create jobs, PLUS he held a co-chair position for a White House task force to help mayors throughout the 50 states access and improve their local communities.

Rather impressive for an every day guy from a less than extraordinary southern city who has the audacity to leave town, garner the necessary credentials & experience, and bring it all back home to run for leader of the land.

Jacksonville needs a mayor who is color blind, folk friendly, vision savvy, and whose willing to sing a unified song. “We got to live together.”  One City. One Vision.

I marvel that we eagerly conduct national searches for school superintendents, transportation CFO’s, ushered in a west coast maven to lead MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art), and have welcomed an “outsider” to run our airport, but when it comes to a mayoral candidate with superior national qualify, we cry foul. Why?

It’s not about Brown being black. It’s not about a black being what Jacksonville needs to boost it’s presence as another metropolis boasting a “first.”  It’s about transforming a city that has been racially stratified for too many decades, developing downtown into a respectable district, creating employment opportunities, and establishing a community whose education system is comparable to national standards and offers equitable education to every child willing to learn.

We are on the cusp of finally electing a down-to-earth mayor who is up-to-par and willing to lead without lies.

Alvin Brown is not the new black,

he’s the people’s politician and a more than qualified man longing to energize everyday people who have become divisive and emotionally blue. If we elect him mayor, I know he can keep our city budget out the  red. I guess in the end, it really is a race about color.

Penny Dickerson 2011